There is an unknown art of dreaming.

Almost all of the human population dream, yet according to oneirologists (scientist who study dreams) humans forget upwards of 95 percent of their dreams.

People are more apt to remember their dreams if they wake up either during or just after REM sleep. If one were to wake up in any other stage of the sleep cycle the chances of recalling your dream is significantly reduced.

Alcohol, sleeping pills, and drugs including caffeine also inhibit the ability to dream.

I, on the other hand, am one of the five percent that remember their dreams. Close to every morning I wake up and tell my boyfriend, my roommates, or my friends what I dreamt the previous night.

But what do dreams mean?

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of dream is, “a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep.”

Although this may be the textbook definition, each dream sequence, image, or emotion may be interpreted in a number of different ways.

Ever dreamt that you and your significant other broke up? Well you’re not alone. You may feel sad and as though this dream was a premonition of what is to come, but that is not the case. Dream Mood has a full dictionary of what certain images and objects mean. A break up means, “Your relationship is moving to the next level. In a way, it is an end to something; you are leaving some past behind. At the same time, it is the start of something new or better.”

Another recurring theme in my dreams is driving. This is, “telling of how you are moving and navigating through life.”

But what do dreams mean to others besides me?

It is a common speculation that dreams consist of a compilation of images and events that happened during the day.

Yesterday my boyfriend, his roommate and I were talking about how high school relationships rarely work, as well as the fact that as people grow older they grow into different people and reluctantly grow apart. This often leads to a breakup.

Over the course of the day this thought resonated with me.

The end of the night comes and it is time for bed. I slowly but surely fell asleep and I dreamt that my boyfriend and I broke up. It turned into a nightmare as that would be significantly difficult for me to handle. I woke up with a sense of sadness and relief that it was merely a dream.

Other dreams of mine have been so intricate that I have a hard time believing that my subconscious could possibly even come up with such a thing. Sometimes I think that I could be a script writer for CSI, based on the intricacy of the plots of my dreams.

So, point of the story, dreams are inevitable. They come to you as you sleep and portray images and sequences that you are subconsciously thinking of.

They cannot always be remembered.

They can have meanings either significant or not.

They can make for some very interesting stories.

When running low on battery power, students now have the ability to charge their phones via the GetCharged stations brought to Gengras Student Union by Student Centers Administration (SCA).

On each charging station are chargers for an iPhone, iPod, Androids, BlackBerrys and various older phone models.

There is one charger station per floor in GSU.  One is located next to the game room and across from the SGA office, the next and most popular is the one located in Suisman Lounge.

With the charger station next to the furniture, students can relax on the newly furnished couches and wait for their phones to recharge.

David Dorado, training to be the Lead Building Manager in SCA, said, “It’s nice to see people take notice and appreciate it, and they are respecting the equipment.”

Members of SCA heard the idea while at a conference in St. Louis. The Lead Building Manager, Lead Hawks Nest Booking Manager, Lead of event staff, and the Lead of the game room were all in attendance. When the same charging station idea was implemented by another university, Director of SCA, Kristy Severino was sold.

At the conference a number of ideas were provided, but the GetCharged stations were within SCAs budget and would be a useful contribution for the students at the University.

The last of the charger stations is on the third floor outside the meeting rooms.

Another rather inventive idea is the build your own pizza station, where students type in their toppings and a personal sized pizza comes out of the slot.

Durado said, “It’s almost like burger studio, but it looks like a huge vending machine.”

SCA is always looking for new ideas that would benefit the students of campus. Students are welcome to talk to members of SCA, email them at SCA@hartford.edu or like their Facebook page named, “Student Centers Administration.”

This year’s  Spring Fling concert will take place outside in the Lincoln Theater parking lot.

For the past two years the venue for such a popular concert event has been held in the Sports Center. The students’ voice has been heard and after a number of requests the concert has finally been moved back outside.

Director of Public Safety, John Schmaltz, has a number of years devoted to crowd control and crowd management.

