#i made this in my marking class while doing research for a project

[mallowcream-art]

Team Q4

[adragonthatwrites]

Dr. Shen's Log

Dr. Shen Jiu, Head of Research at Cang Qiong Facilities. Date, 3, 5, 2024. Mission 2 report.

Progress on Project Pisces is going smoothly, despite some… interpersonal complications.

Dr. Shang has insisted on making several modifications to Alpherg’s design that were previously rejected due to budgetary constraints. However our success during the first mission has allowed for more funding to be secured for the project, and the adjustments have been made.

While Alpherg is still only capable of very rudimentary signals, it’s vocabulary has increased and Dr. Shang has installed a pair of mechanical arms to the sides and affixed lights to them, which allows for questions to be conveyed.

Apparently questions and confusion are communicated through markings located on the shoulders.

Shortly afterwards we launched again, and were able to locate and open a second dialogue with ‘Yue Qingyuan’. Dr. Shang was able to introduce himself using a rough approximation of his own name, in addition to my own. I did not approve this course of action, as my involvement in the project is currently strictly observational, and will remain so until the subject can be directly observed near the surface. I therefor do not see why my introduction to the subject was necessary.

In addition to this irritation, Dr. Shang used the pod’s newfound ability to ask questions to request permission to swim alongside the mer for an extended period of time, and spent that period of time attempting absolutely no form of communication. He has gone on record stating it would be ‘rude to jump right into it. We should at least take him out before we start poking and prodding at him.’

I am once again being reminded of why I was originally hesitant to bring him onto this project.

End Log (Bonus Log: Date, 3, 5, 2024

No-one understands the complexity of mer culture and language, nor the delicate techniques required to establish any form of proper communication and comradery with them! It’s like people think I just fell in a tank and all the secrets to Leviathan class mers and the ability to instantly become best friends with one of them was just fucked up into me through the ass. Well I hate to break it to you, but it did in fact take a lot of time and research and effort to be able to understand them on this level, and the only reason I was a Snack~ and not a snack was the result of a lot of effort put in BEFORE I fell in the tank!!!

Dr. Shang Qinghua.)

Start - Prev - Next

[superlinguo]

Barb Kelly

This time last year came the sudden, unexpected news of the death of Barbara F. Kelly's. Barb Kelly was one of my undergraduate lecturers, my principle PhD supervisor, and eventually a collaborator and friend. I have mentioned Barb in passing on the blog over the years, but now we've muddled through a year without her, I finally feel like I have some space to reflect on the fact she has been one of the most important influences the course of my life.

Barb was many things to many people. She managed to do this by being deeply curious about people, and had a devastatingly compelling ability to give you her full attention when you were talking with her. She was interesting because she was interested; her friendships, hobbies and tastes were eclectic and wide-ranging. There's a really beautiful obituary from our colleague Nick Evans that captures the story of Barb's life. This is my story of how Barb shaped me as a linguist, a researcher and a person.

I first encountered Barb when she was teaching in my final year of a Bachelor of Arts. The third year subject Language and Culture was a romp through kin terms, colour theory, names, primates, spatial systems, social intelligence, politeness, and so much more. Barb was an enthusiastic lecturer, with anecdotes, contextualisation and rich examples every week.

One week she introduced us to the topic of gesture. I was intrigued! How had I made it through a whole degree without encountering this work! (now that I write courses, I know how hard it is to find space in the curriculum for every topic worthy of attention, and gesture rarely features at all in undergraduate coursework). At the end of the lecture Barb said "this is one of my favourite topics. You're not allowed to do you're final assignment on this unless you see me first, because I don't want to read a bad assignment on this topic."

I still remember when I went to talk to her about it, and experienced the full intensity of the undivided attention of Barb Kelly for the first time. At some point, mildly bewildered by all this new reading, I wondered how we even knew that people paid attention to different types of gesture. "I always thought that would be a good topic for an honours thesis," Barb mentioned, before walking me back to something more manageable for a class paper.

[A brief time jump: The last time Barb and I caught up, it was getting to the end of the year and we were trying to avoid editing a paper. Somehow we got talking about the first time we met. Barb's main recollection was: "You were so weird." Barb thought it was very funny, but I also think that being interesting to Barb Kelly was a delightful compliment.]

A couple of weeks later, I went back and asked "could... I be the person who did that paper you mentioned?" At the very end of the final semester of my degree, I threw in my plans for a fourth year of Art History. I'm not usually one to change big plans so dramatically, but I decided that I wanted to do linguistics if I got to do the kind of linguistics Barb did. Of course, many years later when we were talking about it she laughed "I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want you to do it!"

That's how we got working on a small honours project to see what kinds of gestures and other movement people report that they pay attention to. It was an in-the-spirit replication of an old task Adam Kendon set up in the 1970s with a projector and silent film, but we used a computer and software that let people mark what they thought a gesture was (this became, many years later, Gawne & Kelly 2014). Just as I was finishing up data collection Barb disappeared. She had colorectal cancer and (although I didn't know this at the time) the prognosis was terrible.

At the end of that year I felt quite lost. I had finished the project, but didn't really know what to do next. I managed to get an office job for a while; it was fun to have a steady income after years of student life, but I got bored pretty quickly. I had planned a long nonsense holiday in Europe to distract myself. Barb had returned to work and I emailed her about catching up for coffee. I even fact-checked this in my email archive, and apparently I asked to "pick [her] brain about post-grad courses". It's easy to forget, with the benefit of hindsight, just how little idea I had of what I could do, what I should do or how I should go about making any of it happen. The only people I knew who had PhDs were the ones who taught me. I do remember we talked about where there was good work being done, the difference between Australian/UK and North American PhD programs and what kind of topics I might do. Barb then mentioned that she had a project she was working on and they were looking for someone do contribute by doing a PhD on evidential systems of a Tibeto-Burman language from Nepal. How was I meant to come up with a better idea than that? She promised me that her oncologist gave her at least the four years I needed to finish a PhD, because I am excessively practical and Barb had a very good sense of humour. I mailed my application to do a PhD at The University of Melbourne from a post office in Malta while on my holiday. I only mention this because it sounds very nonsense and like something form the 1930s.

[A disclaimer here: I usually strongly discourage students from staying at their undergaduate institution for graduate study. But I also point out I'm a giant hypocrite and staying at UoM to work with Barb was a good decision for me. Please take into account the survivor bias. Barb believed in me and that was more useful than anything another institution could have provided]

The week before I started my PhD with Barb, we caught up off campus with Sara, another PhD student who was about to start working with Barb. Barb used it as an opportunity to explain to us that even though a PhD would be big and demanding and important, it was also important that we didn't let it stop us living the rest of our lives, "if you need to, take a break to tour with a band or have a kid, that's important too" I was worried she was maybe expecting I had time to start a band as well as do a PhD? but it also left a lasting impression on me. She was so good at talking through the linguistic content of what I was doing, but also socialising me into the expectations of academia, while being realistic about life also happening. With Rachel Nordlinger as co-supervisor and Jill Wigglesworth as chair, they were an amazing, sometimes slightly terrifying, dream team who took their roles as supervisors, teachers and mentors seriously.

After my PhD, Barb joined me in the work with Andrea Berez-Kroker on data management. We also tinkered away on other things; including getting my honours thesis published. She helped me plan job applications, and even loaned me her office when I had video interviews. When I left Melbourne for post-docs we'd meet in different corners of the world. She was supportive and practical during many of my less optimistic moments while I was precariously employed. I enjoyed that my postdoc work allowed me to return to gesture, and spend more time doing lingcomm stuff, while still continuing to do work on evidentials and language documentation. Having Barb as a role-model mean that I normalised having a range of interests as a strength. I still spend a lost of time at a desk, but it's as far away as possible from the monotonous office job I left to come back to do a PhD.

In late 2020 Barb had a cardiac arrest. When La Trobe offered me an ongoing job in that same week, I apologised to her for texting her while she was in ICU. Obviously this is important because I'm the protagonist of my own story, even though it's a story about Barb, but I also wanted to mention it because a recurring theme in conversations over the last year has been "but, even when she technically *died* she still came back", which hasn't really helped things sink in.

I am pretty much the age Barb was when we first met. And, a couple of years into a tenured teaching/research role, I'm in a similar place professionally. And that's very much thanks to Barb. Without Barb I would not have done honours in linguistics, and I would not have come back to do a PhD. I wouldn't have been ready to face the grueling academic job market, and I wouldn't have normalised the importance of having more in life to define you than your job.

I miss talking with Barb all the time. There have been moments in the last year when I've been introducing someone to the bouba/kiki test, writing about my favourite gesture papers or talking through a problem a grad student is having with their writing, and I get to continue Barb's passion and enthusiasm. I am so grateful for the influence she has had on me as a linguist, teacher, supervisor and human, and I'm grateful I get to pass that on.

Co-authored papers This is a list of all the published papers for which we were co-authors. I'm proud that they represent a good range of our shared interests across gesture studies, language documentation, and data management. We have one more forthcoming paper, a handbook chapter on discourse in Tibeto-Burman languages, which is the other major area of shared interest that carried through my PhD work and beyond.

Gawne, Lauren, Chelsea Krajcik, Helene N. Andreassen, Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker & Barbara F. Kelly. 2019. Data Transparency and Citation in the Journal Gesture. Gesture 18(1): 83–109. https://doi.org/10.26181/5f57fddc85ebb [Superlinguo blog post]

Berez-Kroeker, A.L., L. Gawne, S. Kung, B.F. Kelly, T. Heston, G. Holton, P. Pulsifer, D. Beaver, S. Chelliah, S. Dubinsky, R. Meier, N. Thieberger, K. Rice & A. Woodbury. 2018. Reproducible Research in linguistics: A position statement on data citation and attribution in our field. Linguistics 56(1): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2017-0032 [Superlinguo blog post]

Gawne, L., B.F. Kelly, A.L. Berez- Kroeker & T. Heston. 2017. Putting practice into words: The state of data and methods transparency in grammatical descriptions. Language Documentation & Conservation 11: 157-189. [OA PDF] [Superlinguo blog post]

Gawne, L. & B.F. Kelly. 2014. Revisiting ‘significant action and gesture categorisation. Australian Journal of Linguistics 34 (2): 216-233. https://doi.org/10.26181/5e4b684d8f1e9

Gawne, L., B.F. Kelly & A. Unger . 2010. Gesture categorisation and understanding speaker attention to gesture. In Y. Treis & R. De Busser (Eds), Selected papers from the 2009 conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. Melbourne: La Trobe University. [PDF]

[thecrimsoncrow]

About zabrak

Okay, so I'm primarily a lurker on here. But I found out something interesting and I thought it'd be neat to share it with y'all.

