Monthly Archives: March 2019

redesigning my about page

Repurposed

The About page is where people go to gain a better understanding of a website or blog. Basically, my about page is the first impression newcomers will get of my blog and me. Keeping this in mind, it’s important for this page to be captivating, professional, and beautiful. Looking at my current About page, I knew I wanted to make some changes – not only in the style, but also content. My current bio explained the basics, but was too short in length and was unengaging for my likes.

I tried editing my About page through Elementor, as it offered a whole lot more versatility and customization to the elements, especially in comparison to the blocks theme that I’ve been using. Because I didn’t have an exact idea of what I wanted the layout of my About page to look like, it took a lot of time and trial and error.

What I liked about my previous page was the definition of “klick”. I wanted to keep this, but redesign it to make it more appealing and cohesive with the style of the logo that I had created weeks prior.

Original design of the definition on my first About page:
First updated draft:
Changing examples:

I wanted this definition to be the first graphic on the page, as it would set the tone for the rest of the blog. Yes, I do know that click is typically spelled with a “C”, and yes, the “K” was on purpose. In one image, I hoped to capture the explanation and theme. Just like in dictionary definitions, I wanted to use “klick” in a sentence, so I used this first sentence – which was originally used in Joffre Lakes; however, I ended up changing it to something much more relevant to my blog:

I had the plan of creating three distinct clickable categories in columns below with brief descriptions of these different categories. I wanted this graphic to blend seamlessly with the categories below. Originally, I wanted to extend the grey a little further down, and add a white mountain in the middle to blend the grey from this graphic and the white from the following section. While I was doing this, I realized I was creating an arrow in the wrong direction. Instead of having a white arrow pointing up, which would have been the case had I kept the white mountain on the grey backdrop – I created a negative valley (as in lack of colour, not unhappy) to draw attention to the following section.

Third and final draft:
Finally, with the added category columns, this is what the top part of my About page looked like:

Each of these columns are responsive, meaning that it react to your curser. When the mouse hovers over the column, it becomes a darker shade, inciting you to click on it. These columns, images, and titles are linked to their respectful pages. For example, if I were to click the “local” column, it would send me to the landing page for the local category.

Already, this so much better than my previous About page, which is below for reference:

Editing my bio:

Next up was rewriting and redesigning my bio section. I chose colours that would match the image, along with a readable and professional font. My original About page lacked warmth and friendliness, so I tried to keep this in mind when redesigning and rewriting this next section:

Staying Connected:

All that was missing was connecting my social media account and contact information. I opted for simple responsive icons. The icon would increase slightly in size when hovering over it with your mouse, and for consistency, I chose to have the colours change to the blue and yellow of my logo:

Mouse over the Mail icon
Mouse over the Facebook icon

When clicking the facebook icon, it would open my facebook page in a new tab with to make sure I’m not kicking them off my blog. Similarly, when clicking the mail icon, the user’s email would open up in a new tab, ready to send me an email.

The trouble in troubleshooting

So while I’m really happy with the design and content of my new About page, you might be left wondering why you still see my old About page, as opposed to this new and improved one. To my big disappointment, when I was troubleshooting this page for different screen sizes, I realized how illegible it is for mobile devices. Somehow, the graphics, icons, columns and images didn’t transfer well onto a smaller screen: not only was the layout lost, but some images disappeared and the content was just not easily readable.

Final note:

This was especially frustrating, as I had spend days working on it this. While the layout did still work on tablets and desktop computers, over half of my audience accesses my blog on their mobile device, so keeping this up was out of the question. I rather have an elementary version of my about page rather than make this illegible gibberish live on my website. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to try and fix this before the end of the semester, but I plan to sort this out as soon as possible. If nothing else, I learned the importance of troubleshooting regularly throughout my progress to make sure its compatible with all devices.

Week 10

This week, we had a guest speaker during lecture to talk about multi-channel marketing.

I found it super fasinating that how many channels actually exist in our world. There are so many more channels than just the typical tv, newspapers, magazines, online, billboards advertisement that everyone thinks about. And not all channels are equal. They all tell stories in different ways. When we have different goals and want to attract different kind of audiences, different channels would be chosen. The guest speaker also talks about the challenges that companies and brands face when comes to marketing. There are too much noise in the world and so much competition. And now that advertisement has become so accessible for everyone, it is becoming harder and harder to attract more and good-quality attention.

Now when I’m on social media these days, I would sometimes apply these perspectives scrolling down my feed. I follow quite a few fashion houses’ Instagram accounts. I’ve noticed how these fashion brands have integrated advertisement with editorial shoots, short films, etc. A lot of the times, it is hard to tell whether certain posts are editorial or ads. In my opinion, the purpose of these Instagram accounts are not to sell anyone anything, but to raise brand awareness, build loyal followers who might one day turn into actual buyers.  Because the majority users of Instagram users are young professionals who might not have the money just yet, but are interested in learning more about whatever they are interested about. And if fashion is one of them, they for sure will follow lots of fashion brands. By posting these editorial style ads, brands are slowly immersing themselves into the mind of these followers. Again, it is more about awareness, not selling.

As for my blog, and what media platform I choose to focus on, Instagram is for sure the number one channel. I think my intended audience demographic would most likely be active Instagram users. On top of that, most of my own online activities are on Instagram, and I’ve created most of my followers on there as well. It only makes sense to start my promotion there. Besides Instagram, I would also look into promoting my blog on Facebook and twitter at the same time.

