Preppin' for the possibilities

Well, today is the day (the deadline)... We'll see if I won anything within a few weeks, but if you've been looking around the contest info (prob wondering what this is all about) you will know that this coming Sunday on March 15 STA will conduct phone interviews with the top 20 applicants. From those, the top 10 picks will then do a second video submission. I really hope to get picked for this because this will be my time to shine. I have some great ideas to do and look forward to trying them out for the STA. Though if I don't get picked, I'll just move on to other film ideas. This summer is full of possibilities!

One interesting thing I read was that the age cut off for applicants is 26, so I won't be able to try out for this next year. Just so ya'll know that I'm not totally crazy, the thing I'm banking on is that I'll be picked because I have so little experience. Being like your average college student who hasn't traveled to Europe, China, South America, etc but has been around just a few states & their local vicinity. I'm competing against many who have been to at least Mexico or Canada, speak 2 or 3 languages, and some have awesome videos (see Bri Eggers), but I don't see how some of them can top their current videos or actually do the same on the field! Well, like I said before, we'll see how it goes on the 15th....................... VOTE FOR ME!! ;)

Spreadin' The Good Word

This past Monday I began in earnest my campaign to be the next STA World Traveler. What steps did I take you say? Well, let's start from the beginning:

• First off, right after I submitted my video I messaged all my Facebook friends (interesting note - In all my friend lists [except 1] I know the people pretty well in real life). When I sent the messages I gave a little paragraph for others to send so they can invite their friends.



• On Sunday night I made some flyers depicting part of the YouTube page w/ stats my video is on. I printed those and gave them out at a game night at a friends house, Danny Thomas. Thankfully I didn't know really anyone there so it was a whole new batch of people to tell it all about.
  
  I hate to give this secret away, but it might help others... See I discovered this thing on YouTube that you can promote your video by signing up to pay a little per click, so that's what I did. It may help me out only a little, but we'll see what happens in a few days!



• Then Monday I stepped out of my deteriorating comfort zone and spoke to random people and promoted my video with the little flyers again. On the way to take a test I walked up to this guy studying, probably for a test, and told him about the video and asked for his support, he said yes. Then walking through the doors to the outside and spoke with another a girl and asked if she'd view it, she said yes. Then up I went over to the testing area and asked the people at the counters if THEY would participate, they said yes & thank you!



• Now on Tuesday, when I went to math class I handed the teacher and some students the flyers I made (with a little improvement). The teacher took it, and the students did, though I noticed after class a few left theirs on their tables. Win some, lose some.
  
  
• Wednesday was great, I was able to give out more flyers and get a few more commitments from more students in a couple classes (and a friend of mine after social dance). To report on math class, the teacher said he wanted to see it, but couldn't get to it so I emailed him the link sometime later.
  
  
• Continuing to Thursday, I revamped the flyer to look better. At this point I have printed out 130 individual flyers! I believe with this look I may get more hits.
  
  
• With Friday, Saturday, & Sunday I had work, needed to catch up on homework, and had church. Though within all that I made sure my peers knew about the video and followed up with other people.

Thank you for your support! I've passed 600 views, have had 12 comments, and views in the United States, Canada, and Pakistan of all places! Remember to pass the link along, we still have 8 days left!

Update on STA video post [& more!]

Ok folks, as of about 24 hours (give or take only an hour) from posting it, my STA application video was up to 290 hits! Wow! And now that we're past the 48 hour mark, I checked last night and the video had 348 views, even better! I wonder who are the ones visting.... ;) Hopefully it's not just all my friends but also that I'm attracting views from the friends of friends & etc as well. So spread the word! Tell your family, friends, that weird kid down the street! The more that can view and comment, the better.

Speaking of commenting....

Now the weird thing is almost NO ONE has left any comments! I urge you, PLEAD with you to give me some feedback! Come on folks, you know you want to! Just a little thing like my bro did would be fine enough to start out with.

In other film news, I am cooking up (and taking any if you got 'em) ideas as to what to film next. I would LOVE to share those ideas with you, but that's part of the production world... You might end up like Stephanie Meyer did with her trying to start a spinoff Twilight series and being stabbed in the back by a 'good' friend. ( http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html ) So if you really want to know any ideas I may have, you gotta submit your own and I might work with you on YOUR idea! (hint hint) ;]

Well, enough of that for today. I'll talk to you LATE-rr!

CK's STA Internship Application on it's way...

Wow, I was just reviewing the itinerary for the STA '09 interns, and guess what?! They get to go to Scotland & Ireland!!!! Boy, this is going to be some trip. First we start in Fiji, then go to Australia (another AWESOME place), then travel to India (home of the Taj Mahal), and from there go to Eastern Africa. Wait, that's not all! Then we go to Berlin, followed by Scandinavia/Russia, then it's off to my favorite places of all: Scotland and Ireland!

Now what is all this STA (Student Travel Association) stuff about anyway? Well, it's to encourage people (more specifically college students to start traveling. The first question though some may want to know, if I don't win, what's the point? Welllll.... actually there are winnings for all of the top ten contestants, they each get a full set of JanSport luggage. Then the 2nd Runner-up gets "1 round-trip ticket to Europe and a 5-country rail pass courtesy of Eurail. Take your time, pick your countries, and keep in touch with the STA Travel community along the way." (previous quote taken from the STA Travel's 2009 World Travel website) The 1st Runner-up gets "An 8-week program with accommodations at Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, 6 . . . weekend activities, . . . an unlimited public transportation pass, and the opportunity to enjoy a summer completing a Barcelona internship . . .." (previous quote taken from the STA Travel's 2009 World Travel website) Now for the big prize: The winners (they'll be two, prob a girl & boy) will go around the world in the countries listed in the above paragraph.

Now for your participation! I really, REALLY, REALLY would love to go on this trip. So if you could comment on my YouTube Video, tell me any helpful information about the places I'll go and give me any travel tips I'd appricate it. Thanks and hope to see you through the video blog in a few months! :)

Oh, and I have to say thank you to Eric Scholl, David Beard, Kasey Call, Eric Stratford, & Ben VanLehn for helping me out with the videos (especially Scholl). Wow, it's been a fun time with making the video, I hope to post the bloopers up soon too. You can't ever have a good film without some laughs too. Stay tuned for more!