Hello!

Second Semester of my Sophomore Year…ah!

I can’t believe that school has finally started up again. It is so weird to think that the last time I posted a blog I was in Texas. I flew into Scranton on Sunday. It was a very early day for me. My first flight out of Dallas was at 6:00am and I woke up 4am. Not only did I wake up really early but I had two connecting flights! At one point I was really nervous that I was going to miss my connecting flight. I think that would be one of the worst things, to be stranded in a city I have never been to. But everything worked out well and I made it to school safely.

Today was the second day of school and it hasn’t been too bad. I have enjoyed my classes thus far. I mean, it is only the second day of classes, but I’m going to be positive. It snowed all day today! I think that was Scranton’s way of reminding me that I was no longer in Texas. I walked out of my second class today and little flurries were falling. I think I slipped a couple of times…this little Texan isn’t 100% ready for this.

I don’t know if any of you watched the Grammy's on Sunday but I did. I thought they were better than others in years past. I think the performances were great this year. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lady Gaga and Elton John performance. I also thought Beyonce did a great job. I think that Pink was really creative with her acrobatic performance, she was so edgy. I also liked many of the collaborations, who would have thought that Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks would ever sing together?

Song of the Week:

“Fancy Footwork” by Chromeo. I was introduced to this by Liz Lee from "My Life as Liz" on MTV! I love that show!

I hope yall have a great rest of your week!

Peace and Love

Joshua Martinez!

Posted by Josh Martinez at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HEY Y'ALL!!!!!

Feliz Ano Nuevo!!!! Or Happy New Year!!!

It has been a very long time since I last posted a blog…as you all know. But I am back now. I don’t even know where to start.

I hope that everyone had a great holiday season and that it was filled with lots of love and happiness. I know that mine was all I wanted and more. I got a chance to be surrounded by the ones I love the most, my family. Just being together, made my Christmas great. I also got a very cold gift from the big G.O.D, I was fortunate enough to experience my first white Christmas. It was so cool. I had always heard of the magic and beauty of a white Christmas and obviously being from the south never thought I would see it. Who would have thought?

I also hope that all of you rang in the New Year in a great way. Mine was very low key. I watched a movie with my family. I know that y’all probably made some new year’s resolutions. I wish all of you the best of luck completing those things. I know for myself, I made a short list of points I want to hold on to this year. So I’m there with y’all!

So while I was home I worked a lot, at Bath and Body Works. Working there has allowed me to see all different kinds of people. My store was located in the mall and the people you see at the mall, can be very interesting. Especially the people you see during the holiday rush, certainly a sight to see. And can I just say that people shopping during the holiday time are crazy! My favorites are the people that expect you to have all different kinds of product on Christmas Eve and when you don’t have that certain product they get angry. Here’s a little note for those of you who do that, don’t wait till the day before Baby Jesus’ Birthday to get your lotions, get them before hand. And I don’t mean anything bad, because I too have been a late shopper, so that note is for all of us. Then when I thought the craziness of holiday was over we went right into our semiannual sale. Now the only thing crazier than last minute Christmas shopper, is the semiannual sale shopper. And let me be the first to tell you, I am a bargain buyer all the time. I try to wait till things go on-sale; especially with this economy you gotta save those pennies. But I love it when people ask for more sale than what the sign on the table says. It isn’t the associates trying to be mean when we can’t give you more of a sale, that’s just how we have to do it. That is just my sales associate side talking. But the job has its perks. I get to help customers out with their selections and I get to test our new products before they are released to our customers, so I can’t complain. On a weird side note, I think that the Bath and Body Works trash is the only trash I haven’t minded taking out. It’s funny to say but I think it’s the best trash I’ve ever smelled…don’t judge me.

Let’s switch gears a little bit to something more serious. Unless you have been living under a rock you have heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti. All of the stories and images coming from Haiti are heartbreaking. I know that they need our help to restore that country. I know that not everyone is in the position to give monetarily, but keep these people in your prayers. Every single prayer makes a difference.

