Wednesday, December 10, 2014

So I'm Graduating This Week

December 11, 2014. The day that I will attend my last class (at least as an undergrad - haven't totally ruled out grad school yet) in college.



That's crazy. Like Crazy with a capital C. It's out of sane, that's what it is. "Out of sane" is like "out of control" and "insane" had sex and a Crazy word baby popped out.

So yeah. Graduating? Pretty out of sane.

It has been an out of sane 3.5 years.

A little back story... I was in my high school's graduating class of 2011. In high school I took three AP classes that earned me 18 units in total. 18 units is kinda a lot. They equal approximately six classes, more than a typical semester of college. So I started the Fall 2011 semester at San Francisco State University a semester in.

Fast forward to now... This is my last week of school and I am graduating a semester early from the "average" four years.

Now I don't want to give all the credit to those AP classes. I also took at least five classes every semester and worked my butt off. I passed every class and got a variety of A's and B's. I'm usually not one to toot my own horn outside of my close family and friends but... TOOT EFFIN TOOT. I'm proud of myself and I'm graduating so this is my moment, okay?

A lot of hard work and now a lot of hard goodbyes.



I've already said goodbye to a few friends that I'm not sure when or where or if I will see them again. (I had to do this with friends that graduated last year too, but it seems weirder when I'm the one that is leaving.) Tuesday, I said goodbye to a professor and advisor that has helped me so much with school and life and inspires me to be as cool and awesome and bad ass as she is.

In the next couple days, I'm going to have to say goodbye to so many more people that have helped me figure out what kind of human I want to be. That's hard. Moving on and starting a new chapter of life is hard. Leaving the safety of school and classes and assignments and professors and classmates is hard. Who is going to kick my butt and force me to write scripts and think analytically about things and let me host a radio show? Not many people in the "real world."



Saying goodbye to friends is hard. From now on, hanging out with a group of old friends is going to require trips and plane rides and scheduling and taking time off from work.

I know it's not really "goodbye," it's "see you later." Especially with social media and the wonders of 21st century technology, it is pretty easy to stay in touch with friends on the internet.

But it's not the same!

I, of course, love the internet. I spend most of my free-time somehow connected to it. However, I also really enjoy face to face human interaction.

So graduating is hard. Growing up is hard. Figuring out what the hell the next step in my life is is hard. Holy poop knuckles. What am I doing with my life?? ANXIETY. AAAAHHH!



I'll save that for another post.

I should get back to finishing my final projects and dealing with the fast-approaching life post-college. I'm scared. Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Are you graduating? How do you feel? Isn't this crazy??
Did you already graduate? How the heck are you doing? How did you deal with graduating? Wasn't it crazy??
Are you still enjoying the college life? CHERISH IT.



I'd love to see your answers and comments below!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Writing Is the New Therapy

As a drastic change from my last post (about 6 months ago), I am feeling the opposite of flawless. How can a human even be flawless in a world that seems so unchangeably flawed?

I haven’t sobbed like this in a long time. Usually these kinds of tears and choking breaths come after a hurtful argument with a loved one or a loved one passing away. This ugly, horrible cry-sesh was not caused by either of those. Actually, I take that back. The first item in the list, "a hurtful argument with a loved one," is a part of today's tyrannic tears. (I still love any chance at alliteration no matter how upset I am while writing.) However, despite the argument being a major factor, it cannot be ignored that the argument would not have occurred in the first place if it were not for the purest form of evil in the world. My eternal enemy. The cause of so much pain and injustice. Hundreds, thousands, have rallied against it. Yet, it still remains. The Patriarchy. 

FUCK THE PATRIARCHY.

I'd rather not go into detail about the event that caused the disagreement, but I do need to vent and get these thoughts out. 

I was very upset when it happened. I still am. I'm just not shaking as much anymore. 

