#so it might make more sense to keep it in my onenote with my other unhinged notes that i keep to myself

[trickstercaptain]

     so apparently it’s not enough for me to just figure out and list Jack’s tattoos, instead my brain is only satisfied if i make an entire body map to provide a visual guide to both his tattoos and his scars in both canon and modern verse lmao

[xanderxone]

9/18/2023

Journaling Is Stimming

The moment I fell in the autism rabbit hole, I started devouring videos and the ones about stimming always seemed to grab my attention. One idea that was consistent across all the videos is that autistic people stim to release excess energy that gets built up in their bodies. It has to do with the idea of autistic inertia which I will probably make a post about sometime later.

I have always had what I considered to be an overactive imagination. I often get stuck in my own fantasy worlds in my head or replay conversations or fret about the future or fret about the present or get so lost in a special interest that I can think of nothing else. Wow. I actually spend way more time in my own head than I thought. And while there are times where this is something that I absolutely love about myself, like when I have to drive 3 hours on a long boring highway to my hometown to visit my family. Sometimes I actually look forward to just having 3 hours alone in a car to list to music and let my mind roam. But for the other 99% of my life, I need to actually be present and paying attention. So now I will be on the lookout for my tell-tale circular thoughts so I can just write them down and get them out instead. I've also started to employ a similar strategy at work because I often find myself in situations where I have a question about something that will probably get answered later but I just want to make sure I don't forget to check it. And I have actually started to just write those things down in OneNote and saving them to review later. AND WHEN I TELL YOU THE STRESS THAT HAS JUST WASHED OFF OF ME BECAUSE NOW I KNOW I WON'T FORGET IT LATER IS PALPABLE. I feel like I love my job again and I feel the joy coming back that was gone for a long time.

And so, dear reader, I think if I start writing down anything that gets stuck inside my head, it will be a stim and move all that anxious energy outside of me. And in turn, I will be able to harness a lot more of my mental capacity for other, more important things. AND I WILL STOP FUCKING FORGETTING EVERYTHING.

An interesting emotion that all of this is bringing up is one of shame and humiliation. And I know that it's irrational so I'm keeping it at arm's length to avoid being truly upset by the emotion, but it's existence is intriguing. God I sound like a robot sometimes. Anyway, I think its because I feel really dumb for not realizing all of this sooner? I do struggle a lot with depersonalization issues which I think has also led to me not realizing I was trans until... the same time I learned I was autistic. Look, it's been a really long year, okay? But I think all of the things that have made me incredibly good at masking all these years are the same things that have made me feel like I have a very limited sense of self. I think I'm gonna work on developing one.

One last thing: I always felt like a journal had to be neat and organized and pretty or else it wasn't right. And so I would spend all this time trying to get it perfect and it wasn't sinking in that the whole point is to journal your thoughts and get them out. And so I just felt like it did nothing for me but it's because I was dumb. This blog will be a way for me to stim when I need to get things out. And then I'll also keep a pretty journal full of pages of stickers and pieces of paper that I rip up and glue down that can be a creative outlet for when I need to get out creative energy (it's called junk journaling and if you are a little packrat gremlin who loves tactile doodads and thingies and art, you will love it. And all of the supplies are SO CHEAP online. Look it up on tiktok. Trust me.)

I feel like I might be getting an A in therapy.

--Xander

[thefoundationproject]

Barter

@everything-or-anything's prompt: Wolffe and Fox v Torrent Command

Didn't quite get there, cuz the full idea migrated over to the onenote, so have some lead-up instead <3

They get Wolves in the cells all the time. Oh Wolfpack nuisances, sure, but of those, they get Wolves of all sorts. Fox has seen Wolves and Wolfs and Wulfs. A Wulfric, one enterprising young Wolverine and at least two separate Woofs.

Fox suspects those last two were karking with them, but he hadn’t been on duty to know.

Regardless, there’s a stunning lack of karking creativity in the Wolfpack, to match the mesmerizing lack of good kriffing taste. Hell, there was one glorious day when Guard had played host to a cool half dozen of the fuckers, picked up mid-brawl over who had what rights to what butchering of the name.

But tonight, tonight it looks like they finally netted the big one.

“You know it’s not the brawling that I’m gonna mock you about,” he grins, and rattles the key control datapad at the sour face he gets in response. “It’s that you lost.”

“How is it I’m the one missing an eye, and you’re still the blind one?”

Wolffe is a good, solid banged up. Nice shiner blooming opposite a nicely purpling cheek, left arm held a bit stiffly at the elbow. If Wolffe won, Fox hates to see what the other asshole looks like.

“What I’m picking up with my two eyes is that there’s only one jackass in my drunk tank.”

“I’m not even drunk.”

“Does that make it better, you think?” Fox asks, saccharine sweet.

Wolffe, for once in his damn life, has the good sense not to argue. He also has the good damn sense not to try avoiding the incriminating holo Fox snaps of his uglier-than-usual mug. He does snarl when Fox simpers ‘say bunny!’ though, and the result is precious. Fox’ll sell this to 6, or maybe Jangotat. They’re always good for shit like this.

“Alright you asshole,” Wolffe growls. “What’s your price?”

“I don’t think you can afford this,” Fox muses. Especially not if Jangotat is feeling particularly khi’vod at the moment. He’s a big spender on anything he can hold over 17. 6 just likes the chaos.

“Banthashit,” Fox’s unpleasant inmate grunts with a heavy-lidded annoyance. Fox grins, wide and unnerving. It never does work on a Shebs; Gree theorizes they just don’t have enough sense for a preservation instinct to trigger.

“You got nothing I want, Wolff’ika,” Fox points out, the kind of honest that sounds like a lie. He wants to see what it’ll get him. He’s halfway interested in what the asshole might be willing to trade.

He won’t accept, of course. Not til he hears what Jangotat will offer.

There’s a commotion up in front, edging on close to a ruckus.

“Oi,” someone bellows down the halls. “Mack’s in this time boys! We got a shot!”

Now that right there speaks to a real fucking lack of confidence that Fox doesn’t like seeing in his Guard. This is their home turf, they have more than a shot against any of the karking menaces that tramp through here, trailing trouble.

“Against who?” he snaps.

The sudden, guilty silence tells him the Guards on duty fully forgot he was down here. Fox is gonna knock some buckets together.

“Torrent,” someone finally mines their spine out to yell back. “Got a whole infestation of em inbound to Playground sir. But Mack’s got an ori’vod in the horde, so we maybe have an advantage this time.”

Fox fucking hates maybes. He really fucking hates that look of speculation that’s a real fucking stranger to Wolffe’s flat ugly face.

“Fox’ika,” the asshole croons. He thinks he looks sly and not like he badly needs to take a leak. “I think you and I might have a common enemy.”

Fox growls. He unlocks the cell with a clang. “You will keep your karking boyfriend busy,” Fox snaps and ignores Wolffe’s squawked ‘my WHAT?’, “while ‘I flatten your fucking whelp. We’ll discuss custody of your perp pics later.”

“When he bites you,” Wolffe agrees pleasantly, “I’m going to point and laugh.”

Fox sniffs and dismisses it. “The little blond shit is feckless,” he says from deep experience. “But he isn’t fucking suicidal.”

--------------------------------

Fox goes home with two crooked, overlapping fucking bactaids on his bicep, because fucking Wolffe was laughing too damn hard to apply the first one properly. He sends Jangotat his entire stock of Shebse perp pics, gratis.

[addierose444]

Microsoft Return Offer: Explorer to SWE Intern

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be returning to Microsoft next summer as a software engineering intern! Read on to learn about my specific product team! (If you missed my recent post about my experience as a remote Microsoft Explorer Intern click here). It’s so crazy to already have summer 2022 plans as I haven’t even started my next year of school yet. This year, I didn’t have my summer plans until March which at the time felt sort of early. 

I’ve known all summer that I would likely know by the start of the school year if I’d be returning. This is because return offer decisions are communicated during the final week of the internship. Furthermore, after getting an official offer, you are typically given only two weeks to decide. However, I was actually given a deadline of November 1st as Smith strongly encourages employers to give students until then to commit to a full-time job or internship offer. It is worth noting that Microsoft honored Smith’s policy even though I’d been unaware of it. In fact, my first reaction was that my recruiter had made a mistake. I knew that such policies existed at other schools but had been unable to find one for Smith the last time I’d looked. You can read the full policy here. Even though things worked out for me, it is advisable to proactively let your recruiter know about the policy.

It initially sounded crazy to have so little time to decide but to be honest I’ve had the intention to return for quite a few weeks now. For me, returning to Microsoft makes a lot of sense because it’s been an incredible place to work. Even at the midpoint (before diving into the more technical side), I was leaning towards returning to Microsoft. The easy part was knowing that if I want to do software engineering that Microsoft is where I want to be. The harder part was determining if software engineering is the right career path or whether I should do something that’s a bit closer to the hardware. Even if I ultimately decide not to pursue software engineering as a career, I know that it will be an incredible learning opportunity and that I’ll meet even more great people. Furthermore, it’s a solid line on my résumé. Speaking of résumés, click here to check out the résumé that got me the initial interview at Microsoft. For now, my plan is to continue learning new skills and generally keep my options open. My current post-college vision is that I’ll either go straight into a software engineering role or attend graduate school for something like robotics. 

As an Explorer Intern, the default return offer is a software engineering internship with your current team. While return offers aren’t guaranteed, they aren’t as elusive as they may seem. What you need to remember is that companies like Microsoft invest in their interns as a key part of their recruiting efforts. Of the ten interns with whom I share a recruiter, eight of them received return offers. Returning to your current team doesn’t necessarily mean or guarantee the exact team. Rather, your offer is held at the product group level. Explorer Interns also have the opportunity to change teams or disciplines. The discipline change would be to a program management internship which requires an additional interview. The exact skills that make a great program manager are a bit different from those that make a great software engineer. The other reality is that teams need fewer program managers than they need software engineers. Program management is interesting and I could potentially see moving to the role farther into my career. However, for now, the more technical aspects of software engineering are much more exciting. Furthermore, the experience gained as a software engineer can be applied to both engineering and non-engineering roles. Since program managers typically don’t write code, the reverse transition is significantly more difficult. To change teams, there is a more informal process of meeting with the manager of the new team and making sure your skills and interests align. The other key factor is headcount which is basically whether they have the budget, need, and interest in taking on an intern. To successfully complete a team or discipline change, you must also perform well on your current team and be recommenced for a return offer by your manager. 

Even though I’ve loved my current team, I ultimately decided to request a team change. I’m excited to announce that next summer I will be a software engineering intern on the OneNote Team. Long-time readers of my blog will know that I absolutely love OneNote. (To read some of my past posts about how I use OneNote, click here. In the future, I plan to write more in-depth guides to how I use it as a student). Moving over to OneNote from my current team isn’t a giant leap as I get to stay within MMX (Microsoft Mobile & X-Device Experiences). This actually almost created a problem for me, as I’d heard incorrect information that return offers were at the CVP (corporate vice president) level, and thus concluded that moving over to OneNote wouldn’t be considered an official team change. The decision wasn’t easy, but in the end, being able to work on a product like OneNote is why I was interested in working for Microsoft in the first place. Furthermore, I love the product, the core market it currently serves, and am invested in its modernization and growth. 

