Maddy: Got Election Stress? Here are Some Tips if You Need a Distraction

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Has the election been more of a nailbiter than you were anticipating? Are you literally writhing on the floor and/or shoveling chips into your mouth while the news tells you everything is still too close to call? Here are a few activities you and your roomie(s) can do to distract yourselves from the impending civil war.

Play board games!

While watching the news last night, my roommates and I played several absolutely manic rounds of Clue, and it was a fantastic distraction. It requires just enough focus that you can tune out the news, and if you’re competitive, it can be a great way to get your anger out. We also played Dobble, a picture-matching game that is embarrassingly hard but extremely fun!

Find an empty study lounge in your building and just run around

At another point during the night, we were so anxious that we just need to scream and/or run. Luckily, Stuvi 2’s 26th floor is a big empty lounge with an awesome view, so we did a few laps and kind of rolled around on the floor and then we felt so much better!

If you don’t have a lounge, consider taking a jog outside. The freezing cold will definitely distract you from the insanity that is the 2020 election.

Bake

If you have an apartment, this is a great time to bake that cake you’ve been thinking of making. While you’ll have to sit and wait while it’s in the oven, your apartment will be filled with wonderful aromas, and you’ll know you have a yummy treat waiting for you even if the election results go horribly wrong.

Play slither.io (or other computer games)

Another addiction in my household is slither.io, a computer game notoriously banned from high schools for being so distracting. In the game, you’re a snake surrounded by stars, and you have to eat the stars and kill other snakes, who turn into stars once they die. If you eat enough, you might end up on the leaderboard! This game is very stressful in itself, but luckily if you die in this game you can just start all over again, something we can’t do if we lose the election. 

Hope these tips were helpful! Tune in next time for my blog about how to cope with the next four years, regardless of who wins!

Maddy: What Kind of Bread To Bake Based On Your COM Career

Baking bread in quarantine is the 2020 equivalent of a Victory Garden. It’s a convenient and fun way to provide yourself with sustenance and “reduce pressure on the public food supply,” because that’s a thing we have to think about now. So while we’re all watching our futures be canceled indefinitely, it is probably useful to brush up on our baking skills for when we inevitably have to become bakers in the post-pandemic world, at least until we are chosen to compete against Tributes from the other districts. And that’s on Peeta Mallark! Though you may not ever be a breadwinner, you can always be a bread baker, so here’s what kind of bread you should make based on what career you might have had if we weren't in a pandemic.

  1. PR Professional - Whole Wheat

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Whole wheat gets a bad rap because it has a weird texture and it’s good for you, which of course makes it kind of gross. This is exactly why YOU, an aspiring PR professional, must give it a good name. Practice baking this bread in quarantine and maybe give it a nice rebrand so the millennials will buy it.

  1. Advertising Account Manager - Sourdough

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Like sourdough, I imagine this job is kind of tough. Also, sourdough is THE bread of capitalism. Don’t ask me why - I just know.

  1. Filmmaker - Banana bread

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This is barely a bread and it is useful to no one, but it is very nice and it makes life better, just like you will with your little movies.

  1. Documentary filmmaker - Rye

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This is a bread that is sometimes average and sometimes GREAT, much like documentary filmmaking.

  1. Journalist - Croissant

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If croissants even count as bread, they are the hardest bread to bake. It takes skill, patience, and LOTS of butter to get these right. The same can be said for journalism. Also like journalism, croissants will reveal the TRUTH...of whether or not you suck at baking.

Happy breadmaking!

Maddy: Loneliness – Why It’s Ok To Be Alone But Why It Sometimes Sucks But Why That’s Also Ok

Hey commies! It’s that time of year; cuffing season is upon us, you can’t inspire yourself to leave your single, your friends all left for break but you have one freaking class the day before so you can’t leave til Wednesday morning...just me???

The point is, it is loneliness szn, but here are some pros and cons to being alone (and pros for the cons.)

