Friday Feature: My Tumblr Pages

Finally, my promised introduction to Tumblr!  For those of you who don't know what Tumblr is, it's basically a simplified blogging website where people post text posts (much like here on Blogger), quotes, music, and most of all lots and lots of pictures.  There is a whole Tumblr culture, made up primarily of teenage girls who look and act a certain way in the hope of becoming "Tumblr girls."  There is also a lot of weird stuff on Tumblr.  I'm talking really, really WEIRD stuff, so if you've never used the site before, be warned.

As for me, I started using Tumblr sporadically this past fall and quickly fell into the trap of the never ending scroll bar.  Seriously, you can lose hours simply scrolling down your home feed because (this is an important tip!) there is no end of the page!  I use have been doing surprisingly well with my Lenten Tumblr limitations, and I think I'll definitely maintain them for productivity's sake even after the season is over.

I use my primary Tumblr, littlespider's web as a sort of never ending inspiration board.  I don't post that many original photos, but use it mainly for sharing quotes and reblogging beautiful pictures of clothes, nature, and of course, books!  Feel free to come follow me and leave a comment with your Tumblr as well!

If you like my Sketchbook Sunday posts and would like to see more art, you can check out my portfolio Tumblr here.  I'm still working on posting and curating my art work, but I like how it's coming along so far.

Internet Addict

If you guys know anything about the Christian calendar, you'll know that we're currently in the season of Lent.  During this season we are meant to prepare for Easter by being mindful of our sins and actively working toward spiritual and personal betterment.  Most people give up something, like chocolate or swearing, and some take up a more positive activity instead, like smiling at everyone you see.

You're probably wondering what on earth this has to do with the Internet.  My answer for this is that for the past couple of years, I have given up the Internet for Lent.  I have noticed over the years that the time and energy I put into both my "Internet presence" and just browsing in general has kept increasing to the point that I can't imagine not having access to the Internet for a single day.  It doesn't interfere with my personal, "in real life" relationships or activities, but it is a major enough distraction that I will admit to being fairly addicted to the Internet.  And since the idea of Lent is to get rid of the distractions in our lives and simplify, it only makes sense that I give up some aspect of the Internet.

I think the reason I have actually managed to be successful with this over the past couple of years is that I haven't sworn off the Internet in general, opting instead to implement strict usage guidelines.  My guidelines for this year are:

1. I may only spend one hour a day on YouTube.  Yes, this does mean that I have been spending more than that watching videos recently.  This doesn't have to be one straight hour, but I need to keep track and if I go over, I must not go on YouTube at all for two days.
2. I may only use Tumblr for one hour a week.  I have recently started using Tumblr (and have a whole Friday Feature coming about it) and quickly came to understand why so many people find it addicting.  It's really easy to lose track of time as you continue down the never ending scroll.  If I go over this limit, I must not use Tumblr for two weeks.  Yes, that is very daunting and has been keeping me in check so far!

Seeing as these two sites are my biggest time sucks, they're the only ones I felt the need to restrict.  So far it's been going fairly well, which is especially surprising since I'm on spring break and would really love to spend the whole day on YouTube.

Happy Hump Day, everyone.  Are you a bit of an Internet addict?  Have you ever tried to "unplug" or restrict your usage time?

The End of the Semester in Instagrams

Hello, all!  Creative post title, I know.  I apologize for my sudden disappearance the last couple of weeks, but I honestly can say I have never had a more challenging finals-season in my 3.5 years of undergraduate studies.  Seriously, this semester was brutal beyond belief.  It involved many 10-12 pages essays...

...as well as a lot of time spent huddled in odd corners of the library, fighting for the few plugs available and the critical sources for said papers.  I really was beginning to feel like a hermit.  Thankfully, when Thanksgiving rolled around, I was able to take a bit of a break.  My dad came to town, and together we did some exploring...

... and some cooking.

This past week was not only our official exam week, but also graduation.  So between frantically writing papers and attending grad-events for my friends, I just managed to squeeze in some DIY graduation gifting.

Now I am finally home for a 2.5 week break.  I am sleeping through the night, reading what I want, eating what I want, and overall feeling incredibly grateful for evening this short period of rest and for the fact that my family prefers to keep our holiday celebrations fairly low-key.

Speaking of which, I better finish wrapping presents.  I hope your last couple of weeks have been less stressful than mine!

Happy Movember!

So, remember when I said I would be posting weekly LSAT prep updates and lots of content?  Well, obviously that was a lie.  This month has been far more crazy than I was anticipating, and I literally have not had time to get out my tablet and draw up a little check list.  Suffice it to say that prep is going well, and that I probably should stop using it as an excuse to not do my actual homework.

