Moving out? STORAGE

Believe it or not summer is just around the corner! We have around one month left of school and then the sunshine (hopefully) will be upon us. But you know what that means.... move out! Some of us have to say bye bye to NYC for a few months.

If you're like me and leaving for the summer but returning in the fall then you will probably want to be looking for somewhere to store your stuff! So here are some tips and tricks and then also some storage companies you should check out. There are more but I think these are the most convenient. First though... some tips!

1) Go email or call these places ASAP as they will get crazy busy, packed and the prices will definitely go up. If you enquire now they might give you a more reasonable and cheaper quote. You can also reserve in advance so you'll definitely know you have a space.

2) Know a friend who also needs to to store their stuff? Do it together! It'll be cheaper and most of the time you can fit alot of stuff into these places.

3) Don't buy boxes. Lots of people will go and buy new boxes to store their stuff which I guess if you want to then do that. But what I did was go to Duane Reade or any store and just ask them if they have any empty boxes. Most of the time they will be more than happy to get rid of boxes and then you get to pack up your stuff for free!

4) As you're only going for the summer it isn't too important but just be careful of how you store certain stuff. Make sure you don't put too much stuff on the floor or put something insanely heavy on top of something fragile. Make sure that you store clothes in an appropriate bag or box and not just fling them in there as most of the time these units aren't temperature-regulated.

5) Find out what their insurance deal is. Incase there is a theft or some freakish hurricane hits again, you want to make sure your stuff is covered and safe (especially considering you won't be nearby to protect it yourself).

Ok! So here are some NYC storage places you should check out:

Manhattan Mini Storage

They have several locations across Manhattan. Their cheapest one is normally at South St. You can easily walk there from the dorm, it takes around 15 minutes. They have a free pick-up van that will come and take all your stuff there so it's super easy. Go check them out and they'll give you a tour and show you all the different sized units they have so you can see what is best for you.

Tuck-It-Away

They have several locations but the closest is on 29th st. They also offer free moving and will come pick-up all your stuff and take you there. Also on their site they have this cool feature that lets you see what each sized unit looks like and how much stuff fits roughly in it.

If you have any questions or queries just call the places and they will be super friendly I'm sure. Otherwise feel free to give me a shout!

DIY (Do it Yourself) Round 2

      The time had come for round 2 of DIY. Last time on DIY, RA Shaun and a few residents made there own Harry Potter wands. Yup thats right! Everyone made his or her own wands and each and every one was different. The best thing about it was that we made them out of paper! This time around RA Shaun had something different in mind. Everyone made Batman themed masks out of paper. It was called OriGotham because it was in a way like origami. The instructions were easy, just cut out the mask, a little tape here and a fold there. 

      I really like how these came out and its perfect for halloween next year or any costume party, it's perrrrrrrrfect Catwoman would say haha. I had fun and I hope the residents did too, hope to see more of Ludlow at the 3rd and final DIY (Do it Yourself).

Here's a link on where to find these mask's

http://fashionnaction.blogspot.com/2012/07/dkr-batman-catwoman-bane-origotham-diy.html

Aaahh!!! Real Graduation

Get it?! Its funny cause its like the title of that popular Nickelodeon show Aaahh!! Real Monsters.


I know, I know.. I'm hilarious, but let's move on.


So a lot of us are graduating in a couple of months, me included, and I am the biggest mixture of excited, sad, scared, anxious, exhausted, and nervous.  I know that there are more negative words there but I think I might be more excited than anything because of all the opportunities I have open to me.

"So, whatre you gonna do after you graduate?"

I hate being asked this and I never have an answer.  Yet I can't help asking other seniors the same exact thing.  I know I know! Im being a hypocrite!
But I've come to realize theres nothing wrong with the question, we're just thinking we have to have a specific answer, the specific college graduate answer. "Oh, I got a job offer from so and so company and I'm moving to so and so place to use all of the things I learned from so and so university/college."

I however dont have those kinds of answers.  I wanna travel the world, I wanna freelance, I wanna work with kids, I wanna paint murals. I dont have a certain one answer for what I wanna do after I graduate because I have too many things that I want to and am capable of doing.

You wanna travel?! 

TRAVEL! 

You wanna stay in the city and make it as an artist?! 

WORK YOUR BUM OFF AND DO IT! 

Wanna move back in with your parents and save some money?! 

DO IT FUCK ALL THEM HATERS! 

You wanna move across the country and just explore?! 

BE MY GUEST! 

Dont let any of your pre-concieved ideas of what you "should" be doing stop you from doing what you really want.  However realize that everything takes a bit of elbow grease and lots of hard work.  Dont expect things to be easy.  Realize that youll have to love them enough that youll be able to work with it when its rough. Dont tell yourself you can't because youre the only one that CAN make anything happen for yourself.

