What Am I Doing With My Life? 1.31.14

What Am I Doing With My Life? is a weekly segment where I recap all the things I spent my week reading, watching and listening to. Think of it as a weekly link roundup but better, because it has a much more adorable name... 

What you might have missed while you were out having a life:

• The third season of American Horror Story has finally ended, and I'm not sure how I feel about what went down. Relive the best moments in gif form here. 
• Thanks to my friend Aaron I've developed an addiction to Snapchat. I'm a few months late to the fun though which leaves me with one friend to snap until 2 am or until he falls asleep, whichever comes first. This girl's Snapchats make me want to cancel my cell phone service and just give up on life. Or snapchatting. 
• Apparently this is the mating dance of the Chilean flamingos. Do you think if I try it on campus I'll nab a valentine?
• Watch these guys try to guess bra prices and other everyday things women buy.  

What I spent my week doing:

• Over on Her Campus I wrote about the photo a day challenge I'm in charge of. A twenty dollar gift card is the prize for the winning Instagram photo.
• I wrote an article for Life at UCR (my school's admissions blog). It's a day in the life of a typical college student at UCR, me of course!

My finished outfit for this weekend's Hippie Run!

February Photo A Day Challenge (Plus A Giveaway Prize for One Lucky Winner!)

Being single on Valentine's Day is never easy, especially with all of our non-single friends on social media flaunting their relationships in our face. When brainstorming what I wanted to write about during the month of February for Her Campus, I figured why not create something that will distract me and other girls like me from the fact that no one is buying us a box of chocolates this Valentine's Day.

I combined my need for a distraction with my love for Instagram and created a February Photo-A-Day Challenge, except it's like no photo challenge you've ever done before. I've tried others in the past but they always expect me to be a bit too creative, they're too redundant or after I while I just get bored.

My roommate and I put our brains together to come up with the funniest, one of a kind and never seen before daily challenges that will keep you from quitting before the candy hearts go on clearance. Nothing is ever much fun if you have to do it alone though, so I reached out to some of the bloggers from the Her Campus Blogger Network and a few girls have decided to take part in it as well! (Yay!)

Her Campus UC Riverside's Page

Along with me, (the mastermind), and Her Campus UC Riverside, the following blogs will be taking part in the photo a day challenge. I definitely recommend you check out their blogs, each have their own personal style and will be writing about the challenge along with HCUCR.
» Areeba from I Have A Messy Bun
» Dylan from Sartorial Spice

Her Campus Montclair will also be partnering up with Her Campus UCR thanks to Dylan who is the Social Media Director for that branch.

Besides this being tons of fun, for every photo you post with the hashtag #HCUCRVDAY, your chances of winning the $20 gift card will increase!

Below is the photo with every day's challenge. Typically with Instagram challenges like this you post this photo on the first day of the month along with that day's photo. This way your friends and followers know what the heck you are talking about and can participate too!

Follow me on Instagram @whenlifegivesyourubi to see what I'm posting!

After showing the challenges to a few people I realized that not all are self explanatory, so here are some explanations for some of the challenges that might not make immediate sense.

» Feb 1: If you had your own television show, what song would play during the opening credits?!

» Feb 7: Cant reach the remote? Snap a photo of it! Photograph the first world problems that you struggle with every day...

» Feb 9: MCM Black History Month Edition is just like every other Man Crush Monday except you must crush on someone who identifies as African American, it is Black History Month ya'll.

» Feb 10: Google this, trust me you'll be laughing in seconds!

» Feb 11: Pick an object you wouldn't mind spending the rest of your life with.

» Feb 18: If I am what I eat, then I'm a dinosaur chicken nugget. Rawr. Photograph the one food you wouldn't mind being made of.

» Feb 26: Same as February 9th, but this time it's Woman Crush Wednesday!

Every week Her Campus UCR will be posting a round up of their favorite photo submissions for that week, so the more creative you are the better chance you have of getting a shout out on our page! I too will be posting some of my favorite submissions on this page.

