Cramming

Some people have organized notes from day 1 of the semester to day whatever we're at now.
Some people study for exams for days, even weeks before the day before the exam and even refuse invitations to go out on weekends so they can study.

But most of us are crammers.
Cramming rarely works, but we all continue to do it. Here are my top 5 signs that I'm a crammer.


1. Where the hell are all my notes?
I swear I took notes every day for the past 4 months but I mysteriously only have about 5 or 6 pages of handwritten notes for each subject... interesting...


2. My bed is no longer used to rest
It has become a place where happiness goes to die. Covered in papers, highlighters, and electronics used mainly for procrastination purposes.

3. Sweatpants aren't practical
When you spend a week straight locked up in a hot miserable room with a computer on your legs or right beside you discover that sweatpants get too hot to be worn in these conditions. It's my ugly 80's style gym shorts all the way.

4. Health? what's health?
I brought my gym clothes to school every day for a week and never went to the gym. Was I fooling all of you? My typical diet has become Redbull (when was it not), chocolate, and I even went to McDonald's the other day. Shame on me. No time or effort to care.


5. I hope people remember what I looked like before cram week.
How did I not notice until 10 at night that I've been walking around all day with my hair like this? My nail polish is so chipped some fingers don't have any. No I'm not going for the uni-brow look, it's just kind of happening.

If my IPP doesn't get approved tomorrow I might kill myself.
And wine is my best friend. That's all. #stircrazy

Rejection

My IPP got rejected for the second time yesterday morning, and anyone who has been in earshot of me over the past two days will have heard extensive bitching and moaning about it.

Needless to say I haven't been handling it very well.

For all the non-CreComms out there an IPP is your Independent Professional Project.
Its a project of our choosing that we work on from now until about February of next year that has to be completed in order to graduate CreComm. Think of it as the equivalent of your thesis I guess.

Well before starting this project we write detailed proposals about them, and present them to a panel of our teachers to get approved or rejected.

As I was rejected for the second time I have gone through the following stages over the past 24 hours:

1. Throw yourself a pity party

I hosted mine in an edit suite on the second floor of the college.
There was tears, chocolate, and depressing music.
It was a wonderful 3 hours of feeling sorry for myself


2. Consider alternate career paths.

....cry a little more.


3. Disregard showering

 In this faze the general public can deal with the fact that I did not shower this morning. That's what bandanas are for. I was too sad to care about getting out of bed more than a minute before I had to leave for school.

4. Hug cute things

5. Reenergize

I unnecessarily took a 2 hour power nap in the middle of the day today, and followed it by pounding back a jumbo Redbull.

Time to get psyched and get back on the IPP horse.

Dionysus

Last week, my CreComm class filed into the Rachel Browne Theatre to indulge in a night of Winnipeg culture. We all saw the play Dionysus in Stony Mountain, directed by Bill Kerr starring Sarah Constible and Ross McMillan.

The play follows a psychiatrist’s descent into perceived madness using her patient at Stony Mountain as her muse.

Sounds like a pretty interesting concept, right?

Well maybe some people enjoyed this play, but I was definitely not the audience for it.

The first act was packed with philosophy driven convoluted sentences, and Friedrich Nietzsche (who’s that??) quotes that left myself and many other audience member with a bad taste in their mouths. Who talks like that? No one.

I don’t know any intellectual people that speak as if they’re reading from a textbook.

The first act was a snooze fest. I really didn’t grasp onto any emotional moments and nothing stuck out for me as particularly interesting. I didn’t connect with either character, and didn’t care about what may happen to them in the future.

My main focus during the first act was that my legs were too long for the tiny seats, followed by “who wears ultra skinny jeans to a 2 hour long play? Come on Lindsay.”

My leg comfort should not be my main focus during a play.

The second act was an improvement on the first. I could focus on the show for the entire duration of the performance, and the actors seemed to be more passionate about the material.

They measured already cut-to-size isolation, changed from grey sweater to grey sweater, and drank scotch. Thrilling material. But seriously, the second act wasn’t so bad.

I used to minor in theatre and I really do enjoy going to see shows, but this was not a fun evening. By the time I got home I was bitter about being out past my bedtime, and disappointed in my sore legs. I definitely recommend getting out to see some plays in Winnipeg, but please, for your sake, avoid Dionysus in Stony Mountain.

Journey for Justice

**This post is a CreComm assignment**

I've never read true crime before, frankly I don't read many books at all. but a couple weeks ago I finished reading Journey for Justice by Mike McIntyre in just two days.

Mike's newest book covers one of Winnipeg's most notorious crimes that happened in the 80's; the abduction of Canadace Derksen. Canadace was a normal kid, 13, very social, just walking home from school one afternoon when her parents were too busy to come pick her up. Unfortunatly Canadace was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was picked up by Mark Grant who later tied her up and let her freeze to death in a shed.

It's hard for us to even imagine the horror of losing a child this way. This is pain that I sincerely hope no one else has to endure the way the Derksens did... but what about Mike? The guy who now has the task of writing about the tragedy that they went through. How can a journalism possibly pry into the Derksens' lives to hear their story?

