University Orientation Check List!

I went to my orientation for my university last week. Granted, I am not a freshman, I am a transfer, I still think this list will be a few things across the board you will need to know/want to take into consideration. So, let's just get into it:

1.Get yo walking shoes on!

• Most likely your university's campus is going to be large. My campus is on the medium size, but as a transfer student from a community college, I can say it feels ENORMOUS compared to the campus size of my CC. So, just know you will be walking a lot. You'll be going between buildings, you'll be trekking across large parking lots, and you'll most likely be going up and down stair cases. 

2. Bring someone with you!

• If you can, and if it's something being advertised by your campus, bring someone with you. It doesn't have to be one of your parents, it could be a sibling, a friend, or a significant other. For instance, my campus invited parents, siblings, ANYONE to come with you. My parents were busy, so my boyfriend went with me. It was honestly the most helpful thing about that day. If you're a freshman, you're going to probably feel overwhelmed and having someone familiar in an unfamiliar place is helpful. For me, I'm a transfer student, so it wasn't the same kind of overwhelming, but there was still a lot going on. David was able to pick up pamphlets I might've missed, and was able to hold onto all of the flyers and folders and merch I was being given throughout the whole day. 

3. TAKE THE ADVICE OF YOUR ADVISOR 

• Please, please, please, not matter how much you think you know about what you want to do with your schedule and money, take the advice of the advisors you're given. They're there to give you the best advice possible, and they deal with shitheads all of the time. This doesn't mean they're always right, or that they'll have the same ideas in mind as you, but it is good to know other options than just the shit in your head. 

4. Fuck your shitty attitude.

• Basically, no one wants to sit through an orientation for like generally four plus hours, but if you have a shitty attitude about it the whole time, you're going to have a shit show time. You're being given a lot of important information during this time, and having a bad attitude isn't going to help you retain everything. So, like, get a fucking redbull and don't be a dickhead.

5. BRING ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY

• I can't give a blanket statement about this because I know it varies from campus to campus and state to state. But for me, as a transfer student all I had to bring was my ID, a scholarship acceptance sheet signed, and my deposit money. I know if you're under the age of 22 you have to bring in a form proving you had the Meningitis vaccine, but outside of that, I'm not sure. My school sent out an email right before orientation that had a list of forms needed for freshman and a separate list for transfer. If you don't get some kind of list like this, it doesn't hurt to call someone and ask. Do not think you'll be turned away from orientation though, you won't. I saw many people who didn't have certain forms they needed, they still got to do the orientation. 

All in all, orientation is fun, It's long in most cases, but it's shit you need to hear at least once. 

Things I learned in Community College

I recently graduated from community college. I started in the Fall after I graduated high school in 2011. I was a baby and I barely even wanted to be there.

I finished in 2014, back in December, and had to wait for the spring graduation since my campus doesn't have a winter grad.

This is just a few things I had to learn in that span of time. I think I will make more of these, but this is just the top ones I thought of when I decided I wanted to put this up.

1. 8AM classes are sent from the Devil, but probably for a good reason. If it's a class that you can't keep your mind in, sometimes it's better to schedule it for the beginning of the day. I took 8AM Statistics because math has never been something good for me and when I would schedule it in the afternoon, it made it even harder to get through for me.
   
2. Take advantage of very opportunity you see. Even if it's just some random poster you glimpse near the bookstore, some random post on your campus' social media, and even if you think it won't apply to you, fucking look into it. Things catch our attention for a reason, and there is never harm in finding out what something is about! Because of this lil piece of advice, I got to go on three pretty big trips, two of which were out of this state (Washington, DC & Chicago! holla!), and I joined a club that has really furthered me and will continue to help me even as an alumni.
   
3. Participate with things going on in the classroom and on campus. A lot of people have this idea that in college your voice is useless, however if you're at a community college these are the class sizes that are directed towards you as the student to learn to use your voice, because later if you transfer you're going to need this skill. When it comes to events on campus, get in on it. There is this whole bullshit clause that people attach to community colleges, saying they're only an extension of high school and not a real college education, which is really not true. There are going to be events. There are going to be workshops. There are going to be panels. There are going to be things that participating in will help you, inform you, and entertain you.
   
