Winding Down

I can't believe there are only two weeks left until my first year of CreComm is actually over. Throughout the year, the days, the classes, the projects and assignments there were times I felt like it would never end. I was stressed and witchy with a capital 'B'. My brain swarmed with worries about rent, my car, work, friends, relationships, and DEADLINES, deadlines haunted me in my dreams.


a few disgunteled CreComms at the Moose assignment

On the other hand, I can't believe how fast it all went. The deadlines that kept me awake at night came and went, somehow I met them all. The assignments that worried me so much got done, got in, and got out of my head that second.

As the year went on I became more confident in my abilities. I knew that every project would seem impossible at first but I just reminded myself of all the 'impossible' projects I had already done. There were a couple moments of frustration where I wanted to quit but when I looked at how far I'd come there was no way it was all for nothing.

I remember the first streeter assignment running around the Exchange, panicking for 2 hours and then shocking myself when I was able to hand in a half decent article at the end of it all. And the magazine that I never even thought would come to be until I was standing at the magazine fair behind a booth with ten printed copies in front of me. I remember the first Friday at the Kings Head, sharing brews and laughs forgetting our worries and bonding in the shared experience.


Fun at the Kings Head.

It's only been 8 months, around 7 really for time actually spent in school but I feel like it's already home here. Not that I want to camp out, very happy to go home at the end of the day, no, it's just comfortable. I've met some of the most amazing people in this course and made some friendships that I truly believe will be lasting. It's safe to say I'm going to miss EVERYONE in the summer.

Sorry instructors but don't think I will miss class or assignments! Don't get me wrong it was fun and I learned more than I ever imagined I would, but it's time for a break. Bring on the Corona's!!

Slacking :(

I sure don't feel like it, but I am.

This is my official guilty blog apology post where i say sorry to my army of faithful fans (haha) who have been waiting with bated breath for the enlightening entries that were once so regular.

As CreComm plunged into the second half of first year the assignments got bigger, tougher, and more time consuming. Unfortunately I have neglected some aspects of the course to spend more time on others. Somehow my blog fell to the wayside.

Today, I recommit to blogging! Quality blogging, and regular blogging.

To anyone who still stumbles across my page from time to time, stay tuned.

<3

Facebook Rules the Web

PC World: Facebook ruled the Web last week just squeaking past Google to become the most popular online destination among United States users.

read more

Writing for theatre (assignment blog)

I will be the first to admit, I don’t know a lot about writing for theater. I’ve done it a couple times for class but that’s about as far as my knowledge goes.

The first plays I read were Shakespeare in high school. While most people hated the flowery language I got right into them. I loved midsummer nights dream and Macbeth was my very favorite. The Shakespeare plays I read were long and exciting, the characters well drawn out and each line was like poetry. I loved the dark humor and the tragedy that was often included.

My first real theater experience came earlier this year when I attended, along with the other first year CreComm’s, The Last Men. I wrote a review here. Despite the well-written script I was bored to death. Maybe monologues just aren’t for me.

This morning I pitched my own idea for a ten minute screenplay about a series of events that leads to a homeless man taking the place of a well to do business man, teaching the business man a lesson about compassion in the process. It is a do-able idea and Karen gave me some helpful tips but I do need to work on an ending.

When writing my script I will consider the things I have learned in class, like writing how people talk. I will have to decide which events are most important to the plot in order to keep the play under ten minutes and I will have to define my characters well enough that I will know how they will act and respond in the situations I put them in.

It’s a new frontier but I feel like I’ve learned enough I can dive in and try it. My own screenplay might not be the best but I do know I will learn from it.

FCBK VS TWTR

First of all, if you don't use Facebook or don't use Twitter yourself, it is hard to fully understand what they are. They have a lot of similarities but they also have a lot of differences.

They are both social networking websites where people can subscribes to posts from whoever they want. A lot of people join these sites, they are a relevant part of society.

They are both ways that we let each other know how we are doing, people post updates about things like going on vacation, and getting a new puppy. On Facebook you would probably post an album with a few pics of you and the little Cocker Spaniel and on Twitter you may send a single Twitpic, a mobile photo from your phone.

They are both used as a way to keep in touch, in Facebook friends may write on each others walls. Everybody has a personal homepage with a wall, on Twitter it has something similar, a feed of the posts you've published in the past, your Tweets. On the homepages for the sites, are posts and updates from your friends.

Twitter allows for 124 character messages to be published. People use it to follow famous people, friends, companies and various other things that they may be interested in. They then can be in the loop as to whats going on with them, or at least feel like they are.

Twitter messages often contain ReTweets, this is when a Tweet is copied from another user and posted to all of the ReTweeter's followers.