On a personal note I wanted to take the time to thank all of you who read these blogs. I have been getting some comments from several of you, which I love and I am glad y’all are liking it. It is so funny because for the longest time I didn’t think this blog mattered until I received your comments, so thank you. I bring this up because I saw the movie Julie & Julia this break. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it. It stars Amy Adams and the great Meryl Streep. It is based on a blog that Julie does as she cooks her way through Julia Childs (if you don’t know who she is Google her). I’m just kidding. She was a very famous Chef who introduced French cuisine to the American audience. That movie, besides having a good message showed me the power of a blog. I am honored to have this ability to write these blogs; and I am thankful for my readers.

Ps: If y’all don’t like something or have any suggestions please feel free to leave a comment. I will read them and get back to y’all.

Speaking of movies I know that I blogged about Precious several weeks ago. I told y’all about Mo’nique’s amazing performance and how she got so into her character. That has obviously paid off for her because she has won both a Golden Globe and a Critiques Choice Award. I hope that she takes home the Oscar. She deserves it. If you still haven’t seen it. Do it!

Song of week:

“Send Me on My Way” by Rusted Root. This song has such a nice beat and it puts me in a good mood when I hear it.

“New Soul” by Yael Naim. Great song with great vocals.

“22” by Lily Allen. I have been on a huge Lily Allen kick. I am a big fan!!

Well I think that’s it for today. I wish y’all the best everyday and send you only positive vibes!!!!

Peace and Love,

Joshua Martinez

Posted by Josh Martinez at 2:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Y’all!

Hope you guys are having a great week. It’s getting closer and closer to Christmas and I can’t wait!!!

This week is FINALS WEEK!!!!! This week is filled with last minute cramming, pulling all nighters and…SNOW!!!!! Yesterday it snowed! It was so pretty. The snow was a much needed distraction for many of us while we studied. It snowed so much that some people’s finals this morning were cancelled. The snow came down at around midnight last night and kept going strong for a couple of hours. It was really cool to look out my window and see lots of white fuzzies in the air and the ground covered in layers of white fluff. Here are some pictures of the snow from last night and of this past Saturday when it also snowed. I’m pretty lucky seeing snow twice before I leave because when I get to Texas I know I will not be seeing anything like that.

This is DeNaples covered in snow.

Our Christmas Tree!!!!

So I have 4 finals this week. My first final was my intro to communication theories…ugh. I am so glad that class is over. I liked the teacher and the theories were interesting but the tests were really hard. I think the final I took today was the test I have felt the most confident with all year! I hope that’s a good sign of things to come!! The other finals I have this week are in my Intro to Public Relations course and my intro to Hispanic Literature class. I will be taking those in the next two days so I will let y’all know how they go next week.

After my finals are done I am going home!!!!! Yeah!!! I am so excited to see my family and be in my home state. It’s been 5 months since I’ve been home so even the simple things like sleeping in my own bed and lying on my couch at home are things that are so exciting to think about. I can’t wait for a home cooked meal…especially Christmas Eve dinner! In my family, we stay up on Christmas Eve and wait until midnight to open presents! Its going to be so cool to be with all of my cousins and aunts and uncles. Although I do need to get my Christmas shopping done before I go back. We’ll see- maybe the family will get some Scrantastic gifts!

Arighty it’s time for the song of the week. This week I’m going to post more than one song. All the songs are very holiday festive:

All I Want For Christmas is You by Mariah Carey

Santa Baby by Kylie Minogue

Silent Night by the Vienna Boys Choir

Everyone have a great time!!

Peace and Love

Joshua Martinez

Posted by Josh Martinez at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey Y’all,

I know long time no see! Sorry, it was just that the month of the November was crazy. It seemed like a lot of things were happening at the same time. November was just jammed pack with things.

The weekend of November 7th was SEARCH weekend. I had an amazing weekend filled with lots of soul searching. I learned so much about myself and others on the retreat. I can honestly say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. For those of you who have been on Kairos, it is a very similar retreat. On the retreat, our friends and family sent us letters. I was not expecting any of the letters and they were all very heartfelt and sincere. Thanks to all who sent me letters. Love you all. Just remember “We are not alone”, fellow Search 62ers will now what I’m talking about.

Me being lead in an activity.

The next weekend was my birthday weekend. So on the Friday several of my friends and I went to Rider University to see Rent. It was really good. The acting was great and the musical is awesome. F or those of you who haven’t seen it, you should. On Sunday, which was my birthday, my friends took me out to dinner and we had a great time. Overall successful 20th birthday, although it is weird to think I am no longer a teen.

