UCO Tips For Basic Survival

Tuition is only going to get higher from here on out, so I'll share with you a few tips that helped me get my money's worth during my time here at UCO.

1) Planners: If you miss the first week of school festivities in the Fall or Spring when they give out freebies, don't worry. Go to the 4th floor on the Nigh, and on the far right of the staircase outside the offices of Student Affairs there will be a desk full of planners for you to take for free provided by the school. (It has important off dates!)

2) Free Stuff: Not all that school e-mail you get is crap. I like to look at the Broncho weekly events. ESPECIALLY student commuter week later in the Fall. Free snacks, shirts, mugs, and random SPB gear await you. I still have a succulent plant I made in a lightbulb with UCO SPB and it's ALIVE to this day. I've also got a few memory sticks and t-shirts scattered somewhere in my things. If you don't use your e-mail, just look-out for what's going on around the central clock-tower on campus.

3) Free Food: Wesley Foundation Ministries feeds students for free on Thursdays from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. They'll even advertise it on the school sidewalks (if you even bother to look down), So go get a nice home-cooked meal from the generous people at the church.

4) Parking: If you get to school early around 8:30 A.M., Parking along Campbell St. (Not in the lots) is free if you don't want to buy a parking decal. It's not too bad of a walk compared to parking in the surrounding neighborhoods if you manage to make it to school on time.

5) Quiet areas: I rarely study at home. If you have the time to explore campus, do so. You'll be surprised to find some quiet closed off nooks with comfy seating, outlets and technology. Sometimes you'll even have a whole room to yourself! People will even leave stuff on tables they don't need anymore. I've picked up a few supplies on my way.


These are my top 5, but if anyone else has any tips or suggestions feel free to help someone out. College is a struggle for most of us.

I won't be keeping up with this blog! If you wish to keep up with me, you can find me on instagram @aawreally.

Closing In On My Trip To Sin City

I think now it's safe to say that I mentally checked out 2 months ago. There's 2 more days left of school and I am so ready to graduate! I recently had a nightmare that the school called me and told me I could not graduate because I forgot to attend one class all semester and I was still 1 credit shy.

Speaking of graduation, I plan on heading out on the road with my boyfriend and our friend Chris as soon as finals are over. I won't walk for my Bachelor's degree because personally, it really would be a waste of time for me. I can either sit for a couple of hours and listen to some lame ass motivational speech about my future by someone I don't care about, or I can go on a memorable trip with booze and a wad of cash. EH.

I have two quaint little Air BnB's booked for our road trip on the way to  Albuquerque and back. We 'll be staying at the Stratosphere by the strip in Vegas towards the end of the trip. I have big plans to visit the Grand Canyon along the way and will be visiting distant family members I haven't seen since I was 5 years old. The car is ready to go with just a few minor fixes and we'll be on our way out Thursday morning!

I'MSOEXCITED.

"Packing Leftovers For Myself And For Later"

I realized the older I get, the less I start to enjoy the holidays.There's no more lounging around and being somewhat invisible to adults because now I am one. I have a lingering weight of anxiety due to deadline's coming up even though I'm on a "break", but most of all here are my top 5 reasons why:

1. I now have the responsibility to contribute something for get-togethers. This would be okay if it was only my immediate family, but there's a lot of us who get together. Thankfully, my banana bread was a big hit, but my family knows I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen and questioned it's safety.

Me (center left), my brother (left of me) and a small portion of us cousins 

2. I'm at the age where I'm kinda expected to start another chapter in my life. Being part of a traditional family and bringing my boyfriend over, I'm obviously going to get bombarded with "So when are you getting married?" and " Have you gained weight? You better not be pregnant yet." from my aunties. To make matters worse, my cousin thought it would be fun to start a rumor that I was pregnant, so my family kept a close eye on me as I was finishing my third plate of helpings. (Girl's gotta eat.)

3. Suddenly, I am the first person to pack leftovers. I am broke as a joke. I've been budgeting for my Las Vegas road trip, so it's put a dent in what I typically spend at the grocery store. Also, my mother's honey glazed ham goes hard and my cousin fried the turkey this year. No complaints eating leftovers to get by for a couple of weeks on my end. I love to make ham sliders with King's Hawaiian bread rolls with pieces of pineapple and mayo with a little bit of sprinkled crushed pepper. 

4. I don't make it to Black Friday. Not that I ever did, because I end up in a food coma attending everyone's Thanksgiving and eating copious amounts of food.Anyways, the point is, I start to slow down at around 7 P.M. and my bedtime is at 9 P.M. Also, I don't even have the luxury of extra cash to spend. I just want to be able to watch the chaos unfold one day.

5. At some point in the night, I have to have some sipping whiskey beside me. You never know what kind of questions are going to be thrown at you from someone who just came out of nowhere. (Have we met?) It's also useful when I get stuck in a card/board game and I'm trying to humor my company even though I want to disappear into another room for a few hours because of the amount of regret I have for over indulging. 

UCO, Y U No Copywrite?

The Mass Communications department at the University of Central Oklahoma offers a Strategic Communications major where students can utilize this degree in a variety of fields within the workforce.

I just so happened to land myself in an E-commerce position at a plastics company here in the city and was immediately familiar with the terms SEO and content marketing, but I did not know how to copywrite. It is one of the tasks that they have me doing due to the marketing department itself being small. In all honesty, this position is so important it should be designated to one person specifically. Also, there are no classes offered at UCO on copywriting. The intro to advertising class does not even mention this.

