Time Strategies

Judging from the time stamp that will be posted on this post when I publish it, you can tell I'm not very good at time management... It's not that I don't want to do my assignments, I just get side tracked very easily. Unfortunately, that isn't a good enough excuse in the real world, so I need to work on my time management this semester. My goals for this class are that I never use the grace periods and that I can finish most assignments a day in advance. Overall this semester, my time managment goal is to wake up earlier. It's a simple thing that adds so much more time and productivity to my day when I wake up early. If I sleep in my whole day is usually sluggish and unproductive. So that is my hope for this semester.

One of the articles I read was the "4 Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination" article. The author offered 4 very good questions that I hope to utilize in my fight against laziness in the coming days. Particularly, the first question, "What one thing can I do to get started?" Is one that I will intently recall as I'm beginning the many daunting tasks that I must complete throughout my days. The second article I read was "The Psychology of Checklists". The author's idea's about checklists are true, at least in my experience. When I was working in Philmont over the summer, nothing gave me more satisfaction than checking off an item from my to do list after a long day of work. So, this semester is going to be the semester of completed checklists for Collin. No more late turn ins.

Credit goes to Oliver Tacke on Flickr; Source: Flickr

Technology is Not My Forte

From the title of this post you can probably assume where I'm going with this. Technology is my strong suit, especially all this web navigation stuff. I know, I know, "What's a millennial doing that doesn't know technology?". I wish I knew the answer. I've just never been very tech savvy, so I was a bit nervous when I enrolled for this class. But after reading positive reactions to both the class and Laura, I decided to go for it. So far it's been fun, making a blog and little fun posts. The real fun starts next week, I'd say, when we start reading stories and folklore. I'm really looking forward to that.

I guess I shouldn't say I'm completely tech illiterate. I do have some skills with image editing software. So maybe I'll finally get some use out of that particular skill with this class.

Some skills I'd like to develop would probably be my Internet navigation skills. I can never seem to find what I'm looking for on the Internet, and hopefully this class will open my mind to new ways of searching. All in all, I'm very excited for this coming semester.

An example of how I look when trying to use a computer.

Credit goes to Clker-Free-Vector-Images on Pixabay: Source: Pixabay

Assignments That Interest Me

After having reviewed the assignments for the semester, I've determined that most of them seem to be of at least some interest to me. I'm particularly interested in the commenting on other peoples' posts and the project. I love giving feedback on stuff that isn't mine and criticism comes naturally to me. Just joking. I actually look forward to enjoying others posts people have written and hearing things from their perspective. It's important to look from other's perspective from time to time, I believe. And then I look forward to the project simply because I enjoyed reading all the story when I was writing my My Favorite Storybooks assignment. I look forward to creating my own storybook with the stories I pick up throughout the semester.

This is my first fully online class, so everything about this process is different than what I'm used to, but that's alright. It's good to occasionally step outside your comfort zone. I look forward to seeing what this new-fangled technology offers in terms of opportunities and possibilities for assignments.

Taking an online class is an entirely new experience for me.

Credit goes to bluefieldphotos bp on flickr; Source Flickr

Growth Mindset- My Thoughts

I had never heard of Carol Dweck before today, nor had I heard the term "Growth Mindset"; However, the idea has been apart of my philosophy for a long time. As I grew up, my parents always supported me and encouraged me to strive for excellence. My mother always told me I can do great things as long as I applied myself, and I took that to heart. I believe that people can achieve as long as they are willing to work. I grew up with a sense of working for what I wanted. I'm worried that children anymore aren't challenged because their parents are too concerned with protecting them from negative emotions and failure. Failure is a good thing! Failure means, or at least should mean, that you learned something. Growing up being told to fear failure and pain is driving our culture into the dirt.
That's enough ranting from me.

To continue, The biggest lesson I've learned about my learning at OU, is that success isn't something that happens to you. You have to choose it. In classes that I am interested in, I get good grades, regardless of the work load. In classes that I am forced to take because a piece of paper says it's a requirement, I just scrape by, even when it's an easy class. It's because I choose to excel in studies that interest me. Makes me wish I had more interests...

My personal learning goals for this semester are to simply be more engaged with my classes, even when they hold no interest to me. I want to take the advise of my mother to heart and apply myself, not for better grades, but to inspire myself and others to always strive for greatness.

A wise saying from the book of Proverbs that relates to Growth Mindset

Credit goes to Denise Krebs on Flickr. Source: Flickr

Introduction to Collin (That's me)

So I suppose this is the part where I talk about myself. My father always said "The best place to start is at the beginning", so I will follow such sound advise. I was born in Plano, Texas on March 3rd, 1995 to Martin and Susan. When I was still a toddler, we moved from Texas to Oklahoma, where I've spent most of my life. Growing up I was a quiet unassuming child, however I eventually grew out of it. I attended high school in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and did the things that your average Oklahoma teen does (Pretty much sit around and wish for something to do). After High school I traveled South to attend the University of Oklahoma. There during Freshman year I had a coming to God moment, literally, and have been learning and growing in the Christian faith ever since. My major is Psychology which I will hopefully use during my time in Christian ministry, which is the career path I'm taking.

