Talking To My Younger Self. Keep Going!

     You know how to tell one of the ways you're not so bad at life as you think you are? You're different from the person you were a year ago! Which if you are in fact different this probably means you've gone through some changes. Whether they were hard or easy, sad or exciting they were changes nonetheless. You might have a few scars or bruises that came from it all, but hey, you're still alive, which says something about your strength. Right? That's right. You're stronger than you think you are.

     Take me for example, a year ago I decided I didn't want to be a Psych major anymore (I know, weird...), so I went looking for something that would let me use my creative juices a little more and for something that didn't have so much pressure put on Grad school. First step, I went into the career center and took an aptitude test. After a couple strenuous semesters, some hard work and disappointment I've been accepted into the journalism emphasis in The School of Communications! I'll tell you this, I didn't see that one coming. Cool though, right?
     You know what else happened? I decided to see where I could take my makeup skills and I enrolled in an online makeup course over the summer and got certified! I've been more focused on my academic schooling for the most part, so there hasn't been much going on in that department for awhile, but soon. :) So there's more proof I'm growing. A year ago, I wasn't certified in anything! Wow!

You can look at my progress and success here: makeupfanaticme.blogspot.com

     Oh, how about this. I spent that last part of my Christmas break in the hospital hooked up to a machine for a few days. electroencephalogram. Try saying that three times fast...Ha. You just tried it, didn't you? What for? All in preparation for a nice big surgery. Yeah, I know it's the funnest thing in the world, but sometimes that's what happens.

Yup, they call it an EEG for short, or an

     Wow, so let me see that's a new major, makeup artist certification, and brain surgery prep all from just ONE year?? Believe it or not, yes.

     So, if you can name of one or two things that have changed who you are from the past year, then you're not a failure. You're a perfect success!! Keep that chin up and keep the goals on the board, because you're not finished yet! You can do it! 












So, five for the day...

1. Funny, I'm pretty sure the future of dating rest in the hands of women. Yup, we're the ones who will be doing the majority of asking now. Booyah!

2. Chocolate is the best thing ever!

3. I've got three of my four classes registered for the Fall. Only one more, hope it works out.

4. I'm beginning a list of books I want to read this summer, and it's just exciting. Any ideas?

5. The sun is out today AND it's my younger sister's birthday! Shout out to Madeline, she's turning 20 today! She's an awesome writer, check it out! mynameismadeleine.blogspot.com

Loves,

Jessica Ashley

A Little Bit of Baseball and Chicago Dogs

     Well, I finally did it! Sort of ... I tried to play catch. Ha. Just try to imagine how that went. It wasn't too much later after I started that I dug into my long awaited Chicago-style hotdog and classic Coca-cola. a coke in a glass bottle of course, wouldn't have it any other way. :)

     My apologies to my baseball buddy, my hand-eye coordination with a glove and baseball is not the best. Especially when I'm trying to play with a right-handed glove instead of left-handed. I know, it's messed up. I'm right-handed, yet it's easier for me to play with a left-handed glove. Go figure. Well, at least I can say I tried! :)

     I finished off the day with a chat, possibly rather long chat with my twin sister and brother-in-law. Couldn't think of anyone else I wanted to talk to about things troubling me, so I asked if I could talk with them, and they came and picked me up. If it turned into a couples interviews, ha, well I had a lot of questions. BUT hey, they were helpful, so thank you. :)

Today is Saturday! So, I hope I get in at least one fun thing, I will be focusing mostly on homework though...and laundry. Cleaning checks are today, so I hope they go well. Something strange about my chore? As I picked up the bathroom mat to sweep and mop the floor, it was stuck to the floor!! What?! I hope it is no one's, because my first thought was to toss it, and replace it with a better one...wow. That was REEALLY fun scrubbing that off the floor...

Well, on to better things. My five of the day!

1. Chicago dogs are the BEST ballpark food!

2. Coke is my favorite!

3. Cleaning makes me feel good, I've accomplished something, and it looks neat. :)

4. Cooking hotdogs in the oven makes them AWESOME! Seriously, if you like your hotdogs juicy and a little brown, the oven at 400 for 15 minutes. All you gotta do is give them a nice, long slit for ventilation, and put them in a baking pan, and you're solid!

5. Sandlot is one of my favorite movies

School's almost out, about 3 more weeks!

Happy Saturday!

Jessica Ashley

Knock, Knock. Whose There? Me...Was That Funny?: Discovering the Funny Writer Within

     Here's a nice first post for you. I'm a writer, I like to write. Particularly, I like to insert humor into my posts, emphasis on the HUMOR. Or at least I try to. Is it working? I've read plenty of pieces by writers whose work I would LOVE to mimic, if not simply embrace.

     I'm jealous. Yeah, I said it. Specifically, I'm jealous of my sister's talent for writing.  Does that make me a horrible person? Why am I jealous, you may ask? Well, let me tell you.
     Every time I read her blog (which you may do so here: http://mynameismadeleine.blogspot.com/) it's amazing how easily the humor just seem to flow from her fingertips! The pictures, and hypothetical scenarios she creates in your head, and at times quite ridiculous, even though they are relatable. Such precise description of every nook and cranny that the picture almost bursts out of your head, along with laughter. Honestly, some of these things I don't know where she gets them from. They're the most bizarre things ever! Some things so implausible, they could possibly happen, just because of that it's hilarious!

     That's just it, they're so bizarre! That's what I do when anyone insists I play a game I call, "Guess what?" Come on, you can't just tell me? There's one shot out of a million light years I'm going to get this right, so I think, why not have fun with it. Only ONCE did I do just that, and get it right. Just sayin', if you ever ask me to guess what your mouth-watering, confetti-tossing worthy news is, I'm probably going to come up with something so unfathomably unlikely that you might actually feel so confounded I send you into swirling fits of delusion. You've been warned.
     Now somehow, that ability diminishes or disappears entirely when I sit down to write. I can hear it all inside my head, but for some stupid reason the highway from my brain down to my fingertips hits all these potholes! So by the time the words are there, they are shriveled, chipped, dented, and bruised...Correct my if I'm wrong. A good writer gets critiqued, a lot. Otherwise, how do they improve?

     I'd like to think I am the type of writer that is actually, truly, genuinely funny, and not just one who denies the agonizing truth, and is really just one who pretends to be funny.