January 15, 2013: 3 hours

Today I colored with some of the residents in Life's Neighborhood. Aegis was getting ready for Chinese New Years and Valentine's Day so they were decorating the place with hearts and Chinese lanterns. I was coloring hearts and teddy bears with some of the residents. While we were coloring, another resident who was in a wheelchair started to yell and scream at the top of her lungs. It startled not only me, but the other residents in the room as well. The caretakers kept asking her what was wrong and trying to calm her down, but she kept yelling. The lady I was coloring with got a little irritated and kept yelling at the lady who was screaming to be quiet in a mean way. I was a little frightened because of all the constant yelling and screaming going on, but I tried my best to stay calm for the residents. I tried to talk to the lady I was coloring with to keep her mind off of the lady who was screaming, and it seemed to work for a while until the lady in the wheelchair screamed again. But soon enough, she stopped and we continued to color.

I asked one of the caretakers why the lady in the wheelchair was screaming and she told me that it was because of the disease. That got me interested in learning more about what this disease can do to a person.

After I finished serving dinner to Life’s Neighborhood, I went to talk to my mentor and asked him some questions about dementia. I learned that for people who have dementia, their brain is a lot different than those who don’t have dementia. In the brain of a dementia patient, it has plaxitatum, which attacks certain parts of the brain. It suffocates the brain cells and once the brain cells are gone, they can never come back. You cannot recreate brain cells.

It’s really sad how there is no way of helping the people with dementia. The only thing I can do is try to talk to them and keep them company as much as possible.

Next, I will learn more about the disease and how it will affect people’s brains.

I have a total of 16 hours completed.

January 4, 2013: 4 hours

Today I danced and sang with the residents of Life's Neighborhood for Happy Hour. I feel like the entertainment for Life's Neighborhood isn't as good as the one in Assistant Living, but that's just my opinion. I served juice and a little snack for the residents so they can enjoy a show and a little something to eat. When I was passing out juice, one of the residents grabbed my hand and started dancing with me. I thought it was cute, so of course I danced with her.

I found out that the residents in Life's Neighborhood eats dinner a little earlier than Assistant Living because the residents in Life's Neighborhood tend to sleep earlier. I passed out dinner and poured water for the residents. When they were done, I took their plates and cleared everything off the table. Some residents don't eat that much, manly because they don't have much of an appetite or because they just refuse to eat.

I talked to one of the caretakers there. He was telling me that in order to be a caretaker, you would need a really strong stomach. Being a caretaker can be a very messy job, and sometimes the smell can get unbearable. I kind of felt disgusted by what he was telling me. I tend to have a weak stomach sometimes, and I don't know if I would be able to handle some of the smells I would be introduced to.

Next, I will learn more about the residents and about the disease.

January 3, 2013: 4 hours

Today I played games with the residents in Life's Neighborhood, read them a short story, and asked them trivia questions. We played Hedbanz, a game where you guess what your card is on top of your head. It was very difficult to play with most of the residents because most of them don't like to speak.Only about two of the residents tried playing. I had to tell one of them what they were and the other resident guessed what she was. After one game, the entertainment came in which was a guy singing. I had to sing along with the rest of the residents. Some residents sang, others just danced to the music, and others just sat there waiting for it to be over. After the entertainment left, I read them stories and asked them easy questions. Two people were paying attention and contributing to answer the questions. They got most of the questions right and I cheered them on.

After a while, I went to Assistant Living and helped them serve lunch. The residents can be very demanding, but some can be nice. I helped clean the tables and fold the napkins.

I went back to Life's Neighborhood to see if they needed any help. When I got there, one of the residents was on the phone talking to someone. However, another resident started to yell at her, telling her to get off the phone. He grabbed the phone from her and started to walk away from it with the chord still attached to the phone. The people who worked there broke them up immediately. It was really scary seeing how the residents can react in such manner.

I was really glad to help Aegis with serving lunch and trying to play with the residents. Next, I will help serve dinner to the residents and try to learn more about taking care of them.

December 7, 2012: 4 hours

I helped Aegis do Happy Hour. Happy Hour happens every Friday. It consists of drinks, a little snack, and entertainment. Happy Hour is important. Everything releases endorphins, a natural chemical that the brain produces, but laughter and music are the biggest producers of endorphins. Because of memory loss, the residents could have depression. Having Happy Hour makes it better.

