CP 470F Portfolio | #FeatureFriday

It's #FeatureFriday!
Now, for some reason, not all of the photos wanted to load guys, I'm so sorry!! :(
I attached what I could, so hopefully you'll at least have SOMETHING to look at...

This was meant to be part of the "Abstract Landcape" assignment.

Not gonna lie, I have no idea how this even happened. 

My sister running away down a long pebbly path. 

Supposed to highlight the landscape, and then have you go "OH HEY, it's a person!".

I noticed her cute little self at first glance though ;)

Urban landscape assignment. I tried my best to avoid stepping on glass as I went around the Murdale area of Carbondale in search of something that looked "urban". I mean, when I first got this assignment, I was like "seriously? Urban? CARBONDALE?"

This one I TRIED to go for the abstract thing, but you know...

Eh. 

Colored landscape that looked decent in B&W, so it ended up in the portfolio lol

More of little sis in a landscape. This was at Canon Park, Carterville, IL.

I LOVED how watercolor-y the water turned out. <3

This was more of a play on lines with the branches and tree trunks.

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"WHAT?! That's it?!" Yeah, sorry. :P

You guys have already seen most of the rest of the photos and the others are refusing to upload, so take what you get. Anyway, what'd you guys think of the final photos? Any favorites? If yes, comment below!

Our next #MusicMonday, I plan to introduce you to proves that even the actors who play street rats are diamonds in the rough ;)

You won't want to miss it! 
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See you on Monday!~

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Latest Happenings: Fall 2017 | #WeeklyWednesday

Yes, I realize it's Thursday, but honestly, I was really busy yesterday catching up on class stuff, work stuff, and then something cool happened so I was just like "Yeah, I'll just post this on Thursday". Please forgive me for being naughty m(>_<)m

So, first off (as promised), here's the run down of what I'm up to for Fall 2017!

One Jump Ahead of the Blogline!
(bonus points if you caught the Disney reference)
- University Life
-- University Life (Assistantship)
- Church Life
- Creative Life
- Exciting Life

To "jump", hit "Ctrl (or Cmd for Macs) + F" and type in the EXACT title. 

Given the flood of photos that you guys've had for the last few blog post, here's a (hopefully) refreshingly photo-devoid post lol XD

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University Life
So, for those who may not know, 3 graduate level classes (9 credit hours) is considered to be roundabouts the same workload as 15 credits for undergraduates. Yours truly is doing something possibly dangerous (academically speaking) and taking FOUR.

Yep.

"Why would you do this to yourself, Ariel?!" I can hear you all wondering this inwardly right now. Those of you who are more vocal may have already asked me this in person lol

The reason is because I don't want to live with regrets. I have a few of those already and they're not fun. Something came up where I got a second shot. In the words of Lin-Manuel Miranda, "I am not throwing away my shot".

When I had first changed my undergraduate major from Computer and Electrical Engineering to Radio, Television & Digital Media (+ a minor in Marketing), it was a huge step for me. But that's not the story I'm sharing today. What I wanted to get at is that there was a class, "Game Narratives", that I had heard about and wanted to take as soon as I transferred over to the College of MCMA. Unfortunately for me, in Fall 2012, I was not qualified to take it. 

Why? 

It's technically a Senior level class (I was a Junior). It had a couple of typical college specific prerequisites and I had just transferred. And to my great misfortune, I found out that it was only offered in the Fall semester, once every two years. 

Le sigh. I'd graduate by the time it came around again, so I let it go.

As life would have it, I took two years off from school to attempt working and when that didn't go as well as I'd hoped, I took a shot at the GRE, made it into SIUC, and came back for my Master's in Spring 2017.

And LO AND BEHOLD, guess what class is being offered (as a graduate section) this Fall 2017? You guessed it. Game Narratives. It's an undergraduate course, but they also have grad students in the class (we just do more coursework).

So yeah, I'm taking it.

On another fun note, 2 out of my 4 classes are with my dad. One of the classes in particularly is proving interesting, though the other two (not the fun one with Dad and the game narrative one) are very...bleh.