It's an interesting thing that for the first time in my life, my first instinct while upset is to write. Not just tweets, either, but something that feels more concrete. This blog post. It's empowering to be able to just sit down and type out thoughts and emotions and almost instantly feel a little better. Am I becoming a real writer? Is this a new form of therapy for me? Is this what I always read about and dreamed would one day happen to me? Is it happening? Right now?

I must tell you, I wasn't prepared for this. I initially sat down and opened up my laptop to rant and vent about my day. However, I'm changing my mind. Right now as I type this. The magic of writing. I've decided that I am going to write about the power of writing and my love for it. I don't want to give any more power to the patriarchy than it already has. Being upset isn't going to change anything. It's just going to make me feel even shittier than I did before the incident happened. I don't want that. I want to be happy. I like being happy. I want to feel empowered and capable and fearless. 

That's what writing makes me feel like. When I write, I can create whatever I want. Any truth that I want is possible. Each sentence I type is an expression of who I am that cannot be placed back inside my head. Even if I don't publish this post (I haven't decided at this point), the words have still been typed out of me and nothing can change that and no one can take that away. 

I feel lighter. The heaviness is melting away. I am in control of that and that in itself is amazing. I can be peaceful in my thoughts and words because I created them. I can be as peaceful as I want to be or as hateful as I want to be. I'd rather not hate. Whatever I want to feel, is what I can and will feel. Only I have total control over what is going on up in my brain. Me and only me. No one can get in there and change stuff around! That is such a great thing! In a world that can feel so out-of-control crazy and untameable, I can completely control my mind. If I let myself. 

Not to be a total cheese ball, but... it really all comes back to my tattoo and ultimate favorite quote ever, "The mind is everything." When I am feeling really shitty and I'm crying and my chest hurts and I all of a sudden want to sign up for kick-boxing classes while simultaneously eating a bucket of fries, I must remind myself of this. Really, I could just look in the mirror. The message is right there on my left collarbone. For that, I am thankful to myself. Yes. I am thankful to my self, goddammit. I chose to permanently put something on my body that is extremely important to me and that no one can take away. Unless they skinned me. Aaaand that just took us to a place that I really do not want to go with this post, so I'm just going to stop talking about it riiiight now. 

I am thankful that I got my tattoo, because no matter how much I'd like to think that I don't need to be reminded of the awesomeness that every single brain is powerful and capable of amazing things, I sometimes forget. The patriarchy brings me down and I get sucked into that really dark place that's hard to get out of. It scares me when I get that sad. I often forget that I am capable of feeling that low. The initial shock of realizing I am in that place is one of the main reasons its hard to get back out. For me, anyway.

I spend a lot of energy while I am happy or trying to act happy (like today, for instance when I wanted to punch a rude dad in the throat on one of the campus tours I gave, but instead continued on with my cheery tour guide disposition). As a result of my general (for lack of a better term) "happy vibe," when I get low, I really get low. And I'm not just talking about my dance moves. HEY-OH. Am I trying to mask my sadness with dumb jokes right now? Honestly? I can get real sick of myself sometimes. *rolls eyes at own dumb joke* Back to the more serious stuff... My energy decrease really just follows the laws of physics. Energy is put into a new source, and as a result, the energy in the original source is lowered. When I get to this point, I need to charge back up. Usually this can work with hugs, laughs, and yummy food. 

Now, I'm not saying I am unique in these feelings and that no one else ever feels like this. I'm not trying to have a pity party of one. Or at least, I hope I'm not the only one. All are welcome to the pity party. There are plenty of snacks. If I do post this (I still have yet to decide), I hope that at least one person can relate and maybe feel a little better being reassured that they have all of the power they need to feel good about themselves. 

The simple action of feeling good about oneself is a terrific thing. Once we all feel confident enough about ourselves that we decide to go out and do things in real life, we can make some really cool things happen. Like learning about the upcoming elections and voting for stuff that will make positive impacts in our lives. 