4. Give yourself a class to look forward to. If you give yourself only strenuous classes, you'll have a hard work load. I learned this the hard way, as a little baby 18 year old in my second semester, crying in the bathroom because, "WHY IS THIS SO HARD? why can't i do anything right? why do i not want to ever get out of bed? why does it physically hurt to be here??" I learned that I was having a bad time because I had weighed myself down with only classes that were, yes, necessary, but that no, I did not need to take them all at the same time. You need electives for your degree anyway, so, HEY, give yourself a fun class, something to look forward to, and something that will be easy on your mind. 

BONUS TIP: use ratemyprofessor, ya'll. But with a grain of salt. I still use it for everything, but I always remember that people generally review someone when they're pissed. So just because someone is pissed, doesn't mean a lot about your decision.. now when like 50 people over the past likeeeee 3 years, then hey maybe you shouldn't take that professor. 

A photo from my graduation on May 15, 2015

Here's my recent vlog, which is also alllll about my graduation!

the art of vlogging.

In October of 2014, I participated in "Vlogtober," on YouTube, which is basically a user posting a video every single day, most commonly vlogs, for the month of October. There are plenty of variations of this, such as Vlogust and Vlogmas. It's a cool thing.

When I decided to do this, in theory it sounded fucking awesome. The execution turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. I knew I liked watching vlogs, but I'd never exactly made one. I didn't know how to talk to camera about my life, or how to talk to camera in public, at all.

My attempts at vlogging, were really just collage style videos, without any sort of audio, with generally one of my friend's bands playing over the shots. I still make these types of videos, because they're fun, and sometimes you don't wanna hear someone talk for 2 minutes about their favorite kind of poptart, y'know?

So, 31 days later, I had completed Vlogtober, and I was so proud of myself. I'd like to start here by saying if you've ever been interested in vlogging, doing one of these will fucking make you or break you. If you think vlogging sounds cool, just try to do it everyday for a month. I remember the first day I woke up, November 1st, I immediately grabbed my phone to say hi and start a vlog. It was so strange to not do it at that point. This is when I learned that I liked to vlog, and the response I got from people showed me that others liked me vlogging.

Here is list of tips that I've learned as someone who posts vlogs really frequently now:

1. Don't just vlog once and say it's not for you. Chances are in the end it could still not be "for you," but just doing it once is not going to tell you enough. 
2. Talking to a camera is weird whether you do in your room or in public, so you just gotta work with that feeling. 
3. Don't put on a front about who you are in real life. Vlogging is one of the most personal things you could do, and if your whole vlog sounds scripted, just fucking stop. 
4. Time is a tricky thing, some people like super long vlogs and some folks don't. I've had success with keeping my vlogs under 5 minutes however, usually in the 3/4 department, by the way. 
5. Besides the above, have some fun, and don't take your self too seriously at all, man. 

Here's my most recent vlog!: 

CONCERT SERIES #2: Open Mics.

Hey ya'll. :)

This is me, performing at an open mic a few months ago.

As a lot of you may know from my bio, I volunteer at a diy punk venue. We put on open mics every second and fourth wednesday of the month, and I've worked all of them and played all of them so far. Since I started playing them a lot of really cool things have happened for me with my music, such as being able to meet an amazing community of talented people my age, and to be getting the chance to record my music in June.

A lot of people think open mics are scary, or uncomfortable, or whatever preconceived notion they have. But, I'm here to give ya'll a few tips on first timers, for attendance and performers.
 
TIPS FOR PEOPLE ATTENDING: 

me before leaving for open mic!

1. Be open minded. A lot of open mics have it open to all media, meaning singing, spoken word, art, noise, etc. At the one I performed at last night, there was spoken word that was brilliant. And three guys who had never played together before who just made some noise. It was awesome. But it'll only be awesome if you're open minded about it. If you can't appreciate the fact that somebody has the balls to do something in front of people, then you shouldn't even go.