The post Week 10 appeared first on Heyy, Jessie.

Transmedia Reporting and Electronic Music

This morning I was reading an article by lecturer and professor Henry Jenkins about effective use of transmedia forms and the entertainment industry’s slugish ability in adopting the form.

‘Transmedia’ is a term that describes a media phenomenon that exists across multiple platforms and which facilitates different user experiences depending on the platform. Pokemon is one of the best examples of a transmedia concept, as identified by Jenkins. The Pokemon world is one that exists across TV series’, movies, manga, video games, card games, and etc.

The Wartortle universe is expanded by this expertly crafted fan-music.

Transmedia Journalism

As the transmedia practice tends to enrich a users interaction with subject matter and offer a user opportunities to demonstrate agency with media interaction, I believe that the practice would benefit journalism.

In fact, journalism has exists transmedia since the printing press entered popular use, when one could,perhaps, receive news from both a town crier and a local pamphlet.

In this day and age, news about an event is delivered in print, on the radio, and across the internet in the form of news outlets, blogs, or podcasts.

Transmedia Music Journalism

Music reporting and journalism are, by definition, transmedia. Listening to the music of a local musician who I recently read an interview from will broaden my impression of that musician.

When writing about music on Ammeter, linking to that music or accompanying an article with a recorded interview is transmedia. I wonder about other ways that I can expand transmedia practice as a electronic music reporter. Below are a list of ideas. Let me know if any stand out to you!

  • Print expertly designed posters concerning electronic music events that Ammeter appreciates and paste them up around town.
  • Print and distribute local electronic music guide-zines that inform readers about Vancouver’s grassroots electronic music organizers.
  • Post emails or “letters to the editor” from readers concerning their experiences with particular venues or events.
  • Post music produced by Ammeter staff after they’ve attending a music production workshop.
  • Hand write and hand out endearing notes to dancers at music events that are “from Ammeter.”

It feels like linking to music and posting podcasts / or interviews are insubstantial in modern journalism. Branching out to new forms of media could only benefit the publication.

Adam

Fashion favs for spring

FINALLY. SPRING IS HERE. We are finally able to dress for warm weather without being too cold. I have some fashion favourites when it comes to spring fashion and I’ve been waiting to talk about it.

A t-shirt dress is a must. It is super easy to just throw on and pair with any jacket and any type of shoe. You can pick up these type of dresses in many colours so it looks like you are wearing something different each time. They are also super comfortable to wear.

The next item I think is a must to have in your closet for the spring and summer time is a pair of white pants. White pants are a staple because they look fresh and bright! You can pair them with any coloured shirt and pretty much any type of shoe.

I believe that it is crucial to have a skirt in your collection. Plaid skirts have become very popular again (even if your not in private school) and they are super cute to dress up, or dress down.

The last item that I am going to share is a long silk dress. I think these types of dresses are so cute because you can make them super dressy or super casual. They are very pretty on anyone and they look perfect for an occasion.

Hope you guys like some of these items and check them out online! You will find many more items like them on the Aritzia website. Thanks for reading!

xx

Using ES2017 async/await feature to work around rate limited APIs

This article was originally published on Medium..

Rate limits are a curse to API consumers and a blessing to API developers. Some APIs even have different limits for different endpoints.

Of course, if we are just calling one endpoint multiple times, we can simply debounce or throttle the call. However, it can get tricky when we are triggering multiple calls to different endpoints after calling one endpoint.

Plus, debounce is so 2013; we are in 2018 2019 already.

So today, I’d like to present a declarative way of working around rate limits as API consumers.

Hopefully, this makes consuming rate limited APIs easier while at the same time keeping API developers and DevOps people happy.

What is async/await

Let’s take a look at how async/await works first.

For those of you who already know this, close this tab please and stop looking at my embarrassing explanation below.

Put simply, async/await allows us burnt out and fatigued JavaScript developers to write asynchronous code (remember callbacks and Promises?) in a synchronous way.

Here’s a code snippet to illustrate it more clearly:

As you can see, Promises already help reduce some levels of nesting.

But async/await takes it to a whole new level.

I’ll give you a moment to appreciate this amazing technological advancement.

Now, we can do some cool things with this, such as putting a delay before API calls in a declarative way, like this:

Please do try this at home.

Using async/await in a loop

Hopefully you are super stoked about async/await now. You might even be thinking about using it in a for-loop!

Don’t.

Take a guess what the following snippet does:

If your guess is that each index will be logged out with a 1 second delay in between, then bwah bwah you are wrong. Go ahead, try it in the devtools console and you'll see.

Properly using async/await in a loop

To use the async/await delay helper in a loop, we will need to use another new ECMAScript feature (ES2015 to be exact) to make it work: the for..ofloop.

Here’s an example:

The index of each list item will now be logged out with a one-second delay between each other.

Applying to rate limited API calls

Now that we have figured out how to use async/await in a loop, we can apply this to work around rate limited calls.

I have written a delayed map helper to make it even easier:

And here’s an example usage of the helper:

Additional information

I hope by now you are convinced that async/await can help you write declarative, readable and maintainable code.

There are also other benefits I haven’t touched on in this article, such as the ability to catch errors with the more primitive try..catch block instead of relying on the one provided with the Promise API (which actually is also becoming a primitive).