By the way, if you're not registered to vote, what are you doing? It's so easy. I did it in 2012 so I could vote in the big elections! So fun! You should definitely register. Here. I'll even hand-feed you the link: REGISTER! CLICK THIS NOW! You have until October 20th so no rush, but just do it now so you won't have to worry about it later. The last thing you need are stress dreams attempting to remind you that you haven't registered to vote yet. 

If you need more convincing to get up and off your butt for seriously, like 5 minutes (okay maybe like, 30 with public transportation and stuff, but still) to vote, here is a really great blog post by Lena Dunham that is funny and entertaining and will make you want to vote to defend your rights: Top Five Reasons You Should Vote. Even if you don't like Lena, just pretend she didn't write it and let yourself enjoy the post. Just do it. Geez. She talks about Beyoncé and Blue Ivy. There. Did that get you to read it? I hope so.

(SIDE-NOTE: It's safe to say that at this point, I have decided to actually publish this post.)

Now that you've read the post, I hope you have registered to vote. And now that you're all registered to vote, guess what? You have even more power! You not only have the power to control what's going on in your mind, but you also have the power to control what's going on in your country! If you're from the U.S. If you're not... First of all, HI! Thanks for reading! Second of all, sorry that this whole end part of the post is not really applying to you. Hopefully there is something you can do in your country or community to make people's lives (including your own, remember that you are important too) better.

BUT WOW PEOPLE IN AMERICA! This is something really great. 

I feel a bajillion times better than I did when I started this post. I love writing. Alright, I'm gonna end this before I get even cheesier and more unreadable than this post probably already is.

Thank you for reading! 

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Flawless

Currently blasting Beyoncé's flawless song... "Flawless." I highly recommend listening to it RIGHT NOW. You'll feel empowered. Just do it. It's right there. I literally did 90% of the work for you. All you have to do is press play. Wow. That's a good motto or tagline or whatever. "All you have to do is press play." Am I good with words? My roommates call me "the Word Person." Maybe... they're right?? Who knows. JUST CLICK THE BUTTON. GAWD.


Okay. So now that you're vibin' with me... Take 3 shots of vodka so you can get on my level. Also start moving out of your current shit hole house (literally a shit hole - there are mouse poops EVERYWHERE) into a new nice clean mousie-free place. Okay, now you are on my level for real. You also got to make sure you have FANtastic roommates. Emphasis on the FAN because we are all truly fans of each other. So much support, youknowwhatimean.

Alright, so there me be a few elements you need to get to be on my exact level, but whatever. Just listen to Beyoncé and maybe do some shots. You'll feel great, I promise.

Did you do it? (I'm assuming you're answering "yes" because why wouldn't you?)

GREAT!

You are WEEEELLLCOOOOOOME.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Podcasts are really cool

Let's talk about podcasts, y'all.

I recently got back into the podcast game recently. Not making podcasts. Just listening to them.

I used to listen to the occasional Harry Potter themed podcast (MuggleCast, anyone?) back in the day, but up until this week (Thursday, to be exact) I had forgotten how much I enjoy listening to other people talk about things that I like to listen to people talk about. Because they're like, talking about those things. And I like it. So that's why I listen because the topics they talk about interest me. But then I continue to listen because then I like the people. It's really just this whole loop of liking the topics and people and stuff, ya know?

ANYWHO.

I've been listening to and cah-racking up at the podcast, Comedy Bang! Bang!: The Podcast hosted by Scott Aukerman. It's this guy, Scott Aukerman, and he talks to celebrities/comedians/cool people and they joke around and then random characters will show up and be hilarious and they all improvise and it's all around hilarity for about an hour and a half-ish.

One of the first episodes I listened to, Amy Poehler was a guest. I picked the episode to listen to because I saw she was a guest. Weird how that works out. She was, obviously, hilarious and smart and made me fall in love with her even more than I already am. The moment the podcast KILLED me though, was when "Alan Thicke" of Growing Pains fame (or "Pains" as Thicke refers to it as on the podcast) saunters in and is another guest on the show. They discuss the shoot schedule for "Pains" (four months of rehearsal for each episode), his son Robin and all of that controversy, and more. The best part of the episode, however, was towards the end when each person on the show freestyle raps. Each rap had to include the random suggestion provided by the engineer in the room: butter. Thicke had a tough time rapping, Amy rapped about Paula Deen, and another dude whose name has flown out of my head KILLED it at the end.