One of the resident's called me over while the music was playing and I was serving drinks for Happy Hour. She asked me if her husband was coming and I said that I was going to check. I asked my mentor and he said that her husband passed away a long time ago. He told me to tell her that he was coming. That was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. It was heartbreaking to tell her that her late husband was on his way. I know she wouldn't remember that I told her that, but I felt really bad and sad.

The next thing I will do is entertain the residents with games so they won't feel lonely. 

December 6, 2012: 1 hour

Today I took a tour around Aegis. There are about 70 residents in the institute. The whole institute is designed to recreate the environment of their childhood. There are paintings everywhere, a bus stop and clothes line outside, baby dolls in cribs, and life skill stations with clothes. Sometimes, the residents may put on the clothes to relive memories. Aegis is divided into two sections: Assistant Living and Life's Neighborhood. The difference between Assistant Living and Life's Neighborhood is that in Life's Neighborhood, the conditions are more severe. There cannot be any more than 20 residents in Life's Neighborhood because if there are too many people, it can cause unacceptable behavior and no relaxation. Since Life's Neighborhood is separated from Assistant Living, there is a code to get out of Life's Neighborhood so the residents in Life's Neighborhood won't go into Assistant Living. The doors that separates Life's Neighborhood and Assistant Living are painted to trick the residents into thinking it's not a door so they won't try to escape.

Learning about how the institute was designed to relive the resident's childhood got me interested. I am scared about how the residents will react to a volunteer being there with them, but I am excited to get started and help them out. The next step is helping them out with Happy Hour, which is an activity they do every Friday.

Google Search

The question we were supposed to search up was, "How do the democratic and republican positions on 'fiscal cliff' differ?" The purpose was to limit the amount of outcomes. I first typed in the whole question, "How do the democratic and republican positions on'fiscal cliff' differ?" and what came up were four million and sixty thousand results. To narrow the results down, I had to use both "AND" plus "OR", in addition to the symbols "~", "-","+", or quotation marks. Although that narrowed down my options, what really helped me the most were the search tools.

When I put the time to "past hour" it narrowed the results down to seven hundred and eighty-four results. To narrow the results down even more, I took some words out of the original question and changed it to, "democratic and republican positions on 'fiscal cliff' differ" and putting the location to "nearby." That narrowed the results to four. Before today, I didn't know that there was a variety of ways I could narrow down my topic. However, I prefer to use the search tools along with making my words as specific as possible.

Fallen Hero

Every Hero has to fall at one point. In Star Wars Episode 3, Anakin Skywalker, the main character and the hero, had to make drastic decisions in order to become a Jedi to save his loved one. However, he made wrong choices which led him to the wrong direction. He soon became one of the most hated people because he betrayed his people. From then on, all he kept doing was making mistake after mistake.

In one point of the movie, Anakin finds out that the chancellor, a person protected, was coincided with the Dark Side. He was stunned, yet confident to tell the council. When he did, the council had no choice but to leave him behind because they couldn’t trust him; however, that didn’t stop Anakin from going with them. When the council found out that he was really evil, they arrested him after an extreme fight. But when one of the Jedi was about to kill the chancellor, Anakin got lost and made an immediate decision to cut off the Jedi’s hand. There, Anakin made the mistake by choosing the Dark Side and obeying the chancellor.

Another mistake he made was challenging his master who taught him everything. He went in combat with Obi Wan, a person who had the higher ground. Obi Wan was the person Anakin once looked up to, and Obi Wan believed Anakin was the one. It cost Anakin his legs, lungs, skin, wife, kids, basically everything he had. Now he has to live his life with a mask that helps him breathe and no family or friends to have his back. He has to be a slave to the chancellor.

A hero always has a chance to fix his or her mistake; however, he/she always chooses the wrong one. Anakin thought he was making the right choice in choosing the Dark Side to save his loved one. Little did he know, he was making the biggest mistake of his life. One chance of remaining a Jedi was when Padme, his wife, visited him on Mustafar. She told him to leave everything behind and to go with her to raise their child. He of course didn’t take the offer because he wanted to rule the world. He could have fixed his problem and lived happily with his wife and child, but he didn’t because he was too stubborn and evil.

It is easy to fall but it’s very difficult to come back to the top. Heroes are supposed to make the right choices that will protect people and make everything better. However, making a mistake, even a small one, is effortlessly. Anakin Skywalker was the hero in the beginning of Star Wars Episode 3 until he kept making mistakes after mistakes. He is considered a fallen hero because he lost the respect from his people all from one enormous error.