So, I was doing some research for my final project about nightsisters for my Star Wars class (Yes, that is a real 3 credit course at my college) when I came across this channel. I know, it has 4k subs, and a lot of its videos range around the hundred. I didn't think this channel would be a good source. That was til I looked their archived interviews and recognized a few names of big Star Wars creators.

There's Dave Wolverton (The author of The Courtship of Princess Leia, the book which Dathomir and its witches debuted in. I actually used/referenced this in my essay), Daniel Wallace (Another big Star Wars author who wrote some essential guides), three separate interviews of John Jackson Miller (Author of the legends Kenobi book), they even got interviews with Sam Witwer and James Arnold Taylor. Forgive me for not recognizing the rest of the names, but there's just so many.

But what really got my attention was the interview with Ryder Windham, the author of The Wrath of Darth Maul, a book we Maul fans absolutely love. While I was listening, Windham said something interesting around the 23 minute mark:

" . . . someone decided that Darth Maul was a zabrak, and it was a word I made up. It has nothing - there's no history behind it beyond that . . "

This got me, honestly. The guy who wrote Maul's origin story also came up with the name of his near-human species?? Of course, because I was still iffy if this podcast was legit or not, I had to look for myself. There's not a whole lot, but I did find this article interview of Windham back 2012 about The Wrath of Darth Maul, and him coming up with zabrak was further explained:

"However, I did have an indirect impact on Maul's background. In 1998, Running Press hired me to write Star Wars: Episode I Who's Who, and for that book, Lucasfilm encouraged me to create names of species and homeworlds as well as brief biographies for various members of the Jedi Council and also the Podracers. I came up with the word Zabrak to describe Eeth Koth's species, and then another writer decided that the similarly horned-headed Darth Maul should also be a Zabrak. When I first heard a character say 'Zabrak' on The Clone Wars, I had to grin at that."

Again, this source is also weird because it's on a .net Star Wars fan site, and a lot of the punctuation is filled with questions marks rather than, you know, proper punctuation, but it's still interesting that two separate sources confirmed the same thing.

Y'all can ignore if you can't believe it; I don't blame you. Everything's linked if you wanna check them out yourself. But I thought I would share these findings because I don't think I've seen people talk about this in posts about The Wrath of Darth Maul.

[strywoven]

quarterly check-in time ( + some house-keeping ) !  it is now the halfway mark of my semester and i am realizing how nanami ( jjk ) coded i am bc i - to the extreme - min-max my time to maximize my academic output.  work-life balance ?  not in this house ; only work.  as always , feel free to skip over this or read this at your leisure , but i will preface there’s a somewhat IMPORTANT note at the end.

i was invited to join symposium day in april.  which , again , is another major honor on my part , but i declined bc - full disclosure - i am not a man who does well with public speaking.  so , while i would’ve appreciated the accreditation of speaking , i also know that i would’ve stood at the podium , shook like a leaf and been so nervous that i made ( very bad ) jokes the entire presentation of my research projects OR i would’ve spoken so quietly they would’ve had to turn my mic ALL THE WAY UP bc no-one could hear my stupid ass as i mumbled through the whole thing.  the board member who was inviting me was like , “you know , i don’t think you give yourself enough credit” and i had to sit with that for a little while.

remember when i said i was accepted into the Psi Chi honors society ?  well , golly gee , there’s A FEE for membership !  how dare you want my time and my commitment and then demand my nonexistent money.  absolute malarkey.

in moral theology i want to report that whenever the prof brings up sociology and/or psychology , he IMMEDIATELY does the *pauses , looks at me in the front row* “... mav?”  IN LIKE.  the most expectant way.  bc he knows i have input on the subject.  i’m the resident nerd ig.  NOT LIKE I’M THE ONLY PSYCH MAJOR IN THAT CLASS BTW.  i’m just the only one with a big mouth.

i’ve noticed i have a rapport with several professors on-campus now … like , they will actually stop and wave to me when they see me or flag me down to talk to me and i *clenches fist* it makes me so happy.  it’s wild to come to the realization that these people genuinely GIVE A SHIT about me and how my education is going , i’ll say it.

as for my house-keeping tidbit : i cannot believe that i have to remind everyone about smth that is stated NUMEROUS TIMES in my rules , about smth that i make evident whenever we talk ooc - please , my compatriots in christ , COMMUNICATE .  in lieu of being hard-blocked by a now ex-mutual who i perceived as a ( good ) friend , over … i truly do not know what … i was so blindsided by this , i nearly deleted my blog out of shock and anxiety.  we are all adults , and none of us are mind-readers.  if ever there is a concern or smth you need to tell me , just do so !!  this is not meant as a vague , nor is meant to be a vent , but i do want to make clear that i am always open to being approached.  thank you.

[eponymous-rose]

Something I wanted to do in the New Year is be more aware of how I'm spending my time at work, so I think I'm gonna try to do little summaries here of what each day entails. Hopefully also kind of interesting/useful if anyone's interested in academia?

For reference: we're on the quarter system, classes started on the 3rd, and I currently teach one class per quarter (heavy research-focused department, so very light teaching load). I also currently supervise 1 PhD student, 2 Master's students and 2 undergraduate research interns.

Monday!

Checked email on the bus to work, which mainly consisted of me seeing a colleague had received an endowed professorship, me writing her an effusive congratulatory message, and then me editing back the message a bit so it was less embarrassingly over the top. Also sent my students a reminder about their homework due on Wednesday and our little field trip tomorrow morning and accidentally sent it to last quarter's class, whoops. Luckily a former student quickly notified me of my mistake and I got it fixed!

Class was great - lots of flipped-classroom stuff that worked well even with only two students in the room (it's a conference week, everyone's traveling). I knew from previous years that the students had really, really struggled with this one equation, so I had them do a couple of examples in class and after working through the first one together, they both nailed it on the second try. Had to cancel a meeting with one of my undergrad research interns after class because the other members of our research team are out of town this week. Where is everyone? Well, at a conference and doing a two-month-long field campaign on the east coast. Forgivable. She offered to send me some of the work she's done thus far, so that's handy!

Went to check email after class and found that apparently a new remote meeting had popped on my schedule for immediately after class with an old peer mentoring group of mine (fellow 4th-year assistant profs in tangentially-related fields - we all did a professional development course last year together). Luckily it was cameras off so I could snack and decompress a bit while we caught up and made some strategic plans for the quarter.

Okay, FINALLY time to check email in earnest before my next meeting. 36 new messages since I checked last. New software package I need to bookmark and keep in mind for later work. Updates from the conference I'm technically attending virtually this week. Reference letter request from an undergrad student; add to calendar! Title and abstract to get added to the website for a seminar I'm hosting in a couple weeks. Reminder that the Zoom recording of my class is available to put online (which I promptly did). Triple-check with our tech guy that we're good to go up on the roof tomorrow to set up instrumentation for my class's term projects (all good!). Time flies, so here's the email with research progress from my undergraduate research intern and a handful of questions, we'll answer those and see how she likes jumping into a new dataset. New grant opportunities, job listings, a bunch of easy stuff to mark off. An essay about allocating time each week into the categories of Teaching, Research, and Service and strictly adhering to the percentages laid out by your tenure/promotion committee. Got a few minutes before my next meeting so I'll try it this week? Ish? Maybe? Looked sidelong at the new schedule, sure, we'll try that this week. Sent an email to my collaborator who's on a field project to see if we can do a remote meeting tomorrow to chat about a couple research proposals. Queued an email for next week's seminar speaker to see if he can send me the title and abstract for his talk/PhD entrance exam next week - no sense freaking him out before Wednesday, so we'll do a scheduled send.

Next up, meeting remotely with my former postdoc advisor! We've set up these meetings to "work on research projects" together but honestly this week it was just listening to him tell a very entertaining story about his car breaking down in rural Missouri and also listening to him describe a truly tragic tale of his very fancy sandwich getting thrown out of the office fridge by accident. That's scientific collaboration, baybee. We did talk research for a bit and he mentioned wanting to collaborate on a paper (he offered to pay for it out of the much more substantial research funds that come with his 30 extra years in the field) so I'm gonna come up with something for that by our next meeting in two weeks. I like working with him - we've published a couple papers in some pretty high-impact journals and he's always let me take the lead and go for first authorship without butting in, only providing support - so this is a fun prospect! I do have to submit an abstract this week for a European conference that'll be happening this spring, so maybe I can go ahead and lean into that idea a little.

It's now getting a little dark and rainy and I'm flagging a bit but I still have an hour before the afternoon seminar, so probably time to do a little course prep. Did some "grading" (just checking completion certificates for an introductory module the students had to go through). Fixed a mistake in Wednesday's lecture (why is there an anemometer when I'm talking about thermometers???). Reviewed some of the more complicated topics in Wednesday's lecture to make sure I'm not totally lost (some thermodynamics I haven't looked at in a while, thermocouples, semiconductors). Replacement slides uploaded to our course management system.

Aha! Email back from collaborator, she's going to be on a research flight tomorrow and won't be able to meet. All good, I don't have much to report anyway. That frees up an hour tomorrow, woohoo.

Okay, students have a homework assignment due a week from Wednesday, so I'm gonna post it this Wednesday. I have a good homework assignment prepared, I just needed to go in and write up a nice answer key. Got that done (along with some sample Python code to provide them with) and the homework assignment is scheduled to be posted, so it's time to look at next week's lectures. I've inherited this class from someone whose course notes can be a little scattered, so this is usually a bit of a process. Only two lectures to prep for next week, though!