My friend made me this cake!

The weekend after that I was in Georgia. I was there attending a protest along with 50 other students. We were protesting the School of the Americas in Columbus, Georgia. We protest because the school teaches war and torture tactics to militaries in Central and South American countries. This protest goes on every year however this year was special. It was special because it marked the 20th anniversary of the death of the Jesuit martyrs in El Salvador. I had never really protested anything like this before so it was definitely a new experience for me. At one point on the protest, we placed white crosses on the fence surrounding the school to represent the many murdered by the hands of SOA alumni. There were so many crosses that I couldn’t even count. I think that was a very powerful statement. I had lots of fun and learned a lot about the cause. The only not so fun thing was the 13 hours to and from Georgia…ugh. Whatever it was worth it.

I was sporting my close the SOA bandana.

This past weekend was Thanksgiving break. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to fly home this break but I did get to spend my break with some family in New York. It was a very relaxing break. I enjoyed just laying around and being lazy; it was so great. Besides the great Thanksgiving meal and being surrounded by family, I got to do something I have been wanting to do for a long time. I was able to see the movie Precious. It was amazing. It was very dark and kind of disturbing but it has a great story about triumph. The acting is stellar and if you’re a Mo’Nique fan: get ready for something new because she is in a completely different role than her usual funny girl. She is still great. The film is definitely all it is acclaimed to be. Loved it.

Since we’ve been back it is “dead week”. And it has been anything but dead. I feel as though I have had more work this week than in most of this semester. Next week we have finals so this weekend will be filled with lots of studying…yeah fun. But after that it will be back to the Lone Star State!!!! I can’t wait to see my family!!! It’s going to be awesome.

Ok songs of the week:

“Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga
“Tardy for the Party” by Kim Zolciak (that is because of Georgia)
“Rehab” by Amy Winehouse because she’s my favorite.

Thanks y’all.

Posted by Josh Martinez at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Y’all.

I Hope everybody had a great weekend and enjoyed their Halloween.

I really haven’t been up to a lot this week. I would describe this week thus far as “the calm before the storm”; because I have test and projects due at the end of the week. The end of my week and the beginning of my next week will be crazy so I’m going to enjoy it before it ends. I am looking forward to this weekend.

This weekend is the Search retreat!!!! I have heard so many great things about the retreat. As far as I know it is a retreat that involves a lot of soul searching and self reflection. I think with my hectic end of the week I will enjoy the retreat a lot. I know several of the leaders going on the retreat and they have assured me that I will love this weekend. This makes me very excited but there is also a lot of mystery to this retreat; this is because they (the leaders) have to keep things a secret for it to be a surprise for us attending the retreat. This just adds to my inquiry obviously…but I guess we will just have to wait till this weekend to find out.

I promised to let you guys know how midnight madness went this past weekend….IT WENT GREAT! I had such a great time. All of our dance teams put on a great performance and impressed the crowd with their performances. But I am obviously biased and am going to say that Urban Beats had the best performance, although Suburban Beats was pretty awesome!! I told you I would have a link to our performance and I do but it is only on Facebook. Sorry guys.

Random thought: In my Spanish class we are reading a novella that I recommend to anyone who speaks Spanish and likes novellas. It is titled “Falsas cronicas del sur” by Ana Lydia Vega. The book is written in mini vignettes and tells a very compelling story. I definitely recommend it.

It’s time for song of the week: “Fireflies” by Owl City!

Well have a good rest of the week.

Love,

Joshua Martinez

PS: Don't forget to smile! :)

Posted by Josh Martinez at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Y’all!

Hope y’all have been doing well since my last post. I know it has been a long time since my last post but now I’m back!

I was really sick last week. I had a really bad cold that I was not ready for. I was so pathetic and weak that I basically didn’t get out of my bed for a day and a half. Just picture lots of mucus and sweat…pretty I know. But now I’m feeling a lot better; still very flemmy but other than that ok. The only good thing about being sick was that I was able to catch up on my trashy reality TV. Most of it was just reruns of the TV show “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Can I say that those women are all hot messes and I love it!

Since the last time I blogged I was fortunate enough to see a comedy group at school. They were from the Second City Comedy School in Chicago, Il. Lots of famous comedians such as Tina Fey, Chris Farley, and Steve Carell have come out of that school. They performed lots of skits that included several improv acts and singing numbers. Needless to say they were really funny and overall good comedic actors.

