#10 Travel

Growing up all my friends would dream about having kids, their weddings, and being a mom. Me on the other hand I was different. I dreamt of traveling and seeing the world. The travel bug bit me at an early age. I would study maps and had a globe in my room. The top three places I would like to visit are Venice, India, and Fiji.

Venice has always been on my bucket list to go. A beautiful city that is partially underwater and slowly sinking every year. I would love to get on a speed boat and ride the water through the city and view all the amazing architecture that has stood the test of time.

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The second place I would like to see is India. I love the culture, the fashion, and even the religion. I know there is a particular time I want to go. I want to participate in their festival called Holi. Holi (Hindi pronunciation: ['hoːli:]) is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colors, Love, and Spring. Wikipedia I can remember seeing photographs of this holiday inside coffee shops and magazines. The smiles on peoples faces while they were covered in so many vibrant colors. I wanted to jump through the page and be a part of their celebration. 

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The last place is Fiji and it is a beautiful island with its white sandy beach and crystal clear blue water. Every time I look at a screen saver those sandy beaches of Fiji. The clearest water I have ever seen. This beach looks so relaxing. I can imagine feeling the warm sun hitting my face as I am relaxing in a hammock under some palm trees. One day I will visit these places and travel all over the world. I plan to start within the next year and start my journey of seeing the world.

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Entry #9 Media Synthesize

 

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Media is a constant flow of information, like a river it never stops or sleeps. Since we have begun this final essay, I have noticed subtle changes with the media. I have become more curious about what is going on in our daily lives. I have always been skeptical about misinformation through other avenues. These days I have been questioning the information we get from the news. I know you cannot trust what you see on the internet, especially social media. I have noticed that this newer generation gets a lot of their information from platforms like tik tok or X(Twitter).  However, I am still old school and get most of my information from the news.

These days I have noticed that the news has sensationalized every story, a single news report is about someone being killed or someone getting injured. I understand that bad things happen everyday. The media seems to have shifted its focus to these stories rather than reporting on anything else. It has become nothing but negativity. Ever wonder why there’s so much bad news out there? Maybe it’s because people find bad news more interesting than good news.

 

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According, to a new study involving more than 1,000 people across 17 countries spanning every continent but Antarctica concludes that, on average, people pay more attention to negative news than to positive news. LA Times I understand that life is hard and we will always have trials and tribulations. However, I believe if we continue to focus on the bad it does nothing but perpetuate the cycle. I am not saying to look through the world with rose colored glasses, just be mindful of what energy we put out into the world. Also what we are willing to give our attention to. If we continue to fill a room with hot air the room the room will stay hot. Our universe is based on balance and if we continue to be one sided we will never be able to move forward. We will always be stuck in the past, and continue to dwell on negative thoughts and which will be replaced with fear.

Entry #8 Healthcare Terminology

                            

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I work as customer service representative for Marketplace and Medicare. I took the job with the idea of learning about health insurance as much as possible. I thought I would share some of my knowledge and help break down some of the terminology. Health insurance can be very confusing and hard to understand. The terminology and the way healthcare is processed can be a daunting.

You have your deductible which has to be met by the consumer before the plan itself pays its portion. Some preventive services are paid out by the plan before the deductible is met. Think of it almost like car insurance. When you get into an accident you have to meet the deductible before the plan covers the expenses of the accident, and the deductible will be applied to certain medical services. Usually the plan will dictate what medical services are a part of your deductible.  A copay is a set rate you pay for prescriptions, doctor visits, and other types of care. Coinsurance is the percentage of costs you pay after you've met your deductible. Investopedia Out of pocket costs is what you pay during the annual coverage year that is not covered by the insurance policy.

In-network has to do with what providers take the insurance policy and out of network are the providers that are out of the service area. Some companies will cover you out of network expenses but it may be a portion of the cost. Every company is different and covers different services at a certain cost. There is a lot of information and a lot of different components when it comes to health insurance. Also, remember there are sometimes other things that are covered that do not pertain to health care. Some companies may help pay for utilities bills or provide a card to purchase groceries. Usually you have to apply for these types of services. 

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Along with some of the cost sharing and out of pocket expenses there are different types of plans. HMOs and PPO are the most common. HMO stands for health maintenance organization and PPO stands for preferred provider organization. The main difference between these plans are: HMO plans typically have lower monthly premiums. You can also expect to pay less out of pocket. PPOs tend to have higher monthly premiums in exchange for the flexibility to use providers both in and out of the network without a referral. Out-of-pocket medical costs can also run higher with a PPO plan.Women's Health.

In conclusion, I just wanted to spread a little bit of knowledge about this subject. I know it's a lot of information and can be really confusing. Just remember never be afraid to ask questions and all the information is literally in the palm of our hands. Additionally, if you ever need some help feel free to reach out!

Entry #7 Hashtag

    Growing up, I always referred to this symbol as a pound sound. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined the reinvention of this sign. I am unfamiliar with this particular symbol. I know it was used during the early years of Twitter, but I did not have an account. I still don't. LOL. 

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    In 2007, when the pound sign was first used by Chris Messina as a metadata tag to find topics of interest with ease, no one could have predicted hashtags would have become extremely popular among social media users around the globe. Hashtag Activism Reading about the article gave me a little more insight into this mysterious ever so popular hashtag. The verbiage that was popular in my early years was hashtag. 

Hashtags first achieved widespread attention as a means of organizing and disseminating information. The #Hashtag Revolution Somewhere in 2008 when social media was in its infancy I remember hearing the words hashtag. People would make jokes about hashtag this or hashtag that. I think even Jimmy Fallon did a bit with Justin Timberlake about hashtags on the Tonight Show. 

    I will admit that I did not fully understand the meaning of the word. Reading further into these articles enlightened me and helped me get a better understanding of the phase. I knew it was associated with Twitter, but I did not know the functionality of it. The hashtag was a way of grouping numerous pieces of media photos, videos, comments etc. into easily accessible information. When you type in a certain phrase that is followed by a hashtag you are able to visually see all the information that you are most interested in. The revolution of the hashtag has made its mark on social media. 

Before I read these articles I had no idea what the significance of a hashtag was and how powerful a simple symbol has the ability to group multiple pieces of data in a single search field. Moving forward, I will be sure to use a hashtag on my Tiktoks when making my next post.