Friday, December 1, 2017

Who Did I end up choosing? Part 2 of Multi-Dating: Tinder Edition

          It's officially December 1st, and I hope you been playing your cards right during the pre-season of the cuffing season because December is where the season officially begins. And let me tell you, I've been placing my cards in the right order and at the right time as I was exploring my options over the summer. As I promised you in last month's article, I said I was going to tell you who I chose to officially date and what made me make that decision.

          If you could not tell in the last article, I only favored two of the guys I met in person from Tinder. That would be Hakim* and  Calvin*. They were also the first two guys to super like me on the app and they just so happen to be Virgos. I apparently have a thing for them; we just click before I find out their sign. Before I really got the chance to figure where my feelings laid with Calvin*, I was putting a lot of focus on Hakim because I met him first so I wanted to know where our connection could lead us. At one point, he even found the time to take me to my doctor's appointment so I could start birth control and take an STD test which we both agreed to both take. My doctor's office was an hour away from where I'm currently living at now. When he initially decided to take me, he thought the location of my doctor's office was closer than where it was. And let me tell you, he was heated during both drives taking me there and dropping me back home. I even tried to calm him down with vanilla Oreo cookies. It semi-worked, and he is a hot head so I'm pretty sure you can create the picture yourself.

          Once I finally got my results back which came back negative, I texted Hakim* a picture of it hoping that he would do the same with his. But, he didn't. Instead,  he texts me saying "so now that we both have our papers and you're on birth control does that mean we don't use condoms." I returned him a question back. I asked him if I was the only person he was messing with in that way including getting/ giving head. And no I did not give this guy head, but you never know he could have been getting extra pressure elsewhere, so I wanted to be clear on all terms. I honestly wouldn't have cared that much because I was talking to other people even though I wasn't fucking them and we always used condoms when we got into action. To answer my question, he was that I was the only person he was messing with in that way at the time. I was almost tempted to say yes we could stop using condoms, but I was now becoming unsure of him and his real feelings for me. Whenever I would ask him how he felt about me, it was always in some manner as though we were friends with benefits, but nothing would have grown to become more than that. In one point into one of those conversations, he said, "Ehh you're good in my book." So now I'm confused. What the fuck is that suppose to mean? He said that it was his way of saying that he liked me. That surely sounded like a red flag to me. I mean I would have been cool with that, but I would never have a friends with benefits situation with someone and not use a condom. That would have been wild as hell, but I hear about a lot of people who do that, but that wouldn't have been okay with me.

          The next day, I was hosting an event in Upper Marlboro, and Hakim* had already known about the event, so he texted me to wish me luck. That was very nice of him even though I'm not really sure where we stand. And at the end, the event went well.

          So, now it is Sunday, and I'm still spending time with my family when I receive a text from Calvin*. He was wondering if he could take me out and of course I'm like, "where at?" He replies back, "I'm going to show you somewhere I grew up at." I reply back asking him where was this place called so I could look it up. Once he told me, I looked it up and couldn't find anything about the place, so I come up with the worst thought possible. This nigga is going to try to kill me any leave me for dead in a location, my family and friends wouldn't have been able to find me. I mean he didn't see like that type of person, but I am a Psychology major, so nothing surprises me anymore. One wrong thought and shit can go down. Plus this whole summer, all I've seen on the news were women getting harmed or killed by males they had some kind of relationship with and to make it worst, two of those crimes was located in Maryland. One in my hometown and the other one was very close from the preschool I work at. So I had real reasons to worry. So now, I'm asking my grandmother if she knows where that location was and the way she described the place to me, sounded like a lot of land that would be the perfect place to hide a body. It's funny now, not at the moment, I was scared for my life.

          Three days later, he convinced me just to go. I think the reason I decided to go because of the fear that if I said that I didn't want to go then, that would have been the last chance I wouldn't have been able to see if there was a real connection between us. Calvin* picked me up from work and took me to the place he wanted to take me on Sunday, and it was a nice place. We walked a man-made trail that had been that had some American War history and a lovely river. Placing me anywhere there is a nice view of water; I'm a fan of. I mean, I'm a Pisces, so I'm all about water. As we were walking through the trail, we entered a community park where I sat down to take a break from walking and where I told him that I was a rape victim to see how he would react. I mentioned that to him because I felt as though, anyone who gets in a relationship me must know where I come from and the reason a lot of writing will reflect on my sexuality.

          The reason I write about my sexuality and that I am a feminist because they guy who raped me, tried to blame the way I dressed made him do what he did, and I hear a lot of rape victims who were told the same thing. My goal is to encourage other victims that they should embrace their sexuality and who they are because it was not their fault that a childish as person could not handle their sexual urges. As Maya Angelou once said, "A wise woman wishes to be anyone's victim." She too was a rape victim.

          After telling Calvin* the story, we continued the walk, and we end up at a place that looks like a mall from the outside, but the inside looked like a museum/ community Rec center. From the vibes I was receiving, it seemed as though we both were having a good time. We even took pictures through out the wall, but I never saved the images from the Snapchat app to my phone because I didn't know how long our connection would last, so there wasn't any need have couple-like pictures on my phone when we were not an official couple. He felt the same, so there weren't any hard feelings. And at the end, we went out to eat at a restaurant; I have never been to call Nando's Peri- Peri. The food was good, and the date was great. I'm glad I went. And it seems like no one wanted the date to be over. After dinner, we went to a Wine & Spirit store and got some red wine and Brandi then headed to his place. Yea, yea I know, you're probably wondering what kind of combination is that, but I guess we were on cloud nine.

          Before heading to his place, he warned me about his pits and how one was very big and liked jumping on people. Well, that's exactly who greeted me at the door, and the bigger pit almost licked me on my lips. I guess it's a good thing; I like dogs and most animals like me. We headed to his room where we sat, talked, and had drinks. At some point, I fell asleep on the bed, and I woke up to find that it was almost 3 am. The sexual tension I was receiving, I knew I had to go home before I did something, I wasn't yet ready to experience with him yet, so I asked him to take me back home. I didn't tell him the complete reason for my decision. I only told him that I felt more comfortable sleeping in my own bed. I text Calvin* the very first thing the next morning telling him that I had a good time with him so he wouldn't think I wasn't interested in him. He replied back, "Anytime, next time bring a change of clothes and stay the night." I agree to the arrangements with no second thought.

