QueenLeilani: March 2009

My Passion: Video Editing

6:00 AM

When I first moved to New York, I was offered a job with a University in the field of video editing and web design. I create video tutorials that deliver a message and educate people out there all under 2 minutes or less. Something that could be so confusing to explain in a lecture, I can resolve that problem through a simple video. I help educate the faculty along with the students and it makes life a little bit easier. My videos will be available to view soon on iTunes and when that time comes I will let you know.

"Some say that a picture speaks a 1,000 words,

but I say a video SCREAMS."

Video editing is my passion and it was something I discovered by accident when I became very ill for a long period of time with pneumonia. I was bedridden for nearly 5 months and the only thing that kept me company during that time was laptop. As I lay ill in bed, I took advantage of the time to teach myself how to edit my very first video and I've loved doing it since then.

I'm very blessed to work with a prestigous University and to have a wonderful boss. I can honestly say that I look forward to coming to work, which I can never take for granted especially during this financial crisis that the economy is undergoing. As millions were losing their jobs daily, I was blessed to still have a door open for me....and for that, I thank God. I can never be thankful enough for what has been bestowed upon me. I pray that those who have lost their jobs will soon be able to get back on their feet and working.

Even after work, I still research more about video editing and like admiring the wo

rk of others. I pay close attention to details and if I like the video enough, I make the extra effort to contact and compliment the editor. It takes a lot of time and energy to edit just one video and I don't think people realize that. Sometimes, for a video that's only 2 minutes long, it could take you several hours to even a few days to complete editing. So with that in the back of my mind I always make efforts to reach out. Besides, It's nice to get feedback from people. It also lets you know that people are actually watching your stuff and you're not just wasting your time.

So today, I was looking for some baking recipes. I was trying to get an idea on what I wanted to bake this week with my boyfriend. I stumbled across this video tutorial below about how to bake chocolate chip cookies. I was in love with the creation of the video that I forgot to pay attention to the recipe. LOL. I was already breaking down the video and the creation of it, the music choice, the lighting, the framing, etc. I guess that's just me being an editor. haha. As I was admiring the work of the video so much, all I was thinking was,"WHO MADE THIS VIDEO?"

After doing my research, I found out that the creator of the Chocolate Chip Recipe video is by Atelier Transfert, a vendor that creates video tutorials for businesses. It has done wonders for Kathy Maister, a home economic teacher who loved teaching people who never knew how to cook to now say, "I can start cooking," hence her website, StartCooking.com. After working with Atelier Transfert, her cooking tutorial videos became so successful that currently it's #1 in most subscribed for podcasts for cooking.

I checked out more about this vendor, Atelier Transfert and other work that they have accomplished. (see below) They even had videos on behind the scenes on the making of a video which I thought was awesome and just had to show it to you. Watch. Enjoy. Appreciate.

Arlene's friends

Happy Birthday Rosanna!

6:00 AM

All About Arlene

Weighted Hula Hoop

11:15 AM

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Read all about it!

It's St. Patricks Day. The luck of the Irish. The day that pub bars have a reason to serve green beer. The day you wear GREEN or else be prepared to be pinched. Ouch! The day all the bars in NYC are probably going to be open till 5 am as usual. My friend Juan asked, "hmmm, do you think all the AA meetings are going to be cancelled today?" hahaha. What a nerd.

I love how my boyfriend knows how to make me laugh and smile without really trying. Especially when I'm not having such a good day or my mood is just not up to par. I don't know, what can I say? "It's just one of them days.." (as Monica sings it.) But whatever the case may be, he knows how to always make me feel better and turn my frown into a smile.

Do you see this picture? He is so silly. He always does this. Sneaking up behind me while I'm trying to take a picture of myself. Then when I look at my camera, guess who's sneaking their face in my photo!?! Sneaky Tricky. Well, it's okay. He definitely knows how to make my day. Now everytime I see this photo, I laugh everytime. =)

Happy St. Patty's Day....

or should I say....

Happy St. paTricky day?

