How can this semester already be over? I'll tell you. The time passed. I suppose I stayed busy enough for that time to seem to fly. I thought that I would have too much free time this semester, as my class load was much lighter than in previous semesters. That was only true for a few weeks.
As you may have read, I found many fun activities and new responsibilities to fill my time with. One on my favorites, serving as an officer of the ETSU Psychology Club, proved to be a productive experience and will lead into later involvement with Psi Chi, which will be discussed in the reports to come. I had the opportunity this semester to take part in a panel discussion and share information about psychology professors, classes, and the department in general. It was around this time that I was voted in as the new VP for the Psych Club. Speaking of changes in organizations, I was recently inducted as a full member into the National Society of Leadership and Success. This required attending a leadership training, watching three speaker broadcast presentations, and participating in three Success Networking Team (SNT) meetings. These meetings were actually very helpful in making progress toward my goal of applying the Washington Center for the fall semester of 2018. I really enjoy being a part of this organization, and I discovered after the induction ceremony that I have the opportunity to apply for the position of Success Networking Team Coordinator. I believe this could be an excellent opportunity to get some needed experience in taking on leadership involving team coordination. This is a promising opportunity and I will share the outcome in a post next semester. This has been a lighter semester for service, as most of my time has gone to studies, club involvement, and exercise. I will hopefully get some hours next semester as part of various clubs, but I tried to incorporate helping a community into another activity I quite enjoy. The unmentioned portion of my time dedicated to service involved picking up trash wherever I ran. I have spent much time this semester thinking about how our planet is so carelessly mistreated, and such a simple act of maintaining environments I love is a small part of how I have been contributing to a happier, healthier existence for both me and the trees. My own health has been a great focus this semester, and that has been clear in previous posts. I already mentioned my switch to a vegetarian diet, and I have never been happier with my food intake. I believe it has made me much more conscious of what I consume, and this has helped me both in exercising and daily living. I see a possible upgrade to veganism coming over the next year, and I look forward to sharing some interesting meal experiences with you all. I suppose I will start now by recommending sweet potato and black bean quesadillas. My, oh my. Yum yum, yum. Yum yum. I will definitely have fun trying out different consumables for endurance sports as I train for a longer race in the spring. There will be one exception to this lifestyle, and it will only happen once per year. Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes will be eaten during the weekend before fall semester finals week every year for the purpose of completing a Christmas Tree Cake Mile (think beer mile or donut mile, just with the tree cakes). The first was done just two short days ago. I discovered two things during this event: 1) I can run an easy-effort sub-6 mile with disgustingly sugary food freshly introduced to my stomach, and 2) I cannot eat very fast, especially disgustingly sugary food. John, my roommate that I mention in many posts, showed his true talents by setting a Tweetsie Trail FWCTCM FKT. Feel free to try this on your own and tell me how it goes. Also, anyone is welcome to join us next year. I attended a talk on forensic psychology just last week, and I enjoyed finding that, while I have much respect for the field, I will continue happily pursuing I-O. I have really been enjoying my psychology classes this semester, and I was even encouraged by a professor to visit her Behavior Analysis class next semester and share about some of my favorite topics. Thanks to Great Ideas in Science, taught by the spectacular Dr. Frank Hagelberg, I have confidence in my ability to give a satisfactory presentation. To improve my psychological knowledge related to my career interest, I plan to read about mentor-mentee relationships this winter and make progress in developing the test that my thesis may be centered around. So much has happened that I may be leaving some out, but I promise to continue making these posts as interesting as possible. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable close to the year, and I look forward to sharing about the many to come. Stay happy, my friends. -JD
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