Lazy Sundays

I have jotted down some stuff for my first theme: urges. I'll copy it down here just to get the ball rolling. Now. Just to clarify my writing style, each week will be different. Some weeks I may write a short story, some weeks I may write a continuing story, some may be a poem, and others just feelings written down. Here's some ramblings for the previous week.

So many urges inside.
One person cannot hold them all.
Urges to be good; urges to be bad.

I'm a daughter. I'm a Christian.
Both urges seem good.
But when I feel that pull,
I decide to go bad.

There are good urges.
Be a good daughter; respect.
But the other side, they're bad.
Drink, cuss, steal; I'm consumed.

A fire burns inside.
Good and bad rages.
It's a never ending battle.
And who knows which side will win.

Be an asset to your community,
and give your all for free.
But then you need to earn your keep.
Go out, work; then fall.



Promise I'm not always this melodramatic :-D It's just been a stressful week. Okay, next week I will post a new theme and some more writin' for you guys!

Procrastination at its best

Okay guys, here's the deal. I know I was supposed to post the themes by now, but guess what in the world happened. (Drum roll please, because I know you all are dying to know this) My laptop has passed away. *Moment of silence*

The screen is actually destroyed, and I can't see anything. But I've got big plans for this blog yet. As soon as I fix my computer (or get a new one), OR gain access to Illustrator or Photoshop, I'm going to design the header for this blog. So. Be patient, fair readers. I'll write you another love letter soon :)

Real life is hard

Since I graduated over a year ago, my life has been making it from paycheck to paycheck. Before college, and during, I was convinced that all I needed was a college degree and I would be ushered into the Real World with a ready-made job with a nice paycheck and a cushy life. Wrong.

My friends around me are making things happen for themselves. They are designing blogs, furthering their education post-graduation and filling their portfolios with their work. But a lot of the things they are doing for their careers and with their degrees are easy to show. That is my good friend Janet and she is amazing at what she does.

But for me, it's not easy to put in jpeg format and post online for all to see. I'm a communicator. To see what I do best, come to Kanpai of Tokyo and watch me interact with guests at our restaurant. I use my skills that I learned from Clemson University to handle the public at that job. Even though I feel I am utilizing what I learned in school, I still feel I haven't reached my full potential and I won't be able to at this job.

I want to flex my literary muscles and actually work at something I'm good at for a paycheck. I love to write. That's simple. But how do I get a job that includes writing as a job asset? I guess it could be simple as well: start writing on this blog.

I'm going to take away from my friends Janet and Amanda and come up with a theme each week and write about it. (Go here to witness amazing converted into pictures and a blog).

Tomorrow I will start showcasing my skills and building up my portfolio. Stay tuned.

Long awaited

Hello readers who happen to stumble upon my blogspot (by accident or on purpose), welcome! I decided to revive this blog and use it to show off my superior writing skills (ha). I wanted to discuss an advertisement I created for the Kanpai of Tokyo bar this past year.

If you're a little slow like I can be sometimes, the picture to the right is the advertisement I created. My manager came up to me one day and asked if I would like to help her create an ad for our new pomegranate martinis and I was all for it. I love being creative.

So I started out with just the picture of a pomegranate martini. I know I wanted something catchy on it and also tie in to the popularity in the pomegranate martinis. I put together the sentence up top and was thrilled. I thought it looked like an ad you would read in a magazine. Short and simple, enticing the customer to see what they really have been missing out on.

The font choices to me were easy. The main message was meant to emulate an ad that really would be in the magazine, so I went with a font that seems simple, plain, and easy to read. I chose the one at the bottom because italic script always seems so...fancy, so I went with that one.

So there is an original Ashley Turner, guys. How proud are you?? I know I'm super proud and I have completed my task of showing off my *ahem* superior writing skills for the day.

The results are in...

Welcome back! Where we left off last time was my proposal to put the Uncertainty Reduction Theory to use in my own life. First of all, here is a picture of me and the girl I bonded with.

When I went over to my friend's room, her two friends whom I've never met were there bonding it up already. I was introduced to Lauren and automatically I told her I liked her shirt. It seems that every time I bond with a female I look for something on her person (subconsciously) and compliment her on it. It is either her shirt, shoes or purse. With Lauren it was her shirt.

One thing I pointed out as well is that my middle name is Lauren. So take a moment here. This Uncertainty Reduction Theory seems to be on point here. I just revealed to this person that my middle name was the same as her first, but if this weren't the first time I met her, I would not have mentioned that. Huh. So it turns out that scholars are on to something with this theory...

Or I'm just really awkward.

Well I'm a little uncertain...

So as my two readers know, I have started this blog for my Communications class and am encouraged (required, whatever) to have some of my blogs be about communications studies! So tonight, dear reader(s), I introduce to you UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION THEORY!

Here's the basic premise of this theory: when you first meet someone, you disclose more information about yourself than you normally would to reduce uncertainty. If you have high uncertainty (or if you're really nervous in a situation) then it is more likely that you will tell this stranger a little more than you would tell an acquaintance.

Since this is a theory that is published in a college text book, let's put it to good use. I am going to go over to a friend's room tonight where she is hanging out with two of her other freshman friends (I am a junior) that I do not know. While I am thrown into a situation like this awkwardly let's see how I interact with the two new girls. I'll test out the theory and see if it's all it's cracked up to be...

Technology My Way

Now that the whole world is becoming digital it's no wonder that television shows are taking on the internet as well. The thing that probably really spurred this movement was the fact that people were recording the episodes and uploading them illegally for people to watch for free. So NBC and ABC finally caught on and offered full episodes on their websites for free, but to still earn money they air commercials (one or two) in between.

It took Fox a little longer to catch on and they're still very slow. The new episode isn't uploaded until after the next one airs on television which doesn't make any sense. If all viewers are able to watch the episode online and catch up, by the time the actual episode rolls around, more viewers would tune in. So thanks to new technology, I am able to cuddle up with my laptop (as if that's my actual laptop) and spend hours at a time watching episodes with limited commercial interruptions. :)