Renovations

So I am trying to make the most of my studio apartment on my small budget.  I've done the research and have gotten as far as trip to Home Depot for some paint.  I've never actually painted anything outside of art class before.  If my parents ever painted they never let me help so I felt a little lost in a big store not really knowing what I wanted and a vague idea of what I should get.  I settled for a light whitish blue color but on later thought, I realized I drilled some holes into the wall and may need to smooth that out.  There's a perfect corner bookcase I want from target.com but it's gone up another $30 to $199 and somehow $200 seems less justifiable than $170. 

I wasn't going to be so head-on about redoing my place but I'm getting a cat soon and I wanted all of the place good & done before I got her.  She's a barn cat that my parents have and I want to give her a good home.  She's also very skittish so I want to ready my apartment and make life as comfy as possible while also being a place I want to live.  I've lived here for 2 years telling myself "I'll get somewhere bigger next year."  But this is the easiest and most affordable arrangement I have right now.  I'm blocks away from anything I need including work so I don't even have to pay $90/mo for transit.  Other places I've looked at aren't any better for the price.  So while I would love a small porch area to sit outside, I'm just gonna have to deal with leaving the windows open til I have a job that pays me like a real adult.

In the mean time I'm going to be pushing myself to be financially responsible.  It's gonna be a pain because my work schedule is all over the place and doesn't allow me to get a second job.  On the plus side, I really enjoy what I do and so I'm just going to have to be fiscally conservative for probably the next 2 years until I pay off my credit cards, get a handle on my student loans, pay off all my medical bills and finally have a small savings account. 

For my apartment renovations I intend to take pictures and show my progress and ideas of improvement.  The problem with all the "small spaces" I read about is that they make the pictures look pretty & organized but unless you own 2 pair of socks and some tupperware, it's not realistic for people with stuff.  I constantly try to get rid of things and I intend to spend the week getting rid of books and random things I just don't need.  With some creativity this place has a lot of potential.  There's a nice amount of space for a studio but this is going to take some time because I can't just drop $3000 to do all the things I want.  So baby steps.  I took an $80 trip to home depot this week and I will get my $200 corner cabinet from my next pay check.  I already have some items I bought from IKEA and my mom got me a really awesome table who's "chairs" double perfectly as a corner table near my couch and a night stand.  The place is kinda dark so I'm going to need a floor lamp.  Ideally I'd get a new bed set that I found on amazon.com but exchanging that for the futon my parents got me sophomore year of high school is going to run me around $500 even if I use the "mattress" that came with the futon. Otherwise I'd be out at least another $500.

I've realized that the most important step I need to take in starting this process is knowing where my stuff is.  That may sounds odd but it's true.  I put things where they fit and cram things where I use them.  But if I got rid of stuff I know I don't need (clothes, books, and things that just sit there for no reason) then I can assess where I cram things.  For example, I always have the same hair products sitting out in my bathroom because I use them everyday.  It's dawned on me that the point of organizing isn't because you're putting things where you think they look best (which I used to do only to have everything look messy again a week later), but to make the things you use look as nice as possible.  With that in mind I realize that being a girl most of my stuff is hair items, clothes, makeup and various bathroom products.  The point of the corner bookshelf in my living rooms space is that by the time I went through everything, I could fit all my movies, books and various documents on 1 bookcase.  This would make everything look much neater and less spread out throughout my apartment.  Then the second challenge is kitchen stuff.  My mom also got me new dishes and silverware.  I have some wine glasses but little room for actual food, which I don't need a ton of living by myself.  So all my food, whether it needs to be or not, is usually in my fridge.  I always get the question "Why is [nonperishable food item] in your fridge?"  My response?  "Well where else am I gonna put it?"  One glance at my kitchen space usually justifies that answer.

So later this week (hopefully Thursday), I will post pictures of my space because I'm sure you're thrilled to see the messy habitat of a 24 year old.