Well Mike sys it's all about trust. He and Wilma Derksen ( Canadace's mother) formed a relationship through the writing of this novel. Wilma was a CreComm herself, and a writer who understands how hard it is to get a story. Journalism is hard. Especially when it gets so personal and painful, but that's what makes great stories right?

Not the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality, but the mentality where the more personal you can get, the more good you can do with your writing. Without the help of journalism over the past 27 years Wilma may ahve never shared her story. No one would know about Candace. The media helped alot during the search for Candace and are now helping keep her memory alive and help support other families who may be going through the same thing. So dig deep when you write these stories.

Mike covers crime in Winnipeg every day. That's his job, he writes about crime for the Free Press. This is different. This is personal. This is something that Winnipeggers have held onto for years, people wanted to see Mark Grant convicted. People needed closure. his story isn't writed like any other crime story. It's really about the people and the emotion. The book gets slow near the middle, but then you get back to these wonderful testimonies that really show how much Winnipeg needed this book.If you have the time definitely pick up Mike's book, worth a read.

Smells

So I've posted on here before about my Not a Nose Job nose job surgery I got this past summer, but I failed to mention how awesome it is to smell things all the time that I never knew had a smell!

I was noticing these things the most during my first couple months after the surgery. Things like...

sour cream
Sambuca (ew)
spicy foods
Burning hair product
leftovers that sit in the trunk of my car
and the dishwashers at work near the end of their shifts.

Not all of these new smells were enjoyable.

But at the same time, it's been really cool getting to know this sense I've always had but never really been able to use to it's full extent.

but this afternoon I had another new smell experience that I was really excited about...

CRAYONS!!

... yes we do use crayons at college. 

Kitchener

As many of you already know, this summer I'm going to be interning at Vertical Magazine and Canadian Skies Magazine in Kitchener, Ontario. And for those of you who didn't know, surprise! I leave April 30th.  22 hour road triiiip!!

As someone who has lived in the same room i their parents house since they were 3, I'm not going to lie as my departure date approaches I'm switching from excited to anxious to shit scared, and back again.

In Kitchener I'm going to be living alone and working full time at the magazine, as well as hopefully working a part time serving or retail job. So as therapy for myself and for you for no particular reason you are now going to be treated to my list of excitements and fears about my going away to the foreign land of Kitchener, Ontario.

1. I'm terrified that I won't meet any friends out there. I'm need people to talk to, my professional training is to be a social person. Get your skype accounts set up Winnipeg.

2. Im stoked to see how a real magazine is put together and get some relevant experience in one of the fields I would love to work in.

3. I get my own bathroom. And kitchen. And TV. I'm terrible at sharing. This is awesome.

4. I'm a terrible cook. I may be eating KD and grilled cheese all summer.

5. What if I forget something major at home?! I'm not a good packer!

6. Who will I go to concerts and dinners with? I can't spend all my time alone in my apartment, I know i'll go stir crazy.

7. I just hope I'm able to figure out technicalities of living fast enough to spend most of my time relaxed. Driving routes, grocery stores, a gym, the nearest Tom Hortons..... those things you can't live without

8. Getting a break from my job right now will be so refreshing. I've been at the same part time job for just over 2 and a half years and I need a break to do something differet with my life.

9. I'm nervous about the fact that I won't have a back-up plan if something goes wrong. My family and friends aren't going to be there to catch me. I've always considered myself an independant person but 've never actually tried anything like this.

10. I'm going to miss Janey so much!!

All in all I'm soooo excited to start my new job, I think it'll be an amazing experience and life lesson... I'll miss Winnipeg more than I think I realize right now but I'll be back before you know it.

Check out :
Vertical - www.verticalmag.com
Canadian Skies - www.skiesmag.com


MGMT - Time to Pretend.  Because I feel like it. Cheers!

Spring

For me, spring is all about sheeding whatever isn't working for your life and starting a new chapter. That's why I felt so good today when I stepped outside and figured out that I should have been wearing rubber boots.

Spring just makes people feel good, it makes everyone happy and active. For monthes we all sit inside being grumpy, not even wanting to venture past the front door in fear of our ears falling off. Then we get inside and the Tims line is a half hour long and you go cry in a quiet room, because a cold day without Tims is near life threatening.

But spring time is all about anticipation.

When will it be warm enough for me to wear shorts?
Is it too early to get my bike out?
how much longer until summer?
How hot does it have to get before afternoon margaritas become socially acceptable?

PS. I don't own a bike. I just think it would be something people wonder in the spring

There's only just over a month left on our first year of CreComm, just buckle down and finish while trying to hold onto your sanity. It's so close. And this is when you can start enjoying yourself because nothing beats studing outside.

except for doing anything besides studying while outside.

I had my first tequila shot in 6 mothes the other day. I think thats a sign that good things are coming for spring 2012. It's the first time in my life that I feel like I know what direction I'm going in and having that even vague future figured out feels amazing.

So have a wonderful spring/summer 2012. Let go of whatever wasn't working in the winter and enjoy yourself. It's super lame to be stressed and grumpy when it's so beautiful out. So why not just be happy for the sake of everyone around you.

I hope I didn't jynx this nice weather with this post.
sorry if I did.

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