          The same day, I get a text from Hakim* apologizing for being distant with me and how life has been very challenging for him. I replied back, "Yea it kinda felt that way. Is everything good now? I kinda missed you this week". He kept his reply short by saying, "Nope." I waited almost a whole day hoping that at some point he would tell me what was happening in his life that was causing him to be distant, but I got nothing until I texted him first. I told him that I guess he did not trust me enough to tell me what was going on with him or that he must have already figured that I wouldn't have been able to understand so there wouldn't have been a good reason to tell me. After talking for awhile I learned that he did, in fact, was having some family, emotional, and financial problems. This should have been a red flag for me to realize that it would be possible to pursue anything more with him other than a friendship at that time, but I kept my hope alive and was interested in helping him in way I could have possibly helped.

          Later that day, Calvin* hit me up telling me to get ready for tomorrow because he was going to take me out to go swimming in the river after work and to bring a towel and a change of clothes. He wanted me to wear my green aqua and white bikini swimsuit, but I purposely was saving that swimsuit for my Vegas trip I was going on the following week. We even had a little debate on why I should be wearing it for him and not for the randoms located in Vegas. I won the debate, and I choose a pink and red two-piece swimsuit instead.

          The next day, I hear it was supposed to rain, but by the time Calvin* picked me up from my house, it seemed like it was coming to an end, and we resumed our plans. But by the time we went to his house so he could put on his swim trunk and head towards the river, it started pouring extremely heavy. Luckily for us, I brought my umbrella just in case.

          The view was nice, and it was a good thing he had a waterproof jacket to cover our clothes and my bag of items. And it was also a good thing I had an umbrella, or we could have gotten sick. I sat in his lap while I was holding the umbrella, sitting in the river until it was starting to get dark outside. We walked barefoot heading back to the car since it was still raining. Thanks to my skinny feet, I could feel every damn rock. OUCH!!! After drying off, I just put my sweat jacket on because I didn't feel like putting my leggings back on.

          We then arrived at the Wine & Spirit store, and I stepped out the car, and as I was getting ready to fox my "not long enough" to be a shirt dress, some middle age white man was staring at me. I'm like oh okay damn, and I felt like damn that must have been the look white men gave before raping black females during the slavery days. Calvin* was ahead of me when this was taking place, so he didn't know what was happening until he saw old dude's facial expression and that's when he turned around and saw that it was me, the dude was staring at. Oh well, I'm wearing a swimsuit, can a girl just live in piece without having to feel like dudes only look at me like I'm a piece of meat! I get similar stares while inside the store as well, but more males and females side talking about me like I didn't notice. As we got the drinks, the cashier asked both of us for our I.Ds. I left mines in the car because he was the one buying, so the lady told me to wait outside especially since I had blurted out that I was 21 without even thinking. He took a long ass time before getting out the store. Once in the car, I learned that she was trying to go smack on him and asked he questions about what we were doing before coming to the store. He told her, and her response was, "I wish someone did that with me" and whatnot. Can you tell that drinking will now be one of our favorite past times?

          We returned to his house where he believed it was a good idea for us to take a shower together. At first, I was like, "are you sure about this," and he was like "yea" so I went for it. His shower was too small to fit two people. It was a good thing that neither one of us was fat. He thought he was going to finger me while in the shower, but not on my watch. He didn't do it.

          After our shower, we put on night clothes on, watch Spiderman Homecoming, ate dinner with our drinks, and I end up falling asleep about five minutes before the movie ended since I had already seen the whole film before. I then woke to the feeling of my whole back wet and realized that he got sick and I woke him up to tell him what happened. My first though was, "Oh no this boy didn't just throw up on my back." He cleaned up; we took another shower together, he gave me another shirt to sleep in, changed the bed sheets, and went back to sleep.

          When morning came, I put on my well fitted black dress with pink flowers and my black wedges. I was feeling "Bad Ass and Delicious" in the dress and Calvin* really liked me in my dress too. Once we both were dressed, we headed to my apartment so that we could have breakfast. I cooked cinnamon pancakes and bacon while he took a nap on the couch. When the food was finally prepared, he said that the pancakes were good, but the bacon could have been cooked a little longer so it could have been more crunchy. We then got ready to head to the County Fair.

          Once at the fair, Calvin* was still feeling sick so he didn't get on that many rides because most of the rides were spinning rides and he felt as though they would have made him throw up. The fair was still fun for me. Actually, it was really fun for me because I wasn't scared of the heights on any of the rides I went on. I think I got rid of my fear of heights. "Yayyyyy." I'm getting closer to my goal of being able to jump out of a plane one day. We even took a picture of us on the swings and at that very moment, that's when I could really see myself offically dating him and cutting Hakim* off.  When we left the fair, it was the perfect timing because precisely after we got out the parking lot, it started raining heavily. We headed back to my apartment after grabbing some children from the grocery store. Since I cooked breakfast, he agreed to cook me dinner, and it was agreed on that he should spend the night. Do you see what I mean? Every time I hang out with a Virgo male, nobody wants to end the date, and one date ends up being two or more day mini-adventures. Anyway, we took a shower together.

          After the shower, we watched the first season of Super Store when all of the sudden I'm getting fingered and I didn't stop him. Then he thought was about to fuck but I shut that request down. He even pulled out a condom and proceeded to put it on even when I was telling him to not even open it. The reason why I shut down the request this time was because he told me that his longest relationship was only four months long and that he's been single for nearly three years. How can I  feel secure when knowing that? I couldn't. Also, I was experiencing mixed emotions. I was going to end up fucking two guys in one month and at the same time. I wonder if dudes feel this way when they are fucking two or more chicks in a short period of time. And since I was starting to really like him a lot, I wasn't trying to become another fuck buddy if he ended up disappearing on me. He even asked me why, but I couldn't give him the answers I was contemplating in my mind so I gave him no answer at all and we just end up going to sleep that night.

          The next day, I woke up early like I usually do and he remained sleep, so I decided to do some homework until he wakes up. When he finally wakes up around twelve in the afternoon and asks if I could take a break from my writing. I guess now he wants to get some attention.

          I put my book and pen down, and he dragged my legs towards him and started finger fucking the shit out of me. Then eventually he pulled out the snake, and I was like, "you need a condom." That's when he told me that he only had one and that I wasted it yesterday. I mean, I didn't tell him to open it, in fact, I tried to stop him, but he was well determined that something was going to happen last night. Luckily, I have endless Magnums in my drawer and handed one to him. And just like his finger, he fucked the shit out of me. The whole time, he was making outbursts to me that felt like compliments. Afterwards, I asked him if I was now just all talk like he once said I was while I was laying sideways on the bed while placing my right hand on my hip and looking him in his face. It took him a minute before he said anything. His pause was the only thing I needed as my answer. Calvin* left my apartment with the removal of all his chest hair removed since he said that every female who had a problem with it never tried to do anything about it, so I was up for the challenge. The facial expression he made when he saw his hairless chest for the first time was priceless. I didn't see him until after I came back from my Vegas trip.