Throughout the internship, my manager knew that OneNote is my favorite Microsoft product and about my interests in the more technical side of things. He made it clear early on that he’d be happy to have me return to his team but also encouraged me to explore other teams and offered to help make those connections. With his help (and one of his contacts), I was able to connect with two software engineers and an engineering manager from the OneNote team. From talking to the software engineers, I learned about the team culture and key technologies used. In my conversation with the engineering manager, I got a better understanding of OneNote as it exists now, some of the problems it faces, and the vision for the future.

In the background, my manager had been in communication with my intern champ about my interest in OneNote. Intern champs are full-time employees who take on the additional responsibility of overseeing intern placements within their part of the organization. On Thursday of week ten, I met with my intern champ. Going into the meeting I was expecting to talk about my technical experience, coursework, and my interest in OneNote. Instead, I learned that moving over to OneNote was technically an official team change and was given the name of the OneNote intern champ. The specific reason is that MMX has an intern champ (and corresponding hiring budget) for phone and tasks and another one for notes. I think it was meant to be a five-minute conversation, but I decided to inquire about my options within the phone and tasks part of MMX. I learned that as a returner, I’d be prioritized in team placement and my intern project would be built around my specific interests and skills in addition to the needs of the team. I was initially worried that by moving over to OneNote I’d be making a compromise in regards to the technical components of my project. Furthermore, I was a bit reluctant to move forward with the team change process as I felt like it was already too late. These fears were ultimately unfounded and my intern champ strongly encouraged me to just set up a meeting with the OneNote intern champ.

On the Tuesday of week eleven, I met with the OneNote intern champ (another engineering manager on the OneNote team). We discussed my technical interests and determined that the team run by the original engineering manager I had met with would likely be a good fit. Despite it being an official team change, coming from another team within MMX worked in my favor as both intern champs were happy to hear that I wanted to stay in MMX. The one remaining hurdle was whether that team could take on another intern as they’d already committed to another returning Explorer. Right after that meeting, I met with my manager for our 1:1. I used that time to get an understanding of what our team might look like in a year’s time. Things move fast in tech and given that my team had just graduated out of incubation and that we didn’t yet have Redmond engineers, I knew that the team would transform dramatically. My manager advised me to consider whether I wanted to join a more mature team or one that was relatively new. Later on that evening I got the news (from the OneNote intern champ) that the initial engineering manager I had met with had confirmed his interest in and ability to have me on the team. 

I had until Friday to make my decision. While I knew that both options were incredible, the decision felt a lot bigger than it really was. I created a list of pros and cons for each option (in OneNote of course). On Thursday, I let everyone involved know that I’d chosen the OneNote team via a message on Teams. I emphasized why I’d chosen OneNote, that I’d had an amazing time on my current team, and that I was really appreciative of how supportive everyone had been in letting me make my own decision. That support went a long way in making me feel confident in my decision to return to Microsoft (specifically MMX). It was evident that everyone would be happy to have me on their team, but in the end, just wanted to help me to make an informed decision. With that being said, I have heard that some other teams are significantly less supportive of their interns requesting a team change. The next step was emailing my recruiter to make the request official. I then had to give written confirmation that I understood I would not receive a return offer to my current team if I proceeded with the team change process and that return offers are held at the product group level.

On the Tuesday of my final week, I met with my recruiter (and the eight other Explorers who were receiving return offers). During that final meeting, we got the official word of our return offers and learned a bit more about the next steps in the process. I received my official offer letter the Thursday following the conclusion of my internship (August 19th). I also received an email from my recruiter with some additional information about intern benefits and Seattle neighborhoods. The offer letter itself was posted to my action center (part of the Microsoft careers portal) under the account I used to initially apply to Explore Microsoft. As stated previously, I was given the surprise deadline of November 1st thanks to Smith’s recruitment policies. However, I signed the letter two days later (August 21st) once I got the chance to carefully read through everything. Overall, I am really excited about next summer, but need to remember that I am still a student and should at present focus on the academic year ahead. 

[keplercryptids]

how I organize my DM notes using OneNote

a few people said they were interested in seeing how i organize my notes for the games that i run, and let’s be honest, that’s all i need to make a huge informative post. (to my players, you can look! i’ve crossed out info you shouldn’t have lol)

i use OneNote, which i *think* you can use for free online even if you don’t have microsoft. could be wrong on that though. anyway, details and screenshots are under the cut!

here are the sections i split everything into:

[ID: a menu bar showing different tabs that say Players, NPCs, World, Calendar, Sessions.]

“Players” is the least completed session for my online game because my players have uploaded their character sheets to Roll20 so I got lazy about copying that info over. but normally, this section is split into different pages for each of my players, and will have the player’s contact info, as well as their character sheet, etc. but really, the only important part of the character sheet, for my purposes, is their backstory and passive perception and insight modifiers. I will also note their relationships with NPCs here (as you’ll see in the NPC section), and keep track of their renown with various factions (i do a homebrew renown-tracking thingy to keep track of friends and enemies of the party).

next is NPCs!

[ID: a screenshot of a particular NPC’s page, Z’ress Matyl. A lot of it has been blacked out lol.]

I used to keep track of EVERY SINGLE NPC this way but it got overwhelming fast, so I only put notable NPCs here (either famous ones, ones that i expect will be around a bit, or ones my PCs will fight/fight with). i use this section to quickly remind myself who the NPC is, their class/race/alignment, what they look like, their personality and a short backstory if applicable. you can also see the little table where i keep track of relationships, and that’s how I track PC relationships too. if relevant, i keep the NPC’s statblock here as well. once i’ve created more NPCs for this campaign, i’ll organize the pages into subpages by family/faction, but i’m not quite there yet with this one!

now onto World!

[ID: a screenshot of the World tab, which includes sections titled: Sirona history, Pantheon, Dal Z’har, Iesma Empire, and World notes along with a lot of town names for each of the areas. The main text on the screen is about a small town called Sweetvale.]

as the name suggests, i keep most worldbuilding info here, including detailed info about the towns and cities the PCs visit or have been to. some towns (like Sweetvale!) have more detail than others. i also keep larger world info in this section: world history/conflicts, the pantheon and origin stories of the gods (i have a homebrewed pantheon so that’s why it’s necessary), and overarching themes and shit that are relevant to the campaign. this is also a place where i’d keep maps for my own reference if i were more organized. “World Notes” is where i furiously type ideas as they pop into my head, to later develop. i wish i could show you that section, it’s buckwild and has a lot of exclamation points, but it’s very spoilery.

onto the calendar!

[ID: the calendar tab, showing pages for the months Gelus, Tabeo, Imber, Flos, Lux, Sol, Ardor, Messis, Folium, Stella, Nox and Hiberius, all in 52 AC. The main text on the screen shows the days of the month in a table with notes of what happened on each day. The days of the week are Moonday, Treeday, Waterday, Thunderday, Fireday, Starday and Sunday.]

as you can see, i use a homebrewed calendar because of course i do. full disclosure: i stole most of those week day names from another DM because i love them. but basically the calendar for this world is a 12-month year, 28 day-month, 7 day-week, so it’s kept similar to our IRL calendar. this is where i keep my primary notes of what happens in each session. they’re brief, because 1) i have a pretty good memory for the hijinks the party gets up to, and 2) i put a lot of detail into the plans for each session so i feel like i can go more minimalist here. the most important things i note for each session are: where the party went, if they met any NPCs, the fights they had and if they obtained any special or magical items. i also use the calendar to keep track of full moons, world events and holidays in the world.

next up is Sessions!

[ID: The Sessions tab, showing a page titled “Adventures” with links to three adventures listed. On the side panel, there are sections called Adventures, Current Adventure, Campaign Notes, session ideas and Tech shit.]

“Adventures” is where I keep all the notes for past adventures (See below). I link to each paragraph (a feature of OneNote) so i can easily click and get to what i need to see. the “Current Adventure” page is where i keep notes for, you guessed it, the current session, just to minimize how much i need to scroll, and at the end of the session i cut/paste everything that we got to into the Adventures section. Campaign notes and session ideas are, again, where i furiously type notes that make no sense and need to be edited and expanded upon, haha. And Tech shit is where I put the order of stuff i need to plug in for my online sessions. i’m kind of a dummy.

below is an example of my session prep notes:

[ID: a screenshot of text showing detailed notes of Adventure 1.]

this is just to give you an idea of how detailed my notes are. they are typically this detailed, if not more so. but i know lots of DMs will basically type out a hook and a resolution and leave the middle blank for notes. it’s really up to you and how you best prep and run sessions. i err on the side of over-preparing because it’s who i am, and when i try to go into a session with less preparation, i feel overwhelmed lol. i occasionally add a few notes here and there as we play in this section, but as i said, keep most of my notes to the Calendar section.

you can also see above how i list NPCs that i expect my players to only briefly interact with. Name, age, appearance, a few notes about personality/motivation, and that’s it. OneNote is cool because you can search for specific words and phrases and it’ll search the whole notebook, so i can easily find these NPCs again if i need to. (note: normally my notes wouldn’t be this....structured? as in, they’ll be less linear than this typically, but this was for the first session where i knew which PCs i’d be introducing first, etc. don’t want you to think i’m a big old wet blanket DM.)

and that’s it! hopefully this is useful for some of you, or at least gives you ideas for how you might organize your game moving forward. IMO the most useful sections are the World, Calendar and Session sections: they’re what i reference and add to the most. let me know if you have any questions!

[ommsims]

story process challenge

i was tagged  by @xldkx​​ to do this challenge, created by @herpixels​​​ , like a month? a month and a half? ago and it’s been sitting half finished in my drafts for nearly as long. *sigh* (regardless, i love stuff like this so even if it takes me forever to get to it, i appreciate the tags! 💕). 

i decided to answer all the qs because it took me damn long enough to get to this, so i might as well put some extra elbow grease into it (plus it was fun!). btw it’s all going under a cut b/c it is long. i apologize in advance.

1. My Writing Process - used to be a hot damn mess. literally word docs strewn throughout my pc. However, I recently switched to using Onenote (it’s what i use to organize my d&d campaign notes) and hoo-boy is it so much nicer. this is how it’s set up and it’s honestly night and day. i can have a page with outlines, a page to organize & order screenshots, and a separate page for drafting text, and i can easily toggle though them without having to switch windows? a big thumbs up from me.

When it comes to actual writing- I used to write my drafts in novel format, which i enjoyed but it made “converting” them into tumblr posts time consuming and frustrating. I ended up scrapping most of the text in the process, retaining pretty much only the dialogue. 

Anyway, nowadays I write in more of a screenplay format: dialogue only + key scene information with the occasional note to self. 

I do keep a master “arcs” page with key events and each individual character’s arc from beginning to end and secondary “outline” pages with slightly more detailed outline for each leg of the project. No screencaps b/c spoilers galore! 

