Rajon!

You remember when you were in middle school and had a crush on that special someone? I do! And remember how you felt whenever that special someone came your way? I do. As a matter of fact, I'm feeling like that all over again.

Everytime I see him, lets just call him Rajon, the softer side of me comes out. I can't help but to feel like this little sixth or seventh grader that has the hots for a cutie. If you saw him you'd agree.

Rajon is always dressed nice. His smile is the cutest I've seen in a while. I love his style! I could go on and on about Rajon but the thought of him makes me wish I was with him now.

We chit chat every now and then, in person, and I wish it could last forever. I don't know what it is about him. The other day he had on the mustard color polo shirt with the jeans that has the brown look to them along with some shoes to match. Brother can dress. Always wrinkle free. And his smell. Off the chain! It isn't cologne, I'm thinking Tide or Gain with some kind of scent. Or maybe fabric freshner. But whatever it is, I'm loving it!

Rajon's swagger, voice, smile and style always gives me a CREST SMILE!

Procrastination Management

I would like to think of myself as a "master procrastinator." No matter how long I wait, I always seem to get things done.

However, I have to ask myself, "Does such a title truly exist?" I mean, there are rarely any advantages to waiting until the very last minute. Sure, the ability to finish a paper in a matter of days, running on little to no sleep, when you've had the whole semester to do it may give you some bragging rights but it's a miserable way to get through school. For me, little sleep = bed-ridden = absentees = behind in class = make up work = little sleep = sick = ...you get the picture.

I would like to say I've gotten better about planning ahead my last few years in college, but only to an extent. For example, the last paper I had was assigned, you guessed it, at the beginning of the semester. And when do you think I started? WRONG! I'll have you know, I started researching for that 20 pager well in advance- at least three weeks before it was due. Okay, so I didn't OPEN a library book until a week and a half before the due date, but at least I had them in my possession! Progress not perfection, my friends.

The truth is, I find it EXTREMELY difficult to MAKE myself work on something too far in advance. I'm sure there's some sort of mathematical equation I've subconsciously devised in my head. Unfortunately, I don't know how to alter the formula to decrease stress while increasing motivation and productivity.

I'm sure some would say working well under pressure is a strength, especially in my chosen profession. However, once you factor in a weakness such as "perfectionistic" tendencies (and yes, I consider that a weakness), it's hard to be satisfied with a finished product when I never have enough time to make it "perfect."

#edemcamp and #POLC09

You may be asking yourself "What do those mean?"

Well, party people, those are hashtags that are used on the popular microblogging site Twitter. When you include hashtags in your tweets, it serves as sort of like a grouping device. If someone has something political to say and he or she is a conservative, he or she can use the hashtag #tcot meaning Top Conservative on Twitter. If you search #tcot at Twitter Search, you find a lot of conservative tweets!

#edemcamp was the hashtag for E-Democracy Camp. It was an un-conference (an informal conference that's largely 'user-created') that was about the Internet in democratic processes. The topics of government apps; making local, state, and national government more transparent, how to get young people more involved; making data more available; and improving government and campaign websites were discussed during the sessions.

#POLC09 was the hashtag for the 2009 Politics Online Conference. It was a two-day 'techie' conference that was about the use of Internet and technlogy in democracy. POLC09 featured elected officials who were using new technologies like Twitter or advanced applications to make elections run better. It also had sessions about the role of cell phones; applications and interfaces used to improve elections (such as Vote Report) and to allow people to get more involved; the future of campaign websites; and the role of new technology in things like congressional offices and campaign organizing.

I had the great opportunity to attend both of them! #edemcamp was graciously hosted by GW, and #POLC09 was put on by GW's Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet. These conferences were filled with people who are extremely knowledgable about technology and politics. They are informed and opinionated, and it was a thrill for me to be around such smart people.

The types of computer applications that are being developed by people (like Click-to-Call and Mixed Ink) are amazing. I cannot in any way give justice to these three days.

I'm blogging about this largely to let poeple know that if something interests you, even if you're an amateur like I am, you NEED to check it out!!!!!

