Mentor Log 11

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 27 Hours

I was able to work on a few of my friends who have volunteered for a facial massage. I practiced on Andrea S. for 20 min.on the grass, Amoresa for 25 min. in class and Eddie for 20 min during lunch. I asked for feedback on the negatives, but they didn't give me that much negative feedback. I also asked someone to take pictures for me while I work on someone. I also went to see my mentor one last for one hour to discuss about my presentation and how I could improve, re-arrange, or better my presentation for my actual presentation. I understand what I have to add in into my power point and my mentor helped me organize how I would present my project, so that it's not so disorganized when I start my speech. We were trying to re-organize my topics in a way that it can transition into the next slide. My next goal is to edit my power point, re-make and organize my note cards before my presentation. I'll also keep practicing on people if I have time until then.

Culminating Blog Reflection

The way I used critical thinking towards my Capstone Project was when I was reading the chapters of the human body's systems that my mentor gave me to read once a week. What I read in just one chapter was very detailed and descriptive of the functions and the many significant parts in the system, in which I had to try to comprehend what I was reading. Each chapter was about maybe five to six pages long including front and back, so I was trying to absorb all the information that was there. While I was reading I had to really think and understand what the chapter was telling me and the purposes of all the functions. Through communication I was able to discuss what I read with my mentor and ask questions on subjects that I didn't understand. I liked the discussions because it helped me envision the picture of the system's working parts, how it functions, and why it does that. I collaborated putting together the knowledge that I learned from my readings and trying to incorporate them into how it's important to massage, as well as the human body. With creativity, I performed massages in different environments. I had to improvise on how to make the person that I'm working on comfortable when we're at school, such as the environment. I worked on someone on the grass, which was a very good idea because it was outside away from distractions and in a peaceful area.

Personally I gained knowledge about massage and what type of medicine it was. It never occurred to me that massage therapy was a natural remedy for illnesses and how different it is compared to medical treatments. I learned that natural remedies, whether it's massage or a homemade family remedy, takes time for it to take effect and to see results. The problem is also treated from the source. It's treatment that works in the long run. Medical is the quicker and unnatural way to healing. It treats the problem, but not from the source. All this was new to me and I thought it was very interesting. Socially, I gained confidence in speaking and working with other people. I've been able to get out of my comfort zone to get my work done and to accomplish tasks that I've never done before. Intellectually, I learned about how massage affects different body systems. In the very beginning, I thought that massage only affected muscles, tissues and nerves, but I actually learned that it affects so much more than that. My knowledge from those three subjects have expended into a more in depth understanding of the body.

Challenges that I've encountered was finding a mentor that relates to the topic of my research paper. There are so many possible mentors that I could pick, but it was hard trying to find someone who is willing to give time in their schedule to be my mentor, teach me, and is in a nearby area. Getting out of my comfort zone was also a challenge, because I had to do things on my own that I have never done before, such as talking to people for information in order for me to complete parts of my project. I usually don't talk as often when I'm learning about something and it was a bit hard for me to talk more that I'm used to, but now I feel a lot more comfortable. Another was feeling uncomfortable with touching people's faces in massage class, but I soon got over it because in order for me to properly learn I had to overcome that uncomfortable feeling. Now, I don't mind giving random people facial massages and I enjoy it. Lastly was the journey into my Capstone Project. I think this was the greatest challenge of all for me. It really wasn't much of the "doing" of a particular task, but more of how I'm going to approach it, what's I'm going to do about it, and what will happen during and after that particular task. One way I overcame it was becoming organized. I tried not think about it too much and I simply set goals one by one. That way I can focus on only one thing at a time and get it done. Once it was done, I can move on.     

Mentor Log 10

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 25 Hours

My mentor and I discussed about the mentor evaluation and how it's going to be filled out. I also mentioned practicing facial massages on my friends at school and I showed pictures of it taken by my phone. I was given time to brainstorm and answer each bullet required for my culminating blog reflection. I was very pleased with myself that I organized and knew what to include in my reflection. After I finished brainstorming for my reflection, my mentor taught me what an abstract is composed of. I already had a rough draft of my abstract and my mentor read over it, as well as go through my senior essay to help me organize it. He also taught me the difference between writing about my work and other people's work on my topic. It was very confusing because both almost seem the same to me and I don't know how different they would be if I were to write a review over research that I did about AIDS and people's work on their research on AIDS and I'm not supposed to use personal pronouns. I felt fustrated with my abstract out of everything, because I don't know what looks right or what looks wrong for I have never written an abstract before. I plan to meet up with my mentor for the next week before my actual presentation at the end of May just so I can prepare.    

