#Y.O.L.O Has To G.O.G.O!

So for those of you who might not know, recently, the rapper Drake released a song, "The Motto" featuring Lil Wayne. During the chorus of the song, Drake raps, "You only live once: that's the motto ni**a, YOLO..." Since the song gained popularity, we suddenly see people tacking a "#yolo" to end of their tweets on Twitter. At first, it was cool because the song was still new and that tends to be the trend with newer songs; people find a part of the song that they like and they quote it on Facebook and Twitter. But now, this YOLO thing seriously needs to end! I think this tweet nicely conveys my point:









While the rhyme in the song is rather catchy, the overuse of the acronym really just makes people seem like idiots. I'm pretty sure we all know that we only have one life to live but why are we suddenly taking advantage of that privilege because Drake mentioned it in a song? I've seen it used countless times. People consider not doing their homework or choosing to drink on a Wednesday night instead of the typical Thursday night to be an example of "YOLO". Okay, I guess these can be examples of "YOLO" but I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time that you decide not to do your homework and it's not all that atypical for some people to decide to go out on a Wednesday night. Ultimately, I think the overuse of the term to justify making, in some cases, stupid or ridiculous decisions just makes people seem rather foolish. If you decide to do something, you're typically not choosing to do it because you only live once, but you're doing it because you want to. I'm pretty sure 95% of the people who constantly use this "YOLO" term ever really consider the fact that they only live once when they are making decisions... People are just using the term because it seems like the "cool" thing to do. Well, they're wrong. It's really just annoying!
Also, these people who are now suddenly using "YOLO" should probably consider that the deeper meaning of the term is to teach people to actually appreciate the experiences we have in life and to take advantage of opportunities, and not to justify making ridiculous or random decisions.

Recently found this on Facebook... Perfectly explains my point!

"Oh Sorry I Forgot... I Only Exist When You Need Something"

Hello there!
So this week, my younger cousin actually retweeted the tweet I chose to share with you all. I think we all have met this person once before in our lives. The people who manage to exemplify the meaning of the term "user." These are the people who you might see everyday but they rarely ever say anything to you. At most, they might offer up a "hi." But then, all of a sudden when they need or want something from you, they happen to know you on a friendlier basis. They act as if the two of you have been best friends for the longest time when funny enough, just a day or two ago, the person treated you as if you were a stranger. In all honesty, I cannot stand these types of people. I guess I do not understand how someone can really believe they are justified in being so phony. Maybe it's because of my personality type but I try to be as genuinely nice towards people as I possibly can. But when I encounter these user-types... it's a different story. For example, last semester, I took a biochemical and molecular biology class. The class met three times a week and was mostly lecture. One girl would come to class but then spend most of the time on her Blackberry. Later, she would ask that I send her the notes. The first time, I sent them to her since I was trying to be nice. But it made me feel like I was being used when I would see her outside of class with her own friends, and she would walk past me as if I was a complete stranger to her. Really? Are you kidding me? Then, during one class, I noticed that she would sit in class and use her phone so I just stopped sending her the notes all together. I know it was probably mean of me to do that but the same way I could pay attention in class, so could she. This, my friends, is a prime example of a user!
Have you ever had to deal with someone who would only use you for what you could do or give to them? How did you handle that situation?

#GPAProblems

 Hey There! :)
So this week, I found this tweet thanks to one of my followers who happened to retweet it. I thought it was such a great reminder to us college students that while GPAs matter, they do not define us.
We have all been afforded such a wonderful opportunity to attend such a great university like Penn State. And with the academic greatness that Penn State is known for, there also comes much competition between students. Ultimately, we all want to succeed but I've noticed that here, one's GPA definitely seems to "say" a lot about the person and their character. We are all quick to make assumptions to explain why someone's GPA might be whatever it is, "Oh he parties all the time, no wonder his GPA is so low" or "Her GPA is only so high because she lives in the library. She has no social life." And with these assumptions typically come judgments about how "smart" or "dumb" a person is. As we all know, a higher GPA usually means someone is smart. But is this really the case? That then brings about the question, "what constitutes as being 'smart'?" Just because someone might not be able to score a 95 on an exam, that does not mean that they are not smart. Maybe they just aren't the best of test takers? I know from my own experiences with classes, most grades are almost solely based on test scores. While the argument of whether or not this is fair is a whole other situation, it is the reality. Therefore, if someone is not a good test taker and their grade is largely based on test scores, then their GPA might obviously be lower. But a test score and even a GPA really does not reveal much about that person's intellectual ability, as this tweet implies.
In fact, I think it's important to mention that the late Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple and Pixar, dropped out of college after only one semester. We all know of the amazing things Jobs managed to do during his lifetime (one might argue that he single handedly changed technology forever) yet he dropped out of school. Jobs presents a perfect example of GPA not defining intellectual ability.
What's your take on this matter? Do you think a GPA is a reflection of intellectual ability or is it merely a number?

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

Hey There! So this tweet is actually from someone who I do not follow, but I stumbled upon it thanks to the hash tag "#wordsofwisdom" at the end of the tweet. For those of you who might not be very familiar with Twitter, that hash tag at the end of this girl's tweet is blue because it is actually a link to a page where other Twitter users also tweeted something on the topic of "words of wisdom". I especially loved this tweet because I think it definitely embodies a word of wisdom that people should remember. 

I think often times in society, we get so caught up in judging one another that it has become difficult for us to take a second to consider what someone else might be going through in their own lives. This tweet is especially important for women to consider. We all know that girls tend to be rather catty, finding any and every thing to attack about another woman, regardless of whether or not we actually know that person. As an African-American female, I can speak from first hand experience and this is definitely an issue within our community. I've seen it so many times; one girl sees another girl at a party or some where out and within a few minutes, they have judged that other person from head to toe. It's actually so sad. Black women tend to be especially critical of other Black women. Instead of empowering one another, we have a tendency to tear one another down in any and every which way we can. Sometimes, it seems like it is rather difficult for African-American women to uplift one another because we are too busy being each other's worse enemies. I understand that not all African-American women are this way, and I know that the experience might be different amongst other racial groups, but I am only speaking on what I have observed personally.

When we really stop to think about it, we don't know other people's stories and we definitely don't know what they might be going through at the time. I know I have had days where I was feeling down in the dumps and all it took was someone smiling at me or doing/saying something nice to significantly brighten to my day. That's really all it takes; some small gesture can mean so much to someone, especially when they are upset or feeling down. I believe this tweet really reminds us all, regardless of race or gender, how we should be considerate of other people.

I also have a question for you all to consider: why do you think that we as a people are so quick to judge one another? And how do you think we can correct this judgmental society we have created?