Having a Social Life as a Pre-Professional Biology Major

Over the past few years I have decided to pick my schooling over a social life, and while I have no regrets of this because I have seen a great improvement in my grades and my GPA, I find myself lacking in human connections.

A few years ago I tried my best to balance school, work, a social life with both friends and family, but it got to be way too much and I found myself very depressed and disgusted with myself because of how I let my GPA fall so far down into the gutter (figuratively, not literally, haha), and so I decided around this time last year that I needed to work on myself, and unfortunately, I cut myself off from a lot of people and social activites/media. If you want to see yourself become successful, you have to dedicate time towards yourself, and work hard for what you want. Those who devour your time are just sucking the life out of you and they're taking time away from your dreams, hopes, and desires. So, unfortunately I had to "drop off the face of the planet" for a few friendships in order to better myself for the my own future.

In the meantime, this will hurt a bit, but in the long run, those who truly want to be a part of my life in the end will hold it out and support me on my journey. Those friends who are willing to wait, I try my best to make time for them during the little breaks I do have, like during spring, summer, or winter breaks, but I feel like friendships are also a two-way street. If I'm willing to dedicate time in my day to text you, shoot you an e-mail, or give you time out of my day, I should expect the same. I'm not going to give you some of my time, just to have you toss it to the side. Friendships, heck, any relationship, takes work and dedication from both parties. If you can't be there for a friend, then you should have the courtesy and respect for them to tell them, "Hey, I'm sorry, I'm just swamped with work right now, can we get a raincheck, or text later?". You, being the person who's asking for a raincheck, better have the courtesy to return that text or call later on, if you care to have that person in your life, because they reached out to you, and if you care enough about them, reach back out to them! The same goes if you are on the opposite side of this example, if someone isn't reaching back out to you, perhaps give the relationship a second thought, is this person worth the one sided effort you keep giving, but not receiving back in return? Personally, I don't have time for that with my busy life and schedule at the moment.

Being a Pre-Professional Biology Major is no freaking joke. It's a legit 24/7 job that I have been working hard on for several years, and it's only going to get harder from here once I reach grad school. I have spent countless nights crying to my mom, my dad, and my boyfriend about how exhausted I am, how I want to give up, and how I don't know if I can do it anymore. Those who believe in me will support me and say that I can keep going, and it gives me a bit of inspiration. Know your worth. Know who will be waiting at the finish line for you once you're done with your journey. Know that you come first before anything or anyone else in this world. As RuPaul always says, "If you don't love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else, can I get an Amen?"

Best Friend Break-Ups

I have been tempted to write this blog post for a few months now, and I was afraid of what kind of response I would receive from it, but honestly, I don't care anymore. I've had several life events happen during these last few months, and I keep dwelling on the topic. However, life is too short, you either live it to it's fullest potential, or you don't, and I want to make the most out of my life while I'm here on this planet.

A few months ago I had a friendship breakup/fallout/whatever you want to call it, with a best friend who meant a lot to me. I've had several of these throughout the years, but this one has hurt the most because I was the one who broke it off. I won't go into much detail about the friendship because I would like to keep that private. We had a fantastic friendship for a few years there, but we both evolved and we grew into different individuals than when our best friendship first started, thus causing us to go off in our own separate ways. I will admit that I probably could gone about the breakup in a different way, but unfortunately, that is in the past now.

Over time, the fact that I had to let go of this friendship hurt me because I was wondering if it was the right thing to do. The individual contacted me and told me how I had hurt them, and I understand, but our friendship became toxic and wasn't the healthiest thing for me in my life anymore, and I explained that to them. I would like to think that they understood what I was saying, but I know I can never take that hurt away from either one of us. However, I know the good memories I do have of that friend will last me for a lifetime, just like any of the other memories of friendships I have had fallouts with.