Senior Project Log 9

Hours: 1 Hour
Total: 23 Hours

For the next two week I plan to review over what I have learned in massage class back in February by practicing massages on people. I still have the notes that I took during the lecture and the paper about the different strokes to help refresh my memory. I made a post on Facebook if people would like to volunteer for me to practice facial massages on them and I got a couple people to participate. I had my friend Samantha P. to volunteer. Since I didn't have a pillow or any flat place for her to lie down on, I just let her lie down on my lap. I massaged her face and neck for 15 minutes during lunch at school. I wasn't abe to take picturese while I worked on her face. The next day, I had another volunteer. I massaged Lisa's face for 25 minutes during lunch and the weather was perfect for relaxation in the shade. I also asked Gaby if she could take pictures of me massaging her face. Lisa said that it felt weird at first, but it felt nice after. I was already familiar with what I was supposed to do, such as movements and areas to work on on the face and neck. When 5th period came, my friend Amoresa volunteered for a facial. I massaged her face and scalp for 20 minutes. On all of my volunteers, I used the unscented lotion and oil from massage class. I'm starting to feel like I'm improving on the way I'm doing the massage on people, because they seem to like it a lot. I still feel like I'm forgetting a few things, so I'm just going to have to review and practice all the techniques and strokes that I learned in February as well as look over my notes.

Mentor Log 8

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 22 Hours

I talked with mentor about my project and what I can talk about in my presentation. We assessed each bullet on what the presentation requires. We also went over what kind of connections I can make between massage and AIDS by doing some research and printing out the information. I felt like I was limited of what I was going to talk about between the connections, but my mentor made me realize that there are also a few other things I can include in my presentation to expand it within the 7-10 minute time limit. A live performance of massage would take up a lot of time in my presentation, so I was thinking of just inserting pictures of me working on my project in the power point. I knew how I was going to organize myself for the presentation and my mentor explained to me how index cards were used to organize your essay and where to put the information. I needed help in forming my abstract, because my essay had a lot of information that I didn't know how to summarize and I never made an abstract before. My mentor looked up examples of abstracts and explained to me what each section is composed up that forms that whole paragraph. My own essay was then compared on how to use each paragraph and make an abstract of it by making it concise and making connections. I now understood how to break down my essay. I was given some time to start my draft on creating my abstract.

Mentor Log 7

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 20 Hours

I met with my mentor and I didn't do any reading this time, instead we focused on what I plan to do for my presentation and how to prepare for it. We were looking through the capstone packet and went over the things that have to be included in my presentation. We focused on the question about how the presentation will relate to college and career goals. We listed a few jobs relating to having a bachelor of science degree, but I decided that I was going to do a little more research on the type of careers that I would be interested. I researched on my phone for a while on the career zone website and found a few related to nursing. I asked questions on how getting a bachelor's of science degree differs from getting an associates degree when headed towards the nursing career while having a B.S in physiology. My mentor said that I could get an associates degree in nursing and get employed, which will be very good if I want to continue my education. That way I won't be too busy and everything would be somewhat balanced. If I were to get my B.S. I would be having a hard time in finding a job and getting employed. We also talked about how I can also become a nurse with a B.S. degree and that there's different degrees in nursing. Mark also drew a diagram or example of the difference in making money and spending time in getting my education for an associates degree, B.S., and master's. What we needed to clarify was to figure out what the evaluation form is and what kinds of information I could put into my presentation to meet the requirements. As for info, I could look up relationships on AIDS and massaging online, but it would be a little hard since the topic is very specific.

Theme in 1984

A theme in 1984 is having power over Oceania or the people. This theme exists because the party has a need to have full control over the people in almost every aspect and that they believe in their own ideas of perfection for the people and the city. The party controls almost everything, in which the people can't do or even think about certain thoughts that goes against the party. The reason to why the party has so much power is because "the party seeks power entirely for its own sake" (263). It seeks this power to be all powerful and with this they are able to have control. Without this power then they wouldn't have control and they wouldn't have authority over anyone. It seeks power only for itself and not to just rule over the people. If they are on top then that could mean that they're able to do anything they wish to say or do. Not only does the party seek power, but they also have their own beliefs and ideas to make their people and city seem perfect in their eyes. As the thought police catch people doing crimes against the party, the party removes these criminals from society, in which they feel that these people are unfit in their created society. Winston knows this and he thinks about this, he thinks about his friend Syme. Winston feels that "he lacked :discretion, aloofness, and a sort of saving stupidity" (55). An unperson is someone who no longer exists and have been erased as well as other things relating or is of that person. This is how the party runs their society. They try to perfect it with their own principles by getting rid of the imperfect or unfit. Winston states that the qualities that Syme has is what the Party doesn't like. The theme shows that in human nature people would want to have power in some type of way and use it for their own benefit or to control and organize society from turning into chaos.

