Thursday

Today's been a pretty normal day, just going to do math homework and study for a hard Latin quiz tomorrow. 

Monday

Pretty average day, just doing to my Psychology class at 5:30, going to study for a latin test tomorrow and do my math homework.  I may work on my animation more today, not sure if I'll have time though.

Sunday

Just have a few things to do today.
   A.  Finish the in class essay.
   B.  Translate some sentences in latin
   C.  Read a chapter of psychology


I think B will probably be the hardest because I'm kind of bad at the translations in that class, we just got a ten page packet of the concepts we have to translate, so that will be kind of hard. 

I think once I finish those, I'm going to just work on my animation. I've finally gotten to the point with my animations that I can start submitting my animations, sell advertising spots on the loading screen, and make some money off of views, which would be a really nice summer job.  Working on my own hours, doing something I enjoy, and not having to do a really tedious job all day every day all of summer, it's just kind of hard to not get distracted while animating, or get stuck on a section that is hard to animate.

This weekend

http://megaswf.com/serve/1040382

I haven't really done that much this weekend, my sister came back from IU for this weekend so I've mostly been around the house.  I've been working on my animation, here's part of what I"m working on now, jumps are harder than I thought they would be to do.  I thought it would be easy, but if you watch somebody jump, it changes the body.  People move their head back before a jump in order to get more forward movement, they move their head forward while jumping slightly, and it moves down just because of physics.  The hands move upward while getting to the peak of a jump, then move down as you descend, and the legs kind of move forward with the momentum the whole time.  The one guy randomly goes away because I'm still working on his jump.

Wednesday

I don't have a lot of homework today, just finishing up my essay and I have to do a latin translation.  The math quarter final that I had today was kind of hard too, I hope I did well on it, I studied, so there's not much else I could have done to do better.  Once I get my homework done I'll probably just animate or play Crysis on the computer.

Computer Broke

About two weeks ago my computer just broke.  Whenever I started it up it would just go to a screen saying my computer was broken and that the computer could not automatically repair its self, so I took it to the place near Blockbuster to get it fixed, I think it's called Integrity PC's.  They had to wipe the hard drive to fix the computer, and they were able to get my animations off of the hard drive which was nice, but I still have to reinstall all of my games.  So, that's why I couldn't blog last week, but now I can try to keep up with it.

Psych Test

Today I took my psych test, I'm not that sure what to think of it.  It was nice because it was more general than I expected, but it was harder becuase I studied such specific facts that I didn't know some of the basic principles.  One example is I could list every phase of Piaget's theory of development, and what every phase caused.  But there would only be a question asking "Who made the theory of development" and I would know it was Piaget, but that also meant I wasted a lot of time memorizing that.  Only to get other general questions which I didn't memorize because I thought they weren't that important.  It was open note, so that probably helped me though.

I also bought a cd by BRMC today, I don't like very many of their songs because they seem like pretty cookie cutter songs with too much repetition through really long choruses.  I'll check my itunes to see if it looped it or something, but that's how the songs is supposed to be.  I probably should have listened to this on Youtube before I bought it.  Here is one of the songs I think is okay though.

At least we have a two hour delay tomorrow.  I also guess downloading that Windows Vista patch on Sunday didn't fix my computer, so I'm not that sure what to do about that.

3 Day Weekend

This weekend was kind of busy, I have one of my two tests of the semester in psychology tomorrow at Saint Francis, so I've  studied a lot on Friday, Saturday, and all of today, I am probably over studying for it, because I don't think it will be as hard as I am studying for it to be (if that makes sense.) I didn't really have time to do very much fun, but I did get about another 100 frames in my animation, and I might be making another background for it in a couple weeks, which I can post while I make it.

I think I may have also fixed a problem that was making my computer freeze instead of going to the screen saver too, which is kind of nice because it was annoying to go away from the computer for 15 minutes, find out it froze, and then restart the computer, wait for it to scan the computer for some reason (I didn't get any option not to scan), and that was just kind of annoying because I'd have to walk by my computer and hit the space bar every 15 or so minutes if I was working on a paper or animation to prevent it from freezing.  I just fixed it by downloading some update for vista on the internet.

Febuary 15

Today I am going to study for my math quiz Thursday, finish my Composition essay, finish the chapter summary for Strunk and White, study for a Latin quiz that is tomorrow, and then I will probably have some time to play a game on the computer with some friends.  I'm also looking forward to Thursday I'll get to have a three day weekend, which will be pretty nice.

I also downloaded the somewhat new Black Keys CD on itunes.

 I probably like this CD less than their "Attack and Release" cd, but it's still pretty good, here's a song from that CD.

Monday

Today I'm going to probably write my paper for composition and do the assignment for Thursday.  I also have my class at St. Francis today for psychology, it's only once a week which is kind of nice, so I'll probably study for that until 5.

This weekend

Haven't really done much this weekend, today I'm just going to study psychology, probably try to get 20 more frames done in my animation, do the etymology homework, and do my math homework. 

Finished Background

I think I'm finally done with this background.  I think it turned out pretty well, it would be nice if I could have added some more color, but a picture of something at night is kind of hard to put any color in.  I may add some lights to the rooftop, but I don't think I need to make any more major changes.

Coloring background

I added even more details to the building on the left, and started shading it.  It took me a pretty long time to find a design that looked good on the building's frame, I think I should still make the doors a little more narrow, door looks pretty wide right now.  You can click the picture to get an enlarged version of it.

