Back To School

It's that time of year again, when students say goodbye to the summer sun and fun and head back to the classroom.  

For most students that means going shopping for new clothes and school supplies. However, not all students can afford new school supplies.  That  a simple notebook, pencil, ruler, glue stick, pen, etc., are just too expensive for a family to give their child.

That is why most families rely on the help of donations to give their child the school supplies they need to make it through school.

For eight years, Staples Canada has been working with various charities across Canada to provide kids with the necessary school supplies.  

Staples Canada is for Students
The Staples for Students Annual School Supply Drive is back! Over the years, the supply drive has generated over $6.3-million dollars for schools, non-profit organizations and community groups. The campaign is designed to help local students in need go back to school with the essential school supplies. Every year, the School Supply Drive helps thousands of Canadian students.

A survey of Canadian teachers we recently conducted with Vision Critical found that one third of students will start their school year without the basic supplies and poverty is the number one reason they don't have what they need. Together, we can help!

The Staples for Students runs from July 27th to September 9th collecting donations. During this time, people can make their donations at the cash register.

Here is a link to which charities and non-profits your supplies will go to: http://www.staples.ca/sbdca/en_CA/cre/marketing/staples_soul/images/staplesforstudents_partners.pdf

It's not to late to Take A Moment to help out a child by making a donation and helping to provide them with a better education.

Music = Life

Music, it has the ability to help us through the toughest times in our lives.  Sometimes just taking a moment to sit and listen to that one song (or songs) can make everything better.

There are certain songs that I like to listen to when I'm feeling down that help me to feel better.  I look for songs where the lyrics speak to me and the situation that I'm going through.

In my Media Production TV class, we were given the assignment to shoot a montage set to music. I had no idea for the longest time what I was going to or what song I was going to use. I thought this was going to take me forever and that I was never going to get it done.

Then one night, when I wasn't in the happiest of moods, I put on Hedley's cd Storms.  Their song Heaven's Gonna Wait came on and the lyrics told this beautiful, yet sad story.  This vision came to me as the story played out.

I had my idea for my montage.

The actual filming was a little difficult, having never done anything like this before.  The over all experience was a lot of fun.

Music is a beautiful, creative medium that transcends all generations. Different genres speak to different people and builds a connections.  So Take A Moment to find that song that speaks to you and tells you its story and let it come to life.  As long as there is music, there is life.

A Little Creativity

Creativity Google Image

Creativity, it's in all of us.  It's just a matter of Taking A Moment to let it out.

There once was a time where I couldn't stop being creative.  I found this fulfilling joy in writing.  I loved to write stories and lyrics.  Thoughts would come to me that I couldn't wait to write down.

I never knew where these random thoughts came from, they would just come to me.

This creativity however slowly began to wane.  Over the past year or so I have struggled with my creativity.  Almost as if it had disappeared completely.

I feel empty without it.  Like a part of me is missing.  I try to write, but the thoughts don't come like they used to.  I'm not entirely sure why this has happened.  I miss it desperately.

My IPP (Independent Professional Project) that I am doing for school is all about creativity.  I've chosen to write my novel that I have been terrified to write.  Maybe terrified is the wrong word, more like nervous.  Nervous that it wont be any good and that I'll fail at my dream to become a published author.

This has been my dream since I first read Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. The words written by J.K. Rowling captivated me and ever since then I wanted to be a writer.

Yet here I am, unsure of my creativity. Stuck in this inability to write.

I'm hoping that this IPP will be the push I need to be creative again and find that missing piece in me.

We all have the ability to be creative. It's about Taking That Moment to no longer be afraid and to just try.

I have, what I call an honour, to listen to this band that two of my fellow CreCommers are in.  Seeing that depth and the creativity flow within the room lit a spark in me to try again. To push myself to do the thing that I love.  I have a voice and I need to stop being afraid to let it be heard.

So Take A Moment to find the one thing that you love, that you are passionate about, and just go for it. Don't let fear of failure hold you back.

Little Successes

Life is filled with many obstacles but even more successes.

It's important to take a moment and reflect on those successes.

Yesterday was one of those days.

From the beginning of this semester, way back in January, I have been working on my magazine for a school group project.

This project has taken up a lot of my time, as well as my fellow CreCommers.  Through writing feature articles and proposals, creating ads, and designing the layout of the 24 page magazine (or more for some other groups), you begin to wonder if it's even worth it.

The long struggle can keep you from ever seeing the final end result.  But when you get there, you can't help but feel a huge sense of accomplishment.

Yesterday was the CreComm magazine fair.  Each magazine had to create a booth that would not only show case the magazine but would also create a buzz that would have people wanting to check out your booth.

Everyone came up with great/interesting ideas for their magazines.

My group created a dance magazine called footwork, a magazine for the Manitoba dance community.  Our booth featured the wii game Just Dance.  We would have students, parents, and any one else who came to our booth, dance to enter in to win our prize pack.

After the magazine fair, I felt this huge weight come off my shoulders.  It felt so good to see how the magazine project came to an end.