This past Friday, however, I let myself have a little fun by going to my university's basketball game.  It was a very special game in that the basketball team decided that they wanted to show their support of No-Shave-November (aka Movember).  They did this by attempting to break the world record for the largest gathering of people all wearing false mustaches.  Yes, this is a very strange world record (kind of makes you wonder who decides what to actually record, doesn't it?).  They passed out free mustaches and wristbands at the door and we recorded our attempt on video during half-time.  It was a really fun event and I have to admit that I don't look half-bad with a 'stache.

Happy Movember, everyone!  If you guys would like to know more about the mustache-movement and their quest to raise awareness for men's health issues, you can check them out HERE.

LSAT Countdown: Week One

There are exactly five weeks until I take the LSAT exam, which means I have to step my preparation into high gear. For those of you who don't know, the LSAT is the exam that is used to determine acceptance into law school, and it has been terrifying potential law students for years.

For my part, I feel shockingly calm about the whole event.  However, in order to push myself to stay on top of things, I thought I would share my last weeks of preparation here on the blog in order to remain accountable.  Yes, I realize that this isn't the most exciting thing for you all to read about, but it will really help keep me on track.  And I will be posting other things as well, never fear.

Well, I'm off to keep studying!

Answering Some Questions!

Back in July I passed 300 subscribers on YouTube!  I know, right?  Currently I am just past 430 subscribers and couldn't possibly feel more amazed and grateful that there are hundreds of people out there who actually enjoy listening to me ramble on about books and life.

Anyways, as a sort of thank-you plus a get-to-know-me, I decided to do a question-and-answer video.  I received quite a few interesting questions and answered them last week in the video above!

In other news, I am heading back to school at the end of the week, which means major packing is getting under way.  I'm thinking about doing a "Tips for Packing for College" post sometime this week, but am leery of promising anything.  You all know what happens when I try and plan ahead for this blog.  And if you don't because you're new here, welcome to the world's most neglected blog.  If this blog was the person I was dating, I would have stood it up hundreds of times now.

With that very strange analogy, I bid you adieu.

Realizations from Tragedy

Hello all, on this not so pleasant occasion.  Life is crazy right now, trying to cram in paper after paper, but I could not concentrate after the frightening events today at the Boston Marathon.  So I've decided to take to the blogosphere for some soul searching.

I was in fifth grade when the towers went down on 9/11.

I remember that all my teachers were a bit tense, but I didn't really know what was going on.  After school, I was surprised to find my mom parked in the same spot she had occupied earlier that morning for drop off.  Only years later did she tell me that she went to Target to buy a battery operated radio before spending the rest of the day sitting in my school parking lot, just in case she needed to get to me in a hurry.

Unfortunately, I have lived through enough national tragedies (the latest being the horrendous school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut) that I am not rocked to the core when something awful happens.  Yes, each event makes me lose a little faith in humanity, but I never personally feel unsafe or at risk.

But today, this is different.  Today I watched a video clip of families and friends, spectators of the Boston marathon getting attacked by an explosion from the center of the crowd.  And I do feel just a little bit less safe.  Even watching as law enforcement and members of the armed forces swarmed in and quickly contained the situation, it really struck home that someone was mentally able to do this to hundreds of people and, by extension, their families.

Maybe this is my delayed realization that terrorism is a real thing that can happen to anyone, any time.  Maybe this is me finally realizing the gruesome nature of murder for no apparent reason.  But at the same time, it's instances like this that make me want to study criminal law, so that I can be a part of the system that ensures that horrible people who can commit crimes like this answer for their actions.

To all the families and victims effected, my thoughts and prayers are with you.  To those armed forces and law enforcement officers who protect us each and every day, thank you.

Dew Tour San Francisco

After a cold and rainy Friday, today was an absolutely beautiful San Francisco Saturday.  But before I get into that, I want to talk about something that I don't particularly like to: feelings.

I've been feeling a little, well, off lately.  I'm having a hard time articulating what I'm feeling, but all I know is something's not quite the same with me.  Maybe I'm feeling a bit lame for not going abroad like all my friends this year, maybe I'm actually lonely without knowing it, maybe I'm just feeling a little pathetic that I never get around to doing as much as I would like to.  Whatever the reason, this morning was a hard one, even after talking with one of my best friends from Paris.  Luckily, my ever-patient mother was able to talk some sense into me after a long phone call.

She reminded me that while sitting around and moping is bad, getting out there and doing something is good.  It's always worked for me before, whether it was just going to the store for a quick errand or spending the day out and about.