He has worked at locations such as the Meadows and Bushnell Park, so managing a crowd is not new for this former police officer.

Schmaltz said that considering the history of Spring Fling the objective is to manage the crowd efficiently and minimize liability.

The new concert location outside of Lincoln Theater will accommodate students with water, food and port-o-lets.

There will be fencing to keep the students in one general location.

Though there will be food and beverages provided inside of the fencing, no open drinks, food or backpacks from outside the fencing will be allowed inside.

Public Safety officers as well as members of CAT will be making sure that everyone has a Spring Fling bracelet, and that students do not bring any unwarranted items into the concert venue.

Though you will be checked both for your bracelet, and beverages, you are allowed to come and go as you please. You may stay for a while, leave and come back at your leisure.

There are planned disperser routes, as well as escape routes in case of emergency.

“With the new system there will be no congestion points,” Schmaltz said.

This will allow students the ease of enjoying the concert, and not the worry of knocking into other rowdy or intoxicated students.

The concrete of the parking lot will also avoid injuries.

Within the past two years of the concert being held in the Sports Center there have been lesser injuries.

No matter the weather the concert will still be held outside, in comparison to the Sports Center, which provides crowd control, shelter, water, bathrooms, and can account for heating issues.

“Of all the students 80 percent of them are underage and ranging from 19 to 22 percent of the students are of eligible drinking age,” he said.

With the staggering amounts of underage drinking that takes place on the University campus during Spring Fling, the safety of the students is of the utmost importance.

The purpose of the fencing is to keep students in one general location to enjoy the concert.

There will also be a screening, so students cannot merely stand outside the fence to watch the concert while they participate in drinking  or various activities.

Schmaltz said, “This is to minimize day long binge drinking.”

Schmaltz said that Public Safety will support any campus event  and are not trying to be the bad guys.

He mentioned that if Public Safety officers were to check every single person with a cup it would ruin the atmosphere of Spring Fling and students would not participate.

If students did not participate in the outdoor events, it could lead to vandalism in the residential areas such as the Village Apartments.

The Public Safety officers will be on duty for 12-hour shifts, many of which will overlap.

Thursday there will be a few Public Safety Officers on duty, Friday there will be a half dozen, and Saturday there will be 12.

The number of officers on duty is to provide safety to the students.

Public Safety is taking every measure to ensure the safety of the students.

Regardless of the varying intoxication of students, the Spring Fling concert will once again take place outside.

Both the Allen Memorial and Mortensen Libraries have upgraded in their technology.

The Allen library is located on the top floor in the Harry Jack Gray Center, above Wilde Auditorium.

This library is the home to music and dance materials and supports the Hartt School programs.

The Allen Library now houses many new technological devices including 14 iPads, five Panasonic camcorders, five Zeikos tripods, four zoom audio recorders and 4 Audio-Technica USB microphones.

Already installed on the iPads are a number of various Applications both free and paid.

Productivity Apps include Pages, Google Drive, Cloud, and SlideShark. Some of the note taking apps are InkFlow, Evernote, GoodNotes and NoteShelf.

Since the Allen Library is in association with the Hartt School there are a number of musical apps to aid in the student’s learning.

GarageBand, Piano Free, Vocal Exercises and SongBook are just a few of the many apps to help students practice their music.

Other apps include: YouTube, iTunes, Google, WebEx, iMovie, iBooks, Podcasts, Kindle, Dropbox, Skype and many more.

Sam Cook, Public Services Librarian at the Allen Memorial Library, said that in using the apps, “it is valuable for them to see what apps are useful for them.”

He went on to say when using the camcorders, “students can record a lesson and listen back to it to catch things they may have missed and it can be very beneficial…all five were signed out today.”

Though the Allen Library serves primarily the Hartt School all students are welcome to utilize the new technology, and “implement their own learning,” Cook said.

The Allen Memorial Library got most of the new items over winter break. At this time students have access to the utilities, but the library is still working out certain policies.