Took a break from lecture prep to go to today's seminar, which purported to be about a really dodgy geoengineering scheme (redundant descriptor, am I right?) but in fact just rigorously tested said scheme and demonstrated it would actually have the opposite effect. Super fun and interesting seminar!

Okay, back to working on lectures for next week. Somehow got both of next week's lectures done before the end of the day, so those should just need a little polish and they'll be ready to go! Uploaded them to the course management system but sneakily and they won't appear to students until I've checked them over.

Tomorrow: going to the roof with my students to set up their term projects, then tons of sweet, sweet, meeting-free office time carved out. Hope this doesn't come back to bite me with a million meetings on Wednesday (...it will).

Important: work is done by 5PM. I try very hard to adhere to "leave work at work", which is not as much of a pipe dream as it seems, even for R1 tenure-track.

[twstchaos]

“Bad Boy”

Because exactly zero people asked for this, here is the first ever TWST piece that I wrote back in March 2022 it’s on google docs so i got the exact date and time for reference. So, here is my one and only TWST x Reader that was fueled by pure indulgence. 

Character: Riddle Rosehearts

Word Count: 1949

Gender Neutral (in second person), Suggestive (near the end), Intentional OOC

Please enjoy~

~~~

Scribble. Scratch. Flip. Flip. Scribble. Scribble.

As Professor Crewel prattled on about the importance of properly mixing the ingredients for this week’s Potionology lesson, you were jotting down notes on a particularly interesting potion: a transformation draught, specifically one to change a person’s personality. Thank the Seven that you already had completed your required participation for the week, because you would have been reprimanded by not just the professor but also Riddle for not paying attention.

Speaking of Riddle, you and him have been dating each other for the past few months, and he just so happened to be the target of your potion-researching endeavor. You dearly loved the red headed queen of Heartslabyul, but his innocence only did so much to cause flustering…mainly on his side. You loved his innocence, but you wanted some out of him, something different. You desperately wanted to witness Riddle be the exact opposite of his usual behavior at least once in your relationship.

“[Name], what are you doing?” Riddle interrupted your fervent note-taking, having noticed from inattention for a while. You quickly slammed your notebook shut, blocking the chapter from his view.

“N-Nothing,” you stuttered, fumbling with your pen. “Just taking notes.” He was not amused by your response, but–then again–it was technically the truth.

-

Later on in the week, your Alchemy class was assigned to concoct that week’s potion assignment. You had not prepared for it at all. Luckily, your boyfriend–the top student of your year–was your partner for your experiment and had taken perfect notes on the potion. You decided that you would take this chance to work on your side project as well. As Riddle worked on the assignment, you worked on your potion…much to his chagrin. You would make this up to him, but now you had your guilty pleasure to focus on.

Fortunately, it was quick and easy work for the both of you, having completed both of your respective potions before the end of the class. You carefully bottled up your vial of the murky liquid and slipped it into the pocket for your jacket. For later. Professor Crewel circled around the classroom, grading each and every groups’ potion. When he stopped at your table, he promptly graded the potion that Riddle made, giving you both good marks despite the fact that you did nothing to help Riddle make the potion. Class was then dismissed, and you began to pack up your things and leave. Riddle watched you. A glare evident on his countenance. Just as you were about to walk away, he grabbed your wrist.

“[Name], why didn’t you help me?” You felt bad. You knew you should have helped a smidge, but you had your own thing to attend to, which somehow Riddle did not seem to notice…?

“Sorry.” You grabbed the pocket that you hid the vial in. “I was distracted by something.” His glare softened, looking at you with concern.

“If you need someone to talk to, you know I will always be there to lend you an ear.”

“I know, and I appreciate it, Riddle.” You smiled at him, truly grateful for his supportiveness. Now to ruin it.

–

You slowly tipped the potion vial, letting a few small droplets of the liquid contained inside to drip into the strawberry tart filling mix. Normally, your tarts would be perfect enough to beat Trey’s in Riddle’s opinion, but this additional ingredient might make the treat less than stellar. After mixing in and incorporating the potion, you poured the filling into the crust and allowed it to set for a while.

Once the tart was complete, you topped it off with a strawberry cut to resemble a heart, the perfect topping for the Heartslabyul housewarden. Carefully setting it into a box, you brought it out to the garden for your date with Riddle. Hopefully Riddle would forgive you for what you are about to do to him. You walked over to the Heartslabyul rose garden.

“You’re late for a very important date,” Riddle teased, taking your hand to place a soft kiss on your knuckles. A romantic gesture that you hoped would never go away.

“I know, I know.” He helped you down onto the blanket that was laid out. You had begged Riddle for days to have a classic picnic-style date instead of the usual tea time date. Riddle emptied out the picnic basket that he had Trey prepare for him, laying out the plates and tea set. Just as he was about to bring out the tarts that Trey baked, you stopped him, placing a hand over his.

“I baked a tart. For you. Special.” You handed the boxed tart to him, which Riddle opened. He smiled, admiring the strawberry-cut heart that was so lovingly baked for him. You handed him a fork to eat the tart with as you continued to take out the rest of the basket’s contents, filling his tea cup with the tea he had prepared.

“Thank you, [Name].” With a big smile on his face, Riddle took a huge bite from the tart. But that smile was short-lived, instantly dropping into a grimace. “What is that? It tastes tart and–” He gagged. “Gamy.” He dropped the potioned tart while reaching for his tea cup to wash away the awful taste in his mouth.

“Geez, is it really that bad? I guess I should not have tried that new recipe,” you lied, pouring Riddle more tea to cleanse his palate.

“Yeah, probably no–” He gagged again, covering his mouth with his hand. “Ugh, I feel sick.”

“I’m so sorry!” You apologized, fanning him with your hand. “Here, let me take you to your room.” You helped him up from the blanket, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. Hopefully this was just a side effect from the potion and not you accidentally poisoning your boyfriend.

–

You were worried as everyone around you whispered the same thing: Where was Riddle? After you dropped him off in his room and waited for him to fall asleep, you quickly left the dorm to pack up the forgotten picnic and scurried back to your dorm. You have not heard anything about how Riddle was doing, but no news is good news…right?

SLAM!

The heavy classroom door swung open to reveal Riddle!? His face seemed to be stuck in a permanent smirk with his hair a tousled mess, the furthest thing from his normal neatness. Even his clothes looked haphazardly put on. Did it work?

“Riddle, are you o–”

“Sup, [Name].” He noisily took his seat next to yours, giving you a mischievous wink. Oh yeah, the potion worked. Your cheeks began to heat up from the embarrassment. You longed to be this flustered by your boyfriend, but boy, did it come too early in the day.

The classroom erupted into an explosion of whispers all about Riddle’s nearly late entrance and new attitude. You watched Riddle with a side glance as he ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back and giving it a shake. Great Seven, he looked so hot. He flashed you a confident smile. You blushed.

“With Mr. Rosehearts uncharacteristic entrance,” Professor Trein started. “Let us begin today’s lecture.” …wait? How long does the potion last?

–

After the half of the day’s classes concluded, the students were dismissed to lunch. As both you and Riddle headed towards the cafeteria to purchase some food, you were flanked by constant whispers and mumbles about Riddle and his attitude change. You were mostly worried about how long your heart would be able to last Riddle’s forward affection. You swear you almost had ten heart attacks in the past few classes from his flirting.

You entered into the cafeteria with Riddle’s arm wrapped around your waist, something he would NOT be caught doing in public. This was evident by all of the shocked expressions the two of you were given, especially from a certain quartet from a certain dormitory.

“What is this?” Ace asked while scooting over to make more room for both you and Riddle. Cater eyed you carefully as a knowing smirk grew on his face.

“What? Am I not allowed to show my affection for my significant other?” Riddle scoffed, pulling you into his lap. Your face perfectly matched his hair. KYAAAAA!

“SHIHIHIHI!” Laughter erupted from behind Riddle’s back. “You’re as red as him.” Ruggie appeared in view, waving around a plastic-wrapped menchi katsu sandwich.

“Just like a perfectly red rose.” Riddle mused, tightening his embrace around you. Oh Great Seven, you got it bad.

“What is up with the Housewarden? Deuce asked, taking a bite of his lunch.

“Yeah, this is very off.” Ace agreed.

Cater chuckled, enjoying the show. “Come on, guys. Let’s let them have their fun.”

–

You felt an odd enjoyment in breaking many of the Queen of Hearts’s rules with the fervent enforcer of said rules. This was a rare spectacle to behold for sure. Riddle took your hand with his oh-so-perfect smile that made your heart skip several beats. Together, you walked down the hallway to your next period.

BLAM!

Gray eyes met with your own. A devilish smirk decorated Riddle’s face as he trapped you in a kabedon.

“Don’t think that I forgot about you not helping me on the assignment yesterday.” Riddle was definitely taking advantage of your flusteredness. “You will be punished for that, babe.” Oh, Great Seven. You were a blushing red mess as you made your way into the classroom.

–

Finally, the school day was over. You most definitely did not expect the potion to work and be so potent. Riddle was practically dragging you to Heartslabyul to finish yesterday’s date. He led you to his dorm room with the most mischievous smirk. Guess, this potion was far from being over. Once you had your things settled in his room, Riddle wasted no time in pushing you down on his bed…delivering your punishment. As if in slow motion, you watched as he painstakingly brought his lips down to yours. But at the very moment your lips would have connected, his face flushed into a deep red. Even more red than his hair, and you never thought that was even possible.

Riddle sputtered out incoherent noises, leaving you to wonder how it was even possible to verbalize keyboard smashing.

“I–How–What?” He scooted away from you, fanning himself to calm his nerves.

“Riddle, are you okay?” You pulled him into a tight embrace.

“[Name], what was in that tart?” Riddle gave you that look. The one that was normally reserved for Ace and Deuce’s shenanigans.

You twiddled your thumbs, looking away from him. “A potion that would change your personality,” you squeaked.

“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!”

–

“And, that is the story about how I ended up with this collar.” You ended your explanation of how the Housewarden of Heartslabyul’s significant other demolished everyone’s belief by getting collared.

“D-Did you have to say that last part?” Riddle was back to his normal blushing self. The self that you fell for and loved dearly.

–

Bonus:

Riddle was acutely aware of all of the Queen’s rules that he broke while he was under your potion, debating if his own unique magic would work on himself. He folded his hands as he contemplated the inner workings of his own spell.

“If my magic disrupts one’s ability to use magic, would the magic contradict itself and not work or would i–”

“Riddle, it is too late at night for your rambling,” you whined, pulling him into bed.

“You, be quiet,” he lovingly scolded. “If it wasn’t for your potion, I would not be thinking about this.” You equally lovingly rolled your eyes.

“Just go to sleep.”

[sys128]

The Happy Post

