Reflection 14

As most people have said, the end of the year has been a bit hectic when dealing with school works and projects. Along with a bunch of preparations for a wedding and sweet sixteen i'm in, I haven't had any time at all to exercise. I've also been letting too many things slide with my diet. Over the summer I will definitely get back to this, but overall I think I am done with this project for the year. I've managed to complete about 95% of my final presentation, and hopefully I will start going over it this week if I am not swamped with studying.

Reflection 14

I have to be honest with you. I may have believed I learned plenty, but to the general public, you may not believe so. I'm a little short of learning half of the song, and the presentation is due Friday. This is really stressful. Got a lot of things to do this week. How will I get guitar in at all? The video portion of my presentation I am trying to create is quite awful, I'll tell you that much. I'm trying really hard how to transition smoothly between the riff and the Em7 chord, then to the regular G chord. I've lost all hope in guitar. I may not ever want to touch it again after this experience. If I ever have leisure time in the future, I might pick it up as a hobby, but integrating an activity to an already stressful schedule, it is not worth the extra breakdowns. Forgive me, but I will do the best I can to learn the full song, present that among the other lessons I have learned, and hope to God I will not be judged harshly. I tried.

Reflection 14

This week I was really overwhelmed with the amount of tests and projects I had. Since school is ending soon, teachers are giving a lot of homework so it's been really stressful lately. While exercise is a stress reliever, I can barely make time for it right now. I guess that's something I need to work on. On the other hand, I got a great amount of work done for the final presentation. I made an outline of the past few months, and then started working on the powerpoint. Other than some adjustments, it is mostly done and I need to just practice presenting. I can get really nervous, so practice is always good. I'll try to be more organized this week so I can balance school work and working out. 

Reflection 14

This week I was able to fit in a lot of exercise.  I went to the gym 3 days during the week, but the days that I didn't go I was able to work out at home.  I went running and I lifted weights like usual. A few weeks ago my family opened our pool and this weekend it was ready to be used.  Swimming is a great way to do cardio and I plan on doing it a lot over the summer.  As the presentation for my project is coming up, I am looking back at my progress and comparing it to now.  During the next class period I hope to finish or almost complete my presentation.

Reflection ii, 14

As I finished writing the story, I am now in the editing process. As it was a short story, I quickly edited out the mistakes that were easy to notice. However, I need feedback from a new set of eyes to catch any plotholes and confusing sentences, as I am poor with grammar. The main problem is what I am going to do for the remaining time during class, as I do not want to trouble my fellow piers from finishing their work. Maybe I will rewrite the scenes that I fixed in my rough draft to make a second draft. That's the plan; keep editing until it's finished.

Tidbit of the week: One of the idea names for this story was "Sinful Emotions." Even I don't know what that means.

Reflection 14

The song is completed.

It's been a long while, but the song is done. I'm generally happy with the initial song. A couple changes were made from the original plan:

-Song is now about 2 and a half minutes instead of the intended one minute. This was because I felt that the song was a lot shorter than I had wanted, so I extended it.

-I ended up not using the keyboard for this project. The delay between the program registering the keys made it too awkward to be used effectively.

Besides that, I accomplished what I intended to create, an electronica piece. I probably will do some touching up of the song to see if I can make it sound a bit better, if I can. I won't be doing any heavy-handed work however, since presentations for 20% are around the corner. I had some people I know, including my band director and band-mates, look over the song to see what they thought of it, providing me with valuable insight on what to improve on. 

Overall, I am content with what I have created, and I'm more than willing to continue using FL Studio at a later date.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 14

This week has not been as productive as the weeks in the past. I have watched a few more videos for tips on how to do the around the world but I still have not been able to do it once. It gets a bit frustrating but I know soon I will be able to do it considering that I have recently improved a lot on my control of the ball when juggling, causing me to be able to juggle it 70 times(my new PR). I really have to start recording my skills and tricks as well considering I probably wont have much time later with all these end of the year projects and finals coming up. I will be sure to practice as much as I can this next week and hopefully do the around the world at least once even if I can not catch it on video I will feel somewhat accomplished. Hopefully, I can manage my time very wisely these next few weeks and perform the around the world.

Reflection 13&14

"Last"

“I couldn't possibly be as unproductive next week as I was this week.” I drew in three panels this week (one less than last week’s four). I wanted to get out of the rut for this week – that was the plan. I clearly didn’t accomplish that. I think I’m pretty much burned out for the drawing portion of this project. It’s safe to say that the drawing phase is over. I just can’t anymore. It feels too forced. I did like the story I created and how what I actually put on paper came out though. Even if it’s still pretty much in the beginning.

"Ow"

This week I drew in no panels - I'm preparing for the presentation. I was able to draw a total of 113 panels in the span of 4 months. That’s actually pretty good compared to my past rate. When I used to draw comic books they weren’t released consistently. I would draw all 44 panels in one day (that’s how much was in one comic) but then wouldn’t start in the next for about maybe two months. I didn’t really get that recuperation period with this project. So I drew 25 more panels than I would have if I followed my old ways. These were also high quality (I like to think) as compared to my old ones so there’s another plus. I’m a tiny bit disappointed I didn’t get farther in the story but I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. I just thought this time might be different.

Reflection 14

Although I feel like I have pretty much reached my goal of being able to curve the soccer ball (with my right foot at least) but I feel like I need more video recordings to showcase my learned skills. I planned on recording earlier today but the weather has grown pretty bad to go and shoot as not only is it windy but it is raining a bit and there is thunder. If worse comes to worse I will have to work with the videos I have but I am trying to avoid that. Unfortunately, time is getting hard to manage recently with me once again as I am receiving a bunch of assignments, but I'll see what I can get done. I'll try to go this week if possible to get film.

Reflection 14

This week, I reviewed the letters I have learned so far instead of learning more letters because I learned more than I needed to last week, so I wanted to make sure I knew what I had learned before moving on. Hopefully I will finish learning the alphabet by this week so I will have the weekend to practice the alphabets and maybe learn some words(not sure yet) and plan for my presentation.

reflection 14

As finals are approaching Ive been catching up on a lot of work and studying. I figured for my Etsy shop I can start putting my wife jewelry up for sale and the tie dye shirts I make. I'm still worrying about how the delivery works out and I have yet to figure it out. I hope its not too expensive because then I'll never break even. Im still making more pendants and tracking down enough string or thin rope to use as the necklace. I've learned so much making this jewelry, especially patience so I'm taking my time making each piece.

Reflection 12

I think that making a video is not what I set out to do with this project. I wanted to learn how to dance and do some choreography, but making a presentation like that is making me stressed out because it is a lot of work that I am not finding to be fulfilling, and it is making me feel disillusioned with this project. I can't believe my plan was to spend so long working on this video because that is not what I think I should be spending my last weeks doing. I enjoyed choreographing some of the dances, but teaching other people the dances and video editing is not something that I'm excited or passionate about, so I think it is a waste of my last few weeks of project time.

I've found that the specific genres of "ballet" or "modern" are keeping me from trying the types of dance that are more interesting, which are just choreographed dances that don't fit a specific label. That is what I spent last week learning to give myself a break from the video, and I ended up enjoying it more than what I was working on, so I think I will spend the rest of my time just learning for myself, and not for a presentation or a genre, because that it what I have found to be the most fulfilling.