Honestly, I wish there was a source on the internet during this time that said it was okay, and maybe there is, but I couldn't seem to find it. So, I am writing this blog post to say that it is 100% okay to breakup with a best friend. It hurts, definitely, but breakups usually do, and if you think it is what is best for your life at that moment in time, then do it. I have been a happier person since then, and I have been able to focus on myself a lot more. My grades have greatly improved in school, and in my other relationships as well! I have been able to reconnect with a great friend that I've had for many years, and I love that we have been able to "rekindle" our friendship!

I guess, the purpose of this blog post is essentially, don't regret doing what you think is the right thing to do for yourself in your own life. If there is something you view as a negative entity in your life, one that you believe is pulling you down, then remove it. Life is extremely short, and we don't know how long we will be here for, so you have to make the most of it. During these past few months I was in a car accident, and it helped me have a little bit of a wake up call. I did absolutely nothing wrong, and I shouldn't feel guilty or hurt or feel bad about wanting what I want for myself and for my own life. I deserve happiness and I deserve to take control of my life.

I once saw a photo that said, "There are three types of friendship in life. Friends for a reason, some for a season, and others for a lifetime." I would like to call this friend a friend for a reason. They helped me through growing pains out of high school, and I will never forget what they have done for me. They have taught me a lesson about myself, and I am extremely grateful for that. If they are reading this, they know who they are, and I would just like to thank them.

My Planning Planner

As I had mentioned in a previous post when I was talking about the Happy Planner and My Experience, I planned on posting another blog post about how I use both of my Happy Planners (yes, I have two of them). This post will be about how I use one of my planners for planning, and the next post on my blog will be about how I use a whole second planner for memory keeping, somewhat like a diary. Okay, so let's get started!

MY PLANNING PLANNER

First off, let's start with my first planner, which I use everyday to plan out my day. The planner I picked out originally. It's the Classic Planner with the "My Life" cover with a black background and a gold heart on the cover.

Personally, since I carry it around in my backpack while I go to school, and at times in my purse, I decided that the regular classic discs that came with the planner, and it's original size were just a bit too much for me, so I stopped by Michael's and I grabbed the Mini Planner Discs so it would be easier to carry.

With the mini discs I can customize the planner, so usually I only include the next four months so I know what's ahead, and I can plan, without having to carry around my whole entire planner.

The next thing I would like to mention about my planner, is how much I love color coding everything! I usually include a key on a sticky note inside my planner so I know which color stands for which one. For example, I know that my light blue pen is for my Biology class, while my light pink pen is for Psychology. Not only do I color code my classes, but I also color code social events and my work schedule too. Everything that is written in purple means it's part of my work schedule, or something I have to finish up for work. My all time favorite type of pens are the Papermate InkJoy pens. They are inexpensive, and carried at most major retailers. I use my InkJoy pens for color coding my classes in my planner, as well as color coding in the according notebooks for that class.

When it comes to work and social events however, I like to use the Papermate InkJoy Gel 0.7 pens. I find that the gel pens stand out a bit more, which makes it easier for me to differentiate between different colors in my planner, and I'll notice when pink stands for hanging out with my friends, or for my Psychology homework. These gel pens are fairly new, so I noticed that a lot of major retailers have not carried them yet, but I have seen them at Target (which is where I purchased them) and Office Depot/Max. These ones are not as cheap as the regular InkJoys, but I believe that is because they are the gel form, and I have noticed that they actually last a bit longer too.

Alright, so when it comes to planning in my actual planner, I start off at the beginning of every semester with my regular InkJoy pens and I just write down every single due date for homework or projects, along with test, quiz, and exam dates as well, according to how my professor has them lined up in our course syllabus. I found out that most teachers usually stick to this schedule, so I will write down each assignment in both the monthly and weekly views. The days leading up to right before an assignment is due, I will write down a to do list in black ink with my favorite pens of all time, Uni-Ball Signo 207. Now, these pens are not cheap at all, but they are so worth it. They are the best pens I have ever used! Occasionally, I will even color code with a highlighter over the Uni-Ball Signo's black ink, just to make sure I'm not confused about which homework assignments are due for which class. 