Note that using ES2015 and ES2017 features does require transpilation steps (e.g. with BabelJS) for them to work in browsers that don't support them out of the box (works in most modern browsers though).

And honestly, debounce and throttle are most likely sufficient for most use cases.

Peer Review #3

For my third peer review I have been assigned Magali’s blog. The first thing I did was visit her “about me” page to get a better sense what Magali and her blog is about. As soon as I hit the link, there is a header picture of her holding a camera and taking a picture, which made me immediately assume she is a photographer or photography is one of her interests. It also made me guess that her blog might be focused on her photography. Here is the image I am referring to:

Image taken from Magali’s blog.

After reading her “about me” I got a better idea about her blog and her interests. Magali mentions what One More Klick (her blog name) features, “One More Klick features a blend of photography, the outdoors, and travel”. The way Magali has her header on the top of her blog laid out, is simple and effective. It allows the viewer to choose what they specifically want to see. One More Klick is also a catchy name because while your clicking through her blog, the name of her blog makes you want to click on something else to see more of her “story”. The reason I mentioned the word story, is because she Magali has a slogan on her front page that says “every klick has a story”.

While hopping from post to post and reading Magali’s “about me” page, I have got the sense that she is adventurous and a great photographer. Her visuals are very intriguing and captures my attention. That is probably because I love photography and travelling.

I would thinking that Magali’s suggested audience would be people who are just curious to know about her adventures and maybe visit some of the places she has visited. I can see locals as well as people from other places visiting her blog. The ages probably would range from 18-40. The intended audience group would most likely be people that have similar interests to Magali and her blog, and that would be travelling, photography, and the outdoors.

Couple suggestions I have for Magali’s blog would be to have her social media linked to the icons. Alice Marwick and Rebecca Lewis mentions in Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online, “Mainstream social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are used by members of the far-right to spread extreme messaging to large numbers of people and to seed topics for journalists”. I would suggest Magali having social media platforms linked to her blog, especially Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. The reason I think YouTube would be good for her to have is because when she goes to the places she visits, she could video the sites she visits or upload interviews with local people. Another suggestion I have is to add all the images she has uploaded on her blog to her gallery section. When I click there, there were not any images, and knowing that photography is a major area to her blog, that would be essential.

Overall, I enjoyed visiting and exploring Magali’s blog. I loved her photographs she has captured and I am looking forward to seeing more!

You can visit Magali’s blog, One More Klick, here.

Week 10 Process Post: Monetizing

With only about 2 weeks remaining in terms of classes, it’s surprising to see how fast this semester has flew by. I do feel that I have been in a bit of a slump in terms of keeping up to date with my blog. Most of it has to do with due dates of papers and essays flying at me week after week to the point where I didn’t really have time to tend to my site. But with the semester coming close to an end, I can say that I can try and catch up as best as I can in terms of posting up content that I originally had intended to.

When it comes to monetizing, I’ve come to realize that the direction this blog was going in was never for any sort of currency. Therefore, I’ve chosen not to monetize this website. Why? well when I first started this website last semester in PUB 101, it was initially intended to be a journal for myself when it came to my fitness progress, as well as a guidebook of some sort for others to read and take something away from. Fast forward to this semester, Eat, Train, Sleep, Repeat. has become less about me, nutrition, supplementation, and more about others and sharing their stories. As this will probably be the end of my website after this semester is completed, the potential to make some source of income was never really of any interest to me as I probably wouldn’t have the time to attend to my website regularly.

Accepting Change: Meet Bean

this is bean

I heard a little bell around 3 A.M.

I walked into my kitchen and was greeted by my new furry friend. 

On March 11th, I was sick in bed and was sleeping away. My phone started to ring and it was my mom, who I obviously had to answer.

She texted me a photo of a 7 month old tabby cat that needed a new home. “Bean” was the name. 

She asked me if I thought she was “cute.” I said “yes,” thinking it was just a casual question. 

“Should we get her?” was the next. 

I was very hesitant about the decision and cried for several hours later next to our cat, Scarlett.

Almost 3 years ago, I lost my beautiful cat, Rainbow. We had her since I was 2 years old and she was our absolute pride  and joy, the best television watching pal, and had so much love to give everyone.

During our time with Rainbow, we also got another cat, Scarlett.

Rainbow always made sure to show Scar who the boss is. Scarlett is a less affectionate cat but jumped right on my lap when I had to say my last goodbye to Rainbow.

Since then, Scarlett and I have become closer. We formed a bond when I came back from New York and I was very scared to let another cat come into our life. 

I was afraid to let my memory of Rainbow fade and have a new “replacement” of her. 

I came home after a long Tuesday and was about to meet Bean for the first time.

My life changed for the good.

What was once hesitation is now pure happiness. 

I learned that Rainbow will never be replaced and I am blessed to have those memories with her to hold on to forever. To reflect back on. Those will never change.

Only a week later, Bean has acted like a therapy cat to me. Between her cuddles, noises, excitement to see me… she gives me so much that I was missing.

I am writing this in the middle of the night just filled with love. In fact, I am currently refereeing a fight Scarlett is trying to start with Bean.

All of the hard times I face and tough days, she helps heal them. Pet’s really do cure all.

Scarlett is not a fan of Bean (yet) and it has been very hard to accept. 

I know the time will come when they get used to each other.

But for now, I appreciate both of their love.

And for the first time…

I am thankful for this change. 

