Shine Bright Like a Diamond

Can I just say this week has been insane! There have been tests and papers, not to mention having to write a copy for a brochure and come up with a print ad, along with writing a few essays. I know I’m not the only one feeling the pressure. My twitter feed is full of it. Thankfully, it’s Friday and I’ve had some good music to get me through. Rihanna released the 1^st single from her 7^th studio album¸ a demo from Katy leaked, and Florence and Calvin teamed up. The new tunes are great because it means the industry is progressing despite the EMI buy out.

Through all the crazy studying, the song that’s been on repeat in my head is “Diamonds” by Rihanna. Word on the street is that it was written for her grandmother who recently passed away. It’s one of those songs that you break the replay button on, but aren’t sure why. The line that stands out the most to me is the second line. “I choose to be happy.” Isn’t that the truth? Happiness is a choice and one we should pick more often. So today I choose to be happy and smile, knowing I am that much closer to being done with school.

Reinvention

College presents a unique opportunity that high school and junior high didn’t have. College is a new school, more than likely in a new town and with new people. The newness means no one knows you and you can reinvent yourself. New things are waiting to be tried and adventures are begging to be had. College is about discovering yourself after all, why not take advantage of it?

I had a moment of reinvention. Mine was through my hair. I was born with light brown hair, but the saying “blondes have more fun” peaked my curiosity. I wanted to be a blonde more than anything. My desire to play with peroxide started in high school. By the end of senior year, I was telling people I was going to go blonde. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I actually did it.

The hair dye aisle in Wal-Mart is a bit daunting when you don’t know what you’re doing. My hair had seen dye once before in an ill-advised roommate bonding night, but I had never purchased Nice ‘n Easy on my own. Blonde is a scary color to play with. I didn’t want to go beach blonde and fake. I wanted honey blonde, but there isn’t a box labeled that. The first try was bad. No I didn’t turn orange or green or any other color. At all. Nothing. I dyed my hair the same color it already was. Thankfully the 2^nd box did the trick. I loved being blonde!

There’s something about college that begs for trial and exploration. They don’t have to be huge, radical things. The best tend to be the small ones you never thought you would do. Embrace the urge and you might just like it.

If you’re looking for inspiration, here’s a few of the things I’ve done:

Dyed my hair (dark brown and blonde)

Made it to the center of a mosh pit at the Homecoming Paint Dance (claustrophobia nightmare)

Got a tattoo (okay so it was just henna)

Gave a guy my number (choose the guy wisely)

Tried a new church (Alpine Church. Not a bad experience)

enH

Aggies Say...

It’s that time of the semester when professors administer the first exams. Believe it or not, these little question babies are crucial not only in the grade book, but in the whole tone of the class. Once you figure out how a professor tests, you get a grip on how to study-though it sucks that it has to come a month in.

Being a 3^rd year student (typing that makes me feel like I’m at Hogwarts), I have taken a fair amount of tests. Being a JCOM/English student means I have also written numerous papers. Both can be stressful. Sometimes chocolate and Diet Coke don’t help relieve the stress like they should. Laughter, though, has never failed to reduce my study-induced headaches.

Now I could post a bunch of hilarious videos that you’ve probably already seen a hundred times, but I won’t. (Okay, maybe just one. See bottom.) But I’ve found people in conversation are a whole lot funnier. Bill Cosby capitalized on the idea and hosted a show about it. So in hopes of relieving a bit of the test anxiety, I present you with:

Sh!t Aggies Say

“Normally I’d say yes, but I’m kind of dating someone right now. But don’t worry, you’re cuter.” (Outside the Business Building)

“Did he kiss her? Wait, what am I talking about? She wouldn’t kiss him!” (Outside the AGRS)

Girl to Guy: “Hi, I’m (insert girl name here)” Guy to Girl: “I’m taken.” (Psych 1010 class)

“It’s not bragging, it’s making yourself seem cooler” (PR writing)

And my All Time Favorite, mentioned during my Freshman year in my aliens science class

“If the aliens have figured out galaxy travel, why would they bother to graffiti our wheat?”

Here’s the video I promised. I have a love hate relationship with Mr. Brand, but this video never fails to make me laugh. It's being dumb and won't embed so just click the hulu link.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/215168

Happy Monday!

The Truth About Love

I know I usually share 1 song on Music Fridays, but today I feel the need to share an album. I’m not a huge P!nk fan. Yes, she has a couple good songs, but for me, she was always just a little too punk for my liking. Her new album The Truth About Love dropped this week and I decided to listen to it. The PinkVevo youtube account uploaded lyric videos for the entire album and I spent a day just listening to it. I built myself a playlist and listened to every single one of them like I was listening to the CD. Despite my initial thoughts about P!nk, I keep going back to these songs.

