Facing My Fears

One of the scariest things I have done in my life happened while I was on vacation. We were driving around Acapulco when we passed a place to bungee jump. Without thinking, I exclaimed, "I wanna do that!" Big mistake. As I jumped out of the car and ran towards the attraction I realized just how high it really was; but there was no way I could back out of it now. My mom was pleading me not to go, she offered me money, whatever she could think of. Although I could of used the money I decided against her offer and began signing multiple papers and releases. All stating, I understood I could die, and I understood they were not responsible for me. That didn't really help the situation. To make matters worse, I was informed that the elevator was broken, and I would have to climb up the emergency ladder to get to the top. It was as if there was a secret hidden message telling me not to go multiple times. My mom's message wasn't so secret or hidden. So I began my climb up to the top, my hands were sweaty and I was shaking, but I managed to finally get there. I stepped out on to the edge and looked down over the ocean. I really really didn't want to jump now, but at the same time I really really didn't want to climb all the way back down the emergency ladder. If the elevator had been working I might have made a different decision that night, but I looked straight up at the sky and just jumped. My stomach was in knots and I couldn't even open my mouth to scream. As they unhooked my feet from the cord I remember feeling so proud of myself. I did something that I never thought I could ever do. I just had this feeling that I really accomplished something amazing, there was no greater feeling. I will never forget that moment.

Mind Map

Recently in class we had a creative project. That creative project was to make a mind map, and we had to fill up an entire page. I was really overwhelmed at first but decided it could be fun. I would much rather work on a project like this for school then to work on a math problem. Although the mind map wasn't specifically about ourselves, the way we presented it and worked out our mind map said a lot about ourselves indirectly. As I was making my mind map I wanted to make it different and unique so that it would stand out from all the other mindmaps. I tried really hard to find things I could do that would be different then everyone else. As I was thinking of topics I tried to use the first one that came to my mind. It seemed simple and I could relate many words to it. Later I realized my topic was far too simple and I should of put more thought into it. I sat down and came up with many different ideas. I finally came up with "Ace." After brainstorming for a little bit ideas began to just pour out. I found when I was making my mindmap I wanted to draw as many pictures as I could. I didn't even want to write the words, I was enjoying putting in every last detail into my litle doodles. I don't consider myself an artist, I can hardly draw a stick figure, but I really enjoyed using my creativity.  I had so much fun making my mindmap and especially making it my own. I got to write what I wanted and present it in whatever way I felt like. I learned a lot about what I like to work on, and what I am better at doing and what I am not so good at.

Where does all my money go?

It is amazing how quickly you can spend money and how difficult it is to earn it. I have had two jobs throughout my lifetime and I am lucky enough that I didn't have to depend on just that amount of income to buy the things I needed. This year I have an apartment with two other girls. I never realized just how quickly everything can add up. Our rent seemed reasonable for the area and I was willing to pay that amount, but I didn't take into account just how many bills we would have to pay every month. There is water, waste water, trash, electric, cable, and internet. It seems to be never ending! Having an apartment this year and being responsible for all the bills and our bank account really made me appreciate how difficult my parents have worked to help me pay for my college and living. Without a college education, it would be extremely difficult to be able to have enough money to pay my bills. Money seems to just dissappear so quickly, this year i've really learned to monitor my spending and only use it for things I really need. I save up some of my extra money to do something fun with friends every once in a while, and I have come up with a good balance of where to spend my money. I now truly understand the meaning of "money doesn't grow on trees." It is so valuable.

Pony Up

I have never seen so many SMU fans at the game friday against TCU. The stadium was sold out and it was filled with red. There was so much support for our football team that night. I have never had so much fun at a football game. Everyone was so excited about every play and cheering on our team. It's unfortunate that there won't be another game like that one for a while. There is hardly any support for our sports at SMU. Our stands are close to empty on game day. When it comes to football season there is usually one word that comes to mind, boulevard. Boulevarding is like tailgating, except most of the students don't end up going to the game. I feel like many students here don't appreciate going to school games and supporting their fellow classmates. These are our last years to be apart of something and have a team to support. Coming back as an alumni just isn't the same. I am hoping that as the years pass and we begin to get better at our sports, people will recognize this and want to come and support their team like any other university would.

Procrastination

Sometimes I wonder just how much time I spend on Facebook. How many hours are wasted stalking people's pictures and reading my news feed over and over? I could get so much more done if Facebook didn't exist. I would have so many more hours in the day to do other things. As a matter of fact right before I began writing this blog I was on facebook. That's when I decided I needed to explain to everyone why I am failing out of college. Just kidding, I don't stay on facebook to that extent but it does keep me from getting my work done earlier. I lose a lot of sleep from procrastinating on facebook. But is facebook really to blame? I should have more self control to not make facebook my life. It is so addictive and I really wasn't sure why. I put some thought into the idea of facebook and realized it has replaced interaction. People are updated with their friends by reading their latest status, and looking at their pictures. People write on each other's wall to tell each other happy birthday. Did most of them actually remember it was their birthday? Most likely they just saw it was their birthday today through facebook reminders. Facebook has become the center of people's social life. If you aren't up to date with facebook, you are behind. I don't necessarily like that this has become a world wide addiction, but everyone is doing it, and it is only a matter of time before there is a new craze.