My typical work flow process for a scene goes: (1) brainstorm scene ideas, (2) take screenshots, (3) organize screenshots into a rough storyboard, (4) add 1st draft of text, (5) edit photos, (6) edit text, (7) upload to "drafts” here on tumblr, (8) let sit for a bit (9) take a final look at things/proofread and edit as needed. It may sound counterintuitive, but i find it much easier to write dialogue for a set of images rather than attempt to take images based on prewritten text. I feel more comfortable editing and tweaking tone and content in the text this way. Otherwise, I get frustrated when I “can’t” shoot a scene exactly as it appeared in my head.

2. How I build my scenes - A lot of what i do is rooted in gameplay, therefore my sets are usually (a) play-tested and (b) not super pretty. I’ve certainly improved at decorating & building over the years but more often than not I download lots off tumblr and the gallery because I don’t have the patience, aptitude, or time to build all of my own sets. That being said, I frequently gut builds only to build a number of completely unrelated mini sets inside to reduce the number of times i have to replace lots. I also keep a list of “important locations” and where certain characters live / will move to, to help keep this all straight as there aren’t nearly enough lots per neighborhood or even per world in this damn game...

my least favorite part of scene building is actually decorating. lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love clutter. I honestly do. but fuck me if i expect myself to spend hours meticulously decorating a set, spend another 3 hours toggling back and forth b/w BB & live modes adjusting things to get rid of the damn routing errors. (yeah, yeah, i know i could ignore them, they’re not important, especially in those scenarios where i’m using a set for screenshots and nothing else, but idk. it really grinds my gears.) and then have to replace the lot like a week later because there aren’t enough lots in the game. *sigh*

3. CC/Pose Making - i do not consider myself to be a cc creator nor a pose maker but i do dabble occasionally. And to be completely honest i’d much rather spend my time doing other stuff, so it’s not high on my list of priorities atm. plus there are so many talented cc creators in this community; i can usually get by with what’s already out there.

4. Getting in the zone - Honestly, I do a lot of brainstorming for plot & dialogue in the shower. I don’t have any particular playlists to get me “in the writing mood” but I do enjoy listening to music as I work. Either instrumental stuff or simply artists/songs I like. If something just so happens to “fit” a scene I’m working on, one i’ve got planned, or even just gives me vibes for a certain character or group, I add a quick note to the top of said scene’s draft. Most of the time I stick it in the recesses of my brain and add a quick link when I finally get to the point of posting the draft to tumblr. For whatever reason, when I have one of those “oh this song is perfect for X” moments it’s essentially ingrained in my mind for the rest of eternity. 

5. The screenshot folder - this will most likely give some of you out there major anxiety. but i swear it’s an organized chaos. :)

yep. 32.9gb of screenshots & related things... 

So with the raws from a single random scene selected, you can see i take roughly 10 screenshots per image posted. not terrible i guess but i’m working on it. Typically I take screenshots and once I’m done editing a scene I’ll move them from the general folder to a more specific project folder.

6. Captions - I’ll answer this in three parts:

for my townie story. not really. I prefer using the text box. I tend to write (& re-write) the dialogue for each one of these scenes several times over as I add more “scenes” into my drafts. It would be incredibly inefficient, time consuming, and would waste a lot more space on my pc to have to save .psds of each image just so i could edit dialogue when I decide: “oh hey maybe so and so needs to bring up X in this scene” and then change my mind an hour later.

for niko, noor, & co. I’m a text on image type gal here. don’t really know why, but it gives the project a different energy. ironically it makes it feel more laid-back to me. which i guess makes sense, it’s a much more light-hearted “story” than my townie project. which is, imo, very soapy haha.

for legacy stuff. all text goes below the images in the text box. reasoning: it’s gameplay, I don’t brainstorm, outline, or pre-write for this. I play the game, take screenshots, plug ‘em into my drafts and write some commentary / dialogue to go along with it.

7. Editing - i am a creature of habit and have not majorly changed my editing process in probably a year and a half (when I began using reshade and had to adjust my color correcting psd). it’s a super basic system:

drag & drop my “color correction” psd.

run actions in ps. (i made my own “all-in-one” actions to really streamline the process; i have different “actions sets” for my premades’ story and for other things that get posted to tumblr. even if no one else notices it, i like the little details that keep my projects separate and “identifiable”. 

voila. all set to upload.

sometimes i crop images, add “text effects”, or do more in depth editing (i.e. editing a phone screen or adding rain etc.) but overall i try and keep it simple for myself. 

8. Throwback - i posted an image of one of the first (but never posted) scenes I’d written for my townie project up above. but as for how would i redo a scene i’d already posted. well i’m currently re-doing my townie story so i guess i’ll just say you’ll see how it’s redone when i get to part 1! 😉

anyway, no tags because i’m so embarrassingly late to this party but if you hadn’t gotten around to this tag, wanted to do it but didn’t get a tag, or started it and left it to sit and now you’re thinking “oh god that was months ago should i even post this anymore?!?” consider yourself tagged by me and go ahead and post it for all to see!

[delciastudies]

Advice for staying an organized and mentally-sane student

At the request of @karensesmiles ☺️♥️

1. Be on top of your schedule and deadlines ft. the importance of calendars: only memorize what you need to

First, it should be noted that you don’t want to waste your time trying to memorize deadlines and important dates when you don’t need to -- write them down. Reserve your limited memory space for tests, quizlets, etc.  Doing this actually gives you time to prepare, a sense of ease, and enhances your time management.

The Two Calendar Trick

No matter what, you’ll want a calendar or planner of some sort. The personal trick that I have used and found literally so much success with (as in me taking 5 courses in 10 weeks and maxing my course load type of success, and still having a life and being mentally sane) is the two calendar trick.

*Calendar 1: An Academic Calendar (MyHomework)

This calendar or planner should be solely academic: including deadlines, reminders, homework, and so on. I currently use a digital app for this called MyHomework, which I have used since high school! 

*Calendar 2: A Life Calendar (Google Calendar)

This calendar or planner should hold all of the things you are used to putting on calendars, including events, trips, meetings, birthdays, parties, and so on. I also put my class-times on my life calendar. The calendar I use for this is Google Calendar, just because it is connected to my student gmail, my Google Drive, my notes, my Chrome browser, and everything else I use through Google. For a long time, I was using a hand-planner in combination with MyHomework and taking it with me everywhere I went. I slowly moved away from paper, but a hand-planner is still a wonderful option.

By keeping these calendars distinct, it’ll help you to separate your personal from your academic, but also visualize your due dates and reminders separately from your daily time allotments. 

2. A week or two before the start of the semester

*Check your email consistently in case professors send early assignments.

*Write on your calendar your class info including full class schedule - start day, time, and location (which can be organized on MyHomework even before the start of the semester)

3. As soon as the semester begins (if not sooner)

*Print your syllabus and all class documents, organize them into a class binder or folder (I personally love the folders with little metal clips for three-punched papers since binders tend to take up too much backpack space)

*Know where you want to take notes (either in a class-specific notebook, a binder, an organized google drive class folder, or in a designated place on your laptop like Microsoft OneNote) - keep it consistent with all classes so you don’t get confused and keep it simple enough that you don’t forget where to find it. Distinguish between lecture notes, reading notes, and homework/assignment notes. **Note: if you keep your notes consistent and organized, making a study guide will be extremely simple since you have all of the info you need in one place!

*Organize all of your classes into MyHomework, and use the syllabus to organize all deadlines onto the MyHomework calendar, so you are ready from the start and don’t miss a single thing.

4. Tips on Time Management

*Likes are, if you have a full student schedule, then you should treat your academics like a full-time job, which needs daily attention.

*Check your email and schedule first thing in the morning, and respond to emails or snooze them/set a reminder to respond to them later. Checking your email and having notifications on is going to end up being more important than any other notifications.

*Don’t go into projects or homework assignments blind - prepare for them in advance. Finding out you’ll need to put 3 days of work into a homework assignment you opened the night before it is due is the worst feeling in existence.

5. Other tips

*Contact your professor frequently (and go to office hours), because at some point you’ll need advice, leeway on a grade, help with an assignment, or a letter of recommendation. A good rapport with the professor will never hurt a grade.

*Don’t do what other students around you might be doing: including not taking notes in lecture, skipping lecture, barely making it through homework assignments, etc. If your professor is grading cumulatively, which many will do, then only 25% or less of the students will get an A, and likes are you’re sitting by the majority. And likes are, they’ll be contacting another student to get the information they missed later.

*Sit in the front.

*I do daily to-dos in my notes and in other random places, and used to do it for my #100daysofproductivity :) it’s super helpful to get it down on paper if you’re overwhelmed by it.

*It’s better to know too much and be too “on top of it” than the reverse.

*Scraping along and barely making deadlines induces anxiety, stress, and makes education an unenjoyable experience!! You’ll thank yourself for being organized later!

Lastly, every successful student has some type of organizational routine or set of habits that makes them truly enjoy learning and enjoy how they go about studying. Hopefully, this will be the first step to finding yours.

That’s all for now, good luck students!! xx

[texxasserialroundup]

Incoming college students.. listen up!

I have been asked about some tips or advice for incoming college students, both traditional and non-traditional, so here it is.. enjoy!

