Week 9: Personal Image! WOOT LAST ONE! =D.

Yes, this is channel 5 news in Medford, Oregon. I felt like I had to post this because this is memorable to me. Last term, I interned at this news station for quite a while. It was a great experience because I got to learn more about myself. I discovered that I truly did have a passion for broadcasting and journalism. This picture is special to me because this was taken on my first day of the internship. It felt so great so finally sit down in front of an actual LIVE broadcast. I got to see the behind the scenes work and how the news anchors read their prompters. It's also interesting how they talk in between off-air time and commercial breaks. The anchors in this picture are Nate and Christina. They both have contributed to my learning and experience at channel 5. I hope to continue this positive experience at another news station this summer!

Week 9: Visual Research

I have been so stressed over finals, projects, essays...what else could stress me out right now?! That's okay, I have this image to remind me that spring term 2010 is almost over with! It's crazy how far I have gotten this year! I still question myself if this is reality. Am I really in college now? Just about a year ago, I never thought I'd be out of high school and into the college world. It's almost been a year since I've been in college now! The even weirder thing about this situation is that I will be a senior next year! How did I do it? I worked my butt off I can tell you that! I guess those classes I took at a community college during high school finally paid off! So this image basically represents that situation. I am a huge fan of dogs, so not only is this picture cute, but it also reminds me that I am almost done! The dogs to me represent satisfaction, luck and energy. If I keep working harder each term, I will eventually get to the finish line!

Week 9: Lab Assignment #9.

PLEASE SEE LAB ASSIGNMENT #8. The book assignment was our last assignment of the term. Enjoy! =).

Week 8: Personal Image

This week, I decided to post pictures of my dorm! The end of term is getting closer and I am starting to reflect on how much I will miss my hall and dorm! It was a great experience, and I believe living on campus connects you to so many people! If it wasn't for me living in the dorms, my social and academic life would not be the safe. Living on campus gives you the opportunity to get involved, meet new people, use many resources and overall broaden your university life. Hawthorne is the hall I am currently living in. It's sad to say good-bye to it. =(.

I love pink, which is why my R.A. [resident assistant] always makes a pink name tag for my door every term! =)

Here is the living room of Hawthorne. The TV is great for alot of people to chill and hang out!

There's alot of explanation for why I have posted the following pictures. As you may already know, a couple of halls in Cascade were tagged with hate graffiti. So to support the residents/students of this incident, there are posters around the Cascade complex so spread the positivity in our environment. It's so beautiful to walk around with this type of energy. I hope everyone can take the time to really look, feel and engage themselves into these posters. We should never hate or judge someone, and nobody should feel uncomfortable with being themselves around campus.

This is just beautiful. The drawing of the leaves, the butterfly, the colors, and the message of "Keep Love Alive" says it all. It's so relaxing to be reminded of thinking positive and spreading around the love.

Week 8: Visual Research

There are three things that I will always love in life: Pink, Lady Gaga, and Texas! However, dogs are always going to be a part of my interests as well! Now, I would never do anything like this to my dog, but I still think the color of this dog's fur is amazing! Wouldn't it be cool is dogs were genetically born with pink fur? When I think of dogs, they remind me of cuteness, luck and positive energy. Everytime I look at this image, it makes me smile and relaxes me. This is the type of image I would like to hang in my wall because it's so calm and joyful. It's just one of those images where you can stare at it for a long time without noticing anything else...and that image is this one to me.

Week 8: Lab Assignment #8: Book

And so, those are my top 7 websites for college students...ranking from #7 of Twitter to #1 of Facebook. This is just my personal opinion and I hope to some extent, some college students will find this helpful! These are great resources to use for social-networking, essays, research, or various other uses for academic life or social life. As for the editing process, for each page I used the program InDesign, and I created a background, logo, image and a textbox. The words of the textboxes are from Wikipedia.

