What a few hours scouring the web taught me.

May 14 I start a new adventure. I'm going to be a UNT journalism alum. I've taken all the necessary classes. I've had the internships. And now's the time where I see how that all adds up.

I got a little crazy this afternoon and spent a few too many hours dedicated to my post-May 14 life. So, let me share what little insight all this digging got me.

Job Account Profiles. Do them. Many major companies allow you to set up profiles within their career website. My name is blank. Here is my resume. Here are the careers I am interested in with your company. Do I want you to send me an email when a position comes available? Why, yes, I do. And will the hiring people from the company be viewing your profile when looking for potential candidates? Yes, yes, yes.

Job Alerts. Sign up. Yes, it might spam your account. But it also might send your dream job, or for-now job, straight to your inbox. I specifically signed up for alerts from journalismjobs.com and indeed.com.

Craigslist. For real. I saw the Lifetime movie too. You aren't going to die. Just don't respond to adds for massages and blind dates, mmkay? Honestly though, there are several postings for acutal, legit, not-scam jobs on Craigslist.

LinkedIn Groups. Do it. These groups can be geared to fellow entry-level job seekers. Discussions are posted for your education. You can see people voicing the same concerns you have, and you can contribute too! And, oh my, they also post jobs here.

You probably already knew about these things, and you probably have reason to tell me that some are a waste of time. Well, I'm taking my chances here. Everyone knows that there isn't a formula that equals a job. Many get jobs through networking. Others through job postings. Others through Twitter. I'm just going to try every venue.

 

In case you're dying to know, I am currently ransacking the world for a public relations job with a nonprofit. I want a career that has meaning, and I think some day I will find it. It might not be the first job I have, but I think I can get there. Maybe you say that I'm too bright-eyed of a college (almost) graduate. Maybe you say that the working world will find me jaded, only seeing a job as a paycheck. I don't believe that.

Whistler in 27 Tweets.

For 7 days, my family was in beautiful Whistler, B.C. We were also without cellphone and internet service. To some, this seems treacherous, but I was honestly looking forward to it. I didn't have to test my ability to stay off social media; I HAD NO CHOICE. I must say, it was positively wonderful. No interruptions. Just the perfect, blissful 7 days in the mountains with my family and skiing like mad.

I was okay with not getting updated constantly via Twitter, but I still really wanted to document my adventures somehow. So, my brother and I decided it would be a fantastic idea to keep note of tweets we would have posted throughout the week. Here mine are. Indulge me for a moment in believing that some of you actually missed my tweets.

 

Sunday, March 13

9:26 p.m. Hello Canada! I'm excited aboot skiing here :)

10:45 p.m. "All rootbeer?" the Canadian A&W girl asked of our drink choices.

Monday, March 14

9 a.m. Beauitful Pi Day in Whistler! I could get used to this.

11:45 a.m. Was just in line for ski rentals in front of a fellow CCAers! What are the odds?

6:13 p.m. One day here and I've decided that my next boyfriend should have an accent and be the next great Olympic skier. #whistler

Tuesday, March 15

9:15 a.m. So @realitysteve was wrong? Glad I was out of theBachelor loop this season.

2:14 p.m. (After a morning of skiing) Dad: "I feel fresh as a daisy." @technopaul: "I wish I smelled like a daisy."

5:06 p.m. Did the whole mountain black and blue with Dad in 30 minutes! #whistlerhardcore

6:38 p.m.  Great thing about Canada? Canadian HGTV with Sarah 101 and Marriage Under Construction!

7:25 p.m. The Old Spaghetti Factory is right under a hotel. We keep seeing pool/spa people walk by in robes. #awkward

Wednesday, March 16

5 p.m. It's every skier's dream to ski down after this monstrosity.

9 p.m. Rocky Mountain Chocolate two minutes from our hotel. Need I say more?

Thursday, March 17

10:53 a.m. It's my no-ski day of the trip and I'm already having withdraws. #donteverwanttoleave

2:02 p.m. I could sit here all day long.

7:39 p.m. No-ski day wasn't so bad: swedish massage with a Norwegian girl and a milk bath. #skirecovery

7:40 p.m. Also, needing to pee while in a milk bath is a very tricky situation.

