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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Chegg is a money saver for suree

I know for some of my friends "summer" is just beginning thanks to summer school finally being over, but I've been on summer break since May. It seems like school is fast approaching (again) and I'm super excited because that means I'm back at a university. WOO!! I've scheduled all of my classes and got my student loans. The next step? Parking pass and books...

I forgot that the one thing I hate about going to a university instead of a community college is how much the books cost / how many books are required of you. I have 5 classes, but only 4 are requesting books so far. Of those 4 classes I have a combined total of 11 books to buy / rent. If I bought them all...it'd cost about 460 dollars.

That's freaking ridiculous. I know I paid somewhere around that much my first semester at OSU but then I discovered some awesome ways to avoid that. Ohio's way was the best -- there was OhioLink, which basically rents out books from ANY of the universities in Ohio with that book, for FREEE.

Here in California, we aren't that thrifty, apparently. Thank goodness for Chegg though. I'd been hearing about Chegg for awhile but hadn't used it thanks to my fantastic time with OhioLink (which I discovered in my last quarter at OSU, damn). Once I started going to the community and they wanted still about 200 dollars for my textbooks I decided to try Chegg.

Last semester, I only rented one textbook because I bought all of the others for 5 or 10 bucks on craigslist (also a life saver, but it's very rare to find the books on there. I was lucky). Chegg offered great service - I got it quick and I didn't have to pay to ship it back, etc. They also donate trees for you, with your order. I think that's so nifty and cute.

So, I became obsessed with Chegg. I'm going to rent as many of those 11 books as I can on there as soon as I get the reimbursement from my student loan. (Hopefully, soon).

My obsession led me to want to "Promote Chegg." Which is pretty cool because it's free to sign up and you can give the people you promote to 5% off. Plus I get a kickback (somehow, i think it's $5 off of my orders per person...)

So here it is everyone. The code to use when renting books on Chegg (which will save you at least $500 a year -- Through renting on chegg i save 250 dollars this semester, actually)

 I have a promo code that will save you an additional 5% off your total order, use: CC128312.


If you have any questions ask me!! =]

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Have I told you about the book I'm writing?

I say this often and the typical response is no. I'm not actually writing this book, though it'd probably be a best seller. But as the story goes...

The book's called Relationships: Don't Do Them.
Chapter 1: Don't do them
Chapter 2: If you find yourself in one get out immediately

At this point, everyone usually laughs. They know I'm not serious. It sounds so bitter, so scorned. But with the way things have been going lately, we all kinda agree.

I'm 21 and for the past few months I've been preaching being single. I don't want the drama of a relationship. I love, and I can't escape the drama; but still I try. Anyone who says relationships should be easy and drama free is delusional. There's always going to be disagreements and tough times. That's just how life is, in general.

I don't want that drama, but I crave the love. You see, it's hard when you've had it, when you have it but something happens so there is the drama.

In the words of Audrey Hepburn: "Your heart just breaks, that's all. But you can't judge, or point fingers. You just have to be lucky enough to find someone who appreciates you."


As I'm always saying, I love love. I need it to survive - we all do. So I'm always going to have hope. To want love. To want a relationship, despite the drama. The good outweighs it.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Teen Magazines Need a Makeover

When I was a 14 and 15 I devoured as many as 10 teen magazines every month. Like most girls, I loved what I found between the glossy covers. The articles on style, hair and health drew me in but it was the articles about the crazy things that happen in girls lives and how they overcame obstacles.

CosmoGirl! was my favorite magazine for this. They always had CosmoGirl! of the year and featured strong women role models. Of the teen girl magazine CosmoGirl! has always been the one I’ve wanted to intern.

Once I realized my dream of wanting to have a teen girl’s magazine I only read the prominent magazines to get ideas – mostly of what not to include in my magazine. Eventually, I gave up on reading these magazines at all. They drive me up the wall with their pages of fashion and style and teaching girls that looking “pretty for back to school” is going to give that confidence every girl craves.

Sadly, it’s not true. Yes, a girl’s fashion gives her confidence. Yes, feeling pretty releases endorphins and boosts confidence levels. But who are these magazines to say that these main styles are the one that’s going to offer a girl the confidence she needs?

I look at the styles to look out for this for back to school: “sexy tomboy, glam rock, comfy girly, flirty sporty, artsy chic and sweetly chill.” Well, all of these styles are just a little too high maintenance for me. I like to get dressed up, and my makeup done and have a great night on the town. I like to look “sexy,” “hot, “gorgeous” or another synonym. But my general everyday school style would have been jeans and a tank top, the occasional dress or skirt; minimal makeup and my hair scrunched into waves.

This was my comfortable confidence. I ruled that school.

True, some days I wish I were more fashionable. Like on Friday when we had girls night and were supposed to go to a club. But for the most part I love my style. It makes me feel comfortable and for me comfort is confidence.