" forget you ever knew the word can't, forget that you know what it means. That word is useless to you, it will take you nowhere. The word can, however, will take you farther than you've fathomed, even in your wildest imaginations. You see, it's only impossible until you do it, and then suddenly you realize it was possible all along. "

So wish away, plan what you wanna do, or dont plan, work hard, make money, and as Mrs. Frizzle says "Take chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy"

And don't forget to dance like Lisa Simpson when getting your diploma... I know I will.

Don't Stress Out!

On Saturday after some quick re-scheduling I held my "Don't Stress Out" event in the community room. I went all out! I covered the table in a nice paper cover, placed all the supplies on the table and provided some healthy juice for all that wanted and played some relaxing music. 

I printed out 'To-Do' lists and 'Calendars' to pass out to residents to help with time management, because a lot of stress comes from not planning your time accordingly. 

 The regular event attendees showed up along with a few RA's and I showed them how to make there own stress balls. Using balloons, flour, rice and scissors we could make decent stress balls. While they set to work I gave some great tips and we talked about some worries some of the freshmen residences had about finals. 

TIPS!

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• Plan each day. Planning your day can help you accomplish more and feel more in control of your life. Write a to-do list, putting the most important tasks at the top. Keep a schedule of your daily activities to minimize conflicts and last-minute rushes.

• Prioritize your tasks. Time-consuming but relatively unimportant tasks can consume a lot of your day. Prioritizing tasks will ensure that you spend your time and energy on those that are truly important to you.

• Say no to nonessential tasks. Consider your goals and schedule before agreeing to take on additional work.

• Delegate. Take a look at your to-do list and consider what you can pass on to someone else.

• Take the time you need to do a quality job. Doing work right the first time may take more time upfront, but errors usually result in time spent making corrections, which takes more time overall.

• Break large, time-consuming tasks into smaller tasks. Work on them a few minutes at a time until you get them all done.

• Practice the 10-minute rule. Work on a dreaded task for 10 minutes each day. Once you get started, you may find you can finish it.

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• Limit distractions. Block out time on your calendar for big projects. During that time, close your door and turn off your phone, pager and email.

• Get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. A healthy lifestyle can improve your focus and concentration, which will help improve your efficiency so that you can complete your work in less time.

• Take a break when needed. Too much stress can derail your attempts at getting organized. When you need a break, take one. Take a walk. Do some quick stretches at your workstation. Take a day of vacation to rest and re-energize.

SVA 2nd Annual Kickball Classic!

          

The 2^nd Annual SVA Kickball Classic was held on Sunday March 24^th. Residents from Ludlow joined RA Brent and headed over to the softball fields at the East River Park.  We met up with residents from all the other Residence halls at SVA and had an awesome game of Kickball!  We split in to two teams and battled through a bunch of super exciting innings of game play!  Everyone that showed up and endured the chilly temperatures had a great time hanging out, playing ball, and getting to know people from other buildings at our school!  In the end, the score was 10 – 4 and every single person from Ludlow played like a boss!  Way to represent Ludlow guys!

Chillin out after the game!

Ludbloods heading out to represent 

What you know about welcome mat bases? #thanks b&b 

Putting the Teams Together 

Saving Lost Animals! #animal activists

SIDE NOTE!  Apart from playing Kickball, Two residents from Ludlow came across a lost Parrot! They ended up bringing the helpless bird to a Pet Store during the kickball game, and using the tag attached to its foot, helped find the owners of this lost pet! Way to have good morals people! 

Tech Decks.... Hell Yeah!

Do you remember playing with Tech Decks back in the day? Those things were flipping awesome! They made ramps, half pipes, and rails so that you could channel you inner tony-hawk with your fingers. 

Things I learned online while not writing my papers...

Inner monologue:
"I have a project. I have a project I have to do. I have a project I need to do. It's not necessarily a project that I want to do. All I know is that I want my project to be done..."
-Levni Yilmaz, Tales of Mere Existence

With three papers and several cover letters to write in the next week a a fair amount of digital procrastination was bound to occur. Here is a brief compilation of things that I have learned while not working on my schoolwork. While I wouldn't recommend actually clicking on any of these things until your work is done it is likely that because you are on this page you are in the same boat. At least then we will not be working on our papers together.

• Godzilla's inner life if beautiful and complex. He is perhaps one of the most misunderstood creatures in the monster genre. This I have gathered from careful reading of godzilla haikus. For example, "Do you not yet see? The city is your prison, I grant you freedom."
• The popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes is in fact named after theologian John Calvin and philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
• You can learn WordPress in under 30 minutes and develop your very own blog for free. This is one that I started at my internship site. http://artclubhhsite.wordpress.com/
• Anything is made instantly funnier when presented by hand-drawn chickens on post-it notes.
• Odd compliments can be either strangely endearing or disturbing and creepy.
• Even adults enjoy playing in the sand. You can do so online, for free, for hours.

If you find yourself actually needing to be work done you may want to try a free app called Concentrate which you can use to block websites such as YouTube, Pinterest, Netflix, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. for the length of time you designate. I will be setting mine for the next several hours as soon as I press publish.