Reflection 15

Okay so I've been working on the power point at this point. I've already decided what I'm going to say, now i'm left with doing a powerpoint. There isn't really much more to say other than that. I don't want to give anything for my presentation away sooooo yea! Be excited to hear of my failure!

reflection 15

Presentations are in a week. I have no time to lose. During this in class time, I'm going to work on my drawings. For my final drawing, I have decided to draw a portrait of someone. I know it's going to look bad, but I also know it won't be terrible. After I finish my final drawing, I will start working on my presentation. I'm hoping I get all of this done before Thursday night so I don't stress too much before I have to present.

Reflection XIII: The One With Absolutely Nothing New

Sorry for everything being late recently. Teachers are bombarding us with last minute projects and tests and much more to stress over. Pictures will be included in my next post.

So I tried the maple water. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, so I won't be buying it ever again. I have yet to find avocado ice cream anywhere, but I am excited to try it. As for my workouts, not much is new. I haven't been going to the YMCA at all lately, but I have been swimming a lot.

Anyway, remember the protein powder brownies I mentioned a few weeks back? Yeah, I forgot about them too. I was recently reminded of the recipe and I want to try to make them this week. Here's the link: http://runeatrepeat.com/2013/04/04/protein-brownies-recipe/

Reflection XII: The One With Avocado Ice Cream

Update: I've been sticking to two HIITs a day, but haven't been going to the YMCA as much as I'd like to be. There's been too much going on in school recently.

I was creeping on this woman's blog (http://runeatrepeat.com/), and I came across a few cool discoveries. Among them:

• Trader Joe's sells maple water???? I did not know this. I'll be going to get some this week- I'll keep y'all updated.
• Avocado ice cream is a thing. Who would have thought? I am very curious and shall scavenge all ends of the earth to find it.

So now I have a few fun things to try this week. Everything regarding my workouts is pretty much the same; no new changes.

reflection 9

Using a sewing machine Was actually easier than knitting with the proper knowledge and care. I didn't dare get on the sewing machine yet but I went back the following Friday and asked Mrs. Jones if she could show me how to set up her sewing machine as if she were sewing for the first time on it. She explained to me the dial aka the stitch selection panel and the different stitch designs she could make. She also explained to me how to thread through the new sewing string and then there was the foot petal. The foot petal powers the machine and controls how fast it goes, which is crucial for a professional look. After that my mind was mostly refreshed and caught up to what I had seen years before when I had my own machine, however I still came home and researched a basic diagram of sewing machine parts.

reflection 8

On week 8 of my knitting experience I went over my boyfriends house to discus him suit for prom. After trying everything on, everyone in the house agreed his pants needed to be hemmed and his other just decided to do it right then and there. She pulled out her sewing machine and told me to come over and watch her. I had been familiar with sewing machines because I had one of my own years ago, and this one was just a different model. As I watched her do this, I decided to redirect my project. I let go of knitting for a little and started researching new sewing projects. I realized I had so many old jeans and closed I was no longer using and could test on. I researched ways to add or remove things to made an outfit better for example:

Reflection 14

I've begun work on my power point, which will be used along with my presentation. I'm going to talk about my plan, the history behind it, how far I got, and then what went wrong. It'll encompass everything I've learned and have I've grown through out this project. So far I know what I'm going to say, I just have to actually write out the presentation now. this experience has definitely been interesting. Sorry I couldn't do what I set out to do.

Reflection XI: The One With a Dramatic Change

I AM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE. I suck at time management and I've been preoccupied the past few weeks.

Anyway, I have kinda changed up my routine. I started going to the YMCA everyday after school, so that I can do my lifting there. Immediately after school is usually when I would do my cardio, so I now do that in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. Perks of having insomnia. :)

Pictures will be posted at the end of this week because I haven't had a chance to take them recently.

I have been at this for two months, and I am honestly so glad that I made this decision. Regular exercise has changed my life for the better. I'm seeing physical changes- just my abdomen and legs, for now- and I'm also feeling mental changes. Working out gives me this euphoric high that is making me a much happier and much more positive person.

Reflection 12 &13

These past few weeks I have been running and lifting.  I went down my shore house, where I have a bench press, and was able to lift weights.  It was one of the first times I ever lifted outside of school. This summer I will be using that bench press so it is good for me to start using it now.  Also when I was down the shore I went running.  It was nice because it was a change from my usual running route.  It was a shorter distance, but it is still enough to give me a good workout.  When I wasn't down the shore, I still went running and lifted during school. This is what I plan on doing for the next final weeks of this project.

Reflection XII & XIII

So week 12 for 20% time I really did not do any advancing, I sort of just played around with a program I already had created using Khan Academy. Besides that I really did not do anything interesting or of importance. At this point I had already decided that I do not want to use Khan anymore and that I am going to switch to using the text editor on my laptop and watching videos. This actually allows me to do whatever I want and gives me a lot more freedom to advance much faster. So that is really all I did in week 12.

Now, for week 13 I have achieved much more. I actually started watching videos on YouTube and began writing code using the text editor, notepad, on my laptop. So far all I did was use some HTML to actually make the website that pops up when you click on the file, and inside the HTML I used JavaScript to make an alert box that has absolutely no use other than to show how JavaScript is actually written inside HTML. Just from one of these videos I already know more than what I learned in several weeks from Khan Academy. So I would say that things are coming along quite well. The only HTML that I know is the basics to actually set up the website so I can learn JavaScript. So for now I will continue to look into JavaScript primarily and a little bit of HTML. In addition, this Friday when I write my Reflection XIV I will see if blogger allows me to add a file so I can show something I have done. That is all for this 20% time reflection.

Reflection 13

I may have lost track of time this weekend! However, things have been going pretty well. Despite the heat, I've been running almost daily in the evening. I'm doing this for a running challenge that I'm doing with Tyler W. I think I'm slowly but surely building stamina. On top of this, I've been trying the fit tea but it really needs to be precisely taken so I have to be careful. Also my sister is home from college and we have been going to gym often and she's been showing me new workouts, which really help. She has also been pushing me to squat more which I was afraid to do, but has really paid off! Also, I've been trying to prepare for our final but I really need to set aside more time for that. 

Reflection 13: The Other Exceptionally Late One

Memorial Day messed with my schedule a great deal, and I am afraid that I lost track of time. Still, my ineptitude is hardly an excuse for tardiness, and I sincerely apologize for this transgression.
Sadly, the many projects assigned this week and the family trips and events this weekend, I did not get much writing done. I shall most certainly be able to finish the story of the game; however, given my progress in that regard, I am doubtful that I will have time to finish coding it within my time frame. I shall be more than happy to share the finished, coded product, even if I will not finish until after the deadline; the coding process, however. is quite repetitive and time-consuming, even after the writing is done, and I find it doubtful that the full game (in its actual game format rather than the browser-based Twine format).
This week, much more writing shall be accomplished, so help me Vecna. I want to be finished by next Tuesday at the very latest such that I can work on the small PowerPoint presentation that shall accompany the game itself. Until then, until then!

