Phil Diaz

I’ve been realizing the power of networking lately. It’s magnificent how through human communication we can display and request all sorts of interests. This is ever-so prevalent in college, and Ball State is no exception; I’ve had opportunities to spread my ideas around and not only get people’s feedback but a demand for applying these ideas.

As I highlighted in my last post, I’ve been making music over the past few months under the title YFYLYFY (pronounce it as you like). At first people gave me (mostly) positive feedback, until recently someone told me I was “an answer to their prayers” as they were searching high and low for someone to help them produce a song. It turns out Richard is a part of BSU Late Night TV and this song will be featured in a music video and aired.

It’s times like these that I realize that there’s a really easy way to become busy: going outside and meeting people. It may sound oversimplified, but it’s very true. The more people you know, the better of a chance you have at getting a job, meeting your significant other, or even becoming a Ball State Blogger.

New and exciting opportunities await anyone willing to be only slightly-above -average in their outgoingness. Try it out; it’s well worth it.

I’ve been on spring break for a few days now, and, no, I’m not in Florida or Mexico, I’m sitting in my home enjoying family and making lots of music. I’m just glad to have some away time from the frenzy that is Ball State and get into some things I love to do in my spare time.

If you’re interested in checking out some of the stuff I’ve composed over the last few days, head over here: http://yfylyfy.bandcamp.com

I’ve had the opportunity to sample some analogue synthesizers (I’ll show pictures later) my parents own and put some stuff together.

That about sums up my break so far. If anything exciting comes out of it, I’ll be sure to put it here!

I must apologize for not updating this for a while. It’s been a long semester so far, and I’ve had a lot of fun trying to keep up in school and work simultaneously.

I think, for once, that I may stick with my major. I really like the business college, and I’ve had a good experience in it so far. I’ll be staying at Ball State this summer; I’ll dedicate a post about last summer, which I went to school and worked throughout.

On another note, most of my free time goes to two things: composing music (Yeah, another thing I’m interested in. The list goes on, trust me.) and designing my personal website. I hope to have a site up by the beginning of June/July. It’ll also give me an excuse to print out business cards and get my name out there!

The start of the next semester begins tomorrow, and I’m more than excited to start on a the path of my new focus, entrepreneurship.

Yes, once again I switched my major (big surprise). I consider myself lucky that I’m able to jump around different fields without much consequence, and I have to admit: at the beginning of my college career, I hadn’t intended to switch my focus at all. Turns out I began to grow curious about a multitude of different subjects, ranging from architecture to physics to psychology. I explored all sorts of different things, and I found one of the most valuable things one can find in their entire lives: what they really want.

Do I plan on starting a business? Maybe. An organization sounds more interesting, and through the past year I’ve seen many interesting ways in which different organizations work. Think of the website Wikipedia.org. They run purely on donations because it’s something people need. I want to know what people need, what motives them and attracts them, hence the Psychology minor.

I’m taking 18 credit hours this semester, so it’s going to be a doozy, but I’m ready to hit things head on.

I’m one day late, but the meaning counts. I’m back home for the holidays, and it’s about the time when everyone is glad finals are over at first, but begin missing college. I’d say I do as well, but I was still at my cozy off-campus home a few days after the semester ended. Campus was completely dead, yet again. I must say, the summers at Ball State are very peaceful, and that peace translates to creepy in the winter. Either way, it’s enjoyable to see everyone enjoying the holidays.

I’ll be back in Muncie tomorrow to show a few prospective friends around, albeit the dead-ness of it all.

I’ve realized, and this applies to nearly every school year I’ve gone through, I don’t particularly enjoy fall semesters. There are two reasons for this, one being the fact that it’s the very beginning of the year, making it feel like it’s never going to end, and secondly, the weather begins going against my preferences.

I’ve found it becomes increasingly difficult to focus around this time of year since it gets dark soon (I may suffer from a minor case of seasonal affective disorder), making it a little more difficult to get motivated about work or school. The only saving grace here is finals. Yes, finals. These freak me out enough to actually getting to school work. A lot of people don’t like finals. I find it’s bittersweet as it gives me a reason to work harder when I need it most, yet it can give the average student a bit of stress.

