Nothing can ever be perfect...so stay the way you are

If there's one thing I learn more and more on a day-to-day basis, it's that nothing will ever hit perfection. In fact, sometimes I think my life is a running joke. Whenever something is about to be right, it goes wrong. As one thing is accomplished and crossed off the to-do list, another is added. And it's a continuous process.

I finally completed my online history course, and timing issues occurred so I cannot yet even enter my journalism emphasis area. One stressor down, another line of appointments and appeals to go. The weekend approached and I thought I'd have all this time to work....that didn't happen. People commit to something to help an organization to take something off of my position's to do list....and then they don't do it so I end up doing it anyway. I try to check up on my friends and care about their lives...but apparently, sometimes it just comes off as being nosy instead of genuine caring feelings.

Heck, I just spent half an hour typing this blog post, and Safari force quitted and deleted everything I wrote. Didn't even save it as a draft. So I'm retyping what I can remember of it.

And the ultimate best...the backbone of my life, my MacBook Pro, decided that it's brain was full (also called the hard drive in the real world) so I could no longer save files to my computer. And my other favorite life occurrence, I called to make an appointment and was told walk-ins are all day, and as I get to the help desk, a sign is hanging up that says "at lunch...be back around 1:30." It was 1 pm. I had the lovely experience of waiting a half an hour when I specifically called to see how I could avoid doing so. And my computer still doesn't save files to the hard drive...I need to clear more space. Woohoo.

One thing I have learned in marketing that applies to not only the business world, but everyday life is when you should practice mass marketing...never. You can never make everyone happy. It's just not possible.

I, as can be seen, cannot cope with this fact of life. Why can't everyone be happy about something? Don't we, to some extent, share similar values so that one person can value and appreciate that of another? If we all value respect, can't we be happy when someone respects another?

No. Complaints, complaints, something is always wrong. Pessimism, pessimism. Throw some whining, tweets, text messages and whispers in there. People like Bruno Mars and music exist in my mind to reinforce positive ideas and convince us that even while appealing to so many categories in life, people should appreciate you as you are.

You know, you know, you know I'd never ask you to change

If perfect is what you're shooting for than just stay the same

So don't even bother asking if you look okay, you know I say

When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change

Because you're amazing, just the way you are.

So stay up until 4 a.m. Procrastinate if that's how you work best sometimes. Do silly things. Fill up your calendar. Be honest with people. Yell at the hostess for taking over an hour to seat your table at the restaurant when she told you it would only be 45 minutes. Sleep for 13 hours instead of being social. Respond to text messages in your sleep just so you don't disappoint people with non-immediate replies. And yes, these are all things I have done this weekend.

This personally gives me hope that someday, somewhere, I will meet people who will teach me that someone will appreciate who you are. When I am stressed or disappointed during the day, I stop, breathe, pause and think "Because you're amazing, just the way you are." "Because you're amazing, just the way you are."

It's encouraging, and inspires you to do what keeps you happy. I am happy where I am, although these struggles come along the way, but fight through them with this hope. So when you're upset, remember that staying strong to the person you are is the first step to reinstating your overall happiness, and I will do the same :).

Photos for those of you that do not read my blog

Here are some photos from my weekend in review so if you don't have time to read my insights, you can still know what's going on here in Columbia! Enjoy!

Phi Mu social!
Sophie's birthday party!

Family Weekend: Kate and her sister Bridget, me and Amy!

Phi Mu block at football games!

I knew Truman at the game so he called me over for a photo...what an honor!
Since we beat Miami of Ohio 51-13, we sat in the front row by the end after staying the entire game!

Socially savvy

This past week, AAF Mizzou (American Adversing Federation, also called 'Ad Club' for short) held a panel of speakers on Tuesday evening about the advertising and public relations industry. How did the president of AAF contact them all to come speak? Through Twitter.

Throughout the presentation, participants were encouraged to 'tweet' with the three professionals' usernames on a PowerPoint slide on the board, along with a hashtag to add to each post. I would say that the main point of the presentation was to stay involved with social media, because you will always be ahead of the game if you do so. As a result, multiple people at the presentation went home and made a Twitter. I have always had an account to follow organizations, but made the life decision to partake in tweeting. America, be prepared.

