My Own Personal La La Land

For my Interpersonal Communication class, one of our homework assignments was to write 20 statements about ourselves. I wasn't that excited about the assignment to be honest with you but it ended up that this piece of writing is possibly one of my best and most self-refletive ever. Enjoy learning a bit about me that you may not have known before.

• I am Beka
• I love my family, they are my inspiration to be better than I am now.
• I have very few friends but the ones I do have are amazing.
• I am confident in my skills and knowledge.
• I like to make and stick to a plan.
• I work with little kids and love to watch them learn and have fun everyday.
• I am shy with new people, especially those who are older than myself.
• I like to dance like nobody is watching, any kind of dance, depending on my mood.
• I know what I want and I am not afraid to go for it.
• I have a weakness for Dairy Queen Blizzards, In and Out Burgers and Cookie Dough.
• I am a strong personality and am sometimes not appreciated for my "no-nonsense" attitude.
• I love the television and could watch it almost non-stop, barely coming up for air.
• I always have a song in my head, different for each day and each side of me that is much more reliable than a mood ring.
• I am terribly clumsy and often trip over my own feet.
• I like to hang out with my family and chill but I also like to go out and party.
• I can read people really well and tend to be able to figure out how others behave and what kind of person they are within the first few minutes of meeting them.
• I am a hopeless romantic.
• I like to be healthy and active, but I still like to have fun when I go out to eat.
• I have a running monalogue in my head that never ceases, unless I'm sleeping.
• I very much believe that 24 hours simply isn't enough time for all of the things I need to accomplish in a day.
• I have my life set up as an open book and am not ashamed of anything that has brought me here to today since obviously I must have done something right.
• I am just Beka and I love every minute of it!

That's Just the Way We "Role"

Okay, so on Thursday in my Group Communication class we discussed roles that need to be filled, either consciously or subconsciously, in order to make any group work. It doesn't matter if that group is a relationship oriented group or a task oriented group, all of the roles still need to be filled. That was shocking to me. I mean, my family, both immediate and extended don't have roles....do they? I wanted to explore this a bit more so while the other groups in the class were doing their presentations I got to thinking about how our familial group really functions. The following people in my family are ordered by age only and not by any other factor:

1. Grandpa Steve- Papa really personifies the role of the group Recorder. The group Recorder keeps the records of the group and serves as the group's memory. As the patriarch of our extended family he has been around the longest and has a wealth of information as well as different stories to tell that maybe some of us weren't around for or don't remember. Without the stories and lessons learned in the past there is no way for us to move forward and evolve in the future.
2. Grandma Jocelyn- Grandma takes on the role of the Supporter. The job of the Supporter is defined as praising, agreeing and supporting the others in the group as well as going along with the ideas of others. Grandma is always very supportive of our dreams and aspirations and is often one of the first to get involved in a new activity or thing that our familial group wants to try. Without the Supporter, we would never have anyone to try out our new ideas.
3. Rob- My daddy is the Team Observer. The Team Observer keeps records of the team's processes and uses the information that is gathered to evaluate the team's procedures. In this example, the goal of our "team" is to succeed as a family, is it not? My dad, as the Team Observer, is an integral part of the goal. He is more of a silent observer in the family. He doesn't speak up as much as some of the rest of us, however, when he does, it is often profound. He helps to get the family back on track and see the big picture of somethings and believe me, we need that sometimes.
4. Steph- My mommy is the Coordinator. The Coordinator clarifies a relationship among facts, ideas etc., or suggests an integration of ideas and activities of two or more members. Even though my mom doesn't necessarily come up with the new ideas herself, she is an essential part of getting those plans off the ground. Without her, we would just have a bunch of big ideas and would almost never actually accomplish them.
5. Blythe- My aunt Blythe is the Information Giver. The Information Giver is defined as a person who offers information and opinions about different facts due to their own personal experiences and evidence. Blythe is always the first to help answer questions that anyone in the family has and is always more than willing to help out or give her opinions on something if asked.
6. Andy- My uncle Andy is the Initiator. The Initiator proposes new ideas, methods and solutions. One experience that really stuck out in my head when assigning Andy this role was a few months ago. Andy was growing more and more unhappy with the fact that all our family ever seemed to do on weekends was sit around and watch T.V. Instead of complaining about it, he thought up new ideas for things for us to do (i.e.~park day, ddr, fro-yo etc.). Without him, we would still be sitting on the couch!
7. Peggy- My aunt Peggy is, I believe, the connector piece holding our entire family together. She is the epitome of a Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper opens the channels if communication, brings in nonparticipants and helps others get their chance to effect the group. One bit of this I can share is the fact that she is always the person we can call for information. She seems to know everyone schedules including where they are going to be a certain times. She also is the first one to involve people outside of the immediate grouping. I honestly think that if Peggy wasn't around, our familial group might fall apart.
8. Paul- My uncle Paul is the Standard Setter. Now, I know my family well enough to know that when this blog gets posted, Paul may not agree with what I write about him, however, I think it is all true and completely my opinion. Anyways, the Standard Setter is defined as the one who helps sets the standards and goals for the team. The way that I interpret that pertains to Paul's generosity and willingness to help others. This may be a surprise to some people but if there was one person I could learn from in personality traits, it would be Paul and I'm sure that others probably feel the same why. Hence why he's the Standard Setter for the group or the person who places the bar that we strive to achieve. I know that Paul would give the shirt off his back if one of us needed it and I want to evolve to be just like that.
9. Ben- My uncle Ben is the other side of the same coin to his wife Blythe. While Blythe is the Information Giver, Ben is the Information Seeker. The Information Seeker asks for facts, clarification or information in order to help the group think outside of the box. I think this is totally true with Ben. Ben is always in search of new things to learn and new bits of knowledge and is really good at thinking outside of the box and I really respect that.
10. Michael- My uncle Michael is the Follower. I know what you're thinking. Follower? That is uber lame! It really isn't though! The Follower basically goes along with the suggestions and ideas of the other group members and serves as an audience in team discussions and decision making. Michael is a very go-with-the-flow guy, cool as a cucumber and nothing seems to really bother him. That is so helpful because some of us, myself included, are a bit of a stronger personality and without someone to balance us out we quite possibly could have killed each other by now! What would we do with out him?
11. Beka- That's Me!!!! I am totally categorized as the Energizer! The Energizer prods the group to greater activity or to a decision, stimulates activity or warns of the need to act while there is still time. I am always energetic and ready to go, wanting to do everything I can, as soon as I can and I think that often that rubs off on the rest of the family. I think part of the reason that the family often responds to my energy is that because I am still young, my youthful excitement and joyful exuberance remind others of a time that they felt that way as well.
12. MerriJo- My aunt MerriJo, as insanely busy as she is, is totally the Compromiser. The Compromiser attempts to resolve conflicts by trying to find an acceptable solution to disagreements among team members, or in this case, family members. MerriJo is exceptional at hearing two sides of an issue, synergyzing (or compacting) the information and paraphrasing it back to the parties involved. She, then, helps the involved people see both points of view. I don't think I can count how many times I have been in a negative place about something and ranted or raved to her. Merri always has me leaving the conversation in a much better place then when I started.
13. Elias, Katy and Christopher- These three, even though they are young, have an important role to play that they can share, at least for the time being. These are our own little baby Tension Relievers. A Tension Reliever reduces formality and status difference making people relax and see the humor in a situation. The second that Elias says a baby funny (i.e.-"google it", "Mommy is a lion....ROAR" or "Melmo, Melmo, Melmo" etc.), Katy claps her little hands or Christopher flashes that winning smile of his, any situation, however heated, is immediately defused. And honestly, that is all our little family group needs them to fulfill right now. Which is good, since they seem to be more than happy to oblige.

In writing this blog, and believe me, this took me a good three days to finish, I came to three realizations. Number 1, everyone in our family, no matter how often they are around have a different role to play that we now subconsciously expect from them. Number 2, the roles that I assigned are as of 6/21/09. Who's to say that the roles will be the same 6/21/10 or even 12/21/09? Finally, number 3, and possibly the most important is that none of these roles are more important than the others. All of these roles have different aspects of them that I can learn from and need to learn from to become a better and more well-rounded human being. And really, at age 17, that's all I can hope for.

Adventures in Funderland!

I woke up this morning doomed to another Saturday of normalcy. I decided to call my aunt, Peggy, to see if she was doing anything today. She told me that her and my cousin Elias and my uncle Andy were all going to hang out with his family. I always love hanging out with Andy's siblings, their kids and all the other family members around. Today, we went to Funderland! I sat with little Samantha (age 4) on all of the rides and she was having a great time! However, I think I may have been having even more fun! We went on a mini coaster (which Elias did not like), a carousel, the train ride around the park and tons of other rides! I mostly rode with Samantha but sometimes I rode with Yesenia (age 2). Lucky for me, Andy's teenage cousin, Chrissy, was there this time also so I got to hang with someone my age and little kids! Then after Funderland, Peggy introduced me to Dairy Queen and I had my first Blizzard! It was so yummy! After that we went back to Andy's parent's house where Andy's older brother Doug made these bomb hot wings. They were so good! I ate, like, 5 of them with no problem but Andy was having trouble with one. Now, to be fair, I may have provoked him just a little bit, but somehow Andy got it in his head that he had to eat the same amount that I did. Poor guy is going to have numb lips for days! Anyways, all and all it was a very fullfilling day. Now, I have to make up for the homework time I missed this weekend, tomorrow. I mean, it was a really fun weekend but I have to learn the hard way that there are consequences for my actions, no matter if the consequences were worth it or not.

