3…2…1… LAUNCH.
It is time to go! This is the last piece of English 150! This class now serves as infrastructure in my future plans. It is the proverbial launching platform that will launch my proverbial rocket ship to the proverbial moon! We all have dreams, aspirations, and plans, but success is not built by abstract thought, rather by concrete action and this class has taught me a thing or two about that.
The very beginning of the class was communication. We were told: “whoever they are that are sitting next to you, ask them: What is your name, where are you from, what your major is and what is one interesting thing about you.” This was the first dose of oral communication in the class. I am awesome at oral communication. Ever since I came to Iowa State, I am on good terms with everyone. No enemies or toxic friendships were made during the passing of this semester. This makes me aspire to be a businessman of some sort, even though I love science, I study in this field for myself, not strictly for my future employment. Maintaining good public relations is imperative for a businessman as part of making a successful business is being on good terms with one’s buyers, suppliers and employees (where applicable). Being a silver-tongued businessman is something I always aspire to be.
When it comes to writing, I am not the best. This kind of hurts my communication abilities, but all in all, writing an email is not something that requires a significant amount of communication skills. Improving vocabulary is never a bad thing, but being bilingual and living in a place where knowing English is a convenience rather than a necessity might mean I have to go out of my way to learn new words. Reading books will serve as a great boon both in increasing my vocabulary and learning new writing styles from actual authors. I have no intentions of making writing an imperative skill in my professional life, but after I started my website for the portfolio, the idea of keeping a blog as a journal sounds better and better every time I look at it.
My weakness when it comes to the WOVE methods of communication is the V, visuals. As I repeatedly mentioned, I am no artist. I know how to analyze art that makes sense, but I cannot seem to evaluate the museum pieces that seem to be random splatters of paint everywhere. In all my art there is always symmetry and a clear goal I’m working towards. I portray my ideas within the art not by drawings or colors, but rather by simple and clear captions or comments. Creating visuals is not my forte, and I will make sure that my skills (or lack, thereof) in this category is never needed. On the other side, I do like the idea of making videos for YouTube very appealing when it comes to events or presentations. Since ‘directing’ such productions is following bullet points rather than an artful idea, I am comfortable with it and I am confident that I am good at it.
I am not a people person. I project that tendency towards other people and assume that they would rather have emails that have value. When it comes to electronic communication, I think social media is a prime way to keep up with people. Emails are so 2002, so I am always on twitter. This way, I choose to see updates from those whom I have an interest in, be it a person or a company. Similarly, I also hope to find similar ground for utilizing this technological leap in the future as part of my company. Social networking can also put me in touch with independent people of parties that provide my wanted services with more freedom and negotiation. I just love how this world is connected!
This class has made me realize that I can communicate to others in multiple ways. It made me realize my strengths to improve on them, and my weaknesses to eliminate them. The infrastructure is set, I can only go up from here!