          So while I was in Vegas, my friend and I took a stripper class in hopes to be able to bring some moves back to Maryland. I mean Vegas is one of the best places to learn how to strip right? The class even taught us how to give a lap dance. So I thought this was the perfect time to try out the moves on Calvin*. I told him to sit in the chair in front of me and asked him if he had a song in mind. He said, "I have a feeling that you have a song in mind." I honestly didn't have a song in mind. There were so many songs to choose from. I then sat on his lap facing him and told him that while I dance, he couldn't put his hands on me. I got up, walked to my room, and came back with a scarf which I tied his hands to the chair. Within two minutes I chose the song, Birthday Sex x Foreign," by William Singe. I hid near the corner as I  was contemplating how I was going to start this dance. Before William began singing, I decided to take my oversized tye-dyed t-shirt off and model walk in my bra and boyshorts while still holding the shirt in one hand. Once I'm at arm's length, I slowly swung the shirt around his neck, to then move the shirt over his shoulder and on the floor it went. I sat down on his lap with him between my legs and undid my bra from the back and tossed it to the ground. Then I held his face from the bottom of his chin and lowered it to my bigger boob and let him suck on it for awhile before letting go of his chin before I started grinding on him. From the front to the back, that ass was moving, and I even twerked on the dick. I sat back down on him, stared into his eyes and grabbed his face once more so he could suck on the other breast, and he did. Then I got up and took my back and white shorts off and let it slide off my right leg and let it land on the floor. More grinding took place, and I pulled his pants down that revealed everything. That's when the song ended. As I was untying the scarf from around his hands, I had a question to ask. "Am I the first person to give you a lap dance?" The answer was yes. I replied back, "Good. I like being first." Then we did the deed from the couch to the weak ass table in the living room part of the kitchen. And let me tell you, that table felt like it was going to break down with me on top of it. In the end, he told me that I looked good on that table.

          It is now almost the end of August and the Fall semester is about to start, and it seems as though, I've been spending a lot of time with Calvin* and none with Hakim*. On the 24th of August, I snapchatted Hakim* to see if we were still going to the crab feast. He replies back, "I got my car broken into today at 9:15 am. In my head, I reviewed all the excuses he's been giving me so far, and now I'm shouting "BULLSHIT." I'm was getting tired of it. On to new people! I messaged him expressing the bad luck we have when it came to every time we had something planned. He would either get physically hurt landing him into the hospital because he thinks he's Incredible Hulk; has something that was work related that needed to be completed, or he would just so happen to forget about our plans. He doesn't reply back "Whatever," I say in my head. At that point, I knew we weren't going to the crab feast. Hakim* about to get cut off very soon.

          The next day, Calvin* and I was supposed to go on a dinner date, but in the midst of getting his keys, a nerve popped out of his knee. At the time, I felt as though he was blowing me off just like Hakim* just did with the crab feast the day before. So, I just didn't want to hear any of what he had to say. Also, I was mad because I just got dressed entirely, fixed my hair, put on lipstick, and put on my nude colored heels, so I was not in the mood to hear that type of news. I then took off all my clothes off leaving my underwear and bra on, wiped the lipstick off my lips, and slid into bed. I woke up two times and both times two hours passed. I then decided to turn my phone off and went back to sleep. When I woke up again, that's when I turned the phone back on. It seemed like Calvin* tried to message me on snap and probably even tried to call. I snapchatted him back to say, "If you tried to contact me, I was sleep. I'm going back to sleep." I don't remember what he replied back, but it was something short like "okay."

          I woke up the next morning and realized how insensitive I was acting yesterday towards Calvin*. I decided to send a message to apologize. Two hours passed, I get nothing from him, I try again. Two more hours passed, I tried again. I kept doing this all day. I still get nothing. I even tried to call him a couple of times, and it went straight to voicemail. I then left snapchat messages, text messages, and voicemails that I was planning to see him later that night. I still didn't get anything. At this point, I believed that he blocked me. But, I get to thinking, why would he do that? I know I was acting bratty, but I didn't say anything bad. I even searched on Google, "How do you know when someone blocked you on an Android phone?" Do I sound "obsessed" or very in my feelings? I even went as far is having a friend text him to see if either his phone was off, was ignoring my messages, or was I really blocked. Right after she said she was down for the cause for my emotional ass, Calvin* hit me up and I found out that he was in the ER for most of the day and his phone went dead while he was in the hospital. Now I feel really bad about being a brat. I really need to work on that. I guess maybe I have more feelings for him that I'm really ready to admit to myself and now I really want to drop Hakim* to the left of Tinder and keep Calvin* to the right. Two days later on August 28th, me and Calvin* started to officially date and decided to cut the other people off.

       
If you haven't noticed in this story, I chose Calvin* because we had a great connection and friendship, he made time to see me and go to activities with me. He has a passion for the things he loves, he is a family person, has high goals for his life, and of course, he's very attractive to the eye.

*The names have been changed to protect their privacy

If you liked this article and part 1 of Multi-dating: Tinder Edition be on the lookout for my book, "Adventures of a Pretty Young Thing," that will be released in the new future.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Multi-Dating: Tinder Edition


          So it is now officially the month of November, the month of Thanksgiving and the season where a lot of people who were enjoying their single life over the summer are now trying to be "cuffed" or "taken" into a serious relationship. According to the chart, we are in the final month of making rounds and making your last picks before December where the Season officially starts. To add to the cuffing season, I decided to talk about my experiences while multi-dating guys over the summer that I met through the app Tinder.

          If you have been reading my earlier works, you would be familiar with the topic I once wrote about which is Multi-dating. The term Multi-dating is when you date a number amount of people at the same time, and as time goes on, you drop the ones you don't connect with or don't fulfill your wants and needs, to later choose one person to make it official with. The goal is to find someone who makes an excellent match for you. When I originally wrote my first multi-dating article, I was just talking about meeting people mostly in person, but now it's time to expand the topic to the online world.

          A couple of years ago, I couldn't imagine or see myself meeting anyone on a dating site until one day before 4th of July of this year when I had the urge to see what was Tinder all about. I have heard a lot from people and reviews that Tinder was basically a hooking up and one night stand app, but I personally have seen the success of finding successful relationships among my friends who used the app and are still going strong today. So, I was like, "Why not try it. I am single and ready to see what was out there".