Eating Alone Is GOOD

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While mealtime is social time for many people, eating alone can be great for a few reasons. For one thing, it can be a time of mindfulness and solemn reflection as you play out fantasy scenarios in your head and practice dealing with your worst anxieties, so you’ll be ready for these situations when they absolutely never happen. Also, you’re on your own eating schedule, so you don’t have to wait til the conversation ends to get up and get your next course. Are these tips helping? NEXT!

Living in a single is A BLESSING 

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If you’re an introvert like me, you need to get home after a long day and just decompress. Interacting with people takes a lot of energy, and you deserve to completely chill, zone in on your homework, nap, or do whatever. It can be hard to motivate yourself to leave, which is something you absolutely must do, but if you live in the moment and enjoy your alone time, you’ll find that when you do reenter civilization, you’ll do it with a clear head. 

Take yourself to the movies!!!!! 
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Take -- and I cannot stress this enough -- yourself to the movies.

You might get lonely

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I threw a con in there, were you ready for it?!! Yes, you might get lonely - duh. But in the immortal words of Veronica Sawyer from Heathers The Musical, if you were happy all the time, you’d be a game show host. If you can learn to be alone with yourself now while it’s a choice, you’ll be able to handle it when you graduate and move to a new city, or when you enter any new situation. Most importantly, if you learn to like being alone, you’ll appreciate being with people even more.

I guess all I’m trying to say is...if you ever feel like you’re always alone, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Good luck on your journey to going back inside and locking the door.

“A wise man can always be found alone.” - Bruce Lee (???) 🙂

Maddy: How To Trick Yourself Into Doing Homework

Absolutely no one wants to sit down and do homework, but it’s a necessary evil. It can be extremely hard to motivate yourself to get it done, especially if you’re a chronic procrastinator like me. Luckily, I’ve devised a few ways to trick myself into doing homework, which I will share with you now. You are a dog, your homework is the pill, and these tips are the cheese wrapped around it. Does that make sense? Here goes!

  • Start homework the day it’s assigned

This is a great way to trick yourself into getting ahead! You don’t actually have to do the thing yet, but it feels good to convince yourself you’re ahead of the game. if you outline your paper or do one of your readings, then in a few days when it’s actually time to work on it, you’ve given yourself a nice little head start.

  • Set reasonable goals for how much you’ll get done

Trick yourself into feeling good about what you’ve accomplished by accomplishing less than what you actually have to do! It’s tempting to write out all 25 things you have to do by the end of the week and plan to knock out as many as possible by the end of the night. However, that’s an easy way to overwhelm yourself. Don’t do it! Write out MAX 4 things you think you can realistically get done by tomorrow, and you’ll feel great when you accomplish them all. I also suggest knocking the easy stuff out of the way, and/or doing little bits of larger assignments.

  • Set a timer for 20 minutes

My friend and I were having a study bool and we absolutely could not focus, so I decided to set a timer for 20 minutes where we’d totally focus on our work. When the timer hit 15 minutes, I turned it off, but we were so focused that we kept working for another hour (she totally forgot we ever set a timer.) This is a hard trick to pull on yourself when you’re alone, but you’ll find that even if you leave the timer on and it rings, you’ll be so focused that you won’t want to stop.

  • Plan to reward yourself when you finish

Promise yourself that as soon as you get everything done, you’ll do something fun. Get some mochi ice cream from Whole Foods. Have your friends over for a movie and face masks. If you’re looking forward to something at the end of your study session, you’ll be way more motivated to get your work over with.

Happy (ish) studying! 😉

Maddy: Why You Don’t Have To “Do Everything”

Coming into COM, it is tempting to compare yourself to COM’s ‘poster-children’ (many of whom are COM Ambassadors, surprise surprise) who are involved in absolutely everything this school has to offer. Some students seem to climb the ranks of programs you didn’t even know existed, networking and traveling and getting internships left and right, and it’s easy to feel like you’re making all the wrong decisions.