Reflection 13

This week in 20 percent time wasn't really a good one. I did not practice at all because I was busy with projects and homework. However I decided that I will most likely be making a video for my final presentation. I think it would be much easier for me because there won't be a lot of pressure on me since it isn't live. I am still trying to figure out if I am going for time or catches but I will decide that eventually. It say the average person can juggle for 20-30 second so I guess I will aim for that.

Reflection 12&13

So, I don't recall what I was doing last weekend, oh! I did a walk for ALS, and stuff, and this weekend I went away/ had to work. In any case, I didn't get to work much on my project. But, I will post some pictures:

These are the pieces I've worked on since getting my new pastels. The apple one is based off a picture but the other two are not, The landscape pieces aren't turning out so great, probably because I didn't use a reference and because they are actually portrait orientation. Also, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to have bright yellow sand in that desert one. I will have to fix that.

Reflection 13

So far I've stropped the lessons and started with the first riff and chord, that beaing E Minor 7, of Wish You Were Here. I'm having trouble with figuring out the strum pattern fore the chord because in the Center Stage guitar Academy video, he doesn't know himself. The instructor play it by ear, and that's a problem for me. Looks like I'm only going to get one song in by presentations. Pity, but I've learned much on the way. This is really painful, guys. I can only practice hours at a time once or twice a week so I haven't built up calluses on my finger to stop the pain. So that I can practice for longer periods of time, I've cut up a bandage to place a piece on each finger, and I keep those pieces in place with duct tape. Amazingly, it still causes mild pain. I'll learn Wish You Were Here by the end of the week and put together a video of everything I've learned so far plus the song. Hopefully, it will show that I have actually learned plenty this 20% Time, I'm just a really slow learner that has semi-poor time management.

Reflection 13

This week I managed to practice and freshen up on all of my skills and tricks. I am still rusty with some but for the most part I have got them all down and ready for recording. I also practiced the around the world trick. Unfortunately, I still have not been able to do it once but I was very close a few times. I also practiced my basic juggling of the ball because practicing this is what is going to help me with this more advanced trick. I will continue to practice this trick all of this upcoming week so that I can record my final video soon. Hopefully I can make this video better than my last 20%.

Reflections #11-13 (yikes)

I'm really terrible at remembering to update this blog. It's so easy for me to forget for some reason. I have been continuing to make progress despite this little unintentional hiatus, though. I went back and redrew my first couple of drawings. I couldn't think of anything new I wanted to draw so I just redid the older pencil drawings.


 
I don't think they came out as good as my other drawings in this style, but I still prefer them to pencils drawings. They're much more fun to make and look at. That's what occupied weeks 11 and 12.

This week, I got sort of tired of doing the same old thing. I sat down in my room with my little bin of markers to begin another drawing. I looked around my room, and the faded design on the top drawers of my dresser caught my eye. I took some paint and a paintbrush out of my bin of markers and traced over the design. Then, I free handed the blank drawer underneath it.

I'm not sure if this would count as "drawing" but I'm being kind of liberal with that definition because I've already departed from my original goal, anyway. I had a lot of fun doing this because it felt a lot less like work. Usually, I'm aware that this is for a project, but while painting these drawers, I didn't even think I would end up writing about it. I'll probably end up painting all of them within the next few weeks, even though that won't end up being a part of this project.

Reflection ii, 13

I did it. It is done. I completed the story by finishing it in one full sweep--I completed chapters vi and vii. But it is not over yet because I have to start the editing process, which is the tedious part. As this is my first time actually completing a story, I have no experience on how stories should be like when it will be published (but I am not going to publish; it's too embarrassing). The person I called up for editing never responded, so I decided to go for other people to call for help--notably the English teachers, probably. So we're not done yet!

Tidbit of the week: Homeland: The Flames of the Neglected (title pending) is the title of the short story, with a whopping 5,399 words. Pretty cool name, right? The thing is, I have a whole page of title ideas. Pretty hard to think of a title, since I had one before but the story changed drastically, so that title didn't work anymore.

Reflection 13

The song has been progressing. I'm close to finishing the entire song. Then I will move on to changing it if needed, doing sound modifications, or fixing any unusual or unnecessary issues with the song. It's been very interesting using the program for this second portion of the year. FL Studio is a very resourceful music production program. It takes a while to get used to it, but once you understand the majority of the mechanics, which doesn't take too long, it is pretty good. I've enjoyed my time making this song, and once I finish it, I hope I will go on to make more music.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 13

This past week has gone pretty good on terms of trying to reach my goal for my 20% project. I got to record 3 times this week, but I feel only one of the recordings was actually good. The rest were too short as my camera was having issues with storage. Regardless, I feel that although I can definitely shoot perfect curves in the way that Andrea Pirlo does as well as David Beckham, I am not consistent with my shots and a lot of the time they aren't very powerful at all. That is my biggest issue and in an actual soccer game, most free kick attempts will be out at 25-30 yards. At that range, I am struggling to make the ball curve and have sufficient power to get past the keeper. Today when I went filming, I used different cleats so maybe that was effecting why I had insufficient power. I am going to record once or twice more then prepare my presentation. So far I think I'm good

Reflection 12

Welp, I had it all planned it out to record both today and yesterday however things happened and now I'm in trouble. Yesterday, I had to record for a Spanish 3 for most of the day and by the time I came back home not only was it raining, but too dark. I looked forward to today but I had a party to attend for most of the afternoon. So the weekend that I was going to use to film for the final presentation was gone to waste. I haven't been using the weekdays and freetime that I have to film and I feel that's my largest issue in reaching this goal. I'm not utilizing my time correctly. I'm 100 percent going to use all the free time I have on my hands to record. I definitely think I can hit around 7 or 8 good curves out of 10 attempts that I take, so I have for sure made progress.
EDIT: Never published the actual post :/

Reflection 13

This week, while I was tracing the alphabets, I accidentally traced ten alphabets instead of the usual five, so I may repeat the last five I did this week. Other than that I think I am on track. I am almost done learning the alphabet. I just need to become more thorough with them and then I could start learning some words. Hopefully I am able to write a least some basic words for the presentation. I also watched some movies over the break and tried to listen to the actual dialogues instead of the subtitles. This worked a little, but they were talking too fast for me to understand. But I did understand more than I used to. Next week I will continue if not finish learning the alphabets.

Reflection 13

I feel like I have used my time to my advantage. My game with a couple more tweaks her and there will be complete. Everything for the game has been made just have to put it into action. Just to see if it works the way I want it to work. I didn't establish controls and actually play the game yet but that is what I will dedicate the last week to. Finding ways to improve and aspects of it that I can before the due date.

Reflection 13

This week I continued to work on my power point presentation. By reviewing all I have done this semester I can say that I am very proud of my work. While I'm ending a bit shaky, I can still say that if I find the time to workout in the future, I will. That is not something I would have been able to say before. I can also say that I am more educated in the things I eat and pay more attention to my health. I am able to make more conscious decisions on the things that affect my health most of all. I do plan on continuing this lifestyle, and I will continue to work to get myself to where I want to be, internally and externally. This week I can list a bunch of achievements, including to choose healthier snacks over fattening ones, participating in extra motivational activities, and improving my eating schedule. For next week, I hope to finish my power point and rehearse it, as well as continue with my overall goals.