Here is an example of how my weeks are usually laid out:

Here is an example of how my monthly view is usually laid out:

If I feel like being fancy, I will occasionally include a little washi tape, or a few cute stickers or quotes along with my planner layouts. The "Make Your World a Better Place" Inspiration Card and the gold paper clip are actually MAMBI planner products I used as accessories to help decorate my planner. 

I think that pretty much sums up everything I do in my regular planner. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments section, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have! Stay tuned for another post tomorrow about my memory keeping planner! 

We Happy Few Game Preview

Game: We Happy Few
Publisher: Compulsion Games
Platform: Xbox One and PC
Rachel's PREVIEW Rating: 5 Stars!

If you have been keeping up with all of the recent gaming news since E3, you would have probably found out about a new Microsoft exclusive game, called We Happy Few. Personally, when I first saw footage of the game, it reminded me so much of Bioshock, which is great because Bioshock is a fantastic game!

So, yesterday I was just exploring through the Xbox Store on my Xbox's home screen and it showed that they were providing players with a 45 minute preview of the game, We Happy Few, and I decided to try it out. Although this was the alpha version of the game, it was totally awesome, but I will say, there are a still a few glitches here and there, so just make sure that you're patient and one of the first gamers to test out the game. Plus, another thing I would like to mention is that even though this is the alpha test version of the game, the graphics are STUNNING! For being in test form and looking this good, I can't wait to see the actual game and how great it looks later on this year when it is released!

The game starts off with your character going through the same trailer/preview that they showed at E3 as well, where the player decides on whether or not they should take their "Joy" pill. These "Joy" pills help keep people in a happy mood, allowing them to see only a positive outlook on this world, that actually isn't as positive as it really is. If you don't take the "Joy", the police find out and decide to follow you and hunt you down. Eventually, you do escape into the outdoor world where you have to keep up with your basic health needs, such as hunger, thirst, rest, and so forth, along with completing quests.

By the time I finally finished a quest and I was looking for where to turn it in, unfortunately my free 45 minute trial ended, but I will for sure be preordering this game and playing it when it is officially released! So, if you're interested in playing We Happy Few at all, I would highly recommend hopping on your Xbox One and trying out the free 45 minute trial!

If you haven't had a chance to watch the preview that was first shown at E3 a few months ago, here it is:




That's it for right now! I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Rachel

The Happy Planner and my Experience

     So a little bit less than a year ago, I was starting my second year in college, and as some of you may or may not know, my life was kinda a mess. I was working and going to school, and my first semester didn't go as well as it should have. I was scrolling through Pinterest one morning when I came across a post about The Happy Planner. It was this somewhat brand new line of planners from a company called Me & My Big Ideas (MAMBI, for short).  I decided to check these planners out by going to my local Michael's store, which at the time, was the only store in my town that carried The Happy Planner. While I was there I picked up my first ever planner, the My Life standard size 2015-2016 planner, along with a few other accessories like their Inspiration Cards, and lined paper inserts.

     Not even joking, less than a week later I found myself back in Michael's and buying more lined paper inserts, decorative planner covers, and sticky note inserts! I was completely and totally in love! From that moment on I have been decorating my planner everyday by color coding it, and now I have even added in Washi Tape and stickers from the MAMBI sticker packs they just released a few months ago.

     Stay tuned for a post about how I plan out my life using the Happy Planner, and my new planner which I just started using as a memory keeping planner too! Which, I'm also completely in love with memory keeping because it's almost as if I'm writing in a diary, but it's a planner too!

     If you have any questions about the Happy Planner, my experience, or any of their products, feel free to ask me in the comments section down below!