Friday, March 18

12:43 p.m. "Dave Murray Downhill: It's hard to have more fun than that." -Dad @WhistlerBlckmb

5:15 p.m. Credit card fell out of my unzipped pocked on the mountain. We re-skiied and found it!

8 p.m. Coca-Cola Tube Park!

9:23 p.m. Splitz Burgers. Cooked in barbecue sauce. "Best Whistler Burger Since 1997." #mmm

Saturday, March 19

2 p.m. Peak to Peak Gondola!

5:30 p.m. I'm forming an accent. Not sure if it's bc my lips get so numb on the mountain or if it's bc everyone else has one.

Sunday, March 20

10:55 a.m. I thought everyone in Canada was super friendly, but turns out that's actually a skier thing.

11 a.m. Blockades in downtown Vancouver bc of St. Patrick's Day Parade?? We're hurrying, airport!

1:30 p.m. You know in the movies when a girl is sitting alone on the plane, a perfect wonderful guy sits by her? #doesnthappen

1:31 p.m. Let the record show, I'm sitting in between two older passengers with no concept of personal space.

7:47 p.m. America, the beautiful! #terminalD

Grammar, Not Grammer.

Before I jump into this, I must tell you that this was an exercise I did for my creative writing class. Bill Roorbach, Writing Life Stories author, asked us to "get pissed on paper" and this is what spat out.

A lot of people call me a grammar nazi, but that's not true. If it was, I'd have to send 50% of my Facebook friends off to get tortured and massacred by someone like Jack Bauer for their misuse of "its" and "it's." ("Which of the two belongs in the sentence: its/it's time to go? What? You don't know? Say goodbye to your fingernails!") But the good news is, those people have lived to see another day and many more grammatical mistakes. But seriously, what's the deal with all the poor grammar?

It's not that tricky. I'd say this isn't life or death here, but clearly it is. (Grammar nazis of the world are cringing behind their computer screens wishing the punishment for dangling prepositions was the electric chair.) So bad grammar people--get a life, stop being lazy and use Google to your advantage. Not sure if you can use a colon there? Look. It. Up.

One of the worst offenses of grammar is absolutely there/their/they're. NO--they are not interchangeable and do not mean the same thing. THERE refers to a place: There is the bathroom. THEIR is possessive: I like their house. (Don't know what possessive means? Please do not pass go and do return to the third grade.) THEY'RE is a contraction for "they are": They're really nice. Simple enough?

Commas are also a glutton for punishment. To some comma users, I say: commas are not million dollar chips of gold to, be, used all, the, time, , , , , , (See how frustrating that is?) To other offenders, I say: commas are not nuclear weapons. Try and use one after a conjunction. Using a comma is not lethal, and it doesn't complicate the sentence if you use it right.

When I see a grammar mistake, all I want to do is take my knife--er, red pen--and slaughter that paper with corrections until its writer learns that CDs is not possessive and, thus, does not need an apostrophe. (The "CD's" what? Friends? Scratches? Life?)

If a person uses poor grammar, my opinion of their intelligence lowers automatically. Sorry. I don't care if you're writing a paper that announces the cure for cancer. If you can't spell that drug's name and you can't figure out the difference between "your" and "you're," you look like an idiot. Sorry again, but every person in the position to hire a person is thinking the same thing when they look at your resume and see mistakes.

I know my goal for golden grammar is highly unrealistic. I also know that grammar doesn't come easy to everyone. Yes, it comes easy to me. I was that kid that liked Tuesdays in English class because it meant diagramming sentences and choosing the correct verb (run/ran) to complete the sentence and finding mistakes in a paragraph. And I saw those kids who didn't do any of those exercises, but filled in the correct answers as the teacher went over them in class.

I'm not asking that all of you understand what a participle or a gerund is. I just want you to use punctuation correctly and use your dang spell check. Here's a tip: if you don't know how to use it, don't. Semicolons are a beast to understand. Don't use one if you don't understand its purpose. 

And for goodness' sake, "a lot" is two words.