Week 7: Personal Image

My favorite image of my blog posts! Before you think about what's going on in the image, let me first introduce you to my former brother-in-law, Richard Cranor. (Yes, he's the tall white man standing out in the picture with boxing gloves lol!) He's been with me through the good and the bad times. Rich never fails to make me personal advice to get my through my challenges and struggles. To be honest, nobody in my family cares about me as much as he does. I might even be closer to him than I am to anyone else in my family. Anyway, so you're probably wondering, "what the hell is going on in this image?" Well if you knew my brother-in-law, you would understand his ego and what is going on. Rich is a really fun and outgoing person. Rarely, you will ever see him caught up in negative thoughts or energy around him. He's one of the reasons why I think so positively in my life...he really is right. Positivity is the best medicine. The positive energy you create really does reflect how you view and experience life. So, back to this image. This image was taken when Rich was going through his cancer days. This is basically his "cancer-free" tiger-themed event. Notice how he still keeps his head up? From this image, you can tell that he wants to have fun and BOX up haha. However I believe the boxing gloves do symbolize something: fighting back cancer. It's sad, and I don't want to go too much in detail about this, but I believe that this image explains alot. While trying to keep up a positive attitude, Rich is boxing/fighting back that cancer! As for the Asian guys in the background...they look awfully scared! =/ Ehh, Rich tends to give that vibe to people from time to time. (Just kidding Rich!) Like I said, if you really get to know him...he's a chill and laid back man. To add a little bit of humor to this image, I had to add the "pow" and the "Oh no!" to the picture. I hope Rich enjoys seeing this when he reads this blog!

Week 7: Visual Research

This image is all about being able to appreciate the things you have in life. The colors, the look and the feel, really bring out the message of this image. I like how the eye is staring out into the open. To me, this represents being able to dream big and reach out for your goals and passion. I like how the colors blend in with the trees and the wind. This represents a sense of calmness and the beauty of nature. We have to be able to appreciate the beauty of nature that the world has offered. We also have the opportunity to interact with the people around us as we reach further into our dreams. This image shows how success comes from being able to appreciate our values. The "eye" sees that opportunity is awaiting and it is up to us to be able to take this opportunity. I like how the scenery of this image gives us a sense of calmness and appreciation of beauty in our world.

Assignment #7- Table of Contents

Thanks Dennis for helping me with this! I think it looks great! I have learned how to create a page layout for a magazine! I didn't realize how many steps we had to go through to get this done! From the margins, lines, columns, images, textboxes, page numbers, colors, fonts and font sizes, wow there is so much work to do!

Personal Image- Week 6

This drawing was taken from the hallway of my dorm. After the hate graffiti that had happened in Hawthorne of Cascade complex, this drawing was put in the hallway to support the residents with the message of "LOVE." I love how the colors of pink, red, purple and white really do blend in together. I get a very soft and sensitive touch in this drawing! I really appreciate this person's work because it really shows how someone cares enough to make us feel positive about ourselves. This is definitely a confidence booster because the Care Bear symbolizes friendship through love and support. I hope that this drawing influences someone else to think positively and spread the love. I hope others will get a similar message when observing this image.

Visual Research- Week 6

Mother's Day is obviously this weekend...I hope everyone bought their flowers in advance! I myself bought some flowers for my mom and this image is similar to what I bought for her. I like flowers to be beautiful and signify love. Of course, knowing my mom, she wouldn't care how the flowers look. It's the thought of wishing her a Mother's Day and feelings that I have for her that count. Despite that fact, I still wanted to treat her to flowers this year though! She likes the color red and pink, so I wanted to give her something in that color range. To me, I think that red and pink signify joy, care, love and support. This image shows the beautiful pink flowers blending in with the purple flowers. I love how the flowers just stand out in to you in this image. The background is fair and white, but all the attention goes to the flowers and the vase..that's what makes this image so beautiful. We are focusing on the colors and the beauty of these flowers. I love how flowers can make a mom smile and at the same time, they give every mom a message that their son/daughter is thinking about them!

Assignment #6- Collage

What can I say about college? My friends are my everything. Without them, I would not be able to live my college life the way it is. My friends will always be there to be listen to me. They are the reason why college is even fun! I plan on using this college for my room!

So Dennis, you have asked me earlier in the term why I think Lady Gaga is so special. I'll tell you why...just look at the pictures of her! Gaga is so unique and she doesn't care to be herself! She's not in the music industry to look at "hott" and Britney Spears like to sell her music. Look at her hair, her clothes and how the presents herself. Do you see any other artist that can pull off the outrageous hair, clothing and style that Lady Gaga has? I love her sunglasses and her hair in a cute bowtie. Lady Gaga once said in an interview that she never really fit in in high school. Gaga encourages her fans to not be afraid to truly embrace themselves. She expresses creativity through her music and style which makes her special. I truly and honestly LOVE Lady Gaga. She is my role model and my inspiration for everything in life. I hope to meet her one day. =)

Personal Image: Week 5

This picture may be old, but it sure brings back some old high school memories! This picture was taken during my senior year of high school. The woman to my right is Katherine Cook, a KGW news reporter for channel 8 in Portland. She was such a great inspiration for me to finish my project! She always gave me encouragement to do better and never give up! My senior project consisted of my journalism skills into a Portland project. I thought it would be great to work with an ACTUAL real news reporter! It was great, and I'm glad that my senior project opened many doors for me. I wouldn't have met Katherine without this senior project of mine! Even now, we still keep in touch...she's always interested to know how i'm doing in college. She graduated from Western Oregon University, but she's been to SOU a couple of times! I also remember the journalism advice that she gave me. She taught me how to effectively project my voice and improve my broadcast writing skills. That's the whole reason for me holding a microphone and a camera in my hands! They were both used for not only my senior project, but to have a hands on experience on what the newscasting world would be like! I learned alot on how to interview people as well as editing my footage. It was basically my journalism skills to the test! I honestly hope I can do a similar project for my senior capstone!

