Being a Wallflower

Today...

I saw the Perks of Being a Wallflower. I seriously have not seen such a good movie in such a good time. I think it's just because I'm that kind of person that really appreciates the simple real things.

I seriously fell in love with these characters, who they are, who they stand for and who they remind me of in my life. I think it just really touched me because I can relate -- maybe not personally, but I have a couple of very close friends that can. I couldn't help but cry my eyes out in certain moments because I just saw my friends there and I felt the pain, I felt the emotion. 

It also coincides with a very emotional semester -- I'm taking positive psychology and I just feel like I've been doing it all wrong but it's okay. I've learned A LOT about life, people, and happiness in general. I've been able to go into the past and pick out those things I've done wrong and right and learn from it. 

It's days like these that make me re-think what I'm doing with my life. 

That's it for today.

Student, Intern, Volunteer, Member

Today...

I realized -- I'm all over the place!
This semester I really out-did myself with the amount of work I'm doing on a daily basis (whether it be for school, work or service).

School: 
I'm taking the hardest classes in both my majors: Business Finance, Cognitive Psychology and Laboratory Methods in Psychology (oh, and Management -- totaling up to 14 credit hours).

Work: 
I'm working 15 hours a week as an Marketing Analyst in Convert Global, a marketing software company.

Service: 
I'm volunteering at Baby Gator Research and Development Center.
I'm working as a Marketing Director for the Financial Literacy Challenge for Students in Free Enterprise.
I'm a Museum University Student Educator (MUSE) for the Harn Museum of Art.


Clubs: 

Working on a marketing project for American Marketing Association for the company Altria Sales and Distribution.
I was also a Marketing Director for Alpha Kappa Psi and a current Active Member.

Not to mention that I'm trying to stay up to date with my social networking and social life as well! *sigh*
What an experience! I'll let you know how I made it through, if  I make it through.

2011

Well, look at that! It's New Years Eve! The perfect time to party, be with loved ones, reflect, and make resolutions you'll forget in a week.

Anyway, I've always used music to express how I feel, and a lot of the times lyrics and sound can describe how I feel a lot better than my own words. It's because of this, I decided to make a video log of the year! These following songs express how I've felt at one point or another [or multiple points] throughout the year, both the good and the bad.

For good times in college 

For friends that stood by me

For family kept strong 

For those I used to know

For those that have passed away

For those new people in my life 

For a daily reminder

and to finish up the video craze, I figured a MASHUP would be the best way to sum it all up! 

Similar to this video let me provide somewhat of a mashup of some life changing moments in 2011: My great grandmother passed away, lost a friend, joined a great organization, learned portuguese, met someone amazing, landed 3 internships, maintained an A average in college, re-started my twitter and blog accounts, acquired a pen pal, made a website, and kept a great relationship with my family and friends. 

So, 2011, it's not that I didn't like you, but I can't wait for all 2012 has to bring! 

Happy New Years!

may the good times keep rolling

12 things I learned in 2011

Learn from your mistakes.

It’s okay to be wrong, it’s okay to make mistakes, but it’s not okay to keep making the same mistakes. Only a fool does not learn from their mistakes.

Acknowledge other people’s feelings.

Unless your name is sun, the world does revolve around you. Take other people’s feelings into account when doing something. Remember that everything you do makes a ripple in the continuum of time, and others are affected by it.

Compliment others.

Everyone likes to be complimented, right? And do you remember that saying “would you like it if they did that to you?” if the answer is yes, then do it! Why not? What do you have to lose? A couple of moments, words and breathe? In turn, you create a stronger relationship with that person and make yourself more approachable.

Everyone likes to be liked.

Do you like to be liked? I do. Be nice to others, be likeable, everyone likes nice people.

Realize: you’re not always right.

Sad, sad truth isn’t it? It’s okay, no one is always right. Everyone makes mistakes and it’s healthy to acknowledge that. Otherwise, you just look like a pompous fool.

What goes around comes around.

Whether you realize it or not, if you’re a good person, (generally) good things happen to you. Create positive karma for yourself and minimize the chance of bad events.

Be selective with friends.

You naturally gravitate towards people that are like you (narcissist!) You think I’m kidding, but it’s true, it’s human nature. Go with your instinct and be aware of whom you deem trustworthy of your friendship.

Not everyone is a “good person”

I put that in quotes because good is an opinion, a perspective. Just like there are different views on what’s considered fun, there are different views on people.

Be honest.

Truth be told, life is a lot easier that way.

You never know.

It speaks for itself, you simply never know. A plane can crash on you while you’re walking to the supermarket. You could win the lotto tomorrow. You might meet your future spouse at the doctor’s office. You simply never know.

Be open to new opportunities.

Since you never know, when a new opportunity presents itself, go for it! Why? You may ask. Why not? Better question. Assess the situation and see what you have to lose vs. what you don’t.

Don’t expect, accept.

Don’t expect much of people, situations and things. Expectations can be a double edge sword as many of us know and it can go very well, but it can also put a damper on your plans. Instead, simply accept what’s going on. 

500 Days of Summer

Today...

I'm watching 500 Days of Summer for the 7496th time. I can't get over this movie, I seriously cannot. It's so real, emotions so raw! It's honestly a mixture of quirky comedy, cute romance and real life that makes me love the movie so much. Not to mentionI think that a lot of us can totally relate. 

Summer: We've been like Sid and Nancy for months now. 