So I am what you call a non-traditional student I did not go to college right out of high school it took a couple years for me to realize that it was important for me to pursue a higher education beyond my high school diploma. My very first freshman semester I took two classes, one of these was a developmental math course ( I ABSOLUTELY LOATH MATH!) and of course I dropped out of college soon after, honestly I don't even think I did like a full month of classes I just stopped showing up. I wasn’t motivated and all I really wanted to do was hang out with my friends and do hood rat shit (LOL)  Fast forward 4 years after that, when I AGAIN decide to get my act together, it took that mixed with having some personal experiences to kind of get my head straight in regards to my future endeavors and what I want to do with myself. When I say that it's hard to do college by yourself, y’all... it is so hard, it doesn’t help that I'm an introvert who doesn’t like to ask for help from tutors because I feel like I am burdening them and I’m worried that I will embarrass myself with dumb questions.  Neither of my parents graduated high school so that was no help with homework or studying and at the time I was going to a Community College and so the atmosphere is not quite like a four-year University. Everybody just kind of stays to themselves so it is not like it is easy to mingle make new friends, there is not a lot of on campus activities and stuff like that so that also made it difficult. But also I did not know how to study, honestly I'm not going to lie to you guys, I'm currently working on my third college degree and I still don't know how to study and sometimes that really kind of like puts things into perspective about our educational system in regards to the way that they teach towards a specific curriculum. I think that teaching students how to study is extremely important. The way that I get through my college classes is a lot of crying, and I am not being sarcastic, that is exactly what happens. I do a lot of crying, there is a lot of frustration, there is a lot of screaming at myself, there is a lot of self-bullying and personal demons that I battle with. I do not feel like I learn like everybody else, I cannot just read something or watch a video and retain information. Everything must be repetitive; I must read it over and over and over, I must highlight things and make up little phrases in order to remember topics like the Krebs cycle. So, it is repetitive, and it slows me down, it is frustrating, and the experience overall is overwhelming. Especially recently with covid a lot of my classes have been online which essentially translates to teach yourself a brand-new topic, good luck, and may the force be with you kind of thing. For people like me who deal with what my boyfriend calls “impostor syndrome” it really rattles any self confidence that I built throughout my college career and it makes me feel like the achievements that I've done so far aren't valid and that I don't deserve the degrees that I have and that maybe it was a mistake . With these things being said I just want to spread some positivity and some good vibes in regards to anybody who is a freshman going into college, a current college student, or a non-traditional student such as myself who feels like they might be too old to go back to school. Everybody is dealing with their own struggles and college is not easy, if it were everybody would have a college degree. Some tips from myself would be not to be afraid to ask questions, if you're like me, I have really bad anxiety and I don't feel like I can bring myself to ask a question during lecture in front of the class so I'll either email the professor afterwards or I will speak to the professor one-on-one during office hours or I'll try to grab her as soon as class is over before she leaves an ask her a question. The reason why I say this is because college moves very fast and the professors honestly it seems like they're not going to put any extra effort into helping you understand a topic if you don't express your confusion or if you don't understand the topic. At the end of the day you're paying for your college education and you need to create self-confidence and remind yourself that you're worthy and that your questions do deserve to be answered no matter how ridiculous they sound in your head no matter if you think that it will sound dumb. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting your questions answered. My second piece of advice is to utilize any type of group study offered, like I said before, I have really bad anxiety and it's hard for me to just walk up to a stranger and ask to be a study buddy. What I've noticed though is that a few students will get together or it will just be one student and they will start a group chat through either GroupMe or through text message or you know through canvas which is the educational platform that my University uses, and it really helps because you still have access to study guides, notes, or if you miss a day you can reach out and ask what you missed. As well as review and go over important topics and information posted. A lot of the times you don't even have to be face to face with these people, all of it is through text messaging or email. Another really good piece of advice is learn how to use OneNote and Google Docs and learn how to use it in a group format so that multiple people can work on one document together in real time so you can watch somebody else edit a midterm review while you're also adding to a midterm review it.will.save.your.life! Just spend a couple minutes, get on YouTube watch a quick tutorial nothing crazy just a quick rundown, y’all, I am telling you it will do wonders. Next piece of advice will have to be not to compare yourself to other students. My first semester of college at a four-year University I went all out on the school supplies, I bought so many journals, I bought so many sticky notes and planners and different colored pens and sharpies and highlighters. I had index cards, I had binders, I had sectional post-its, basically if office depot sold it I had it in my backpack.  I quickly learned that I did not need half of that crap, but when you're excited about going to your first year of college you want to be prepared and if you're like me I watched other people’s YouTube videos about their experiences and things that worked for them and so I tried to pick and choose what I thought would work for me. Long story short it did not  help and I think that really played a big part in my self-loathing in a sense because I would see all these other students super organized with beautiful handwriting, multi colored notes and just over the top every day, never faltering, just like the perfect student it seemed. It's okay not to be super organized, it's okay not to have the perfect notes, it's okay if all of your notes from all of your classes are in one notebook, if it works for you, it works for you.  No matter what that may be, just keep in mind that this is your college journey no one else’s. Finally, I will emphasize to invest money in a good backpack. Like do not take the backpack from high school with you, I did that, and it was a disaster honestly. It is like my dad used to say growing up, “you get what you pay for.” You are going to be carrying a lot of stuff, probably a tablet, a laptop, textbooks, journals, binders, you name it and you need support for your shoulders, for you back and for your neck. I say this from experience, my college campus is one of the largest public universities in the state of Texas, it takes me 20 minutes to get from my car to the campus, once on campus, I have another eight minute walk to get to my first class. So, it is detrimental to me and my physical health to have a good backpack with support that holds everything and equally distributes the weight correctly. I know this sounds crazy but that is probably the one thing besides getting a good laptop that I would invest a lot of money in. Lastly, I will leave you with this, college is a scary experience for many people and right now we're in very uncertain times which only adds to the stress, but I want you to know that there are resources out there for you and other students and faculty who are more than willing to work with you and accommodate accordingly. Please do not be afraid to reach out to anybody for any type of assistance whether it be academic, mental or physical help, we are all in this together. Be kind to one another and stay curious. -SLR

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 16 Review: Jean Paul’s Latest Detained Guest

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 }

{ Synopses: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

I wasn’t going to start working on another review until next week at the earliest, but I have been re-watching the Agatha episodes from Desmond Hall and, oh my Great Serpent, are they terrible! I don’t wish to spoil too much of what happens then because those reviews are a long way in the future, but I will say that (1) I can’t stand Agatha Pruitt and (2) while some episodes of Desmond Hall Part I have decent writing, in others the writing is very, very, very bad. I can’t help but feel sorry for the fans of both this show and Dark Shadows in early 1970, because Agatha would have been swanning around Desmondton getting on everyone’s nerves during the same period as one of the least-loved arcs on DS, the Leviathan arc.*

Normally, I would type out my complaints about Desmond Hall in the OneNote notebook where I take screencaps and save them for when I write those episode reviews in a year or two. However, I felt that I had to mention the awfulness of Episode 91 in this post, because that is what compelled me to return from my hiatus early. I needed to remind myself why I like this show enough to dedicate a whole blog to it, and so I took a (metaphorical) trip back to Maljardin to re-watch and review Episode 16.

Our mascot!

On the last episode, Jean Paul hired Reverend Matt Dawson to conduct a funeral service for his wife Erica, still frozen in the cryonics capsule  and awaiting her resurrection by THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES. Now Jean Paul--who has changed into a very nice pinstripe suit--is showing Matt the crypt at Maljardin where the capsule is located. “Even with the electrical connections, the compressor and cryonics capsule, I think this probably will be the best place for the service,” he says to the horrified minister. “Don’t you think, Reverend Dawson?” All Matt can do is smile and nod in response while privately questioning the life choices that led to this moment.

He’s probably thinking, “I left my ministry to stalk a 20-year-old full-time for this?!”

Jean Paul continues interviewing him. “You have no objection to a service without a burial?”

“No,” Matt shakes his head. “I have officiated at many such services, where the body is usually placed in the family crypt.” Considering that the vast majority of families don’t have family crypts--at least not in their basements--I think that he’s humoring Jean Paul. After all, he’s seen so many red flags already--the isolated island, the extreme secrecy, Jean Paul’s reluctance to tell anyone about Erica’s death, the whole cryonics/resurrection thing itself, and now his insistence on conducting the funeral service around a cryonics capsule.

He questions the idea that a body held in cryonic suspension can be brought back to life, and Jean Paul continues to deny that Erica is forever dead. He also continues to insist that the usual laws of nature don’t apply on Maljardin, and that on that island he is God:

Yes, Reverend Dawson, your new client thinks he’s God. There’s another red flag for you, Matt, that Jean Paul Desmond is not a client that you want to work for and you should probably cancel the agreement, give up on Holly, and try to get off the island while you still can.

Jean Paul tells him of a man who was allegedly brought back to life after dying in a blizzard, and who lived three decades as “a soulless corpse, like a zombie” before dying again. After saying “zombie,” the camera cuts to Quito who is spying on them, confirming that Quito is indeed a zombie--although, considering that Quito has emotions (which he expresses through body language) and pets whom he clearly loves, the “soulless” part is unlikely.

Did he offend Quito when he called zombies “soulless corpses,” I wonder?

It’s at this point that handsome devil Jacques takes over and starts trolling Matt. “You are a theologian trapped by your own logic and teachings,” he remarks with a mocking smile. “When you run out of answers, look to the fire god. He’s got some new ones, new for even you.” Which goes over about as well as proselytization usually does: that is to say, not at all, especially without one of those poorly-written smiley-face tracts that are absurdly popular with Christian fundamentalists. But Jacques, unfortunately, is straight out of copies of SMILE THE FIRE GOD LOVES YOU and so has to resort to confusing Matt (and us) with non sequiturs instead:

Jacques: “I don’t advocate or procrastinate.” (That has to be a line flub.) “I live and let live.”

I’m surprised he didn’t bring up the age-old theological question about how many angels can fit on the head of a pin and awkwardly try to connect that to the situation as well.

Matt storms out and Jacques stays behind to gloat. “I haven’t had so much fun,” he quips, “since one of my colleagues fiddled while Rome burned.” This reference to the Roman emperor Nero is without a doubt the clearest evidence so far that Jacques is indeed supposed to be the Devil, who at some point came to occupy the body of Jean Paul’s ancestor.

Back in the great hall, Matt returns to stalking Holly, who once again rejects him, because stalking only leads to mutual love and committed relationships in bad romance movies. He insists that he has something important to say to her, and she agrees to listen, but only for five minutes. He insists that Elizabeth doesn’t like him and that he followed her to Maljardin because he “thought [she] might need [him] for protection, guidance, maybe even comfort.”

According to StrangeParadise.net, this is an allusion to a real person, Reverend Harold Davidson, described in more detail on this page. I won’t copy Davidson’s bio on here because of its length, so I’ll just quote Holly by calling him a “lecherous minister.”

She rejects him, he leaves with his proverbial tail between his legs, then she proceeds to mope while sprawled in Jean Paul’s favorite chair for arguing with Jacques. Alison finds her there and asks what’s wrong, so she starts to explain before Matt arrives again and interrupts by insisting that he’s not trying to keep her from her inheritance like she claims. He’s right, but that doesn’t change the fact that Elizabeth is using him to do just that. Now it’s Holly’s turn to flounce, and she does it with more gusto than Reverend Stalker.

He talks to Alison, who fills him in on the whole situation, speaking again about how Jean Paul thinks he’s God and also about how Matt is now a prisoner on Maljardin.

Alison explaining the concept of a detained guest to Matt.

Matt suggests that Alison get Raxl to try to reason with Jean Paul, unaware of how well that didn’t work out a week before, He insists, though, that “perhaps these Tarot cards [that Vangie gave him in Episode 14] will sway her.” Although Alison is skeptical and so is Raxl upon her arrival, that all changes when he gives her the pack of cards and tells her that Vangie said “that [she] should use them for everyone’s good.”

She knows instantly that Vangie has predicted that Maljardin is doomed.

An interesting conversation between the two follows. Matt reveals to her that she should contact Vangie at “the third hour” (3 AM, also known as the “witching hour” or “demonic hour”), which means nothing to him but “everything” to her. She recaps for him about Jacques Eloi des Mondes, the conjure doll, and the silver pin, mentioning that “the power of the Great Serpent made him an eternal prisoner” for three hundred years.