The Hunger Games (Movie Review)

I saw this movie twice this weekend.  The first on opening day (Friday, March 23rd) having finished the series only the night before.  When I started to write a review last night I was rather disappointed from what I'd seen (the books were so vivid that the movie couldn't compare) but the more I thought about it, my obsessive habits popped back up.  The story that consumed the last 2 weeks of my life (you'll notice the lack of blogging) needed a second view now that I knew how the film would compare with my envisioning of the story.  And it's a damn good thing I did because I loved it.  The story was relatively true to the book and earned its seat as the third-highest earning film on opening weekend at just around $155 mil following only Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows pt II ($169.2 mil) and The Dark Knight ($158.4 mil).  (Source: Entertainment Weekly)

Upon both viewings I felt casting was solid.  Jennifer Lawrence was truly the perfect Katniss Everdeen (the main character) which I would have seen as a tough fit.  While I felt her little sister Prim could have been a bit cuter & peppier and fellow Gamer, Peeta should definitely been taller (he is described as being much larger than Katniss, however I think she's bigger than him in the movie...what?).  Donald Sutherland looked more like Santa than a conniving leader as President Snow (I was picturing more of a heavily done-up John Slattery type).  Familiar faces Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman), Lenny Kravitz (Cinna), Woody Harrelson (Haymitch), and Elizabeth Banks (Effie Trinket) brought in solid performances.  Some of the costumes could have been better, particularly Cinna's supposedly brilliant designs for Katniss' clothing that became giant CGI flops and more attention to detail on citizens of The Capitol who were described as extreme, hair-dying, skin-dying (as in greens & purples) surgically-altered, tattoo-wearing and altogether strange-looking people. They looked like they'd all signed up to wear various outfits Lady Gaga rejected for The Grammys.

I was grateful the film was able to depict the violence as described in the book without goring us to death, especially since it was happening to terrified young adults/children.  Overall I'd give the film a B+/A-.  I'm still convinced Inception was the best film ever made and that if Christopher Nolan had done this film it would have been even better.  But Lionsgate did a good job of keeping to the gripping storyline and I have to say I'm quite looking forward to the second installment, Catching Fire.

Let's Talk to Animals!

Think of how much more fun an animal farm would be if the animals talked.  Think how many more of us would probably be vegetarians if animals could actually tell us how they feel about those slaughter houses.  Think how many people would truly find solace and friendships with their pets if they talked back (like that dog in "Up").   This article from BBC discusses the futuristic idea of being able to talk to animals.  It seems like an interesting concept, but how would that affect us?  I already know I can't stand listening to half the people on the bus, how am I gonna feel when the "pocket puppy" in some chick's purse is adding to it?  And how would we as humans change the way we go about our lives if we couldn't shut out the requests of the "lesser beings" around us?

So, How About That Diet?

I'm sitting here with a bag of Lay's Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips reading about how carbs are bad for insulin resistance while waiting for my Mandarin Chicken to finish up in the microwave.  As typical of myself, I was like "I'm going to get healthy!" but food is expensive to buy regularly, especially when you work at a restaurant that provides cereal in the morning and salads and various food for lunch.  And that whole "these carbs are like mini heart attacks!" was a theory that worked for about 2 days -- the length of my low carb diet.  I'm trying to be more aware of what I eat, but the problem isn't just awareness.  I'm looking at those little chips, thinking in a crooning voice "c'mere little delicious heart attacks.  just a few of you...a few more."  It's the control and commitment that's hardest.  I never even buy potato chips,  I get whole corn chips and guacamole from whole foods, usually.  But there was a buy-one, get-one sale and my friend was like "what flavor do you want?"  I also have a bag of chips ahoy cookies that I'm leaving in the office.  I didn't open them and I don't plan to. 

While reading over all these diets I realized that to truly be healthy with insulin resistance, while not as drastic as full-on, type 2 diabetes still isn't going to be as easy as I thought.  It takes awhile to get balanced, they say -- at least 2 months.  Meanwhile, my stomach has been bloating out of control some days -- I can see how puffy my face looks -- but then there are days when I completely deflate and I feel like I'm the size I should be.  I thought I had some gastrointestinal problem, but when it boils down to it, I think its just this.  I totally have the "apple" shape they discuss in every "symptoms" article.  My 25th birthday is coming up and I wanted to lose a bunch of weight.  Start the actual adulthood off right -- exercising regularly, eating well, gaining financial stability, committing to more activities and being involved.  Winter always makes that difficult cuz it's just bloody awful in Chicago in the winter, even mild ones like this year.  But I think this whole year is going to be a process of trying to sort myself out.  While I'm not writing the 5 days a week I hoped to consistently, I'm writing every week.  I'm working on short stories to try to publish in contests in the fall. I've almost read an entire book -- something I never do.  I probably average 1 book a year and it's only March!  I may get in as many as 4 this year.  Maybe more -- I'm going to get The Hunger Games soon since everyone's obsessed with it...  My point being, I wanted 2012 to be a good, transitional year for me.  A year of setting goals and make up for the giant nothing I accomplish all of 2011.  It was the only time I'd looked through the goals I'd listed in my diary and achieved none of them.  For the first time ever in my life!  So I continue to push through my bad habits as every cliche feels mockingly true.  Old habits die hard.  Oh don't they. 