I will warn you: this entire thing is about a half-hour read, which easily some of the longest things I have typed in a while. This was calculated by taking the number of words in the document and dividing by my personal talking speed. This half-hour metric is not going to be very consistent because people do things at their own pace, so sorry to my psychology teacher (Shoutout!), who has to read this whole thing. Good luck grading.

In introduction, one of the most important things in life is to remain positive. This is mainly because of the benefits we can reap from it. The things we do and experience greatly impact on our outlook on life. Here, I have compiled multiple lists on things that are generally positive and my thoughts and experiences that connect with them. This was originally made as a project for my psychology class but I am more than willing to make it a blog post. I guess you could say I thought real positively about my project, huh? Huh? … Sorry...

Five things I am grateful for

1

Love. Love is a general concept, and multiple ways exist to describe and experience it. The first of which I will mention is family love. Family love is the main sign of a healthy relationship in the household. It has to be genuine love, though, because people in the world take it out of context and then do nasty things with it. That would be the case for any kind of love, actually. That is how we get fake friends. Speaking of friends, that is the second kind of love that I want to mention. Family and friends are perhaps the two most important things someone needs in their lives. It is different with friends, though, because one may need more friends than others. Think about introverts. Even having one single friend will positively affect your life. There was a saying I once heard that having five friends that care a lot about you is more important than having tons and tons of them that don’t care very much about you, even after you pass away. The third and fourth parts of love are the ones I tend to be most curious about, especially in the stage of life I am in right now: romantic and sexual love. I am putting those two together to explain them simultaneously because they often go hand in hand for some people. Around the adolescent years, people begin to truly explore themselves and discover who they truly are and who they want to be with in the future. I am no stranger to this experience. I had to revise my goals often to find the type of people I would rather be with. The biggest thing would have to be the target gender of people. In 2019, I was 14 and started thinking much more about this. At the time, I just went with the flow of what everyone else was doing, which affected my general attitude substantially. I began researching LGBTQ+ issues near the end of the year.

At first, I found it hard to understand why some things were the way they were, especially at 14. I had conformed to what was deemed correct in society for my whole life up to that point. For a while, I was confidently incorrect about the things I was observing, which of course made me look kind of stupid. There are records on the internet of me being quite ignorant about certain things. Of course, as the saying goes, people change. When I was 15, I started to think about my connection to this newfangled "LGBTQ+" thing and started to try out different things. This would also mark a transition point in my life. The first thing I tried was asexuality, the lack of sexual attraction. I quickly found that it didn’t work out for me because I still had some thoughts that clearly stated otherwise, so I retracted that. My first real crush took form in late January of 2021, and to my surprise, it was not a woman like I thought it would be. It was a male-aligned, non-binary person (they would later identify as a demi-boy). When I first noticed this, I thought, "There is no way I am falling for a guy right now," and I tried to obscure these thoughts. But they did not go away, no matter how hard I tried. A relationship would start between them and me the following month. That same day, I started using the "biromantic" label for myself and later "bisexual" to include the sexual side. They helped me on my way to finding the kinds of people I loved. I don’t know what I would do now if it weren't for them. Much more progress was made on the exploration front, and May 31, 2022, would mark the day when I fully came out as gay. Of course, as most first-times go, some instability was involved, and it eventually fell apart. (We eventually made amends and moved on.) A pattern you begin to see as you progress through life is that nothing lasts forever. Everything you know has an end to it at some point. Family members start to die out, friends move away and eventually die or maybe even not enjoy you anymore, and of course, relationships end. The best thing to focus on is not their absence, but the opportunity to spend as much time as you did with those people, making an impact on both sides of life and having more memories of you, good or bad. Love is a strange thing, but I cherish it with every fiber of my being and look forward to what it has in store for me when I become an adult.

2

Forgiveness. Forgiveness is a bandage for a lot of things. There have been countless times in my life when I have had to forgive somebody for something that they did wrong if it benefited both sides in the future. Why is it so important to me? Mainly, it is just because, well, it works! It sometimes takes me a while, but it works! Usually, forgiveness leads to positive outcomes, depending on what sort of situation I was in at the time the bad thing happened. In recent memory, I can recount two days when I had to use forgiveness. About a week ago, there was a basketball game at my school where my current town had to play against the town I grew up in. I found this to be the perfect opportunity to meet up with some people I used to talk to back in elementary and middle school. Before then, I was kind of in a rough spot with them. In middle school, I was greatly affected by my old classmates, to the point where I had mental troubles going into high school, which lingered on until my sophomore year of high school. There were two prominent people involved with it, but I will not give out either of their names out of respect for privacy. The situation was especially bad in 7th grade, where I used to get bullied by them to oblivion. It also made me do things that I would come to regret later on, like the deletion of old social media accounts and my self-isolation from the crowd. At that game, I recounted all of these factors that affected me and found something good in them. These factors jumpstarted my goal to become a better person. I also took note of the age we were all at when everything happened and decided that I should not worry about them anymore. I forgave them. I later logged on to an old account of mine and contacted one of the people that used to pick on me, and we had a truce. That lifted some pressure that I felt for a while, especially since I used to be opposed to the idea of returning to my old hometown. Now, I don’t mind if I ever come back to that place. There was something else that happened that was related to friends recently. There were two friend groups that existed almost separately from each other. They were in this state because of a big fight that had happened the previous year. It was one that hurt everyone in the group. There was betrayal, deceit, humiliation, and snitching. All of that happened over the course of a couple of hours. It had felt sort of like a battlefield, a war between sides. After that whole fiasco, there was over a year of separation. Both sides sat at a standstill, minding their own business.

That was until one day, a member of the other group decided to form a group with both sides of the party in it. Perhaps there was some back-and-forth behind the scenes that led them to ultimately decide to keep things the way they used to be and perhaps even recount the mistakes they made by splitting up. I was, of course, added to this group as well. I quickly realized there was no longer any pressure on either side. Everything seemed to have simmered down. My friend, who used to be on my side post-split, said that everything that happened was caused by the heat of the moment, and actually, most of that tension simmered out sooner than we all had previously thought. At least, that is how I interpreted it. There was one guy in particular from the other side with whom I used to have a bit of beef that we both apologized to each other for, and with that also came forgiveness. Those weren’t the only people I forgave that night. I also noticed that I started to feel guilt for what I said behind those people’s backs. That gave me another lesson: the art of forgiving yourself. It also ties back to some of the past mistakes I made in middle school with the hometown situation. It was also important to forgive myself for those too, but it was okay to still feel some regret. The most important thing to take away is to learn from your mistakes and use that newly learned information to make yourself a better person in the long run. Funny enough, this also ties in to the next thing I am grateful for.

3

Self-improvement. Self-improvement and self-awareness and things I cherish more than forgiveness, but not as much as love, but it gets kind of close to that spot. I make important lessons for myself based on what happens during that day. Almost every single one of those days has something for me either to review or something new to take away. These lessons usually relate to either my strengths or weaknesses, which I have found many for in each, especially in the past year. I would say that during that timeframe, I have learned more about myself than at any other time in my life. It has also gotten to the point where I find some lessons more important to me than others. One that I have learned recently comes from when I was having relationship issues with my ex-boyfriend (even though they went by they/them pronouns, they were fine with calling it a fully homoromantic relationship), and I was starting to feel really bad without having someone like them to love. This had affected me for about a couple of months, especially during the summer of 2022. However, this did not last for too much longer after the school year started, because the more I felt this, the more I started to notice how other people got over their own breakups. This led to a lesson I have been learning for the past month. It sounds counterintuitive at first, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense: if you want to look for another relationship, stop actively looking for one. Put simply, the reason it does not work as well otherwise is because of desperation. People hate desperation. If you go with the flow and just talk to people, it will eventually happen. The more people you talk to, the more likely it is that you will meet your future soulmate. But I also recognize that it is hard to start. You essentially have to give up to eventually be successful, which doesn't sound right at first. The first time I dated, it started this way too, because I was not actively looking for someone who was not a woman at the time. Things like that just happen! Having this in mind has greatly helped me overcome my feelings of loneliness. And you know what? Not only is that part of self-improvement, but an important component to using that technique is to use another thing I mentioned on the list: forgiveness! See, it all ties together in some way! Having done that, I was able to properly make amends with my ex and move on, this time with a focus more on what I have now—friends, family, and talent—than on what I don’t have.

4