Obviously P!nk has grown up a lot since she first started in the music industry. Her fans have grown with her. Her fan base does not consist of 13 and 14 year-old girls, but women. Because of this the song material is more grown up. She has songs about how relationships aren’t always hearts and flowers. There’s a song about losing a child. She has party songs like “Walk of Shame” which I incidentally I had to explain to someone. (Aww…the education continues.) Basically these songs are meant for an older audience, and frankly it’s refreshing.

There are a lot of songs on this album that I really like, but two of my favorites have to be “Try” and “Are We All We Are.” I want someone to make a Nike ad using that last one. I recommend checking out this album, even if it’s just on youtube. Please note though that because the target audience is older, there is a bit of mature language in some of the songs. Listen at your own risk.

Enjoy the music and your weekend.

"Try"

WARNING: "Are We All We Are" does contain some language.

Decisions

Everyone knows you go to college to focus. What you focus on, be it school, boys/girls or TV, is beside the point. College classes are different than high school. Of course there are requirements, but there are options for how to fulfill them. Each choice has an impact on probably the scariest part of college…

The Major

Getting a degree in something is the main goal of higher education. It’s a frightening process to choose. Research says the average person changes their major anywhere between 4 and 7 times. I’ve changed mine once and it was terrifying.

When I started USU I was planning my path to be a high school English teacher. Deep down I really wanted to be a writer, but I knew I couldn’t make a mortgage doing that. So I picked the practical route and decided to teach. I’d done a teaching internship in high school and didn’t love it, but I was pretty sure it was because of the situation I was in. I was more like a TA than an intern there. Between fall and spring semester of my freshman year I decided I really didn’t want to teach. All I could think about was writing. Someone suggested I talk to the JCOM (Journalism and Communication) peeps and see what I could figure out.

I met with the department head my first week back and instantly felt like I was home. I chose the PR path and haven’t looked back. The farther I get into the program, the more I feel like I made the right decision. I LOVE what I am studying and as I look at potential jobs I can see myself doing them and liking it.

It doesn’t matter what you like to do or what you choose to study. People will always have opinions about things and will share them even when you don’t ask. The only thing that matters is that you LOVE what you’re doing. The major you pick will one day turn into a job. There is nothing worse than hating your job. So pick what you want and enjoy it!

If you’d like to read some of my fiction please visit my Figment page at http://figment.com/users/249830-Rachael-Wabel

Freshman 15 Alive and Thriving

Your mother warned you about them, your dad made stupid jokes and you didn’t believe in their existence, but trust me, the “freshman 15” is a real thing.

Now I’d like to say that I have a story about starting college and not knowing how to cook for myself. In my food crisis I succumbed to eating Ramen noodles and hitting up McDonald’s drive-thru to keep me going. I know you’d like me to tell you that I gained a freshman 15 and was okay with it.

Sorry kids, that’s not the story I have to tell. You see, I was deathly afraid of gaining a freshman 15, or any weight at all for that matter. Body image is something I’ve always struggled with. When I started high school I was a size 13/14. For my 5’6 frame it wasn’t a good look. I took “Fit for Life” and pushed myself and the weight came off. When I started my junior year I was a healthy weight, not my goal weight, but I was looking and feeling a lot better than I had. So when I went to college I was terrified that I would go back to what I had been. Before I left for school I had my mom teach me how to make a few simple meals. With my limited cooking knowledge and use of the campus fitness room in my dorm building, I dropped another pant size.

Basically the moral of that little story is that the freshman 15 is AVOIDABLE! You just have to work at it. Don’t take a page out of my favorite pop star’s book

Keeping the pounds off can be simple. Don’t eat pizza for every meal. Trade your ice cream for carrots. While you can have awesome donuts every now and then, save them for special days or use them as rewards.

Drink more of this

And smaller amounts of this

Take advantage of the fitness equipment that is provided to you as part of your student fees. I used to HATE working out, but now it’s kind of like my “me time.” I go in, pull up Club Phusion on my phone and block out everything else. Not only are you going to feel better (once the initial muscle pain subsides) but you’ll look better. There is nothing more beautiful than a woman who feels confident about herself. Maybe exercise can give you that confidence. And if not, well at least it keeps you from needing to buy bigger jeans.

Get Out of "The Box"

When I started this blog, I wondered how long it would take for me to mention this. Guess today is the day since its Music Friday. Katy Perry is my favorite music artist. She inspires me to be a better me and not give up. Before she became the first woman to have five singles from one album go #1, she was on three other record labels and subsequently dropped from each. Knowing that about her, and seeing how far she has made it, helps me keep going when things don’t work at first.

