STUFF: HTC LIFE

           

                 Stuff.....is like an addiction. Stuff changes the mood of a person. It brings out their true identity and their morals. Stuff adds gravity, it adds entertainment, and value to many lives. For me personally it's additional trouble. I adore my HTC VIVID. Before I had a smart phone I was perfectly content with my LG slide. I wanted to keep it forever, but soon I was forced to convert over to the smart phone. Smart phones with all of it fancy gadgets and intuitive apps plays a huge part in my world. Every minute of the day I use my phone. I use it either as a GPS or computer; I am either receiving calls or placing texts. I absolutely hate the dependency. If my phone dies and I am not at home I get rather moody because I suck with directions and can get lost anywhere. My smart phone is an added limb, and has become over the years rather addictive.

                   Recently, I lost my phone. At first I grew hysterical, but after 20 minutes of mind play I had the best three days of my life without a phone. I woke up early as usual without the alarm. I took my time driving to different destinations although getting lost leaving school once. I felt free, I felt liberated. No face book alerts, no email checks, or friendly texts reminding me to buy groceries. My mind was clear and brilliant thoughts began pouring in to a mind that was fed constantly with entertainment, news, and trash. I have learned to power my phone off more and really focus on the beauty of life. I definitely drive safer and value my time. I do think about phones and the danger they cause to the earth. Millions of phones are discarded every year, and are not being recycled. Will that stop consumers? Will that stop me for that matter? NO....I know for myself I try to keep my phones forever, but sometime in the future I will unfortunately purchase another phone adding more waste to the planet.









This is one of my old house phones...lol. 
I used this at night while my cell phone was being replaced. 
                     (ANCIENT AND CUTE)

SEPARATION

                   Going from middle school to high school is a big step, however excelling from high school to college is an even bigger transition. For me it was more than just a transition it was more of a separation. A separation from childhood, the separation from the peer pressures of high school, the separation from having zero- responsibility. You become an adult; you become something new, exotic, fresh, and rich. You are full of ideas ready to enrich the world and people around you with your thoughts and capabilities. You are ready for your voice to be heard, the voice that will advocate for your beliefs. Your candle is lit, and the streets are ablaze for you to run along separating from those old juvenile days. 

                 I remember getting acceptance letters to countless schools, but being particularly interested in St. Johns University, located in Queens, New York. It was not St. Johns itself that lit my fuse, but rather the big city calling my name. The high towers, the colossal buildings, the black dirty streets filled with colorful bubble gum, and dirty paper wrappings. I wanted to feel free, I wanted to be in the fashion capital of the world. I prepped myself for this "easy transition". I lost weight to look like a model ( weighing 120Ibs). I bought designer clothes, school supplies, makeup, and anything that I thought good New Yorkers were in to. I arrived in a fifteen passenger van with many suitcases. My father and brothers were sad; they barely said one word to me during the trip there. It was just my dad, brothers, and I for years watching football games, and racing to eat party wings that only proved to burn taste buds. Once on campus, we made last minute arrangements. Kissing my dad goodbye was hard, I hated it and barely got sleep that night. Little did I know, the festivities of freshmen year only peeked around the corner.

Freshmen orientation soon began, breaking the barriers between college and high school life. School started by teaching international students, and other students foreign to culture about ethnicity, race, and how to accept one another. It was perfect! As months spiraled along, cliques formed, bills I had never heard of began knocking at my door, the economy was horrid, diminishing any chance of receiving decent loans and or scholarships. That year (2008) Barack Obama made history and was declared President of the United States, creating worldwide buzz and excitement. Becoming an adult was easy for some and harder for others. Some gained freshmen fifteen, while I lost freshmen fifteen. Walking the streets of NY is not a scene from sex and the city. Walking twenty blocks a day is stressful and tiresome. Classes were long and bore some. Trying to keep up with the crowd and the trends got exhausting. Being independent was not a transition, it was a new life style. I experienced and accomplished many things while in college. I learned about credit and how to maintain it, I learned  about street and book smarts, I was also well informed about good friends versus good associates. I braved being without my family on that cruel New York winter. I remember going to a broadway play alone on November 6, 2008. It was a cold, rainy, and somber night at the Nederlander Theatre.  As I watched the spectacles on stage, I sat brooding over whether this was all I wanted to be, another college student basking in cultism, gossip, and paying back crazy loans with the help of my single dad. NO!! I want to do good for me, my family, and country. I returned home for a couple of semesters before choosing to enter the service. This I knew would be the next transition to my new beginning. 

www.stjohns.edu

www.wickedthemusical.com

Individuality

              My name is Tanika Jasmine Lowery. The "T" derives from my dad, Tony; The "J" comes from my mother, Jennifer. My dad does not really know why he named me Tanika except the fact that he wanted all of his children's names to start with T.J.  Growing up I never gave much thought to my name. My name was a title people choose to call me, and a title I was trained to respond to. I was just grateful my name was not too "outrageous", or too "common". I grew up in the rough part of town in D.C. Names were used to place unique titling on ones' child. Parents wanted their child to be the first Carmelo or the first Beyonce. I only worried about being able to get a decent job or being able to put my name on a resume and it being pronounceable. It was not until I reached high school that I really started to love my name.

           As I stood in the front of my ninth grade homeroom class, I introduced myself as Tanika Lowery. I took my studies seriously and demanded respect. At the beginning of the spring semester all of my teachers were calling me Ms. Lowery. I felt important, I felt electrified, I felt like an adult instead of a teen just entering the ninth grade. Sometime after high school and a completed semester of college, I entered the military. Being a soldier is heroic at times, but during those grimy days of training and harsh assignments you are nothing but a number; you are nothing but a body in uniform. Each uniformed body fights for a way to gain experience, respect, rank, and or a title. Not only did I get expert training, but everywhere I stepped my name raised attention from various drill sergeant's, or other soldiers. Bad Boys the movie immediately came to their minds. "Mike Lowery!", "Mikey drop and give me fifty!" I learned to love my name, my alias. It not only kept me relevant, but I made plenty of friends wanting to discuss the humor in the nickname given me. No matter how insignificant a name may seem each person plays a part in this world. Each person has a title, you can make your name so influential it can be broadcast all over the media,  spoken in the mouth of every person around the world, or planted in cement downtown Hollywood because of fame and stardom. Titles are beauty and it inspires individuality. Tanika Jasmine Lowery is me and I am her.