I like reading, but academic textbook reading is a completely different story. 
The information doesn't stick. :(

Assistantship
I've been blessed to have my assistantship renewed with SIUC this semester.
Given how my parents are graciously paying for my re-education, the least I can do is to do my best to help pay for it within my means. 

Thank the Lord Jesus Christ that I've managed to hold on to this assistantship that not only CONTINUES, but is a 50% assistantship (means I get to work 20 hrs) that pays me AND my tuition (it was $5k+ this semester).

I'm an online TA for one class this semester, though we've already hit quite a few bumps in the road due to the fact that the class assignments are team based and we've got some people dropping due to health reasons or otherwise (thus mucking up the team formations).

In essence, please pray for me lol

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Church Life
Two words: I am retired.
Sorry, couldn't resist the Hercules quote, but since this is English, this joke is funny (the REAL joke with Disney is that in Greek, that phrase IS actually 2 words). 

Jokes aside, I've officially "retired" from the Sunday worship team. LE GASP. 
Yes, calm down. It doesn't mean that I'm not in anymore. If any of the pianists, bassists, or guitarists gets sick and they REALLY need someone to stand in, I'm more than willing (assuming I'm not in the middle of something that I can't get out of). I still love the team very much, but due to my increased academic workload, I have to prioritize the fact that my assistantship and homework really only allow me to have something close to a respite on weekends.

On another note, CCF (Calvary Chinese Fellowship) is stepping into a new time of transition right now. My baby sister is off to university (sniff), my best Chinese friend has moved to CA (cries), and the new waves of students coming these days are getting younger and younger (more undergrads, less grads). It also doesn't help that we haven't had any new Chinese Christian leaders come into the body that we can rope in to help.

Dad's taking over the guitar again and while he'll be standing in front "leading", I will still be planning songs, planning the set, creating/redoing PowerPoints for both worship and the message, and (surprise!) back on the piano again.

Would appreciate prayer :)

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Creative Life
SO many things have happened recently. 
I was on TV in May for TZArtisan. I was recently invited to participate in an art gallery to put up tsumami kanzashi (because of said TV appearance) that will keep my things on display from Sept - Nov, with a public reception in Oct (there will be a post about that when the time comes).

The Crossroads Arts & Crafts Show (Aug 20-21) was stupidly hot, but I broke a personal sales goal. I finally (hopefully) getting my accounting/business situation figured out (after much research and with a little help from knowledgeable crafty peeps who have been at this much longer than I and are doing this RIGHT).

I have 3 more shows to come for this semester:
- Family Weekend @ SIUC (end Sept)
- AutumnFest @ JALC (mid Nov)
- Holiday @ SIUC (beginning Dec)

The TZArtisan tutorial book is coming along slowly but surely.

I've also begun to take my YouTube channel more seriously.
I have a new project I'm starting there that I'm especially excited about.
It's one of those work on it for a while and then post one great product type things.

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Exciting Life
So, speaking of YouTube, THIS happened yesterday (Wednesday).
I felt bad for missing the #WeeklyWednesday timeline, but this made it all worth it because now I get to put THIS in the post lol

You guys know how much I love H+F. You also know that I did a reaction video about them last #MusicMonday. They released this lovely notification on Patreon yesterday and I'm going to be honest and admit that I MAY have shrieked when I read it. I'm also friends with both of them on Facebook (how cool is THAT, btw) and McKenzie messaged me the link to this video they did with a cheeky little winky face after the link haha XD

I can't release the link to THEIR Reaction-Ception video because it's a Patreon exclusive thing, but I really wanted to share this awesome news with you.

Talk about a "Senpai noticed me" situation lol XD

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If it hasn't become painfully obvious right now, I'm a girl who appreciates prayer in her life :)
I sincerely DO NOT KNOW where I'd be without people praying for me.

This #FeatureFriday, I'm going to make good on my promise to share my portfolio from my summer class and show you all the photos I took, along with a general description of what it is and why I took the photo.

If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so :)
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See you all on Friday!~

Us the Duo (Michael/Mike and Carissa Alvarado) | #MusicMonday

Happy #MusicMonday, everyone!
I'm going to introduce you to the OTHER musical couple that I primarily listen to, Us the Duo. They are a husband and wife team, Michael/Mike and Carissa Alvarado.