Eustress. Eustress is a type of stress that falls under the umbrella term "stress." Eustress refers to positive stress, the type of thing that motivates you and even helps you build skills in the thing that you are doing. Distress, on the other hand, is stress that we all don't want to feel but do. It is that type of stress that demotivates you and causes you all sorts of problems if it happens often enough. Stress is something we all experience in some way, shape, or form, so I am also no stranger to it. Actually, believe it or not, stress is the number one thing I still need to work on at the moment. I tend to turn something that is supposed to emit excitement into distress. But when the good eustress moments happen, that is the type of thing that makes me feel good when I am learning something. I also seem to get a little anxious, and sometimes even angry, when I get stuck on something, such as my homework. This could be for any subject, but it seems to happen the most for my physics and my calculus homework. Some may think that I hate calculus, but in truth, I don’t! I think calculus is fascinating! I just hate when I get stuck on it because I want to understand. However, I am immediately jumping to the conclusion that some things are just too hard for me to do at that moment. I also get worried when I get stuck at every segment of something, because that seems to tell me that a bad grade may pop up once the test comes around because I am not understanding something fundamental over an entire unit. Again, it is not that I hate math — in fact, I love math — I just wish I could understand it. Another example of a common time where I struggle to use stress but think I could benefit from it is when I am playing video games. Like every young boy, I love to play video games. I especially find enjoyment in playing rhythm games, usually 4K, if any of you know what that means in rhythm gaming. There are some days where I just struggle to match the score that I got on a map three weeks ago and decide to call it quits for the session. Rage quitting, if you will. Like what my friend said before in regards to forgiveness, this is usually just in the heat of the moment, and I will always return to it some day, usually the next one. After this happens, I eventually find out what I could have done better in that session. Essentially, the thoughts come in, but they come in too late. It would be best to have them appear during the session. Right, so I have the fundamental goal here and the thoughts that I want to think, but I have to think of a method to actually put those thoughts into practice and use it to have a better time while I am doing my homework or playing games. I have found that eustress is something that takes a little while to implement and has to be done in steps. That way, you can find what works well for you and what does not. Ultimately, it leads to better-developed skills more quickly. Despite having a decidedly underdeveloped idea of how to experience more eustress, I am still grateful for having the ability to experience it at all. Maybe the more I practice using it and find calming techniques, I will be able to overcome the challenge of stress.

5

Intelligence. Because I strive to know lots of things, you could say I have become a bit of a nerd, especially when it comes to technology. In the past couple of years alone, I have taught myself how to use Linux, the Colemak keyboard layout, some programming (enough to collaborate with someone else to create a game in Python), and some stuff about building computers, the last of which started from my fascination with watching my dad do things with computers. Other than that, I have always had a fascination with technology as a whole, as well as math. Math is probably the reason why I was able to get into programming so easily. I think intelligence can tie into knowing what a good life looks like from one's own perspective. It is personalized for the person who has it. I'm sure my life is good, but since I'm still in my teen years, I believe I still have a long way to go before I can live a great and fulfilling life. That will depend on the choices I make when I become an adult. Another cool thing about intelligence is that it does not necessarily have to equate to someone’s general “smart-ness.” I personally believe that someone can still have some form of “intelligence” if they are just an expert in something, even if it’s the most uninteresting, simplest thing that can just be passed off as nothing by everyone else. Everyone is good at something, even if that something is not so useful.

My rankings out of these five qualities to life.

Love

Self-improvement

Intelligence

Eustress

Forgiveness

Acts of Kindness

The second part of this post is to identify two “acts of kindness” that I have done. These were not forced as per project but these just kinda happen naturally. Not to say that they are a bad thing though, assigning someone with the task of doing acts of kindness is a good thing because that gives people a chance to practice things like social skills. Looking back in my week, here are two of the things that fit in the criteria.

Over the past nine months, I have had to help with my mom a whole bunch. This week is no exception. Fun fact, as of submitting this post to Tumblr, my new sister would have been born! Welcome to the world, and Happy 0th Birthday! Anyhow, she has been hitting the age where it hurts more to do some things than before so she has been taking it easy on her bed for a while to make sure both she and the baby were safe. As a result, we had to do a bit more chores around the house. For a while, actually, I barely felt a difference! It felt the same as usual, but my little brother, since he is starting to get a little bit older himself, has definitely seen a bit of an increase in the number of chores he has been asked to do. As you can imagine, he was not very appreciative of that. If it weren’t for the help of the rest of the family, she would have felt a lot more stress too. She has relied a lot of the cooperation of the entire family, and when that happens, it relieves a lot. I can safely assume the effects were positive. She probably couldn’t do much of the chores we had to do with a baby inside of her. And another thing, because of how she is going to the hospital to get the baby out into the world, that also means I get to stay home from school! But that results in a missed holiday party in physics class. Damn it… I guess the more time I have to get other school stuff done, the better, right?

Another family thing that I have been working on this past week, or really these past few months, is improving my relations with my little brother. We have never been the nicest to each other, meaning he talks too much and I get annoyed, and then he gets annoyed. And then I intensely type, and especially play rhythm games, on my uber-cool mechanical keyboard, and then he gets upset and I get upset. I have been doing things that made him laugh a little more often. Like earlier today, I joked that I was going to put a bit of canned macaroni and beef on his head. The goal here was to make him laugh, and it worked well! One thing that strengthens a bond between two people I have found, was laughter, especially if it is with someone much younger than you are. Kids are well known to be super playful and easy to please given the right circumstances. Being playful is a good way to achieve this. As they say, laughter is the best medicine, including for relationships that are not exactly up to par with standards.

Bucket List

Everyone has goals for what they want to achieve in life. For the third part of this post, I list 10 things that I want to achieve before I die.

In my adult life, I want to explore the world more. Ever since the age of about 11, I have always wondered what it would be like to live in a different place. I have especially found lots of interesting differences in cultures and languages of the world and wonder how much difference there really is if I were to have grown up in those places rather than America. The answer depends on the country. Some are similar to the United States whereas others are about as different as fruit is to empty calories. I project that once I become more financially stable, I will save up for various trips to different states and countries. I currently have a few of these places in mind, those of which being Colorado, Canada, Denmark, and Japan.

Another thing I have been wanting to do is document more of my life. I have done so here and there in my tween-age years and some of my teenage life, but I am personally not a fan of the breaks I would take from doing them and stretch them out into oblivion. I think this will be somewhat fixed with my Tumblr blog, which has so far been proven successful because it captures the time spent on my computer and adds a writing element to it. Sure, it is a 2000s-y way to do it, but it gets the job done and I am very appreciative of it.

There has been a goal I have had in my mind in the past five years or so, but have yet to achieve that goal. That is to learn a second language and become fluent in it. During middle school and high school, I immersed myself into a whole ton of different languages, and they were fun to learn for a while, but the problem lies in the fact that I have never been able to make it stick. I get to around the intermediate level at the very best and then forget everything a few months down the line. This has happened before in my attempts of learning Spanish, Danish, and Russian. I was even considering Toki Pona one day, which is a constructed language not evolved via natural means. At the moment, I am studying Japanese, and so far, results are more promising than they are for the time I was learning Danish.

I have learned a lot from my first and currently only romantic relationship. I aim to use the lessons I have learned from those experiences to do a better job for whoever I end up being with in the future. I currently have a couple of guys in mind but I would have to talk to them more before I spill the beans on them. Not really much else to say here because half of this post so far has been about the different kinds of love, and I have wrung that dry.

As for how I want to make a living, there are two options I want to consider when I get the chance to. One of these is to grab a career in computer science, which I would also say is the more “normal” one as far as jobs go. Those types of jobs are in higher demand than ever before and the need for them continues to grow. I have had some self-taught and professionally-taught experience in programming, and have developed some things already, so I am kinda sure that I am off to a good start. The other thing I wanna consider is finding a way to make a semi-passive income. You know, something where the only work you need is to start it off and maintain it by doing a little bit, and then watch as the revenue trickles in. That is what people do with YouTube. They make videos for a living, and they can do it as often as they want, but results may vary.

Be more physically active and healthy. As it stands right now, I am NOT a very active person. I mostly just kinda sit around and do nothing on my PC. I also eat lots of junk… but it all tastes so good!! That is going to change in some way in my adult life but I have not fully developed how I will go about doing that yet. I know the kind of food that I think would be a better choice for me. I have always been kind of scrawny due to the fact that my metabolism is blazingly fast. Because of this, I think it would be a good idea to look more into protein products and eat more eggs and stuff. I could also do some exercising in some way, but I have not decided on if I wanna go to a gym or get myself some equipment at home. I hope this improves me not only physically, but mentally as well. Both areas are equally as important when someone is exercising. There are numerous articles on the positive effects of both.

I eventually want to try to participate in some voluntary community service. That idea was put forth to me when I was selected for possible recruitment of the National Honor Society last year. One of the requirements was to do a bunch of community service, which I personally find to be a strange requirement, so I did not commit to that. But I think I could benefit from doing things like that in other ways.

Mathematics is something that will be trained more after high school, for sure. If I do good enough in my high school calculus class, then some more math afterward in either a college or individual study is likely. I will probably end up using that new knowledge for more programming work. There are certain areas that I wanna study a bit more in my own time, but those are usually more of a fun thing rather than practical. Take googology for example, which plays around with the idea of inconceivably big numbers. It’s like using long words to sound more intelligent but with numbers instead, it’s great!

There are world records I want to set at some point. I also do not know what they will be but having titles like that would be cool. I do technically have one of these records though but it is for something that would only be important to one of the communities I engage with on the internet. For those of you who know, you know!

There is a concept in humanist psychology that I found quite interesting, that of the hierarchy of needs. This relates to each person’s curiosity with themselves and what they need. The more needs they have that are met, the closer to the top of the triangle they are, where they have fulfilled themselves to the fullest. I want to work towards that status. It may be the hardest of them all but I think it can be done.

Making the World a Better Place

And finally, since I am running out of steam, part 4 is going to be a bit shorter, but it is ways I can make the world a better place for people. I did have to think about this one for a while. I don’t think that I will commit to ALL of these in my life, but doing at least one or two should be enough. I don’t wanna do TOO much without focusing on myself. I believe that there should be a balance of care between others and yourself. But I digress…

