All in with Althea

     As the semester starts to end like anyone else, I'm looking forward to the summer. I know that it'll be nice to have a break from academics and to work for some money to use the following school year.       Everything has mostly been fine since I got back last Friday. As mentioned I was able to make it to the Greek Olympics. But then my nurse and doctor called me the following Thursday saying some of my typical bloodwork results were not looking so good. So alas I packed up and left Ada again. Thankfully this time I didn't have to be admitted through the emergency department and was able to have my doctors directly admit me which relieved some stress.       Pretty much as soon as I got to the floor they started taking a lot of my blood to run various tests. I also have been attached to fluids to make sure I'm hydrated but walking around with an IV pole is harder than you would think. I have also been taking many additional medi...

  Chapter #11:  TikTok       TikTok. I'm sure everyone reading this knows what TikTok is and how it works. A short explanation of what Tiktok is which is a short-form video content platform with a section for following and a for you page where the algorithm works to tailor videos to fit each individual.      I am sure you've all fallen victim to the TikTok rabbit hole or spiral. TikTok has a continuously active feed that keeps you scrolling for hours. The continuous feed is what keeps the platform so addictive.       TikTok has endless options to show your creativity and express yourself. Titok has the ability to now share up to ten minutes of video. It has been the fastest-growing social media platform globally, the most downloaded app from 2019-2023.      As for statistics, there are over 1 billion listeners. The largest age group on Tiktok is the 18-24 range with the male to female ratio being nearly even...

         Greek Week. The most exhausting but fun week on campus especially for the members of Greek Life. Greek Week takes place every year on Ohio Northern's campus. It is a whole week of sports and activities for each sorority and fraternity to compete for their respective trophies and become that year's Greek life champions.   This year's schedule includes:  Monday: Greek Sing  What is Greek Sing? Greek Sing is where each fraternity and sorority has to complete a ten-minute performance with dances and lyric changes to fit ONU and Greek life.  Placed: 4th Tuesday: No Events :(   (Honors Day) Wednesday: Pandora's Box  What is Pandora's Box? Pandora's box could literally mean any event the Greek Week co-chairs can pretty much think of. Last year it was a game of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. In years past one Pandora's box event was to see who could build the highest tower out of marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti ...

     Chapter #10: Youth and Youtube YouTube is an easy way to share videos on this platform of content. YouTube was founded way back in 2006 that's 18 years ago. Some demographics of YouTube are 54.2% of male usage compared to 45.8% of female usage. This is one of the closest ranges on social media platforms. On average 1 billion hours are watched on YouTube each day. Something that made sense to me was that 70% of YouTube usage is used on mobile devices.      Personally, I do notice that I use YouTube more on my phone than TV or laptop. I am not sure if this is due to my family using YouTube Music vs Spotify or Apple Music, but I generally use YouTube on my phone.      There are also many sub-brands and more parts to YouTube including YouTube Music and YouTube TV. I know each of these sub-brands has perks. For example with YouTube TV, you can access certain cable channels and exclusive streams plus get ad-free videos.      I d...

     As I said last week life is unexpected even now being three years post-transplant. I am once again back in the hospital after being sick for the last week and a half. I know that this is for the best right now but it sucks and I miss my friends. Not only am I missing my friends but I am missing Greek week as well which I've been looking forward to for a while. Although I am currently stuck in the hospital we still made the best of celebrating my "3rd birthday''. I started the morning like any other day with labs from my IV and taking my meds. But my dad got to stop by and visit for a bit before he headed somewhere to play golf.  Afterward, my mom came by bringing me a giant three-ballon and a 3-year-old birthday card. It was nice to get to spend time with my parents since I wasn't originally going to be home on my liverversary. I also got to see one of my best friends from home since attends Ohio State which isn't too far from Nationwide Children's. Sh...

     Life is unexpected. Especially when you grow up chronically ill. Ever since I was little it's all I can remember from growing up. Missing countless hours of school for various appointments in different clinics, getting blood taken every day for several weeks once, and even missing out on growing and socializing as a kid. All simply because I was too tired to keep up with my peers.       I was born with a genetic condition called Alpha Antitrypsin Deficiency. This mostly affects the Liver and the Lungs. But for my situation, it affected my liver. My liver didn't function the way it was supposed to and to put it simply it means my body didn't make enough of the protein that is supposed to protect the lungs and liver from damage.                           This April marks not only my 3rd anniversary of getting my new liver on the 14th but it happens to be National Do...

  Chapter #9: Linkedin       I had never used LinkedIn until last week when I set up an account, after attending the Woman in Buinessness conference in Columbus last Wednesday put on by Ohio Northern's chapter of PRSSA.  I knew that I finally had to make an account after meeting with several professionals and soon hoping to get an Internship.      LinkedIn is the most used professional social media platform. It ranks in the top 20 at 18th most used social media  I really enjoyed this chapter because I got to learn about LinkedIn which I knew the least about out of several social media platforms we've learned about so far.       Numbers only a slightly higher amount of men are on LinkedIn compared to women with a percentage of 57% to 43% and the largest age group using LinkedIn is in the 25-34 range. Something about LinkedIn I never thought of would be what other countries use it and how much compared to the United States. ...

Chapter #8: Pinterest     What is Pinterest?  Pinterest is essentially a digital bulletin board. You can pin anything to any type of board that you can title and categorize how you want. I know that I have been using Pinterest for as long as I can remember. I remember that my mom and I would use to plan fun birthday parties for Ruby and me. I eventually created my own account probably around the time I started middle school. I've used Pinterest on and off for several years. I have used Pinterest for DIYs, arts/crafts, and my baking phase when I was in middle school. I also frequently used Pinterest when prepping for college to see ways to save storage and decorate my future dorm room.      The demographics of Pinterest were very interesting to see. I figured that app was going to mostly women users but I was surprised when I saw the number. The percentage of women using Pinterest in 2023 was 76.2% compared to men at 17.2%. Another stat that didn't surprise ...

       This week starts April which is now my favorite month of the whole year. Even despite the unpredictable weather and school slump many students face at this point in the school year.       What makes April your favorite month? Does it really matter? The short answer is... YES.       April means National Donate Life Month. What is National Donate Life Month?       National Donate Life Month aims to spread awareness of organ, eye, and tissue donation and to honor those who have donated. This national month has been celebrated every year since 2003.      What makes organ donation such a big deal to me is that nearly three years ago I received a new lifesaving liver. I will get more into that for next week's blog post.       What is Donate Life? What do they do?        Donate Life  is the national brand for the cause of donation, uniting the ...