Featured Image Reference: @BlueBittyMoon on weheartit

The post Accepting Change: Meet Bean appeared first on Starlight Adventures.

What do you want to be remembered for?

About a year ago I came across a girl on YouTube named Claire Wineland. She was 21 year old girl with cystic fibrosis who documented the ups and downs of her journey living with this disease on YouTube. I watched a couple of her videos and thought that she was an incredible girl, but didn’t keep up with her past those couple of videos. Then, in September of 2018, I heard she had died one week after receiving her long awaited lung transplant. In sad situations like these where life doesn’t make sense or seem fair, I tend to try and forget about the story to save myself from heartbreak. However recently, I came across Claire again amongst my recommended videos on YouTube. Her video was a part of a series called My Last Days produced by Justin Baldoni. Justin created this series to find out and share the unique perspectives of life from people who are dying. A more detailed description of his series can be found here.

I watched Claire’s episode, Meet Claire, Finding Beauty in the Sadness, and what she said brought me to full blown tears, “you don’t need to know you’re dying to start living.” Something so simple that essentially everyone knows, but so many people forget to put into practice; myself included. We all get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we often forget what a gift each day truly is; that each day is a new opportunity for us to make a positive impact in the world.

Hearing Claire say this lead me to reflect on what I want to be remembered for during this little life of mine. The fact of the matter is, we all have an expiration date and none of us know when it is. So I asked myself, “if I die tomorrow, what will I be remembered for?” I can only hope that I will be remembered for how I made others feel. In my 23 years of life, I hope I’ve made the people I’ve crossed paths with feel as though they are loved for exactly who they are and that they are innately deserving of love and belonging. I also hope I’m remembered for actively spreading and practicing kindness, as that is a daily goal of mine. Claire said that we have no control over when we die, however we do have control over creating a life that we’re proud of, and at this point, I will say that I am proud of my life. That doesn’t mean I don’t have room for improvement though because I always will! I feel as though we tell ourselves that we’ll have time to create this life we’ll be proud of someday. We tell ourselves that we’ll start doing things when we have the money and time. But how do we know we will have this time? Since Claire new roughly when her expiry date was (which not many of us do), it was obvious through the way she spoke how much she saw every day as a gift and was actively making the most out of every second she’d been given.

What if we all lived like we were dying tomorrow, like Claire did? What would you do differently? How would you treat others differently? I know this is a short blog this week, but really, it all boils down to one question: what do you want to be remembered for?

Rest in peace, Claire Wineland. Thank you for dedicating your life to serving others and teaching me how to treat every day as the gift it truly is. You are an inspiration to all of us.

Image from: AARC

If you would like to donate or find out more about Claire’s Place Foundation, you can check out the website here.

Portfolio Entry #8

I have decided to put a pause on new entries for my portfolio and instead, will be going back to some of the people that I have already spoken to and follow up with them and get an update as to where they’re currently at. I was able to speak to Miguel last week to see whats been up with him and here’s what he had to say.

Since the last time we’ve spoke, how have your goals been coming along?

I’ve been able to build a good amount of strength since then. But in terms of my diet, it has still been a bit of a challenge for me. It’s pretty difficult to discipline myself to choose healthier options and is something I’m still working on.

What does your general training split look like per week?

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, I usually do a full body training routine. Every other day I would focus primarily on single muscle groups.

Do you currently take any supplements to help your performance in the gym?

Yes, just pre-workout and protein.

Have you experienced any obstacles that may have slowed you down in being able to achieve your goals that you have set?

The main obstacle that I face at the moment would have to be my form. At the moment, I’m trying to improve my form to prevent any injuries opposed to increasing the weight in my workouts.

If someone wanted to get started on their own fitness goals, but didn’t know how or where to start, what advice would you give them?

I say just go in to the gym and do it and try to get past the self-consciousness.

Peer Review #3: Danny’s Music Blog

For this week’s peer review, I will be reviewing Danny’s Music Blog.

Initial Thoughts:

By scrolling through his blog on the home page, I was able to tell through a quick glance that the concept or theme of his website revolved around music. From a branding perspective, Danny’s website somewhat does present a brand that represents him, which does come in correlation with being able to strategize some sort of business avenue for his brand. What I mean by this is that because there are many blogs and websites that talk about music already, it raises the question as to how is Danny’s website different from all the other ones? or how can Danny make his brand unique and stand out in front of others?

One suggestion that was made in his site’s second peer review was to make his blog more personalized, which I think is a great way to be able to address the general challenge of being able to differentiate your own work from others and make it stand out to the point where your consumers will keep wanting to see more. Although Danny has already addressed the suggestion from the second peer review to elaborate more on why he chose music or why music is important to him in his “About” page on one of his process posts, I do think that the entire post would be more appropriate and suits his about page perfectly.

I really like the idea of his weekly playlists that he shares every week and how he gives a description of how the music in the specific playlists reflects his mood. I think it would be cool if something similar was done in his “Quick Reviews” posts by providing his personal thoughts on each album he talks about, and perhaps a reason why a particular song from an album may be his favourite.

Lastly, a minor change that could be made is to hide your PUB 201 work from your homepage, that way your PUB 201 posts don’t overrun your main blog posts. A simple plugin I would suggest using that can do that for you is called “WP Hide Post.”

