Wow, things have changed!

Only a few years ago I had a different life. I had fish, no cats two Guinea Pigs. A plan for completing college Now... well, things have changed.

I no longer have fish and one of my pigs passed away last year. I still have my two reptiles and one gpig and my best friend, my dog, but now I have two cats! Earlier in my blog I said I was considering one cat. Well, two is much better!

Life sucks though. It really does. You think you have a plan for it. I was supposed to have had my associates degree completed by now and have transferred to a university to complete my bachelors. Unfortunately, I am still stuck at the community college I am at, still slogging away at my 2 year degree (4 years since I started!)

Plan ahead people. And make sure it is a good one. If my plans were more organized, I wouldn't be in this mess today. It is really disheartening. I am starting to lose track of why I wanted this degree in the first place. I wanted to be a biologist and work with wild animals, but when life, love and stress get in the way, it is hard to focus on what should be priority VS. the things that aren't so important. 

Time management. I think I need to get some.

2011has come, and with it some changes..

This blog, as earlier stated was started due to a class assignment in my CST 110 course for Communication. It was to record homework assignments in the format of a journal. However, since my class has ended and it is already almost a year later, it seems pointless to keep the title of this blog "CST 110's Summer2010 Journal." Therefore, I will be switching this blog's name to "A Day in the Life..."

No, I probably won't blog daily, but when I do, it might give you an impression of what does go on in the life of me, a college student who is trying to survive along with everyone else in these harsh times, in addition to the hassles of daily life, work and trying to jump from the present into the future.

And thus begins A day in the life of, Arthi Chandra...

Things to Remember

In response to Mr. LOLcatz question, no, unfortunately relationships, and communication, (in my case human) will never go away and I just gotta deal with it.

Fortunately for me though, I at least learned some things in this class about how to deal with others. I learned how uncannily accurate Dane Cook is when it comes to my relationship with my BF. Even he agrees with the majority of what Dane Cook says about relationships. But, seriously, this class totally gave me a new outlook on how to approach my relationships. And not JUST with my BF. Some of these things I learned in my Psych classes that I took. But Communications seems to go on a wayyy deeper level than what I learned in Psych. I didn't even realize all the terms and concepts related JUST to the field of Communications. Hey, I never even knew you COULD get a degree in it. I think it is awesome though that the study of Communications exists. This way (hopefully), people learn to co-exist better. A lot of the things I have learned in this class I never realized that I was subconsciously already trying to put into effect in my relationships. In a way it is all about manipulating things in your favor, though in doing so, the other person is happier and benefits from your work as well and then, they play off of that.

I hope that 5 years from now, when I am sitting with my cat (one that I am planning to get in the near future! Sooo exciting!) and my BF on the couch in his house, after I get my Wildlife Biology Degree, we are more in tune with each other. Everything that I have been trying to put into practice since I was 18 shows its positive effects in our relationship. Hopefully, by that time I either have, or am close to having enough money to buy my Honda Fit (no name yet for that one) and I am more satisfied with how far along in the growing up process I have come. My dog will probably with be gone by that point, and that will be excruciating to remember how I wrote in this blog with this thought in mind, but at least I can be secure in the knowledge that I have other great things to look forward to.

Relationships

I met my BF when I was 18 in a bookstore. He is a lot older than me. Now I am 23 (Oh my god! Time flies! I feel so old!!!) He is is now 33. He is such a baby about things though ;)

We have been together for close to 5 yrs. and I have recently (Aug.2009) moved in with him. It has been pretty enlightening on how different a previously somewhat long distance relationship is compared to when you see the person every day. I definitely appreciate this more than the LDR though, that was tough. This is definitely by far the most important and profound experience of my life. He is my first relationship and I have grown up A LOT by being with him and gaining new thoughts about life and experiences through this time. Even though this relationship is a long term commitment for the both of us, I still wish that things were a bit different.

We both are pretty poor communicators in different ways. He is not good at expressing himself and has extremely strong opinions about certain things. It can give him quite a temper sometimes. I am not always good at explaining myself when I try to say things and that can lead to confusion and frustration on his end and he ends up feeling offended since he misinterprets things I say. I am not trying to offend him, but it puts me in a difficult position of constantly making sure I say the correct things to express my thoughts and feelings in a better way. I know he thinks a lot differently than I do and I am still trying to learn about him. We are also both very stubborn and hard-headed when it comes to each other. I have a hard time letting things go and he has a hard time not letting his anger get the best of him.

For quite a while now, I have been trying to change my bad habits that can led to relationship issues little by little. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day. I try to keep an open mind about things and hope my continuing positive behaviors and differences ,that I slowly am trying to develop for the better, rub off on him and how he responds to me and things that happen in our relationship in return. I cannot change him, he has to do that himself, but I hope in a way, that through me changing myself for the better will make our relationship a more positive one for the both of us (even if he doesn't recognize the changes in himself that might occur).

I love him a lot though, despite his faults, and I know that his selfless love and caring for me in turn, us having a close connection as companions and partners in this relationship, all contribute to how we can attain longevity as a couple.

Me and My Best Friend

My best friend's name is Stephany. I remember the first time I saw her was in 2nd grade. She was in my class. I remember thinking at first she was a bit stuck up because she would come in with her friend and tell all these stories with things they would do to the class. That first impression was completely wrong. In 3rd and 4th grade we were safety patrols and started carpooling to school and home since we lived in the same neighborhood. Since then we have been close friends.

In Late High school, though we were still very close, we drifted apart slightly. Soon after high school, Stephany went off to college and we drifted farther and farther apart in our relationship, though when she was visiting on breaks we tried to get together as much as possible. Still, it has been so hard to stay connected since a few years ago. But though we have this issue, she is still the person who knows me best out of all my friends. I can tell her anything and she won't judge me, and the same way, I am there for her.

We are good at reading each other. She can tell my moods and when she gets annoyed her face scrunches a bit and her eyebrows draw together. Her movements get short. She tends to be very chill about things and is very comfortable and confident with herself and shows that with her body by walking upright and purposefully.

She is moving in with her BF 13 hours away from where I live, and I'll miss her sooooo much, but we will ALWAYS be there for each other and I don't think our relationship will ever end if we can help it.

Welcome to My 1st Blog!

I think this is the first time I have posted a serious blog. Thanks to my Communications professor, I am required to start one for the class (not that it is a BAD thing). I am a 2nd time around college student trying to earn my A.S. in Science so hopefully I can pursue a Bachelor's in Wildlife Biology. I am an animal nut and always wanted to do something with them since I was little. I worked as an uncertified Vet Tech up in MD, but I realized I really wanted to work with wild animals, so that is why I chose this route.

I am the fur-mom of Princess Emmy and her friends. Emmy, named after the awards, is TRULY a princess and is my soul mate and best friend. She is a Doberman Mix. I also have an Eastern Box Turtle named Greta and a Bearded Dragon named Rainier, after the French and Latin words meaning Ruler. He is called Mista Lizad Man (and the shortened version, MLM) much more often than I have ever called him Rainier though. I also have 2 female Guinea Pigs, Toadwart (called Toadie) and Asher. Lastly, My Fish. I have 3 Albino Corydora Catfish (Shady, Lacey, Inky) and 5 Betta Fish (Firefly, Pegasus, Firedrake, Phantom and Spartan).

I guess I could go on and on about myself, but some people have better things to do than read about me.

I am not really a person who is good at speeches, but I am sure I will learn something in this class about them.

So, hmm, I think that's it! Welcome to my first blog!