I will say it again but voluntary community service. I have talked about this already but just in case I need to mention, it is pretty self-explanatory as to why this would be helpful for the world. The more help in these areas, the better off we are, even if one single person is helping out with things like this. It may not be enough sometimes, but it is something.

I think teaching people things has been a thing I have been doing here and there, but I might have already mentioned that a while ago, but that’s okay. The spreading of knowledge is a good way to increase the intelligence of others!

Use the skills I will build up to make a solution to a problem. There are lots of questions that I would like to answer at some point. Good thing that other people are interested in getting these questions answered too. Perhaps I could help out with finding solutions to those problems.

Continue being nice to other people, and improving on that little by little based on the things I learn around me. At this point, I am repeating a lot of things I have said before in this post but if I keep valuing the things I do, I will continue to improve in this area.

Put more work towards achieving the goals of both me and other people that will contribute to the world of those people. This can be with things like projects that require hard work, whether it be for academics, life, or otherwise.

Donate, which can kind of be part of the community service thing. I will have to wait until I am more financially stable to do this though because I am kinda saving money hardcore at the moment.

Express my creativity to inspire other people to make things in the same vein to whatever I have created, which in itself was inspired from people that made similar things before me. I am in the middle of the chain of a bunch of inspiration that took place before me, and will take place after me.

Wow! You have made it to the end of my post! This was kind of a pain in the ass to put on here. Because before this paragraph is a total of 5,428 words, making this the longest post I have ever put on this site. And what, just for a summative project at school that could have just been done with bullet points? Yeah, that was technically all I needed, but I spent all morning and a good chunk of last afternoon writing all of this! Comes to show how much fun I have with these things!

"You love torturing yourself, don't you?" - infinitysnapz, 2022

Until the next time I post, OoooHH!!! Scary RAi!!!!!

[imraespace]

What a stressful week. LET ME TELL YOU IMARA OMG RANT/VENT

on Wednesday, we had a English presentation so I had to make the presentation slide the night before maybe and it was my fault for being too lazy because I didn't make the presentation slide earlier BUT it was it was oh my god?!!!! it was a GROUP PROJECT but it felt like Iwas doing— no I was really doing everything from the research to the report to the presentation slides—I did everything; I don't know why they couldn't do the presentations like without waiting for me.

And during the presentation only me and another teammate was ready to do the presentation while the other two, i really don't know they look so clueless???? I SENT THE SLIDES AT 1AM, THEY COULD LOOK AT IT AND MAKE THEIR SCRIPT IN THE MORNING SINCE THE ENGLISH CLASS WAS AT 1PM BUT NO?? THE OTHER GIRL DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT THE GROUP CHAT AND ASKED ME "WHAT'S MY PART???" and I'm like "huh"???

i already took the longest part of the presentation and gave you the right to choose BUT minutes before the presentation they asked me?

- 🐱

IM HEREE

man thats so real.. BUT FOR A GROUP PROJECT? WHY DIDNT THEY DO ANYTHING TF lazy ass ppl😒

SO WHAT IF YOU DIDNT DO IT? NO PRESENTATION AND IM SURE THEY WILL BLAME YOUR OR EACH OTHER that's why group projects sucks fr

ARE THEY NOT EMBARRASSED I would've been pissed fr..

GROUP PROJECTS EITHER SUCKS SO BAD OR IS GREAT IF YOU GET THE RIGHT PPL BUT MOSTLY ITS JUST PPL WHO MAKES YOU DRAG YOUR FEET I HAVE BOTH AND THE ONE WHO MADE ME DRAG MY FEET girl literally joined the call but didn't do anything WE NEEDED HER INFORMATION TO MAKE THE DAMN GROUO REPORT BUT SHES PRETENDJNG TI BE THERE SO I MADE UP SOMETHING ID ITS WRONF THEN not my fault

IT SUCKS BUT REALLY YOU WANT A GOOD MARK SO USE ALL THE PATIENCE YOU HAVE AND WORK THROUGH IT BC AT THE END YOULL BE HAPPY ABT DOING WHAT YOU NEEDED TO DO AND GET A GREAT MARK HONESTLY THEY SHOUOD BE GRATEFUL TO HAVE YOU🙄 lucky ass ppl😒

I hope your presentation went well pookiepoo😞

[gabicna]

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Available for Qualifying Students

Benefits of the Maxine Waters CNA Program

Choosing the⁤ Maxine Waters CNA Program comes⁤ with numerous advantages. Let’s ​explore some key benefits:

Hands-On Experience: Gain practical skills through lab​ work and clinical placements.

Expert Instructors: ⁣ Learn from experienced healthcare professionals dedicated⁣ to your success.

Flexible ⁢Schedule: Options for part-time and full-time study to fit your lifestyle.

Job ⁢Placement Assistance: Support in finding employment after graduation.

Community Focus: Contribute to the ⁣health and well-being of your community.

Enrollment Process

Getting started with the ‍Maxine Waters CNA ‌Program is straightforward. ⁣Here’s​ a step-by-step guide to enrolling:

Research: Explore the program ⁣details on the official website.

Submit Application: Complete the online application form.

Financial Aid: Apply for scholarships or financial assistance if needed.

Orientation: Attend the program orientation session.

Start Classes: Begin your journey towards becoming a CNA!

Real Success Stories

Many students have ⁣transformed their⁣ lives​ through the‌ Maxine Waters CNA Program. ⁢Here are a couple of inspiring case studies:

Case Study 1: Lisa H.

Lisa, a single mother of two, enrolled in the program after realizing her passion for nursing. After completing her training,‌ she quickly passed the certification exam and secured a job at a local nursing home. Lisa now supports her family ⁣comfortably while making a difference in her community.

Case Study 2: James R.

James served in the military before joining the Maxine Waters CNA Program.⁣ With the program’s support, he honed his skills and transitioned into healthcare seamlessly. Today, James works as a CNA, finding fulfillment in caring for patients and sharing his experiences with fellow veterans.

First-Hand ​Experiences from Current Students

To get a sense of the program’s impact, let’s hear from some current ‍students:

Student ‌Testimonials

“The hands-on training I⁢ received was invaluable. I felt completely prepared for my certification exam!” – Sarah K.

“The ​instructors were incredibly supportive, and the community feel made ‌learning enjoyable.” – Mark T.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How long‌ does the program take to complete?

The Maxine Waters CNA Program typically takes between 6 to 8 weeks, depending on your enrollment⁤ status.

2. Is financial aid available?

Yes! Financial​ assistance options​ are available for qualifying students. Check‌ with the admissions office for more details.

3. What is the job outlook for CNAs?

The demand for CNAs continues to grow, with‍ many job opportunities available in various ⁤healthcare settings. According to the U.S. Bureau of ​Labor Statistics, employment is ‍projected to grow by 8% from 2019 to 2029.

Practical Tips for Success in the Program

To maximize your success in the Maxine Waters CNA Program, consider these practical tips:

Stay Organized: Keep​ track of assignments and deadlines.

Engage in Class: Ask questions and participate actively in discussions.

Network: Build connections with⁢ instructors and fellow students.

Practice Skills: Take advantage of lab⁢ opportunities to‌ practice what you​ learn.

Conclusion

The⁤ Maxine Waters CNA ‌Program is ⁣an excellent opportunity to unlock ⁢your future in the healthcare industry. With exceptional training, dedicated instructors, and‍ a supportive community, you can achieve ​your goal of becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant. Don’t wait any ⁢longer—take the first step towards a rewarding career by enrolling in the program today! Your future in healthcare awaits!

https://cnatrainingprogram.net/open-your-future-enroll-in-the-maxine-waters-cna-program-today/

[capyquest-logs]

DFX352 | Post 1

This week marks the end of the first quarter of the semester. As such, I’m going to take this opportunity to summarize what I’ve accomplished so far.

Before I begin, a brief background:

History

Earlier in my college career, I took a class in which I learned the basics of Unreal Engine 5 by creating a single level of a video game. I decided to center around the theme of puzzle-platforming, and I called it “CapyQuest,” since one of the elements of the game was a capybara blocking your path.

Later on, I took an intro to animation class, where my final project was a sort of music video starring, you guessed it, capybaras!

It’d become sort of a theme at that point, and I had dreams of improving my skills and creating a legitimate CapyQuest game.

Well, that’s my current project! At least, sort of. This project is a demo level, but I do plan on working on creating a full game of it in the not-too-distant future.

So, I asked myself…

Problem Statement: How can I design an engaging, stylized 3D environment with interactive animals for a game demo using Maya and Unreal Engine?

Here’s a quick list of everything I wanted to accomplish this semester.

Create a fun, diverse 3D landscape environment for a player to explore

Populate the landscape with trees, rocks, and other custom assets

Set up and utilize Runtime Virtual Textures (RVTs)

Create several unique 3D modeled capybara characters that can be interacted with

Create a dialogue system with an appealing and comprehensive UI

Since I had such little experience in map creation for UE5, I decided to use an online course to guide me as I created the environment. The capybaras and dialogue system will be created based on my own prior knowledge and some supplementary research.

Here is what I’ve accomplished in this project so far:

Concept Art

I created a few pieces of concept art to give myself a better idea of what to work towards, as well as testing out different designs for some assets.

RVTs and Landscape

Setting up the landscape was pretty simple. I had drawn some maps to block out the area, then used it as a reference to sculpt and paint a landscape in UE5.

I’ve also set up RVTs, though I haven’t utilized them yet.

Trees

I spent some time modeling, sculpting, importing, and texturing a few different tree assets. For the leaves, I made a material that allows me to create instances, in which I can adjust the color, shadow color and saturation, highlights, leaf shape/size, and wind animations. At this time, I still have not finished texturing the trunks, though I plan to work on that this week.

That’s about it so far! While it may not seem like a lot, I’ve got a very solid base and am perfectly on schedule. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be working on rocks, larger landscape pieces, grass, flowers, wind VFX, and 3D modeling capybaras, as well as writing dialogue.

[patriciuamdhay]

A Day in the Life: Embracing Digital and Smart Technology as a Student

Digital and smart technologies have merged smoothly into our everyday lives in today's fast-paced world, transforming the ways in which we work, learn, and interact with others. These advanced tools have been my constant companions as a student navigating the academic environment, keeping me connected, productive, and organized at all times.

The soft beep of my smartphone alarm clock usually marks the beginning of a new day for me. I use a calendar app to quickly glance at my daily agenda and make sure I'm ready for any upcoming tasks or online meetings. I use my phone to entertain myself or review my upcoming quizzes or exams while traveling in a jeepney to school, and I reach my destination without any trouble.

My laptop or cellphone becomes my main research and note-taking device in the lecture. I can easily locate important documents, journals, and study materials to enhance my learning due to my access to a variety of digital resources and online resources. I also use digital note-taking applications during lectures to write down important points, mark slides, and arrange my ideas in an organized manner.

The use of smart technology in the classroom and beyond keeps improving my educational experience. On the internet collaboration platforms like Canva sharing, Google Docs, Google Meetings, and others let me work together with my peers on group projects and also do my online classes without any trouble at all, even if we're not in the same place. These systems make it easier to communicate and manage workflows for discussing ideas, sharing information, and holding virtual meetings.