As someone who enjoys music himself and can’t go anywhere without it, I really look forward to seeing what else Danny has in store for his blog. Want to check out his blog yourself? click here!

Changing your makeup for Summer

Change your makeup like you change your style for every season. Sometimes people don’t remember to change how they do their makeup for each season. I’m not saying to change it for fall, winter, spring and summer. I’m saying that if you have a makeup routine for the winter climate, you’re going to need to change it for the summer climate. Here are some tips on how to make the change easy.

  1. Don’t use as much face makeup. This is important because people may load up on the foundation, concealer and powder during the winter time because they can and there is no chance it will sweat off. Now that we are moving into the warm weather, wearing that much face makeup can be dangerous because it is super easy for it to sweat off. My advice would be to either use a BB cream so it is a lighter product that you are putting on your face or to just use concealer on your face. I suggest using these products because it is less stuff on your face and if it is super-hot ,you don’t have a lot of product sinking into your pores.
  2. Also I would suggest on using a serum instead of a moisturizer. I would use serum because personally, I find it less thick then moisturizer and it makes you look dewier then what you would naturally look like.
  3. A lot of people probably think I would suggest changing your normal makeup to waterproof makeup. I WOULD NOT! I personally hate waterproof makeup and I would never suggest it just because I feel like it never comes off. Obviously if you feel like it is necessary to wear makeup if you are going swimming or just hanging out by the beach then you do you. I would honestly just say to go out without makeup if you are confident enough.
  4. Sunscreen before putting on makeup or make sure your face products have SPF in them.

I know I don’t have a lot tips but these are the main ones that I think are the most important. Hope you guys have learnt something and decide to change up your makeup routine for spring/summer.

Thank you for reading!

xx

The meaning of life and the cure to inaction

Previously I wrote about how I discovered the purpose of life.

In this post, I'd like to share how that revelation helped me cure my procrastination and inaction.

A lot of times I would have ideas for things I want to build, write about, and share with the world.

But usually I tend to run into one of these problems:

  • getting stuck at the idea phase
  • having trouble finishing what I set out to create
  • not publishing or releasing the things I create

I've read countless tips and advice on how to stop procrastination, overthinking and perfectionism.

And you can just tell from the frequency of my posts on this blog that none of those worked very well 😅.

Now, when surface tips and tricks fail to fix a problem, it usually suggests that there is a deeper, more subconscious root cause.

What changed for me fundamentally, was that I adopted a different mindset and broke free from my limiting beliefs.

I used to believe that my procrastination and inaction were caused by me having high standards.

My excuse (or belief at the time) was that I needed to give people the best experience when they are using the things I create or reading my articles. That's why it always took me longer to plan things out and execute on them.

As it turns out, I was lying to myself.

My inaction was caused by my own ego and desire to always be impressive.

The quality of the finished products that I release needed to be impressive not because I have high standards, but because I needed to show that I am impressive.

While there is nothing wrong with having a desire to impress people (debatable), I needed to get my ego checked (might I suggest reading Ego Is The Enemy).

On the other hand, I set out to bring value to others with the things I create. And procrastination is getting me to run the opposite way.

After realizing the purpose of life (tl;dr: it's to help others), and remembering from what my mentors (Amy Hoy and Alex Hillman) taught me years ago, I seem to have found the cure to procrastination and inaction:

Just fucking do it.

But it's not that simple, is it?

Everyone knows that the opposite of inaction is taking action.

But what really gets us to take action is having the right mindsets and positive beliefs.

If we understood the purpose of life and focus on sharing and helping others, then our ego and self-image aren't that important anymore.

So that's what I did to kickstart the momentum to take more actions:

I started uploading videos straight from my phone camera, with no room decoration, no post editing, just a blank wall on my channel.

I published articles with no header image to "spice things up", no cool visuals, not even a newsletter signup form.

Sometimes, when I want to share some learnings to more people, I'd even abandon beautifully formatting the post on my blog, and instead publish it as a forum post.

If it helps others gain new perspective, perform better in their work, and even just feel better, the timeliness and value it creates greatly exceeds the impressive wow factor and my supposed "high standard" and everything I deemed to be necessary in the past.

So what's the cure to recap? It's this:

Just fucking do it because helping others is more fulfilling and rewarding than trying to perfect your crap in order to protect your self-image and ego.

Another benefit of putting stuff out there instead of worrying and having them rot inside is this:

Mr. Step Aument here gave me a shout out in his latest blog post — this would have never happened if my ego got the best of me!

P.S. go read Step's blog. He's a much better writer than me and can explain ideas much more concisely.

Process Post 10 – Transmedia Integration

We had a wonderful guest speaker in class this week, Darren Barefoot, from the company, Capulet Communications. His talk on multichannel marketing and transmedia integration inspired me to reflect on the various media and channels I promote and growThe Kindness Lifestyle on as a brand, which is not many, and how I can continue to grow my brand past the completion of this course. Currently, I promote my blog posts on my Facebook account, and that is all. I’ve mentioned in previous posts how I’m not one to keep track of followers and analytics, however for the sake of this post I will pretend I do and consider what I would conduct in order to grow The Kindness Lifestyle as a brand through transmedia integration.