Another awesome experience I had earlier this week was having dinner with Father Rodolfo Cardenal S.J. He is a Jesuit from El Salvador and he was here at The U to give a discussion entitled "Martyrs of El Salvador." This was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the deaths of the Jesuit martyrs in El Salvador. The dinner was very insightful. He is very knowledgeable and a very nice person. The dinner also included some very important people on campus such as the president, Father Pilarz S.J., as well as other faculty and students. The conversations were very insightful and entertaining. I enjoyed this very much.

This week is Pink week supporting breast cancer. So everyone wear pink this week! I am
wearing my pink tomorrow because here on campus we’re having our Thinking Pink Rally!!!!

I cannot wait for tomorrow. And it is not because the World Series starts either. (Which I do not really route for either of the teams: 1. Because I’m from Texas and we obviously didn’t get this far and 2. Because I have friends that support both teams and they might kill me if I choose a side.) I’m excited because we have Midnight Madness. That is our big “pep rally” type of event to start the basketball season. At Midnight Madness several of our clubs perform including: our cheerleaders, our dance team, our one-time dance team suburban beats, and most importantly URBAN BEATS!!!!! This is going to be our first performance of the season. The team and I are really excited to perform! We have a really cool medley of songs and a pretty sick dance. I hope to have some kind of pictures or video for you guys next week.

Speaking of performing and music it is time for the song of the week. This week’s song is from a newcomer who is 13 years old. Her name is Dionne Bromfield and she is really talented and happens to be related to another talented artist, Amy Winehouse. The song is called “Mama
Said”. The song is a remake of the 60’s artist The Shirelles.

Well that is all for this week. Hope y’all have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!

Adios,

Joshua Martinez!

Posted by Josh Martinez at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fall break is over….

NO!!!

Come back…

Just kidding.

Hope all of you had a great weekend, I know I did. Fall break was very much needed. Now that we’re back, it’s back to classes and studying. I have a test on Friday. It feels like I have a test every week…ugh. But I guess that is the life of a college student.

So over fall break I had several new experiences. The first new thing I did over break was go apple picking. It was fun. I had no idea that there are so many different kinds of apples. It was cool to actually pick our own apples. Which my friend and I later made into apple pies…well kind of. Our apple pies were not very edible but none-the-less apple pies. :)

I look good right...haha.

The second thing I did which I’ve never done before, was carve a pumpkin. That was SO much fun! It was fun to dig into the pumpkin “junk” and take out the seeds. We baked the seeds and ate them…so good. The best part was seeing the different designs in the pumpkins. I had lots of fun.

Song of the week: “Ignorance” by Paramore. Thanks to my new friend Sophia!

Until next time.

Peace Y’all.

Joshua Martinez!!

Posted by Josh Martinez at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey Y’all.

I hope everyone had an amazing week. I’m sorry my post is a little late. I had several midterms this week so I was doing some last minute studying all week. I feel like I did well on them. BUT now after a week midterms we’re on FALL BREAK!!!!!

I am so excited to just take some days off and not have to worry about class. I have some work to do but nothing too serious. Like you guys know I am from Texas so I didn’t get to home. It gets really expensive flying back and forth so instead I went home with a friend of mine, the best girl in the whole world. I am currently in Toms River, NJ. The drive from Scranton to Toms River was beautiful. It is so cool to see the different colors in all the trees. I know to many people that is normal for Fall, but at home we hardly see any color change. We are lucky to see leaves go from green to yellow and then brown; usually it’s just green to brown.

Sorry I don’t have much more to tell y’all but I was buried in notes this week. I hope to have more stories for you guys after fall break!!!

Song of the week:” Whine Up” by Kat DeLuna
That song is such a good song to dance to. If you need a song to get the party started…definitely play “Whine Up”!!!

Talk to Y’all soon

Joshua Martinez

Posted by Josh Martinez at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello again.

Hope y’all are doing well. Everything in Scranton is awesome. The weather is now starting to feel like fall. It has been pretty chilly here. It has been around 45 degrees. You can only imagine how bundled up I am. Before you judge, remember I’m from Texas and that’s like our winter weather. If the weather keeps dropping I may have to just borrow in my room 24/7. It’s been rainy too so that just adds to more shivering on my part.