Visual Image: Week 5

For some reason, I thought about cheerleading all week. I myself use to be a cheerleader back in high school. I miss though days...if only SOU had a better football team. (Just kidding!) Anyway, I chose an image of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad because it combines my love of TEXAS and cheerleading into one image! I have always been a fan of these young women, and I believe that they are a great inspiration for other women as well! The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders [DCC] are more than just women who dance and look pretty. They all have individual goals and they worked hard to even make the team! The judges are looking for cheerleaders with the personality as well, not just the looks and the moves! A girl coming into try-outs with a negative attitude would definitely get cut before she even makes it to finals! Anyway, I like how this image shows the cheerleaders into great action and energy! Look how happy they are in this picture! I believe that this image is showing the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders representing what Texas is all about! Texas is all about having fun and being able to enjoy yourself! These cheerleaders bring positive energy back into the environment of Texas...not just at football games only! =D

Assignment #5: Movie Posters

When creating these two movie posters, I wanted to create something fun and humorous. I played around with the font, words, background and images. For the first poster, I want to give a dark feel to this movie poster. (Be scared of the chocolate girl!) As for the second poster, I always thought it would be funny to combine Obama's face with Bush. I thought a cute documentary by myself would make the poster interesting.

Personal Image: Week 4

So this is basically a picture of my first drawing, and this was from the Mac drawing board and pen. At first, I started out with a black stick figure. Simple eh? Then I added some hair, and his face. However, my stick figure guy appeared very lonely just by himself. I had to add another stick figure to this drawing! So, I decided to add a different color stick figure. But this time, I wanted to add a pink stick figure, creating a female one! Of course, I had to add a smiley face and some hair on her too! After this, I had one black stick figure on the left, and a pink stick figure on the right. What story line did I create here? I wasn't even sure. So, as a girl who's really into hearts and stuff, I drew one big heart and colored it in red. I was like hmm..."Are these two boyfriend and girlfriend?" I wanted to create something that was unusual and different. So, I made the guy a "creeper" as the girl says because he pulled out his own heart! Notice how there is blood coming out of the guy's chest and on his hands? Interesting eh? He must really be interested in the girl if he pulls out his own heart for her! However, the girl on the other hand thinks he is crazy (and who wouldn't) and that this creeps her out! The guy can't resist, and he continues to confess his love and say, "But...I gave you my heart!" Poor guy. Anyway, this drawing is not intended to depict my life nor the life of others. This drawing was my first time experience with the Mac drawing board and pen.

Visual Research: Week 4

Doesn't this picture seem fun and relaxing to you? I think most of us are dying for summer right now! Even though it is getting closer to half way through the term, I am still dreaming about the summer! For some reason, I was envisioning a nice cruise on a boat, with dolphins in the water. I googled for this on Google Images, and this is what I came across! This image is beautiful, and it was exactly what I imagining in my mind. I would love to go on a beautiful cruise to anywhere! The only thing that I can imagine is my hair blowing in the wind, enjoying the atmosphere and environment in this image. I adore dolphins because they are so cute and adorable! I can also imagine myself taking pictures of the dolphins when they jump out of the water. The dolphins add a nice, touching element to this image. The images is blue, which I think symbolizes a calm, cooling, relaxing, fun, and outdoors environment. This image just makes you want to appreciate the Earth, and all of the natural resources and the environment it offers. Oh how I love the sweet smell of summer! I honestly need to stop daydreaming for the next few weeks. The term is far from coming to an end. We can only hope for summer to come by faster!

Assignment #4: Scratch

I definitely made an improvement on this one! This is my second picture/attempt at our scratch lab assignment. Now, photoshop and drawing skills may not be my natural talent as other artistic people are, but I can at least learn and find my ways around this. I finally know how to use the select/deselect tool, make a shadow, using the drawing board/pen, copy/paste, make new layers, draw shapes, and blend them all together! I love that the lips has a flat color of red, and the black and brown stars blend in with the white lines/background.