As we’ve discussed in class, as well as discovered through my own experiences, it’s evident that one of the dominant “channels” used to promote websites, ads, companies, etc. is social media. Specifically, there are a few superior ones which include Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube. Of these five, I currently have two for my own personal use; Facebook and Snapchat. According to Hootsuite, as of 2019 the world’s population is 7.676 billion, and of those people, 3.484 billion are active social media users. Considering this, my first plan of action would be to create accounts on each of these social media platforms under The Kindness Lifestyle. Although this would be stepping out of my comfort zone, I would also make a YouTube channel where I would discuss the topics that I write about in my blog. Marketers have said that video has become more powerful than text as it’s more memorable, probably because it appears more personal to the viewer. Having a YouTube channel would be a way to grab another audience’s attention and direct them towards my blog, but also a way to grow my brand as a whole.

However, Darren Barefoot also discussed the notion of “heartbeats and remarkables” when it comes to marketing, and social media was considered a heartbeat. He described “heartbeats” as the basics of marketing that all companies and brands have such as email lists, websites, and social media. Remarkables on the other hand are the exceptional marketing tactics that catch the consumers’ eye; some of them include PR stunts, gimmicks, pop-up events, and unique fundraising mechanisms, to name a few. An example of a remarkable marketing tactic can be found here. Relating back to my website and brand, an effective way to draw people’s attention to The Kindness Lifestyle could be creating an original remarkable. It’s evident that social media isn’t enough to promote a brand these days as everyone has it; it’s simply a necessity, or heartbeat, in the marketing world at this point. However, I was curious if it would be more effective to conduct a remarkable marketing stunt when you have a significant following, or conduct it despite a significant following as a way to make people curious enough to search your brand and see what it’s all about. When considering this, maybe I should take Darren Barefoot’s advice of “safe is risky and risky is safe” in the marketing world.

What I Learned As A Teenager

On September 2nd of 2018, I had to say goodbye to my teenage years and hello to my twenties. I personally feel like my teenage years ended when my mom cancelled my Seventeen Magazine subscription. It was a weird feeling to not have my age end with “teen” anymore. It feels bittersweet. I also find it weird that this is the decade I will have to truly become an adult. I have no idea what these years will hold but that makes me excited. I may move across the country, land my dream career, could potentially get married, see my friends have kids, and all things in between. Yikes.

I would say I have had the “typical” teenage experience. I experienced a lot of “firsts” from first “date” to first “heartbreak” (lol), skipped school to go to McDonalds, went on midnight drives and adventures with friends, sent those risky texts, had a room full of J-14 posters, went through a black eyeliner phase, spent summers at the lake and in my backyard with my best friends, turned the legal drinking age, had a Twitter fan account for various celebrities (which I have been forced to use because Twitter locked me out of my original account), and just truly lived my best life.

It has definitely been years of exploring, loving, and learning. One thing I am proud of is through all of this transition is that I have not lost myself. Being a teenager can be a really hard and a confusing experience. You don’t really know yourself and are trying to find out while juggling life.

I can proudly say I am still the Taylor Swift Loving, Concert Obsessed, Lost and Insecure, Sushi and Starbucks Loving, basic white girl you all know! I have dreams of living in a big city with my dream job and having a lowkey Hannah Montana life raising a family in the countryside. I want to open my own agency and potentially start my own magazine. I never would have thought my love for all things pop culture could lead me to this whole field. I hope to travel the world doing what I love and continue to live my best life. I hope one day I make an impact on someone’s life for the better.

Now, on a serious note, I decided to make this post to reflect on what I have learned and experienced through the years of being a teenager. Whenever I post something, I hope it helps someone in someway.

I hope you take something away from this post that could benefit you, help you from not making the same mistakes I have, blackmail me, realize you are not alone, anything.

Now, I present you the journey I have experienced as a quirky and relatable teen!

Take A Chance On Life

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Something I have learned is to give everything a try, even if it may turn out really bad.

I regret skipping out on a job interview when I was 15 because I was too nervous to go. I could have started gaining experience and breaking out of my shell earlier on, but my mental health is alwaysgoing to be more important. Thankfully I have come around and am not afraid of taking chances.

I wish I didn’t care SO much about what people thought about me growing up. I would not want to wear certain things, dye my hair, and many other things because I thought people would secretly think it was weird.

Here is my first story: I decided to be a wild pre-teen and add blonde streaks to my hair in the 6th grade. People definitely thought it was weird, even telling me it looked like “Halloween.” I kept that hair till grade 9. I think people were just so used to seeing me as the same person all their life that me doing something drastic threw them all off. I also used to have a unibrow, that someone “kindly” pointed out to me in elementary. I tried to fix it myself in my mom’s bathroom and ended up shaving off half my eyebrow before my softball windup party. Honestly, I am blessed with the thick Italian gene brows that people strive for these days, so I should have embraced it. It wasn’t until last summer that I truly realized I need to put MYSELF first. Wear the clothes you want, cut your hair, love who you love, and all the things.

I am so thankful that I got over my freshman year of university shy self and joined a sorority sophomore year. It has brought me a community of support and I do not think I would be enjoying the whole university and life as an adult experience without them. I am currently very content in where my life is at right now. I am happy I can say that.

I am so for the whole “shooting your shot” mentality when it comes to dating and anything. I mean… it has failed for me every time I have tried but it is still worth a try! Slide in their DMs, ask for their number, apply to that job, just do it! I see all of this as, what is the worst that can happen? Rejection sucks but the sooner you try the quicker you can get over it and move onto the next. You will learn if you are wasting time that you could be putting into something better.