So in this spirit, I headed to Civic Center Plaza to check out the 2012 Dew Tour.  For those of you who don't know what this is, well, the best way I can explain it is that it's a low-key extreme sports competition.  There's skateboarding, BMX, concerts, and lots of products and companies to check out.  I'd always managed to catch it on TV before, but decided to take the opportunity of actually being in the same city to go see it in person.  Unfortunately, I missed the skateboarding for the day (darn), but I got to catch the end of the BMX competition.

The free viewing definitely could have been set up better, but it was still pretty cool to get so close to the action.  And best of all, it cured my blues for the day.

For those of you living in or visiting San Fran, I would highly suggest checking the Dew Tour out.  Tomorrow's the last day!

30DDC: Day 1 - Yourself

Welcome to Day 1 of my 30 Day Drawing Challenge!  The first prompt was yourself.  At first, I tired to do an actual portrait, I really did.  But it turned out horribly and looked absolutely nothing like me, so I decided to do this instead.  That's me with the book, in case you got lost in my horrible rambling.  I'm surrounded by all the things that make me who I am.  Oh, and no, my hair does not really have cool streaks and stuff.

On a completely separate note, here are two photo's of the sunrise from my dorm room this morning.  I took them half hanging out the window, so I hope that you like/appreciate them!

The Quiet Days Are Gone

I can hardly believe that break is finally over, but it's true.  The five weeks flew by so quickly!  I fly back to San Fran tomorrow (today?) and before I do I wanted to post some pictures from a few weeks ago.  They were all taken on a photo-exploration with my brother and dad, at the Upper Newport Bay.

The Upper Newport Bay Interpretive Center has many different trails that you can follow, though sometimes it's more fun to just forge your own.  The hills and weird gaps that required jumping over were not my favorite, however, because I've been having some knee troubles.  I've spent the last two weeks of break in physical therapy to treat my irritated and inflamed IT Band, so hopefully the hills and stairs of San Francisco will not be an issue.  Keep your fingers crossed!

The next time I post, it will be from my home in the rainy city.

Just Keep Singing!

Adele's music is so captivating that I cannot get this song out of my head!  Here is my own, slightly different version of "Rolling in the Deep."  Enjoy, everyone.  Happy Monday.

Mind Your Manners, Please

Last week, I took a trip to Universal Studios Hollywood with my dad and my brother, Trevor.  Expecting to have a fun, stress free day at our favorite theme park, we were rather shocked by how rude the people there were.  We were constantly being shoved and yelled at, and I caught more than one person staring at me after I had already walked past.  The icing on the cake, however, was at lunch, when a man stood behind Trevor's chair for fifteen minutes watching us finish our meal, simply because he wanted our table.

Needless to say, we haven't been able to stop talking about our lunch experience that day.  Trevor, who's working on establishing himself on YouTube, has been talking about doing a "rant" video discussing just what about people's behavior annoys him.  I've decided that this is a rather good idea, so this will be a post discussing the three things people do that I just can't stand.  Of course, it will be a little less rant and a little more discussion.

1) Staring

I know I'm good looking and all that, but is it really necessary to stare at me?  In all seriousness, I think this is one of the rudest things that people do.  The freshmen at school do it all the time, and it makes everyone feel really uncomfortable.  Even if you think that you're flattering someone with your attention, trust me, that's not what it'll feel like.

My solution?  Just don't do it!  Try glancing instead; you'll see just as much without making the object of your attentions feel like their being stalked.  Actually, I would encourage glancing in a situation in which you're trying to catch someone's attention.  The idea that someone is interested and yet trying to be sneaky about it is actually very mysterious and intriguing.

2) Making You Wait for Them

Okay, I know that I am not always so good about this one, but that doesn't mean I can't be bothered by it.  This is probably the rudest thing in the entire world.  As my mom has told me, it is a total control thing, especially when you start getting ready to go somewhere ten minutes before you're supposed to leave.

So what can we do to avoid making this social faux pas?  Simple: if you set a time to meet someone, do everything in your power to make that time.  Don't squeeze in meetings or appointments if you don't think you'll be able to make it in time.  If you know you take a long time to get ready, give yourself a timeline and do your best to stick to it.  Better yet, set fake times for yourself so that you have a buffer in case you run over.  Trust me, it may just work.

3) Using Other's Things and Treating Them Poorly

Have you ever lent someone a shirt or a bag, only to have them return it to you damaged in some way or another?  I have, and it frustrates me to know end.  A shirt gets stretched out and never fits the same way again, or a bag gets weird stains on it that seem to never get entirely out.  In college, people borrow clothing items to wear to parties and return them with additions of alcohol stains and bodily functions.