These two are really adorable, and it's beautiful to see these two who are so genuinely meshed together musically AND romantically. You can tell they love each other very much in each song they sing. While looking them up (for the purposes of this blog post), I also found videos to their proposal and their live wedding song (also my favorite of theirs). Go check them out. Mike's proposal was TOO CUTE.

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I first came across them when they opened for Pentatonix at a concert that I attended in St. Louis in April 2016. We had essentially "run away" from the first opening act because it was loud, they were practically screaming into the microphone, and the drums were murdering my eardrums. Then the second act, Us the Duo, came up.

I was standing out in the hallway when I first heard them introduce themselves. 
To start with, I loved the mellow resonance that their voices gave in the arena where the concert was held. I looked at my friend who I was with and told her that we had to get ourselves BACK into the arena and sit down. STAT.

When the music start to play, I just laid back in my seat and enjoyed it. It was beautiful. It was tasteful (PTX is an a cappella act, so I had hoped their opening acts would have instruments, but still remain mellow in volume so that PTX could really shine later). And it was, to my absolute amazement, JUST THEM on stage. 

Just the two of them! Carissa handled most of the drumming and percussion stuff and Mike was handling guitars, keys, etc. Carissa DID pick up the bass at one point and my love of female bassists flew out the window. Also, Mike beat-boxed and I was just fangirl-ing all over the place. Such a talented couple.

If you hadn't figured it out yet, this is a prime example of couple goals for Ariel. :P

Anyway, it was just the two of them, supremely talented in their voices and their instruments, and their lyrics were well thought out. Not your typical pop song that has just one or two lines that you really remember and then "oh"s for the rest of it. Us the Duo's songs stuck in my head and the "oh"s were (for once) doing what they were meant to do, serve as tasteful vocalization during parts that didn't need words.

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I died laughing when they started singing THIS song on stage.
Carissa is so adorably sassy that I was crying in my seat from laughing at the lyrics.



There came a part during their act where Michael asked the audience "how many of you are here on a date?" and many in the audience raised their hands. Then he asked "how many of you WISH you were here on a date?" The audience started to laugh and he just kinda went "Nah, my dudes, I'm not gonna out you like that. I got your back."

He was just so...chill. They both were.

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This next song I'm about to share with you is the song they sang during their act that kind of solidified things for me as a fan of their music. 

You may or may not know, but when my dad met my mom, he had JUST (coincidentally) written a Chinese worship song that had a lot more significance (linguistically) that everyone in the room, except Mom, was missing. He caught her attention with his ability to use the words he did and she caught his attention with her ability to understand the words he wrote.

In their wedding video (link earlier in the post), Mike and Carissa were sharing about how this song was essentially their vows. I love this song...so much. I love what it means to them, and I love how it highlights BOTH of them in all the right places :)



If you haven't heard of them, you should definitely check them out!
They are...impeccably talented and I can't wait for their next album!
I bought all of their songs on iTunes within a week of getting back from the concert and then pre-ordered their new CD (at the time), Just Love. 

And I've...just loved their music. <3


Fun note! At the end of Pentatonix's performance, they came out and sang "If I Ever Fall in Love" (blog post about that here), and Kevin took on Jason Derulo's part with the crazy high notes. Which meant someone else had to beatbox and I just about fell out of my seat when I realize that Mike had taken over the beatboxing. I was just sitting there like an idiot going, "...WHAT."

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All the Socials: @UsTheDuo
Website: http://www.ustheduo.com/
Their Tours: http://ustheduo.co/tour iTunes: http://ustheduo.co/JustLove Apple Music: http://ustheduo.co/JustLoveAM Amazon: http://ustheduo.co/JustLoveAmz Spotify: http://ustheduo.co/JustLoveSp Google Play: http://ustheduo.co/JustLoveGP

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Had you heard about Us the Duo before this blog post? What song? 
Or better yet, comment below with which one of their songs is YOUR favorite!

I'll be giving you all a run-down of what all I'm up to for the semester in the next #WeeklyWednesday, spanning across school, church, and creative projects!

Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss it (top right corner of your screen)!

Hope you liked the music!
Byee~