This month’s issue of Seventeen does have that one redeeming factor. Somewhere toward the back of the content between those glossy covers is a promotion from Above the Influence and Seventeen that touches on confidence. “The confidence quiz” coupled with a mission statement is a very healthy start toward realizing the confidence that should come easily for any girl.

But those two pages could be easily skipped over as their scrunched between this latest style and that latest style. We all love to read about styles and want to look good. But shouldn’t a teen magazine be filled with more positive things and touch on the more shallow things briefly.

I’m not saying Seventeen is a bad magazine for girls to look up to. We have several magazines that touch on everything, but how many widespread magazines focus positively on teen girls? Not many. Like I mentioned, CosmoGirl! appears to be the closest to what I aspire for.

I will have it. People tell me that I should keep my idea to myself, so that no one steals it. But someone can take my idea without forming it the way I want it to. Who am I to care if someone else takes my idea, as long as there is someone out there being helped by it.

I believe it’s my purpose here – to help people in any way that I can. To have this magazine, I don’t believe anyone could take that from me. It is me. I live and breathe it, and no one could make anything as I could. We are all different, yet so the same.

Someone someday may make my magazine, they may make it better or they may make it worse. Either way, I will get that magazine out there. If I can’t be the person behind the idea, although I don’t see how I wouldn’t be, then at least I will work on that magazine to help mold it as I can.

A magazine is a whole bunch of parts, a bunch of people with different ideas. Will it matter if I’m the head or the one with the idea? Not at all. I want to edit because I enjoy it, but I would be just as content writing.
As always, my blog has gone on a tangent, but I like this one so I’ll keep it. I showed my confidence, where’s yours?

21: Fine, Fresh, Fierce - I've got it on lock

I know it's been forever since I've written. But I've been planning this one out since my birthday. I've just been too busy, but now that I'm in the process of moving and I'm done at bdubs =[ I have more time to write. So here it is - my 21 blog =]

Last year, around my 20th birthday I had what I refer to as a midlife crisis, though I certainly hope that was not midway through my life.  I know I wrote about it. I wrote about how I wanted it to be 5 years into the future; I wanted to be married with children. My thought process was that I wanted my life to be stable, after a few years of total instability that threw me into this chaotic life crisis.

Since then, I worked daily to make things better – some of which I wrote about as well. I went to the psychologist to get my anxiety under control, switched my birth control to cut out emotional side effects and generally worked toward making every day happier and better. I’ve sort of adopted a policy of DGAF, which, in layman’s terms means “don’t give a fuck.”

It’s funny; the girl who cares too much is now caring so little. It’s not that I care so little about the things that are important to me, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t need to stress about it.
When 2010 began I said to myself, 2010 is going to rival 2007, I can feel it. Overall, halfway through the year, I believe I was right.

2007 was senior year – I had all of my senior fun things, the newspaper was taking off, and I was moving to Ohio. I loved my first semester at Ohio State. 2010 I have so many fun things that come with turning 21 and just being more carefree in general. I’ve had my struggles – car issues, dealing with things with my dad, etc. – but I’m not stressing about them as much. My anxiety is continuing to fade. I work so hard at my magazine, and while I’m not getting paid yet, I’m okay with that. I am moving to Moorpark to go to Cal State Northridge in a week.

My one worry, and it’s a big one, is that it’s all going to end up like it did when I went to Ohio, overall. So many things have changed though, and this is just an anxiety about having anxiety. OCD. Not being in control. I know it all. So I push it aside. Not because I don’t want to deal with it, but because I know that it’s not something to stress out. I will take that obstacle when it comes.

I know I’ve been spouting out euphemisms like this for forever, but I actually feel different this time. 
Clearly, it’s been building for a while. On my 21st birthday two things really irked me, but for the weeks leading up I decided I wasn’t going to let anything drag down my birthday. I was going to make it epic and I was going to love every second of it. I did, even the puking and feeling like death. I’d never before let myself lose that control.

It’s not a feeling I want to feel often, although I do admit I drink a lot more than I did before. But I always do it in moderation. Since I’ve developed my DGAF I’m out having more fun (because I’m not inside worrying) and I’m less stressed about my relationships with people. If people want to be my friend or talk to me or have something to say to me they will.

It’s really nice; I finally understand what it’s like to not care about every little thing being perfect. I suppose this is me not being as OCD as I can be. It’s me attempting to be more normal.

Since I’ve turned 21, I don’t want to rush that 25 years old or that married with kids. I’m content and ecstatic with my life. I’m single and I’m having fun with the experiences that I’m having. When I move there may be an opportunity to change that. I’ve been thinking about it for a while – I’ve been hoping for this moment as a make it or break it point. Which I know, it’s not. Life is a series of moments, a series of make it or break it points. “Day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different.”

I don’t know what I’m going to do when I move. But I’m very into seeing what happens, day by day. This is exciting. =]
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