Halloween? Not so much.

Growing up Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of the year, besides Christmas of course. I loved to dress up in my favorite costume, and as I grew up I tried to come up with more creative things to be for Halloween. Now that I am in college Halloween has a whole new meaning. For girls, the less clothes the better the costume. There is no thought into the costume, except which one is shorter, tighter, or hotter. People today don't really wear scary costumes anymore, especially girls. I feel like Halloween has gone in the wrong direction, people are dressing up for the wrong reasons, and for it me it takes the fun out of choosing a good costume to wear. My roommates and I went to Party City recently to look at costumes, and there is not one normal costume for a girl to wear that I wouldn't feel inappropriate in. The costumes hardly looked like the characters they were supposed to be. They all had the same basic look to them except maybe different colors or different accessories. Things have changed so much over the years; Halloween isn't one of my favorite times of year anymore. It sort of just blends in with every other night at a college party.

In Crust We Trust

I just read an article concerning Newman's Own new advertising approach. Their advertising is now based off of, "Let the food speak for itself." They are advertising their new launch of its Thin Crust pizza line and also promoting their all-natural ingredients. I am not that familiar with this brand but I do think that this can be a successful way to advertise to consumers. They are still advertising and promoting their brand and products, but at the same time they still make the costumer feel as if the they are in control. By creating ads that say, "just as the pizza," or "let the food speak for itself," are ways to advertise to consumers without simply saying, "our brand is awesome!" As a consumer I appreciate when the company makes their brand known without going overboard. Many of advertisements today have gone too far as to promoting their product. For me, just by claiming you have the most delicious pizza in the world doesn't make me want to go out and buy it. I want to know wait makes you different then the rest, because usually every company advertises their product as the best. Newman's Own has taken a different approach and let the consumer be in charge. Although they are still advertising they have made it less obnoxious by only emphasising a few key points and then letting the food say the rest.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/creative/new-campaigns/e3i1e87f64282a2ab50c76e24bc03fa1678

I'm So Fat.

My roommates and I have been stressing over working out and being fit lately. How do we cope with our stresses? We eat. I can't tell you how many times we've said, "okay I won't eat bad after this," but it never really stops. We can go a couple of days and eat well and in small portions, but then it backfires and we crave junk food. It is a never ending cycle, and in the end we never really end up changing. Honestly, none of us are fat, but we don't have the model figure that everyone strives for. Young women are under so much pressure to have this perfect body that less then 10 % of our country has. For most people it is impossible to look like this. Many people aren't built that way, and frankly much of the population is just way way to short. Why do we try and look like this then? As a girl I can tell you that most girls want to look this way because that is how beauty is portrayed in advertising, movies, and Hollywood. As much as I try and pretend I don't care, I wish I looked like them. I hate that I feel this way, and I am not sure how to stop it or who is to blame. There are many people who could be at fault; the companies running commercials, the actors in movies, the people who choose the actors, the plastic surgeons, the list can go on and on. However I have noticed a commercial for Dove that encourages parents to talk to their daughters about this topic and let them know they are beautiful the way they are. I am so glad that someone has finally taken a stand and is committed to fighting this image. No one should ever feel pressured to look a certain way, we are all different for a reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zKfF40jeCA

Retargeting, Useful or Just Creepy?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/technology/30adstalk.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

I read this article for an advertising class about how many companies are using retargeting as a main form of advertisement. Retargeting is basically attempting to show the consumer, you and I, the right ad at the right time. For example, if I looked at a pair of jeans on a website and then navigated to another page without purchase, I might begin to see ads on other websites for the jeans or related products I might be interested in. After reading this article everything began to make sense. I have seen many ads for things I have looked at in the past. I never really put much thought into it, I guess I always just ignored it or thought it was just a coincidence. For me, just the thought of ads following me around, and a company having records of the sites I visit just creeps me out. I understand the purpose of this form of advertising, in theory I think it is a genius idea. For the companies this is sort of a way to never take "no" for an answer. The jeans will just stalk you until you buy them. I feel that there should be a boundary between advertisement and privacy. There has to be a point where you have to let the costumer make their own decisions about your product. Every company should have the right to inform you of their product and promote it, but there is a point where the costumer should be able to get away from the advertising if they wanted too. If the consumer did navigate away from a page or a product, then that's where the company should back off and let the costumer decide what they want. In some cases I feel showing a product over and over to a consumer might not end up being the best strategy for selling your product or service.