A photo of me in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. Source: me

I have a small variety of hobbies that I dabble in from time to time. The one I spend the most time doing is playing tabletop role-playing games with my friends. Seldom does a week go by in which I haven't played at least three games with multiple groups. I'd say I have a problem, but the games have too many benefits for me to consider that a bad thing. First, I'm able to express my creative ideas in a medium in which I excel in, talking. Second, I get out of the house and hang out with my friends. Third, the games help me to improve my leadership and communication skills. There are many more benefits to playing these games, but this is a post about me not Dungeons & Dragons, so I shan't continue down this uber nerdy rabbit hole.

Other hobbies of mine include music (I sing, and play the banjo, harp, harmonica, ocarina, and some piano), wood-working, blacksmithing, working out, and camping. I was able to do all of those over the summer for my job, as I worked at Philmont Scout Ranch. As I already revealed in my Favorite Places entry, I held the position of Program Counselor in a camp called Black Mountain. While there I helped campers learn and participate in blacksmithing and shooting .58 caliber muzzle-loading rifles.

ME relaxing on the ground after a long days' work. Source: myself 

Like I've already mentioned, I plan on going into ministry after my time in college. I have plans on moving to Greeley, Colorado to help a mentor and friend start a church there. Our heart goes out to the community, as Greeley is around 20% impoverished. Our hope is to start a small community of house churches (church groups that meet in a member's house), so we can forgo buying and maintaining a building, thus saving the tithes we receive for pouring back into the community.  Beyond that, I have no idea what God has in store for me, but I'm certainly hopeful for a future full of love and laughter. 

So, I suppose in a quick way, that's me.

Storybook Favorites

The Raven: Trickster or Hero?
https://sites.google.com/site/theraventricksterorhero/

This story book immediately caught my attention mostly because I love corvids (a bird group to which the raven belongs). So I did not hesitate to click the link and begin reading. The introduction was gripping, as it is written through the perspective of the Raven. From the image choices I could tell the stories were going to be of native American origin, which I had no qualms about as I love native folklore stories. The stories were also consistently well written and interesting. The images were well chosen and intriguing (I'll add my favorite below). The dark background with the blood red hyperlinks also match the dark and angry tone of the stories and narrator. Very well designed storybook.

Raven Steals the Light, by Bill Reid (1984). Web Source: History Museum.

Creatures of Irish Lore

https://sites.google.com/site/irishcreatures/

This storybook caught my attention because Irish history and lore fascinate me and I'm always interested in learning more. The immediate detail I noticed was the use of the green background and good choice of font. The cover page does an excellent job at conjuring images and emotions I attach to Ireland in a quick moment. The myths in the stories were nothing new to me, but I none the less still enjoyed reading about them. The introduction didn't immediately catch my attention, per say. However, it did lend a very good anchor on which to tie the other stories together (that being the old man retelling of his encounters with various fairies and ghouls).

The "Bad" Guys... Their Side of the Story

https://sites.google.com/site/badguysofthehb/

Image Info: Cain & Abel

                                                                            Image Source: TVTropes Website

This storybook was interesting to me because I'm a big fan of the Bible, but also because it offered a unique perspective. This storybook explores the so called bad guys and their motivations. I like this idea because it is very easy to become a "bad guy" and understanding how these individuals fell may help to escape a similar fate. I was a bit disappointed that the author chose to use stories from a non-biblical source, as many details were added that kind of change the entire meaning, which in my mind removes the validity of the lessons being taught. At any rate, the writing is still unique as the author sets the scene of a group therapy session with the bad guys talking through their problems.

My Favorite Place - Black Mountain and Philmont Scout Ranch

Tooth of Time Mountain

Credit goes to Eclectek from Wikipedia (March 25, 2006); Source: Wikimedia

      This past summer, I spent three months in a valley under the shadow of the Black Mountain in New Mexico. This camp is a part of a place called Philmont Scout Ranch. While there, I worked as a PC (Program counselor) helping kids forge and shoot black powder rifles. I also lived as someone in 1870 would've. That means no electricity, running water, or refrigeration. It was tough, but incredibly fun, not to mention the benefits it provided for my mental health. I couldn't find any shots of the mountain itself, but I've got various mountain peaks around that I also hiked up and summited this past summer.

                                                        Picture of Baldy Mountain from Copper Park camp

Credit goes to AwBaseball25 (24 June 2007); Source: Wikimedia

Left is a photo of a trail by our cabin, and below is the cabin we lived in. Credit goes to me, Collin. (June 6, 2017)