 

 

Constant grammar offender? Here's some websites for reference:

Dictionary/Thesaurus: http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Grammar Explanations: http://www.grammarbook.com/english_rules.asp

AP Stylebook: http://www.apstylebook.com/

 

Also. My grammar isn't perfect either. Murphy's Law will probably require that there is a least one grammatical mistake in this post, but hopefully not.

 

I have the fever: Bieber, that is.

This day was inevitable. I resisted it for so long, but I couldn't hold back any longer today.

I just followed @justinbieber on Twitter.

This is sort of monumental.

When Bieber first appeared, I was HIGHLY annoyed by all of the fandom and the I-Love-You-Justin-T-Shirts and the 13-year-old girls calling themselves Mrs. Bieber. Thus, I thought his voice was annoying. I couldn't possibly enjoy the same type of entertainment as girls who were learning what a parabola was the for the first time. That's sort of my thing though. If everyone is obsessed, I don't want to be. Hansen, Wicked, Twilight, High School Musical. I refused to like these things for quite a while. I mean, I watched High School Musical for the first time two weeks ago. And loved it.

So the fever started a week ago when I saw a preview for Bieber's movie "Never Say Never." (I'll wait for a second while you fall off your chair laughing at me.) Yes, he's 16 and he can't possibly have had that many life trials as of yet, but the movie looks freaking inspirational. 12-year-old boy loves to sing and sings for his family all of the time and has a dream to be a recording artist. Said boy starts making YouTube videos. Big time music person hears it. Usher hears him. And the next thing you know he's playing on repeat on almost every iPod in America. Pretty great story. Plus, who doesn't like to see behind the scenes of stardom?

Then there was the Grammy's tonight. I am a smidge ashamed to say that his performance was one of my favorites (next to the Mumford/Avett, Muse and Katy Perry performances). It starts with a video of 13-year-old Bieber singing to Usher. On the Grammy stage, Usher tells the story of meeting Bieber in a parking lot and that if it was meant to be they'd see each other again. Okay, if Usher introduces you, I'm probably going to love you anyway. But how sweet is that?

He also had one of the better visual performances of the night. Lots of fun dancing. Seriously, that kid can move. Blue suits. Drummers.

And who can say no to a little Jaden Smith? (With parents Will and Jada grinning ear to ear in the crowd. Did anyone else see Will mouth "That's my baby!" ?) Throw in a little OH MY GOD with Usher and you've got a great performance. 

The music is actually quite good without the help of Usher and the visual effects, too. He has an interesting and innocent quality to his voice, and he can definitely hold a tune in a bucket. And yes, Bieber's beats do have an undeniable hook. Let's face it. He's been seducing the pre-teen crowd with them for quite some time now. Baby baby baby oooooooooo.

I'm sure the hair helps too.

So to recap, I have a wee bit of Bieber fever. He's an adorable little thing, and I just want to pinch his cheeks. And tell him it's okay that he lost best new artist to Esperanza Spalding whom we've never heard of. Half of America isn't watching HER in 3D this weekend.

I guess that makes me One Less Bieberless Girl. (I couldn't resist)

 

Why Sarah Richardson is a Design Goddess.

I sort of have an obsession with HGTV's Sarah Richardson, and for a good reason too. No, this is not a girl crush. This is a full-on designing, house-flipping crush. 

For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, Sarah has a show on HGTV called "Sarah's House." She, and her sidekick designer Tommy, search for the perfect house to buy that needs help and that can be flipped. (flipped = house with beautiful structure containing old blue chipped tile, tiny rooms and nasty outdated cabinets is taken on by a designer. Walls are torn down, rooms expanded, house beautified and designed.)

So why Sarah as opposed to Candice Olson or Genevive Gorder?

She uses antiques. For something to be beautiful and trendy, it doesn't have to be bought from Ethan Allen or Z Gallerie. Although those things are beautiful, of course. Antiques are sturdy and are built more structurally sound, in my opinion. Decades ago, things were hand crafted and weren't sent through a machine assembly line. Also, antiques have a story to tell. The coffee table in my living room is an antique I bought for $75 (yes, a dang steal considering the Carrera marble!) from someone who bought it at an estate sale. Prior to that estate sale, it belonged to someone's great grandmother. So neat. I could go on about why antiques are fantastic for days, so I'll cut myself off here. 