Weekly Journal 13

         Oh boy. Presentations begin in two weeks and I present on the first day. I am not ready. Unfortunately, I think I took on more than I can handle because I did not take into consideration all of my other school work that would prevent me from being able to work on my project throughout the week. I have found that once a week will not cut it. My goal has changed. My new goal is to finish learning the first song that I have been learning. It is a rather "easy" song according to most, but I cannot help that I lack rhythm (which is why I find it so difficult). This week I did not have twenty percent time in class due to field day. I did, however, continue practicing the song.
It's depressing, actually - to have done this for a relatively longish time and not having mastered yet or at least become average. However, I cannot let this discourage me. Although it may not be much, I still have some time left and I plan on using it wisely. From here on out, I will only practice the song.

reflection 14

I volunteered myself to go first during presentations so that I can push myself to finish my project and make it the best it can be. There are so many events coming up and so many other projects that have to be done from other classes. Presentations are next Friday, so there is no time for me to waste. I'm planning to get a lot done on Wednesday because I don't have much time any other day. Next weekend, I'm definitely going to start my final drawing and hopefully it'll be done by next Friday.

Reflection 13

This week I've been really behind on my work but I'm catching up a week at a time. I'm making new jewelry this week and next week so that I can present for our twenty percent presentations and also for my Etsy shop. I'm focused on making 3 pendants and 3 of the different types of rings I learned about in the past few months. I bought new wire and after I finish the first roll I bought I'll work on using the new one. A few people have asked me about selling them a necklace and rings so I'm thinking if I make this Etsy shop I can actually find customers! I'm still nervous about committing but when I have enough jewelry made I'll be ready to put them online and for sale.

Reflection 13

With prom fast approaching and many final projects looming, my 20% project has unfortunately fallen further down on my priority list. It's not a bad thing though, because as I mentioned before, there's not much left that that I feel I can do during the school year. The only skill that I would attempt to learn at this point is cornrows since I struggled with that a lot but that would have to wait until the summer. Also, if I wanted to practice on my hair anytime soon, I couldn't because I'm in preparation to get my hair ready for prom this coming week. Thus, not much progress will happening this week. However, I wouldn't rule out any possibility of progress in the future because I plan on improving my skills over the summer and years to come.

2nd Semester Reflection 13

This week I made ham, apple, and cheese quesadillas, and I really liked them! While they weren't quite as good as my standard chicken and cheese quesadillas, there was a nice balance of savory and sweet in the dish. The importance of this week was that I am now more comfortable handling hot sizzling skillets; it was only the second or third time I had ever used a skillet in my life. While initially scary, I became comfortable with it while making the quesadillas. I'm sure to use skillets in the future. I thought I did relatively well this week; the quesadillas were not my favorite, but still tasty and definitely lighter than the normal quesadillas I eat. Seeing as my final presentation is quickly approaching, next week will be my last week cooking - meaning that it is time to try my hand out at a three course meal. I will be making spiced edamame, grilled chicken with tomato-cucumber salad, and chocolate hazelnut drop cookies. I am so excited to see how much progress I've made over the semester. Until then!

Edamame
 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/spiced-edamame-recipe.html

Grilled Chicken
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/grilled-chicken-with-tomato-cucumber-salad-recipe.html

Drop Cookies
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chocolate-hazelnut-drop-cookies-recipe.html

Reflection 11

I was not able to make any progress on my final project this week, but what I did do was review other types of dance that were not originally what I set out to learn. Lots of people who do dance will choreograph steps to popular songs, and I ended up watching some videos and trying to learn those steps. These types of dance are not necessarily one genre, but I think it was helpful to my project just to keep practicing and learning new kinds of dance.

Reflection 13

This week i began my final powerpoint. At this point there is not much more i can learn. I am not saying that i have perfected my technique, but i have learned everything that i set out to do. Im compiling at the pictures ive taken of the tattoos and an ordering them by the date they were made and by how well they came out. I am actually looking forward to the final presentation because i am quite proud of the work i have accmplished.

Reflection 13

This week I didn't get to do as much yoga because of class assignments. This week was horrible in regards to how much time I had versus how much time I needed. But since Memorial Day weekend starts today I expect to have a lot of time on my hands when I go away with my family. I think it's really frustrating when on days/weeks that I really need to relax and do some yoga to help with that I have no time to.

Next week I anticipate to start coming up with a way to present all that I've learned so far. I'll continue doing yoga, but as far as research goes, I think I'm done and have been done for a while now. I wanted to get a book before but I just decided to go with what I was doing already, which was watching videos. I stopped the 30 day challenge all together and have just been watching random videos that deal with a specific pose, or yoga for when you're sore, etc.  

Reflection 13

I have accepted my failure in this assignment. I haven't been able to complete my song or even begin a video of any sort. So I think that's really what I'm going to talk about with my TED talk coming up. How you start out expecting these great accomplishments and things but sometimes they don't end up working out. Sometimes you have to just roll with the punches and keep going anyway. Sorry this turned out this way. I was pretty excited for the video too. But that's a fact of life. Sometimes you fail. And that's okay. You just gotta learn from your mistakes and move on.

Reflection 12

I've made my Etsy shop and my shop name is CarolinaWires. I'm excited to start advertising the jewelry I'm making but if I put up an item I need to pay a fee for doing just that. Im not sure if I want to pay money, even though its a few cents, but I want to have enough rings and necklaces in inventory before I put anything for sale online. Also I'm working out prices an what I'd need to charge to break even. I've been looking at other shops and comparing prices with others to make sure I'm not overcharging or under charging for my jewelry. I'm also researching how the delivery process is and if I need to pay extra for distance or anything like that.

Reflection 11

So as the year is quickly ending I've been getting a lot of work and not enough time to work on making jewelry. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make any new jewelry due to the lack of free time. Also I'm low on wire so I need to head to AC Moore and buy different sized gauged wire and any beads if they have some. The jewelry I'm going to make needs to be perfect because that is the jewelry I'll be advertising on my Etsy and hopefully selling to whoever is interested. As soon as I can I should be going to AC Moore and buying the wire I need and then focusing extra hard on technique and designs.

Reflection 12

This week was about the same as last week. I have not been able to do the around the world yet but I have improved on my overall juggling of the ball. It is getting frustrating not being able to do it but I know I cannot give up on this trick. I also practiced my juggling and other skill moves over the weekend and I recorded them. Soon enough I will begin setting up the final video. Hopefully by next week I can at least do the trick once.

Reflection 12

 This week was very slow for me in completing my goals. I did not work out at all and I ate more junk food than necessary. I feel as if I have kind of given up on this project, but I know that's not the case. I simply have to get my focus back. I did, however, start working on my presentation. I have organized the format and included all of the information needed for every part of my goal. I also saved many of the images on my phone that have shown my progress with this project onto my computer. Now I can put them into my power point. For next week I will commit myself to working out the entirety of the week and also eliminating all junk foods. Hopefully I can also work a little bit more on the power point. Until then wish me good luck!

