Sharing

What fears do I have about sharing my videos? Well, for these specific ones, not a whole lot. This is our first video assignment, and so there aren’t really any expectations that I put with my videos. I had fun with sound effects for one of them too :-)

What do I expect learn/gain from this sharing? I dunno, besides some constructive criticism, etc. I’m not expecting a whole lot. Hopefully, people would understand the message I’m conveying through my videos, but if not, that’s fine too. I didn’t start out with any direct theme but more of general ideas. I do wish to learn better ways to film/produce footage, besides just the conventional way of filming.

What I would like to ask the audience? I guess with these videos I never gave much thought into my audience; which is something I should probably do when I make a project. But with these videos, I was just trying to express myself through a new form. So I guess my question to my audience would be, from these videos, what can you learn about me as a person?

Fears of the noun, verb, adjective exercise

I don’t know if I really “fear” this assignment, but I haven’t put much thought into it. To me, it’s more of just another homework assignment I have to get done (which, I have an exceedingly large amount of). I guess you could say I’m a little apprehensive of the assignment, not because I have to express my creativity, but rather because I have so little time to accomplish it. Crammed in amongst my other assignments, the fact that video editing takes a while is the main thing that is holding me back from starting the assignment. My engineering classes and research work has priority over this. Which leads to what I plan on giving up for a week. Facebook is always a constant distraction for me; posting on peoples walls, looking through photo albums, playing random games (Boggle!). It is something that can easily suck up my time, which I have to preciously ration out nowadays. It will be difficult because I am so used to having it up, but it will definitely help my productivity.

Daily Rituals

I guess one prominent ritual I do daily (or atleast, when I have to wake up at a certain time) is I set my alarm click ~15 minutes before I actually have to wake up. I do this for 2 reasons; first, so I don’t accidentally oversleep, and second, because I like to hit the snooze button. Whoever invented the snooze button on the alarm clock had the right idea (I mean, who doesn’t like to sleep more) but it’s my natural reaction to reach for the snooze button the second my alarm clock goes off. This results in me falling back to sleep before I even fully wake up and I’ve overslept countless times due to it. Thankfully, my roommate has his first class the same time as me, so he’s become my alarm clock instead. Other rituals I do daily is proper hygiene habits. Showering, brushing my teeth, putting in contacts, etc. These I view more as essential rather than something I want to do. I can’t function properly if I don’t start off the day correctly (and I can’t see if I’m not wearing my contacts). I guess after over 2 weeks of classes, I’ve already developed a pattern of my homework assignments. I systematically plan out what days I should do which homework assignment to maximize my productivity and leave enough time in case something comes up. As for changes in daily rituals, I only change as need be. Whether it’s because my classes are harder/easier than I thought or I need more sleep, I adjust accordingly.

Understanding Comics

When Scott McCloud first discussed the two realms – realms of concept and realms of senses – I was quite taken aback. I never thought about the two different things being so similar. The simplification of pictures to the point that it becomes less distinct blurs the line between concept and senses. The way I view most things I guess, is I fail to see the concepts and focus on what I can see physically. This can be best exemplified in my studies as an engineer. Time and again, my professors teach formulas, equations, and situations that help us analyze physical situations. However, I usually fail to see the meaning behind the formulas, rather focusing on the means of analyzing. While this may help me get the grade for the class, in the long run, I usually forget the formulas. It’s the concepts that stick, which is why it’s more important to learn that instead of just memorization. This transfers over to my typical view of the world.

What Makes Websites Successful

5 sites I frequent:
1) Google (gmail, calendar, etc.)
2) Facebook.com
3) xkcd.com
4) postsecret.blogspot.com
5) Digg.com

Why I like each one and what they have in common:

Google is just amazing. Besides the search engine, it has very innovative features that have become an essential part of my life. Most notably, google calendar, gmail (and gchat), google docs etc. Providing useful tools for everyday life is one reason why Google is so amazing! As facebook has expanded, I’ve liked it less and less. But life before facebook is pretty unimaginable for me. It has never been so easy to keep track of friends (or maintain those shallow friendships) than ever before. That and IMing has allowed a viable option to have interations with other people without having to actually meet them (kinda sad imo). XKCD and postsecret are two websites I frequent for my sanity. XKCD is an internet comic site, with the tag line:

“Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).”