Make sure to tell all your friends about the February Photo-A-Day Challenge, don't forget to hashtag #HCUCRVDAY with your posts and good luck! I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!!

22 Things That Happen When You Live Alone

Living alone was one of the few times when I felt like I was really growing up. Dorming was fun and the independence I had was great, but I was never truly alone. I had an RA to take care of me when I got locked out and an amazing dining hall staff to cook me breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Never mind that I always slept through breakfast.)

This past summer I finally lived alone, truly alone. Away from all my friends. Not in the type of apartment complex that constantly has someone on staff in case I lock myself out of an emergency. I had a two bedroom apartment all to myself and I finally realized what Taylor Swift meant about it being a little colder than I thought it would be.

Like with everything there are pros and cons to living alone, and even though I loved the part where I didn't have to wear pants, I certainly don't think I'm ready to be in charge of checking the locks every night. Here are the 22 things you can expect to happen when you live alone.

1. You will lose weight. A combination of forgetting to buy groceries, over reliance on dining halls and your mom forgetting to remind you to eat.

2. The floor will become your hamper. Before you have company you have to pick up the piles of clothes that have accumulated next to your shower.

3. Pants are optional, unless you have company. Then I’m sure you will have some lying right where you took them off when you got home, the front door.

4. You don’t invite people over as often as you thought you would.

5. You’ll find yourself turning into your mom. Checking and rechecking the locks on all the door and windows every night.

6. Buying some sort of weapon is standard. That or adopting a large enough rock to crack skulls with chuck at someone in case of emergency.

7. Dance parties can and will happen at all times of the day and night.

8. Eventually you will forget to pay some bill. I can't decide what’s worse, forgetting to pay for the internet or heating.

9. Days (or weeks) without social interaction will lead you to friend some bug or rodent in your home. You think I’m crazy now but wait until you find yourself talking to a spider.

10. You will eventually pee with the door open. Not at first, but eventually, you’ll wonder why you ever closed the door.

11. You will seriously consider getting a pet. The kittens at the pet store are only 40 dollars, that’s like one trip to Target!

13. ..and buy a fish! So low maintenance, super loyal.

But it dies. Fish always die, don't blame yourself too much.

14. Remembering to buy groceries long after you run out of food.

15. Half of your food spoils when you do buy it anyways.

16. Marathon sessions of watching your favorite old TV shows.

17. You sometimes forget to buy the boring everyday stuff, like toilet paper and dish soap.

18. And when you do buy toilet paper it never quite makes it to the thing that’s supposed to hold it in place.

19. You will never find a fork/spoon when you need it. But don’t worry, you somehow have about 20 butter knives.

20. No more waiting for your roommate to get out of the shower when you have to pee!

21. No more compromising on what you want to watch on TV! Embrace your right to watch Lockup Raw. All. Day. Long.

22. And best of all, no more passive aggressive notes scattered throughout your apartment. Everything is your fault anyways.

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What Am I Doing With My Life? 1.24.14

What Am I Doing With My Life? is a weekly segment where I recap all the things I spent my week reading, watching and listening to. Think of it as a weekly link roundup but better, because it has a much more adorable name... 

What you might have missed while you were out having a life:

• If you feel like laughing until your stomach hurts read these reviews of Haribo sugar free gummy bears. Do not read in class unless you want your professor to know you are definitely not paying attention.
• You can take a quiz to figure out which New Girl character you would be. I got Schmidt. (Actually pretty proud about that.)
• Google continues to be the best search engine on earth. Go on Google Images and search Atari Breakout.
• Need to figure out whether you need that extra sweater or not? Let Drake tell you the weather. 
• Did you notice that Gmail went down today? Don't worry it's back up and running. Here are the 15 Best Twitter Reactions to Gmail Being Down. At least I know I'm not the only over dramatic person on the planet. 

