Petrone Full!

"Life is uncertain.  Eat dessert first".  

-Ernestine Ulmer

So here I sit on a Saturday night, just got back from my boyfriends' house, and I am full to the brim. I don't think I have consumed this much food in months. Since I've gotten to school, my eating habits have changed drastically; I have become much more aware of what I put in my mouth (in fear of gaining freshmen 15) and have found that I eat a lot less. I believe this in turn has made me become fuller faster, and thus has led me to overstuffed. I feel like since Thanksgiving, I have just been nonstop eating...eating turkey and stuffing and Thanksgiving leftovers, along with goodbye dinners, and homemade breakfasts. How I'm going to miss all this food...but I know I will most definitely miss dessert. God how I love sweets! I adore pie and italian cookies fresh from the bakery, coupled with a nice cup of hot brewed coffee. Life doesn't get much better than that. I think that Thanksgiving and Christmas always produce the best desserts. Pies beyond pies beyond pies during Thanksgiving and thousands of cookies in every shape taste way and form during Christmas. I'm maxed-out on dessert. And, as if those aren't enough, my boyfriend and I thought it'd be a wonderful idea to get Coldstone ice cream, too, in between all these sweets. Most kids will arrive back at school with leftovers that are of the likes of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and what have you, but no me. Me, I'll be arriving back at school with dessert! I'll be having pies and cookies while the others munch on tryptophan. Even though I now eat a lot less than what  I once did prior to coming to school, I know that I'll have my desserts last me, because I'm not plowing it all into my mouth at once. I can't wait to come back home and have Christmas sweets, but for now my pies will do...."Let them eat cake!"

Petrone's Project part. duce

My Project Thus Far

This is only a rough draft, and I realize I have much, much more I still have to do. I am currently in the process of trying to get interviews with my music professors. I am also still working on recording, because my voice is not up to my own standards right now. I have the outline of my project all written and planned out, I mainly just need to assemble it all together. Leave comments of any ideas or thoughts. Thank you! Have a wonderful break!

Follow the Petrone

Two summers ago, I got accepted into a leadership program in New York City for theater arts. I got to spend almost a month in the city with people from all over the United States. It had turned out that most the people I got to meet at the leadership conference we're all not only out of state, but had never been to the city. If you've never been to the city, then you're in for the hustle & bustle, the crowded & loud, and the never seeming to stop for second scene. Being from originally Long Island and now Poughkeepsie, I've always had the connivence of traveling into the city whenever I wanted, so I was use to the New York City scene and chaos, however the girls who were in my group we're not use to it in the slightest. I got to demonstrate my leadership abilities with them while we traveled throughout the city; crossing the streets, haggling with street vendors, and where to eat and not eat. Any true New Yorker knows that you need to walk those streets not only with assertion, but with confidence. The girls that I was with were surprised how I well I took on the city, and affectionately named me Momma Bear. I always made sure that we we're never separated, and that we we're always safe. I've always been one to step up to the plate when needed, and have always been one to take care of others. Most people refer to me as Mom, because I'm always making sure everyone is pleased, happy, and of course above all safe. Towards the end of the leadership conference the girls that I had been with were very appreciative and thankful. I know I always want to be the person who is making sure all is well and everyone is well. I don't mind it at all, and I know that one day when I'm old I'll have someone taking care of me.

Petrone & The Roommate From Hell

Okay, so as many of you know, I hated one of my roommates. That was the most difficult situation I had to deal with this semester. Her blatant rudeness was repulsive and floored me. I still cannot grasp how someone can think it's alright to just take another's stuff without any hesitation or permission. She would take, more so steal, my possessions. She also had gone on to vandalize my personal belongings, and went out of her way to not only treat me with utter disrespect, but as well as my other roommate, and guests we had in the room (which was rare, because she never left the room itself.) But, by far, the most horrid thing she did was use my deodorant. Let's say it together now people, "EW!" Again, repulsive. When I discovered this, I was absolutely revolted and nauseate. I had had multiple meetings with not only my Community Coordinators (CCs or RAs), but as well as my Hall Director. All individuals did nothing to help me. Why? Because, they had developed a friendship with my roommate over the summer when she took classes, and therefore had loyalty to her, and did nothing whats so ever to aid me in my situation. It's safe to say they did not know how to separate their personal relationships from work, and their job. I finally had enough, and eventually got in contact with Angela Todaro, who for those of you who are not aware, is the Director of Residence Life. The day I talked her, she, too, was without question not only repelled, but disgusted, and wondered why I had not been helped yet with my situation. It was Ms. Todaro who got another roommate for me, and all together put my other roommate in an entirely different hall (which I believe was because of the relationships she had had with the CCs and Hall Director in my hall.) How did I handle the most difficult situation of my semester? Communication; if I never made an effort to talk with any of the people I did, I probably would still be stuck with a God awful roommate. 