          As I was checking out fireworks in Laurel, Maryland with a friend, I was creating my official Tinder profile on July 1st. I would say the hardest part of making my profile was creating the bio of myself. I didn't want to seem too emotional, desperate, nor did I wanted to appear like I wanted to just hook-up with randoms. What I wanted guys who checked out my profile to know was that I was in college, that I was a writer and pre-school teacher, and what type of guys that would be able to hold my attention if they wanted to do anything that involved me in the equation. Within an hour, I came up with the perfect bio for myself. It read, "I am a writer, a pre-school teacher, and a business woman. I am also a Junior at UMBC. I am a compassionate woman looking for an equally compassionate man. Someone who is understanding, caring, and very passionate about what they want to do with their future. I enjoy traveling new places and trying new things and want someone who enjoys the same." After that, I was set to go. I didn't need to worry about the choice of pictures because the app used images that I had already set as profile pictures on Facebook. I think I only changed two original photos to something else.

          Once I got home, I started swiping left and right checking out local guys profiles. During the first five minutes, I only saw white boys as options. So in my head, I was like, "where are the black boys at? Is it because I'm using this app in Baltimore, Maryland? I know for sure, it wouldn't have been like this if I was using this app in Prince George's County, Maryland." Don't get me wrong; I don't have a problem dating out my race, I just thought there would have been a lot of options besides one race shown on the app since I was in Baltimore which all I see in the area are interracial couples. But then suddenly, I started getting more options, and my worries disappeared.

          I continued to swipe left and right, I saw a couple of few guys that I swiped right too, and all of a sudden I got a notification that someone super liked me. Let's say his name is Hakim* and from his pictures, he was precisely the type of guy physically I'm usually attracted to. He was six feet, and two inches tall, has a cute baby face, and thick. Not only was he physically attractive to the eye, but he had a lot going on for himself. He had just graduated from the same school as I'm currently attending, an activist, Politician, and also enjoyed going out and having a good time according to his profile. The first conversation we had with one another was our love of horror movies and how we could go out to the movies together in the future. A possible date was planned that night.

          By July 3rd, I had gone on my first date with Hakim*. And let me tell you that he was very attractive in person like I imagined after looking at his pictures on his bio. Okay, no he was fucking fine with a capital F, and he caught me staring. When I got in his car, we didn't have any real plans, so we decided to go out to eat near a local restaurant near the school. I was taking a risk just hopping in a car of a stranger, but I had a good feeling about him through text. As we talked and ate dinner, I learned that he was really good at reading body expression and every move I made, he could read it perfectly. That was fucking nerve recking.  We also were talking about 4th of July plans and how I would like to see my family on that day. All of a sudden, he mentioned that he had family in that area as well and didn't see a problem dropping me off to see mines while he saw his and would take me back home afterward. The only exchange I had to do was to organize his stuff in his room.

          I ended up spending the night at his house. If someone would have told me that was going to happen, I wouldn't have believed them. We didn't end up having sex that night, but we did in fact cuddled and made out. The next day after spending time with our families and heading back to Baltimore, we decided that I should spend the night at his house again. And that's when the deed took place, and there were no regrets.

          Within the first week of using tinder, I had gone on one date and two other dates planned. On July 6, I ended up meeting a guy named Destin* who told me the first day we chatted on Tinder that he could "fuck the shit out of me." The day of our plan to meet, it was raining hard, and I had hoped that he would have wanted to cancel the meeting. I didn't even want to meet him in the first place after I received that message from him on Tinder, but because the kind person I was at the moment, I had agreed to meet. We agreed to meet at the UMBC Library because I felt as though, if anything had happened or if he would have tried anything with me, at least there would have been witnesses.

          As it was raining hard and I haven't heard from
Destin* all day, I just figured that the meeting was canceled, but when I woke up from a nap, I received a message from him asking where was I and that he was at the library. When I finally got to the library, I almost didn't even recognize him because he had more facial hair in person than in any of his pictures I saw on Tinder. We sat at a couple of computers and the whole time we were talking; I felt like he was looking at me like a piece of steak. Can you say, "Awkward"? My intuition was right about that guy, and I was so glad that I chose the library to meet. After about an hour or so, he had to return his rental car and had to leave. I was pleased about that because he wasn't my type and this meeting wasn't going to lead to anything. I had also hoped that he thought this meeting was a failure and would stop contacting me. But it didn't, he kept trying to link up, and I ended up blocking him.

          Within the same week, I asked Hakim* if he ever went to a Sip & Paint place before. He said no he hasn't, but he would be interested in going to one. After I paid for our tickets, I made sure I sent him a daily reminder about the event because last time we tried to set a date for the Sip & Paint event, he suddenly became booked because he forgot about our date plans. Once it becomes July 21st, one day before the event and I find out that he's in the hospital because he fucked up his right shoulder while playing basketball with his boss and co-workers. After stating to him that the tickets were non-refundable after 24 hours, he said that he would still try to take us to the event but his painting would be trash (his words). I had little hope that it would be possible after learning that he had to drive himself home with his knees on the steering wheel.

          The next day I put on my nice and bright fitted dress that shows a lot of my back that my grandmother had just fixed for me. I was feeling cute and my lips popping and when I text Hakim* so I could find out what time he should be at my place to pick me up, I find out that we couldn't go because he was in a lot of pain and the medicine was making him sleep all day. At this point, I am very bummed and pissed because I got dressed for nothing and there was a small chance of me being able to get my money back. This wouldn't be the first date he had to cancel because of other reasons.

          On July 30th, I decided to meet up with another guy that I met on Tinder named Calvin* who was also another match that super liked me on the app. We were texting back and forth on the app for about a week before our first meeting. From his pictures, I thought he was cute, and he looked very down to earth. He also has a baby face. I have a thing with baby faces. Also on his profile, he mentioned his passion for music and that he was a mechanic. We met at the campus library, just like I did Destin*. I kinda realized how risky I was when I was with Hekim* so I decided to be more careful for now on. We walked around the campus from the library to the apartments where I stay. He mentioned how he was at Howard college for Engineering and was looking for a four-year school to transfer to in the future.

         Eventually, we chilled in the living room of my apartment until it starts getting late. I was trying to call it a night and waited for him to walk towards the door, but instead, he walks to my room getting ready to hop into my bed. I'm like, that's definitely won't be happening tonight so he can stand and watch me put my nightgown on and jump in my bed by myself if he wants to. I did offer to let him sleep on the couch if he wanted too, but no, he wanted to be in my bed.

          While waiting for him to get the message, I put on my nightgown without exposing myself. Once he realized that he wasn't going to be able to sleep in my bed, he got the message and left, but he asked to be invited to taco night that I previously mentioned to him earlier.

          The very next day, I was messaging another guy named Darkeem*, another guy from Tinder and we eventually agreed to meet up in person. He was sooo cuteee! By the time he came over, I'm making the taco meat to complete my taco salad. As we were talking and getting to know each other, there were several awkward dry spots, but I didn't think it was that bad.