It was raining on my retreat this weekend. Remember last time I told y’all I was going on the Art and Spirituality retreat? I had lots of fun. The retreat was more of a soul searching one. During the weekend we were told to pull from our internal feelings and thoughts and put that into our artwork. The retreat made us look deep into ourselves. One project that I found very therapeutic was creating our “journey sticks.” We went to a lake and each picked a stick that caught our eye. Later on in the retreat we debarked it and sanded it. After all that was done we painted them to represent the journey of our lives up to this point. It was amazing to see the differences in sticks. Not one person had the same stick. It was an activity that I felt allowed me to express myself the most. You guys should try it one time. Here is my stick:

This past weekend was also family weekend. I helped with registration for the event. It was cool to see everyone’s families on campus. That made me happy and sad. I was glad to see many of my friends had the chance to see their families and catch up. Being from Texas it’s hard for my family to come up. Although my family wasn’t able to come in person I know that they are always with me in spirit. The saying “Distance makes the heart grow founder”, is very true. If you’re reading my blog; love you Mom, Dad, Joe, and Jay!!!!!!!!! :)

Ok on a side note: I have been obsessed with the song “Video” by India Arie. The lyrics to the song are beautiful and inspiring. For those reasons and that I have been listening to that song repeatedly this week; it is my song of the week!!!!

Well before I sign out for this week I just wanted to leave you with these lyrics:

“When I look in the mirror the only one there is me
Every freckle on my face is where i'ts supposed to be
And I know our creator didn't make no mistakes on me
My feet, my thighs, my lips, my eyes; Im lovin what I see”

"Video" by India Arie

Have a good rest of the week.

Joshua Martinez!!!!

Posted by Josh Martinez at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey Y'all,

I hope everyone had a great week. I hope that everyone who took the time to read my first blog enjoyed it...I know I enjoyed writing it. I have a lot to tell you about since the last time I blogged so here we go...

Last week I told you guys that I had four tests! I thought I was going to die!! I had to buckle down and split my time wisely in order to study for all four. The worst part about them was that I had two on Thursday and two on Friday. I know it sounds like it's not that bad, but the trick was that I had them back-to-back on both days. So there was no breathing room in between my tests to regroup and get refocused. I just had to dive in and hope that my studying paid off. I feel confident that I did well. I haven't found out how I did on all my test...but I'm keep my fingers crossed.

After those two stressful days I could not wait for the weekend to come. On Saturday I went hiking at Rickets Glenn which is about an hour away from Scranton. I went with a couple of my friends and we had a blast. Before I continue let me tell you that I am NOT an outdoorsy person AT ALL! The week leading up to hike I was complaining and making jokes about how I was going to need them to carry me along the trail; basically I was wining the whole week. Shockingly though I enjoyed every second of it. The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous. It is definitely something I would enjoy doing again.

The next day I had Urban Beats practice and that was fun. Thus far we have learned dances to the songs: "Down" by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne, "La La La" by LMFAO, and "City is Mine" by Drake. If you haven't listened to these songs you should, they are catchy and are good to dance to. I'm still getting completely used to dancing hip-hop; I might not be the best but I'm having a lot of fun. When we have our first show I will try to post a video...we will see if I can learn how to do that.

So yesterday I had the opportunity to be a part of a good cause. I got the chance to go to New York City with Cancertacular, a local nonprofit agency that helps families that have children with cancer. With September being national Childhood Cancer Awareness month, we went to be a part of the audience of Good Morning America. It was such a good trip. We got to meet Robin Roberts and Christian Slater. If you want to know more about Cancertacular or how you can help here a link to their website, http://cancertacular.org.

This weekend I will be going on a retreat. It is the Art and Spirituality retreat. I can't wait.One of the great things about the University of Scranton is that it offers many great retreats for its students. This is the first retreat I will be going on so I am looking forward to it!

Random Thought: So I have had Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams" song stuck in my head all week. I really like that song. So I think I might just post a random song that I like every week. Thought?

Well guys I don't know what else to tell y'all.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a great week!

Joshua Martinez

PS: Feel free to leave me some feedback. I would love to hear from y'all.

PPS: Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Posted by Josh Martinez at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)