You HAVE to check out this podcast and listen to the other episodes. A lot of really great guests and really great convos and all around really great times. If you like funny people and laughing and BEING HAPPY, then you will enjoy Comedy Bang! Bang! 

Since I don't drive while at school and don't own a lil stand-alone radio, you might guess that I do not listen to the radio much. You would be right. I don't listen to the radio. Ever. However, since I am studying electronic media, I feel like I should have at least a tiny grasp on the audio and radio sides of the BECA department.

To do this, I am going to get into listening to more podcasts. Being in my radio class and having a radio show of my own has really made me appreciate the art of creating environments and stories without visual aids. It's such an underrated art form. Comedy Bang! Bang! manages to make me burst out in laughter without seeing the comedians faces or motions. The podcast This American Life paints pictures in my mind that had previously only experienced by reading books. I never thought I would be the kind of person that could just listen to people talking with a few sound effects in the background and be completely immersed in the story and characters. But apparently, I AM.

I've mainly been listening to these podcasts on the commute to and from school and work, but I could definitely see myself listening to them while just chilin' on my bed with my headphones in. Is that weird? I don't care. Podcasts are really cool.

Until next time... I am Michelle... Listen to a freakin' podcast, okay?



P.S. Do you listen to any podcasts? Which ones? If you didn't already figure out by my explicit statement above about wanting to listen to more podcasts... Hey. I want to listen to more podcasts. Leave me some suggestions in the comments puuhhlease! Thanks, friend.

If you don't listen to any podcasts or they don't interest you... Why not? Let's have a discussion!

Wee!

Friday, March 7, 2014

My Life via Social Media

I wanted to give you a life update and figured the best way to do that is to let you in on all of the different social media accounts that are linked to my life at the moment.

First, my classes.

One of the classes I am in this semester is a radio class. Along with the Tuesday night lectures, I get to have my own radio show that streams on the KSFS Media website every Tuesday morning from 10-11am! It is called Tasty Tunes and my co-hosts are DJ CeCe and DJ Des (I'm DJ Marno).

Because of the prevalence of social media for "real-life" radio shows, we are required to run at least one social media account and a blog for our show. We decided to go all out and make an account for every social media site that we are active on in our personal lives. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and even Mixcloud (for the recordings of our shows). You should definitely check us out Tuesday mornings if you're free or check out our social media pages! It's a pretty fun time.

Another class that has a few social media pages is my Television and Video Production class. We produce the annual BECAFest award show at the end of the school year. I am on the scriptwriting team for the show, so I do not personally run the social media accounts, but if you are interested in finding out more information about it you should definitely visit the BECAFest Facebook and Twitter. Anyone can come to the show for free, but there will be a live stream on the KSFS Media website as well!

Second, my internship.

I recently started interning at Inspirare. They are an ecommerce site that promotes and provides a place for new fashion designers to sell their pieces. They have a magazine that I help with as well. The magazine is available on the Newsstand app through the App store for iPads. Pretty soon, it will be available for iPhones and for Android devices.

I originally got hired as a social media intern to help manage their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Once the editor-in-chief found out about my studies in electronic media and writing for electronic media, she decided to give me more responsibilities revolved around writing for the blog, writing scripts for their video content on YouTube, and even some of the copy in the magazine!

I published my first Inspirare Facebook post on Monday! It was about the Academy Awards red carpet and the nude trend that I noticed a lot of celebrities wearing. I then tweeted about the Facebook post, and voila! My first Inspirare tweet was born! The most exciting thing that I did this week for Inspirare was my first blog post. I published it last night! It was about my favorite trends seen at New York, London, and Paris Fashion Weeks this year. That post also had a corresponding Facebook post and tweet to promote it.

