Tag: rants

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I hate Instagram, part 3: I’m a sucker for product ads.

In the age where every pet has their own account, people make a living off of promoting Fashion Nova clothing, and VSCO girls are an actual Halloween costume, I thought it best I update my never-ending rant about Instagram. I’ve become a total sucker for products sponsored via Instagram. 

Note to the Product Managers who are in charge of all things sponsored ads: you guys do a damn good job at predicting what I want and get outta my head!

Here’s a quick list of all of the shit I have bought because of Instagram:

Out of those 8, I would say I only regret maybe 2ish of those purchases because they weren’t worth the money or had poor quality. But it is very clear I have a problem. Out of all of these, the Varram pet fitness toy is my biggest regret; it has taken months for our dog to warm up to it to the point where he isn’t hiding when it’s moving. It’s been a very nice paperweight for us.

My best sucker purchase, I’d have to say has actually been the pet hair remover. Odie went through a really terrible shedding phase this summer and everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING was just coated in his hair. We went through lint roller after lint roller until an ad came up for this tool and it was such a blessing for our couch and for the environment.

The most ridiculous purchase goes to the Zitstickas. Their marketing wore me down good. I resisted buying for months, having already tried the NO BS acne stickers already. I had literal sticker shock as I checked out when I realized I was paying over $3 per sticker aka per zit, when my mid 30s acne was rearing its ugly head again. I could count like 8 zits on my chin! The worst was when I got hasty and put one on too soon and it fell off, goodbye 3 bucks!

So there you have it. My list of shame. And yet somehow, I still refuse to buy a Pandora subscription thats like a dollar right now? Priorities, am I right?

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I wish they made maps for life.

scenic route

Saying I’ve been in a rut would be putting what I’ve been in, lightly. Whatever it is that I’ve been in, it hasn’t been fun and I’m not quite sure where I’m going now or how I’ll get there- I’m lost. I’m learning very quickly that I’m just not good at some things. School. Balancing life/work/health/education all at once, while retaining my sanity. Definitely not good at coping with extreme stress. I’m not great at being consistent.

The only things I’ve ever been good at are photography, and getting back up after being knocked down. I guess you could say that though I lack focus at times and change my mind often, I am persistent about rebounding from my failures, and oh boy have I failed lately. I’m finding myself basically back at square one in almost every aspect of my life and its really hard to be back here. Its kind of like being a drug addict returning to AA/NA after relapsing, relapsing so hard you can barely lift your head to speak of your struggle.

That is where I am right now. I’m trying to get back up and keep fighting for what I want out of life, although right now I’m not quite sure what that means for me. I guess right now it means focusing on surviving, maybe even thriving at work and picking up the camera again and remembering what I love about life, and being here in the moment. Sorry this post is so vague I just don’t really want to bore anyone with my whiney problems, trust me- my fb & twitter pals hear me bitch enough about my shitty situations lately. I just wanted to post and say although I don’t really feel like getting back up and trudging along, I am going to- because I have to, for my own sanity I have to.

<3

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Accepting the truth

chrome toy web cam
the many faces of Valerie, courtesy of WebcamToy for google chrome

 

I feel like the universe has been teaching me a lesson this past year or so. You can have it all, just not all at the same time. For me, I can’t even have some of it, I can barely hang on to 2-3 ITs. Last summer what I could have was work and my health. I super focused on slimming down and losing almost 40lbs and was working super extra hard to get a specialist role and promotion nearly in the same month which paid off- at the cost of this blog and my photography.  When school started in January and my new position got crazier at work my health fell by the wayside and blogging or photographing anything was the last thing on my mind. I’ve now gained a few pounds back and school is nearing its end for the summer and I couldn’t be happier that I get to have part of my life back, if only for a few months. I really do wonder how some people ‘have it all’ even though I know they probably don’t or there’s something in their life they are missing out on. I wish I could be hyper-focused on a million things at once but I’ve learned to just accept myself the way I am, this is me. This is how I roll. Id probably have a million panic attacks or be homicidal if i tried juggling any more than I can handle now. For now I’m content with rotating priorities in my life. Health, Photography, School, Work.

So long story short, hi. I’m back for now and its bike month which for my morbid self means I’m super inspired to shoot some ghost bikes and bring awareness to road sharing safely. See you around!

 

Ps. Its also burger month and I plan on eating many of those, protein style please.  :)

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Remember the Alamo

thanks to the movie Selena, this is the scene I think of when I think of the Alamo lol

So in a couple hours I’ll be jetting off to Texas for the week! YEEHAW! (trying to get into the southern mood) I’ll be going to San Antonio to visit my wifey aka best friend Aubree and her family and I’m really excited. Not only do I get to finally see where they moved to but I get to visit the historic Alamo! As a lover of history the Alamo is a little controversial for me. As a proud American patriot I’m stoked I get to experience a little history of part of my country, but as a proud Mexican-American I’m always a little perturbed that people keep insisting that Mexicans are coming here illegally, when they were actually the first ones here and that actually some American settlers were the first illegal immigrants into Mexico, and there in Coahuila y Tejas was where it all began.

But I’m not going to bore you with Mexican-American history today because I’m totally excited for my vacation to San Antonio and its LONG overdue. Basically this is the first real vacation I’ve taken since I went to New Zealand in 2009. I’ll still be posting while I’m away and when I get back I’m instituting a whole week of Texas inspired posts! Stoked.

Have a good weekend everyone!

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Digital Rant: I hate Instagram, part 2

So as some of you may know Instagram dropped for Android recently and then was promptly snapped up by Facebook for a hefty little sum that Facebook will no doubt never make back, but whatever its just another day in the life of Zucky. Anyway, me being the anti iphone girl, I decided to download the app and further annoy everyone who has been complaining about all the android users “ruining” IG and post pictures making fun of the app basically. **extra surly eyeroll**

It seems as if a few people didn’t catch the sarcasm because I got several “omg val you got IG?! I THOUGHT YOU HATED IT!?” **sigh** Apparently I wasn’t obvious in what I thought were ironic pictures (food, kissy faces throwing up deuces, chuck taylors on sidewalks…all with annoying filters). I really thought people would notice the tags I even put on there like “#istillhateinstagram #filmforever” would clue people in but…apparently not.

And I quote... "With mad phone camera skills like this, who needs real cameras anyway? #istillhateinstagram #yesimmakingfunofyou" lol

So let me proclaim this from the virtual rooftops.

I STILL.

HATE INSTAGRAM.

I might even hate it a little more now that people are silly (read: dumb) enough to think that someone like me would ever love that useless app. Basically my opinion of IG is this: if the old myspace, twitter, and path had a nasty three-way and ended up with a bastard lovechild, Instagram would be it.

:)

End rant. Well not really cause I could go on and on and on about how useless of an app it is and how people should NOT be taking their IG photos so serious because they are not special snowflakes…but I digress.