2. Be a respectful. I mean this in a sense, that you should clap for people and not get up and walk out halfway through their set. (**Unless they have personally offended you, or said something offensive. I'm thankful that the venue I volunteer at has three rules, no booze, no drugs, no jerks. And the no jerks one really means it.**)

TIPS FOR FIRST TIME PERFORMERS:
1. Realize that no matter what you're doing, you're doing it for you
and no one can tell you you're wrong if it's something that personal.

color tattoo in barely branded as a base,
ydk by urban decay all over where I put the base,
a deep matte brown in the crease, and a matte black
in the outer v.

2. Be aware of who your audience is.

3. Let yourself be nervous. People spend so much time trying to make their nerves go away when it's better to just let yourself be nervous and let yourself work through it.


Anyway, I hope this post is helpful to anyone who needs it!

ALSO, I included an eye look because I had somebody ask me on tumblr about what make up I wore, and someone on here commented a few posts back. I'll list the products on my eyes in the caption for anyone wondering. :)

Love, Noralee

FRIDAY FAVORITE #3 (CONCERT SERIES #1)

Hey ya'll. This isn't going to be a traditional "Friday Favorites," but since my Friday was amazing I thought I'd share it with ya'll.

I go to a shit storm amount of shows, being that I also volunteer at a venue, so I thought it'd be kind of cool to do a small mini-series of do's and don'ts about concerts/shows. Yesterday, Friday, I went to a festival, which is completely different than just a venue show. A festival typically has 4 - 6 stages. This one had 5, I believe, though I only frequented 2 of them myself.

My Dad's work gave our family free tickets to the Wildflower Festival, which is near Plano, TX. We decided to go Friday as a Mother's Day present for my Mom because her favorite singer was going to be there: Uncle Kracker.

Some tips I have when you're going to a FESTIVAL are:

1. Depending on where you live, dress accordingly.. like in Texas it was 100+ degrees, so I wore a light circle skirt, with a deep v loose shirt tucked into it, and my jean vest (for extra pockets). I also took one of my lighter crossbody bags. Even though I dressed light it was STILL super hot. So, take the weather into account before you just go onto the fest.

2. Check online for restrictions, such as at this fest you couldn't bring DSLR cameras, or any kind of camera with an attachable lens. You also couldn't bring outside food in, which is a general consensus for all festivals I've been to. And you could only bring up to a liter of water in with your group. They post this stuff for a reason, so be prepared for what you can and cannot bring as best you can.

3. This is probably the best tip, be nice to the people at the gate who take your tickets. Seriously. Be nice to anyone you see in a staff shirt. They're all there dealing with drunk people for probably 3+ days. Don't be a jerk.

4. GET A MAP. Every festival I've ever been to has had at the front people passing out maps, don't just pass it up. Take one! You'll need it! Actually, at a lot of festivals there's a lot of booths and people trying to sell things, but if they hand you something for free, take it. A lot of that stuff comes in handy. At the one last night there was a State Farm booth handing out paper fans... and damn, did I sure need that later.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed this post! I'm going to work on how I want to break up this concert series, but I think I'll do tips for venue shows, bar shows, and house shows. Then maybe some getting ready for shows posts with fotd & ootd.

Love, Noralee

Weight Loss Tips From A Fat Lady.

Hey ya'll. :) If you've been following me awhile then you know that I've been on a journey of weight loss for a few months now. I lost 50 pounds initially, and quit, and just maintained. Then a few months ago I started to dive back into trying to lose more. I quit once college kicked in because I let myself think it was too hard, but for the past couple months I've been back with a vengeance and with some helpful tips that have kept me in the right mind.

1. DO IT FOR YOU. I swear this is cheesy but it's true, and hell, it's true about a lot of things in life when you really think about it. You have to do this for yourself, not for a "summer body," or a significant other, or any other silly reason. It seriously has to be for you, otherwise it will fail, I promise.

2. DO IT THE HEALTHY WAY OR NOT AT ALL. I've had a lot of friends who've gone to the gym with me and started the journey with me, and I've seen a lot of them get out of hand with how obsessive they are with their work out/eating plans. If at any point you think, man, I would be worried about someone if I saw them doing this to themselves, THAT'S A HUGE RED FLAG.