This fits in with a high school graduation speech that Conan O'Brien gave in 2006:

What I'm asking you to consider is that the next four years don't have to be just a stepping stone. You are very bright, impressive young people. But for the last four years, your GPA has been calculated to two decimal points and you've pushed yourselves very hard. Many of you have succeeded because you have stuck to a very rigid and linear path and that is fine, that's fine. All I'm asking you to do in college is to take a moment every now and then, breathe, look around you. If something intrigues you, take a small chance. You might just find your entire life you've been planning on. ...

The point is, at this moment, many of you have ideas of what you want to do with your life, but for many of you those ideas will change. And that's because you think you know who you are right now, but you really don't. ... But life and the choices I made have changed me in a thousand ways. None of it would have happened if I had rigidly kept my eyes on the prize and decided with great determination to follow my dream, because I didn't have the slightest idea what my dream was when I was 18. It had to find me.

I read that when I graduated from high school in 2007, and it has indeed shaped the way I look at opportunities and life. It's part of the reason why I am here in Washington, D.C., blogging to you today.

Thanks.

The End is Near!

Sweet! (The one time I can say that and it doesn't sound like the end of times.) This weekend has been pretty awesome. It started sort of bad, so I didn't have high hopes, but I was pleasently surprised on Saturday. I was supposed to go to Target with a friend, who ended up cancelling on me, so I ended up going shopping by myself. It turned out pretty well. I ended up not going to Target though, because I got to metro center and decided to go check out H & M. I am sooo glad I went, because I found the perfect sundress!! I have been looking for three years now to find the perfect little dress and I finally did! Then, I found out there was a Payless just two blocks away and I found the cutest white wedges to go with the dress! I was disappointed because it was too chilly on Sunday to wear a dress...oh, well.

So, on Sunday, I went to the National Gallery of art!! It was soo amazing. There was so much to see that I spent the entire afternoon there. I went with my friend Mainjari which was perfect because we both love art and so we weren't rushed to get through. I found out that I prefer art styles prior to the post-modern style...also, I'm not a big fan of abstract. It just doesn't seem like art to me. When I think of art, I think of being able to convey emotions. When someone calls someone else an artist, even if they are not technically an artist, it is because they have a talent for something that goes beyond what most people have. When I look at abstract art, all I see is stuff that anyone could do. Heck, I had to reproduce a painting for art in high school and I chose to do an absract because it was sooo easy.

Anyway, enough of what art is and is not, at least in my opinion. The Gallery has so many paintings that I could never see in Oklahoma, which is why it was so much fun. Also, this week in Oklahoma is the Arts Festival. Every year in April, hundreds of local artists get together, outside, and show paintings, glass work (blown and sculptures), photographs, and anything else you can think of. There are three or four different stages and the festival is right around the Myriad Gardens. There is a water stage where local artists perform. There are a couple of other stages. A lot of dance schools perform and some local schools get their choirs to perform also. There's food, too and its so much fun!

Anway, I was disappointed because I go to the Arts Festival every year. I didn't get to go last year because I was sick and I didn't get to go this year, because I am here in DC. So, it was really awesome to go to the National Gallery of Art as a substitute...

Anyway, we only have 12 days left! And I can't wait to get home. There has been so much going on. So, that's all have to say for now we're so close to the end!

Why I'm excited

there are a few reasons, actually.

First, because the weather is undoubtedly warming and there is nothing dull about that! Last weekend I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival parade to get some interviews and enjoy the scenery. Later, Alex and I enjoyed a lovely spring night at the first Nationals game of the season. It brought us back to fun SUMMER memories of Twins games, and that's a good thing.


I am so pleased about the weather!!

