Sunny with no chance of rain

The baby panda is me. The "momma" panda is everyone I sneeze around. I've never had allergies before. My friend Ben said it takes about two years for allergies to develop when you live somewhere new. Well, it's been exactly two years since I moved from Jersey for college. This is ridiculous!

I'm currently in the Starbucks on 21st with Ash. We're supposed to be studying but the atmosphere is heavy with high-pitched voices and what sounds like another language as special coffee orders are announced.

"Miss, was your latte non-fat?" (that's all I understood out of about 5 minutes of conversation)

The workers are nice enough but they're just a little too loud, openly conversing with customers and making them feel as bright as it is outside.

I love cordiality like the next human being but it is kind of excessive when someone is loudly asking how someone's pomeranian pooch is doing or just how LOVELY the weather is outside. A study session in Starbucks may not have been the best idea.

Ash minds a little because she's trying to look up 28, count 'em, 28 different art images for her art history test on Monday. Monday! The day after Easter. I feel so bad for her. She has to look up the images and find as many facts on the paintings as possible. Lucky for her, we were able to find a table and there aren't that many people indoors.

I don't necessarily mind because I'm doing research for my business of news research paper due next month. Aren't you so happy for me that I'm actually doing research in advance? I love doing research. When I was younger, I hated it because I had to look at old books and internet articles. Now, I love it! I love asking a question and then looking it up and finding an answer. The problem is taking the research to write. Sometimes it's hard and then sometimes I love forming words around words to make a readable symphony.

As more orders are taken and Starbucks jargon wafts through the air, Ash and I are continuing our study session. Maybe Nicholas Sparks will be read after my extensive research...hmmmm =)

Tragic Scene

As I type sirens are going off on 15th Ave. I think a house fire happened. I've never experienced driving by a house that's burning, water pouring into the street by the fire hydrants. Firetrucks and ambulances were parked haphazardly down the narrow street.

Ash and I went out to Kroger and smelled the smoke before we saw it, curling its brown tail up and up into the blue sky. It's so sad and devestating. Of course the news trucks are there. That's why I could never do hard-hitting news. I couldn't deal with interviewing someone who just lost their house or doing a story that will give me more face-time and (maybe?) a bigger paycheck. Why should I advance on account of someone's tragedy? Nope. Never going to do it. I pray I never have to do that. I think if I compromised and did a story such as that, I would lose my sense of self.

Strong words but words I live by.

Whatchu lookin' at?

Currently listening to:



New favorite song! It's perfect for this week. Temperatures this week are going to increase to about the high 70s. I <3 global climate change!

This week is a three day week because of Easter. It feels like spring break is a million miles behind us. Weird. Because of the short week, I suppose the teachers got into a frenzy because everything except the kitchen sink is due! Tonight I have to study for my AVP test, do my video proposal and go over my speech that's due on Wednesday. It doesn't seem like much but walk a minute in my moccasins and you'll see. You'll see.

Anyway, this break is going to spectacular! With the beaut weather, my friends and I are planning to go to the park, chill out and read, go shopping in the Village, and look really cute doing it! The only things I'm wearing are dresses. It's time to put away the bulk and layers and say hello to bright, beautiful printed dresses.

You may be wondering why I titled this post "Whatchu lookin' at?" Aside from the fact it's a shout-out to Madonna's age-old song, Vogue, there was something that happened in Comm Law that was just way weird and I had to share it with ya'll. We're talking about copyright infringement and all that beautiful stuff. Well, Thom opens up the class with a question: Does YouTube infringe on copyright? I shook my head no and he called on me to expand on my thought. I said how YouTube has a list of music you can add to your video that is okay to copy. If you have a music bed that YouTube considers infringement they disable it. If you've uploaded a video, you've experienced this at least once or twice. Well, we have a guy in the class that's an adult student. I don't mind adult students so long as they act like students (ie coming in class acting as if you know more than the teacher isn't cool). As I'm speaking, people are looking at me (including adult student) and I don't really mind so much. Big deal. Thom starts speaking and instead of looking at Thom, the adult student is intent on STARING at me!

If I had any gaul like Ash does, I would've glared back at him. Instead, I rested my hand on my face, blocking my view of him. He finally turned to look at Thom. I told Ash this and she completely agreed it was creepy. I think it's a part of societal ediquette that you don't stare at people.That's why kids get slapped upside the head for staring. It's rude! It's obnoxious, uncomfortable, annoying. She wondered if he was thinking about what I just said or was so ignorant and blown away about what I knew. 1) Dude could think of what I said without gawking at me and 2) his time could be better spent writing down what I said and doing further research out of the classroom. Either way takes his beady eyes off me and onto his notebook or Thom.

Am I being too brash? Too harsh? I don't think so. Don't stare. It's a simple, polite thing. Look at someone when they're talking and when they're finished talking, go about your business.

Tell me what ya'll think.

Empowered, uplifted, ORGANIZED!

Can this post solely be about how organized I feel?

Because right now I feel very much organized and feel like I can breathe...at least into tomorrow.

I overread for philosophy so I don't have to read tonight. We had a group meeting for our Google business models last night. Don't let me get into that...the only thing I will say is I hate when people don't make an effort to meet group members and instead have their priorities (or what should be their priorities) out of whack.

We decided to do a powerpoint and I offered to throw something together. I came back last night at 11:15pm and got it done in an hour, took a shower, and crawled into bed. I woke up way sore all over. I don't know how in the world I slept but it wasn't good. Nope. Not in the slightest. My left leg is killing me! I think I rolled onto the muscle or something. Who knows! All my eyes wanted to do was close back up. But, I had speech class so I had to go. Jen and I were supposed to meet at 10am to pick up a video camera to start shooting our basic shots for our first video project. We were both a little intimidated by the project so we decided to walk around together and shoot individual shots. That way we could help each other figure it all out, too.

I decided to go back to my room after class and lie down for 30 minutes. Well, those 30 minutes did wonders because I was good to go when I woke up. Jen and I met at Gabhart and did some videotaping. We met back up at 1pm since I had class at 11-1 and she had class from 12-1. All except for three shots are completed. The only reason we didn't finish was because the battery went dead. We would've finished had it not been for that minor hiccup. It's all good, though. We're gonna meet up at 12 tomorrow and finish taping. Then in class we'll capture and then we can edit. Both of us should be done our individual projects by Tuesday, which is right on time! 

My speech is coming along very well. I'm almost done writing out the script. I need to finish that by tomorrow night (along with a case study for Comm Law...maybe I'll do that tonight after Synodia) so I can start practicing over the weekend. 

I think that's all the huge stuff. Our class is supposed to Skype Jeff Jarvis. It'll be really cool to ask him some questions and be able to talk to him face-to-face. Business of News is such a cool class, opening up opportunities everywhere! If we can't Skype him then our models need to be presented, which is why we were in a scramble yesterday and last night. It's all together though so breathing can happen again.

Phew...