Students can use the laptops and take them out of the library, but they have to return them the next day. The iPads have both same day and three-day loan period policies depending on the iPad. For special projects the staff would be pleased to make arrangements for the use of the equipment.

The prior use of the laptops and other older technology had a policy of a four hour window in the library, but with the new laptops having allowance to leave, students will no longer have to rush to finish assignments or run out of time.

“Reading scores, composition apps, audio processing, dance, anatomy apps, vocal exercises, pages are all apps that are beneficial to the Hartt students,” Cook said.

There has not been any formal announcement of all of the technological devices that students can use, but word has spread very fast via word of mouth. Students right now are using them most for concerts and lessons.

The funding for the devices was from fundraising and support by the Hartt School as well as Provost Sharon L. Vasquez.

The Mortensen Library also have many new technological devices, of which include: iPads, white boards, scientific calculators, videos and DVDs.

How many of your 600+ Facebook friends do you know, and I mean really know. If you were walking down the street you would actually stop to have a conversation and catch up, or text regularly, talk on the phone, or even hang out?

My assumption is less than half.

This is the same assumption that Connecticut local Ty Morin has realized. So, in order to become both acquainted and reacquainted with his 788 Facebook friends he has decided to photograph every single one of them whilst participating in something that they are passionate about, in a project he is calling, “Friend Request: Accepted.”

There’s more, not only will he be photographing them, but it will be done on an 8×10 camera, developing images in a dark room with chemicals…the whole shebang. This will allow for longer interaction between Morin and his friends.

Morin is backed by many people on kickstarter.com funding this project, already having reached his goal of $5,000 dollars, but he is also backed by his sister Sarah Morin who is a Public relations major here at the University of Hartford and is well…my lovely roommate.

She will be promoting Ty’s trailer and future endeavors by sending out press releases, and advertising his endeavors on every imaginable social media outlet.

So why should we care about this hometown UHart alumni with vast aspirations?

Because he is absolutely right.

We are stuck behind computer and phone screens and never take the time to have face-to-face interactions. We form a social façade that protects us from human interactions, and it’s quite frankly, sad.

So join Ty. Make the effort to communicate with the friends that actually mean something to you. You must have accepted them on Facebook for some reason. Rekindle the lost relationships, and stoke the relationships you do have.

Join him on your own journey through your friend list, and draw the inspiration from, “Friend Request: Accepted.”

It is the time of year when all you hear is the sniffling of runny noses, and the continuous hacking of the incessant cough.

Not uncommon amongst the below freezing temperatures, blizzards and viruses that spread like wildfire.

2013 in particular has been one of the worst flu epidemics in 10 years, and 29 states have reported the flu as severe in their state according to experts at the CDC.

Also, hospitalizations have seen a 169 percent increase from last year.

Doctors recommend staying home from school or work if you think or know you have the flu.

A common misconception is that if you cough into your elbow, or use Purell after every disposal of a tissue then you are safely prohibiting the spreading of the gift that keeps on giving.

False.

According to pamf.org adults can spread the flu or flu-like symptoms before their own symptoms even develop. That means that you can inadvertently get someone sick without even knowing that you are sick yourself.

“Respiratory droplets are generated by a person coughing or sneezing and can be propelled…three to six feet,” pamf.org states.

So the question is can you afford to miss class, call out of work or miss the meeting?

Economically, or educationally perhaps not, but why not focus on yourself and get better, while preventing others from catching your illness.

You may think that if you stay home you are just being weak, and maybe a little selfish, but I believe this to be incorrect.

Personally, if I am sick, I am going to stay home. I am not doing my body any favors by bracing the weather conditions, sitting or working in an environment that has a high flow of germs or not resting and drinking enough fluids.

How could you possibly get better?

My solution is to take the R&R time.

The problem is that most people do not want to admit defeat, admit that their immune system is down, or admit that they need to take a break.

Katherine Kam of WebMD has a few questions that you should ask yourself when deciding whether or not to go to work.