There are a couple of ways we can deal with this.  If you are the borrower, it's really quite simple.  If you use other people's things, treat them the way you would treat your own possessions.  If you're the lender, maybe you should rethinking your lending policy.  Try talking to your friend about how they are treating your things, and if that doesn't work, that may be a sign that it's better not to lend them anything at all.  Keep in mind that you're lending policy should be the same for all of your friends.  If you're not letting one friend borrow things, stay consistent and don't let anyone else borrow things, either.

I hope this can help in some uncomfortable and awkward situations.  The best advice I can give, however, is to simply treat others the way you want to be treated!

Things Change

Do you ever get bored with your space?  It happens to me quite frequently, especially when I have spent my year crammed into a dorm room with very few arrangement options.  Still, I get restless and feel the need the switch things up a bit, even if that means trying something a little unusual.

And last night, that's exactly what I did.

It's a little different, because it sticks straight out into the room in front of the closet, but it's weird enough to satisfy my need for something entirely different.  It also means that I have an entirely new wall space to decorate!

What's boring you in your life, friends, and what can you do to change that?

Trying Something New

Thought I'd try something a little different, this time.

Voting Crunch Time!

I recently submitted another design to Threadless, so it's voting time again! This design is a little more fun, a little less funky, but I love it just as much. Something I learned from my first submission, however, is that if you don't get enough positive votes in the first 24 hours of scoring, than you get dropped from that round of voting. So I would really appreciate it if you all could support me and vote well. Unfortunately, you do have to create an account to vote, but it's free and you can even submit your own designs or sayings.

If you'd like to help me out and vote, check out my design HERE!

In other news, earlier this week I got a surprise root canal. I went to the dentist for a cleaning and they noticed a dark spot on my routine x-rays. I checked in with the specialist they referred me to, and he confirmed that the nerve inside my tooth was completely dead and infected. That same day I went back in for the root canal. I knew nothing about root canals aside from the fact that they made most people I know flinch at the very thought. So I was happily surprised when it only took twenty minutes and I have not experienced  any major pain. I go back next week for the final visit, but it seems like everything went well.

I also got a new iPhone 4 to replace my poor, falling apart Blackberry. And this means that the days of a lack of pictures are over! The iPhone's camera is so amazing, you may actually start to get annoyed with the sheer quantity of random pictures I'll be taking. My dogs have been amazing models so far!

Well, hope you all have an amazing weekend. Don't forget to drop by Threadless and vote. Thanks!

I Need Your Help!

So, remember when I told you that I'm trying to get some t-shirt designs printed on Threadless.com? Well, my design is officially up for voting! I get one week (yes, only seven days) to get enough votes to get considered for printing. That means I need as many people to rate and leave positive comments as possible.

If you'd like to help me out, you can find my design HERE.

Don't be confused by the username littlespider. It is me, I promise! Thanks so much guys, and hope you all are having a fabulous week!

Playing Catch (Up)

Although I've been home from school for about a week, I have become incredibly lazy, and still have not gotten around to posting pictures from the various adventures I have yet to tell you all about. I will try to get to that within the next week or so, as after that I probably shouldn't even bother.

Picture obtained from the SF Chronicle at sfgate.com

There are a couple of things that I wanted to talk about in this post, and the first will be painful for any Giants fans out there. This past Wednesday, while playing the Florida Marlins, Giants catcher Buster Posey took an extremely hard hit catching a ball in front of home plate. Scott Cousins of the Marlins barreled into the young Rookie of the Year in an attempt at dislodging the ball and thus preventing himself from being tagged out. During the collision, Posey was forced backward, bending his left ankle awkwardly. It was revealed on Thursday, after x-rays and multiple MRIs, that Posey had fractured his lower leg and torn several ligaments. The injury will require surgery and probably keep Posey from playing for the rest of the season.

Now, this injury has become more than just a tragedy for the already offensively struggling Giants. Rather, it has sparked a nationwide discussion about whether the rules regarding plays at home plate need to be changed. And, as a loyal Giants fan, I felt like it was my obligation to at least voice my opinion on the play. Across the various Internet platforms I use, I have watched many people argue over whether or not it was a clean play. If you watch the video, it is pretty obvious that Posey was not, in fact, completely blocking home plate, and that Cousins opted to run into the catcher rather than take the open lane. However, from my understanding, that was a legal play; the runner is allowed to run into the catcher in an attempt to dislodge the ball. So then the question becomes, Should they make this kind of play illegal? I say, why not? The NFL has made attacks on defenseless players punishable with a fine, and I think that MLB should be able to incorporate a similar rule. I have read multiple articles that suggest that Cousins decided to go with the collision because he was trying to prove his worth and claim more playing time. However, if he had been facing a fine, he probably would have thought twice about committing to the play. So, while I agree that these collisions are simply a part of baseball, I also think that there are preventative measures that can be taken to help limit their occurrence.