This is just something I doodled...as you can tell this was my first attempt! I just decided to put a black shadow of a figure blowing a kiss, draw some flowers, a heart, and put some red oval shapes in it. Then I colored all of this in, and doodled the background with some purple lines. Forgive my beginner level skills please!

Personal Image: Week 3.

A picture is definitely worth a thousand words. As simple as this image may look, it still has a strong message about living everyday life. The guys in this picture are Justin (left) and Michael (right), and yes, these boys are indeed friends and roommates. I decided to visit these guys in their hall, and we were all outside of their door chatting with each other. Do you ever have one of those conversations that escalate to joy and laughter? I'm sure most of have gone through conversations that make us really bond closer to the people we're talking to. Well in this case, I was lucky enough to capture that moment at the right time. I think we were all caught up in the moment of laughter because we were all in a positive environment. Michael was in such a good mood, that he brought his positive energy to the conversation. Naturally, Michael is always funny and makes everyone laugh. However, Justin is on the more serious side, and it's sometimes even harder to get his out of his comfort zone. I think it's nice to finally see a different side to Justin, especially when he's laughing and showing more emotion through his face. I feel like this is one of the rare moments that people should take pictures of when it comes to our friends.

So you're probably also wondering why the quote is posted below the image. I believe that it is true that "laughter, is a smile that bursts," because without smiling, or even being able to be "happy" at the moment, how could you even manage to laugh? I personally feel that it first starts with a smile on someone's face, and then it "bursts" into what we call laughter and joy. As I have said before, for anybody who doesn't often show emotion in his face, this is considered to be a rare moment if they laugh. Overall, this image makes me appreciate the fact that I am able to enjoy the happiness and laughter that friends can have together. I'm glad I able to take a shot of this at the right moment. The quote just adds another special element to this picture, and it really explains an important message. It just goes to show you that friends are not only going to be important in college, but they will be for a lifetime. Nothing is better than having friends to put a smile on your face and give you laughter.

Visual Research: Week 3.

The crown, the dress, the earrings, the flowers, the make-up, the hair, and the smiles and tears, what exactly is the point of this image? Before we make assumptions that all pageant girls are spoiled or whatnot, we need to look past the image or these women. In this picture is Miss Oklahoma, Lauren Nelson, and she is crowned as the Miss America 2007 by the previous lady, Jennifer Berry, who is the Miss America 2006. The reason for me posting this image is because I myself, am competing for an upcoming local pageant, which is the Miss Southern Oregon 2010 pageant. The pageant is a little less than a couple weeks from now, and sometimes I have my doubts of whether I should be competing or not. If I were to decide to quit and not compete, then I would be questioning myself later. I would be having thoughts like, "what would of happened if I had competed?" Then again, I do compete, this will conflict with my school work and such. So it's kinda like I have to weigh in my pro's and con's to competing or not competing. And so back to the whole assumptions against women who compete in pageants. It's alot more work than you think it is...especially for any pageant for Miss America. By this, I don't mean wearing your crown/tiara and complaining about how heavy it is. For the Miss America pageant, you actually have to care for your community and your position as Miss whoever the local pageant you win for. This is called a platform, and you basically pick an issue or community service organization that you care about. This can run from, aids, breast cancer, environmental issues, awareness etc... Then there's the interview, swimwear, talent, evening gown, and the on stage question that all the contestants have to prepare for. Anyway, my point is, is that there is ALOT of hard work that goes on before the night of the pageant. And so, this image basically represents the ultimate dream and experience that the majority of the contestants want on the night on crowning. Many contestants will imagine the crown getting placed on their head. It's kind of like a vision of the image above. The vision isn't just about looking "pretty" or winning a crown or the title of Miss America, but rather it's about being able to achieve the dream of helping others around your platform, and overall, being a role model to those around you.

Assignment #3- Alphabet Soup/Letter Form

This is the "Y" of the tree trunk.

This is the "O" by the Access Center at SOU.

This is the "T" of the lamp.

If you pay attention closely, you will see the "S" of this rug.

This is the "H" of the table.

And can you spot another "H" here?

This is the "C" of the cup handle.

This is the lowercase "e" of the fan.

....and the wider view of the fan.

This is another "T" of a lamp.

Can you spot the "L" of this basket?

...Or the "X" of this quilt?

This is the "I" of the lamp.

And can you spot another "I" here?

This is the "C" shape of this structure by the Stevenson Union.

There are two "T's" here on this bench.

I see two "O's" here!

I thought this was pretty interesting...By Britt Hall, there's some bushes that are carved into letters. Here's the "S" part of the bush.

The "O" part of the bushes.

...and finally the "U' part of the bushes. Put that all together and what do you get? "SOU!"