My chicken's done.

Movie Review: The Lorax

I went to see "The Lorax" with my mom, brother and sister this past weekend.  Not too shabby.  Granted, I love animated Disney movies anyway but with the familiar celebrity voices of Ed Helms, Taylor Swift, Zack Effron & Betty White made it a good time.  It's definitely a movie to see if you've got kids or if you're a stoner (there's a 3D option -- I never go to those because they make me nauseous).  It's also good if you like sing alongs.  It's got fun, vibrant colors and cute little teddy bears.  While I wouldn't buy it on DVD, I like to go to movies and I would say even for an adult, why not?  It was also #1 at the box office this past weekend. 

The G8 in Chicago Cancelled

I was all excited when I heard that a powerful, global tradition was going to be held in Chicago.  The G8 (the top 8 most powerful countries int he world) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were both going to be held from May 19th-21st.  What I didn't realize was all the security that was going to be involved with it.  This article talks about a fair amount of scary stuff.  Like the fact that Rahm Emmanuel wouldn't even say how many protesters were anticipated to arrive.  SWAT Teams, special forces, the coast guard -- basically any and all levels of military you can think of were going to show up.  There were talks of blockading roads and Martial Law being set into place.  Someone even told me that McCormick Place had purchased anti-bomb trash cans.  And while most people were starting to become slightly terrified, I must confess I found it only more exciting.  Then they called it off.  NATO will still be here but if you ask me, being an election year and all, I think it was a political move on Obama's part.  With Republican candidates most Republicans I know aren't proud of, Obama has a very strong chance at another win.  But if Chicago ends up blown to kingdom come or at least with mad rioting and a large number of deaths, well Rick Perry's ill-named hunting grounds will seem like a drop in the hat.

Low-Carb Lifestyle

I love bread.  And pasta and rice.  But as it turns out it's not so good for someone who has insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.  I've known I've had it for awhile, but I didn't really understand what it was and as a teenager if it wasn't gonna kill me and it wasn't really Diabetes then I didn't think I had a reason to care.  But now that I'm old enough to see what happens to people who don't take care of their health issues, I've decided to step it up.

I'm not one for diets.  The concept is temporary and after watching my mother try every fat-free food on the planet with unsuccessful yo-yoing weight that still is an issue for her to this day (I've seen her go from a size 12 to a 4 and back to a 10 in 6 months or less), I just don't believe in it.  You can loose weight and get healthy but you should try to stay that way.  Diets don't do that, but a change in your lifestyle can.  I believe in little things like taking the stairs, walking when you can and looking into healthy yet tasty food options.  If you hate what you're eating, you're going to overcompensate one day and binge on a batch of cookies and fried foods and in your food-gorging ecstasy decide to give up forever.

Portion sizes and understanding how your body works and not how the hottest celebrity keeps her trim figure is important.  People metabolize food differently.  Insulin Resistance was recently explained to me like this "It's like having high blood pressure, but instead of your heart working over time, it's the insulin in your body."  I know that envisioning pieces of bread, rice and pasta into mini-heart attacks may be dramatic but it was the kick I needed to understand how my body handles the kinds of food I eat and to get me to take the steps I need to be healthy.  My best friend had been telling me about a no-carb diet her co-worker had done.  She said she tried it and lost 5lbs in a week eating butter, cheese and all kinds of fatty things but said it was hard to keep up.  Because this is a lifestyle change, I don't want to get used to piles of sour cream on everything I eat.  I still intend to moderate the amount of fat and calories I take in (my light butter has no carbs), but I'm glad to know I don't have to give up cheese!