Raxl: “Jacques Eloi Des Mondes! It must be he who walks. It must be!"   Matt: "Impossible!" Raxl: "You believe in God, but what about His work?” [I think this is a line flub for “word,” which would make more sense in context.] “I trust the Tarot cards, but what about the words of the woman who reads them?" Matt: "I'm a messenger, not a convert." Raxl: "One conjure doll, one silver pin. If that pin were still driven into that doll's head, we would all be safe."   Matt: "Raxl, that is witchcraft!" [And reading Tarot cards--a form of divination--isn’t?] Raxl: "Do you feel safe, Reverend?"

He gazes at the portrait of Jacques without another word until Jean Paul returns, explaining that he had to apologize to Quito after inadvertently hurting his feelings earlier, most likely with what he said about zombies. He asks Matt if he’s started preparing a speech for the funeral service, and an argument erupts between the two of them:

Did I mention yet that Jean Paul is more than a bit of a control freak?

Jean Paul decides that maybe Jacques had the right idea as far as the detained-guest thing went, and so puts the island on lockdown: “There will be no further trips to the main island and no trips even for mail until a matter between the Reverend and his conscience is resolved.”

Jean Paul is a male example of what is known in certain fandoms as a yandere, or a character who is madly in love, enough to hurt and even kill anyone who they believe is standing between them and their love interest.

Meanwhile in the basement, Raxl performs a ritual to contact the Conjure Man using Vangie’s Tarot cards while Quito enters the Not-So-Hidden Temple. And with that, the episode ends.

Raxl and the Tarot cards.

This was an interesting episode, with Matt as the central character for a change. The major theme of this episode seems to be belief, and how, whether seen through the lens of science (Alison), Christianity (Matt), or voodoo (Raxl), Jean Paul’s plans to revive Erica appear crazy at best and dangerous and/or sacrilegious at worst. There’s also the suggestion that Erica might return as a zombie, which does not seem to bother Jean Paul as much as it should (make of that what you will). Did it make up for the badness of Episode 91? Yes. It’s genuinely a good episode, even though some of the lines don’t make sense--but I think that at least most of those are line flubs.

Coming up next: Raxl sends a message to the Conjure Man, so Jacques decides to interfere. Also, Jacques’ portrait becomes much stranger.

Notes

* I don’t know the exact original airdates for most episodes of Strange Paradise. Maljardin aired from October 20, 1969 to January 19, 1970 in Canada according to StrangeParadise.net, but the show premiered in the United States on September 8, making the US six weeks or 30 episodes ahead of Canada. The YouTube user retronewfoundland has the endings of several episodes on their channel with the original Canadian airdates. The nearest episode to Episode 91 that retronewfoundland has a clip from is Episode 84, with the airdate of February 17, 1970 (a Tuesday). This means that (according to my calculations) Episode 91 would have most likely aired in Canada on February 26, and in the US six weeks earlier on January 15. Either date places it contemporary with the Leviathan arc, which lasted from November 14, 1969 to March 27, 1970 (source).

{ <-- Previous: Episode 15   ||   Next: Episode 17 --> }

[apprenticesofia]

poorly described apprentice info pt. 1

because i have a really bad memory, and my onenote keeps deleting my notes, im dropping my apprentice info here ((:

1. What is their full name? Do they go by any nicknames/aliases? - Sofias’ full name is Sofia Lunasmith. Friends and family can call her Sofi or just Sof -- other creative nicknames are more than welcome.

2. Do they have a family? Who is a part of this family? - I liked the short backstory we got on the apprentice from the game, so i went with my apprentice not having a family in Vesuvia -- that’s alive at least... - She comes from a fairly long line of magicians and has learned a lot from her grandmother in particular.

3. Do they have a familiar? What is it? - Yes, her familiar is a brown siberian husky, with a white belly, called Diego. He has heterochromia eyes, also known as one blue and one brown. - She got Diego when he was a small puppy as a gift from her uncle and they’ve been together ever since (like 2 years..)

4. What type(s) of magic do they specialize in? - She's very skillful with water magic and it has always come naturally to her. Other than that she really likes healing magic that she learned from her grandmother.

5. Which of the major arcana best represents them? - The Fool would represent Sofia the best. She’s known as an innocent person - always believing in the best in people which makes her easily taken advantage of. She’s a free spirit often putting herself in unwanted danger or conflicts and spends a lot of times daydreaming and fantasizing.

6. What animal represents them best? - A dolphin for trust, loyalty, adventurous, spirit of friendship. - She enjoys having some time for herself but not being alone, so she’ll want to be with her group/pack like dolphins. Does that make sense? idk.

7. What is their Myers-Briggs type? - Sofia is an INFP, introversion, intuition, feeling, perception. “True idealist, always looking for the hint of good in even the worst of people and events, searching for ways to make things better. While they may be perceived as calm, reserved, or even shy, they have an inner flame and passion that can truly shine”. I think this describes it well.

8. What is their day-to-day outfit? - On a daily basis she wears casual clothes, maybe a wrap top and pants or wrap dress. Something loose, light and casual will do just fine.

9. What is their favourite type of weather/environment? - Summer and hot weather! Further explanation; trips to the ocean, summer glow, warm breezes, ice cream, nights are longer, skin gets tan, everything is perfect.

10. Do they have any prized possessions? - Pictures of friends and family, Diego, jewelry inherited from grandmother, the magic shop.

11. Do they collect anything? - Pictures of loved ones, dry flowers for her journal, shiny things #niffleralert

12. What sort of first impression do they make? - Sofia might come out as being shy, which she is, but she'll try to make good first impression. She'll smile and laugh awkwardly bc she’s very nervous when meeting new people.

13. How do they deal with conflict? - She’ll try to resolve the conflict and get to the root. Being sensitive and emotional doesn't always help her. Is often an emotional wreck. - If the conflict is non-human she’s freaking destroy it

14. What are their principal goals? - To be good to others and herself. - To help if help is needed and can be given. - To live in the moment and not worry about the past or future.

[kncrowder88]

11 Questions

Thanks for tagging me @mia-cooper !

The rules:

Post the rules

Answer the questions given to you by the tagger

Write 11 questions of your own

And tag 11 people

 1.      If someone made a film of your life, would you want it in technicolour, black & white or lomo?

I don’t know? Technicolour? I’ve never really thought about someone making a film of my life.

2.      Who was the first fictional character you fell in love with and why?

Depends on if you mean book, movie or tv. TV wise that be Beverly Crusher because I wanted a mother like her, she was awesome, and as I got older I just admired her more as a woman in general. Fore movies that be Spock, he was who I wanted to be (admittedly that’s because I thought emotionless and now as an adult with a better understanding he’s still what I aspire to be but that’s because I realize it’s not emotionless but emotional understanding). Books …. Severus Snape. Snape was the character I identified with on a personal level, who I read and saw myself in and who called out to me from the pages.

All of these characters helped to keep me centered and helped to save me as a child. All of them were my favorites, I feel in love with, and still admire to this day (if my blog isn’t any indication of that – though admittedly I do tend to lack on the Beverly and Spock side at times) for many reasons. I owe them my life, my heart, and my soul.

3.      Which of the five senses would you rather lose, if you had to: sight, hearing, touch, taste or smell?

Touch? I’m not really sure. Texture tends to irritate me a lot, like a lot. It’s where I’m most sensitive at and I get very irritated when people just randomly touch me or give me hugs or anything really. I don’t even like high fives or hand shakes or anything. So losing that sense might make all that better.

4.      If you were a vigilante, what would your signature weapon be?

I like knives, but I know how to shoot a gun. However, both are rather tedious, poison be so much easier. That’s if you know how to use it of course and if you pick the right one it shouldn’t be all that messy or painful. Then again, you also have a wide variety to pick from …. To be fair …. If I’m going to be a vigilante I wouldn’t want a signature weapon because then I have a weapon they can trace back to me and that be rather foolish. So … I’d spend years training on various different weapons and methods so as to make tracing anything back to me.

5.      Describe your ultimate kiss?

Um….. none? I’ve no idea. I went from being certain about my sexuality to being so confused and not sure about anything. Honestly, I feel like my entire life got flip turned upside down and now I’m just trying to figure things out. So I can’t really answer this, before I probably would have given some “on the beach at sunset” type statement and it always be different depending on what was going on at the moment but now I’m not wanting to just toss something out because …. I want the truth and I don’t even know that. So ….. Hershey’s kiss for right now.

6.      What’s something you’d like to do more of (or any of) in 2018?

Writing. Comicons. Get another tattoo. Get my own place. Getting my life together. Figuring myself out. Maybe see if I can finally convince someone to test me for something besides the mental health stuff I have. I don’t know … just try to figure out me and get out of this funk for right now.

7.      What’s your favourite, and least favourite, cleaning chore?

Least favorite would be anything after other people, I hate having to clean up after others (specifically grown adults – by that I mean like my family and then at work. I do it because job but like I work in a bar and it’s so annoying to see the mess people just leave behind because not their home and like …. Really?). Other than that, I don’t mind cleaning (evidence to the contrary right now) I actually enjoy it. Just hard to do what I normally do when I’m surrounded by three kids and two adults who …. Let’s just say I can’t wait to have my own place and actually figure out my own cleaning schedule for a change.

8.      Tell me two truths and a lie about yourself?

1 – I’ve been hospitalized multiple times for mental health problems

2 – I don’t know my own sexuality or gender, despite thinking that I knew it for years – welcome to my journey.

3 – I love the color pink.

9.      Do you ever wake up at 3am wanting to die about some random stupid shit you said eight years ago that probably nobody remembers but you?

Not sure if I so much wake up as like …. Just lay there thinking or just randomly have my brain go “hey remember that time”. I still want to die over something I did to a friend of mine (still to this day tell her she can walk away, do worse to me, or just straight up want to die for it) ….. so basically yes.

10.  Do you save your working document every five seconds or let autosave pick your ass up?

I mean …. Technically? I use OneNote to write in and that saves automatically on everything. I don’t have to save at all with that so even if my laptop shuts down on me, plus it’s on my OneDrive so everything is kept on there no matter what. If I’m using Microsoft word I hit save as frequently as I can. I’m rather paranoid about saving my work (I even have my clipboard stuff all set up to keep anything deleted and copied saved so I can pull it back up in case I realize I actually need it).

11. What song/artist are you currently obsessed with?

               Not really obsessed with a song or artist. I do have a YouTube playlist I will put on when I want to listen to music though. I still add to it, so anything I end up liking or whatnot gets put on there.

 My 11 Questions:

 1)      If you could pick one thing in the world to change, what would it be?

2)      Pick five of your fandoms and who your favorite character from each. Why are they your favorite?

3)      What is your favorite trope (be it in fanfic, fanart, or in general)?

4)      What part of the world do you live in (if you are willing to share, if not then tell me something about yourself that you are)?

5)      If you could do anything this year what would it be?

6)      What is something you regret?

7)      What is something you are proud of?

8)      What are three good things that happened to you this week?

9)      What books would you recommend reading and why?

10)   What shows would you recommend watching and why?

11)   Last, but not least …. If you had to let one of your favorite ships go … which would it be?

