Survived first year!

I have officially survived my first year of CreComm! It was one hell of 9 months. I learnt a lot about myself and how hard I can push myself (creatively and mentally). At times coming to this point felt like it took forever and a day. This last month though flew by and now I can stay up to see those summer sunset, and maybe even some summer sunrises!

The things I plan to do with this summer are the things that kept me focused on the first year finish line. Concerts, camping, going to my cabin, the lazy days, and oh ya backpacking for seven weeks!

I swear everyone is getting tired of me talking about it but yes I’M GOING TO THAILAND IN 8 DAYS!!

It is something that my friend and I have been planning and saving for for over a year, and now it is happening in 8 days. It is almost as surreal as finishing my first year of CreComm.

I have stumbled on this video titled “Never Go To Thailand” and that is what I am going to share with you today, cause honestly the only thing on my mind is that plane ride at 8:30 am on April 27th!!

Something that always keeps me going is having something to look forward to, even if it is as simple as a friend hang out on the weekend or as big as a trip vacation. Having something to look forward to keeps my motivation up and it is my last tip for you this year.

 

Have a good summer everyone!!

Remember when there was a scheduled nap time? I miss that.

Sleep. What is sleep? They say you are supposed to get eight hours of it, but between the assignments or getting the cold… or maybe a mixture of both, who has time for that?

So here are some tips to get that energy back, and hey they are all in one place so you don’t have to waste anymore energy searching for them. Bonus!

1) Eat well

I know it sounds typical but honestly almost everything can be related back to what you put on your plate. Eating nuts, fish, and/or eggs can give you the protein you need to keep going for the day.

2) Tea Time

Green tea or chia tea it is plain and simple enough. Green tea is supposed to be better than coffee to keep you alert and with less the amount of caffeine.

3) Laugh

Laughter is the best medicine right? It makes sense if you look into the science behind it. It increases your heart rate which increases your blood flow. It also releases the happy happy joy joy chemicals in your body, they also go by the name of endorphins (one of the hand full of things I took from my time at UofW).

4) Move your butt!

It builds off of the increase of blood flow. Get up and move around for a bit. It will keep you alert and you’ll get a change of scenery as well.

5) Meditate

Breathe in and breathe out. Get all the excess thoughts out of your mind and rejuvenate your body. It gives you a peace of mind and increase your Alpha waves which help wake you up. When your Alpha waves are low that is when you feel sleepy. (This also is courtesy of  U of W knowledge). Now… ommm.

Some of my helpful sources for tip ideas:

http://www.oprah.com/health/Dr-Ozs-Beauty-School-13-Energy-Restoration-Tips_1/13

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20559973_last,00.html

1/4 of CreComm is done!

It is crazy to think that the first quarter of my CreComm life is over. It seemed to fly right by, but at the same time these last two weeks felt like a years worth of stress, assignments, and emotions. I don’t think I would have made it out alive if it wasn’t for Section 3.

I must say, as corny as it may sound, Section 3 is my second family. The mixture of personalities is perfect, and the friendships are actually genuine and not those phony school friendships you can make at school.
When people start crying about autofails, life, or even a balloon popping, even before the first tear makes it off your face someone is there to hug you. We are all going through the same roller coaster of emotions and that is what I think brings all the sections closer together.

In the first few weeks of school it is crazy that I thought I wouldn’t have anything more than just a “school friendship” with these people. When the teachers or guest speakers said that your first section is where the foundation of your friendships will build off of I thought to myself, “Oh ya whatever.”

But when you are with the same group of people for 40 hours a week you really get to know them. At some points they may irritate you and then at others all you can do is clap and hug it out. (We are all about clapping and hugging in Section 3).

I am excited to move on to my new section in the new year but I can genuinely say that it is going to be hard to top these guys.

(Photo credit: Braiden Watling)

I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?

Tip #9: Get someone to read over your assignments. Just do it.

Disclaimer: Once you do you may not stop.

Whoever you choose to read over your work though choose wisely. Asking your Mom to read over your work could be good if she doesn’t care about giving you criticism. If she can’t give supportive criticism though don’t give your assignment to her to read. One of the things you have to do when getting criticism on your work is to check you ego at the door.

You need a dose of harsh structured criticism if you are ever going to grow. Even though it is nice being told you are awesome all the time and your work is awesome and everything you do is just awesome, it isn’t helping you any.