Her shopping style. We get to see Sarah and Tommy rummage through estate sales and stores that sell old fashioned lighting, fireplace hearths and doors. Sometimes she really doesn't know what she's looking for. She roams the aisles (or sometimes sporadically placed piles of things) and pulls out a seemingly hideous light fixture out of the rubble. What's that? She plans on spraying it bright red to accent the room? Brilliant. We also see Sarah visit her storage facility full of her "finds." Sometimes while shopping, she finds something amazing but it doesn't work for the space she's working on. In to storage it goes!

All her designs are original and different. I hate to say this, but at lot of designers are one trick ponies. Some can only design traditional. Some only modern. Sarah's designs are all different, yet they all have her touch that makes the room decidedly Sarah Richardson. 

She doesn't over accessorize. Pet peeve coming on. Sorry Candice Olson, your rooms are fab but they are so accessorized that I think they're practically impossible to live in. Wouldn't want to have friends over tea; I'd have to move all the vases and books you put on my coffee table! I feel Sarah knows where a shelf needs books and art pieces and where there should be space left open. A lamp and a casual, meaningful decor object are all an end table needs.

How she talks to her viewers. When Sarah is filming her show, she talks her viewers through every step of the process. Yes, she's keeping the original molding in the old house. But why? She's tells us. Because it keeps the charm of the house in tact. It's a small little thing. She's educating her viewers. She doesn't treat us like dummies. She doesn't act like some high and mighty designer (although she has earned that); she just talks to us like we're friends and like we want to learn something from her. Which we do!

Her overall design. Duh. It has that lived-in, homey vibe. Always. Even if the look has a high fashion design, something is always left a little disheveled just so that it looks inviting, and you know won't be shot for sitting on the sofa. That's because there's a casual throw blanket that isn't perfectly folded. It's simply cast over the side. That's inviting. She also knows how to use color. Not too much ever. She can do a neutral room, all grays, and it still looks colorful because of the variation of grays she used. She can do a vibrant room. Usually one or two colors stand out like a yellow or a blue or red. And usually those colors are incorporated through gorgeous patterned fabrics. Don't worry, David Bromstad, I'm not hating on you and your color splash-ness. I LOVE YOU TOO. 

So, yes, Sarah is design perfection in my eyes. If you don't believe me, judge these for yourself. (Note: these are all in different homes.)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

 

 

Oscars 2011: How to Throw an Oscar Night Party

Of course, you know, the 2011 Oscar nominations were announced this morning. Some things were expected. Eh-hem: King's Speech, Black Swan, The Social Network. Others, the Academy seemed to turn a blind eye to. Mila Kunis, Christopher Nolan, Mark Wahlberg, etc etc etc. Or at least that is what my Twitter feed exploded with this morning. And each movie connoisseur has his or her own opinion. 

But I'm not here to stir up the great debate of which films, actors and directors deserve the nominations. I'll leave that to some of my more opinionated (and cinematically educated) film bloggers. I'm here for the part that actually affects you. THE OSCAR NIGHT PARTY.

Yes, if you've watched at least a few of the films nominated, odds are that your butt is going to be parked in front of your television on February 27. If not for the films, at least for the fashion, the red carpet faux pas and the tragedy that can be live television. Thus, I have a few Oscar party ideas and tips that I will share with you.

DO have a party. You're going to be watching it. Why not do it with other Oscar enthusiasts?

DO provide ballots for each attendee. A lot of people do this, and that' because it's a fantastic idea. It strikes up debate and conversation about the nominees at hand. The person who guesses the most wins correctly is the winner. Oscars.com has the complete list of nominees and a printable ballot.

DO turn it into a costume party. Halloween only comes once a year...so everyone loves an excuse to wear a costume outside of October. You'll be surprised to see your guests arriving as Woody, Buzz, Aaron Ralston, King Henry IV and more. It doesn't just have to be limited to film characters either. You're bound to have the inevitable party pooper who doesn't want to dress up. That's where disguising as an Oscar-attending celebrity is also an option. 