 For this I tag: @gracelockheart,  @snuffles-groovy-doghouse, @marelles-fox, @deathdaydungeon,  @nanmet838, @logical-deduction, @that-geek-in-the-tardis, @dakhur, @delete-the-wife, @delete-the-wife, @saturnofthemoon, @emmikamikatze

[rwilcox]

2019 New Technologies (for me) / end of year review

I hate to break long standing traditions, so here's my tech in review blog entry for 2019.

If you are super bored, here are my previous revisions:

2015 in review

2016 in review

2017 in review

2018 in review

This may be a little bit different from the other in review articles, as many of the things I learned this last year were project leadership skills, and less understand the details about some tech. I sometimes joke that I've become an OOP programmer: Outline, OneNote and Powerpoint. There's a lot of truth to that.

Languages

Upon review, I played with a lot of languages this year. With the exception of TypeScript, most of these were for tool or future development. That last one is the most interesting: I learned Julia, for example, knowing that eventually Julia may be a thing we want to deploy, in some AI/ML microservices.

Other languages were me looking for a good language for tools: simple syntax, good target environment, and developer OS support that we can use in the mixed OS environment I find myself in.

In 2020 I know which existing decision I want to lean into (we have a smattering of Python), and where I want to advocate for change (broader adoption of Powershell). Which isn't as revolutionary as I was hoping.

TypeScript / Angular 5

I found myself, by default, sheparding a bunch of teams on Angular 5 for a while. I did some work in Angular 1, but that may have just when ES6 was released.

So I found myself coming up to speed in modern Angular, which includes Typescript. If just enough to make architectural decisions that made sense in practice. Which also meant learning about some other related topics: RxJS and Pupetteer.

I found TypeScript an interesting compromise of a language. It makes some of the same tradeoffs as Flow, but is more willing to introduce syntax. But I played around with it enough to find the weird corners, and understand some of the code style tradeoffs I could make (fully immutable structures with RxJS and clever abusage of the (weak) type system.)

ReasonML

This was a for fun language. I was interested in a functional language that didn't couple a bunch of type syntax with the rest of the functional programming goodness.

Reason is a modern syntax layer on top of OCAML, which cool. Reason can target both the OCAML compiler (native binaries), or Javascript. This versality is very interesting: can I trade off a static binary experience with a "whatever, Node is everywhere anywhere" when it's appropriate?

Juila

Read the book. Thought it was an interesting take on Go's "eh, maybe OOP isn't such a good idea" general philosophy. (Yes, I know I'm being reductive in both cases).

Racket

It's fun to see languages with really good macro functionality, and especially languages that claim to make it easy to make languages with the language. Part of me wants a language with a simple, consistent syntax and good standard library. (Smalltalk is certainly the former). That's what I was looking for here.

It was interesting to sometimes feel that I was playing with "new and optional" libraries... that were introduced shortly after 9/11. Not sure how I got that feeling, and it might be slightly unfair, but sometimes it felt like it.

I was able to protype an HTTP(s) request interface I really liked: based on curl's config file syntax, with a couple more parans. So that was kind of cool.

Was hoping to find a good language I could use for scripting type tasks. Racket turned out to not be in: in addition to having to think inside out a bit sometimes (lisp), I had issues with the package manager across the proxy at work.

Powershell

Oddly, I think Powershell might be the shell scripting language I want. It's a little awkward and verbose, but at work the default platform is Windows, and as a development team we support Linux VMs and eventually OS X. Powershell Core is availiable for all of those, without having to worry about exactly what version of bash (or not) is installed on the box.

(And no, we're not using WSL..)

I played with Powershell back in 2016, but I've moved my daily driver Windows shell to it, and it's trying to be my default for shell scripts (in spite of having a bit of a shelljs) culture and an blossoming Python culture.)

Oh, but one thing I hate about Powershell: it assumes you're running a back background, and if you don't text becomes hard to read, in some cases without a way to change it lighter. Could not believe my shell had opinions about my terminal coloring.

DevOpsey Stuff

Mostly stayed away from this side of the fence this year. Or minor improwements over work done last year.

Misc

Graphing

I looked around for graph building tools. Not just graphics tools, but tools to help build graphs specifically. DAGs, bar charts, etc etc. Can I hook it into some scripting language and make it go. Can I use embed something like it in a language I'm using, or render it to something useful in the 2020s (markdown, for example, over LaTeX.). While knowing about graph primatives (nodes and edges, not me manually drawing lines)

I think graphviz may still be the winner here, oddly enough.

Technical Team Leadership across teams

2018 was laying down infrastructure that I knew dozens of developers would come to use, and they did. Then (late 2018), they got chopped up into small teams.

The last half of the year turned into how to affect technical change across a bunch of direct teams, while other stakeholders in the business had either questions or wanted onboarding too. All the while migating Conway's Law and dealing with the ways this project's Agile implementation is broken (Agile is like family: everyone's is broken in their own special way.)

I found some of my old notes on Agile implementation issues I've seen in the past. here. I've been enhancing these, but it's interesting to me to see this at a different level now: those experiences in those teams were both invaluabile in seeing not just one team, but 10, in an Agile implementation effort... but mostly of my time is the worries on top of those worries.

I am very grateful I'm able to inact as much influence as I do without having to go into the management track (where my sphere of influence would, directly, likely be less.)

Quiet revolution was my job in 2018: making decisions that would be accepted by existing technical leadership (looking technically famililar) in places, and in other places driving forward the wheel of tech change.

In 2019, many of the early technical players in that effort are still in place, and I respect them (and I hope they respect me too). I found myself gaining that respect from the non-developer side of the project too. Now revolution can have a very high price, and figuring out when to fight for revolution, where to reduce major revolutions to "2 lines of code and you get this new thing for free!", where to toil and where to automate, when to evolve towards a change and when to rip the bandaid off... and what's the best for a particular situation.

So: 2018: quiet revolution. 2019: air traffic control at a large airport: avoid two planes crashing into each other, add new routes, try to use premonition to figure out that two half full flights to Atlanta are going out 5 minutes apart and fix that, and keep the runway moving. And why is this person wanting us to fly directly to Toledo now, and who, exactly, are they?

When you say it that way it's been a busy year.

[marco42james]

10 Ways to Personalize Learning for Students

sponsored by Texthelp

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Students, you can get help. No, I’m not talking about cheating, I’m talking about understanding the technology tools that can help you earn a better grade. Artificial intelligence is available in many forms. Here are some of the best helpers for you. This blog post also comes with an infographic (PDF) that you can print and use to figure out tools to help you in your studies.

This post is sponsored by Texthelp. All opinions are my own. To get links to all of these sites and information on installing Read&Write, download this handy infographic.

1. Pick a Digital Notebook

Taking notes is not what it used to be. You can still use a standard notebook, but digital notebooks make a lot of sense, too. You take pictures of your notes and what the teacher wrote on the board. You can even record in-class audio or video and then find it easily. (All those pictures on your smartphone’s camera roll just get lost.)

Here are three digital notebook choices. What you pick depends upon what your school uses. Here are my favorites:

Microsoft OneNote: You can take notes collaboratively on any device.

Google Keep: If you’re a Google school or have a Chromebook, this might be for you.

Evernote: This is a bit fancier but will work if you don’t need to write collaborative notes.

2. Learn to Voice Type

Voice typing means dictating into a device which turns your audio into text. You can use it on your Mac or PC as well as in Google Docs. However, you do have to learn how to speak your punctuation. So make sure you know understand voice typing before turning on this feature.

  3. Read&Write

This “Swiss Army knife” artificial intelligence learning assistant can do so much. Here are a few features of Read&Write from TextHelp:

Its text-to-speech tool reads web pages, emails, and documents out loud.

It can highlight, research and collect notes.

It defines words and makes a personal word dictionary.

It includes a speech input feature for the web similar to Google’s Voice typing – it even works in Google forms (pro version).

Many of the graphics in this post are from a powerful infographic you can print for your classroom. Go to  to https://goo.gl/Cxd3f8 download this free infographic (and learn how to get the Read&Write toolbar while you are there.)

4. Editing Helpers

Get familiar with editing tools and select several “go to” tools. Grammarly is free in Chrome and will check basic spelling. If you want more advanced checks, Pro Writing Aid is free for documents of one thousand words or less. Hemingway Editor is one of the easiest-to-use apps for simplifying text. It will color the words for you and help you get rid of run-on sentences. Students should always spell check every document, discussion post, and communication with a teacher.

5. Rewordify

Have you read something online that was hard to understand? With Rewordify, you can reset a web page’s reading level so that it’s easier to understand. While this approach isn’t perfect, it can make reading comprehension easier. This is great for research so that you can easily understand what you need to explain in a paper or report.

Rewordify can simplify text that students are struggling to understand.

6. Build a Math Toolkit

Understand how to get help for your math classroom. First, students should know how to properly use Wolfram Alpha. Not only is this a handy site for facts and figures of all kinds (very helpful for history reports), but if you type in a math problem, it will show you step-by-step solutions for them.

EquatIO is a fantastic help for students writing formulae.

EquatIO® is a fantastic tool for writing math formulae digitally. You can type, dictate or handwrite your equations easily, and EquatIO will insert it into your document with a click. It even has a collaborative space, EquatIO mathspace, where you can work on math problems with others and show your thinking through freehand sketches and notes.  What’s more, it integrates with Read&Write so you can have math read back to you. If you’re struggling with a concept, Khan Academy has some excellent math tutorials.

7. Learn to Screencast

Teachers are asking students to make movies and screencast, but few of them teach you how. If you have a PC, the easiest screencasting tool is the free Office Mix download for PowerPoint. You can add videos, photos, screen recordings, text, and even animations like a regular PowerPoint. Additionally, the Mix button lets you record your voice and even draw on the screen. With one click, you can “save as movie” and then send it to your teacher.

If you want to add your voice to an already-made movie, try Edpuzzle. If you just want a simple screencast, Screencastify is a great tool. If you’re having a problem with a website, record a quick screencast and send it to your teacher.

8. Flashcard Makers

Memorization is still part of what you do as a student, so flashcard makers like Quizlet or Quizziz can be a big help. Sometimes your flashcards are already made, although you’ll often learn better if you make them yourself. These apps also quiz you in different formats. They often let you make your own practice quizzes and take them. Use the app on your phone to review anywhere and any time instead of waiting to cram the night before a test.

9. Your Smartphone

Your smartphone should be your personal secretary. Some essential things to learn how to do on your smartphone are:

How to add reminders (with your voice if possible)

How to add calendar events with reminders

The school grade book app (set up notifications for when new grades are posted)

Your school email

Your digital notebook (See #1)

Digital flashcards (See #8)

10. Learn to Block Out Distractions

Despite what you might think, multitasking is a myth. Many students struggle with distractions. If you’re not using your smartphone for studying or if you just can’t get off Snapchat, put your phone up. If you’re trying to focus on a massive project, consider deleting Snapchat (don’t worry, you won’t lose your friends!) or whichever app is a problem for you.

If you’re using the computer, StayFocusd will help block out distractions. If you feel like you’re wasting time, RescueTime not only blocks unnecessary sites but also tells you how you’re using your time on the computer.