Until Dawn

Game: Until Dawn

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment (it's a PlayStation 4 exclusive)

Console/Platform Played On: PlayStation 4

Rachel's Rating: 3 stars

     Until Dawn is a very story based game. The story features 8 teenagers (including one played by Hayden Panettiere from the tv show, Heroes). These 8 teenagers return to a cabin up in the woods to spend the night a year after one of they lost two of their close friends at the same location. The friends start off all flirty, goofy, and friendly when they first arrive, but as this horror story unravels you begin to see the characters turn on one another. The group of friends must survive the night "until dawn" while they are playing their own pranks on one another, as well as a few not so innocent pranks played by a crazy "psychopath". 

     The reason why this game caught my attention was because everything about the game is based on your choices. Similar to one of my favorite games of all time, Mass Effect, every choice you make in Until Dawn will effect the entire outcome of the game. Even something as small as to throw a snowball or not can change the entire ending of the game. There are multiple endings to Until Dawn, and you can always go back once you have completed a chapter; if you're interested in seeing another outcome of the game. 

      Overall, I was kinda not impressed with Until Dawn. The game was one of the main reasons why I even bought a PlayStation 4 (sorry, I've always been a hardcore Xbox fangirl), and of course I was going to play other games and I have a lot of friends on my PS4, but I definitely got my hopes up for this game, only to be disappointed. A large portion of the game is all about quick time events (you have to make a decision in less than 10 seconds for a majority of the game). Although there wasn't much gameplay to Until Dawn, I did enjoy the story, and the characters were quite intriguing. I even found myself trying to purposefully kill off a few of the teenagers because I just found their character to be so incredibly annoying, hahaha! 

     If you're looking for a game with a lot of story, one that you can kinda just sit back and enjoy without too much action, I would definitely recommend Until Dawn, otherwise though, you might want to try a different PlayStation exclusive (Last Of Us, anyone?).

Assassin's Creed 2

     It's the second day of summer break and I have already completed one of the video games that was on my list of games to complete during the summer. For the past two years I have been trying to complete the Assassin's Creed series in chronological order, but I find it so hard to finish because each level and each game is pretty much the same thing. Luckily, I have finally completed the second game!




Game: Assassin's Creed 2
Publisher: Ubisoft
Console/Platform: Xbox 360
Rachel's Rating: 4 stars




     Assassin's Creed 2 picks up immediately after the first game, literally, like not a single second later from the ending of Assassin's Creed. The main difference between the first and second Assassin's Creed games is that the animus is on the road now with a little mini team separate from the science facility where you (Desmond) are held captive in the first one. Lucy, the girl scientist from the first game, joins you and a few other team members (Shaun and Rebecca) as you try to depict a new assassin's memories during a certain time period.
      This time you travel back in time to the 1440's-ish time period in Italy with Ezio. The game starts off with the birth of Ezio and how he has grown up in a royal family until around the age of 14-16 when his brother and father are killed. Ezio plans to avenge his father and brother's deaths by traveling and hunting those who were involved. On the journey you learn more interesting historical facts. The facts that I found to be the coolest and most interesting were about Leonardo DaVinci and his experiments, which are involved with your mission.
      The game has a similar gameplay style and controls from the first game. Graphics are a bit more clearer and detailed as well, which is always a great feature with sequels. Overall, I would rate the game four stars because it kept me entertained with a great story and interesting characters. However, I would not give the game five stars because there's a whole lot of side stories and collectibles that can side track you from the main story line.
     Now, I know that this review is a few years too late since the fifth or sixth Assassin's Creed game is coming out this year, but I figured I would post it anyways since I am completing the whole series and because most people say that the second Assassin's Creed game is the best game in the whole series. I wish the Ubisoft would rerelease the main games in the series for next gen consoles, but I understand that that would be a whole lot of money, so for now I will have to enjoy returning to my Xbox 360 in order to finish the series.

I hope you guys enjoyed my first video game review, let me know what you think of Assassin's Creed 2, or any other games in the series. What game should I play next? Let me know, I am open to suggestions! Thanks for reading :)