Day one of the writing challenge!

Okay, so if you haven't noticed, I've kind of been struggling with what to write about in my last few posts, which is part of the reason why I haven't been posting much lately (also school and work and life and such, but that's not the focus of this right now.) Anyway, to combat this dilemma, I did what any 20 year old college student does when they don't know something.

I googled blog writing ideas.

And I actually found some interesting stuff! Some weird stuff, too, but that's to be expected from the deep recesses of the interwebs.

Anyway, a lot of the stuff I found were like these 30 day writing challenges that give you a list of topics to write about, and there are actually some neat ideas, so I'm gonna try them out.

Now, before I get started, I'm gonna go ahead and lay it out that there's no way I'm gonna write 30 consecutive daily posts. That's just unreasonable for me (because of the aforementioned school and work and life and such) but I do promise to try and post fairly regularly. I'd also post the list ahead of time, but I didn't really find one that had 30 things that I'd be willing to write about, so I'm actually going to combine like three lists together, but I promise there will eventually be 30 writing challenge posts.

Okay? Okay. (For those who have read The Fault in Our Stars, I apologize for the unintentional reference. Just tuck those feels away for now.)

So, challenge numero uno: 

Weird things I do when I'm alone.

    We're just starting this off by going all in, huh? Okay, let me think...weird things I do when I'm alone...

Well, for starters, I talk to myself. Quite a bit. I mean, sometimes it's an internal monologue, and sometimes it's not, but it definitely happens.  I also talk to the TV/Internet streaming entertainment that I'm watching, because sometimes characters make bad decisions and they should listen to me but they don't and it's frustrating.  This sometimes turns into what I like to call "quiet yelling", where I'm yelling but not actually yelling because I live in a building with lots of other people and I don't want to have to explain to my CA why I was having a fight with a fictional character on a television show.

I also sometimes have random one person dance parties, but that shouldn't be too much of a shock.

Sometimes I get crafty and start to make stuff, especially decorations for my walls. Recently I made stars that are on my bathroom door, and a wall of quotes in my little entryway of my dorm room for people to write their favorite quotes on and be all inspirational and stuff. I also like to color, because coloring is important.

When I'm feeling musical, I bust out my lovely guitar and play one of the like 10 songs that I know how to play. This usually leads into some Jesus time, which is my absolute favorite time. Me and Jesus just like to hang out sometimes. It's nice.

If I'm feeling poetic, or in need of inspiration, I usually browse quotes on Pinterest and write some of them in my Lion King journal which is filled with different quotes and verses and songs and prophetic words that I've gathered over the years and that have inspired and/or encouraged me.

When I have time, I also like to read books for fun. But right now I don't have a lot of time for that. Although I have started listening to more audio books because that seems to be one of the only ways I can enjoy fiction books during the semester. I currently am listening to the Mockingjay audio book, which is my favorite book from The Hunger Games series, but I'm taking a bit of a break from that now because it's getting into some parts that bring up a lot of feelings because I am invested in these characters and I know what happens and I don't know if I'm ready to relive that just yet.

I have a lot of Hunger Games feels. So many.

Uh...what else do I do? Homework, I guess. I also like to make lists that I never really follow, but for some reason they make me feel organized so I keep making them. I browse the Internet a lot, check the various social media outlets I am a part of, the usual.

I don't really like to be alone all the time. I mean, I don't want to be doing something every second of the day, because I'm totally cool with being in a room with someone else and we're both doing our own thing. I just like being around people. People are pretty cool, like at least 74.6% of the time. And that's a fact.*

*There is no actual factual basis for this claim.

Hopefully I'll post writing challenge 2 soon, but it'll probably be a bit because I have like 3 tests in the next week and I probably should study for those.

That's all for now!
Alaina :)

Short little update

I have recently received a request from one of my biggest fans (meaning my mom) to make a new blog post.

It's like I haven't written one since like March or something.

But hey, when there's a request, I'll do my best.

                                         .............except I don't know what to write about.

I guess I could write about college or something. (I mean, that's the reason I started writing this in the first place.) 

Let's see....I'm on my third year of college now! That seems so weird when I write it out.  Sometimes I think about something that happened in high school, and then realize that that happened like 6 years ago, and that feels so weird! It's not that I feel old, but kind of. (And yes, I realize that I'm only 20 and I'm not old. Hush, mom.)  I'm finally starting to get into some of my major classes, and am actually almost done with my Spanish minor! Thank the Lord. My Spanish class this semester is a history of Latin America class...completely in Spanish.  AND I HAVEN'T DIED YET. I mean, my first test isn't until next week, so I'll reevaluate then, but thus far I have survived.

I still don't really know what I want to do with my major, if you're wondering.  I'm kind of thinking that I might be interested in helping communication between the people within a company--meaning between managers and employees and such. I don't know if I'd be any good at it, but it sounds interesting! (Well, to me.)

Anyway, that's all I've got for now.  Work is going well, classes are okay, I'm not dead. All in all, a decent time. ;)

I'll try to update again soon!

Alaina :)

November to March...how much could have happened?

GUESS WHO'S BACK??

Guess who may have kinda forgot she had a blog for a while?

If you guessed Lizzie Bennet of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries....you wouldn't technically have been wrong. But that's not important.

What is important is: ALAINA MADE A NEW BLOG POST!!!!!!!!! 

And the crowd exhales loudly from their mouths! (<<anytime you can make a Phineas and Ferb reference is a good time)

Anyway, for all my loyal readers out there (87.332% of whom consist of my immediate family) you may be wondering what has happened in the oh-so-thrilling life of a sophomore in college with no major and no job.

Well, 2 of those 3 descriptors are no longer accurate!

That's right folks! I am gainfully employed, AND I finally declared a major! *cue virtual high fives*

I mean, my job isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but it's solid and allows me potential to move up within the company--two things that are apparently important in a job. (This coming from a girl who's resume includes sitting at a front desk at 4 in the morning.)  But I am excited for this opportunity to actually make some money. Money is good.  Helps me pay off these student loans that are amassing at terrifying rates.

But such is the life of a Public Relations major. Actually, every major. I just needed some way to bring up that I'M A PUBLIC RELATIONS MAJOR NOW!

What is public relations? you may ask.

Well, for those of you too lazy to type two words into Google, I'll tell you.  Someone in Public Relations (or PR) is basically a person who acts as like a spokesperson of sorts for a company or organization--they put out press releases, set up interviews, all that kind of stuff.  They pretty much control how a company or organization is seen and interacts with the public (The relationship with the public, if you will.)

Why did you choose PR? you may wonder.

I chose it because it combines aspects of several fields that I enjoy: journalism, marketing, and communications. Newspaper in high school was like my absolute favorite thing ever.  I can't even really put it into words how much it meant to me. I've always been a big fan of making publicity for stuff too.  I can't tell you how many times I've ranted to my roommates or friends about how much better a flyer or something could have been made, or how a company should have fixed a commercial to get their message across more clearly.  And communications is sort of a new love--I personally think everyone, regardless of the degree, should have to take a class on interpersonal communication...it really shows some of the ways people need to adjust how they communicate with one another.  And PR kinda takes the best parts of those fields and mashes it all together into a usable degree. WIN.

Anyway, I think those are the major things that have happened in my life in the last like 3 months.  Hopefully I won't take that long to post again (but, honestly, there's a good chance it might.)

That's all for now!

Alaina :)