While being signed and dropped from different labels, she wrote numerous songs that never made it onto a released album. Some of Katy’s unreleased songs are her best. Asking me to pick my favorite song from her is near impossible (though I’d probably say “Teenage Dream” since it was the song that made me a Katycat). One of the unreleased songs that has stood out to me lately is called “The Box”

The lyrics talk about getting out of a set mindset and experiencing new things. I think the message is one that all college kids can relate to. For the first time, we are out on our own and experiencing things. While living on my own, I’ve experienced my first non-Mormon church, tried foods and drinks I probably never would have, and have been introduced to different lifestyles. I’m not saying the life my parents raised me in was bad, it was just different from the things I’ve seen. Some of the experiences were liberating and exciting. It was almost like I was living for the first time and that’s what “The Box” is all about. 

Running to the Bus

If you’ve ever been to USU in the winter, you know that the shuttle buses are pretty much a lifesaver. These big white vehicles also provide for great entertainment, provided mainly by the freshman. Now I don’t want you to think that I’m picking on the little guys here. I was a freshman not too long ago. The spread of a campus like USU can be a little frightening, especially when everything is foreign and the map is listed in three letter abbreviations. It’s really easy to get lost if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. Being lost isn’t totally funny, but the bus situation kind of is.

The buses used for the Aggie shuttle have two doors. One near the back/middle of the bus and one right next to the driver. Social Norm dictates that when the bus stops, anyone getting off exits before the new passengers board. Not all freshman, or new shuttle bus riders, understand this. There is a dance that ensues as the coming and going try to navigate around each other before the bus takes off again.

Being an on campus dweller, I have been fortunate enough not to have to deal with the shuttles for the last two years. I did have many an experience with them during my freshman year when I lived in the boonies of campus housing. The worst of my experiences surpassing bad B.O guy and winter overcrowding, was missing a bus.

The buses come at scheduled times and in the morning it’s almost crucial to catch the right bus if you want to make it to class on time. Running to catch the bus is totally acceptable if it means you’ll be late for class because ten extra minutes of sleep seemed like a good idea. What I find funny are the people who run to catch the bus going back to their apartments or the parking lot.

Obviously, people have lives and things that may require them to make it back to their places at a certain time, but if they waited five minutes another bus will come. There is no need to make a fool of yourself, booking it down the street like the bus is the last Twinkie at a fat kid’s party. Another bus will come.

Waiting for that bus is like life. Sometimes there’s a really great opportunity, or something we want to do (like go to the M83 concert) but we miss it for one reason or another (like we have a final the next day in your 9 am class). If we wait and make the best of those five minutes by studying or talking to the other person waiting, the next bus will come and it will probably be better and have less people. Basically what I’m trying to get at in this weird, messed up analogy is that sometimes the opportunity or situation we think we have to have, isn’t the best thing for us. (Like I missed the concert but passed my class and didn’t have to pay to retake it.)

In the end, it’s your choice. You can either run down the street while on-lookers chuckle to themselves, or you can sit and wait and maybe make a new friend.

Letting Go

So I totally had today’s post written, edited and ready to go, but then life happened (as it usually does) and my plan changed. Don’t worry, you’ll still get that other post, but this one needs to come first.

How do you let go of something. I’m not talking about physically releasing something from your fingers, but emotionally letting go. How does that happen? What’s the easiest way so that everyone involved doesn’t feel like they are being deprived of something? Is it even possible? Sometimes I feel like when people say they’ve let go, they just wake up one day and decide that they have and that’s that. But I don’t feel that way.

Since I was a little girl, my mom and I have always been really close. Like she was the parent I would rather deal with. Most girls are Daddy’s girls, but that wasn’t me. I bawled my first day of pre-school and it came to the point that I refused to go if my mom didn’t accompany me. My mom was the first person I called when anything big happened to me. She was my biggest cheerleader and fan and support. And then I went away to college two weeks ago.

I don’t know what changed. I’ve gone away to school two other times, but this time seemed different. For the first time, I don’t want to talk to my mom. We fight over stupid stuff and she bugs me more than normal.

The only thing I can think of is that I’m trying to let go of the little girl I was as I try to find the adult I want to be. That’s where my question comes in. How do I grow up without making everyone think I’m totally changing? Obviously, there’s things I don’t want to do anymore and do want to change. That’s just part of growing. But how do I grow without hurting people’s feelings?

After talking with my roommate, it seems that this is not an unusual problem. She’s going through the same thing with her family. So why is everyone having a hard time letting go lately? We all knew this day would come. I’m 20 now and it just feels right. This time next year I’ll be focusing on graduation and job hunting. I think I’m ready to be an adult.

Has anyone else gone through this? How did you do it? Was anyone really hurt in the process? Let me know and I’ll share your advice in a later post!