What I spent my week doing:

• My column for Her Campus this week was the first installment of the "12 Things You're Doing Wrong On Social Media."
• Remember the Hippie Run I mentioned last week? Cause I registered for it. For only 20 dollars you can run a 5k and have an excuse to dress like a weirdo hippie. 
• I got bored late one night and completely redesigned my Tumblr. 
• I wrote about the two awesome people that helped make me studying abroad possible. Check it out here. 

12 Things You're Doing Wrong On Social Media

You can find the first half of '12 Things You're Doing Wrong On Social Media' here. 

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7. Tumblr Pages That Play Music
Nothing is more mortifying that sitting in a quiet place and having your laptop suddenly start blasting some song you probably don't even like. Tumblr users with automatic music players on their pages need to stop.

Not only do I most likely already have my own music playing, it always takes me a frantic few seconds to figure out where the music is coming from, how to stop it, and then have to explain why some Demi Lovato song just started blasting from my speakers.

8. Throwback Thursday
I have never participated in throwback Thursday. It just seems like a lot of work to have to find a photo from a long time ago, I’ll stick to Instagramming whatever I’m snacking on at the moment.

While bringing up a photo from the post seems like a fun idea, people sure do like to abuse it. From those friends you have that post right at 12:01 AM on a Thursday, to others who throwback to something that happened a week ago. Anything less than two weeks ago is a late post and any photo from less than four months ago is just you wanting to remind everyone how cute you looked that day. It’s Throwback Thursday, not Two Weeks Ago Thursday.

9. Sharing Your Feelings By this point you probably think I'm some monster that can’t be pleased, but I promise I’m not! I’m actually nice (to most people), I bake cookies from time to time and can't resist petting a puppy. I swear I’m not a monster!

Which is why I can't stand people who post their feeling on Facebook, just their feelings. My good friend feeling depressed makes me worry, but I quickly turn to annoyed when that’s all she says. If you want to be sad/excited/angry go for it! Just don’t post it with no explanation and get annoyed when people ask what’s going on.

10. Giant Facebook Photo Albums
Unless you traveled somewhere amazing that I will probably never go to or went to Disneyworld, there is no reason a photo album should be over 50 images. Many of my friends are repeat offenders, often posting photo albums that reach the triple digit range. I understand that they had fun but do we all need to see the same photo at three different blur levels, a photo of your drink from six different angles as well as a step by step photo tutorial of all your girlfriends getting ready? No.

Next time you’re uploading a large amount of photos to Facebook ask yourself, “Does anyone really care to see 10 photos of me drunkenly leaning against the same friend?” (Or whatever applies to your situation.) 

Don't be this person. 

11. Arguing On Social Media
Private messages exist for a reason. I had no idea how big of a grammar Nazi everyone was until I created my Facebook account. People get into arguments with people they’ve never met, about things they don’t really care that much about, and all in front of their friends and families.

I’ve never been in a public Facebook argument because most of the time I literally could care less about anything that doesn’t have to do with me personally, but if I was about to argue with someone I certainly wouldn’t do it on a public post. If someone is really annoying the hell out of you either message them personally or just delete them, that’s how I lost contact with basically half of my friends from my freshman dorm hall. (Sorry not sorry.)

12. Promoting Your Relationship (The Good, the Bad & the Ugly)
I would have put this at number one but I wasn’t sure yet what part of relationships on social media we’re the most annoying. It’s definitely a tie between the people who feel the need to tell everyone about what a horrible person their ex was and the friend you have who is always being tagged in posts by their significant other.

Breakups are hard, believe me, I’ve basically earned a masters degree in how to get over a guy. Under no circumstances though should you publicly announce that someone cheated on you, broke up with you on your birthday, or did some other horrible thing to you that you have every right to be angry about. Most likely you share mutual friends with your ex, so your post break up anger is only making them uncomfortable, and making you look like a psycho.

Save your angry break up talk for close friends or become a writer, bitterness sounds less crazy when you spin it into something people can relate to. (Hey have you read my 12 Step Program to Getting Over A Guy??)