I also made a LinkedIn page, Wordpress professional blog to revise over the next couple of months as a resume-type page, and am in the processing of updating this page to stay socially savvy and "in-touch" with the world.

But can one stay "in-touch" with what's going on on Earth if they are focused on the small quotes, tidbits and continuous happenings of the internet? Can they observe and appreciate the small things in life and outdoors when they're focusing on their tweets?

One thing I like about Twitter, but realize is pathetic about our society, is that you share your continuous thought-stream with America. This is both a positive and a negative. It's positive to use this social media as means to benefit organizations, our culture, businesses and more...but the more I tweet, the more I see it as an outlet to release your life and feelings to something that doesn't exist and people that don't care.

When I think of something I tweet, it's a thought that you either are too lazy to verbally or face-to-face share with someone else, or something that you hope the rest of the Twitter-world and world wide web will think is amusing, unique or clever. Your mommy, daddy, best friend, significant other or friends don't care about what you have to say....so tell your so-called social network of connections. One of them might care or think it's funny.

As someone that strongly values talking on the phone with people, Skyping and keeping in touch with friends, I find this disappointing. If it's really something that important to you, whoever you call to tell or share the story with (or in Twitter...out of context to sound more awesome in the 140 characters you have to share) will listen and acknowledge your feelings. You don't have to feel forced to share your recurring thoughts to the rest of society, but we do because it's conformity. It's what everyone else is doing, how everyone else is getting jobs and connections, so to be in touch with reality....we must do it too.

My question at the end of this presentation is where to draw the line between tweeting and networking in the professional world. What if the CEO of a large organization, elementary school teacher or the founder of a sentimental non-profit swears in a tweet...do we lose respect for them or acknowledge that they are real people with real thoughts too? On Facebook we don't, we fire them for having inappropriate photos and more. But on Twitter, it's just your thought stream so it's okay? This mindset confuses me.

As I tweet (you can see my thoughts on the sidebar of this screen), I hope you understand that I am always hear to listen. Call me if you want to talk. If I care about you, you most likely have my phone number...and if you don't....maybe you will receive a shout-out in the near future because you follow my blog and I don't know who you are and that scares me. Sometimes, I do tweet with the mindset of "Nobody else would care what I have to say right now so I'll just post this to the internet." Hopefully, the rest of humans doing this today DO have someone to listen to them in life, because in reality...I think legitimate friends and non-internet connections are someone's support system moreso than the comfort of their computer, keyboard, Blackberry or iPhone.

Big-Little Week

This past week was where Phi Mu families were established as the older members received their "little sisters!" After an intense preference system, I am happy to say that Danielle Carter is my little and is a perfect little Twainer!! She lives in my old suite and it was fun taking adventures to get the gifts over all week. Here are a few photos from big-little week and revelation!

The letters I mod podged and lion puzzle :)

The new family- Shelley and Amy, Danielle and I and Stephanie and Marah!

Mine and Danielle's shirts say "A Twainer and a Phi Mu lady...la creme de la creme!"
Our new family tree :)

All the big sisters waiting at the quad!

From the town meeting...

City Council Meeting

Right now, I am sitting in a Columbia City Council meeting for my news reporting journalism class (J2100). The last such meeting I attended was the Glenbrook School Board meeting when Torch was recognized senior year, and Kara, Mr. Halpern and my parents all made fun of me for wanting to stay at the meeting and hear them discuss the agenda.

I never realized how boring these types of matters were until right now. The board is currently discussing the landscape and rezoning of a development on Rock Quarry Road, and this isn’t even something a journalist who is actually at this meeting will cover. This makes me feel really bad for people with boring occupations, who discuss such things for a living. I have gained a new respect for city government members because they spend hours discussing these matters, and in the end, no one will notice anything they’re talking about on this property…unless they were at this meeting.

I still enjoy politics and would act as some type of public official any day, but it’s interesting learning more and more about the logistics of town hall meetings. It’s basically like they’re putting on a show with all the “points of order,” “motions,” and rules. People from the public can speak for no more than three minutes, and if you represent an organization, you may speak for five. They read off legislations (for example: B218-10) and go through each board member and say (I or Nay), then move on to the next one if there is no discussion. After I leave or during this meeting, I will write a story about anything from this meeting by noon tomorrow to practice writing on deadline. Back to the Torch days :), and it’s exciting to feel legitimate!