To get links to all of these sites and information on this blog, download this handy infographic https://goo.gl/Cxd3f8.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored blog post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post 10 Ways to Personalize Learning for Students appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/10-ways-to-personalize-learning-for-students/

[topicprinter]

I'm stepping towards attempting to sell my business, admits a bundle of ever changing variables making it impossible to know how this will pan out.Its a small, boutique retail business. I am the centre of it. It has a strong and dedicated social media following as well of a bit of a cult following from the major cities (its a tourist area). The products are trending presently and I've worked to create exclusive product lines with regional artists. Its just under 4 years old, with 2.5 in its current location.Points to note:The area has a lot of attention media wise and is rapidly growing. There are two major (spa and hotel) businesses slated to be complete in the next 1-2 years. The location is adjacent to another trendy hotel that generates a lot of traffic.Approx 15,000 walk through the door per year. 3000 convert to a sale. Average sale $55-$60The building itself is a converted heritage building, its beautiful, is very welcoming. Its a desirable location in an area with no commercial availability.90% female customers2 streams of revenue: retail and custom residential/commerical (it could open to 3 with online)The business is presently open 50% of the year overall. It could be open for 30% with walk in traffic, and more it would need to be used for fulfillment or something its not presently doing (no e-commerce exists presently)The business is closed 50% in part because it was built around the tourism traffic AND in part to allocate time for travel and refreshing the space. I have been traveling for 4-6 weeks each year with my now ex and use 2 weeks to refresh at the end, restock at the beginning.That lifestyle may appeal to some if they are the position to basically rebuild the shop every year (though I have an income, its costly).FinanciallyGross 140-170k, open for 4 year with 8% growth per year (enough to keep up with the lease inflation etc)Cost to build 30k, was able to use it to take cash out for living expenses immediatelyHas an outstanding loan with 2 years remaining to finish it or pay outDiscretionary cash flow after ALL business expenses (rent, inventory, wages, improvements, loan, insurance) 65-70k - my incomeLocation/EconomyPositioned between 3 major cities, its a growing tourist destination due to a variety of reason (wine, beaches, notable hotels, art events, parks etc)Due to tourism the job market is slim, reliant heavily on hospitality service and property managementMany new residents are retired and retired artistsWorking age: work remotely or have a small business in f&b, retail, rentals etc or have essential service based jobs (teachers, nurses, trades) different than the city, there are no real tech related jobPersonal ElementsWhile I adore many aspects of my business, have a great deal of pride related to it/my identity, and rely on it for my life activities and finances, my relationship broke up a year ago (one wanted family/the other did not) and the area is primarily married couples (rural, this makes sense). There is little for me to do, even outside of seeking relationship. I'm ready to move on, have been accepted into a program in another country that would be an ideal bridge towards building a new business/career that is less location dependant on one hand, and could open me up to working in art and technology (more options all around).OptionsAttempt to sell based on my realtor and lawyers evaluations 2 x SDI 140k - this would require marketing openly to my audience and seeing if I can find interestAttempt to sell - without the brand. Share all supplier info, a fully renovated space/furnishings/all lease improvements, inventory, 4 year lease with option to renew - sell for 80kHold the space and slowly dry up - eventually get sick of it and have a liquidation - then no one has this beautiful business and I loose any of the original investmentHold the space, absorb the cost/loss to go abroad, take the course (4.5 months with the shop closed, pay overhead), come back, integrate the new skills (design based), slowly sell the business during high season but expose the new business via this oneNotes on OptionsThis might very well be possible IF I had a buyer in my pocket - but I wouldn't pay that much for a business this size unless I had some very special reason that I needed it - its challenging my confidence to publicly announce that number. Its asking for a lot of goodwill. But clearly I'm negotiable.This seems more attainable, also for someone to get a small business loan and be able to pay it down over 5 years. Its pretty much what it cost me to build it plus some goodwill. Plus I would keep my brand name. I could VERY EASILY design a new brand for a new client (so why wouldn't the client not buy it? Every success I've had has to do with my taste and aesthetic .... the buyer would want turn key). I could also see how twerking the name would provide more growth because it would speak directly to what the business sells (presently, it does not - its always been an umbrella name that allowed me to be flexible - it just stuck).I need to move onThis is possible, to hopscotch, and have something to return to after the course.... but I'd honestly rather have debts paid, and a new start.Any thoughts?

[thealexandramunoz-blog]

CPS Interviews

Interview with Graphic Designer

1. How do you generate ideas?

My ideas often come to me when I'm not sitting down to work. Usually my ideas will be sparked by something I see when I'm driving to work, at the park, or when I'm doing a repetitive task like brushing my teeth. I have noticed that letting my mind wander helps me to come up with creative solutions to problems.

I am very curious and inspired by the difficulties every human faces and the use of creativity to overcome and grow from those experiences. In the past few years, I have had the opportunity to branch out and make connections with people who are creative in different ways. Being able to connect with musicians, garment makers, bakers, and gardeners has opened my eyes to the variety of different ways people express themselves and exercise their creativity, and the necessity of a creative outlet for happiness. These relationships have helped me retain a sense of wonder when going about my daily life, and have inspired me to live in the present, accept my mind wandering, and give myself room to see where my wildest ideas will lead me.

The biggest obstacle I face is fear, particularly a fear of not being able to execute an idea the way I see it in my head. Sometime this holds me back from trying out an idea, but I have found that by reframing my thinking and reminding myself that I will not learn if I do not try, I am able to overcome that feeling of fear. I have started to practice this not only in my art, but also in other areas of my life such as traveling, rock climbing, and trying out new hobbies.

2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems?

Whether it be a problem at work or a problem in my personal life, I try to be as objective as possible and see all sides of a situation. I try to approach solutions analytically, using all the info I have to inform my decisions. For example, I work as a designer for a small restaurant company that has had a decrease in beer sales lately. I am tasked with developing a campaign to help push beer. My first step is determining the target audience. In this case, adults age 21 to 35 (the area of our target demographic that can drink alcohol). Second, I will identify the best platform to convey this message. In our case, we have a high concentration of adults in this demographic on Instagram and Facebook. My best bet is an ad campaign on those platforms. Third, I will determine the correct messaging to help identify our restaurant as a place with not only great beer, but a great experience. We have a promotion where we sell half-priced pints one night each week -- this is appealing to the 21-35 age demographic because they are price sensitive and our restaurants are located in college markets. I will then develop a few different options for designs and text, such as "Half-Off Pints!" or "Pints as low as $1.50" and test each campaign to see which performs better. From there, I will choose the winning campaign to use in future promotions.

I will also have to work with the Operations team and our menu management team to ensure that they are aware and on board with the campaign and ensure that all areas are considered.

Interview with Commercial Real Estate Agent

1. How do you generate ideas?

Ideas can come from anywhere, but as much as I'd like to pretend that I think of my ideas all on my own, they are almost always drawn from one of two places, either something I've seen that inspires my idea, or born out of my own trials of a way to accomplish something. When working to come up with an idea, I really make an effort to come up with something totally unique and on my own. That stems partly from having some success working on my own, but mostly from pride that I believe that I can come up with a great idea without help. It may be the most challenging way to accomplish something, but I feel like its necessary to try my own way first.

When that doesn't work, I look to people who are successful in the field I'm focusing on to see what processes they use to come up with ideas. If I'm struggling with something at work, I talk to more experienced coworkers about what they do, then try to find the parts of their methods that I feel would work for me. Sometimes its necessary to pull heavily from others to get to the idea that you're looking for.

The biggest obstacle I face when coming up with a new idea is when I zero in on one idea that doesn't quite work, but am trying to force it through for some reason. Maybe I feel that I've sunk too much time setting up a process that I don't want to start over, or have written too many pages of a story before realizing that the ending would work better if the character's development was different. Essentially its a fear of wasting time starting over. To avoid this problem, I try to be as unstructured as possible at the beginning and focus on the goals of the idea before putting anything down on paper. Once I know my desired end goal, what I wish to accomplish or what emotion I exactly want to elicit, then its easier to fill in the words, images, or steps that lead to that point.

2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems?

Assuming that this is a more intellectual, less "rush to the emergency room" type of emergency, I take a little bit of time to fully understand the problem, where it stems from, and what a solution may look like. For example, if the problem is that I don't know what to write my short story about, then I know that the solution looks like a a completed short story. If my problem is I need assemble a huge list of leads to contact, then call them and track how my conversations went, then I know that my solution looks like a long spreadsheet full of leads. Once you know what the solution has to look like, its easier to look at the space between there and where I am and figure out the best way to fill it. From there I want to either research or think about how best start my process, really understanding the type of information I need to complete the solution. Form there I start to push forward, filling up the space in the best way I could gather. As I'm working forward, its vital to be constantly evaluating my process. If things aren't going as I want them too then I have to be ok with changing course and starting over. The key for me is to make the big problem into many little problems, so that I feel like I'm making progress and don't feel overwhelmed, plus its easier to solve a tiny problem than a huge one.

Interview with Director of Marketing & Technology

1. How do you generate ideas?

I am a huge ‘brainstormer’ and ‘white boarder’. This seems to help me refine and iterate on ideas. I use a white board, tablet PC or large format display to sketch and throw ideas up on the wall visually and then start to group/edit/delete down. I may do this over and over, refining the concept or going off in new directions. Doing this on the computer allows me to retain my history visually which is a great feature—I can roll back, copy, switch around, etc. This works for me for both my own benefit or when working with others. I find the visual nature of the affinity diagram one of the best tools. It’s kind of like a sketch pad, quickly tearing off brainstorming ideas then gathering and sorting them into conceptual groups.

Keep track of everything so you can go back to it—I manage projects, problems, requests, or ideas needing focus through Planner (which is kind of a Kanban tool for simplifying this) I may also just randomly search the web for key words on the problem or project at hand, a lot of times using the image gallery more so than the text results to let the web do some initial brainstorming for me. Gathering snips of ideas, whiteboarding those along with notes. I start with a large, ‘fuzzy’ funnel and iterate around ideas I like, continuously narrowing my results until I start to finalize a concept. That might feed into a new round of refinement, but the nature of the PC let’s me go through far more rounds of edits faster than ever before.

Inspiration is a tricky one, it can be all sorts of triggers. For design or technology these are usually sparked with something I’ve read or seen. I am a voracious consumer of information in my professional disciplines (technology and marketing). I subscribe to hundreds of feeds of news sources, blogs, and reference materials. Using a good newsreader I can casually skim hundreds of articles a day and pin the ones I want to revisit. A lot of times a random article on an unrelated topic may generate thoughts on a problem or design at hand.

So key thoughts for both these items:

Read read read (even if only skimming) in things revolving around your discipline). You need raw materials for new ideas and solutions.

Keep an electronic scrapbook for ideas (I use OneNote, MS Whiteboard, MS Planner, sticky notes, and longer form documents and sketches, all electronically) Whiteboard and brainstorm when faced with narrowing your thoughts Save your thought processes for later and revisit (sometimes sparks new ideas!)

2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems?