Because I understand how much getting your heart broken sucks, people who constantly flaunt how happy they are definitely are worse. I’m not a bitter single person, but I like any person get annoyed when a friend’s significant other constantly tags my friend in sappy posts and overly edited images.

Don’t be that couple on social media that needs everyone to know everything, because most likely everyone is waiting for you two break up (hopefully on a Facebook post) and rid their news feed of all those romantic quotes you’re constantly tagged in.
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Do you have something about social media you wish people would figure out already? Or are you instead a repeat offender of one of these? Comment below, I promise not to judge too hard. 

PS I'm Blogging About This: 7 Things That Happen Too Often

PS I'm Writing About This is a column that will highlight some of the colorful conversations I have with friends, strangers and inanimate objects in my daily life...

I spent my winter break how any average female in her early twenties should, lounging on the couch watching basic cable television with my mom. Correction, I was lounging, my mother was busy judging me for spending another day in leggings and probably warming up some tortillas. On one of these ordinary days we were waiting to hear the verdict on a court case, it was a real edge of your seat situation.

It was some neighbor dispute that lead to someone vandalizing something, the usual. Right before the decision was announced the television decided to start screaming bloody murder, followed by some words sliding across the screen. And in that moment my mom flew into a rage. 

Apparently this happens "all the time," even though I explained to her the message specifically said it was a weekly announcement. My mom being completely uninterested in what I had to say continued to rant about once a week being too often and that she wished it would just go away. While she continued to be over dramatic about a weekly PSA taking too much of her time, I began to tune her out and got to thinking about other things that happen way too often. 

Below is my list of things that need to get their act together and think about taking a day off.

» Public Service Announcements. I don’t know exactly what they are announcing but they are doing no one a favor by interrupting our favorite shows with that loud buzzing sound. (We never did find out if the neighbor had to pay for the damage.)

» Periods. I’m not having sex often enough to need a monthly reminder that my womb is empty. My empty bed is reminder enough.

» Low battery. How do we have phone that have touchscreens, mini projectors, work virtually everywhere but can't have a battery life that lasts longer than 15 hours. Priorities people!

» Birth control. Taking birth control on a daily basis (when you're not having sex) is a lot like stocking up on nonperishable food in case of an apocalypse. Expensive and unnecessary. Plus, either scenario, our life is over. 

» Midterms. 'Mid' means middle, meaning there should only be one midterm per course. Is there some second meaning I and Google are unaware of because most professors love midterms, so much that they have 2-3 per semester. Change the name or change the syllabus! 

» Crushes. I wish I could just turn off my emotions, or at least dial them down a notch. "My name is Rubi, and I am emotionally slutty." I have someone new on my mind about as often as those public service announcements my mom hates, but in my defense, all these relationships I'm juggling are purely in my mind. 

» Name changes. If you are one of those users on Instagram, Twitter or god forbid Facebook that changes their name about as often as you post....stop. Nobody cares what your user name is enough for you to change it that often. Plus it makes it very difficult to tag you in a photo when we have to figure out what your name of the week is. 

If you have anything that happens more often than necessary you can leave it in a comment below. That or the link to a cute cat gif, either one. You can never have too many cats gifs. 

10 Things I Will Never Outgrow

January is the month where most everyone you know will fall into one of two categories. Friends will either vow to be a better version of themselves or use any opportunity to comment on how stupid people are for thinking that a new year means anything will be different.

I’m not quite sure where I fall on the spectrum. While I don’t mock others for wanting to make a change with the new year, I also don’t really want to make a change myself. Maybe I've just always been content with myself, or maybe I'm just too lazy for that whole 'new year, new me' attitude. Any resolution I make would have to be about my day to day life and how to change how monotonous college life can begin to feel. Why is there no ABC Family series that depicts what college is really like? A never ending cycle of exams, group projects and badly scanned PDF readings?