Reflection 12

I LEARNED POWER CHORDS! So these are commonly used chords in rock and popular music so yay, something useful, right? They are not considered true chords because they only consist of two notes. Chords are usually three or more notes. Power chords are really just made up of the root note and an interval of the root note, the fifth interval. This is picking two strings at the same time in one swoop. I was taught the A or A5 power chord, the D power chord, and the E or E5 power chord. These are open string power chords. The Lesson applied these three to the 12 Bar Blues. Worked on that for roughly half an hour. I have to dedicate this week to learning the first half of Wish You Were Here. That's the goal anyway. Wish me luck.

Uhhhh... Catching up? (Forgotten Reflection 11)

Did I really forget this one? Um, yeah. It seems like I have. Must have been a rough weekend. I don't quite remember. It's probably too late, but I'm just doing this to catch up. Last week (This was written down somewhere thankfully):

 I completed Lessons 6 and 7 which covers the meaning of intervals and the second octave of a major scale and applies it to The Star Spangled Banner. An octave is the same not, but played in a higher or lower pitch. It doesn't really sound much different to the ear, just a little better. Why are octave useful? Well apparently, it helps for tuning (compare one string to another closed note) and octaves can be used as a special technique to give notes variety (I fail to see how this is useful to me as a beginner but okay). Intervals are the spaces between notes. From the first note (root) to the second is a second interval (a whole step. Then comes the root to the third (the third interval), the root to the fourth (the perfect fourth), to the fifth (fifth interval), to the sixth (a perfect sixth), to the seventh (the seventh interval), and finally to the eighth, the octave! *pants out of breath* Okay! So the first octave is how I learned it in black and there's the second octave in red, using a totally different finger placement than the major scales. So I'm a little sketchy on the Star Spangled Banner, but as I recall, I have songs to learn right? So I won't focus on this song too much.

Reflection 12

This week started of well! I was following my meal plan and working out not every day, but every other day which is better than nothing. I have been focusing on arms, which is the muscle group I usually tend to avoid. The only problem with this week is that that I haven’t been getting enough sleep due to school work or poor time management. The lack of sleep is really affecting me and I need to make it a priority again. For the second half of the week, I didn’t really have anytime to work on this project because my cousin from Iowa is staying at my house and we are spending time with him. Also, today is my birthday! I’ll be out for the whole day so I won’t have time to work out. But, I did get some fitness related birthday presents, such as fittea and a power band kit!

Reflection 12

Mickey and I were unable to meet up this weekend. However, tonight my friend came over for dinner and the two of us made guacamole--which we ate with lettuce instead of chips--a garden salad, and salmon burgers. It was a simple and delicious paleo meal.

Reflection 12: Another Plot Change with a Side of Progress... and Pickled Ginger

A revelation occurred this Tuesday: I am seriously over-complicating this game. It should be simple and accessible; the way I see it, I can create the more complicated game when I am more experienced and have more time to complete it. As such, I decided to switch the game's story *again* from the espionage-based game to a more generic Grimm's Fairy Tales/Tolkien-esque genre, where the player will explore what amounts to a forest plagued by curses, monsters, and daemons to accomplish one of several tasks that they choose at the beginning of the story. It's not the most creative, but it will be a good test of my programming abilities and, at the very least, something fun to do during the 20% presentations (not that I am focusing on this; I just enjoy having discussions with a large group of people). Luckily, I made great progress this week in writing this new story, as I changed the topic early; several branching stories are in their early stages, and I expect to be able to finish one or two this coming week. Until then, until then!

Reflection 12

This week has been tough, in terms of both FL Studio and scheduling.

First, the program. A recent major update has been released for my program, and I've been trying to get it installed. However, for one reason or another, I am unable to update it. I guess this isn't that big of a problem. I don't have to relearn a UI (User Interface) that this new update offers, since the previous one was a pain to learn already. I'll upgrade some time after this project when I get the chance.

Scheduling has been the other issue. Marching Band is starting to roll in, and one of my instructors in pushing me to do drum core, which i'm already having doubts on doing. I guess i'm just worried about taking to many things on. The song was put on hold for almost the entire week because of these upcoming events.

I plan on working more on the song this week. Nothing is hindering me at the moment from accomplishing this.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 12

This week I wasn't able to anything. This was all because there was a virus within my laptop. In the mean time it is getting fixed but I am not sure whether or not my project has been deleted. So I restarted my game on my computer at home and although it took a while I should be back to where I need to be by the end of this week. I plan on constructing the terrain or world that the game is within this week.

Reflection ii, 12

I completed chapter v and started chapter vi this week. There's nothing else to say, as the story is almost complete. However, I feel as if the pacing is a little bit off, but I will worry about it when I start editing. I never got a reply from one person who agreed to edit, so I need to find another one for more feedback. The moment I finish the story is the moment I start editing. Also, I need help with names! I can't decide what to name certain characters, as I want it to have some king of meaning, but it just doesn't sound right! (At this rate, it sounds like their names are puns)//

Next week's goal is to complete chapter vi and vii. It shall be done!

Tidbit of the week: I think our main character Amber is a tragic hero. Maybe.

Reflection #12

This weekend I made hamburgers for my family. They were considered paleo because of the organic grass fed ground meat I used and the fact that they weren't on buns. I took a different route in making these because I bought half pork and half beef and then formed the patties myself. I added a hint of salt and pepper for taste. I threw them on the grill after looking up how long to grill them for. I wanted to make them rare since I really wanted to taste the meat. To go along with the patties, the burger was comprised of lettuce tomatoes red onions pickles and mayonnaise. This was a fairly easy dish to make and it was really good. Splitting the meat was a great idea because the meats complemented each other and they made for a good combo. I learned that you can blend two meats and they can taste very good. Next week I'll be coming over to Phoebes for her birthday party and help her make something for the occasion.

Reflection 12

This week I strayed from my 30 days of yoga routine and watched videos that focused on specific poses like the crow pose, sun salutations and the lizard pose. I think learning about poses is equally important so I decided to do that. Some are harder than others like the crow pose because it requires more strength in the arm muscles than the others.
For now I'll just continue looking up more videos focusing on different poses so I can learn more about them and how to do them properly.
I wish I had more time to go more in depth learning this, but I know this will be something I'll continue doing so I'm not really stressing about how little or how much I know for now.

Reflection 12

"The Plan"

Brace yourself for the disappointment. I made a pathetic 4 panels this week. I’m trying to think hard about why I was so unproductive this week but I can’t get it. I know I had enough time (many classes didn't give homework because of APs). I guess I just wanted a break. I saw that I finally had free time to do nothing and I wanted to use it all. However, if I’m not using my free time to do something I love then that’s a problem. The plan for next week is to get out of this rut. I couldn't possibly be as unproductive next week as I was this week.

Reflection 10

This week was prom! I didn't get much done as far as filming, but what I did accomplish was comfort in my dancing in public. It was freeing to have the experience of prom after having made so much progress in this project. I felt confident even though I looked kind of silly! That was really my goal in this project. As much as it will be a rewarding experience to finish the choreography, when I set out to do this project, I wanted to learn about a few dance types and become comfortable with dancing, and I think I've achieved that.