When I ask one of my fellow CreCommers to read over my work I am looking for another point of view. When you write assignments you can be lost in tunnel vision and miss a lot of points. Those missing points could be grade changers for you. Having another pair of eyes look through your work will help with this.

Also, the person you choose to read over your stuff can catch any possible autofails for you.

Lets say you interview someone with the last name ‘Stephen’. You are going to be writing their name out countless times, and one slip up of calling them ‘Stephan’ will kiss all your hard work goodbye.

That comes from a personal experience. I finished my Bomber assignment for Journalism and thought to myself ‘You know what I’ll just send this to so-and-so.’ So I did, and luckily I did because my classmate caught the ‘Stephen’ / ‘Stephan’ debacle for me.

I wish I had done that the time I got an autofail on my PR autobiography assignment. I read the assignment over what seemed like 100 times. Every time I did though I missed the lowercase T in Twitter I had… Buh-bye 50%.

Until you learn to read your work over without tunnel vision and blinders on you may want to take this tip and apply it. There is no harm in it. Just ask, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” though you may want to have your assignment in hand while you say that or else you may come off as very creepy.

Do you like me? Check yes or no.

It was the first week of school when I encountered my first Streeter. I was very pessimistic with the entire thing but I knew it was something I had to get past.

I am normally a very outgoing and optimistic person. Then I get asked to go onto the street and interview John or Jane Doe, about a topic I just got 2 minutes ago, and all the sudden I feel a little like a 13 year old being asked to ask out my middle school crush.

The horror!

Approaching the infamous Streeter given in CreComm, and interviewing random people, is in fact just like asking out your middle school crush. You have to get past the nerves of wondering if they are going to say ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ and just ask them. The worst they can say is ‘No’ and if they do you move to the next person and hope they give you a glimpse into their life.

There is a plus side though, at least with the Streeter you are not going to be forced to sit through math or English class with the those who just rejected you.

What I am trying to get at here is getting over the fear of rejection. It is a hard thing to get past but once you do it interviewing random people on the street will become easier.

Being sure of yourself, being able to laugh at yourself, and not fearing rejection are in general good tips in life and in all the disciplines in CreComm.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Just over a month flew by of school and you have survived. Yippee! You feel like you have just past the adaptation stage only to be blindsided with the holy-crap-I-have-three-articles-for-Journalism-due-within-a-week-and-a-half-and-my-interviewees-aren’t-calling-me-back stage (kind of excessive, I know).  Ah, the joys of CreComm, always keeping you on your toes.

This is why my next tip is to let loose once and a while.

Yes, I realize that my post before last was about being a keener. But, you know what? All that keening would be put to waste if you didn’t use your spare time wisely. So don’t feel guilty when you set time aside for yourself. Personally, I like to go for a drink or two with a few friends. I also like to occasionally dance around like a wild woman while listening to my iPod to blow off some steam. Sometimes I even join the two to create one night of pure excellence (*cough* The CreComm Marker Social *cough*). Whatever, works right?

I think I would be going crazy right now if it wasn’t for the days I set aside to come back to my social sphere. It’s like The Shining suggests, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

When I feel guilty of taking time out for myself and my sanity’s sake I like to tell myself that it’s a good thing. I think it’s good because it allows you get out of the tunnel vision that you may be in. Whatever you choose to do to get away for a bit, the temporary break from schoolwork will clear your mind and let you think less forcefully on tasks. So when you get back to your school reality you have fresh eyes and possibly new ideas for your projects.

Also, you don’t go insane and want to kill people like Jack Torrance in The Shining. So it’s a win win!

Black, White, and Read all-over

The newspaper is now conveniently crossing different media.

Sure I read the newspaper before…for the comics. Sure the newspaper was resourceful for me…for a wicked fire. The abuse those poor pages went through. Tisk tisk I was so young and so naive.

I now realize the newspaper, electronic and print, is a huge resource for me as a student. I am not talking about just The Winnipeg Free Press or just The Winnipeg Sun… I’m talking about both plus more.

The news is everywhere so grab The Winnipeg Free Press, The Winnipeg Sun, The Metro, The Uniter, and The Projector. Download The CNN, CBC, The Globe and Mail, and The New York Times apps. And if that isn’t enough, follow them all on Twitter. I hope you have an unlimited data plan cause the news is minute to minute every day.