          I learned that Darkeem* makes Dancehall pop music which he's very good at when he played a couple of videos for me, he is Nigerian, twenty-five years old, has his Masters, is a Scorpio, has an Engineering career, and he graduated from UMBC. As I'm learning this information, I feel as though I'm really out of his league. This would never work, but he's cute, and I would like to find some connection between us. I even asked him, "What is your type"? He replied, "I really don't have a type. As long as people are always pushing themselves to be more than what they are." That came to me as a red flag especially with his tone of voice he used.

          Once I finished cooking, he was like red wine would taste good with the taco salad. We went to the liquor store, and he brought a couple of bottles of wine. Once back in my apartment, I'm sipping my glass while he's drinking from his fast. He then has the audacity to tell me that I'm drinking too slow and should be drinking more. By the end of the night, I said to him that I was going to call it a night. He thought he was going to sleep in my bed. I was like Nah, but you can sleep on the couch! That was the same thing I told Calvin*. Eventually, he got the message and left. I really think he was trying to get me drunk so we could have hooked up.

          After spending some time on Tinder and meeting new guys, I can see the possible hook upside of Tinder. When I first decided to be active on the app, I was doing it just for fun and some small hopes that I could possible meet a good match for myself. If you liked this article about me multi-dating experience on Tinder, just wait until I release my December article, where I tell you all how I made a final decision among one of the guys I met.

*These are not the real names of the people mentioned, in order to protect their privacy 

Sunday, October 1, 2017

My Natural Hair Journey


 Relaxed hair, 12th grade 2012
  Before deciding to stop perming my hair 2014






1 whole year with no perm and a couple of months after completing the Big Chop  2016                                                    



                                                         First time getting my hair straightened and styled the end on 2016 


          The pictures you see above shows you a quick glance of my hair journey of me returning to my natural hair texture state from a five or six years of having a relaxer in my hair. In the first picture, it shows me with a relaxer in my hair. In this point in my life, I just wanted to grow my hair very long while still perming my hair. Well, my hair was long somewhere along my back, but I always wanted to grow it pass bra length. In the second photo, was during a period of my life where I didn't see any need to continue getting perms in my hair. In fact, a friend of mine that is also in the picture asked me whether or not I was natural and she was in shocked when I told her I wasn't. She was in shock because my hair looked as though it was natural since you could see the thickness of my hair. I believe the day we took this picture was when she asked me that question. That got me thinking that night that maybe I should just stop getting perms altogether because, after two weeks of getting a fresh relaxer, my hair would suddenly become untamable again and have this frizzly bush as you see in the photo. In the third picture is the first hairstyle that I considered cute on me after completing the big chop with the help of my mother about two months before taking this photo. This was, in fact, my usual go-to hairstyle when I wasn't wearing wigs or trying to braid my own hair with added hair. And lastly, the fourth picture shows the first time a straightened and styled my hair. My hair had now become healthier, thicker, and grew back to the length I had while having a perm in 12th grade. Even though I made it three years natural, there were some things I wished I knew before deciding to transition. In this article, I will be discussing five things I learned while transitioning from having a perm to cutting my perm ends during my big chop after completing a year of being natural.

1. Going Natural is a change of mental thinking

          When most people think about going natural, the first thing they think is changed is the person's hair but there's more to it. Going natural also involves a change of mental thinking. While going natural, you have to relearn that your hair was never meant to layback or to ever be slick enough to have a comb quickly go through your hair. Since perms and society have brainwashed us to believe that everyone's hair should be like that, it makes people who don't have that type of hair frustrated when dealing with our natural born hair. You must relearn to love how you see in the mirror while wearing your hair in its natural state. Also, you must take your hair for what it is. You might see someone with nice curly hair that grew naturally through their scalp and then tries to compare them with yours and wonder why your hair couldn't do the same as theirs can also lead to frustration. It is best to find people with similar hair texture as yours and gain tips to how they are able to style and take care of their hair.

2. You have to go Natural for yourself, not for anyone else

          Going Natural is not a trend, it has now become the new realization for many people, and they are now curious about who they really are. With society training many people from a very young age what was considered attractive and intelligent, it made it easy to make a lot of people believe that having dark skin and African or colored features were considered the most unattractive and the less intelligent of all races. It has now become a point where society is trying to pretend they never brainwashed us and try to make African and colored features the new big thing in all forms of media without fully appreciating the features on the people who were naturally born with them. When I decided to become natural, I decided because I didn't feel like having completely straight hair anymore thanks to the media, but also the fact that perms are a painful process to gain straight hair and the fact that they wouldn't last as long as they used to on my hair. I also did research on perms and learned that there was proof that they caused brain damage and cancers to the body. After learning that fact, it actually convinced me that going natural was the best decision for my overall health.

3. The first year of transitioning will be the hardest year during the journey of becoming Natural

           I say this because, for one, you have to learn how to throw away all your thoughts you once had about your hair and what is considered "Good Hair." There is no such thing as good hair because the idea was made up and created by traditional society. Secondly, you have to learn how to take care of the new hair that is now going out of your scalp in its natural state, while still maintaining the perm ends that is now hanging for dear life. That is if you didn't just decide to cut all your hair off all at once. Then when it comes to taking care of two different types of hair patterns, that means both need a different kind of attention and hair products. This is the most confusing for a newbie in this Natural hair journey. At this point, it might make you want to change your mind and just throw in a perm to your scalp especially when you start seeing a lot of shredding. I'm just going to let you know that shredding is very normal and highly expected to happen when you stop getting perms. Once you pass this state of mind, now you have to learn to ignore negative comments from outsiders who don't completely understand why you decided to go Natural. During my first year, people would come up to me and say that my hair looked a mess, that I needed to get it braided because it wasn't presentable and that I should just get it dreaded because I won't have a nice nor cute hair texture. I even got into a deep debate about me going natural that almost ended a relationship with one of my close family members because I wouldn't agree on how they wanted me to style my hair. And lastly, deciding when you'll be mentally ready to do the big chop and truly learning your hair texture.

4. Everything you knew about taking care of your hair, throw it all out the window

          As I was learning how to take care of my new hair type, I was not well informed that I could no longer use most of the things I was once used on my hair when I had a perm. For one, I have to keep my hair moisturized all the time or my hair will eventually drink all of my moisturizing hair products and would cause my hair to become very dry and break off. Secondly, when moisturizing the scalp, it only needs a little amount, or it will cause to clog pores and making it impossible to gain new hair growth. Whereas, the hair needs a lot of moisturizing product(s). Thirdly, I never knew what the hell "Deep Conditioning" was and the importance of it. I just assumed it was the same thing as putting conditioning in your hair while washing it. In reality, deep conditioning is critical to put on your hair before washing it because it causes your hair to become softer and easier to detangle. With continuous use, it can help your hair to become more manageable. Fourthly, I learned that you're not supposed to comb your hair in its dry state or very wet state, or it will cause a lot of breakage. It is always better to comb your hair while the hair is moist. And lastly, all shampoos are not the same. When I would use the shampoo I was using when I was getting perms, my hair would instantly become dry. I know learned that shampoo that contains any kind of alcoholic ingredients causes natural hair to become very dry.