3. This goes hand in hand with the above tip, LISTEN TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I don't mean this in the sense that they're always going to be right about you and what you're up to with your life. But if someone comments on something you're doing that they think might not be quite right, listen to them. This is the toughest one, I know from personal experience, because for a while I was losing weight in a very unhealthy way. And anytime someone commented on it, I became extremely defensive.

4. DRINK A SHIT STORM AMOUNT OF WATER. I think a lot of people don't understand how important water is... it is literally the only beverage you need. If you cut out all the other beverages you drink, and only had water, you'd lose at least 25 pounds in a month. Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect, I still have an occasional drink when I'm out with friends. But, what I'm saying is water should be your primary resource. It really gives off a big difference.

5. FIND A PLAN AND WORK HARD. For me, what's worked well is the fact that my whole family is on board now, even my little sister who doesn't need to lose weight. But, she's on board in a sense that she doesn't constantly ask for junk food when we go out to the grocery store. I'd say if you can't get your family on board, find a friend! And hey, there's no shame in not being able to find a friend either, so try out online message boards for fitness. I personally use myfitnesspal, it kicks ass.

These are pretty simple tips but they're things that took me two times to learn right, so I figured this post might help some people out there. :)

Love, Noralee

6 THINGS COLLEGE HAS TAUGHT ME.

Hey ya'll. (:

On Tuesday I was on a panel for a diversity conference at my campus. The panel had four students on one side, and four professors on the other side. The topic was diversity, but was left open to interpretation of the definition. The keynote speakers emphasized that diversity is ALL differences, and that there are a lot of issues in colleges (and any schooling system) where a lot of professors are understanding this, and students are meeting them there either. I really loved the concept of this, and I loved that I was asked to speak.

Me, Ismail, Undra, & Ayanna.

I took it from the scope of mental health. I came up with six things that for better or worse college has taught me.

Here they are:

1. College has taught me that even though it's wrong, I should put my grades above my mental health.
2. College has taught me that I am nothing more than my test scores. 

3. College has taught me that my participation doesn't matter. 

4. College has taught me that 95% of my professors will never learn my name or want to learn my name.

5. College has taught me that I am only valuable when I'm filling a seat. 

6. College has taught me that if I'm not filling a seat, then I'm just a courtesy failure to attend email.

These are all not good things, but they are all things I've been conditioned to feel like due to the enviroment of my campus. I definitely haven't felt all of these in one semester, by the way. I'm finishing up my second year right now, so I've been there for four semesters in total. These are all things I've noticed build up over time. And I'm glad I finally had a platform to address them. A lot of students came up to me and totally agreed with everything I said, a lot agreed with part of it, some didn't agree. It all depends on what you're taking and who you take it with, I guess.

The ways I've overcome a lot of these feelings go back to how I let myself feel and how I let comments from professors make me feel. Honestly, I'm lucky because I don't live on campus, so I don't have to dwell in it. I get to go home and let myself chill out. I know not everyone is privy to this.

But, I have a few small tips to help yourself when college gets too heavy:

1. If you're not failing your class, you haven't missed a million days, and you wake up not feeling it - MAKE THE DECISION NOT TO GO. And don't make it mean something, don't make it mean that you're a terrible student. You need personal days, everyone does.

2. Give yourself either time to chill out during the day, or maybe a whole day to chill it out if you have the kind of schedule that can do that.

3. Do not alienate yourself from your friends. Those are the people you definitely need and the good times you definitely need when you're dealing with course load stress.

4. When you pick your schedule ALWAYS PICK SOMETHING YOU THINK YOU'LL ENJOY. Seriously. If you pick 4 classes that are needed and going to be hard, it's going to be seriously difficult for you to make yourself get up and want to go to school. I always find myself something I know will be fun or easy, like creative writing or an extra lit class (I'm an English major, by da way guize).

I hope ya'll find this interesting and helpful!

Love, Noralee