It is pretty nerdy, and I don’t even catch all the references every time. But it does provide stress relief from my major. Postsecret has sort of grown on me after my friend showed it to me. People send in (homemade) postcards that have their secrets on them. It’s very personal and lets you connect with random strangers. Lastly is digg.com, which is basically a website of links to random pictures, articles, or other media on the web. Users send in stuff and other people rate them depending on how interesting/important they think it is.

What makes websites successful I feel is how good they are at giving us what we want. We are impatient and demanding, desiring what we want, when we want. The more intuitive and simple the better, but the main desire is to feed our need for information.

My Tendecies and Habits Towards Seeing the World

Everyone views the world around them differently, based on personal experiences, expectations, and emotions; I’m no less different. My background as an engineer, or more generally – as a nerd, geek, science fanatic – causes me to have an analytical view of the world around me. When I walk into the room, I analyze it in a variety of ways. I tend to not focus on people, but rather the things in the room – how it is organized, windows, seating arrangements, how efficiently the things are placed. I tend to ignore color, ambiance, artistic value. It’s not that I don’t care about these qualities, but rather I have to try and focus on them to see it. It doesn’t come naturally.
Cultural background also lends a unique perspective. As a Taiwanese Asian American, certain ways in which I view things are drastically different from the “average American.” My parents have instilled in me a very (stereotypical) view of placing honor, hard work, and modesty above other characteristics. As such, those happen to also be the ways in which I view other people. Expectations in situations also affect the way I see the world. I tend to believe and expect the best of people, not necessarily in the work they do but rather in how they behave. Some people call this naiveté, but I rather see it as everyone has the propensity to do what is good and right. This lends me to easily forgive and overlook people’s actions. While I have been proven wrong more than once (which my friends are quick to point out), the off chance that I am correct is more than enough justification to keep this view.

5 Questions from Twyla Tharp

16) What are your attitudes toward: money, power, praise, rivals, work, play?

Money is what fuels the world essentially. While there are people who do the things they love out of pure enjoyment, overall it is money (or the desire to gain things) that drives people. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing; by itself, money is fairly neutral. It’s when greed puts money over what is right that gives it a negative connotation. It’s the same with power; it can be used for good or evil. People in power can choose to be either tyrants or benefactors with the same position. Someone who only thinks of himself would use it selfishly, while someone who only thinks of others would use it selflessly. Such a great difference in outcome with a simple paradigm shift!
Praise is something everyone seeks. The approval of others is innately one of the greatest things we desire. It provides us with affirmation of our status as human beings among our peers and pushes us to pursue things that will help us attain greater praise. Rivalry can help keep us determined in our pursuit of praise. The thought of someone else attaining the glory you are seeking for yourself propels us to excel.
Work and play are two very different things that happen to be similar. A quote I like regarding play states that “play is work you enjoy doing for nothing.” Which in essence, is what the word amateur used to mean. Does this necessarily mean that you can’t enjoy your work? No, but very few people are blessed with jobs that they enjoy doing. For others, work is simply a means to obtain what they need or desire.

22) Define muse.

Traditionally, a muse is someone (or thing) that has served as a source of inspiration or guide for an artist or poet. To me, a muse is just whatever inspires you to do something creative. It could be a person, thing, idea, or dream that causes you to pursue something innovative.

23) When confronted with superior intelligence or talent, how do you respond?