Reflection 12

This week, I learned the next five letters of the alphabet. Since I have more time now, I am on track as to where I want to be at the end of May. I want to finish the alphabet by then so I can learn to write some words. I am also getting the hang of the letters and am not as confused about the letters as I used to be a couple of weeks ago. Next week, I will learn the next few alphabets.

2nd Semester Reflection 12

This week I made Banana Cream Pie Smoothies, and I absolutely loved them! Not only were they delicious, but very light and refreshing. Surprisingly, this was the first week I worked with a blender; I found it to be relatively easy to use and there were no major accidents with it. I look forward to working with blenders more in the future. I am definitely more comfortable with the ingredients as the time progresses; while I am not an expert at all, I don't feel afraid to make anything anymore. I was happy with how the smoothies turned out, and am excited to make an exciting dish this upcoming week: ham, apple, and cheese quesadillas. These won't be as heavy as normal quesadillas, and should combine savory and sweet flavors nicely. Until then!

Quesadilla Recipe

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/ham-apple-and-cheese-quesadilla-recipe.html

 

Weekly Journal 12

         I am pleased to say that I finally got to play this weekend! For starters, I successfully tuned my guitar all by myself! I was very happy with myself. The main thing we practiced was the first song that I have been trying to learn for the longest time. This is taking me long because I have absolutely no sense of rhythm and that is finally becoming more and more clear to me. Although this is taking me a while, I can't complain. I am happy with playing the guitar and even after twenty percent time is over I plan to continue learn and hopefully one day I'll be pretty decent. I found that I over think everything, which is the main reason why I have trouble moving forward with the song. However, I am determined to keep going. I can't wait for next week where I plan on practicing more and maybe learning a few extra things on the side.

Reflection 12

It's getting increasingly hard to find the motivation to braid anymore because I feel like I've accomplished most of the goals that I set out for myself at the beginning of this project. With the exception of cornrows, I've learned how to do 3 out of the 4 styles that I wished to learn and practiced them a bit. The only possible next step from here would be attempting these styles on other people rather than on myself. However, with the end of the school year approaching and the craziness that comes with it, finding someone who would be willing to let mess around with their hair seems like a tall order on not only them, but me also. Scheduling something like that in the midst of final projects and other things would only cause more chaos and I want to avoid that. Maybe in the future I could try braiding someone's hair, but for the time being, I won't be pursuing that. Although I am very proud of the progress I have made over these past few months.

Reflection 12

So this week, sadly I was relatively lazy and did not work out as much as I should've mainly because of the horrible allergies that finally got to me this week. It made it hard to breathe and I felt absolutely horrible so my motivation to be lifting weights for an hour was relatively low. Though I was able to find out where I am at in terms of my one rep max and I was able to do 180lbs. My progress is relatively slow sadly and at this rate, I don't think I'll be able to achieve my goal of 205lbs but I think I made some decent progress strength wise. I was in a much worse shape starting out, where I was barely able to do any of the workouts, to now where I am just about caught up to my previous state of well being. I think in a sense that's a win even though I probably won't be able to bench 205. Have a great week everyone!

reflection 12

One thing that is really going bad is my diet.. like what I have been eating. Other than that my work outs are BOMB. Seriously though.. I can't stress how much happier you'll be when working out. Like you seriously FEEL SO SO SO much better. And I'm pretty sure once i fix up my diet by eating more i'll be like SUPER HUMAN.

reflection 12

There are only 3 weeks left before presentations/finals. Time is ticking away at this point, so it's time for me to start putting my all into this project. To be honest, I didn't do anything that I mentioned in my last reflection. I really need to stop procrastinating, especially because time is going by so quickly. On Saturday, I won't be as busy so I'm hoping to do a few drawings to get it out of the way. I also need to start thinking about what I want my final drawing to look like. I am determined to finish my 20% project as best as I can. I need to start preparing now before it's too late. Planning is KEY!

reflection 11

I went to the gym everyday I lifted weights and i did a couple of HIIT workouts that I'll be incuding in my presentation. I'm really happy with the results I've been getting. I also have been walking after school and in the weekend at least two miles. I feel so much more alive and I'm so happy with this weather because it really motivates me to workout. When it's the summer I'm definitely going to be going to my own gym probably at Rutgers or NJIT.

Reflection 12

I have continued my tattoos. I'm not proud of some of them. Some of them rival Picasso. Just kidding; they're not that good. Well, maybe they're a little good. The failures have been pretty funny . Somehow, I managed to make a fish look like a turtle. I don't know how that happened, but it did. I learned not to be too cocky and go straight for a freehand tattoo. It did not go well. Planning is KEY!

Reflection #11

This previous weekend i missed the 20% time part in class. In addition, I went to two communions this weekend: one on Sunday and one on Saturday. Both of these were far away therefore I didnt have time to work on my project. However, that didnt stop me from indulging on a variety of different foods. On Saturday I went to a formal dinner party. There, I ordered a steak. The steak was cooked rare and it was delicious. For dessert, I had a cake pop. After having that cake pop, I got an idea that we should try making them. They are so delicious and fun! On Sunday the party was held at an Italian restaurant. I literally ate 10 Italian dishes ranging from chicken Milanese to lobster manicotti. All of the foods were delicious and i am happy to admit i went out of my comfort zone. I tried foods i havent tried before. I also learned that for this project i should step out of what  i usually eat and try new things. You never know if youll like it or not if you dont give things a try! Promise this weekend will be productive...

Reflection XI

So this week I did not learn much new stuff. I continued with making objects get bigger/smaller and move. I also just started to make text appear on the screen. It is all pretty simple, not much new to say. Text is kind of boring, hopefully I will get through this quickly so I can move on to other things. I really just want to get up to being able to connect the mouse and keyboard to the program. That's all for now.

Reflection 12

I'm far to tired for this music writing process. Don't get me wrong, i Love music, and I love melodies and everything else relating to music. But I can't stand having to come up with music. I can do it if I make everything on the spot, otherwise it definitely does not work. So! What I might do is scrap this song entirely and instead use another song, one about how impossible it is to write a song. It'll be fun and funny and amusing and I'm pretty sure I already have a thousand verses to it because every time I try to write the other song, I instead sing about how I can't write a song. Maybe I'll do that. It would be easier. Not as serious as I would've like it to be, but at least its something. We shall see. Adios!

Reflection 11

Mikolaj and I were unable to meet up this weekend. Luckily, my mom baked a paleo apple cake to bring to my grandma's house on Sunday. It called for both coconut flour and almond flour in addition to coconut sugar. These are low carbohydrate substitutes for white flour and sugar. Coconut and flour is not my favorite to bake with because of its taste, but the cake turned out well.

Reflection 11

Last week was great.  I went to the gym and lifted weights.  I was also able to go outside and run twice.  My time for my 3 mile improved and I'm feeling much better as a runner.  Recently,  I've been sick and haven't been able to exercise.  Hopefully this won't set me back to far, as I plan to go the gym again when I return to school.