Country Girl Gone City

To understand my story I should first tell you where I'm from; the infamous, popular, well-known, notable, preemient, glorious, great city of Boerne, Texas. I'm sure you all have heard of this outstanding town, but for those who havent, it is right outside of San Antonio. Boerne is a small city out in the hill country, and contrary to previous beliefs, most of us do not ride our horses to school. Boerne was all I knew growing up until I came here to Dallas. I had never moved, and I knew close to nothing about San Antonio besides the movie theaters and the malls. I went to school with the same kids I had been with since elementary. Everybody knows everybody in Boerne. It takes approximately three and a half minutes for a rumor to be spread, and it takes around six minutes to drive through the town. Sonic was the hangout after school with half price drinks. If you weren't at Sonic one of the most exhilarating things to do would be to drive super fast over the "Boerne Bump," which is literally a big bump in the road. Growing up I always despised living in a small town. I wanted to be in a big city, I wanted something different. So the first chance I got, I left Boerne and came to Dallas. First couple weeks of my freshman year I was ecstatic with all of the different opportunities a big city had to offer. Little by little though I began to feel strange, it almost felt as though I missed my small town, where everyone knew your name. I tried so hard to fight the fact that there was a small part of me that loved that place. I never wanted to admit it, and I never realized it until I moved away. I am still a country girl at heart, and I guess the saying really is true, that you don't know what you have until it's gone.

An Unfortunate Truth

I have a small, minor, petite obsession with animals. I definitely have a soft spot for dogs and puppies. I recently discovered possibly the best place to deal with my addiction, or so I thought. It goes by the name of PETLAND! As soon as I walked into that store, nothing else in the world mattered. There were tiny puppies calling my name through the glass window. I was ecstatic! But let's be honest, who doesn't love puppies? I ended up spending most of my "study breaks" at petland with my roommates. It was a fun and free way to take our minds off of studying. We ended up naming all of the puppies and soon enough we knew all of the employees. Needless to say, we went a little overboard. I fell in love with the idea of Petland, I thought it was a great way for costumers to purchase their pets. You are able to pick the one you like then play with them in a separate pin for as long as you'd like. All of their medical expenses were taken care of for the first year, they were already neutered or spayed, and they would take care of all the initial puppy shots. I was sold even though I would not have lived to tell this story if I took one home. Even after being denied a puppy my roommates and I still continued to visit and play with our favorite puppies.

One evening I turned on the T.V. and saw that a special documentary for Petland on 60 Minutes was starting. So I eagerly tuned in and waited to hear all the good things they had to say about Petland. Unfortunately, there was no good news to be heard. 60 Minutes revealed that although Petland claims to get their puppies from small breeders, they actually get most of their puppies from large puppy mills. They are kept in terrible conditions and many of their dogs die before being adopted or have serious health issues. My heart sank. All this time I had no idea. At first I was bitter and depressed, I felt so bad for those helpless animals. Then I started to feel resentful towards Petland. I felt as though I had been supporting them for quite sometime even though I had never bought an animal there. Whose fault was it? Was Petland helping the puppies by taking them from the puppy mills? Or was this just causing more demand for the puppy mills? There is a never ending cycle with animal breeding. Clearly there is always a sufficient demand for puppies from puppy mills and I fear it will never stop. I want to do all I can to put an end to this problem, except I'm not quite sure of an answer.

A Unique Tattoo?

So around the time you are in college, many of you will already have your first tattoo. Many will be sneaky and do it behind their parent's back. Others may not remember how it got there. Regardless, tattoos have become this new obsession. It has become a common form of self expression, and as many claim it makes them unique. I know many people today that have at least one tattoo. They all claim that their tattoo has some sort of symbolic meaning behind them.

Recently a friend of mine decided to jump on the bandwagon and endure an hour pain for a few words on her wrist. It read "Mind Over Body," in Arabic. She wasn't Arabian, not even foreign, but it looked cool. When I asked her why she decided to get it, snapped, "It's unique, I like it, and it makes me more of an individual." While this seemed true, I couldn't help but feel her answer was a lie. Of course I believe she wanted her tattoo to be unique and I'm sure she loves it, but there was something that made me feel her tattoo was there because she desired to be a part of a larger group of people; to have something in common, make her feel like she belonged.

Many people get tattoos and claim this makes them, "who they are today." Or that, "tattoos are their life," it makes them, "unique or special, no one else has this tattoo." They are truly an "individual." But are you truly being unique and novel by getting a tattoo that almost half of young adults have? Does that really make you stand out from a crowd? Do you really have something no one else does? Is this really a form of self expression to assert you are a unique individual, or is it a way to blend into the crowd without looking like tried to fit in?