Music Friday

It’s music Friday! Something you should know about me is that I LOVE music. I’ve done unofficial experiments and found that when I don’t listen to music, I get really crabby. Kind of like when I don’t get enough sleep. A good beat is like a Diet Coke for me. If I’m in a bad mood, feeling stressed, or just need a pick me up, all I have to do is put my headphones in (since for some reason music sounds better in them than regular speakers) and let the music take over. My love for music is transferring into my career choice as well. I want to do music publicity and be a publicist for a recording artist. 

Not only do I constantly listen to music, I like to share my musical finds with others. Obviously, I have my favorite artists and songs, but there’s nothing quite like falling in love with a song for the first time. I follow a couple of people on Twitter (@rachaelwabel) who often tweet about what they’re listening to. I think it’s cool because I find artists and songs I might have never discovered. So I want to return the favor and introduce you, my blog friends, to what I’m listening to.

This week’s song is Keep Your Head Up by Ben Howard. I don’t know much about him, but this song has spoken to me lately. The first few weeks of the semester are usually a little rough for me. I’m adjusting to a new living environment and life schedule, not to mention my besties don’t go to USU. I just discovered this song last week and have fallen in love. As Mr. Howard sings “keep your head up” especially when things get rough.

Enjoy the song and happy Friday everyone!

Who Does He Play For?

College assignments make me laugh sometimes. Some are really cool, like watch a movie about aliens and write a paragraph about how the aliens are depicted. Other’s kind of suck, like analyzing political cartoons for right or left wing biases. This week in my PR writing class we were asked to scan a website for article queries that we could possibly pitch an idea for from the PR side of media. One of the articles I found was titled “Signs He Might Be Gay” the reporter in question was looking for advice from professionals about how women could tell if their husband or boyfriend might be gay. It’s a valid concern, which got me thinking.

I have gay friends and my older brother is gay-all happen to be guys-so I’m aware of how they act, but sometimes it’s hard to tell if a guy is actually gay or just metro-sexual. Knowing which team the cute guy sitting next to you in Psych 1010 plays for is actually really important for college girls. Whether they admit to it or not, a lot of girls go to college to find a man (getting a degree is important too, but I’ve heard more than one girl say she just wanted a husband.) Obviously, if the guy is a potential husband contender, it’s better to make sure they’ll be checking you out and not your bestie with testies.

So after talking to a few of my gays and some of my female friends, I put together a list of my own. DISCLAIMER: just because a guy exhibits any of these traits DOES NOT mean he is gay. You might just want to proceed with caution in order to protect that stupid thing inside your chest called a heart that sometimes overrules your brain.

Signs He Might Be Gay

• ·         He dresses better than you. There is nothing wrong with a well dressed man, but when he looks like he walked straight out of the Tommy Hilfiger spread, there might be a problem.
• ·         He gets very animated when he talks. He might just be a great storyteller, but if his voice changes every few words and his moving hands threaten to smack you in the face, he might be swinging for the other team.
• ·         He crosses his legs lady style when he sits. Word on the street from my straight guy friends say that it’s not a very comfortable position.
• ·         Celine Dion and Liza Minnelli are his favorites. I think both women are great, I just wouldn’t ever think their love songs would be a guy favorite.
• ·         Rainbows are associated in their wardrobe. Its common knowledge the rainbow is the Pride symbol. Maybe he’s flashing it in hopes of finding himself a boyfriend.

Like I said, just because he exhibits any of these things, DOES NOT make him gay. They are more like warning signs. Some VERY straight men happen to be in touch with them feminine side, which is where the metro category comes in. I personally find metro guys really sexy. So ladies, whether he’s cute or not, proceed with caution.

Oh and one last bit of advice. CHECK FOR A RING!! We do live in Utah after all. 

The Door is Always Open in 104 (Until it Snows)

Do you smell that? Fresh notebooks, new clothes and fall air. Mix it all together with a fat, juicy tuition check and you have yourself a new school year for the Aggies. Of course the valley is gorgeous as everything prepares to paint itself red and orange, but life on campus is much more entertaining to watch. There’s frenzied freshman running to get to class, love drunk couples holding hands and pausing to smooch every other step and then there’s me. I’m Rachael. Public Relations junior, Distance Ed facilitator and campus dweller. The rent is cheap and the laughs provided by the underclassmen are priceless.

Being older, I’ve experienced what it’s like to be that scared kid, afraid of getting called on in a class held in the ESLC auditorium and I’ve missed my fair share of buses. I feel like since my time at USU (Go Aggies!) is dwindling, it is only fair for me to bestow my wisdom on those who might benefit.

Basically what’s going to happen is I’m going to post something every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They might be funny incidents I've been privileged to see (or personally experience) and then there might be some serious stuff. No matter what, there will be something. Just think of me as the college Yoda (but with better hair.) 

Chip and Dale like to play on campus too. This one is a total poser.