Grab an umbrella, I make it rain

You know how there's certain things you don't really bring up just for small talk? Religion, politics, money? It can get messy real quick because either the person you're talking to doesn't agree with your views and is going to try to suck you into their cult/tribe/political fundraiser, or they do agree with you and immediately sign you up for five years worth of weekly nude Buddhist meetings and schedule your house for the next Republican Club debate. Your landlord's a Democrat so he evicts you, leaving you homeless, but of course your teacher doesn't believe that's why you don't have your homework in, so you fail the class and  end up dropping out of college to work at McDonalds's until you get promoted to Zippy's, where you were doing great until Doomsville came to the island in the form of torrential downpour and your job is now a swimming pool and you don't have a lifeguard license. Back to the streets.

I put weather in that list of taboo topics as well. Not because any tragedy, failure, or homelessness has ever come from talking about the weather (to the best of my knowledge). But because once you start talking about the weather with someone, that's when you officially know one of you two fall into the category of "The Most Boring People on the Planet." And you probably don't think it's you. But it probably is. If the conversation carries on for more than ten seconds, it's a safe bet it's both of you.

So how great is it that everyone on Oahu (and by everyone, I mean the majority of my Oahu-living Facebook and Twitter friends) have been talking about the weather?

On the whole Facebook note, please don't be a creep and add these people. They have no idea I'm using their weather-related status' to indirectly label them as "The Most Boring People on the Planet."

By the way, I actually really like all those people. And only one of them is actually boring. Just kidding, just kidding. I'm going to get sued for libel.

I know, I know. Talk about calling the kettle black (whatever that actually means). It's been pouring rain for the past week. I mean seriously, what is up with this weather?

I haven't been able to work because Hard Rock doesn't think it's important to have a cover over the lanai and - surprise! - people don't like to eat while sitting under waterfalls. I have to wear my Uggs to school so I don't end up with frostbite toes and people make fun of me and my entire existence is being wasted away as I write hundreds of characters about the WEATHER! At least I know I'm not the only one.

I'm not going to tell you that the hail was caused by cold weather. I'll leave that to the professionals. I'm talking to you, Star-Advertiser (but +1 for the headline, very catchy).

 

Stay dry, and don't make fun of my Uggs. They're warm. 

And in other design/electronic journalism related news, I learned how to capture a screen shot on a Mac today. You'll also notice I abused that knowledge today (see above).

FLUX your innov8ation

A friend of mine is a distributor/promoter for innov8 magazine, so I came home from school today to find it on my coffee table. I skim through the occasional issue when I find it and I have to say, I really like this magazine. This is the March/April issue and the cover is a picture of the Haiku Stairs. This immediately caught my eye because it's one of my favourite hikes on the island: the combination of the rush of getting past security, scurrying up the stairs in near darkness and then the solitude at the top all make for a great morning - not to mention the killer views.

I was disappointed when I found out this issue didn't contain an article on this hike. It was simply a small, five sentence paragraph about the Haiku Stairs (Stairway to Heaven). Bummer.

I first compared innov8 to FLUX magazine, because they're both designed with that modern, simple, big-arsty-picture-small-text design that appeals to the hipster population. But once I read through both of them, I realize the articles in innov8 are about two (small) columns on average, while the FLUX articles are much longer and go more in depth.

Overall, both magazines are really well put together, especially in a city that seems to be struggling so much with journalism.

In other news, I'm going to First Thursday/Slam Poetry tonight, and by tonight I mean in 40 minutes and I'm really excited. All the artsy fartsy people gather together and show off how artsy fartsy they are, but it's actually really legit.

Procrastination, Linsanity and technology

It's always nice having an extra day off school but I don't know why I always think I'm going to use that time to do something productive, because I never do. So here I am, again, on a Thursday night, waiting for the new Jersey Shore episode while doing homework that I've had a week to do. But looking through your guys' blogs, I don't think I'm alone. ;]

In the past two weeks, I've learned more about professional basketball than I ever thought I would know. I'm not one to follow sports, and while I cheered for basketball and football, I only knew the moves that required a cheer (rebounds, free throws, touchdowns...yeah it ends about there) and even then it didn't really mean anything for me. But recently newspapers, blogs, sports pages and tweets have been blowing up with Jeremy Lin from the New York Knicks. Normally I'd brush this off, but he is literally everywhere. Turns out, he's been warming the bench on the Knicks for quite some time now, and once the two good guys Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire (had to Google how to spell his name) were out of the game because of injury and family emergency, this Lin guy goes in and totally blows everyone away with his basketball skills. I'm not kidding, he's awesome, and he's from Harvard so he's smart too. I even watched a real basketball game today and was excited about it, unreal. The Knicks played the Miami Heat and lost, but I guess they're really good so I let this one slide.

On a completely unrelated note, one of our readings was 'Rethinking the Multimedia Experience' from Poynter University. I really liked this reading for two reasons. One, because when I did my semester in Vienna, one of my courses was taught by a professor from Poynter and it was hands down one of my favourite classes - he was an incredible teacher, so now in my eyes, Poynter can do no wrong. Two, I think Ferris made a really good point, writing, "We wanted content to drive the stories, not technology, with the end goal being a richer viewing experience for our audience." I think with the constantly advancing technology, many professors and newspapers are focused more on using social media, videos, audio, getting reader comments, etc., than on the story itself. It's important to remember that using technology isn't automatically a plus, you have to use it right.

Blinded by the light

Blogging for a class is always a little awkward, because I feel obligated to keep my posts school related and G-rated, but at the same time no one wants to read 400 words about what makes up a digital camera or why it's important to keep all your files backed up on an external hard drive. Actually, I don't even know what a hard drive really is. Plus if I'm already doing homework and projects for my classes, the last thing I want to do is write about it...and since I haven't yet done my readings for Electronic Journalism (but I'm really excited to read them during new Jersey Shore commercials), I can't even post my reactions/responses to what I read.

In other news, I'm graduating in May which means this is my last semester as a college student, which also means that it's about time I start growing up. I had one of those 'growing up' experiences today. It began in Walmart when my boyfriend and I were buying lamps and light bulbs. We got a little lamp for the nightstand and then a big lamp to put somewhere in the living room. We weren't sure where but I knew we wanted more light, so we got the lamp with three light things and then had to trek back to the opposite side of the store to pick up light bulbs. Being the energy efficient people we are, we got energy saving bulbs. Turns out the watts are different on these lovely eco-friendly bulbs, and when we bought 23 eco-friendly-watt bulbs, they are the equivalent of 100 regular watt bulbs. Surprise, when you put 100 watt bulbs all over your house (and in a little tiny nightstand lamp) you will promptly burn all your retinas out.

So now I'm sitting here blinded by the light, wearing sunglasses inside (exaggeration) and looks like I can't properly do my reading homework because I'll be too busy caring for my injured eyeballs.

But for the record, our living room finally has sufficient light.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -Martin Luther King, Jr.