While their efforts are completely commendable, at the end of the day, it comes down to passion. And whether you’re passionate about a million things or just one, the important thing is that you care deeply.

When you’re in a job interview, you can ramble on and on about all the clubs you’re in charge of and the internships you’ve had, but at some point they’re going to ask you what you’re proud of. If you’re interviewing for an ad agency and you spend twenty minutes passionately describing your love of marine biology, that’s what will make an impression. At the end of the day, you’re not a list of accolades: you’re a person. There’s a reason they hire people and not resumes!!!!

The best piece of (unsolicited) advice my dad ever gave me is that college doesn’t just have to be a stepping stone on the way to to a job: if you let it, it can be a place where for four years you can completely immerse yourself in learning/doing whatever will make you feel fulfilled as a human being. And chances are, if you’re in COM, you love what you do.

When I first came to COM, I had to make a ton of hard choices: do I sacrifice extracurricular theatre for an internship first semester? Do I minor in something practical or pursue a subject that endlessly fascinates me? Do I drop a club that looks great on a resume just because it’s no longer making me happy?

Unfortunately, we’ll all be making those choices for the rest of our lives. But when it comes down to it, if you choose to do what you love, and you really love what you do, you cannot fail. Ya gotta do it for the sake of doing it, ya dig? The weird part about success is that there’s no one definition: personal success is whatever you want it to be. So do whatever you need to do, or NOT do, because it’ll always be enough! Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

 

Maddy: 5 Best Boston Movie Theaters Where You Can See A Star Is Born

Well friends, I’m happy to report that the most important movie of the year, A Star Is Born, is available for viewing at several fabulous locations in the Boston area. As a COM student, you absolutely need to check out these theaters and, more importantly, ugly-cry over Bradley Cooper’s sultry voice and Lady Gaga’s sheer perfection. So here are the 5 best movie theaters where you can see A Star Is Born, because if you don’t see it, what are you even doing?

1. Regal Fenway

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Just a ten-minute walk and one scary intersection away from Comm Ave, Regal Fenway is the perfect movie theater for you to enjoy the third and best iteration of A Star Is Born. Barbra Streisand who? This theater offers comfy reclining seats so you can relax as you violently shake when Bradley Cooper pulls Lady Gaga onstage in that scene from the trailer and she hits that one sustained note and your soul escapes through your eyes.

2. AMC Loews Boston Common

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Get on the green line, hop off at Boylston Street, and you’ve reached this extravagantly huge theater that happens to be playing A Star Is Born TODAY at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:45, 3:45, 6:00, 7:00, and 9:15! Also, check out AMC Stubs A-List, Moviepass’s slightly more expensive but economically sound sibling. It’s $20 a month to see three movies per week…. which means--you guessed it--you can see A Star Is Born three times every week!

3. Coolidge Corner

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This historic theater has been around since 1933, and it’s been showing A Star Is Born since October 5th! You can also check out their “After Midnite” showings of inferior movies like The Exorcist and Scream in their original 35mm prints. Lame! Here’s a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thecoolidge/.

4. AMC Assembly Row

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If you’re ever in the Somerville area, hit up this awesome movie theater! Like all AMCs, it is unnecessarily large, and therefore perfect for bringing your entire friend group to see A Star is Born. Not only that, when you need comfort food after Bradley Cooper makes you puke out your heart and then swallow it again, there’s a Trader Joe’s right next door! Amazing.

5. Kendall Square Cinema

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Travel to Cambridge and check out this awesome theater, where A Star Is Born is actually not playing but I couldn’t think of a fifth movie theater . Actually, I changed my mind. This theater might be located in a really cool spot in Cambridge near some brunch places and vintage thrift stores, but it’s not playing A Star Is Born, so you should boycott this theater.

 

 

 

Maddy: 7 Things to Daydream About On Your 8-Hour Bus Journey Back To BU (too niche?)

