Shedding my exuvia

The Phase 1 of IS101 was full of surprises. The entire course feels nothing like any of the classes I have taken before, and I mean it in a good way. I think I did alright—I have always been mediocre—I did not become a part of the 'failing' group that needs to catch up, but I was not a part of the group that excels either. What I need to do differently is definitely manage my time better, and of course, strengthen my mental stability. I can't always just stay in my comfort zone because things feel overwhelming. I need to toughen up and push through. I want to stand out and excel like the others, because that is what's going to help me succeed in this class and in the future outside of it.

I picked 4.2.2 - The Clipboard. This is very useful for me, as I am someone who loves to use the em dash (—), as you can see in the paragraph above. The problem is, I don't see the em dash anywhere on my laptop keyboard. So I decided to use the clipboard for storing symbols that I cannot find anywhere on my keyboard in the pinned section. This is especially useful for students who need citations and references while doing their research papers, saving links of articles, names, and blocks of texts, instead of having to rewrite everything themselves.

To prepare for the upcoming MO-110 Word certification exam, I took the advice of my awesome seatmate, Kevin. He seems to be one of the best students in class. He told me to just keep redoing everything that I have been getting wrong in the practice tests, and eventually it'll stick.

Something to share with the World Wide Web is the fact that all of us are too distracted by social media trends, government problems, old men's wars fought by and sacrificed for by the youth or younger adults, and our own problems as we try our best to survive this chaotic world. We don't even notice or know about the more important news anymore: There's a LOT of bizarre things happening to our planet Earth, the North Pole's magnetic field changing rapidly being one of them. And I wish people would unite to help figure it out and remedy our planet's issues before it's too late for all of us.

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A little note to explain what the title means: It is an analogy of improvement.

"In biology, exuviae (singular: exuvia) refers to the shed exoskeleton or outer covering of an arthropod (like insects, crustaceans, and spiders) after molting. Essentially, it’s the ‘skin’ they leave behind after growing."

Danielson, Bill. “Speaking of Nature: Ever Heard of an Exuvia? A Triumphant Use of Unexpected Science Vocabulary.” The Greenfield Recorder, 29 July 2025.

Small Habits Make Big Differences

Hello everyone. I'm Chae, an aspiring future defense tech engineer with a sweet-treats-therapy dependency. 

When I started attending a class at CSN, I chose to do it online and remotely first. I was anxious, afraid, and overthinking things. I thought that people would talk in an accent I would not understand without subtitles, and use fancy words I would not comprehend without looking up "What is this fancy word's synonym?" on Google. Now, I am here taking multiple in-person classes, IS 101 being one of them, and never once did I regret going out to learn. Every mispronunciation, forgotten thing, silly mistake, and stupid idea I formed or made over the course of 3 years studying at CSN has helped me grow and learn.

I realized that I should never immediately say no to something before I even get to try it, you never actually lose something. If anything, you gained something, and that is the knowledge about oneself. You get to know whether or not you like or dislike certain things; you get to know yourself better in general.

For my discussion answer, I chose 3.4.1 — Navigating through a Word document. My experience with using this skill went pretty well. I started using it when I was in my middle school's journalism club almost a decade ago. I think its user interface is very intuitive, no matter how much they update it. Almost everything has a name label to show what purpose it serves, and if not, its symbol shows exactly what it is or what it would do. The only ones that were quite tough to figure out for me were the References and Mailing, although it only takes a few clicks and looking around for you to finally understand what each button does. Finding out each button's purpose by testing them out individually first worked well for me.

One thing I’ve learned from such a trivial habit (which is testing things out that I'm unfamiliar with) is that most things become less intimidating once you actually first try them out all by yourself, instead of instantly asking for help or an answer. Try the different methods you've come up with first. This way, you learn all sorts of methods and their effectiveness, efficiency, and which method is best for whichever situation. This also helps with your problem-solving skills, as it tests out your ability to find solutions to different problems outside of just a Word document or an application. 

Start with your own approach and see where it leads. You'll be surprised how such a small habit can make a big difference in your life.