Balancing The Obstacles

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I have dealt with a lot growing up. Some things I am not comfortable sharing. One thing I have learned is to take a step back and pinpointing what is important.

One ongoing obstacle that I am slowly feeling ready to open up about is my problem with my body and eating. Ever since I can remember, I have always had a hard time loving the way I looked and allowing myself to eat certain things. It is still something I deal with today, but I have learned it is okay and will take time to find a balance. It was hard discovering social media at such an early age and seeing all of these perceptions of what the expected body is and the look you need to have. Social media has changed the perception of my body. It is really hard to look past all of it and love who I am, but I make sure to remember I am doing the best I can and not feeling too guilty about how I may not be “living up to the idea image.”

Balancing my studies and social life has been awkward. I definitely found myself living a more social life this past fall semester and having my grades slip. I have such FOMO and do not want to remember my university years missing out on things I won’t be able to do in a few years because I have to do a reading. This upcoming year, I am going to make sure I find a balance and use my planner efficiently. I will find ways to allow myself to have a social life but making sure I maybe do a page or so of an essay before then. I blame my high school for making me a major procrastinator.

I think it is hard to help people find a balance, because we all have our own priorities. Knowing what is important in your life and letting yourself be wild can take time to balance. Education and mental health is important.

Take Risks, live in the moment (“My parents live in Ohio.” I had to), set goals, and take control of your life.

The One Where I Cried In A Club

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Now, probably the most *tea* filled part of this post and adventure during my teenage years that I just needed to add because it was just… so dramatic.

A little disclaimer- You know I love you, but I kindly ask you to not message me questioning who these stories are about. (If you know, please do not leak it HAHA). Although part of what I do is producing content on the internet, I do have a private life and a lot that I do not share. You know I am always down for a conspiracy, but I share what I feel comfortable with and have (hopefully) moved on from the situations and would not like to relive them. But, as always, I have a lot of saved tea to spill for some future endeavours… so I will share all eventually (in detail), but for now, this is the only cup filled.

Inspired by one of my favourite content creators, Katy Bellotte, she wrote a post on her blog thekatyproject.com titled “Almost-Lovers”, and it basically talked about all of the boys she has had “things” with that could have potentially been lovers, but of course, has ended the same as they all do. Ghosting, second choices, ignoring you at parties, and all things inbetween. Every person has left us with a moment they cannot take away. After recently listening to her podcast (Thick & Thin), I have decided to share the first time I truly felt a “heartbreak.” A.k.a I discovered I do have a heart and can feel things. Crazy!

Well, this is not the story I am telling (mainly because I forgot why) but in the first grade something happened with my “crush” and all I remember is laying on my parents bed, faced up at the ceiling, and aching inside. I really wish I knew why but that was the first time I FELT heartbreak. How random. ANYWAYS, this is my more grown up story of the time I cried in the club over someone who I thought felt the same way I did. (Narrator- we still do not know if they did, but that is besides the point. At the time, I assume THEY DID NOT).

A month or so before I was literally the “I don’t know why I’m crying in the club right now” meme, I met someone who I instantly felt a connection to. I ignored the feeling at first because I haven’t experienced that feeling in years. Since then, I still haven’t. It wasn’t until a few people came up to me a week later telling me they noticed it too and asked me about it.

I do not trust anyone these days. Even the thought of them being interested was not enough to make me BRAVE and talk to them more. Little did I know what was going to happen in the months to follow.

I pushed the feeling aside and ignored it. I was not going to go through another ninth grade dance watching my crush sway with my friend to “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 and having a single tear roll down my cheek. CLASSIC. My best friend still makes fun of me for it TO THIS DAY and we decided to make a playlist of all the songs I have cried to. (You’re Welcome.).

ANYWAYS.

My friends event was coming up and I was really excited to see everyone again and go out. The day before, this person messaged me asking if I was busy that day. I will never forget seeing “ This person is typing…” for the first time since we met and feeling like I was in some Taylor Swift song.

Of course I was busy that day, so I told them but we had a plan to meet up later on and just say hello. 

I was not comfortable going out alone, so my friend was going to come with me but got sick and did not stay long at the club and at this point I was already drinking and there was no way I could have gone.

I was messaging them throughout the night and it was going really well. But, here is the downfall: When I was in the club, I told them I couldn’t leave because I was, well, not functioning, and did not want to leave my friends. They were trying to find ways to see me but ultimately it was just not going to happen. I could feel something coming.

All I remember reading was “Okay. Whatever.” and I was SHOOK. It felt like everything that could have potentially happened was destroyed and they had given up on me. I thought I ruined something that could have grown.

My friend that was with me messaging them was like, “are you okay?”. I say “yes”, as tears are streaming down my face. If I have learned anything these years it is that I have MASTERED hiding my crying. There have been so many times I have been in the car or in public bawling and no one notices. Maybe no one cares about me but I like to think I mastered the art of hiding my emotions.

Through the loud music, people dancing, friends giving me the classic “You are so much better! He’s not worth it” pep talks, I felt an overwhelming about of emotions I have never experienced.

It was later when I got home (after finally finding a taxi. @Vancouver, why is it so hard?) I realized it was the beginning of what was going to be a new found feeling I have never experienced before.

I sat on my bathroom floor like the dramatic teenager I was and cried to “Getaway Car” and “New Year’s Day” by Taylor Swift. Random song selections, I know. I laugh at it now but at the time I was so sad! Tragic.