Resolutions are great, whether you resolve to quit a bad habit or start a good new one. I've never been one to make resolutions, I much prefer to make goals. Goals are things that I know will take me months to achieve, if not longer. Past goals I've made include studying abroad, and this year's is giving this writing thing one full year to become something. (I just need to figure out exactly what that something is.)

There are a few things that I will never resolve to change though, habits that keep me feeling young and stupid. With this month being all about bettering our daily lives, let’s take a second to acknowledge the things we vow to never want to change.

1. Juiceboxes, because juice just tastes better when it comes out of a rectangular shaped box. And don’t get me started on the joys of drinking liquids from a straw.

2. Random cats, more specifically, chasing after random cats all while yelling, “Come here kitty, I just wanna love you with all my heart!”

3. Buying my jewelry at stores like Claires and Forever 21. I’ll most likely just lose it anyways so I might as well not pay more than 5 dollars for any item.

4. Loving a good Disney movie marathon. Say what you want about some of the horrible life lessons that the various Disney princesses promote, nothing can make you feel like everything is going to be okay in the end other than your favorite childhood Disney film.

5. Wanting a soda with my meal. Say what you want about my metabolism not being this amazing forever, how all the cool kids drink Starbucks and how healthy water is, I will not deprive myself of a Coke. 

6. Young adult novels are just better than adult novels. Their titles are just so straight forward that you don't even need to read the description. Plus, I feel like a genius for being able to finish them entirely in one sitting.

7. Trips to Costco with my mom are the highlight of my visits home. Free samples, a slice of pizza for the ride home and my favorite snacks sold in bulk! A broke twenty-something year old's paradise! 

8. Speaking of grocery shopping with my mom, if you don’t ride the cart like it’s a scooter-you’re not living.

9. Spongebob Squarepants may be played on a children’s channel, but it is certainly not written for a child audience. A twenty something with a dead end job, no drivers license or love life, that basically sums up my life! Next time you're having a bad day gohome and turn on Nickelodeon, I guarantee* Spongebob will be on and you will feel better. (I can only guarantee Spongebob will be on if you are home by 5.)

10. Picking. Whether a scab, my nose or a pimple, it’s all fun. I can’t explain why, it just is. 

What Am I Doing With My Life? 1.17.14

What Am I Doing With My Life? is a weekly segment where I recap all the things I spent my week reading, watching and listening to. Think of it as a weekly link roundup but better, because it has a much more adorable name... 

What you might have missed while you were out having a life:

• These friends will make you want to step up your Snapchat game or permanently close your account because you will never be as good. 
• A fun twist on our favorite childhood books. 
• I found the best #RomanticActionMovie mashup collection. 
• Plus, individual's drawings on Netflix return envelopes that will make you green with envy. 

What I spent my week doing:

• After four years in college I finally wrote about what if feels like to be the only sober one at a college party. 
• All the awesome things I reblogged from the comfort of my bed.
• Gather some friends and register for the Hippie Run. A third of the price of the most fun races and a cool way to work on your New Year's Resolutions. 

PS I'm Blogging About This: My (Imaginary) Career as a Stripper

PS I'm Writing About This is a column that will highlight some of the colorful conversations I have with friends, strangers and inanimate objects in my daily life...

Me: God I'm so broke, I should really start stripping on the weekends. 

Benjamin: Nobody would pay to see you strip.

Me: I resent that, if it wasn't for smart phones and the internet I would be on a pole right now.

Benjamin: You have Bambi legs, watching a girl fall off stage isn't hot.

Me: You're right, my balance does suck. But I could pull it off, make the stop drop and roll part of my routine...

Benjamin: You want to practice fire safety on stage?

Me: Duh, my routine would be so hot I'd set the club on fiiiiiire.

Benjamin: I'm done with you.

Me: PS I'm blogging about this...

The above is a conversation I recently had where I had casually mentioned my imaginary career as a stripper. Every struggling college girl has thought about it at least once, if you haven't you're not working hard enough. Nobody really needs a reason to create a fantasy life as a stripper, basically the only requirements are a craving for attention and stage worthy name. Being the overachiever I am, I have two stage names. 