I enjoy some leisure activities as the day draws to a close, which is made possible by digital entertainment offerings. These digital platforms offer countless chances for enjoyment and relaxation, whether I'm playing video games with my brothers, listening to my music playlist, or watching my favorite TV series or movies on Netflix.

Throughout the day, smart devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers help me stay mindful of my health and well-being. These gadgets help me live a more balanced and active lifestyle by tracking my daily steps, heart rate, and sleep habits, as well as reminding me to drink enough of water and take breaks.

All things considered, digital and smart technology have become indispensable parts of my academic experience, enabling me to study, work with others, and prosper in a world that is becoming more interconnected by the day. I can now confidently and effectively handle the hurdles of academia while enjoying moments of joy and leisure along the way, all thanks to my embrace of these modern tools and services.

[daystobook]

Day 1: The Cooking of Books

Running Comments About This Blog

The first physical and emotional feeling that arose when I wrote the title of this log was fear.

What if 'Day 1' becomes Day 10000 and I still don't have a book published?

Then I realised that it's highly unlikely, because I'd have enough notes from this blog to club into an expansive enough book, even if it might not be best-seller and coveted like Chetan Bhagat's or Amish Tripathi's books.

Also I'm in a dilemma. Do I have to write here daily? I guess for now, I'll write when I am able to read something or when I've made progress in writing. This is some serious commitment.

The Cooking 👨🏽‍🍳 of Books 📚

A couple of days back, I finished Ramachandra Guha's book The Cooking of Books, A Literary Memoir. First book that I read of him. I couldn't put the book down, perhaps because

The research sources for the basis of entire book were letters

It was endearing epistolary account of a 40 years old friendship.

The friendship span across discussions, feedback, arguments, wit, banter, puns, satire and occasional sharing of personal feelings.

Rukun, My Hero

I felt close and related to Rukun Advani, especially because of his perky and sardonic comments, standing up for his opinions in wit, and his reticent nature. I quit my job some months back and these quotes from his letters hit hard. I was like, 'yeah bro, same' (if Rukun ever reads this, he's most likely to say, 'what an arse.')

1994

All is on 'hold' in OUP(Oxford University Press) until the Great White Men arrive this month to settle exactly how OUP's publishing schedule should be structured, organised, prioritised, etc. Two more editors have left, leaving only us old diehards who're too tired & ensconced to decamp. This place needs to invest in fresh blood on decent salaries, but [the Managing Director]'s investments are all in wood, gloss, machinery and salesmen on low salaries.

To prevent him from quitting, Rukun was made Academic Publishing Director and his salary doubled.

Dec 1996

...this job is actually quite taxing — travel here and there, looking at bottomlines…badgering [his boss, the new MD] for personnel, machinery and the other resources required to keep academic publishing chugging along, meeting & soothing sundry irate authors when their projects are rejected or delayed, & generally all the dreariness that goes with less ungenerous salaries.

June 1999

after working for OUP for 15 years.

My heart isn't in this OUP job any more. I'm clear the only reason I'm here is the need to earn a decent sum. The moment I don't need that, or an attractive alternative happens to come along. I'll leave. That may not happen for quite long, but at least it'll take no further reflection to move on when it does. I'm producing books and managing the academic business mechanically, like a zombie, without zest. It's a case of being browned off doing the same damn thing for too long.

browned off: annoyed irritated, or dissatisfied.

Towards the end of the book there was a very interesting side-to-side listing down of opposite nature attributes of Shashi Tharoor and Rukun Advani ( both of who studied in St. Stephen's in the same batch ).

Both ranked first in their class – Tharoor in History, Advani in English – but there the resemblance ended. Shashi was, even in college, very much a public man, debating, acting, becoming president of the Wodehouse Society and the Quiz Club before being elected president of the College Union. He was charming and outgoing, but, from the start, ferociously ambitious. Shashi wanted to make a mark in the world, quicker and more dramatically than any Stephanian (or perhaps any Indian) before him. Whereas Rukun had no ambition to become well known. In college, all he wanted to do was read, listen to music, and have one-on-one conversations with friends. In OUP, all he wanted to do was edit books; while he glorified in the success of his authors, he never remotely wanted to take any credit for this.

The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel, Rukun and Anuradha Roy

Rukun and his wife Anuradha Roy quit OUP, because the new MD didn't let them work together in the academic division. He said that couples couldn't. WHAAAAAT? This reminds me of when Gordon Ford ( played by Reid Scott ), in The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel, didn't allow 'Midge' Maisel ( played by Rachel Brosnahan ) to do stand up comedy —  when she finally got a chance to appear on Gordon's talk show, through lobbying with a person whom Gordon couldn't say no to — and instead forced her to appear only for a small section of the show as 'one of the writers of the show,' which was Midge's day job. He didn't allow it because it was a 'rule' that employees don't appear on the show.

When they shifted to Ranikhet and started operating the new publishing company Permanent Black ( a play on the situation which compelled them to quit from OUP ) that they started, Rukun had been the happiest.

In the hills, running his own show, Rukun was happier than he had ever been. A letter he sent me in June 2011 says it all. I had couriered Rukun an essay by the literary historian Rob Nixon, which I thought would interest him. A fortnight passed and he hadn't acknowledged receipt, so I sent an email about this. Rukun's reply began: "The Rob Nixon preface had been given to our dhobi by the postman, so it came in with the washed clothes last evening. Our cottage is at the forest edge and the postman doesn't feel like venturing so far in the monsoon. These are the endearing and infuriating things about Ranikhet. Everyone is laid back and going nowhere and mystified by urgency. After living here a while, this attitude makes sense and Delhi seems even more awful."

Playing With Time

One of the literary features of the book is that it's almost chronological but not really. I binged watched Death and Other Details. Suggested by @ojask1998 I very closely studied the temporal play – same amount of time shown from different people's eyes, or through the director's. The showing of time kept going back and forth to make it spicy. Each step back in time covered details, each forward built anticipation, and vice versa. Guha's book also played around with time a little bit, going forward a bit, the coming back.

I think the reason this works is because our memory is non-linear and makes perception of seemingly linear time so as well (not taking into account the scientific non linearity of time). It was done, I think, to collate things that made sense together.

The book was generously lent by my dear friend Amrita. I had asked for the book in Blossoms Book Store in Bangalore. There was confusion among the wonderful staff as to where the book was. 1st floor personnel said it was on the 2nd(non fiction floor). 2nd floor staff said it was on the ground floor. It lay behind the paying counter, amidst other books – the only copy for the day. I picked it up, turned around, looked at the price, and sadly compared it with the number of pages and returned it.

The first few pages mentioned Ram Guha's favourite research place — Prime Minister Library ( erstwhile 'Nehru Memorial Library' ) in Delhi. We added it in the itinerary for the next day, which @ojask1998 had meticulously planned for us. I had not seen Delhi much and she put together places to see. We didn't ask the security in the first meeting where the library was. We instead took the right, toward the fancy and frankly non-sensical museum, which we chucked to ask for library. When we reached, we realised we just had to take a left. Sadly (for us, on that bright beautiful onset of summer day, where we had dreamy expectations), we couldn't see the library because only members could go in. And from what we were told, only scholars and researchers were mostly given membership. I didn't inquire, though I wanted to, if membership was available for common folk like us as well. Now I think, why didn't I. I think the sun had sucked our energy and we were tired from the accidental detour. But it was refreshing to see a place I had just read about, my eye gleaming.

Later in the book I was irate and sad to read that when UPA had come to power, the Library became a centre ground of political gimmicks, with choosing a Congress Party loyalist as its new Director, who even let birthday parties be organised on campus. Guha had repeatedly urged prime minister Manmohan Singh, right from the moment the position had become vacant, to responsibly and transparently hire someone competent, even if not a scholar themself.

One of the things, perhaps the only thing, that kept my reading afloat and eager, was Rukun's humour. Telling about his friend Vipin Handa,

He taught English for some years, edited an arts journal, and resisted for long the disease to which Indians generally succumb early and which is known as SIMPLEA (Standard Indian Middle-class Parental Pleading: All Good Boys must become Babus. All Good Girls must become Bahus. Both must conjoin and produce Babas)

Social History of Cricket 🤯

It was interesting to know a little bit about social history of cricket, when Guha had started researching about it.

While living in Delhi I had begun sporadic research on the social history of Indian cricket, taking time off from my Elwin work to look at microfilms of old newspapers in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Back in the early years of the twentieth century, before India was accepted as a Test-playing nation, the major domestic cricket tournament was the Bombay Quadrangular, played between teams representing the Europeans, the Parsis, the Hindus, and the Muslims. This ran from 1912 to the 1940s, becoming a Pantagular along the way, with the addition of a fifth team carrying the splendid name of 'The Rest'.

While taking notes on the newspaper coverage of this tournament, I had focused not so much on the cricket as the politics around it. This included the politics of race – how did the ruling whites react if they lost a match?; the politics of cast – if the best cricketer in the Hindu team was born in an Untouchable home, could he be made its captain?; and the politics of religion – did the existence of separate cricket teams for Hindus and Muslims fuel political rivalry between the two communities.

A 9-5 Mandate for a University Professor. Whaaat?!

However, whereas my jobs in Delhi had given me the freedom to occasionally work in the archives or at home, the one institution that offered me a professorship in Bangalore – the National Law School – insisted that I come there every day from Monday to Friday, arriving not later than 9.30 a.m. and leaving not before 5 p.m. That was a condition I was not prepared to meet, so I chose to abandon the safety of a tenured academic position for the uncertain life of an independent writer. The financial and moral support of my wife was crucial in my taking this decision; although, I suppose, the inspiring example of Verrier Elwin, that author of enduring works of scholarship who never had a job, also played a part.

Advice That Rukun Gave to Guha That Stuck With Me

Even 'however' and 'so to speak', placed in the middle of a nicely fluid sentence, can make it sound pontifical. Quieter, straighter, unbroken sentences are generally a lot more attractive. The need to sound authoritative is an academic ailment which should be replaced by the subtler desire to sound tentatively certain.

Endearing Nuggest of Uselessness