5. Youtube Natural Hair Bloggers will become your new best friends

          As I was starting my journey of becoming natural, I didn't really have anyone who was one the same stage as me when it came to my hair journey. I only knew people who were either one year in on their hair journey, years in on their hair journey, or has been natural their whole life. So, I just looked up hair inspirations on Google that lead me to Youtube. While on youtube, I looked for hairstyles I could do on my hair while transitioning, when I completed the big chop and had a TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro), and currently at my bra hair length. These Hair Bloggers has been a great inspiration through the hard times when I was thinking that I wasn't fit to be natural to now getting excited about all the hairstyles I can now try with my newly thick and long hair. I also want to make sure to state that it's best to follow not only hair bloggers who have natural hair you admire, but also bloggers who share your similar hair length and texture. In this way, you won't become very frustrated with yourself when trying the tips and hairstyles that your admirers give.

I hope these five tips help you during your journey of becoming Natural. Being natural can be a mighty thing to have whether or not you have loose curls or very thick and tight curls. All curls are beautiful, and it's a great thing when you learn it for yourself. And once you relearn to love yourself, you can become an inspiration for someone else. Leave comments and topic requests. Thank you and let's start a conversation.
         


Friday, September 1, 2017

How do you know you picked the right major?

          It is now September, and that means that school has now started or will soon to start for us college/ trade school students. For some of us, we already knew what we wanted to major once we have begun our higher education career, but for others, it has always been a struggle trying to find the right major. In this article, we will be focusing on how most people choose their major(s) and how important it is to have a chosen major as a freshman. We will also discuss how common it is for people to change their major within their higher educational careers.

          When you first mention to others about going to college, the first two questions are usually asking where you're enrolling to and what is the major you are pursuing while there. For people who are undecided, you may feel pressured to say a major and may feel like you're the only one without a deciding major in mind, but don't worry because you're not. As a first-year student, it isn't as important to have already declared a major. According to Princeton Review, the major you choose will neither predict nor guarantee your future. Many graduates find jobs that have nothing to do with the major they graduated with when they were in college. And typically when it comes to declaring a major depending on your school, you can wait until your sophomore or junior year to make a final decision.

          The news about unlikely you may end up having a career you majored in probably made you more nervous about declaring a major, but now I'm going to give you some tips when it comes to finding the right major for you.

          One thing to consider when thinking about possible majors is that any major you pursue will prepare you for a particular career path. You should talk to students and advisors of the departments of the majors of interest. You need to know whether or not the major or majors you are considering come with a strict regimented order of courses. Knowing that is very important because if you start taking those classes late, you may fall behind and have to extend your college days longer than you planned. And before declaring a major, you should take a couple of classes within those majors to get a feel of the subject. Also, don't narrow your career options by picking an overspecialized major, such as Marine Biology. By overspecializing a major, it places a danger that once you graduate, you will have a small choice of options to choose from after you graduate. Only a very few people stick with one career for their entire life and having an overspecialized degree can lead to problems when you decide to pursue a different career path. You will be better off earning a degree in the general field such as Biology because most jobs are looking for people who are skilled in critical thinking and communication which you learn in college, but you will be able to gain industry-specific skills within the workplace. 

          When people think of majors, they usually choose them because of their promising high salary for that field. I'm going to tell you off the back that thinking this way is not a great way to go about things. I say this because if you're not happy in that field than the amount of money you make in it will not be worth it for long.

          For some people, they end up choosing a subject that they absolutely love with a passion. When you love what you're studying, you are mostly to remain engaged with your classes and college experience. You will also be able to maintain good grades and develop great relationships with others in your field. I was personally able to experience this when I finally concluded that it would be hard for me to not declare English as a major of mine. I always loved to write as a very young child and even started my first year in college as an English major, but after looking at the possible job markets in Maryland, I found it impossible to find a career that I would enjoy once I graduated. After I gained my realization about a year ago, I concluded that I have to get an English degree because I was losing my passion for completing a college degree. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Psychology as well, but with the stress of back to back tests and having fewer opportunities to write about topics I care about, I was close to developing depression. I am in a better place now as I'm now majoring both English and Psychology and I know what I want to do in the future with both degrees. If you're worried about not being able to find a suitable career through graduating with a degree, you chose through passion and not through future job opportunities; I'm going to tell you with confidence that you should still choose that major. I say to still chose that major because, through the rest of your college career, you will be able to talk with other students, advisors, and teachers in that field who can help guide you into finding the right post-college job for you. They can also help you find internships and subject groups on campus. And if you still don't find the right job for you, then you can always create that perfect job for you as well.

          And then there are those people who started college with a chosen major and now wants to change it or add to it. It is very normal to want to change your major while in college. While you are experiencing a different type of freedom while in college, you will also be introduced to new subjects that you never even heard before until you stepped into the college world. According to Borderzine, about eighty percent of students in the United States end up changing their major at least once. And on average, college students change their major at least three times within their college career. There has been two main reasons why people end up changing their career, and those reasons have been the fact that their parents or very close family members had chosen that major for them and they realized it wasn't the right field for them. The other reason is that while they were in college taking courses in that major, they came across being unable to pass those classes. As a Junior, I can tell you that I have changed my major for both reasons. I changed English from a minor to a Major and Psychology to a minor when I found that the Psychology classes were too hard for me. And I had chosen the Psychology major before adding English because I researched the salary for counselors and my parents believed I would have a promising future in that field. 

          To conclude, College is a whole different world, and it's sometimes impossible to pinpoint exactly where you see yourself post-college career. It is ok not to have a declared major until your sophomore or junior year, just be aware of the time limit you would need to complete that degree. And for others, choosing a major was never the problem, but after taking several classes, you realized that the major you started off with is no longer the major you want to finish college with.

Cited Work

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/choosing-college-majors

http://time.com/4103006/college-major-tips/

http://borderzine.com/2013/03/college-students-tend-to-change-majors-when-they-find-the-one-they-really-love/

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Why date men who grew up with a younger sister?