Usually, I don’t mind when I meet someone smarter than me. As an engineering student, I have already come to terms with the fact that I’m not the smartest person in my major. I’m not even close to being the smartest. A lot of freshmen quickly realize this as they enter into ECE; coming from the top of their classes, they suddenly find themselves as only average. It is when you realize that you are no longer superior and you have to work harder than others to succeed that you are able to grow as a person. That is why I continue to pursue engineering. Not because I’m exceptional (which I’m not), but because success depends as much on talent as it does on determination.

24) When faced with stupidity, hostility, intransigence, laziness, or indifference in others, how do you respond?

There will always be stubborn people who will flat out disagree with your opinion despite however logical a defense you might come up for it. It’s a part of life; some people refuse to attempt to see things in a new perspective despite how convincing the argument might be. I can accept that. What bothers me is when people are indifferent in their opinions on some very important topics. To me, I feel like they are too lazy or scared to make an effort to develop an opinion because they are afraid to be wrong. They can’t see a clear answer, and rather than take a stance on one side, they choose to stay neutral and shy away from any potential conflicts. This saddens me; the lack of opinions and desire to fight for them prohibits growth as a person.

29) What is your greatest fear?

My greatest fear? I have a lot of fears to be honest. Fear of failing (school, work, my friends, my family, etc.) is something that I’ve always struggled with. When I was growing up, I was hesitant to try new things as I knew I wouldn’t be good at them. Failing at something new is normal, but I still wanted to avoid it. Aversion from failure is something that still drives me sometimes. However, something much greater and more important pushes me to fight past my fears of failing at various aspects of life. My greatest fear would have to be fear of failing God. That when I get to Heaven and He asks me what I have done with the gifts and talents He gave me, I wouldn’t be able to account for the worth of those gifts. This fear is much deeper, it’s not a fear of not succeeding, but rather a fear of not living up to my potential. God has blessed me with much, and my ultimate goal is to live for His Glory in everything I do. Whether it’s in my school work, my friendships, or just everyday activities, striving to glorify God is a foreign concept to most people. It’s not a checklist of things I should and should not do, nor is it a tally of how many “holy” things I do each day like pray. It’s living out each moment of life attempting to show Jesus’ love to those around us in the pitiful, imperfect way we know how. It’s facing the impossible and pushing through, and when we fail, getting back up and doing it again. But most importantly, it is using what God has given me to develop relationships, create friendships, and provide a glimpse, a source of joy and salvation in a world seeped in sin. And my greatest fear is this; that after I die and go to heaven, when God shows me what I’ve done for Him and how He has blessed me, I realize despite all that I have done, I could have done much, much more here.

ART 250 – I Walk Into A White Room

1. What do you do to procrastinate on tasks?
As an engineering student, procrastination spells out doom for us. If we don’t stay on top of our reading assignments, homework, and lectures, we end up screwed. Yet we do it anyways. It’s so easy to find some way to procrastinate; especially when you’re about to start doing homework. Anything and everything becomes instantly more interesting; random tech blogs, facebook, even griping about how hard the homework is (which has yet to be started).

2. What are your daily routines?
As far as daily routines go, I don’t really have any. Since I got to college, it has generally revolved around my class schedule. While that does have some regimen in it, the constant change from semester to semester has left a rather eclectic daily routine. Aside from proper hygiene, nothing else is constant; even meal times vary from day to day. While I believe having consistency is an excellent way to develop good habits, it is something very hard to accomplish in a college setting.

3. Who do you perceive to have “touch of god” talent and why?
In my opinion, “touch of God” talent isn’t real. Everyone is blessed with gifts and talents from when they were born, some are just more outwardly impressive than others. We are easily impressed with those who excel in popular “skills” such as sports, education, and the arts, but there are many people who fail at those skills who are very adept at other, less remarkable talents. Although they may not gain public acclaim for their skill, they nevertheless are exceedingly better than the average person at those things.

Updated Videos page

Added video to the video page. Check it out for more details.

What is literacy?

What is literacy? My definition of literacy would be the ability to record and communicate through physical and or visual means.