DO make snacks and desserts that relate to the Oscars. A cake that's decorated like a director's "cut" board. Cookies shaped like the Oscar trophies. (Bakerella.com has a fabulous demonstration on how to execute this.) Cupcakes displayed on top of a collage of miniature movie posters from the nomination list. At least serve popcorn, the ultimate movie-related food.

DO nod to the nominees in your decor and food. Hang ballet slippers (Black Swan) and Wrestling gloves (The Fighter) on the wall, display a spinning top on the coffee table (Inception), serve Slurpees or snowcones ("That's no Slurpee," 127 Hours). You get the idea. Incorporate your favorite parts of each movie into your party. 

DO your best to make your space feel like the Kodak Theater. Have a red carpet. Serve sparkling cider. 

You might have noticed that I didn't give you any "don'ts." That's because it's your party, and you're going to enjoy the Oscars differently than I am. These are just some ideas. Heck, my Oscar night will probably consist of a few close friends, greasy pizza, making cupcakes and rooting hardcore for James Franco.

The key to making the party your own is a perfect blend of classy Oscar-ness and kitschy film-related aspects.

Happy Awards Season!

Uncharted Territory: Creative Writing Non Fiction

As a journalism major, I've been concocting non fiction pieces for the past four years. Inverted pyramid. The UNT percussion ensemble performed Tuesday night at the Murchinson Performing Arts Center. Denton's historic Square is hosting the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Friday night. Facts. Concrete, informative facts. I mean, I've had some creative liberties and I've really tried to take them. I always tried to take advantage of the fact that I don't have to start a story with that boring string of facts that'll send any reader's eyes on to the next story. There's the delayed lead, you know. If I can start with a conversation between the audience members that epitomizes that percussion concert, I'm definitely going to do it.

This semester I'm in English 3160: Creative Writing Non Fiction. I didn't exactly understand what that would entail. To be frank, I needed another upper level English course (which I preferred to be writing over literature) and this one fit my schedule. I walk in the first day, surrounded by an array of creative types. There's the guy next to me with a music composition sheet he's scribbling away on. There's the outspoken one near the front. A quiet girl slips in and keeps flipping her head around to observe the other students. And then the professor stumbles inside a few minutes late and starts babbling. I immediately know this is going to be one of those classes I'm never going to forget.

It turns out the professor has her bachelor's in Journalism and her master's in Creative Writing. This REALLY excites me. I'm in an English class, yet the professor is actually going to understand me. Instead of looking at me like: "Yeah, there's that practical writer. How boring is she?" I know that she's going to understand that journalism can be beautiful and artful, too. It's not just news updates. As much as I loathed Feature Writing with Dr. Getschow at first, it's what I've grown to love the most. I loathed it because it challenged me. It pushed me to write more passionately, and encouraged me to reach into the depths of my soul to write a personal essay.

And that is the type of writing that I really want improve on. The one that doesn't require a formula. In fact, it celebrates breaking the rules.

My prof did a mini bashing session on news writing and its formulaicness (yes, there is a red squiggly line under this word that I apparently invented just now, and I'm choosing to ignore it) and I can appreciate that to an extent. No, it's not always attractive, but it gets the job done. (Which is to inform its audience.) She also acknowledged that other areas of journalism can be artistic and can color a little outside the lines.This is where you get into literary journalism, investigative pieces and more New Yorker-type stories. 

I'm thrilled to be taking this course. Heck, I'm thrilled to read the textbook. Since it is CREATIVE WRITING, it's actually well-written, witty material. I think it's going to challenge me as a writer. I write about myself a lot here on my blog, but I rarely do in the form of memoir or personal essay. I'm going to have to write about things I don't like to talk about because those are the things that make for the most riveting stories. If I get the guts, I might even share with you some of the pieces that I create.

"What good, alive writing always comes down to is an individual--one person, writing in a way not quite like anyone else's, yet enough like everyone else's (grammar, structure, language, syntax, content, form) that other humans can make sense of it. And past mere sense comes emotion, from the rawest--anger, fear, joy--to the most refined: intellectual pleasure." (The Art of Truth, Bill Roorbach)

And yes, that is from my textbook!