          When it comes to dating, most people are not completely aware that the family dynamic you grew up knowing can affect the way you see your potential mate. We are influenced by the relationships we see among our parents and grandparents. Another thing we are influenced by is the environments we call home. We are not only affected by them, but we are also affected by the relationships we have with our siblings. Not a lot of people are aware of this fact, but it can cause you to become dateable or undateable to the opposite sex. In this article, we will gain a better understanding why men who grew up with a younger sister makes them better romantic partners than men who grew up with only brothers or as the only child in the house.

          For people who date the opposite sex, dating always seemed like trying to save an impossible puzzle that never gets successfully placed together. It's as though you're dating a complete alien that you wish you were an expert in understanding their world, but it always becomes an impossible task. Luckily, for heterosexual men who grew up with their sisters, learning the opposite sex's language and their world became easy for them to understand through experience. They figured out why women stay so long in the bathroom, they had to become their sisters' listening ears whenever she experienced heartbreak, and they don't get easily grossed out by hearing the words menstrual cycle and tampon (well, not anymore). Now that they pass the stage of being easily disgusted and annoyed by the many things women do and have to go through. They gained a new found appreciation for women in their natural state. They no longer believe women are impossible creatures to understand and they become more dateable in the process.

          Before I started dating, I too was unaware of this knowledge until recently. I have realized that most of the guys I dated and currently dating all grew up with a younger sister in their household. They all portrayed similar characteristics that I prefer my future husband to have. And no I don't ask guys on the first date if they have a younger sister before I agree to a second date, but maybe I should start doing that, and I'm going to tell you why.

          As I was doing research on this topic, I learned that other bloggers especially women bloggers understood the same concept as I did and highly agreed with me. For the blogger, Taylor Kelly, she wrote an article titled, "7 Reasons why Men with Sisters Make Some of the Best Boyfriends", based on an experience of hers. She became inspired to write this article after dating a guy who grew up with a sister for the first time in her life. The very first thing she learned about most guys who grew up with a sister is that he's respectful and does not see you as only someone he can participate with in any sexual activities. He learned through experience when he acted like a trouble maker towards his sisters growing up and got in trouble for it or simply learned just by being around women for most of his life. The second thing she learned was that he's protective. According to Kelly, "a guy who has sisters has plenty of experience with being ready for any bad boy who may cross his path." He won't let anyone hurt you or even come near you, especially if he thinks you're in danger. For the third thing, she learned was something I mentioned earlier on how he saw his sisters' go through heartbreak. If he cares about you, then he won't want to see you go through the same pain. When it comes to guys who grew up with a younger sister, you should expect that he understands women well. Being able to comprehend women was the fourth thing she learned when she dated that guy who had two sisters. Since these type of guys grew up around women for most of his life, he seen how long women take while being in the bathroom, he saw the gross side of them such as their bloody pads in the trash cans and their messy rooms while also admiring the beauty of them. They can understand how important it is for them to be good listeners when a woman wants to talk about anything and I mean anything. By knowing this fact it makes it way easier to be comfortable around him, particularly in the beginning of your relationship and can be completely yourself. And when it comes to understanding women, he is aware that you too have emotions just like him and that is what blogger Taylor Kelly learned as well. He is even mindful of the fact that mood swings are in fact a real thing and understands that we might get fed up once in awhile, but he also knows that eventually, you'll calm down and that you do genuinely care about him. The sixth thing Taylor realized was the fact that by having a guy who has sisters, he's able to gain sound advice from them. And lastly, guys who grew up with sisters, have a better understanding of what you want from him in a relationship and friendship manner. He even understands that most women like to talk about any and everything with their girls and some of those topics just might be about him.

          After looking over Kelly's list of pros for dating a guy who grew up with sisters, I couldn't agree more with her because I gained the same awareness when I dated these type of guys as well. Even though I felt as though Kelly made a good list to start off with, I was curious in finding out whether or not another blogger came up with a bigger list of positives. I was able to conclude that with the list created by Kim Quindlen. Kim came up with sixteen reasons why you should date a guy who grew up with all sisters; which so happens to be the title of her article. When I first started reading her article, I noticed she didn't include the inspiration for writing about this topic whereas Kelly included one in hers. When it comes to comparing both Taylor and Kim's lists, they both mentioned a lot of similar things they learned when it comes to guys who grew up with sisters. The difference between Kim and Kelly is that Kim expanded her list by totaling up to sixteen observations. For her first observation, she found that she was seen as "their confident, a sound board, and also as his best friend." I found this was very interesting because all the years I've been dating these type of guys, I always felt a comfortable vibe around them where I was able to be my entire self, but I never saw it as though they were like my best friend. Another observation that Kim found that Kelly never mentioned in her article. That observation was that guys who grew up with sisters understand that women work and achieve a lot of accomplishments just like men, and that does not intimidate them at all. These guys have seen their sisters complete achievements and accomplishments throughout his life, and he doesn't find it no different from his own so he will feel the same way when it comes to the women he chooses to date or marries. For Kim's next observation that wasn't included into Kelly's article was that these type of guys are very comfortable in their skin and don't feel threaten about their sexuality when they participate in activities that may make people question their masculinity. This quality is something I personally love when it comes to men because I feel as though a lot of men feel as though they must always have to prove their masculinity to other people, especially with other men. So it's very refreshing to see when I met a guy who doesn't question every move he makes because he's afraid that another male will see and call him gay. I know society places a lot of limitations when it comes to being considered a male in the world, but some things that guys feel they must prove to be considered a man are ridiculous. When it comes to another observation of Kim's list, it came off as off guard at first, but after thinking about it, I could completely agree. That observation was that they know exactly when they need to stay "the hell" away from us when we're mad. I can slightly agree because I have both experienced guys who knew they needed to stay away from me when I was angry with them, and I have dealt with guys who knew off the back that they needed to walk away and to come back later. You would think that by growing up with sisters that by growing up with sisters that all these guys would be very aware that when a woman is angry that it's best to walk away and try to talk it out later than to just stay and talk while she's currently mad. And lastly, when it comes to accepting women's achievements and accomplishments, these guys are very comfortable with working with the ladies in a professional setting and not feel the need to make it a big deal about it because they see them as a fellow counterpart.

In the article, we discussed how males who grew up living with a sister makes them more dateable partners when they get older. Not only were you able to receive my input, but we were able to gain more advantages from the bloggers, Kim Quindlen and Taylor Kelly. Both of these bloggers mentioned having similar observations when they dated these type of guys, but Quindlen's list came up to a total of sixteen advantages whereas Kelly only came up with seven. After reading this article, you should have a clearer understanding on why I mentioned earlier in the text that I should start asking guys if they grew up with a sister on the first date. Did this article make you feel the same way as me after going over the list of advantages?