Copywriting is defined as the written persuasive content through online media and print materials used for the purpose of marketing and advertising to raise brand awareness. It's pretty much the make and break for a product and let's be honest, it's not easy to make plastic sound sexy.

I've had to use descriptive words out of my usual vocabulary such as "Superior", "Maximum", and "Rigidity". These terms are important because let's say you are promoting a certain product. Say your competition is trying to sell the same product, but they happened to market it differently and the copy is way better. Consumers are going to go for the competitors brand because they SOLD it to them in terms that they can understand and they could easily find what they were specifically looking for.




For example, on one of the projects I am currently working on I have to beef up the content on a glass washer. (Yes, exciting.)

Which product sounds better?

"Sturdy polyester bristles for dependable cleaning in a busy foodservice environment"

"Commercial grade bristles that meet sanitary needs in both residential or foodservice environments"

The second one, duh.

It's minor changes in verbage, but it gets straight to the key points with more of an impact. Copy can be outdated and wordy, so it's important to keep the consumer's interest at hand. I mean, what makes sense to you? Personally, I don't care what the bristles are made of, I want to know what it can do for me.

Anyways, that's what I've been struggling with at work and I hope one day UCO does open a class for it. Copywriting can be quite difficult and it goes to show content is important in EVERYTHING. It's a powerful tool to use because it shows you can sell something.

Exfoliate Your Life With Aurelia

I am someone who has to put a little more effort when it comes to having baby soft skin. My skin is so dry that my "scales" put reptiles to shame.

I'll share with you a few products I use for my thorough habits that involve sandpapering my skin down so I can shine like a beautiful little gem.

I like to use this face mask about twice a week or when my face starts to feel rough from my make-up. Make sure that shit goes down the drain after you wash your face, it can stain your sink pretty bad, but luckily it's easy to clean as well.

I swear by exfoliating bath gloves.  I am very precise when I clean. Walmart and Target  are trippin' trying to sell these around $3 - $6. You can find these at Forever21 or some dollar stores for a buck.

 This scrub is AWESOME. I love to use it in the shower, but be careful because the vitamin e can be slippery. My skin feels super soft afterwards and it retains moisture for more than a day.

I'm looking to try this face wash next, I'm currently using Yestocarrots moisturizing face wash, but it doesn't have the scrub factor I need to feel clean.

If you have a little extra money to splurge on, I heard good things about Lush's ocean salt. I have yet to try this as well and I've had no problems using Lush products.

(Bonus: All of these products don't test on animals!)

I have an uncle who is closing in on 60 and still looks like he is in his 40's. He goes to a dermatologist and gets dermabrasion done and religiously exfoliates with high-quality products. I'm not a trauma nurse, so until I can afford his kind of lifestyle, I'll stick to my routine.

Happy scrubbing!

Why Get With The Hero When You Can Have The Villain?

For some reason growing up, I've always preferred villains over the super heroes. I watched Dr. Strange last Sunday and it is a movie I would definitely pay to see again. (Probably not because it was expensive and I'll end up downloading it later..)

Fabulous.

I was so happy to see Mads Mikkelsen playing the role of Kaecilius, (Oh. Uhh,spoiler alert?) So I'm going to take a moment out of the stress and bustle of everyday life to fangirl over my favorite actor/villain.

Mads Mikkelsen is a successful Danish actor that plays any role of the antagonist flawlessly. He is best known for his more recent roles as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the Hannibal TV series, Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, and The Accountant that Rihanna snuffs off in her music video for "Bitch Better Have My Money". I'm pretty excited for the new Star Wars movie coming out because I got to see his fine ass in the previews for Rogue One.

He's done an excellent interview with Esquire earlier this month on why he is always the villian and why he loves it.It's pretty interesting because of the amount of talent and energy it takes to tap into that role.

Mikkelsen is 50 years old and could be my dad (Zaddy..), but I'd still run off with him into the sunset. My boyfriend doesn't read this and probably won't as I sit here giggling over my laptop.

The House Hunting Begins

I live down the street from the Yukon's Best Flour mill, an old relic that the city was built around.

I also don't live in a nice area. For the people who don't know Yukon as well, as soon as I mention Charlemagne Apartments they cringe. These apartments are poorly built and house meth heads to low income residents. I don't live in those apartments, but I do live in the townhouses across the street.

The townhouses don't have a name. They are owned by a small Indian man who attends the Indian Pentecostal Church around the corner. You can easily spot them by the canary yellow color of the buildings with forest green lining and dark red brick walls that fence around the backyard areas and garages. There are only 8 houses and they are sectioned off in the middle of an alley way where the dumpster and tool shed sit between the four houses.

I make my home in the first 4 townhouses closer to the main street. One neighbor moved out 2 months ago, and another was evicted at the beginning of the month. My house sits in between two neighbors so now one side is left open and unprotected.

My boyfriend spoke with other other neighbor this morning as he was taking out the trash. He was getting ready to leave because someone recently broke into his car and robbed his car tags. He also said in the last apartment, number 8, two intruders jumped the brick fence and broke into the house while the family's little boy was home alone and in that same division there is a man who beats his wife. According to the landlord, the tool shed was also broken into 2 weeks ago.

It's unfortunate because the townhouses are fairly nice inside and decent for the rent. They're just not in an opportune area. My boyfriend and I wake up several times a night alert to any noise we hear. I also keep weapons hidden around the house for worse case scenarios. I shouldn't have to feel that paranoid in my own home. I mean, I don't live in New York anymore.

It just doesn't sit right with me feeling like my little family has been dodging bullets, so it's time to start looking for a better place to live. Meeko needs a bigger backyard to run around in anyways.