One thing that’s critical—identifying the actual problem. I do root cause analysis of issues first before going down the solutions path. This is a key factor often missed. Many times you’ll be in a meeting where people mention an issue or problem (or, ech, sugar coating it with ‘opportunity’) and immediately people begin to problem solve. The first step is always finding the root cause or issue, it may or may not be related in any way to the discussion. Getting people to pull back for big picture is important so you can solve the real problem, then focus down on solutions with a tool like brainstorming, research or diagnostics.

One other critical piece is learning what’s a priority—if everything is an emergency, nothing is. Are you solving a problem that affects a tiny fraction of your overall function? Are you designing systems or solutions around the edge case? Knowing what’s key to your process so you hit the important things first is a core principal for me. The old 80/20 rule revised for the 21st century is probably more 90/10 or 95/5: but is 5% of your process generating 95% of your problems? Or are you solving for the 95% first? Being able to do this lets you focus on the priorities.

[podcastcoach]

Focus Is More Important Than Microphones

Every podcaster has one thing in common: they all have 24 hours in the day. Today I'm going to share a ton of research and strategies to get your more productive. Last week I talked about five things that you think will grow your audience but don't. This is continuing on with that theme of determining what you want to do, and then getting it done. One of my favorite quotes from Abraham Lincoln is “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

If you have no focus, it doesn't matter what microphone you have if you can't get it together.

My Own Personal Struggles

Growing up I was what some might call "A weird little boy." I remember driving my Mom nuts as I would be in the kitchen talking on the phone. We had a bunch of 16 oz coke glasses that I would fill up with water and tune and then play as I was talking on the phone. I always described myself as "Creative" but I'm sure if I was in elementary school today that would pump me with enough Ritalin to put a Rhino to sleep. As an adult, I tried going on some medication but the more focus I achieved was washed away by the energy that was sucked out of me. With this in mind when I get my creative juices flowing, I can be hyper-focused and lose all sense of time. To me I define that as "fun," but when you look up at the clock and it's 3 AM, and you have a big presentation the next day that is a problem.

For the most part, much like many programs, admitting you have an issue is step one. I have a clear indicator and that is my desk. The more messy it is, the better the chance I need to pump the breaks.

Pumping the Breaks

Slowing down seems backward, but when you find yourself behind in tasks, etc and everything in your mind and body is saying "Push through" and you want to throw on your Superman or Wonder Woman outfit and start writing checks your body can cash. The result is you become more purposeful, focused, and you get more stuff done.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

6:24

Whatever the goal is, you need to know it. I would recommend writing it down (more tools later). Take some time to think about it. If you don't know where you want to go, how will you know when you get there? If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.

Setting Priorities

The book First Things First by Steven Covey he talks about Important VS Urgent

Important activities have an outcome that leads to us achieving our goals, whether these are professional or personal.

Urgent activities demand immediate attention and are usually associated with achieving someone else's goals. They are often the ones we concentrate on and they demand attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate.

Something that is urgent and important is a crisis. It's pressing problems with deadlines. Something that is important but NOT urgent would be things such as exercise, relationship building, personal growth. If you ignore these important things, they later become important AND urgent.

Some things that are urgent but NOT important might be interruptions, phone calls (some of them), some email, some meetings

Some things that are not important and NOT urgent would be busy work, time wasters, some pleasant activities.

How to Know When To Delegate?

9:02

In episode 159 of the Resourceful Designer, Mark had some great questions you can use to make this simple. First, you have to identify all the things you do in your podcast/life. He suggests using post-it notes or an index card, but you're going to need a place for two piles. Then take each task and answer the following questions

Go from task to task and ask yourself, Does this bring me joy or Do I like doing this one particular task?

Am I good at this particular thing?

If you answered yes to BOTH questions, put it in pile number one. If you cannot respond yes to both questions, put it into pile number two. Separate your collection into these two piles.

Pile Number 1: Things that I like doing, and I'm good at

Look at the items in this pile and ask, If I continue doing this thing will it help my podcast grow? Will it help me achieve my goal?

Start two new piles. One will have all the items that will move you forward, and the pile of things you are good at and you like doing are things you are not saying no to, but not now.

Pile Number 2: Things that I don't like doing, or I'm not good at

Look at the items in this pile and ask, If I continue doing this thing will it help my podcast grow? Will it help me achieve my goal?

If the answer is yes, then these are the things you need to delegate.

Capturing and Organizing Your Thoughts

12:45

Brilliant ideas come at the most inconvenient times. I get great ideas in the shower. You NEED to capture these and organize them in a way so you can use them later. Here are some tools:

Evernote: I use this tool. It's free (there is a paid version at $7.99 a month). I have a folder called SOP Ideas. I have a folder called "Marketing Crap" that is filled with all those ebooks I get that I will read later. The thing I love about Evernote is I can use it on my phone, my tablet or computer and it all syncs together. They have a tool called "Web Clipper" that allows me to take a web page and save it in Evernote with a few clicks. They recently added a feature that makes it super easy to connect your gmail to your Evernote. See https://evernote.com/blog/introducing-evernote-gmail/

OneNote: This is Microsoft's version of Evernote. It's not bad. It is also free. If you are paying for Microsoft Office you have it.. If you are a big Microsoft user (outlook, word, excel) you might play with this tool.

Trello: Trello is another free (or paid) version that is much more visual as instead of folders you have cards (think index cards). Trello premium is $12.50 a month

Common Features: Evernote, OneNote, and Trello all have the ability to have topics and subtopics. They all have the ability to share information (which is great for collaborating with co-hosts)

Whatever tool you want to use is fine. The bottom line is you need a tool. I've got a course on organizing your information that spotlights these tools.

Where Is Your Time Going?

16:41

Want to see how you spend your time?  Check out Rescue Time which helps you understand your daily habits so you can focus and be more productive.  Rescue Time is free. The Premium version is $9 a month and allows you to track your time off the computer as well.

Another way to do this is to set your alarm on your phone to go off in an hour. When it goes off write down (maybe in Evernote?) what you were doing. I know when I did this the first time many years ago I was surprised how much time I spent watching reruns of TV shows I had already seen.

My Favorite To Do List

19:09

While there are a number of Todo apps, my favorite is todoist. Much like Evernote, I can have Todoist on my phone, tablet or computer and they all sync together. Also like Evernote, I can take an email and turn it into a task.

You can organize your task into projects. You can assign due dates and be sent reminders. There is even a reward system. You can set how many tasks you want to accomplish a day and earn points. This somewhat makes your to-do list a game. If you've been using tasks in Google, this will sync with that system. It's very powerful.

The todist software is free and the premium is $3 a month.

Why You're Getting Frustrated

Studies show that every time you check email, a social feed, or respond to a notification, your mind requires 23 minutes of re-focus time to get back on task. People that multitask are actually  40% less productive.

Finding Focus To Knock Off Your To Do List

When it's time to record, here are some things you can do that might make things easier:

Have a set time to record so your family knows not to interrupt.

Put your phone on do not disturb and have it out of site.

Have a distraction sheet. If you're working on something, and a distraction pops in your head, write it down and get back to your task.

You Can Stay Focused For 25 Minutes, Right?

25:32

Some times we need a boost. I've heard and tried the Pomodoro technique. Here it is in a nutshell

Pick a task you need to accomplish.

Set a timer for 25 minutes and start working

When the timer rings, take a 5-minute break

Repeat steps 1-3

Ever four cycles, take a 25-minute break.

Handling Distractions

Inform the other (distracting) party that you're working on something right now.

Negotiate a time when you can get back to them about the distracting issue in a timely manner.

Schedule that follow-up immediately.

Call back the other party when your pomodoro is complete and you're ready to tackle their issue.

If you find yourself thinking about something that just won't go away, have a sheet/note and write it down and get back to your task.

Why This Method is Working For Me

For me, it's only 25 minutes. It is not that whatever tangent I want to take is being put off forever, it's being put off for 25 minutes. By taking breaks, you keep yourself fresh. You avoid burnout. Studies show that people who work in distracting environments have more stress, a higher workload (cause you're not accomplishing as much), higher frustration, and it requires more effort. When you start to go down a rabbit hole, you can stop yourself and say, "I can do that in __ minutes."

No, I Can't Stay Focused For 25 Minutes

28:17

If you're having a hard time staying focused then I have some additional apps, that are really keeping on track.

PomoDone App

PomoDone is the easiest way to track your workflow using Pomodoro technique, on top of your current task management service. It ties in with just about every To Do List tool (Trello, Todoist, Evernote, Asana ) so you can track how much time you spent on a task. Once you realize how long something takes, you can better schedule it in the future. For example, I've put in 58 minutes on an article I'm working on for the Podcast Business Journal. At this point, I've got an hour and 20 minutes into this blog post (I haven't even got to press record yet).

By seeing how long you are spending on items, you can make much better decisions going forward.

Using the PomoDone Chrome extension, you can blacklist certain websites during the timer period. Once Timer is active (ticking), you will not be able to access the blocked websites. You can always turn this function on and off in the Extension's option, as well as configure the blacklist of the websites.

If you want to setup up times that differ from the25 standard time, you can do that ( I have times of 5, 25, 40).

Also if you're not using any other to do list tool, you can use this as your to-do list. The tool also works on iOs and Android.

As I almost exclusively use chrome, I use this app. Keep in mind if I want to jump on Firefox I can go to any site I want ( you can always turn off the blocking feature)

Tomato-Timer

https://tomato-timer.com/ is a free tool if you want to take this idea for a test spin (or you can just set two timers on your phone. One for 25 minutes and one for 5).

Freedom

33:08

Freedom.to is an app and website blocker for Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS. Start sessions on-the-fly or sche­dule your Freedom time in adv­ance. Plan out sess­ions that recur daily or weekly. With Freedom, you'll make produc­tivity a habit.

This tool is a little more "hardcore." It blocks websites on both Chrome and Firefox, as well as on your phone. If you want to go "Super Hard Core" there is an option to lock your session (meaning you can cheat).  You can test run Freedom for five session then prices start at $6.99/month

Get Your Brain In Tune

35:33

I had heard about brain.fm on a few podcasts. This is music that is designed to help you focus. For me (being a musician) I liked it. It was more or less musical noise that was just above really boring. The pricing starts at $6.95 a month

I didn't feel like another subscription so I checked out Spotify and they have a number of preset "focus" stations that more or less played the same thing.

Make It Easy On Yourself

In Adobe Audition you can make a template but I've always used the poor man's template. I would bring in my intro and outro music and save it with something like namofshow_blank. I then open that file and before I press record I rename the show to something like nameofshow_697. This has all my files in it and I don't have to look for them.

Listen faster when editing if possible. In Hindenburg Journalist, there is an option to listen faster as well as in Audacity. I spoke about this on Episode 327

One other thing to remember is more planning leads to less editing.

Podcast Rewind

42:15

I was on the Podcast Reporter (Live from the NAB show)

I was on the Launch Speed Podcast talking podcast Niches

Work With Me

Join the School of Podcasting or let me be your podcast mentor

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