PLEASE, No Explosives on the Bridge!

Man, I am exhausted! Today, some family members and I played hooky and went out to San Francisco for a day trip. Super fun! We went to the Exploratory where me and my little cousin Dylan (age 4) got to touch Sea Urchins and Starfish. We also saw albino alligators, angry rattlesnakes and cute little penguins! Then, we went to Pier 39 and had yummy shrimp cocktail and bread bowls. My cousin Ellie (age 3) and I literally skipped down the Pier to see the Sea Lions, or Seals, as she insisted. At the end of the day, Dylan feed the pigeons his bread leftover from lunch while Ellie chased them away yelling "Caww! Caww!". Then Emma (age 2) picked all the flowers from the potted plants and turned them into mulch and Eli (age 1.5) tried to pick up the bread from the ground that the pigeons didn't eat and eat it himself. You may be wondering, where were these kid's adult supervision during this craziness? I'll tell you. We were there watching, laughing and not wanting to spoil their fun. Plus, we were tired and for once, they were entertaining themselves! On the way home, just as we were getting on the Bay Bridge, there was a sign that said "PLEASE, no explosives on the Bridge." My Aunt April told our car, sarcastically, that we couldn't keep the explosives we had in our pockets. Little Ellie was sitting next to me and I leaned over to her and told her to throw away her explosives. She looked at me with a conspiratorial look in her eyes and a smirk on her face and said "Hee Hee!" and looked away quickly. So funny! I'm going to miss that little girl when she has to go back to North Carolina! Anyways, my summer school classes are doing really well. I'm 1/4 of the way done and noticing how much work they like to squeeze in. I have no doubt I can handle it though. Oh yeah! Big thing that happened! I realized yesterday that on my current schooling plan, I will only be one class away from having a double major! So, I worked some stuff out, moved some classes around and now, December 16th, 2010 I will be graduating from Sacramento City College with an A.A. in Communications and an A.A. in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Arts and Humanities! And the best part is, I'll only be 19! I know 22 year olds still working on that! I'm so excited! So, this weekend I'll be working on getting homework done for my classes so that I can get a good grade in these classes and get them out of the way. More later this week...I hope!

Seriously, All That Stress Over Nothing?

Well, I had the meeting with Robert the recruiter yesterday and it went so great! I got accepted to the training program, which is an awesome thing in itself but there was one little hang up. One big hang up actually. The price tag on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is about $10,000. I have never even seen that much money, let alone have it sitting around in my pocket! So, I was about to work out a payment plan with the guy until he told me that all of the money needs to be paid up before I start the program. All that stress I've been going through over the last few days about when to go and whether or not to finish my A.A. first wasn't even worth it. The decision was made for me. I can't go until I raise the money. The Airline Academy is a three-part program. The first part is an Internet independent study program with twelve lessons. The next part is three weeks training in the Daytona Beach Airport in Florida. The last part is Flight Attendant Boot Camp at JetBlue University in Orlando, Florida. I can start the Independent Study part without all of the money paid up but I can't go to Florida until everything is paid. Which, with my calculations should be about March of 2011. So ya'll are stuck with me for awhile longer. It kinda works perfectly though. I should finish my A.A. in December of 2010 and then I can start independent study in January with no other school to distract me. In order to do this great plan of mine it means that at least on the school front, I have to "power-through" and get my classes done. I am doing full time classes every semester, including summers, from now until then to get this done. So, my busy lifestyle is now even crazier! I'll try to update this at least once a week but who knows what kind of time I'll have. Something tells me, at least for the foreseeable future, I may become a figment of everyone's imagination.

I Change My Mind Like I Change My Clothes.

So since my last post, I have gotten my grades for last semester. I got 2 B's and a C. Perfect! No summer school! Except...a week later, I decided that I did want to do summer school. I'm now taking 2 4-week communication classes, starting on Monday at Sac City. The reason I changed my mind was actually because of something exceptionally cool that happened two days ago. I got a call from a recruiter of The Airline Academy. I had given my information to several different Airline training programs and this one, based in Daytona Beach, Florida, called me back. They gave me a small interview over the phone and liked me a lot. The recruiter, Robert, is coming to my house tomorrow to give me and my parents a small orientation about their program. Great, right? Well, here's the thing. I could go this January but I'd have to take out a loan from the school to go. I also would only be half done with my AA degree. However, if I go next January I will have saved up much more money and have finished my AA. The problem is that I am ready to go NOW. I want to get out of this area, I want to stretch out and use the world as my backyard. I am emotionally and physically ready to leave home and go on with my life but I am not financially or educationally ready to go. I have literally "decided" one way or the other 20 different times over the last 2 days. How am I expected to survive 500 more days of it? One thing I decided at least was that I might as well take summer school to expedite either option. It is physically impossible for me to make up my mind. Oh well, we'll see if tomorrow's orientation will shed any light on one way or the other.