Facebook is a form of public communication usually between people who actually know each other. You can post photo albums, publish notes and put out much longer status messages. Both Facebook and Twitter have Networks that you can join based on common interest but on Facebook you can create events, fan pages, and groups.

It is easier to post things like YouTube videos right onto the Facebook wall itself.

Twitter's advantage is that it can produce a lot of new material to read and entertain yourself with, more than Facebook. Just because there is only 124 characters allowed in every Tweet doesn't mean it will only take you a second to check.

For starters, if you follow enough people there will be new Tweets for you to read constantly updating, and second, Tweets lead you to other things. Someone interesting to follow is someone who puts a lot of links in their statuses. It's something to do on the internet and you can learn about a lot of things right as they are happening.

Facebook doesn't produce as much content. The users tend not to post as much content. It usually takes a very short time to check. But Facebook does also help you to get a good picture of who someone really is. It is common for someone to have hundreds of pictures of themselves on the site and post albums periodically, keeping the world updated on what they are doing.

Both sites have their similarities and differences and it really depends on your own prefferences, what do you want to say and what do you want to hear about? Or do both of the sites interest you?

From a PR perspective, I think a company would benifit much more from a Twitter account. Facebook is what it is, it's a place for friends. People use it to stay connected (for the most part) to people they actually know. Twitter is used more of a means to connect to the entire world, to GET to know people.

At least those are my thoughts, tell me yours, comment!

Has Google Gone Too Far?

Google Street View is juts an extension of Google Maps. You can now zoom right in to see roads, signs and buildings. Of course it can be very helpful if you are going somewhere you've never been before but as I used it recently I started to wonder. I looked up Street View pictures and it turns out there are tons of things that have been caught on camera that make you go hmmm. . . see for yourself.





getting a ticket







TP'd



Working girls

These were some that I had found, click here for more.

I really got a kick out of this video too, take a peek! :)

My Grandparents are Cooler Than YOURS!

A little late but this is the article I wrote for Rememberance Day. It's about my Oma and Opa.

Life in War

Helene Rempel was only 14 years old when she had to run from the Second World War. The year was 1943. American troops began to take control of Russia from the German army. Helene Rempel’s Mennonite village was no longer welcome to stay in the only place she had ever called home. “We had to travel with horses and wagons,” she said, “we rested only once before we got to Poland.”

It was here that the German army took a piece of her she will never forget. “They took everyone 16 years and older. There was no, no, they would have shot you down. They took my brother and father.”

She pauses, the pain clearly just as fresh as it was so many years ago, “my father never came back.”

Helene’s family made their way to Hatendorf Germany to escape the violence that was edging ever closer. They were living and working on a farm when the war finally caught up with them. “It was a Sunday afternoon and we were between Americans and Germans. All of a sudden they started shooting,” she said.

Helene’s family as well as the farmer’s took refuge in the basement of the farmhouse but they were not safe there for long. “We looked up and we saw that the attic was burning, we ran across the street to a bush, there were bullets flying like crazy, we were all running,” she remembers.

By some miracle, nobody was hurt, “we stayed there overnight in the bush, and in the morning it was over. Everything burnt down so we had nothing, just the clothes we were wearing.”

When the war ended in 1945 Helene and her family were living in Holland. Unfortunately Holland did not have room to accommodate all the people that had sought safety there during the war so once again it was time to move.

Helene along with thousands of others travelled on the TSS Volendam to Paraguay. She and her family were eager to start a new life but what they found was far from life. “The land there was like, well, it was, a jungle. There were trees everywhere and bush. It was heavy working,”

For eleven years she survived there fighting the blistering heat and unrelenting mosquitoes. Although Helene’s brother survived the war, it was the jungle that took his life when he drowned trying to escape the heat after a long day of work.

It was also in this harsh place that Helene fell in love. “We just kept running into each other, he lived only two huts down.” Franz too had lost his father to the war. He as well as Helene’s father had received a letter to report for duty. When he refused to fight for the Nazis he was taken to edge of the village and shot in the head.

Franz and Helene were married by a minister in their village. They had their first child, a boy named Frank, in the jungles of Paraguay. The legs of his straw crib sat in a basin of water to keep the rattle snakes and tarantulas at bay.

After they had their son they knew they couldn’t stay. They waited for the day when a family member managed to immigrate to Canada and sponsor them. “We run from there again, we couldn’t stand it anymore,” Helene said shaking her head.

They came to Winnipeg in November and one week later it snowed. “Christmas Frank got quite a few toys,” she said laughing “you should have seen him, he never seen toys.”
Today Helene feels for the people who are still being affected by war in countries like Afghanistan, she is grateful everyday for the simple life that she leads here in Canada. “It’s terrible, those poor people, it must be terrible there, I’m so glad we are here,” she said.