Blog Reflection

What a journey it has been. I have always wanted to experience the other side of the blogger life. Now, I kind of now how they go. Always writing, always experimenting new things for a great posts, always on the edge of what's trending. Specially nowadays with social media being so active. For a person to like blogging you have to love writing. They go together like night and day. If not, it's going to consume you very slowly because you have to invest lots of time on it. Its basically talking to people. They read what you wrote like some sort of review or experience. This way, your blog followers can learn or even get encouraged to do something. It all depends on what type of blog you own and the style is very important too. It's not an easy task, honestly. The more people that follows you the more reach you have. So, more things you have to write about and on a more constantly basis. 

For me, this assignment was something I looked forward to from the beginning. I wanted to see how well or bad I could do. How the process of maintaining a blog will change me to love it or hate it. I am not the writer type of person so it immediately became a challenge. I am more of a content creator. But I do love going places and writing about how my experience went. Nonetheless, I tried to make the best of out it. I own some blog posts that are good and some not so good - in my opinion. I guess that's because of the interest I placed on that particular post. Maybe it was because I liked some readings or exercises and some I didn't. The ones that I liked are well written, they have more of my style of writing, more pictures, videos and analogues, they are more alive in a weird way. In contrast with the ones I did because I had to. They are, of course, well written and all, but I don't see myself in those posts.

At first, I thought the whole blog project was going to be a little bit more free. Yeah, with rules, parameters and standards, but more of a "you do whatever you like but maintaining these instructions" kind of free. We did that, but I thought we were gonna' travel. Like see places or restaurants. Experiments plays, expos and all those kind of things. Don't get me wrong, the exercises were all great, but in my opinion, less reading and more go out would have been funner. Thats the whole thing of blogging, isn't it? At least those are the blogs that people enjoy more. It's not that I didn't enjoyed the readings, which I really did and learn from them, but whenever we had to make a post from a reading my intentions on writing were all gone. There was no excitement or process of experimenting something and really loving it or disliking it, which propelled you to write about your experience. We had some exercises like this, and I loved them. All because I got to listen to others people process and journey.  It was interesting and fun to listen to my fellow classmates. The stories of each and every one of them. All so different. 

I discovered that my style is very informal, very casual. Not in a bad way, but its like if I were speaking to a friend about something. Also, with the advances in technology and everything and everyone now connecting via internet I don't see the "don'ts" in not having a blog. Specially if one is involved in any sort of way with people. No matter the area. When people are interest in what you do they tend to want always more. So connecting with fans or followers with a blog is something really useful and satisfying.  It makes you more real. And they get to see the most recent things you are up to. Oh yeah! It is a must. Now, for me, I will keep one. I love owning a blog. Its cool and lots of fun,  of course, you are doing it because you want to, and love to share experiences and knowledge with the world.

The Time My Brother and I Sled

Winter, the favorite season of most people. There is something about it that makes us feel warm and cozy, even though is the coldest stage of the year. I can not say precisely what it is about it that people love so much, but like Andy Williams says in his song “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”. Cool and ugly sweaters are used by almost everyone. Warm beverages like hot cocoa and coffee along with some gingerbread cookies and delicious pastries are shared between family and friends. People get together all over the globe to see each other. There is just something in the air that makes us feel happy and appreciative of the little things. At peace with with our surroundings. A time for love and comfort. A season where each of us has to make the other feel special regardless the situation. A time for giving.

Every time this beautiful winter season presents itself, my brother and I get reminded of an epic moment he and I shared together. We still laugh at it every year, and we really like to tell the story to our close friends and relatives when together at a get or family party. My mother, loves the story, she laughs at it every time, but also reminds everyone about how mad she was with us that day, and the pain she went through because of us. It was between the holidays of thanksgiving and christmas. At the time, we were around eight and nine years old. My brother is a year younger than me. People say we look a like, twins they say, but honestly they are completely wrong. We are opposite poles. One of us is clearly adopted and it’s him. I am just kidding, we sort of have some similarities.

Anyway, we woke up this Sunday morning before our parents. It was really early, the sun wasn’t even up yet. I say Sunday, because I can clearly recall that on this day we were all at home and our parents slept until 10 o’clock in the morning. So, with being awake so early and with nothing to do we quickly got bored. We started eating things out of the fridge and doing random things around the house. It was, until I went to the laundry and found these two ginormous boxes of detergent for washing clothes. But they weren't our normal clothes detergent, which was liquid detergent. It was powdered detergent. And two whole full giant boxes of it. My lightbulb immediately turned on. I then, ran to my brother and told him about the idea I had. He agreed without hesitation, he is my little brother so wouldn’t he. With me being the mastermind behind all this, we both grabbed the two boxes of powdered detergent and started scattering the powder, scoop by scoop, all over the kitchen, the dinning room, and the family room.

It happens these three rooms were all connected on a one story house. Once we finished dispersing the boxes entirely on the couches, the tables, chairs, the old figures at the tables, the kitchen cabinets, the floor, and everything on it’s path, we took off our pijamas and stayed in our underwear. It was winter wonderland! Neither of us have seen snow before, so this was as close as we could get. It really looked like snow. We were so happy, with a sense of accomplishment, that we started playing in it. We made “snow balls”, we threw them at each other, we ran, made figures, and sled all through the rooms. May I remind you that it was detergent. One moment, my brother slammed into my parents room door so hard that it woke them up. As soon as they came out through that door, we hid like mice at night. My mother was so furious. She didn’t even lay a hand on us that day, because she knew if she grabbed us, she would kill us.