Even though life comes with its obstacles, struggles, and stresses, it's important to Take A Moment to realize that even though life can be tough, it's important to know that success is soon to follow, and it feels so good when it does :)

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Sunday, March 10 was one of the hardest and most painful days of my life.  I woke up in the morning feeling like something was blocking my throat.  I didn't think much of it at the time.  The weather still isn't the greatest and it's still pretty dry in the house.  So I persisted to cough to try and get rid of the obstruction.  By lunch, I still wasn't feeling any better.  I couldn't eat, not having much of an appetite and because I started feeling this pain in my throat every time I tried to swallow.  I figured I must be getting sick.  I went downstairs and made myself some tea in hopes to get something into me.  Even that became a struggle.  As I sat on my bed, attempting to focus on homework while my head felt miles away, I struggled every time I had to swallow, it felt like something was burning at my throat.  Eventually I gave up trying to complete my homework and went downstairs to lie down on the couch and talk to my mom.  My mom brought me some Sprite to drink, thinking it would help since I clearly had a cold or the flu.  After one sip my throat erupted into excruciating pain.  My throat felt completely closed off. I couldn't talk, I couldn't breath.  I was in a panic.

My mom asked me if I wanted to go see a doctor.  I however couldn't find a way to respond.  I kept gasping each time I opened my mouth to speak.  Tears were streaming down my face.  I grabbed my cell phone and texted my mom that I needed help.  It was the only way I could communicate with her.  We tried looking up Walk In Clinics that would be open late on Sunday nights.  We found one, however when we got their they told us they had just closed up for the night since the only doctor on call had seen his last patient and had left for the day.  Not knowing what to do my mom asked me if I wanted to go to the Hospital.  At this point I was able to speak again though in a very raspy voice.  My  mom took me to the Misericordia Hospital.  After seeing the triage nurse and being told I had to stay to see a doctor due to my high fever, I spent four painful hours in the waiting room.

My dad arrived after I had given five samples of blood, one or two of those samples was for blood cultures. There's a reason why you should never give blood if you've had little to eat or drink.  I felt dizzy, tired, nauseous, cold, but most of all I felt pain.  My back was aching by this point.  My dad sat there and rubbed my back as a searing pain shot through the left side of my back.  All I wanted was to sleep and for the pain in my throat and back to go away.

By 11:10 p.m. I was finally able to see a doctor.  Since I came in with a swollen/sore throat and a fever, it's hard to diagnose what the problem really is.  My vitals were checked again and the doctor attempted to look down my throat.  Based off of what could be seen, I had a throat infection plain and simple.  To leave the Hospital and not spend the night I had to force down 3 Tylenol and 3 Penicillin.  I managed to get down all the pills with plenty of ice cold water.  By midnight I was back home and in bed.

Being in the hospital, in the shape that I was, made me think about the people I care about.  I was so scared, not knowing what was going on with my body.  All I could think about were the people I wanted there with me.  The people I love and care about.  Sure family, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends fight overtime, but in the end we love them and care for them.  In the time that I was in the hospital it didn't matter what was going on in my life or who I was mad at, all I wanted was the people I care about to be with me.

So I encourage everyone to Take A Moment and think about the people you care about most and tell them that you care, you may not always get the chance.

AdWords Assignment

For an assignment in Advertising class, we had to come up with 5 AdWords ads about our blogs.

They follow the template of:

25 characters (max)
35 characters (max)
35 characters (max)
URL: 1024 characters (max)

Here are the AdWords I came up with:

Take A Moment

To Live Life To The Fullest

And To Never Back Down

http://amandalynnmoments.blogspot.ca/

We All Need A Moment

To Realize The Important Things

To Seize The Day, Each Opportunity

http://amandalynnmoments.blogspot.ca/

Have You Taken A Moment

To Think About Your And Who You Are

What It Is That Makes You Happy

http://amandalynnmoments.blogspot.ca/

Did You Take A Moment

To Put Yourself Out There

To Try Something New, To Begin Again

http://amandalynnmoments.blogspot.ca/

Take A Moment

To Spend Time With Your Friends

To Be With People Who Care About You

http://amandalynnmoments.blogspot.ca/

So Take A Moment and tell me what you think of these AdWords.

A Thousand Farewells

A Thousand Farewells by Nahlah Ayed is a non-fiction book about Nahlah's life growing up in Winnipeg, her parents moving her back to Amman Jordan to a refugee camp to better connect her with her Palestine roots, to becoming a journalist.

I'm the type of person who loves to read.  My books oh choice are of the fantasy genre.  This is the first time that I've read a non-fiction novel that chronicles someones life.

What I liked about this book was the way Ayed painted a picture of every moment that took place.  It was easy to feel that I was there with her, seeing what she was seeing.

Even though she was able to tell her story so vividly, her book was very hard to follow. Most of her story jumped around from place to place, time to time.  Just when I thought I knew where I was, Ayed would jump to another location and time. 

The events that have taken  place in the Middle East, it's difficult for any one to be able to follow.  I believe that Ayed did her best to keep her story moving in a chronological fashion that would make sense for those reading her book.

Journalists can learn from this book that knowing your surroundings when traveling to a foreign country can be very helpful.  Knowing the language helped Ayed while in the Middle East.  She was able to understand what was going on, which was a huge advantage to her.  Journalists can also learn that they need to grow a thick skin.  Even after Ayed had been beaten in a mob, she still continued to go back and do her job.  If I was her I don't think I could go back after that.

Reading this book, I think, affected me in a different way than some of the others who read this book.  Knowing someone who has served over in the Middle East, who has seen what Ayed has described in her book, made me feel what she saw.  I felt connected to her words.  I also felt terrified. It scares me to think about what my friend has gone through.  To read it, that was very different.