If for some reason this whole college thing didn't work out and I had to take to the pole I would have to choose between being known as Morris Alexander or Anastasia Beaverhausen, both excellent names, both ooze sophistication. (At least in my mind.) There's a really simple way to figure out what your stripper name would be, just take the name of your first pet and pair it with the name of the street you grew up on! 

To prove how full proof the formula is I tested it on my roommate. Turns out her stripper name would be Chocolate Lilac. It's brilliant and works for a thousand reasons, mostly because she's African American and it's perfect coincidence. The formula is full proof.

If you ever mention an imaginary career as a stripper to anyone they'll act like you're either insane or want to hear your reasons. Have your reasons ready, if you cant think of any, you can borrow mine:

1. I would always have cash on me, saving me a ton of money on ATM fees. 
2. The chance to meet Olivia Benson. My career is all made up, so I might as well assume she's a living, breathing person. 
3. An excuse to dance to Beyonce. As if anyone needs a reason. 
4. I can use the income to pay off my student loans.
5. A career as a stripper would mean I wouldn't be living with loan debt in the first place. 
6. There's only two types of people in the world, the ones that entertain and the ones that observe**

Last step to creating a (fake) career as a stripper is to figure out who is your target audience. I personally would only strip for governors, some state senators and pro-athletes. No offense if you wanna dance for the average Joe, but I rather have the chance of being part of a scandal, maybe then I'd finally get my own TV series.

Feel free to comment below what your stripper name would be!

*shameless Britney Spears reference

7 Resolutions Everyone Around You Needs to Make

So many people make New Year’s Resolutions based on their perceptions of themselves. It’s the norm to turn to friends when needing advice on relationships or important life decisions, so why aren’t friend’s opinions also factored in while making resolutions for the new year?

My first week back from winter break I walked back to my apartment after a not so long day and did what any normal 21 year old would do, opened up my laptop and vowed to not put on pants until the next day. All I wanted after having to discuss feminist theory for three hours was to scroll through my Tumblr dashboard while an episode of Spongebob quietly played in the background.

What I got instead were my upstairs neighbors deciding they were going to start doing whatever it is they do that makes the walls of my apartment shake, rattle and release dust. I proceeded to call them beasts and try to ignore the fact that asbestos was raining from the ceiling. Not an exaggeration, I had to sign a waiver saying I wouldn't sue in case I become deathly ill.

I understand it's a free country and my neighbors could care less that their banging interrupts my nap sessions, but just maybe this article will find them. Below are resolutions everyone around us needs to make to help make 2014 a bit more bearable:

1. Neighbors: To not be so damn loud. Whether this means not stomping like a wildebeest at 1 AM or not playing their music to the point that I know all the lyrics to the song too.  

2. Friends: Don’t shove your new healthy habits in my face. I don't want to do yoga with you, it bores me and my forehead is too small to wear my hair in a ponytail. Once this phase is over text me so we can go grab some froyo. 

3. Parents: Don’t automatically assume I’m lying dead in a gutter if I don’t return your call the same day. I probably just forgot, if two days pass by, send out an Amber Alert. Any selfie I posted on Instagram is an approved photo for any missing person posters. 

4. Roommates: February means all my favorite shows will be returning from their mid-season finales. If American Horror Story is on, don’t speak to me! If I’m screaming bloody murder on a Sunday night, I’m fine, Walking Dead is just making me feel things. 

5. Anyone on the road: I’m not saying we should all resolve to follow all the traffic laws, but can we at least try to not kill one another. Sincerely, a bike rider who doesn’t want to die.  

6. Classmates: If you are one of those people that pushes into a classroom while there are 50 or more people trying to exit, stop. Everybody hates you and you are a horrible person.

7. Guys: If you text me after 10 PM I will automatically assume you are interested in me and commence stalking you on every type of social media. Don’t start this chain of events if you are not serious about our future together.