I have now loaded up my iPhone with multiple news source apps. What is the use of having a smartphone if you don’t use it to highlight the “smart” in its name?

Keeping yourself informed about the world is not only beneficial in this program but it makes you look at the world differently. There is no downside when you educate yourself on your surroundings. Your opinions grow and you become less naive. You will see that the way you read will change; The way you write will change; The way you have conversations will change.

The news is more than just who broke up with who. It is who is about to declare war on who. Your primary news source needs to change to your primary news sources. To get a better view of the world you need to see it (or in this case read it) in different ways. Use the newspaper, electronic or print, as a routine resource that involves more than just reading the comics and starting fires.

When opportunity knocks…

You know what they say, “When opportunity knocks the least you can do is answer the door.” If I haven’t made it clear enough I’ll say it again: when you are in Creative Communications a lot is thrown your way. So, I wasn’t completely surprised when in the second week of school Dan Vadeboncoeur came strolling into our last class on Friday. He explained to us that he is giving the first year CreCommers the chance to do some extracurricular volunteering. Dan is one of the radio instructors in the Creative Communications program, so it was only natural for the opportunity he held before us to be centred around the new online campus radio station.

Now before I continue I’ll give a brief background about Red River College and the history of its radio station. Before this school year, Red River College had a radio station which was called KICK FM. Everyone could turn their dials to 92.9 FM and tune into a variety of indie alternative music, as well as hear some fresh on-air talent. It was a chance to teach up-in-coming radio personality hopefuls the ropes (or more fittingly the cords) of radio. However, with the new school year came a new challenge. KICK FM turned its on-air broadcast into an online project. Now the same radio station that was over the air waves is now streaming live on radio.rrc.ca.

Fast forward to our last class on Friday…

Dan explained about thae opportunity he held before us. If we chose to accept the challenge we could be responsible either reporting news or sports to the listeners or we could have our own three hour segment. Opportunity was knocking at our door and a good handful of us welcomed it with open arms.

This is my third tip to CreCommers: accept opportunities as they come to you.

It may seem scary at first but jumping into the unknown can be a great way to experience something new. God knows I knew nothing about radio, but I saw an opportunity and I accepted the challenge. I am thankful I did because I learnt that I actually really enjoy radio. You’ll never know until you try right.

Opportunities knock once so answer the door because they are a great way to grow. When you accept an opportunity it shows initiative. Even if you are hesitant just tell yourself this, “To get somewhere you have never been you have to do something you have never done.” f that doesn’t help you can also think, “This will look great on my resume.” Whatever way works for you just remember to take embrace opportunities that come to you. If you don’t someone else will and then you will be left with the terrible case of the “woulda-coulda-shoulda’s”.

PS: Listen to me every Friday night from 7-10 on Red River Radio streaming live from radio.rrc.ca!

Wake up call!

It’s mid-August and you suddenly realize that your breakup with Mr. Golden Sun isn’t going to be so sweet. He has yet to give you a decent tan and it doesn’t help that soon you will be neglecting him for the books. Yup, that’s right Red River College starts a week earlier than you are used to. You will find yourself scrambling to get organized because it’s your first day as a CreCommer at RRC while your friends are off spending their last week going to the beach, updating everyone on how the great their sangria tastes, and adding a few enviable Instagram pictures of the last pool party of the season.

This program is 8 till 4, Monday to Friday, rain, shine, sleet, snow, tornado (well maybe there will be an exception for that) type deal. You heard the rumours and I can vouch that CreComm will slowly take over your life. Before you know it the sun is kissing the horizon hello and goodbye. Time flies by as every minute is accounted for and you will soon find out how much you truly can do in a day before noon.

It’s a weird relationship you will have with time. It can work for or against you in a blink of an eye. One of the first things you will hear in the program is the word ‘deadlines’. Deadlines. Deadlines. Deadlines. It is going to be beaten into you before lunch even starts.

That is why my first survival tip is an alarm. So go blow off the dust from your parents clock radio, set your phone alarm, and even buy yourself a watch because you will learn that the alarm will soon be your best friend. With the amount of things you are told to keep in the back of your mind this technological godsend will keep everything in line. Remember those carefree summer days and summer nights. Soon those images will be a distant memory or a reminiscent dream as reality hits again with the beeping of the next deadline.