Sources

16 reasons you should date a guy who grew up with all sisters
https://thoughtcatalog.com/kim-quindlen/2016/07/16-reasons-you-should-date-a-guy-who-grew-up-with-all-sisters/

7 reasons why men with sisters make some of the best boyfriends
http://elitedaily.com/dating/mans-brotherly-love-may-beneficial-relationship/648571/

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Is it a good idea to take a break while in college?


            When it comes to the college life, there are many hurdles one will endure as a typical college student and as a college student myself; I know all about the ups and downs of today's college life.  As a college student, I also know a lot of people who decided to take a break from school, and I can deeply understand why they would choose that option, but is it the best choice to do? In this article, we will explain the typical reasons why people make this decision and discuss the positives and the negatives of this choice.

          There are many reasons why many would choose to take a semester or more off from college, but the most common reasons as been: (1) being "burned out" to the point where you feel stress about the thought of having to take classes; (2) when they are unsure whether college is for them; (3) when life becomes unexpected and takes all your focus on those situations and creates less focus on your schoolwork; and lastly (4) they may be trying to gain a particular position or status at their job and the only way is to add more work hours. These reasons are very understandable, but what does it mean for you and the future you want to have for yourself when the time come?

          It may not always be a good idea to take a break from college. There are pros and cons when it comes to making this decision. According to the following authors: Jordan K. Michels and Jo Calhoun came up with their own personal list of pros and cons on this matter. For Jordan, she came up with five pros. The first pro is the fact that you'll have a chance to save money for tuition when you do decide to go back to school. Jordan also believes that by taking a break, you will have more time to review your financial plan for the future. For her second pro was being able to gain new opportunities. Those experiences can be finding an internship or job that relates to the career path you want to be in the future. Also, you may find that you lost interest in your original career path and decide to make a change. Michels' third pro would be being able to have the time and freedom to participate in non-academic traveling. By participating in non-academic traveling, you can gain a new perspective of the world. This can be a great tool to have when you decide to go back to school or something you can add to your resume. The fourth pro on the list is being able to recover from college life. Taking a break from college can lessen the pain you might have been through while in college. It's always important to take care of your health before anything else. That includes work and school. And lastly, for her fifth pro for taking a break from college would be the fact that a semester off maybe all you need to be able to know whether being in college was for you. You may even decide that a traditional college isn't for you and maybe a trade school is. And just perhaps you may even decide that you should immediately just enter the workforce instead of taking classes for that career path.

          Compared to Jordan's list of pros when it comes to taking a break from college, Jo made his list a lot more simple by only creating three pros. For his first pro, he believes that by taking a time away from school, you'll be able to become motivated to succeed. Once you gain an understanding of what major you want to pursue when you decide to retake classes. He also mentions how you might even become more motivated to go back to school when you realize the career you may want won't give you the big bucks without a standard degree. For Jo's second pro was that leaving school for awhile can help you gain career exploration by finding an internship that fits your career and plans. And for the final pro, taking a break from classes can give you a personal refreshment. According to Calhoun, he feels that since most people have been going to school since kindergarten through twelve grade; having a break from the academic world may be well needed. He also mentions how you must stay productive in working on your future while taking this break.

          When it comes to pros, there is a list of cons that follows, and Jo had a personal list of cons as well; whereas Jordan was more pro-break than against the idea. Just like his list of pros, his list of cons was simply listed as well. For his first con, he focuses on financial aid. He says not to assume that your student's financial aid package will remain the same when you return to college. Jo then stresses how important it is to consult your school about your financial aid before making a decision about taking time off because most institutions may offer a fixed number of consecutive terms of aid, but not all institutions do. The second con on his list was about student loans. When it comes to student loans, payments are delayed for payment while you are full-time or take a break then all of that changes and the loan companies expect you to be able to start paying them back with interest within the first six months of the changed status. Also, know once you return to school as a full-time student the loans will once again become postpone until the next changed status or graduated with your degree(s). And lastly, Jo titled his last con as "interrupted momentum." What he means by "interrupted momentum" is that many students who have taken breaks from college and came back to finish their degree(s) often reported that it became hard for them to return to school then they thought it would be when they first took the break from classes. Jo also considers this to be the risk that many students and parents will have to consider in advance when deciding whether taking a break is the best decision for you.

          Even though Jordan didn't personally make a list of cons, I came up some myself after reviewing her list of pros. When it comes to her first pro which was finances, there can be a negative that comes with it; such as spending just as much money as you would have while being an active college student. In this case, you should stay in school and finish school because every year college prices go up. For Jordan's second pro, she believes that by taking a break from classes then you'll be able to find new opportunities. This can become a con when you decide to stay at home and don't do anything related to the degree or the career path you were considering while in college. If you do desire to take a break from college make sure it is a productive break where you are focusing on your career and where you can see yourself becoming in the future. Another pro that Jordan mentioned was non-academic traveling. The con that comes with non-academic traveling is that you can get so caught up with traveling that you don't create a clear decision on when you plan to go back to school or make any real time to focus on your career path. And for the last two pros that can become cons that Jo had also mentioned were "recovery" and "the return rate". Having the time to recovery from any meltdowns and stress that college may have caused you could become a con by making you so comfortable about not having to worry about going to classes that you later decide not to go back without having a backup plan. And just like Jo, I agreed that the return rate for most people who choose to take a break from school later decide to finish their degree(s) no sooner than five to ten years later.

          When I was doing research on this topic, there were a lot of bloggers who spoke about this subject spoke as though they were either pro- taking a break or against it. For the most part, the ones I found were for it, but there was one article that mentioned something that neither Jordan nor Jo said in their reports, and that was the importance of knowing yourself. Marie Hartwell-Walker wrote the article. After mentioning how important it is to know yourself, Marie then states how some people can be an active member in college while participating in other activities such as campus groups and having a dating life; while others may only be able to do one thing at a time. She also mentions how "just because you may be the type of person who may have to do one thing at a time it does not make you a failure because you are not."

          In this article, we were able to view the common reasons why a lot of college students decide to take a break from college. Not only did we review these reasons, but we also examined the list of pros and cons that come with making this type of decisions. The list of pros and cons was a collectible creation by the following bloggers: Jordan, Jo, and myself. Even though there were a good amount of pros and cons made, the automatic decision factor would be having an in-depth understanding about yourself and having the insight to know whether you can create a productive atmosphere for yourself while not being an active student in college. With all these factors upon you now, do you still feel as though it is a good idea for you to take a break while in college?


Sources



The reality of taking a semester off
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/reality-semester

When to take time out from college
https://psychcentral.com/lib/when-to-take-time-out-from-college/

Pros and cons of taking time off from college
https://www.universityparent.com/topics/academics/pros-and-cons-of-taking-time-off-from-college/