Third, my personal life!

Social media has been a big part of my life for a while. I am on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat. I use social media as a form of entertainment, relaxation, and communication. I would definitely have a much harder time keeping up on what is going on in my friends' lives without social media. This is especially true since starting college; some of my friends I only see a few times every year! One of the first and last things I usually do every day is check my Twitter feed. I try to only follow friends/people/companies that are funny, entertaining, and/or informative. In result of this, my days start and end with something that will either put a smile on my face or let me know about something important that is going on in the world.

As you can see, social media is a part of every aspect of my life, even school and work! It just goes to show how important it is to be social media savvy in this day and age. There are job opportunities that require you to be able to tweet, post, Instagram, etc. effectively! I know this is extremely true for the media industry, so I am lucky that I got started in the social media game early on. A few of the internships I applied to for this semester required to me to include links to some of my social media accounts! I've also been to symposiums with guest speakers that work in the media industry, and they always say how important it is to have social media accounts that have appropriate content that relates to (or at least does not reflect badly on) the jobs that you want. Employers view potential employees' social media accounts in order to get a feel for who you are and what you can bring to the company. So crazy!

Well that's my ramble on social media and how much it encompasses my life! Thanks for reading!

P.S. Comment down below your thoughts on social media's growing presence in the job market and job application process! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Countdown to Class

Hey, you. I've missed your face. You should stop by here more often.

While you're here I might as well let you in on the goings on in my mind right now.

I'm currently waiting for the dreadful moment when I have to put real pants on and leave for class. It's not that I'm not going to enjoy class. I'm actually probably going to really love class today. It's Television/Video Production Planning and today we find out what part of the team we got hired as for BECA Fest**! Cross your fingers I'm a scriptwriter!

Anyway, the moment will not be dreadful because I have to go somewhere. It's the act of putting pants on, really. Life would be so much easier if sweats were seen as acceptable things to wear on your legs in public.

I am also currently listening to a band I just found out about in the past hour called Leftover Cuties. Their music is so fun! Kind of a mix between She & Him and Pomplamoose. Here's a link to their website so you can check them out: http://www.leftovercuties.com/. All of their music is also on Spotify if you're into that (I am so into that).

Alright, well I should probably get going. Putting on pants and shoes and packing a snack. You know girl's gonna get hungry during this three hour class.

Thanks for stopping by!



**BECA Fest is an awards show that honors the best projects students in the BECA department created throughout the school year

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Hello 2014

It is almost the middle of February and this is my first post of the year. This is also my first post in a feeeew months. 

I've been realizing recently that I start a lot of hobbies without following through/finishing them. It's quite depressing, really. Mostly because I have nothing to blame but my own mind. 

Here is a list of things that I have started recently and haven't kept up:
  1. YouTube channel
  2. blog
  3. Christmas pom-pom decorations
  4. spec script for the Mindy Project
  5. probably more stuff that I can't even remember
Here is a list of things that I have started recently and kept up/finished:
  1. book of logic puzzles 
I almost just now didn't finish this blog post because my friend started talking to me and I got distracted. We were discussing the Olympics and cross-country skiing and then got side-tracked and started pondering what would happen if it snowed in San Francisco. Sledding down the hills in Sunset to the beach! How fun would that be?! Okay, let's get back on track. What was I talking about? Oh yes. Finishing things. 

I want to get better about finishing things. This semester might be a tough one to decide to finish all of the things I listed above, but I am determined. 

I am not quite sure when I will post a YouTube video, but I will definitely link it here so you all can see how good I am being about doing things I have started. I'mma be a new woman!

I also want to change the title of my blog... Any suggestions? Comment down below with your ideas, please! I need help on this one. 

Thanks for reading and you WILL hear from me soon! (Should I set a schedule for myself? I dunno!)