Reflection

The past couple of weeks, I've been having trouble focusing and allotting time to my twenty percent time. With AP exams and lots of other work, both in and out of school, I haven't been able to go to the gym that often. However, my sister has been visiting recently from school since she is on her co-op now, and together, we do different exercises and health beneficial things together. We exchange ideas on health and wellness and talk about techniques for different workouts. For example, we do yoga and running together and discuss the different techniques for squats. Even, she and her boyfriend have given my advice onto how  how to approach different people at the squat rack. Despite this, I am looking to find other goals in this twenty percent time. Not only is this a challenge to work out  but it's also a challenge to the endurance I have to keeping my routine. Even in the difficulties and obstacles expereinced throughout the week, I still must focus myself. For the next week, I am looking to find different motivation to keep my motivated and focus on this twenty percent time. It's a true testament to myself and my dedication, which I will need to improve.

Reflection 11

Sorry this is late! I wasn't in school on friday and mother's day weekend got really busy. On mother's day, my sister and I made my mom a healthy breakfast and then went on a hike! Last week went well. I worked out a lot, especially focusing on legs and abs. I still run, but not as much, mostly because of the heat. I've been trying to get over that and just focus on putting in some distance. Basically, I have been doing the components of fitness, but not at the same time which is what my goal was. Hopefully I can get that down in the next month.

Reflection 11

This week I spent learning the software I'm using to create the game. This software is called unity and it is a free service used to crested 2D or 3D applications. It's a lot harder than it seems because it includes 3 different C languages and as of right now I only understand one language. So beginning next week I should be able to continue on with my project. Since I have a good enough understanding where I won't look at my laptop for 15 minutes and think what is this.

Weekly Journal 11

         And once again, life gets in the way of my guitar lesson scheduled for Saturday. Unfortunately, I had to spend all day Saturday cleaning up the mess left by the construction workers who are working on my house. A session was unable to be rescheduled considering that today (Sunday) was Mother's Day. Due to such events, I was unable to practice the song and I was simply left looking at tips on how to tune my guitar and reading chord charts. I really hope that next week will be much better. That's it for this week and next week I hope to actually practice my first song and make a significant improvement.

Reflection 11

  This week, I spent much more time writing the text and branching story of the game itself; as previously said, I've learned everything I need to have learned in order to code the basic text-based game, so I am holding off on learning more JavaScript until after the project is over and the game is completed.

  Although I wrote much this past week, most of the text ended up being trashed. Soon into writing my 19th-century-esque story of espionage and intrigue, I realized it was a little more complicated than expected. As such, I decided to switch to a more generic adventure/story/game based on a crashed spaceship. Without the use of chance-based events that are affected by players' items and choices, I decided, it would be far too simple for the plot to work. As such, I spent this week writing a far more generic game about the crash of a spaceship. Now, however, I begin to realize that the story is a bit too generic; I am having trouble focusing on it and, if I cannot keep myself interested in a story of my own creation, how am I supposed to engage the player (would they be 'readers' in this context? Food for thought). As such, I feel now that I should move back to the original plot idea (of which a decent amount has been written), and focus only on the story such that I would be able to make progress while returning later to add random number generation and statistics.

  I am satisfied with the speed of my progress this week, and feel confident that I will be able to work at a similar pace and actually have the work count for something in the coming week.

  Until then, until then!

Reflection 11

A new marching band season is ahead, and practices have been keeping me on my feet, literally. It helps since it keeps music on my mind and let's be not forget what I've learned for the past decade. It's also nice to get feedback on my song from the people there, both the students and the instructors.'

It's another week of production. I've added a few more measures of music, and I plan on spiffing it up to make it sound nice. I feel like it will be almost done, since it really shouldn't be that long. Maybe i'm over thinking the song, believing that it should be the best minute possible. But that's just me.

I guess that's it really. Can't say much else.

Alex out.

Reflection ii, 11

I completed chapter iv today and I started chapter v today! The original plan had eight chapters, but I merged iv and v, so technically I finished chapter iv and v and started chapter vi. At this rate, I may be able to finish the entire story in two weeks from now. My motivation is still strong because I really want to finish and share this story to the world. I currently have one person who is reading over the first two chapters, but I have not gotten a reply yet. I am looking for more people, and I have at least three people in mind.

The tidbit of the week: the chapters are short (and because of that, it's hard to think up things that may spoil the plot)

Reflection 9

I dedicated this week to finally picking the songs I want to use for each type of dance. My friend has agreed to help me with the choreography as she is a dancer and my choreography is not the best at the moment. I hope to film the Jazz section next week. It is my goal to leave myself the last week before the due date just to edit the video, so if I film one section per week, I should have enough time to edit. I think my budgeting of time is not the best because I have no baseline of how long these sections should take, but I am figuring it out along the way! 

Reflection 11

This week in terms of exercising motivation is getting better. I'm starting to exercise more in the gym other than simply lounging around doing a couple of half-hearted sets on the vertical butterfly machine though, of course, I still do have my days where I still slack considerably, but progress is progress no matter how slow it may be. We're all learning here and I just think I'm learning to overcome laziness a bit slower than others are learning to complete their tasks and overcome obstacles. In other news, I was able to find my old weight set barbell! I'm now able to do some better exercises for a full body workout with my favorite olympic press exercise now at the comfort of my own backyard! Hopefully I'll be able to work more on becoming less lazy over the next coming week. That's all I have to report and I hope you all have a great week!

2nd Semester Reflection 11

This week I made Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper-Feta Sauce. I found the recipe to be pretty difficult, and the dish didn't come out as great as I envisioned. However, this was a necessary experience; sometimes my dishes won't come out perfectly, and I need to accept that. Hopefully on future pasta dishes I can use my experience this week to improve the quality of my dish. While I wasn't thrilled about this week; I was happy that I can use the experience as a lesson, and can draw positives out of the experience. However, next week I am making a light, fresh, exciting dessert: Banana Cream Pie Smoothie. This recipe uses low- fat yogurt and fat-free milk, so while it should be delicious, it will also be relatively healthy for a dessert. I can't wait! Until then!



Banana Cream Pie Smoothie
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/banana-cream-pie-smoothie

Reflection 11

This week, I learned the next five letters of the Hindi alphabet. I think I am getting the hang of writing the alphabets, but I still need to improve. After I wrote/ traced the letters five times each, I closed the book and wrote out the whole alphabet from the beginning to see how much I remembered. This method works pretty well because I know what I know well and what I need to work on. Next week, I will learn the next few alphabets.

Reflection 11

"The Climax?!"

          So last week I planned to implement a schedule for this week and it worked pretty well. I missed two days so i didn't draw as much as I could have but I did more this week than I've done in a while. This week I drew in 22 more panels. I believe there was only one other time where I drew over 20 panels in a week and I think that was 21 so this is a new record! My goal for next week is to break this record (by sticking to the schedule). And no, that isn't the climax.

Reflection 11

This week was not as successful as I had hoped. I practiced the around the world however I still can barely get my foot over the ball while it is in the air. I have watched many different tutorials to see how else I can improve but I think this trick is just going to take patience and persistence. Also I am going to try practicing the move with cleats rather than regular sneakers so that hopefully it will become a little easier when juggling the ball. I hope to at least get my foot over the ball in the air this next week.

Reflection 11

This week, I thought I would take another break from braiding because I decided braiding each week would be overkill, so I dedicated this week to doing more research. I also searched for more inspiration by looking at examples of what other people (with skills far better than mine) have done. I started off with the latter and looked up different ways that box braids can be styled. This was partially for the project and also for myself because I'm getting my hair braided for prom and needed ideas for how to style my hair. Then, when I got home, I watched some videos on YouTube on how to do box braids and more on how to style them and care for them.

