Friday, September 16, 2011

Journal 1 - 100 Happy Things

1. Yoga
2. Chocolate
3. Rachel Maddow
4. Jamba Juice
5. The colorful "I <3 Boobies" bracelets
6. Mumford & Sons
7. Harry Potter
8. My mother
9. My father
10. My uncle
11. My best friend Anna
12. Running
13. Lifting weights
14. Kickboxing
15. Elephants
16. Cool tattoos
17. Hillcrest
18. The Office
19. Grey's Anatomy
20. Jewelry
21. Obama
22. My macbook
23. My iPhone
24. framed pictures of my friends and I
25. Reading
26. Dan Savage
27. Lisbeth Salander
28. Barbara Kingsolver
29. Being out of the closet
30. Nicki Minaj
31. John Cusac
32. The Beatles
33. My room
34. Pandora
35. Tumblr
36. Facebook
37. Red wine
38. San Francisco
39. New Orleans
40. Taco Tuesdays
41. Beer
42. Being single
44. Not having to take chemistry
45. Kissing
46. Country music
47. Making lists
48. Not being a college athlete anymore
49. Wicker baskets
50. Italian Soda
51. Cheap flights
52. PB & J sandwiches
53. Living in SoCal
54. That I was able to break up with my boyfriend before he asked me to marry him
55. My Ray Ban Sunglass
56. Not having any hair
57. My vans
58. Sushi
59. Dancing
60. Coffee
61. Living at home and not paying rent
62. My "woman's coming out" support group
63. My Rainbow flip flops
64. Thought Catalog
65. Sigg Water bottles
66. NIKE clothes
67. Colorful, unmatching socks
68. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
69. High heels
70. Babysitting
71. Backpacking
72. Camping
73. The beach
74. Days when I can stay in my pajamas all day
75. Emma Stone
76. Steve Carell
77. Mint chocolate chip ice cream
78. Any ice cream really
79. Twitter
80. American history
81. Disney Movies
82. Hookah
83. Going to baseball games
84. Getting free drinks at bars
85. Roller coasters
86. Low places (afraid of heights)
87. Texting
88. Johnny Depp
89. Firefox
90. Blogger
91. Waking up and realizing I have at least another hour to sleep
92. Beanies
93. Backpacks
94. Converse
95. Eating
96. Highlighters
97. Politics
98. Airports
99. Football
100. Me

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Welcome to Justine's little online world...

My name is Cara Justine Feaster.  Don't ask me why I go by my middle name, ask my parents, they named me.  I was born in a small town outside Dallas, Texas, lived in Huntsville, Alabama for a bit, Dallas again for a bit, and finally ended up in Escondido, California where I was raised.  I was homeschool my whole life, except for a brief and miserable stint at a public school for 8th grade. I have played tennis since I was eight years old, and dropped out of high school my freshman year in order to devote more hours per day to practicing.  Realizing that dropping out of school would probably not serve me well in the future, I began taking classes at Palomar College.  I moved to Las Vegas to attend a tennis academy for a year, during which time I also earned my high school diploma.  I was then recruited to play tennis for Nova Southeastern University, a private Division II school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  I received my Bachelor's in Psychology before moving back to Escondido in June of this year. After several months of living with my parents and having no clue as to what my next step in life would be, I decided that I would pursue my life passion and become a Special Education teacher.  I was told that Cal State San Marcos has the best credential program in So. Cal., so here I am.  Phew!

I would say that my proficiency in technology is average for my generation.  I know more than some my age and a whole lot less than others. I am an unashamed Mac lover. I think the advancements that technology has made and continues to make are wonderful and in general make our world a better place to live in.  However, I have strong opinions about the lack of human interaction that my generation and especially the generation after mine is becoming accustomed to.  Children who are raised on texting, email and instant messaging are at risk of never learning how to have appropriate face-to-face interactions, and I think interpersonal skills will become a greatly coveted quality.

The mission statement of the CSUSM College of Education did not factor into my decision to attend this university.  That being said, the mission statement does factor into my decision to continue my education here and to pursue the credential program next fall.  I am very impressed with the philosophy of the College of Education and the practical sense in which the mission statement is presented. Just about every school, college, educational establishment, restaurant and shoe store (kidding), has a mission statement, but I feel that often times these statements are just there for show and are riddled with fluffy filler words and sentences that look nice but often don't mean anything or represent the people who make up the institution.  The CoE mission statement is very practical and easy for students to identify with.  "Our practices demonstrate a commitment to student-centered education..."  This piece of the mission statement speaks loudly to me and is something I plan to focus on as I continue my studies and as I enter the credential program.