I’d like to set up a test to find the trend of how active people are in their social life throughout the year. It would very well align with my newest interest (by “new,” I mean one that has worked its way up into a minor): Psychology. More on this later, though.

I went home for Thanksgiving this weekend like most other students and found myself sitting around a table with five other family members. I did enjoy my home visit quite a bit, and the turkey was scrumptious (thanks, mom).

Coming home from school is always a bit strange as there are a few things that will never be the same. One of them is your room. Mine hasn’t changed drastically, but the room I spend my nights in now is the one I spend the most time in and put forward effort to keep clean. Coming back to my old room is a bit surreal.

Nevertheless, holidays are always a treat, and I’m excited to get through this semester and on to the next one.

Last week I turned the age twenty. In a lot of ways it was less of a celebration and more of a sobering realization. I did enjoy visiting my family for the weekend and celebrating with friends, but the main thing I thought about during these activities was the fact that I was no longer a “teenager.”

Yes, that means a plethora of movies, songs, and books are now completely meaningless to me until I get to the age where I reminisce about how “great” it was to be a teenager. Only, I don’t expect to get to that point because, from about the moment it started, I wanted my years of being a teenager to be over. I’m glad it’s done with. I can finally move to the big leagues where I’m no longer simply a “legal adult,” but an actual adult.

That’s the somewhat pessimistic part of this message, though. The good part is right here: I’m proud of my teenage years. I did a lot of stupid stuff, but I realize now that I was always engulfing myself in something. For some people it was books, and for me it was learning a new instrument, building design skills, getting certifications, learning how to write and direct films, and going after every artistic endeavor that struck me as interesting. Maybe you’re not good at art, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find something to keep you busy.

A lot of people waste their time. Heck, I waste a lot of time myself; however, a lot of people only narrow in on two types of type: work time and free time. I’m introducing a third category: exploring time. Find something new, adventure, and search for something that’s interesting. It seems to me that during high school people were only interested in doing things that would either impress their parents or their peers, but none of that matters if you aren’t impressing yourself.

Maybe I’m different, but I highly doubt that and encourage you, yes, you, the person who, if reading this, shares over 99.99% similarity in DNA with every other human being, to give into curiosity and leave the norm for even a moment.

You might find something you absolutely love.

There have been many instances when I’ve not had the will to do something whatsoever; these are usually short and easily overcome (even though in the past it would become a problem). The thing that I find less overbearing about these times is the fact that I have control over what I can and can’t do, and that the problem lies purely in my ability; however, there are some situations, far worse, that make me– quite literally– lose sleep because of my inability to control them.

I was battling for the past three weeks an occurrence that involved sleep irregularity and insomnia. I would try to fall asleep an entire night, fail, then end up missing class and responsibilities I had planned out for myself to take care of because of it. I had enough and decided to stop by the health center and receive advice.

I’m going to take this opportunity to outline a few things that I like and dislike about the health center. Let me start off by saying it’s an overall great system because it’s completely free to get a checkup as a Ball State student. The one major drawback I’ve run into is the somewhat long lines at times, but I’ve had luck in which I don’t have to wait past twenty minutes for care.

The doctor I saw Friday was very helpful in giving me tips to restoring a regular sleep cycle, and from the few steps I’ve taken to do so, it seems to be helping.

In other news, I’m reconsidering my major. I realized very quickly that while I love physics, I don’t exactly like studying it. I adore my mathematics courses, though, but switching to studying purely mathematics still omits the vast amount of creativity I have to offer. Because of this I’m considering entrepreneurship.

Stay tuned for more: I’m turning 20 in four days, so I expect to write something here about growing up. It might be insightful! We’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve been hearing the words, “where have you been?!” a lot the past few days because of my work load. In other words, there are times where I’m so busy I seem to disappear from everyone’s life for a few days.

I’ve picked up a new love in the process though: coffee. Man, this stuff is awesome, especially waking up to it.