Mentor Log 6

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 18 Hours

I met up with my mentor and before I started reading about the cardiovascaular system we discussed about how I would relate the chapters that I have been reading for the past couple of weeks and applying what I have learned in relations to my presentation about AIDS. We talked about the autonomic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system(PNS), and sympathetic nervous system(SNS) and how it affects our body, somewhat like an on and off switch. An example was that you had a huge lunch and your body is trying to digest it, therefore the body goes into PNS mode, so that the body could relax and be able to digest, but if for some reason you become really nervous after eating then your body will go into SNS mode and the food won't be able to be digested due to an increased heart rate. SNS can relate to AIDS by relating how much stress or tension is being put onto the person. An AIDS patient may become stressed or nervous due to many factors will make one worry, such as taking multiple pill regimens all the time or how life will be like, since tthe life of an AIDS patient is different from a regular person. SNS relates to that triggered stess.

We also talked about the difference between medical vs. natural treatments. In a medical perspective, the only problem is the pain or uncomfortability and how the person is going to get rid of it. The process of "fixing the problem" would tend to be much faster. If the root cause isn't fix and only the pain is treated, then it's just going to keep coming back. Concentration would be unfocused in the root cause of the pain. Whereas in the natural perspective, the root cause of the pain is the main focus area and if you treat the root cause of the pain, then there won't be any more pain at all. No surgeries necessary and the problem won't be coming back so often. I find this very interesting because I never thought of these two different perspectives. I always thought of the medical view and home remedies that families would sometimes use.

During my readings, I learned about the structure of the heart in detail. The basics, such as the atrium, ventricles, and blood flow was similar because I learned about them in Advanced Biology last year, but most of it was new material.I also read about the major arteries, veins and valves. The names of the arteries and veins are named according to where they are in the body.

I also read about "The Blood". The blood has many purposes, which is to carry nutrients and remove wastes. The white blood cells fell into two categories, granular leukocytes and agranular. Within the chapter, it mentioned that all red blood cells formed from red bone marrow and how it carries its job in the clotting mechanism, in which it stops the loss of blood if you were to ever cut or scrap yourself. ANother interesting part was learning about the blood groups and why some people with certain blood types can't receive certain blood groups. All the while I was reading, I was taking notes at the same time to help me understand what I was reading and so I wouldn't forget later on.

Mentor Log 5

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 16 Hours

I met up with my mentor today and this time I read about the nervous system, which is one of the four important systems in massage. I read two chapters and some of the material was very familiar to what I've learned in my Advanced Biology class last year and in my psychology class last semester. I remembered learning about the axons and dendrites from Adv. Bio. The second chapter contained more structural information. I read about the structures of the brain such as the hypothalamus, the lobes, and what each part of the brain is in control of. A small section of it was like review from psychology class, but most of the information was new and related to the five senses such as sight, taste, sound, smell, and feeling. Each section had a detailed description of what the body part used for the senses what composed up, also what the cells or nerves do. Going back to the first chapter I learned that the brain has ventricles, just like the heart, in which a cerebral fluid runs throughand that there's a fifth lobe called the Insula. I have also learned that the Peripheral Nervous System(PNS) is divided into two catefories: the somatic and autonomic nervous systems. The somatic system controls movement and uses our sensory and motor neurons, while the autnomic is then broken down into two more categories: the Sympathetic Nervous System and the Parasympathetic Nervous System. The sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate and breathing due to the body undergoing stress and that parathetic nervous system's job is to balance that by returning the body back to normal when not under stress. There were many names of nerves that have different functions, but I couldn't rmember them all. They were all called the 12 cranial nerves. The spine also has fibers attached to the sides to receive info from the peripheral nervous system or to send out info to the body. The next time I meet up with my mentor I will be probably be reading the 3rd important system of the human body.

Mentor Log 4

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 14 Hours

Mark filled in the rest of my mentor agreement and then he gave me something to read, which was about the muscular system. I read the few passages and sections of the book and some words were quite familiar. I remember the terms glycolysis, smooth muscle, and ATP, because I learned about them in Advanced Biology last year. Mark explained that the four main important systems affected by massage is the muscular, skeletal, circulatory, and nervous system. We discussed whether or not I had learned more about the specifics of the muscular system, such as the sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous systems, in which I have never heard or learned about them before.We also talked about how the muscles work like how one side of the muscle contracts, while the other side relaxes, which gives each muscle a resting period so that we're not tired all the time. I was also taught that if there ever muscle pain on one side of a muscle, then the other side of the muscle should be contracted in order for side that has tension to relax. Then we started to talk about the nervous system, because I asked questions about how the signal from the proprioceptors differ from either going to the nervous system or the brain. The proprioceptors send the signal to the spine, which is interpreted there since the spine and brain are connected. We also discussed how these sensors are located in the muscles and joints and how doctors use a person's reflexes, such as a hammer to the knee to check if the nervous system is working. I also asked a question about how the muscle cells had positively charged ions outside and negative ions inside, because I didn't understand that part in the book.
Mark said that there are ions throughout the body that try to even out the charges and constantly change. He also said that they are just like proprioceptors, but the subject isn't studied that much for massage therapists. We then started to talk about what I would study in college and what field I would be in for work, which is healthcare. Right now, the goal is to read and learn about those four systems through the reading one at a time and by discussing them.