Guess what came in the mail yesterday? Don't laugh at me now. It's my weighted Hula Hoop! I told my boyfriend I wanted to work out in the morning before I go to work. I still go to the gym after work for about an hour with my friend Jonathan who trains me. He's an awesome trainer by the way. But I wanted to start my day with something different. My boyfriend suggested for me to dance for at least 15 minutes. But I do that all the time (or at least when he's not looking, lol). He just doesn't know it yet. I like to blast the radio when no ones home and dance away. Hip hop, hula dancing, you name it. I even do pilates and yoga. But I wanted to switch it up a bit.

So my boyfriend bought me a weighted hula hoop off Ebay. I was a little skeptical at first, but one of our friends has one and she said she's lost weight using it. Besides, her results are proof. She's gone down around 6 pant sizes within 6 months. But don't get me wrong, you still have to eat right. You can't expect any type of workout to do you justice if you don't. Luckily, Tricky and I eat at home 90% of the time. Oh, have I mentioned what an awesome cook he is? Wait, let me rephrase that. Have I mentioned what an awesome chef he is? Yes he is. My favorite so far that he makes is Japanese Style Steak & Shrimp.

Wait! What? I'm getting off track. I'm suppose to be talking about working out, not eating. LOL. Back to the hula hoop topic.

I can't tell you if it works for me just yet since I just got it yesterday. But i'm going to measure my waist area, use the hula hoop for about a month, then give you an update on my results. But what I can tell you so far is, it's not that easy. You might be thinking to yourself while looking at the pictures "oh that's easy, that's not going to give you a workout". Yes I know. I thought the same thing. You would think it would be easy for me especially since I do hula dancing. But it's not! It weighs 5 pounds and for that reason, you really have to move your body to keep it up and moving. I can barely have it up and around 10 times before it falls. It comes in colorful pieces that you connect together to form into a Gay-Pride looking hula hoop. haha. The inner part of the hoop has ridges and as you're hooping it actually massages and breaks up the fat around your waste. (well, that's if you have any). It's a little uncomfortable at first because it really kneeds into you. I actually broke a little sweat trying to do this. lol. How sad is that? Oh well, give me a month and I'll let you know how it goes.

All About Arlene

4th Annual Pillow Fight Day

4:07 AM

All About Arlene

Lost in NYC no more

6:00 AM

Some of my friends know my first experience when I rode the NY subway by myself for the first time. It was a Friday morning and I was on the way to work in Manhattan. I pre-planned my route the day before on a website my friend Rosanna told me about called hopstop. It's similar to mapquest, but in this case it's a site for train and bus routes.

I usually carpool with my boyfriend to work, but this particular day, I wanted to be INDEPENDENT and get to work all by myself. I was thinking, "I'm independent. I can handle this. This is nothing." Normally, it should only take me about 45 min to get to work by train. But of course, that wasn't the case for me. It took me 3 hours!

Why? Well, several reasons.

1.) Someone on the train passed out, requiring medical attention.

2.) The next train I had to get on, was closed due to police investigation.

3.) Getting lost, trying to find an alternate route.

4.) Getting harrassed by strange men.

5.) Trying to make a phone call for help to my boyfriend, just to find out my phone is not working!! GREAT!

6.) Having to go back to the man that was harrassing me to sweet talk my way in getting him to let me borrow his phone so I could make a phone call. Can we say akward?

Luckily, I had exactly $10 in my pocket to take a taxi. As I flagged a cab, all I was thinking in my head as I was sitting through the ride was, "oh God I hope this ride is not going to cost me more than $10, please be less than $10, please be less than $10...."

I started thinking that if it costed more than $10, I was prepared to do the only thing that popped in my head at that moment. RUN! (just kidding). I was thrilled when it turned out my cab fare was exactly $10 dollars. WOOHOO!

Don't worry. I'm getting better at the train routes. I think it was just "that" day. Maybe next time, I should wear the NYC Subway sweater (see picture).

It has the entire map of Manhattan printed on the sweater. So next time if I get lost, I have my nifty sweater of the NY Subway Map to help me find the way. LOL.

But, hey...I can't complain. Taking the subway only cost $2. That beats having to pay the crazy gas prices and car insurance that I had to pay before.