Lastly, I have a thing for the superfluous in life. OUP sent many of its books to be published with one of the pioneers of printing press, and one of the most skilful and revered editors in India P.K. Ghosh. I was absolutely surprised that a person did both, that there was such time, when an editor would, on their own volition, edit the edited final draft that is spent to them, and do so masterfully. Rukun met him only a few times. Read this to take in the glory of superfluous chat

He was garrulous and would spend hours energetically illuminating visitors with arcane information, leaving them simultaneously shattered and enriched. I met him just twice. The first time he told me, apropos of nothing, that the American declaration of independence, printed in 1776, was typeset in Caslon, and that his eternal regret was not to be able to print history books in Caslon because he did not possess the full range of that typeface. On the second occasion, he said that reading a nicely set page in Bembo is as effortless and pleasurable as eating a rossogolla, except that this has been true for Bembo more than 400 years whereas the rossogolla has no such pedigree. Such charming items of 'useless' information do not flow out of printing houses today. Printing standards, specially for full-colour picture books, are vastly higher than they were in P.K. Ghosh's heyday. You can get a book looking just the way you want it by clicking mice. The pity is only that the last Indian printer-scholar is dead. Several of his successors will print material as efficiently as he did once, but none will radiate that personality and no one will harbour many of those endearing nuggets of uselessness. — In Memorial, Telegraph

This long blog post full of quotations, awe, reverence and fanboying has come to an end.

PS: I forgot to write about Rukun Advani's father's bookstore. I'll do that in the next post.

[gingersnapcookie89]

Interesting! How i wish I'd taken a couple of entomology courses in school! It certainly would have made my ecology class simpler. Onion thrips are a bitch to count if you are unprepared and unable to separate them. Also found out that there are soooo many beautiful bee species. And idk if there had been an update to the research since the articles I read while researching my ecology final project, but some of the paper indicated that lepidopterans were among the few insects able to perceive the color red, which was really interesting. Don't take that as fact though. Like I said, definitely not an entomologist, the research articles I read are now like a decade old at least, and frankly, I would be happier if I'd been able to find more on the subject before starting it a "fact". But back to the original point of my response: insects are so much more interesting than I ever thought they could be and that mosquito does have lovely markings. It was fun to find out more about them. Especially since I tend to get eaten alive which cause me to have some very harsh feelings about what I have just learned are a few select individuals (species) rather than the whole group. So op's post is doing good in educating people (me) who don't normally like mosquitos. 😊💙

As an entomologist who runs a public-sector mosquito control program: thank you for helping with tying to educate people on why mosquitoes are important to the environment and should *not* be completely eradicated. Yes the populations of certain species should be controlled in certain areas, but with over 3000 different species worldwide (all occupying different habitats and ecological niches) complete elimination of mosquitoes in general both cannot and should not be done. Only a comparative handful of mosquito species are a concern re: spreading disease, the rest of them either don’t bite humans at all and/or they are not competent vectors.

And now because I can never resist plugging my faves: one example of how cool and unique mosquitoes can be is the species Uranotaenia sapphirina. Not only do they have beautiful metallic sapphire markings, they’re also the only currently known species to specialize in feeding on invertebrates! They will bite mammals and birds a bit, but they overwhelmingly prefer taking blood from earthworms and leeches!

Anyway, this ask is getting long so I’ll stop yapping. Your blog is cool and keep up the good work!

(P.S. can confirm that the photo you found was indeed an Aedes aegypti - another fascinating species in its own right not least because it’s one of the few invertebrates besides honeybees one could make the case to say is domesticated)

I have to sincerely thank you for not only your very kind words but also the gift of knowledge about several bugs that I will very much be falling down the rabbit hole to learn about. I have to admit I am in awe of her

[shadowsandstarlight]

I have been forced to conclude after receiving a mark on a project today that I am, in fact, a very good performer. Not in a traditional sense of dance or music or theatre or anything like that, certainly. But I am very good at public speaking, presentations, and bullshitting. So, in English, I had to do a presentation on a chapter of a book. Do a summary of the chapter and its importance to the plot, what it reveals about the protagonist, and choose one element in particular to focus on. Fifteen to twenty minute presentation in front of the class. Ask a question or do an activity for audience participation. One of the very specific pieces of criteria we were given was that we needed to have, at the very least, notes to work from while presenting. No sitting by the screen reading off the slides. No winging it allowed. Well, folks, you will never guess what I did come presentation day. See, I had missed a week of school for an activity related to another class. Crucially, this was my week to work on the research, slideshow, etc. So what I ended up doing was staying up til midnight the night before the presentation to research, write, and edit well over half of the slideshow. Naturally, I didn’t have time to make cue cards for myself. But I have a bit of a performing arts background, and I do parliamentary-style debate for fun. I know how to look like I know what I’m doing, and I know exactly how to read key points off the screen without looking like I’m reading key points off the screen. Some word choices in my speech and slides were the same, but that makes sense, people do tend to write in a similar way to their formal speech. To the teacher behind her desk, it looked like I was running off of pretty much nothing, and doing a damn good job of it.

So I got my feedback today. 100%, or at least very close to it (very high 90s for sure). Noted on the feedback sheet was that the teacher admired my ability to speak without notes, and that I was clearly very familiar with what I was talking about. When handing me the paper, she said that she thinks I would make an excellent professor. She complimented me heavily on the depth of my insight and research (most of my “insight” was pretty much made up on the go at 11pm the previous night). On a project where the instructions were very specifically “no one is winging this presentation,” I did exactly that and got a pretty much flawless mark. So.

[weeklyblogbycalvin]

Week 4

1. Reflection

Week 4 was about presenting our project proposal and receiving feedback from tutors. Overall I find my presentation quite successful. My evaluation of this session was that I could have planned my script a bit better, therefore my presentation would be more fluent, and prevented me from going over the 5-minute mark. However, I find my research and academic context to support my ideas and projects to be very strong, and this benefits my overall skill of doing presentations in the future. Being able to see other people’s presentations was also an opportunity to learn something new. From these projects I can discover innovative solutions, fresh insights, or novel approaches to common problems that I hadn't considered before.

Feedbacks I received from tutors were very helpful in the early process of developing my project. My project proposal was considered quite ambitious, and I should be cautious about being in an overload of work. Concept wise, the content I will be producing for the digital screen should be static and simple - this is so that lighting and sounds can come into recognition. Trying to recreate real-life nature is a hard and long process, it can also be provoking, curious when the audiences are watching, which failed the purpose of achieving serenity. Therefore, my iteration is to have an abstract approach to the visuals. Simplicity will make the audiences have less attention and thoughts, being able to let their mind free and just enjoy the beauty of nature through visuals, lights & sounds will achieve serenity.

2. Research & Inspiration

Academic: ARTmine (1 June 2018) ‘Your Guide to Understanding Abstract Art’, ARTmine, accessed 12 August 2023. https://art-mine.com/collectors-corner/2018/06/understanding-abstract-art/

From the feedback of tutors, I started diving in some concepts of abstractionism, how I can or might implement this to produce visuals for my project. The incorporation of abstract movement into my immersive project holds the potential to liberate audiences' minds, creating a harmonious balance between simplicity and the expression of serenity and calm. This innovative approach is minimalistic, yet still creates captivating visuals and offers viewers a unique and tranquil experience.“The most important thing to understand about abstract art is that it does NOT have to have a meaning, narrative or even a singular explanation…Abstract art is also the ability of the audience to then try to connect to the artist’s intention and free their own mind of visual restrictions.”(ARTmine, 2018) The most important term here is “free their own mind”, as I don’t want audiences to think and have a sense of curiosity - which failed to express serene. Subtle shifts, undulating patterns, and gentle fluctuations can transport viewers into a realm where visual stimuli merge with emotional resonance, in which all can be implemented into my project to express calm and freedom of minds. 

One of the 3D designs I looked into while creating my project proposal as well as looking for inspiration for my overall experience was this “Cinematic Animation Video”. The static scene which starts at 0:13 with the fast transition of different weathers in the same setting creates a very interesting experience, somewhat calming. This is something I want to take inspiration from in terms of concept. The video is also a 3D render using the D5 render software, something I also have an interest in technically.

Technical:

For this week not much technical progress was made, basically since I have to focus on creating the project proposal to present in class. Still, I had a look through some powerful rendering software like D5 Render, Lumion,... to see how they work, are they difficult to use and are all of them subscription-free. I also have a read through  Unity’s website, to understand its rendering method (URP vs HDRP) so that if I decided to stick with Unity I will maximise its rendering capabilities.

Unity: Understanding URP, HDRP, and Built-In (occasoftware.com)

“URP is ideal for developers who want to create high-quality graphics while maintaining optimal performance. HDRP is ideal for developers who want to create highly realistic graphics for high-end hardware. Built-In is most compatible with older assets on the Unity Asset Store and is fairly flexible, but I would generally recommend choosing between either URP or HDRP as your baseline.”

3. Project progress. 

I found my project proposal quite a successful progress. The proposal will be a strong foundation for me to develop my project further. From the feedback I received from the tutors, for my project I have decided to have a simple, abstract approach to the visuals that will be projected on the 4K screen. From insightful materials and feedback this week I will then start to create some mock-up visuals to test on the next Capitol visit session. For now, I will mostly use copyright-free nature sounds to test with the lighting and visuals. I will attempt to produce my own ambient soundtrack for my project, which I intend to be very subtle and simple, and play a role in enhancing the visuals and lighting. However, I should be getting into trying out sounds soon so that I am able to receive feedback from tutors and reiterate from that.

The challenge I am having is to decide how I will create visuals for the projected screen. Unity is a safe option for me, though there are more powerful software with efficient rendering capabilities that create high quality and fidelity media. I really want to try out Unreal Engine 5 and 3ds max, though because of the time constraints and recommendations from tutors I might have to discard this intention and stick with Unity.