Mentor Log 3

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 12 Hours

I met up with my mentor Mark and we discussed about what I specifically wanted to learn about, which is the physiology of the muscles. We decided that we'd focus more on the physiology of the tone of the muscles as well as the functions and the dysfunctions. We discussed this for about 30 minutes. My mentor then gave me something to read, which was an in depth look into physiology. I read for the next hour and 30 minutes. It was a lot of information to read, because there was so much detail and I understood some of the material. I learned that there are different types of receptors throughout the body in the muscles that send signals to the nervous system and that the muscles are intertwined by muscle fibers. I also learned about the stations located in the body and what they do, as well as how to manipulate those stations. In the next meeting, I hope to gain a better understanding of the specific parts of the muscles and and nervous systems.

1984 Ch. 1-3

Winston's biggest conflict is how their system is being run.
In chapter one, Winston had a change of feeling during the Two Minutes Hate, in which he did not feel angry towards Goldstein. "Thus, at one moment Winston's hatred was not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police". Winston actually had a thought or feeling that he was to be angry at these three specific people/groups, because they all had one thing in common: they have power and influence over the people.
In chapter 2, Winston mentions how he has seen Mrs. Parsons face with fear from her children and he thinks that the parents shouldn't live their life in fear. "What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages". Winston doesn't like how the Party has influenced the children and practically brainwashed them. Because the children are so heavily influenced by the Party, the parents are scared of their own children.
In chapter three, Winston mentions about Oceania having a history with Eastasia and Eurasia about having wars and alliances, but he can't exactly pinpoint the actual truth, because the Party has the power to say whatever they claim to say, even if it never happened. "And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed-if all records told the same tale-then the lie passed into history and bacame truth". Winston doesn't like how the Party is able to control the past. He doesn't know what to believe, because the Party makes up lies by creating made up records that they come up with.

Mentor Log 2

Hours: 2 Hours
Total: 10 Hours

I discussed about the goals of my project with my mentor and any other significant information about the Capstone Project and what I wanted to learn about relating to massage. I was then reading a couple of pages about an introduction to massage. Some of the material that I read from the first book was very similar to the notes that I took in class on sunday. The other couple of pages I read in the second book was about how massage can be very helpful to the body's systems. Massaging can affect the blood circulation and increase blood flow. In the muscualr system, it can relax the muscles and tendons. In the connective tissue, it can actually use scar tissue and help heal the tendons, as well as prevent tendonitis. In the nervous system, it can decrease stress and increase hormone production. What really interested me was the effect on the skin, in which it can help heal eczema, because massaging influences the production of white blood cells in the body. I learned a lot from the second book expecially about the impact of a massage on one person. I didn't realize how much a massage can affect someone besides just relaxation. It's very interesting to learn about and maybe I can use this knowledge in the future as well.

Stranger than Fiction

An author is someone who tells their story, in which they wrote about. A narrator is the person who tells the story, but the story isn't necessarily his/hers. The narrator's job is to create the tones that the author is trying to describe in his/her writing. Being an author means to create your own original story, which takes a lot of work and patience. The narrator needs to understand the story and be able to explain the story with the appropiate tone to create the mood at specific times just like in the movie "Stranger than Fiction". The author knew what was going to happen inthe story, but the narrator was the one that kept the story going along and uses different times for different events in the story.

For my essay I was able to use the perspectives of other researchers and scientists and what they thought about in trying to cure HIV. Therefore, I was the narrator. I provided information towards people who would want to learn about HIV or for those who are infected. I think my paper will have an impact on those who read by educating them about the disease and informing them about new researches and discoveries made.

Mentor Log 1: Massage Class

Hours: 8 Hours
Total: 8 Hours

In the beginning of class, there was a lecture of what massage is and I took very good notes about the different types of massages, it's functions, when to use them, and when not to use them on clients. I also learned about different strokes, such as the Effleurage and Petrissage and the benefits of actually getting a massage.

I really liked the lecture and the class, because the class size was small and that half the day was a lecture and the other half was practicing massages. I was able to learn how to massage different areas of the upper body, such as the face, head, neck, shoulders, and upper chest. I feel very accomplished by how much I have learned within one day. I also really liked how the learning process was a hands on learning experience and how other students were giving feedback on the massage being performed on them, which helps me learn what I'm doing right or wrong.

During the time that I was giving someone a massage I felt very concentrated on what my hands were doing and what they were supposed to be doing. While I was receiving massages I felt very relaxed and sleepy. By the end of the day I was very happy and I can't wait for next week's class.