As Spring Break comes to a close, and the crippling weight of your postponed responsibilities comes crashing down on your shoulders once again, it’s helpful to pinpoint some things to look forward to for the rest of your semester! So close your eyes, take a deep breath, put your sweatshirt on because this bus is colder than a freakin’ Boston winter and your overhead air conditioning is stuck on full blast, put your earbuds in because you bet that baby will be screaming for the entire ride, and imagine these beautiful BU treasures that await you.

  1. The Friendliest GSU Employee Ever To Exist

    Source: Adrianna Diaz/Daily Free Press Staff
    Source: Adrianna Diaz/Daily Free Press Staff

     The main thing to look forward to upon your return to BU is a smile and a “how are you, my friend?” from the nicest woman alive, who just happens to work as a cashier at the GSU. You can be sure that she will make a friendly joke about whatever food you’re buying, which you will only catch the tail end of because you were struggling to put your ID back in your pocket, you clumsy fool. Then you will bid her a great day because she truly deserves one and you will have seven years’ good luck.

  2. Pavement Coffee House

    Source: The Odyssey
    Source: The Odyssey

    Another thing you’ve surely missed over spring break is Pavement Coffee House, the best study spot known to man. Though you haven’t missed doing homework, you know it’ll be so nice to sip your Cinnamon Fig latte and listen to cool alternative playlists while you slave over your reading assignments.

  3. The College Comedy Scene

    Source: ME!
    Source: ME!
    Source: Danya Trommer
    Source: Danya Trommer

    BU’s comedy scene is always something to look forward to! Pictured above are two of the funniest people I have ever met: Fellow CA Hannah Schweitzer (COM ‘21), who performs with BU’s premiere improv troupe Liquid Fun; and Danya Trommer (COM ‘21) who kills at Stand-Up Club! In fact, Hannah will be making her Liquid Fun debut in their show on March 16th, and Danya and I are competing in BU’s Funniest, a stand-up comedy competition that will determine which student will open for the famous comedian who comes to perform at BU! So many things to look forward to!

  4. President Brown’s Rolling Briefcase and Whatever Secrets It May Contain

    Source: Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
    Source: Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff


    Dolla bills? Spare mustaches? An L.L. Bean Pop Up Shop? The possibilities are endless.

     

  5. Butv10 Servin’ Up Industry-Standard Realness

     Source: Cydney Scott
    Source: Cydney Scott

    COM is known for providing top-notch resources to its students, including industry standard equipment for students to rent out or use to FILM THEIR OWN TV SHOWS. (I know.) Butv10 is BU’s TV station, and we write and film actual episodes of shows like Bay State, the longest-running college soap opera; Pals & Friends, a sketch comedy show that I write for; and Co-Ed, a mockumentary (comedy) show that I also write for! Hooray!

     

  6. Squeezing In Time For Einstein’s Bagels Between Classes

    Source: Unkown but I got it off of the BU Dining page]
    Source: Unknown but I got it off of the BU Dining page

    No line is more worth the wait than the one for Einstein’s Bagels in the CAS basement, which often extends down the entire hallway. But do you know who’s going to wait as long as it takes for a hot bagel and coffee even if it means being 5 minutes late to class? You are. Why? Because you DESERVE that shmear of honey almond cream cheese on a toasted asiago bagel.

     

  7. Rhett’s Weary But Smiling Face As He Waddles Through The GSU
    Source: Kristyn Ulanday
    Source: Kristyn Ulanday

    The fabled terrier Rhett is reclusive, but on occasion a few lucky BU students with a keen eye will be able to spot the creature as he is essentially dragged through the GSU link. He’s so tired but so adorable. Will you be the one to offer a nice warm lap for him to nap on? Maybe. Rumor has it that if you let Rhett nap on your lap he will grant you 3 wishes and 40 convenience points. That’s enough for two whole loads of laundry.