But more importantly, I am excited because of what I learned from class last Friday. In order to understand why I'm so excited, there are a few things I need to explain.
Throughout the semester, our program assistant, Andrea Michnik, has been teaching me and a few interested others about social media, specifically Twitter. Twitter is kind of hard to understand for "non-tweeters," but I have found it to be a very fun and helpful social and professional resource. I won't go into the ins and outs here, but if you're curious about it, you can go to www.twitter.com/jclynes to see what some "tweets" look like (without having to sign in). I've gotten some really cool opportunities, advice, and connections through it though.
ANYWAY, Andrea has been an advocate and mentor on issues of "social media" and, as we learned on Friday, this is an aspect of journalism that is quickly developing and expanding. Andrea found 3 interesting speakers to come in and talk about how they use social media in their life.
The first was a TWENTY TWO year old, named Meg Roberts, who has this incredible job with New Media Strategies as a PR rep who works with her clients (such as Disney) to advertise/promote their products via social media (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, myspace, etc). While her job certainly sounded exciting, what was probably more interesting to me was that she graduated in May '08 and was so driven and impressive in her internships and interviews that she's already been hired to this incredible job at such a young age! Her advice really spoke to me because she talked less on "traditional" journalism, which many of our other speakers tend to stick to, so it was more applicable to my focus since I'm likely not going to end up in mainstream journalism. Anyway, she talked about how to use twitter as a professional resource and she also said that she used her blog (while interviewing) as leverage. Once she picked her topic of interest (PR in her case), she would blog about it and promote her blog to her interviewers to show her interest in the subject, as well as her writing ability. This is seems like such a good idea!

Next, two other social media pros came in (for those of you on twitter... they're: k8michael, and cheeky_geeky... rather famous in the "twittersphere") to talk about the way they use social media in their careers and extracurriculars. Mark is a government scientist who recently ran the Government 2.0 Camp and Kate Michael was Miss DC 2006 and has a blog that has become so popular that she'll be giving up her day job soon to dedicate her time to all the videos, posts, tweets and social stuff that's almost 100% online! Hard to believe, I know.
None of these 3 individuals has a life that I would like to directly emulate, but they did show me how to apply personal interests (writing, news, promoting certain issues, etc) into something professional, productive, and even lucrative. Kate gave good advice about how she's promoted her blog: www.kstreetkate.com, into the online success it is. I won't tell you specifically what I learned from her, but hopefully my new blog (coming soon), will teach by example!

It was just very exciting to have a new task that I can focus on before I worry about finding my place in the real world... and something that may even help me GET to my place in the real world. So, I'll be starting up a new blog into something that will hopefully be much more green and professionally focused. I don't know that this will happen before the end of this semester, but I'm excited about the opportunity.... and I'm more excited that I don't need someone else to give it to me! I get to make it on my own! How convenient. It just basically works out well because I love to write.

Anyway, the end of the program is going to be so busy and go so quickly. I'm bracing myself by cutting back hours at work, especially because I really want to be able to enjoy DC in the springtime! I'm excited for the stuff we have left, but I'll admit, I'm excited to be done!

Alright, I've got work tomorrow and then I'll need to mentally prepare myself for another crazy week ahead.

I realize this post may be difficult to understand, but Friday just gave me a sense of direction that I had been looking for since the semester started. It may not be a final direction, but it'll definitely do for now. Anyway, Andrea, if you're out there... THANKS!

One Month Left

I can't believe there is only less than a month left to this semester! Kinda getting over stressed and under relaxed. We're working on the SLT projects... still... and it's really becoming the bane of my entire existence. Hopefully it'll be done by Tuesday (at the absolute latest). Then we have a stupid paper due for the Broadcasting class. Not the class is stupid... but the paper is going to become the next bane of my existence. And then throw on the project for NBC. Thank god for my bad habits!!!!

Spring break was aaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome. I made the best steak I've ever tasted. We ate at the most popular hamburger place in the country. We played a ton of Super Mario World and beat the crap out of a lot of the levels. I had a really super difficult time trying to get on the plane.... I hated it. I knew that coming back here would bring back all the stress that I left here. Oh well!

I have a new internship that I l.o.v.e. I love it here. The people are hilarious. I love the interaction and the fun we have in the office. Things are really lax around here. It's fun! I've had some fun assignments so far. There are some great homeless people I've met. Street Sense is really amazing. I have always wanted to see some organization that doesn't just give out freebies to anyone who wants them. People have something to work for. It's so uplifting.

Anyways, that's all I've got! Gotta go do a paper.

Natalie