F.Y.I. my old roommate's new roommates are having the exact same troubles as I was having. I do not understand how one person can get away with all this? There needs to be repercussions for this girl, and some serious punishment.

Petrone Stimluated

“One good thing about music, when it hits- you feel no pain” -Bob Marley

We all have at least one class that we enjoy, that we feel we perform our best in, and that we stimulated in. For me, this class is musicianship. Southern Connecticut describes musicianship as a course where one is "Training in the recognition, singing/playing, and notation of intervals, rhythms, melodic phrases, and triads. Aural recognition of diatonic chord progressions and melodies." I am able to do most of my singing in this class, and because my singing is like my second nature, the class comes very easy to me. However, in the class I am assigned certain melodies to sing. The melodies are made of variations of Solfege. For those who do not know what Solfege is, it is the pattern of Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do....Solfege! Each name (Do, Re, Mi, etc) represents a certain pitch/sound for a designated note in whatever established key. Musicianship stimulates me, because it requires me to actively engage myself in the music. Thus, leading me to sing new ranges, keys, and intervals that I either have not sung, or not sung easily. Musicianship also stimulates me, because singing is my passion; being able to go to a class where I am not only predominately singing, but receiving credit, too, is awesome. Imagine being able to go to a class where you are able to be doing something you love. Musicianship is my stimulate, it allows me to sing freely....to make music and forget everything, and not feel anything but the music itself.

Petrone & Her Piano

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." -Victor Hugo

Touch your fingertips to each key, hear the sound resonate, and sing...Sing always. Only with a piano can you have this experience. This is where I study. I take six classes here at Southern, half of which are all music classes. So when it comes time for me to study for quizzes, tests, or finals, I find myself with Baldwin. It's here where I study for my music, where my music and I become one, and all my worries and troubles are played away. Studying is looked upon as such a mundane boring task, but for me, with my piano, it's different. In Earl Hall, you can find soundproof practice rooms, you can find art of all types, and you can find me with my piano, playing, practicing, singing my life away. Doesn't seem like studying at all, but it is in fact what I am doing. My classes require me to be here, and I don't mind it in the slightest. How could one mind sitting at one of the world's most classic beautiful instruments? I admit, I can't play it well, but what I can't play, I make up for with song. I feel somewhat lucky that I get the privilege to study how I do, and go about studying with a piano. The best part this is that there are pianos secretly dispersed throughout campus. You just need to follow the piano's melody...

 This is where I study.

For Kaitlyn...

"Esse Quam Videri"

Petrone Gets Her Fitness On, And Says "Goodbye Stress"

"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save." - Will Rogers, Autobiography, 1949

Got stress? Workout. It's that simple. Every time I'm feeling remotely stressed, I head straight for the gym. Something about working out just eases everything for me, and clears my mind. However much stress I'm usually experiencing factors into how long I workout, too. It helps keep your body healthy, while keeping your mind and spirit healthy as well. College is a time for stress, to say the least. So, head yourself on over to the gym. Go run, go and pump some iron, do whatever suits you, and I promise you that you'll feel much better when you're done. Maybe you'll feel a little sore, but that most the time means that you got a good workout in, so don't fret! Stress is extremely unhealthy for you, and one shouldn't endure it to levels where they are getting sick physically, and emotionally. Working out, I find not only relieves my stress, but also brings me back to down, and clams me. I find peace within myself. I also find that whatever I was once stressed about, seems to be insignificant. And, If I am stressed about a certain assignment, I find that after I'm done with my workout, my stress level goes down, and allows me to do whatever assigned better, and more sufficient. Workout, and say "Goodbye, stress!" Your mind, and body will thank you. Never "stress" the small stuff, Hakuna Matata!

Petrone's Effort....& Yours.

How come students who do not put an effort into their school work feel as if they deserve good grades? I don't understand that concept. I was always taught that the effort you put into something will reflect in your work, especially when it came to your (my) academics. School is very important to me, and so are my grades. I don't want, nor plan on disappointing myself, parents, and family with my grades, thus why I work so hard, and put in 100% effort. I've always found that the students who feel as if they deserve a better grades than the one(s) they are receiving, are the students who rely and depend on other people, for example, the students who are always asking for other peoples' work, help, and overall effort. It is their effort, not yours, that's why you're getting some good grades and some poor ones. The people who you rely on, are the people getting you the good grades in the first place. When you finally decide to maybe do your own work, you put in little effort, get a poor grade, and think & believe you deserve a better one because of previous good grades (good grades gotten from others for you.) If you couldn't tell, this subject really gets under my skin, because it truly does bother me, and it's mostly because I see and witness it on daily basis. I've subjected myself enough to those kinds of people, and I'm over it. Do your own work, get your own grades, because this girl puts in enough effort for herself. I don't mean to come off harsh, and this doesn't mean I won't help, I simply mean I am not going to do anyone else's work any longer. Students who get good grades, put in the effort. And for the students who do not, well, it will show in your grades, so don't be surprised.