Tom: Summer, Sid stabbed Nancy, seven times with a kitchen knife, I mean we have some disagreements but I hardly think I'm Sid Vicious. Summer: No I'm Sid. Tom: Oh, so I'm Nancy... [Pancakes arrive] Summer: Let's just eat and we'll talk about it later. Mmm, that is good, I'm really glad we did this. I love these pancakes... what? [Tom gets up and walks away from the table] Summer: Tom, don't go! You're still my best friend! 


So many quoteables in the movie! One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the IKEA scene:

On another note, artistically, this movie is amazing. One of it's most particular scenes is the Reality and Expectations scene where it's a split screen of exactly that: reality and his expectations. 

I had never seen anything like it! And you CAN'T tell me this hasn't happened in your head before. I do it all the time, I imagine what it might be like and often times reality falls short. Very relatable. This scene was very artistic and unique as well: 

Not to mention the soundtrack is great! So much good music: 

Overall, the movie is amazing. There is no doubt about it, it's definitely on my must watch (again) list and should be on yours too :)  

Music Video: Her Morning Elegance

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

So I had to write about this music video because it's in my opinion one of the most creative ones I've seen in a while. The stop motion technique was very well implemented and told the story word by word, hence being effective. The song can be interpreted in one of two ways (well, a million really, but for the sake of the argument) either that the girl is a dreamer that spends all her time dreaming and nothing is real hence the "as she goes, nobody knows"
OR one could say that she is battling a sickness of some sort. This is seen by the repetition of "and she fights for her life" as seen in the chorus:

"And she fights for her life

as she puts on her coat

And she fights for her life on the train

She looks at the rain

as it pours

And she fights for her life

as she goes in a store"

An interesting idea is combining the two ideas: Maybe she is battling a sickness that makes her sleep a lot?

Perhaps she's depressed?

"Sun been down for days

A pretty flower in a vase

A slipper by the fireplace

A cello lying in its case"

The first line shows that its night time, this could be taken figuratively or realistically. Maybe she feels like its always night and dark and gloomy, or maybe she's aways just sleeping. The next three lines exemplify her uselessness, what good is a cello lying in it's case, if it's not being played?

Either way either idea could be debatable, the fact that the entire music video takes place in her bed supports both ideas. The fact that the man with her has his eyes open and the girl doesn't throughout the whole video further explains the theories. Also I thought it was interesting how she's wearing white and he is wearing black and there is a point in the video where they kind of intertwine looking like yin and yang.

It's remarkable how well done the video is and how effective it tells the story, in order to prove such assumptions, I also watched the video without music and sound and it indeed reflected the same emotions and provoked the same thoughts therefore making this an amazingly effective music video!

Arcade Fire HTML5

Arcade Fire came out with a cool HTML 5 song/program that mixes their great music with an interactive story dealing with your life, your home. It's really quite ridiculous, I was obviously enthralled!

This is the website: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ (must be opened on Google Chrome) When you open it, it asks you for your address and off it goes! Enjoy listening to Arcade Fire while watching a story of a man running home.

To tell you the truth as awesome as I thought it was ... it was a little scary the levels of technology and just how its used it makes me feel like anything can be done... which is a little scary. I mean for the most part I really enjoyed it but the thought did cross my mind.

Its hard to explain. Just try it. It's great.

The Facebook Effect

Today...

We spoke about social networking and how it affects people and how we don't realize it sometimes. Great example: Facebook. The new Myspace. Way back when, Myspace was quite the rage, I mean even new movies coming out in theaters had Myspaces... well now, there's Facebook. In my opinion Facebook is much more user friendly, accessible, and stalkerish. I remember when I first switched to Facebook all I kept thinking was "wow, this is creepy stalkerish". You could see what I commented on So-and-so's picture, what I wrote on that person's wall, and many more other personal things you probably wouldn't want someone else to see.

When we looked up about the book The Facebook Effect and what it dealt with I realized that Facebook isn't just a social networking site anymore. It revolutionized into a new way for business to hire, a requirement even for a job overview. The Facebook Effect affects everyone with one, people are beginning to be judges on their profile pictures and info on Facebook rather than an interview a company would conduct. It's scary but true. I guess this is just a reminder... beware the Facebook effect.

Video game freak

Ever since I was probably like five and the Super Nintendo came out I was addicted. Well, it might have something to do with the fact that I had two boy cousins with me all the time... so their obsession obviously rubbed off on me. Point being, I love playing video games. My most memorable was Super MarioWorld on the Super Nintendo (which by the way is extinct now) Don't remember? This is what I mean. Talk about old school.

I also really enjoyed Kingdom Hearts. It was like the perfect blend: Disney and video games. I remember renting the game from Blockbuster (back when they existed) and staying up for about 4 nights and just finishing the game! The second time around I did the same thing but collected all the little collectibles like the trinities and whatnot to see the secret ending. I also played the Kingdom Hearts 2 and the small Game boy version of the game. I thought it was interesting how dark the game got sometimes. It also had references to the Final Fantasy games which although I've never actually played, I know about them. Overall it was hands down one of my favorite video games.

        
Lastly, I really enjoyed playing Animal Crossing. I know this one wasn't all that popular but I really liked it. It's like a role playing game but you're a human and everyone else is an animal and basically all you do is live life... Sounds kind of boring but it's not. You go fishing and sell the fish you get a job at a grocery store, you furnish your home and you're able to expand it as well and its just a world of endless possibilities! This game was for (or at least I played it in) the Gamecube and looked a little something like this:

Small little screenshot.

This is also very similar to another game I really enjoyed called Harvest Moon. Needless to say, video games were my jam.