The first is: How well can you carry out your duties? If you are feeling rather sick and are on any type of medications you will no longer be able to accomplish the tasks that you would on a normal work-day. You will not be able to function at the same rate you would at a normal healthy level.

The next is: Are you contagious? “If you have a viral or bacterial illness, you’ll expose your coworkers and they in turn will infect others. Staying home when you’re sick helps to curb germs in the community. ‘It’s to contain the illness,’ Cummins says.” stated Kam.

Lastly: Will resting at home help your body to overcome illness? Doctors tend to see worsening symptoms because people do not take the time to take care of themselves. What most students or employees do not understand is that they are thrusting the sickness on to others, and that they will be sicker at the end of the week, than they would have had they taken that initial day to recuperate.

Moreover, there are a number of remedies to boost your immune system, help you get well and feel rejuvenated.

On the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, experts recommend people ages 18 to 64 to get the intradermal flu shot. They say, “An annual seasonal flu vaccine is the best way to reduce the chances that you will get seasonal flu and lessen the chance that you will spread it to others. When more people get vaccinated against the flu, less flu can spread through that community.”

The CDC also says that the flu season usually peaks during January and February, so even through January was the worst of the outbreak, you’re not in the clear just yet.

More remedies for feeling lousy are immune system boosters like Emergen-C and Airborne, which come in tasty flavors, such as grapefruit, citrus and raspberry.

All you have to do is dissolve them in your water for an instant pick me up.

So, remember if you start to feel sick, get some R&R, don’t infect others, and try out some sickness preventers such as the flu shot and immune system booster dissolvable tablets.

Attention Deficit Disorder is characterized by inattention, easy distractibility, disorganization, procrastination, and forgetfulness.

I have found that in writing my weekly column, to date, I suffer from…well all of these symptoms.

In the world of technology today, it is vastly difficult to find yourself doing your work and your work only, instead of perusing Facebook, Twitter, Tublr, emails, in addition to all the apps you can use on your phone, on top of playing crumpled paper basketball, doodling and twiddling your thumbs.

For example, within the time it took me to write those few sentences I have already checked my email twice, checked my school email, gone on Facebook, played Words with Friends, Snapchatted four photos, and sent a few texts.

The part that is most aggravating is the inability to disconnect, or better yet, the lack of will-power.

I hate myself every time I spend four hours on a paper that could have taken one. I constantly find myself connected in one way or another and I loathe it.

Nothing is that exciting on Facebook, a digital game of scrabble can wait, and Snapchat is eight seconds of your life you can never get back.

So why do we do it? How do we stay on task?

There are a number of ways to pay attention, but it is up to you to carry out the “Rules of De-Procrastination and on Task-ness,” and yes those are both made up words.

Get rid of the distractions. Close out of any open software that you do not need, and especially stay away from the Internet. If you need a website for your homework minimize it until it is fully needed.

Let your phone go to voicemail, and do not respond to texts. If something is really that important than they will surely leave a voicemail. As for texts, I suggest putting your phone on silent and flipping the screen upside down as to not know that you have a notification of a text. That way when you are done you can be pleasantly surprised at the amount of texts you have.

Shut the door. If you are trying to do work in an open area with a lot of human traffic and noises, this may not be proper work atmosphere. Seclude yourself in a room by yourself or at least where it is quiet such as your bedroom or the library.

Make sure that you are physically comfortable. There is nothing worse than sitting down with a giant pile of homework and your stomach growls or you have to use the bathroom. Get a snack and a beverage as preparation, and use the bathroom before hand.

If you remember something that you need to do such as a chore or an errand, write in on a post-it or make a note of it so as not to distract you from your work at the present time.

If you follow these simple, yet challenging “Rules of De-Procrastination and on Task-ness,” homework will be done, dinner will be on the table, and friends will be awaiting your reply.

Don’t let your lack of attention get the best of you and try these tricks. They are quite simple, but prove your will-power and get your work done.