Well, this post has certainly turned out to be longer than I was expecting. On an entirely different note, I have a favor to ask of you. I've been posting pictures of my artwork all year, and have been trying to find a way to make some money from it. Jobs are very difficult to come by in our current economic situation, so I have been looking into alternative ways of making money. One such alternative I found in Threadless.com. Here they print t-shirts designed and picked by the public. I have recently submitted a t-shirt for rating, and hope that it will get enough votes to be printed on t-shirts and possibly other products. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to look at the design and rate it! Remember, the higher it scores, the closer it will be to getting picked for printing.

Thanks so much for all your support. I know I don't tell you enough, but I really appreciate it and promise that I will try and get those pictures up soon!

Blink, And It's Over

I cannot believe that this year has gone by so quickly! And yet here we are, in my final days of freshman year. I guess you could say that, because I am done with work and finals, my year is already over. But I don't know if I'm ready to let it go yet.

When I originally started this blog, I said that I wanted to chronicle my adventures and musings. What I didn't plan on capturing was how much I would change this year. If you go back to my earliest posts, you can see that I was an entirely different person, timid, quick to judgment, and generally unsure about my place in the world. While I think it would be a little much to say that I have my entire life figured out, I do feel good about pointing out how much I've changed. If there is one thing I've learned in my first year of college, it's that you need to go with the flow. Even the best laid plans can fall through, as I've discovered on multiple occasions this year, and when they do you have to be able to laugh it off and go with it. But at the same time, you can't get completely swept away; you need to take responsibility for your own life. Maybe this is what being an adult is all about: taking charge of your life when possible, and recognizing when you have to just let everything go.

The next few days will be a whirlwind of laundry, packing, and taking down my wall of color. Although I didn't quite cover the entire wall, I got pretty darn close to it. I can't wait until next year to start my next collection in my new room! Thankfully, my grandparents are letting me store some stuff at their house over the summer, so my dad and I will be driving home with a significantly lightened load. We're staying for the Giants vs. Athletics game this Friday, and should be on our way home Saturday morning.

I fully intend to continue posting throughout the summer, despite the fact that the adventures will be taking place in a Southern California beach town rather than the big city of San Francisco. I am actually terribly behind on posting pictures of things like my trip to the Mission District, Chinatown, Rio Vista, and my first every Bay to Breakers, so I will have plenty to talk to you all about. Keep checking back for the forgotten adventures of freshman year!

Thank you all for coming on this journey of my first year at college with me. It's been quite the experience, hasn't it?

Positivity

Happy weekend, everyone! The past couple of days or so have been a blur of fun, sun, and relaxing. San Francisco experienced a slightly heat wave (or maybe it was just a rise in temperatures) last week, and as such my friends and I spent every possible second outside. We even donned our bathing suits and trekked to Golden Gate Park (which is much closer than the beach) for a little bit of tanning. While there,  Justine and I decided to romp around in the vegetation, and it left me feeling invigorated and alive! Nature tends to do that for me. 

Last night, the campus hosted a small concert of mostly "indie bands" in one of our gyms. I decided to actually do something on a Friday night and go with a small group of my friends. It turns out that the concert had started at four o'clock that afternoon, and we had missed the majority of it. Luckily, we made it just in time for the headlining group Augustana to perform. After experiencing their attractiveness and great music for myself, I would definitely recommend checking out their new album. I know I plan to download it!

So, I'm sure some of you are wondering about the title of this post. Being out in the sun has not only made me tanner, but it has altered my mentality on life slightly. I couldn't believe how much happier I was getting off campus and being in the park for just a few hours. Combining this with my thoughts about Lent (the liturgical season that the Catholic Church is currently in), I decided that I needed to make some positive changes in my living habits. This means wasting as little time as possible and actually being productive when I do work. I also plan on getting up a bit earlier to go on a walk at least a couple times a week. I did it today, and I've been much more energetic and happy. See, positive change!

Is there anything you can do/change to make your life more positive?

Where Does the Time Go?

Well, we've been back for a whole week already, and I'm already wondering where all my time has gone. I'm dying to get back to doing something creative and decided to pull out this picture from over break. I had decided that I wanted to crochet something, and later that day this hat was born! It got a little funky towards the end (I probably should have ended it sooner), but my brother doesn't seem to care.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to fulfill my need for creativity by adding more pictures to my wall. The collage has gotten so big that it doesn't fit in one frame anymore!

Wishing you all a wonderful week!