After that, my dad got us outside, in our underwear, grabbed the water hose and hosed us down from top to bottom. We looked like some devilish snowman melting under the sun. Our eyes were so red, and the pain was inexplicable. That was our punishment as described by my mother. It was clearly something crazy, but we had lots of fun. Now, that’s the time my brother and I sled for the first time in “snow”.

How Keeping a Journal Changed my Writing

For my english class I had to make a journal with a total of 40 entries and 12 life compasses, for the course of two months. The rules of the journal were simple. You had to not cross out any words, write non stop for ten minutes, write about anything that came to mind - that means going for the jugular which also meant to not hold back on anything. Don't mind about grammar nor spelling and let your brain soar with information and memories. For the life compasses, we had to make a circle and four coordinates like on a compass. But in case of putting north, south, east and west, we wrote spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. In which we graded each one of the areas with a 1-3 scale. At the end, we added the numbers of each part to see which aspect of us was lower and which one higher. To see how well or bad we felt the moment we made the life compass. And how we could change it - if it was on the lower scale.

My experience with this assignment started our a bit painful and awkward, but I still looked forward to the project. I really like the idea of writing on a journal but had never started it before because of the time I had to dedicate it. Time I believed I didn’t have. So, I dismissed the idea of writing each day. I do keep an idea journal, in which I write or draw every kind of idea that I come up with, for later use or for an ongoing project or job. It makes it a little bit easier because, of course, one’s memory is not perfect and one can easily forget things. More importantly ideas are hard to come by. Is basically the main purpose of the journal - to remember things. When the professor told the classroom all the rules, I was kind of skeptical because I tend to edit a lot of my writing along the way. I’m sort of a perfectionist when doing this, so I was worried this might have become a challenge for me. All in all, I think the experience was pretty good. I am not gonna lie.

This assignment has made a better writer out of me. I don't worry anymore about my perfect writing or how well written is something, at first. Later I have to edit it. I just feel more at ease with my writing and it comes to me more fluid. So, I write all my ideas regarding the topic of my writing first and then organize, edit or restructure it. I own a blog, so this is gold for me. Now, I can write like If i am talking to the reader. Something a little more informal - which was what I was looking for when writing. My journal entries, at the beginning, where hard to follow. It had lots of random things and no line of thought. Through the course of time, my entries got better and better. Ten minutes where nothing anymore. I got deep several times, in which I couldn’t stop writing. I really began to like writing about my day or my problems on a blank notebook. It made me feel better afterwards or more connected to myself.On the other hand, my life compasses have been very different one from another. Since the start, I have written a lot on them. When I’m at college or stressed out about homework they tend to be more on the lower scale (between a 5-8), in comparison to, when I’m doing something I really love doing or exploring around they are more higher (9-12). The circles got smaller, but that’s because I wrote more of why I was feeling the way I did. 


Eventually, I will keep doing the journal, at least when I travel, that way I get more memories out of it. It’s something I have to do. Honestly, it connects me more to my life and makes me be more aware of all each aspect of myself. Now, I can better understand if something is not wrong, which area is being hurt and viceversa. 

Autobiography

Hi. My name is Jorge A. Ortiz Rodriguez, but most people call me George. I'm 22 years old and I'm currently on my fifth year of college at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. My major is in Audiovisual Communication, concentrated on filmmaking. This is where my mind, heart, and soul is. Honestly, I don't see myself doing anything else rather than working on the set of a production or being involved in a way with this medium. 

I was born in Rio Piedras, P.R. on January 11th, 1993. Since I can remember I have always been interested in this industry. Movies have forever been an amazement to me, the characters and how their stories are portrayed fascinate me and thus have inspired me to become an actor and filmmaker. 

When I was 15 years old I got the opportunity to work as an extra on the set of a North American film called, The Rum Diary, staring Johnny Deep. This production confirmed to me that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Being there, made me fall in love even more with this "movie magic stuff." I consider myself lucky because this has officially become my job up to this day. And ever since that production I have been called to work on foreign and local movie productions here on the Island - working as extra, featured extra, stunts, stand in and photo double for actors as Steve Zahn, David Spade, and Ross Lynch. I also work amaeteurly and professionally as a portrait and event photographer.

Set of NBC TV Series, Crossbones

Set of Amazon Prime Web Series, Mad Dogs

I currently live at the municipality of Caguas, P.R. but I don't spent to much time there. Everywhere is where I mostly am. So, I consider myself as an outdoorsy person. I love to travel to new places, and explore my surroundings; adventuring with my friends, the new people I get to meet thanks to social media - sometimes - or by myself. There is something so rewarding about finding cool places to be and while being there, connecting with those around you and with yourself. I guess this is why my personal style as a artist is very influenced by travel and storytelling. Beautiful landscapes and natural light can constantly be witnessed in my work. Also, fantasy, science fiction, and imagination. 

As you can see, I'm a very self motivated guy with an unending love for family, including my dog, Lucca - he is also family - art, and travel. I like to believe in the goodness of people, and every morning I like to wake up in complete silence to a cup of coffee in order to start my day with a positive attitude. Yes, I am a coffee addict.

My aspirations are to eventually move to Los Angeles, California, in order to continue studying and furthering my career as a professional actor and filmmaker.