Marketing Will Ruin Social Media

I got my bachelors in Advertising & Public Relations (minor in Marketing).  I've learned the benefits of marketing, the financial gain in brand recognition and the beauty and the ugliness in the truth that can exist with Public Relations.  Social Media has proven to be the gap between generations, particularly in business.  While many grandparents are starting to understand the joys of getting new pictures via email, older professionals can't seem to get a grip on how the internet is generating money.  Younger professionals in their 30s & 40s get the concept but as someone in her early twenties, I can't help but find myself annoyed that none of these professionals see how they might be RUINING their images by overwhelming users with their advertisements.  I often read Harvard Business Review (I signed up willingly) for newsletters, but I also read articles on sites like Gizmodo & Mashable.  While Harvard has good, solid ideas on business & strategies and is undeniably better written, Gizmodo & Mashable show trends & developments that move as fast as the digital world creates it.  Even here, the gap is obvious.

For example, I'm an avid lover of HULU and I'm fine with the short commercials in between my favorite shows.  Many of those ads are basic videos, some being the same they air on TV.  Now they allow these ads to linger and they say things like "if you liked this ad, watch these."  Meanwhile I can't help but think "Well that's rich..."  I may have liked the ad but it seems rather pompous to assume that I'm going to want to spend all my free time watching more of them.  They can't just appreciate the fact that I laughed at it.  Because creating a good feeling however people experience your product (ads or interaction both real-life or digital) is creating an opportunity for positive brand recognition and potential customer loyalty.

More and more, advertisers are completely missing the point of social media.  Social media allows users to pick and choose what they want, to communicate in a way they prefer and to learn about things they are interested in.  Briefly I worked for a Media Buying & Planning Company.  Media outlets, primarily TV companies & some digital media companies would come out and say "we reach x number of people a day!" and try to convince us that our client should advertise with them.  They would speak of their "success rates," "average generated revenue," etc.  They tried to talk about their digital components throwing in "perks" by saying "AAANNDDD! You'd be featured on our website!"  Well whoopy ding.  Who the hell DOESN'T have a website by now?  I specifically remember one company coming in and giving us out-of-the-water numbers.  I thought "yes, I go to your website everyday and all of your ads are so obnoxious I don't even trust any of the advertisers because they all seem like scams."

My point is that business people get caught up in numbers and forget about the purpose.  The beauty of social media is the discovery process, the feeling of "finding" something yourself and sharing with friends, co-workers and family.  Shoving it in your face is irritating and while, yes, you are "exposing" your company to potential customers, you may be annoying them and actually lowering the quality of your brand recognition.  I hate pop-ups and ads that scroll down the page with you so you can't read anything.  Honestly, when that happens I'm so annoyed that I'm not even looking at it because I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of it.  Social media marketing requires those creating it to be clever.  If you have a service, show how what you do can be useful.  Youtube has proven to us that people will watch something if they want to and they will share it as well.  The days of the pushy salesman are over.  People want to be encouraged and informed not badgered and coerced.

This article in the Wall Street Journal talks about the fact that Facebook is now allowing advertisers to enter into a person's newsfeed.  This, my friends, is a sign of its demise.  When facebook started it was a way for college students to stay in touch.  In fact, you HAD to have a university email to even join.  Now it's a multi-billion-dollar company that lets anyone with an email address create a profile.  Bands, businesses, non-profits and inside jokes can all have their own "pages" that can be linked to twitter feeds, blog posts an every imaginable possibility.  But if you ask me, an admitted addict, Facebook is out-growing itself.  The greed of businesses to "reach" potential customers is overwhelming and sooner or later users are going to be fed up with the intrusion and move on.  And while many people think that's impossible, I'd like to point out that no one outside the music industry has a myspace anymore.

Want To Travel Cheap? Join Twitter

 So this week has turned out to be a giant blogging fail.  Being busy at work and trying not to be too lazy have proved to be too much for my little mind.

I caught the Oscars Sunday and it wasn't THAT exciting so if you didn't see it, you didn't miss much.  I've come to realize that often times the highlights make it seem like it was a better show than it really was.

So anyway, I found this article today and thought it was interesting.  It's about cheap deals that pop up on twitter.  So if you like to travel but don't have a lot of money, you may want to look into this!

http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120229-twitter-tips-for-travellers