I ultimately got up and continued to live my best life because I had to go to work in a few hours. But since that moment, I have seen this person here and there. The feelings are not as strong, but something has stayed consistent and has worn off. I have seen people in between these times, but I have not found anything close to the feeling I found. And that is okay. I looked at this as being thankful I even found a feeling worth holding onto and know it is out there somewhere.

So moral of the story is: Feelings are weird and I am not a fan. I have definitely grown a lot since that moment and thank this summer for giving me the time to realize my worth and learn. The Emily at that moment thought this was the end of something special, but today I know there is so much more to experience and it is not worth the tears. I can now say I will not settle or fight for anything I feel is not reciprocated. I know love is out there and time has been my bff.

Even though this was a dramatic experience with an awkward ending (a story for another day), I thank this person for helping me realize my worth and discover this feeling. As Katy said:

“He or she was not just a failed attempt at what you will eventually have with someone else. Every potential relationship is either love, or a lesson. Don’t look at it any other way.”

Like, Realizing Things

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I guess ultimately I can say that it is WILD how nothing truly matters.

Everything I cried about, was worried for, and thought I would never get over, eventually wore off. I think I have just become numb to everything that used to bother me and I am kind of glad.

Of course, there are some things I do need to worry about. I will worry about them when the time comes and continue to just live in the now.

Life is hard. Being a teenager was hard. Trying to find your place in this world and living instead of just existing has taken some time but I am happy with where I am at.

A Special Note

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I just wanted to say thank you to my family, friends, sisters, mentors, teachers, and everyone who has played a part in getting me to where I am today. I am so lucky!

I Am Left With This

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  • I am a firm believer of dress like you are okay with that outfit being your ghost outfit for the rest of your life
  • Elle Woods is my queen
  • Appreciate your family
  • Laughter is the best medicine
  • School work is not worth the cost of your family
  • It is okay not to know what you want to do in life
  • Order your favorite dessert
  • Send that text
  • Be unapologetically yourself
  • Quality over quantity
  • Surround yourself with the best people you can grow with and conquer life with
  • Give everyone a chance
  • I will be on a reality show one day
  • Be confident
  • LIVE
  • Spend all your money on concert tickets
  • Remind people how much you care for them

In my 20’s, I am not letting anything hold me back. I am taking this time to be unapologetically myself and live the best life I can for me.

*All photos are my own*

The post What I Learned As A Teenager appeared first on Starlight Adventures.

Process Post 9 – Data Trails

As, Suzanne Norman (2015) reflects, “so much for the data trap.” In the Bezosphere of 2019, data governs decisions, policies and movements, but as everyday web civilians, what does our trail mean? How do we contribute to analytics, and as such, how does our online behavior dictate what we see, what is created and how, as bloggers, we design, re-design and promote what we post and share?

In the past month, Google Analytics has shown that ReRouted has had 28 users, 63 sessions, 28.57% bounce rate and an average of 5 minutes and 58 seconds spent on the site. This bounce rate is considerable, particularly now, as it’s significance was discussed in tutorial, and I hope to believe its due to my content and not just family members and friends reading a couple pages of this blog. The average length of a session seems to match the length of a post or two. So, it makes sense having these two analytics do ‘well’ in terms of an amature blog.

As noted by the Pod Academy (2016), our blissful lack of awareness in leaving breadcrumbs of ourselves online is something we’re not entirely aware of, and unlike brick and mortar libraries and bookstores, what we touch is counted, assessed and re-presented to us as marketing chameleons. Our blogs then, become digital shapeshifters; responding to what is required in order to elicit activity and move users towards content that generates data we like to see. The question is, does Google utilize analytics as a kind resource for bloggers and developers alike, or is it a self-serving service that gives them access to ours, as well as our readers’ information? Moreover, does this matter?

Here, Brian Mac Namee (2016) suggests that yes, we leave data trails everywhere we go, but this is the world we live in, and like other things we have come to accept, we must forge ahead and understand that there are consequences of convenience. Further, he argues that data trails do not equate to a dystopian now, but rather, these are algorithm breakthroughs that are exciting from the perspective of science. On Apparel, Venkat Viswanathan (2017) agrees, but from a consumer perspective; we are leaving an identifiable residue of activity that teaches us about consumption, impulsivity and behavior. Is this ethical? I’m not certain I am the right person to suggest either side of the fence, but in living within a digital world that targets my interests, shares my data and influences what I see, I offer my implied consent.

This begs the question; are we aware of what we are contributing to; this murky pool of data? If we apply the concept of implied consent, can our understanding suggest to the omnipotent social creators like Google, that we accept all ramifications of dropping data behind us for the collection and interpretation of others? Alternatively, what factors jeopardize implied consent, such as age, ability, demographic, disability, etc? Do people really know what they’re getting themselves into, and if they do, is it too late for them to wash the trail behind them?

Is our information public? This question has been of contentious debate, which you can read about here, but in consideration of our understanding of the Internet as a public space, we should, as we would in a mall or library, be aware that our activity is not private. Education and awareness is fundamental in providing society the tools, or at least the knowledge, that our actions are observable, and while less pervasive, our purchases have always been recorded. So, are Google and Amazon the culprits of this contention, or is it capitalism in general? We are quick to blame technology, but like a race to the finish, we’re always pointing fingers at whomever crosses the line first.