Background Day 2

Since yesterday I've added quite a bit of detail, changed the line size to .5 so I can add more details in between lines, I also shifted the viewpoint slightly.  I'm still creating a kind of architecture style for both buildings, I'm thinking an emphasis on grid-like shapes for the building on the right, and an emphasis on vertical lines to the building on the left.  I'm also adding in more random items to put on the roof and give it more of a tone.

Starting New Background

I decided to redo my old background because the buildings seemed kind of out of proportion, so I'm just going to post this background from start to finish.  The random square is there so I can compare the height of a person to the walls/windows around him.

Lots of Snow

I didn't really do that much this weekend so I don't have much to blog about, but I guess we're supposed to get 6-12 inches of snow this Wednesday, along with an inch of ice.  I kind of hope the weatherchannel is wrong, because that would probably cause power outages and then a cold house.


Here's a link to it
http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/46814?begHour=22&begDay=31#Tue,%20Feb%201

Social Network

I saw The Social Network today and thought it was a pretty good movie, I originally thought it would just be kind of a boring moving, and wasn't sure what interesting content it could possible have. I didn't know that the creation of Facebook actually had an interesting story. I also liked how the story kind of left it up to the viewer who was actually the bad person.  The movie also had a pretty good music, I think the music track was made by Trent Reznor, which was kind of cool.

Phase Essay Response

In the essay “Hooked,” the author manages to describe a phase of his or her life over what seems to be a somewhat long length of time, while also managing to provide vivid descriptions of significant memories which he or she remembers from his fishing phase. The narrator began with an anecdote that is able to interest the reader in his story from the beginning; he or she starts by saying “I see it moving ever so slightly, first to the left and then back to the right. Small ripples emanate from the slightest movement.”  This passage sparks the reader’s interest in the story immediately by making the reader want to know what “it” is talking about.  He or she continues to say “But my adversary (the fish) seems content to tease me, waiting for me to tire of this game.  I never do.” This passage also manages to show the reader that the narrator does not consider fishing as a foolish phase; it is a pastime which he is proud to participate in, which is somewhat uncommon for phases.  After this paragraph, the narrator goes back and describes his equipment, fishing sites, and fishing attire, also providing the reader with a great picture of what the narrator appeared to look like in the next anecdote.  Overall, this was a surprisingly interesting essay which managed to hold my attention throughout the entire essay through its interesting anecdotes.

I just saw this online today and thought it was kind of ridiculous that there's actually a Goshen Horse Thief Detective group.

This is another Whitest Kids video which I thought was pretty funny, kind of mocks the way we have to identify parts of speech in school.

Faja Essay

    Through the essay “Faja,” Maverick’s sensory details of his or her father help to present the reader with not only physical details, but also manages to provide the reader with a vivid description of his or her father’s personality.   In the beginning, Maverick describes his or her father as hardworking man who constantly strives to get things done.  However, on the day of the observation, the father had no task to finish.  Generally, one’s hobbies tell everybody the most about themselves; however, in the father’s case, the lack of activity shows the reader more.  Maverick says that his or her father simply stares into the distance, and goes on to say : “People in the military are said to acquire a ‘thousand yard stare’ which cannot be broken by any amount of shouting or verbal abuse by authoritative figures. If this is true, then, in comparison, he must have a million yard stare.” This explanation further explains to the reader that the narrator’s father truly is extremely busy.  Generally, if people have lots of free time, they find an extremely time consuming hobby.  However, the father having no time outlet shows the reader that the father constantly works and does not have time to keep up with any hobbies.

WKUK

 

This is a video by the Whitest Kids U' Know, they have their own TV show on IFC now, this one is just from the first season so it was on Fuse.  I just found this video by them online the other day and thought it was pretty funny.

I heard about this on the radio this morning and thought it is pretty interesting that people are able to make a robot which is able to answer questions this hard. This is also more impressive because the machine is able to ring the buzzer on it's own, as well as answer questions without the use of the internet, and without somebody simply reading the answers to it.

Animation Background

I recently finished this background for an animation I'm making.  I'm still working on the random items for the roof of the middle building.  Right now, the pipes look kind of out of place, so I will probably either delete them completely or delete them and put something else in their place.  It was also kind of hard to think of different architecture styles for the three different buildings as well as the buildings in the backdrop.

Link:
http://megaswf.com/simple_serve/99046/

"Ground Zero" Response

Through Suzanne Berne’s article “Ground Zero,” Berne is able to depict the environment created by the destruction of the Twin Towers, and she explains the significance of the lack of something in a large city.  Berne begins explaining this concept by describing the surrounding environment where the buildings once stood.  She then mentions the children, old couples, and middle-aged couples; all watching “where there was nothing to see.”  The gap where the buildings once stood, although it is nothing now, made the narrator says the nothingness is really an absence.  Even though the buildings are gone, there is now what appears to be a construction site, with all of the jackhammer, scaffolding, and trucks.  Berne then goes on to mention that because ground zero appears to be a construction site, it instills hope in its viewers who wonder what the open lot could become. 

    Overall, this essay was entertaining to read.  It was interesting how Berne was able to put a somewhat optimistic spin on such a grave event, while also providing the reader with a realistic image of what Berne saw.  Through this image, people that have never been to ground zero are able to feel as if they have seen the aftermath of this important event.  An example of this would be “Ground zero is a great bowl of light, and emptiness that seems weirdly spacious and grand.”