Blog Post #7

This was an amazing video it was so inspiring. This man looks death in the face and laughs. He refuses to feel sorry for himself rather he chooses to live his life to the fullest. In addition to being inspiring Randy Pausch also brought up some interesting points. First of all, I really liked what he called the "head-fake," which is simply learning something unintentionally. One of his examples was playing football but learning teamwork. Another example that he used was Alice which is a special program that “head-fakes” students to learn computer programming by doing fun things like making games and movies. “Head-fakes” are great ways to learn.
Some of the best advice he gave was to “never give up.” I truly believe that persistence can pay off. I have learned from personal experience that never giving up works. After graduating high school I had a lot of difficulties getting into college in fact I often questioned myself back then if college was in the cards for me. After many non-acceptance letters and phone calls, I finally got into South Alabama. However, I got in on academic probation but I was determined and I did everything I could to make college work for me. Now I am a junior and at the top of my class and will soon be graduating and then pursing a graduate degree. It was amazing to know that Randy Pausch too did not get accepted to his schools right away in fact he was first rejected by both his undergrad school, Brown and then his graduate school, Carnegie Mellon, but then he became this prestigious professor that is known and loved. So I do firmly believe and live by the quote “never give up.”
I also believe in his statement to work hard. I really thought his personal story about working hard was motivating. His story started when he received his tenure early and his colleagues asked him “what’s your secret?” and his answer was, “call my office at 10:00pm on Friday night and I will tell you.” I also liked his story about working hard and Jackie Robinson which I never knew. Jackie Robinson had it written in his contract to not complain but to work harder even if people spit on him or threw things at him and now he is one of the most famous baseball players ever. Even though this video was an hour and 16 minutes it felt like no time at all, I really enjoyed this video. This video was so motivational and definitely one of my new favorite blog post assignments.