Workoholics Anonymous

One of my most recent revelations is that I have made myself a machine. I guess it hasn’t gone quite that far because I still talk and have a personality, but I am a workoholic. I take a list of work, accomplish it, and the process never ends. Sometimes on Thursday evenings (since I have no Friday classes) I feel a sense of freedom, but I don’t know when I will actually feel like I can do whatever I want without feeling obligated to academics, organizations and obviously, seeing friends. The other day, all I wanted to do was sit down and watch a movie while doing nothing else…when have I ever done that?

So my goal is to utilize these phases of workoholic-ness, get ahead and take some breaks. I do love everything I’m doing and everyone I’m around, but I got less than two hours of sleep last night. That’s just not healthy. I ran completely off of 5-hour energy shots all day, not one piece of food in my body. I was like an eight-year-old girl after her first sleepover, almost anything and everything that happened made me so cranky that I’d break out into tears. No time to nap, exam tomorrow, paper for Wednesday…it never ends.

Thankfully, I felt less anxious at dinner and was able to eat and put up photos during chapter! Ultra productivity is always exciting…like writing this right now. My iPhoto is gaining intelligence as it actually utilized the FACES application and tagged people…by itself! How awesome is that?! Productivity without even trying! Keeping faces in tact (which means accepting or rejecting who face finder guesses is in your pictures) has proved successful and is not only useful for choosing photos for birthday presents!

Yes, the things in life that make me excited are lame. I am excited for the next two hours (hmm..) when the city council talks about something I find useful, like renovating the Columbia airport or recycling. I’m at that point in life where I love applying my knowledge since all six of my classes are interesting. In my video interview with the manager of a local t-shirt design shop, I asked him what he thought the company’s sustainable competitive advantage was and have never felt more intelligent. So it’s been a busy week…wait…it’s just Monday. Let’s review the weekend!

Bad weather? Who cares..it’s college!

Friday night was the Phi retreat, where the new member pledge class gets to bond and a couple of sophomores get to bond by helping out. I was one of the lucky ones who got to do this and even luckier…taxi’d people back and forth from campus! My 5-speed driving improves by the day…with hills and deer this time (don’t worry, I didn’t hit one). We had a bonfire, acted out The Creed, and got some stuff organized while the Phis enjoyed each other’s presence.

Being true to the WOMANhood :)

Saturday was a productivity day where I bought and made my big-little gifts (you will probably see photos of these later in the week) and tailgated/went to the football game against San Diego State. We won in a close game!

Laura, Kathryn, Amy and I!

The Phi Mu block!

Sunday morning, with inches upon inches of rain from that weekend, proved that nothing ceases to cancel Watermelon Fest. Now this is a fun fraternity philanthropy for Lambda Chi Alpha where you basically have a watermelon fight…but it turned into a mud fight as anticipated. Here’s some photos from this craziness! I just have to remember…at no other point in life will people be so open to throwing watermelons at each other and mud-sliding..what a concept!

From clean to dirty...

The outcome...

Speed networking

Last Thursday night (sorry, I really didn’t have time to stay on top of my updates!), Mizzou’s Alumni Association Student Board hosted a True Tiger networking dinner, where students who are True Tiger members and alumni “speed-network” at the Reynolds Alumni Center.

It’s unfortunate that the more notable alumni do probably not have the time to commute to mid-Missouri for such events, but it’s still nice to meet and discuss Mizzou memories with other students and a variety of alumni.

One cute piece of advice received that I will probably rate now in my normal conversation is my ‘fun point average.’ The man at mine and Laura’s table, as well as Laura’s dad, both had an economics professor who had a philosophy of evening out your GPA and your “fun point average,” so if you hear me using that term..now you know! Right now, in this meeting, my fun point average is probably a 2.0. And it only stays that high because I’m being productive.

Other lessons I learned and inspirations I felt:

• I came to this realization post-Mexico, but I can live wherever I want when I graduate if I find a legitimate job! And I’m excited to do so and brag about my whereabouts to Mizzou students at alumni dinners in the future!
• I have more written down at home...no worries!

Well now that you have read and totally enjoyed this entire post, wish me luck convincing the J-School to allow me to start my sequence next semester! Have a great evening!

Week in Review

Mid-September has been full of events, work, drama, homework and more!

Sunday evening Mizzou Student Foundation held a Grateful Tigers party, where students on scholarships attend and write thank you notes to their donors. Here's Truman and I smiling at the end of the event!

Monday, we had a nice lunch for Laura's birthday and enjoyed the sunny afternoon. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were full of studying for the first marketing exam, which was more difficult than one could ever anticipate, and more online history lessons! Thursday night I went to an alumni networking dinner through True Tiger, which I'll explain more further in the next post. It was a week where I got little sleep and looked forward to Friday the entire time, and Friday was spent with stress, more history work and getting more clients for the Maneater! I was very pleased with my first pay check and look forward to the rest of the semester!

Friday evening after pomping, the Phi Retreat for new members was held! As a member of the KROP committee, I got to help out at the new member retreat and watch their pledge class bond while the helpers from my pledge class bonded, which was fun. I played taxi-er through Columbia going from the Rock Bridge area to campus 6 times back and forth to bring people over, but all the girls had a great time. I never noticed how many hills exist in Columbia/the rest of the midwest except Chicago!

Saturday kicked off Mizzou home football games for me since I missed last week's McNeese State game (who cares about them anyway?) and Laura, Kathryn, Amy and I tailgated a bit.

M-I-Z......Z-O-U!! Even with some rain and playing San Diego State, who is surprisingly ranked 6 in offense and was a very good team, it was a full game! The spirit was not very exciting until the end when it was a very strong competition, with Mizzou only winning 27-24 with a touchdown in the last 2 minutes. I unfortunately was one of the lame people who left early, not just due to rain, but overall exhaustion from the week. Thank you to ESPN text updates on Amy's phone, I was well aware of what was going on :)

(more pictures to come next post!)

TIME Magazine Commentary

This week has brought an end to my TIME magazine subscription, a nice graduation present from Kara that I thoroughly enjoyed reading last year. The last two issues were mailed to Twain and forwarded here, and at first, I didn't have the time to read them. But like a good journalism student, I had to give them credit and at least flip through headlines and read the stories I find interesting.

In the September 13 issue, I found many!! Specifically in the LIFE section.

• We were always provided a lot of information at GBN about gap years, and TIME featured an article about whether it's worth it and what college views are on gap years. People did some really cool things, and Ben had an excellent journey in his gap year in China, but I found it striking that some ivy league universities are starting to fund gap years for students. Not just allow them, but pay for them. Interesting concept.
• Laughter-yoga is a new exercise with health benefits that has courses across the nation! People can start clubs across the US to promote this type of mind-body therapy and participants go through breathing exercises and small aspects of traditional yoga, with minimal athleticism (according to the article). There is no proof of its success, but I definitely looked into laughter yoga courses around Columbia and there is one group that meets monthly! Let's see if I go!
• Last but certainly not least, some idiot of our nation has instilled WedLock, divorce insurance to pay unhappily married policyholders a payout after his or her divorce. This absolutely appalls me. The article states that it's about $16 a month for every $1,250 of coverage, but in order for payment installments to work out properly, you must have been paying for four years to get your first installment. The article jokes about receiving WedLock as a wedding gift. Thus, when you get married, the first thing on your mind should be whether divorce is an option. What kind of pessimistic society do we live in? There are enough temptations and negative influences bringing us downhill from having strong faith, but to already be pursuing the option of not staying married to someone just because you can? How horrible. How would you feel if your spouse even brought that up? I don't think I actually love you, we're just getting married because we kind of like each other now, so let's buy this divorce insurance? I'd love to hear that couple's conversation. So in conclusion, I'm disgusted that this is even invented.

In the September 20 issue, not so much, but an interesting statistic--$75,000 is the annual household income needed to make Americans happy according to a new study. Anyone earning a larger salary than that has no effect on your overall feeling of contentment.

I've enjoyed TIME for the past year and look forward to finding more appealing current events to the population reading this and sharing them here!