Reflection 11

     I've progressed a lot this week! I put a lot of effort into working out continuously. I did a bunch of ab workouts and strength training, along with aerobic exercises. I've also started researching what foods are better for the goal I am trying to accomplish. Now, I try to include foods like nuts for healthy fats and other high-fiver foods to lower my cholesterol. I still make sure to avoid junk food and I have upped my intake of veggies and salad every day. I still have a long way to go though to improve.

Reflection 10 & 11- More food

Once again, two reflections in one. I have taken up all of the past two weeks to make even more food. Originally it was going to be for a contest, but I changed my mind. Here's a lot more of the food I worked on. Thanks to all of this, I have really grown to like working with a mouse (rather than a tablet, or traditionally)

                               

                              

once again, please no stealing, these are my images and the like! (shoutout to ms.schreiber who keeps reminding me to put a disclaimer)

Among others we have here:
pancakes, wurst, churros, fairy bread, pizza, pretzels, kebabs, pierogis, taco, taquito, waffle, flan, hamburger, fries, fish and chips, and a fortune cookie. The two I missed in the first picture I literally can't remember the name of, one is a soft dessert from India, and the other is a cabbage leaf wrap from Turkey.

I made these with the intent of creating a poster with a 'World Food Day' theme!

Semester 2:
Reflection 9

I have learned and gone through the instructions to create a "lineart" from the manga page that I posted a few weeks prior to this. I am currently converting the manga page that I have saved on my computer. I'm going to use this to have make into an outline like picture where I will use several layers to color in the manga photo. After that I will be done with the picture because it will become completely color in and will be of my own photoshop created color image.

Reflection 11

When I first started this project back in September I thought of myself as being able to look cool and juggle. I thought about that until I saw this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP8tbLBls_M

This was the most insane thing I have ever seen in my life. Being able to perfectly throw and catch all of those balls, rings, or clubs is not human. I thought I was good a catching balls from football and that i had somewhat good hand-eye coordination. Compared to Anthony Gatto I look like a 2 year old. I can barely master 3 balls imagine how long it took him to do that. Honestly, it makes me feel pretty suckish that he is so much better at it than I will ever be but that is just life. Someone will always be better than you at something and you have to respect that. I completely envy Anthony Gatto and all other jugglers as good as him. Maybe for my presentation at the end of the year I'll be doing what Mr. Gatto is.

Reflection 9- SUSHI??

WOW

I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO PROUD OF MY WORK

HECK YEAH

HERE IT IS

THE SUSHI 

SOME SOY SAUCE

EVEN WASABI AND THE PINK THING???

CHOP STICKS???? OH YES

ONIGIRI

I should hit up some sushi restaurant and offer to make them a menu with these

Color pallete is based off black and red

These are mine and mine only please do not steal thank you.

Reflection 11

This week I had a lot of time on my hands to work on this project. I think I benefit way more from the method I decided to use of watching videos before doing yoga. It helps me relax during the process of yoga and allows me to focus more on my movements rather than averting my attention to a video.
I don't think I've really seen any signs of improvement in my ability to do yoga, and I'm not really sure that's a thing. I know your flexibility can improve, and I've seen some minor improvements in how far I can stretch but other than that everything is basically the same. Maybe I'll try to step it up this next week, because I've been just basically doing more floor poses and definitely more breathing. Also, I think instead of doing a video for multiple days, I'll do a video a day. So the 30 day yoga challenge that I found I used the videos for each day as a multiple day kind of thing, but I think I'll step it up a notch and do more.

Reflection 8- Going off???

I can't do the same thing for a while, so I stopped. I edited over 5 whole photoshoots during the past few weeks, freelance photography be like, and now I need a break. So, I decided to start working a bit with illustrator instead, doing some practice with digital drawing. Thus far its going great, and I'm making lots of food out of pixels. The only good kind of Chef I could be.

Reflection 6 & 7- HYAAAAAAA

As I try to be more creative with my titles, I try to be more creative with my editing. I did a lot of LINK editing, all included here as one post because it took me about two weeks to find time to do them all. So, here we go:

The second picture was a pain- I did a lot of work with creating shadows and having to edit the lighting on the photo. I'm really happy with the quality of the photo though, kudos to my past self. 

And Navi, the little blue fairy in the top picture was also made by me. I can't find my original drawing, its hiding somewhere in my files.

Once again, these photos are mine and I claim all the right, please no stealing and the like! :)

Reflection 5- Photoshop brush party

A lot of this week was me cleaning out my computer to make room for more photoshop brushes. I downloaded a lot of snow, blood, smoke, and other ones to mess with in the future. Most came from googling it and finding some on Deviantart.com, and all give permission for commercial and personal use. I need to make sure to save where I got them from just in case. Getting the brushes to work was a bit of a pain, but after some googling and calling a friend, I got them all in.

Reflection 4- Editing Specifics

For the next few weeks I plan to pull out a few specific projects and work on them. Today I did a little editing with Jack Frost and snow.

The most important thing with pictures is being able to crop right- I'm looking at this a bit later and noticing a lot of places where I could have improved it, but for a first snow job, I think it's alright.

disclaimer- these photos are mine

Reflection 11

Shwelp I have reached a conclusion. I am most likely not finishing the initial project I set out to do. My song is still not finished, as my source kinda didn't work out much. I'm struggling with this alot more than I thought I would. It seems I've put too much on my plate this half of the year, and maybe I need to step back and think a bit more before making all these decisions. Per the moment, I'm just going to try to finish this song at the very least. At least I have something done to show for my work. Thanks for sticking with me for this wild ride! Good evening and Good night!

Reflection 10&11

These past to weeks i have been drawing on people and its been really fun. I have learned and i have countless mistakes. I have learned to not make people laugh because that makes a huge mistake LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. I have also learned to not sneeze and to make sure my hands arent sweaty. Finally make sure i and the person go to the bathroom!! Although there have been many failures the successes make it all better.

Reflection 11

This week I finally got some free time on my hands and was able to go and practice my free kick curving. I used Andrea Pirlo's technique on Tuesday and I practiced by myself, so I didn't have a goalkeeper. Therefore, I didn't record at all because I feel that without a goalkeeper it's just not the same. There's not someone in the goal who is trying to stop the ball, so I have nothing to base the judgement of my free kicks on. This weekend is definitely going to be dedicated to shooting free kicks, as I completed my research paper in English and I have some time.

Reflection 10

Looking on youtube, there are a tone, and I mean hundreds, maybe thousands of drawing a car tutorials videos, whole channels dedicated to them. I think ill try following a couple of these tutorial so I can get a feel for drawing irregular shapes in perspective,and then I'll move on to more complicated pieces, meaning custom creations. Maybe even a plane. Who knows?

Reflection 11 (I think)

I'm writing this one early because I know how the next few days are going to go for me regarding this project. I had two AP tests this week, so that consumed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for me, and I'm going camping this weekend with the girl scouts so I will be gone right after school on Friday until Sunday afternoon, and I have another AP test (my hardest one) on Monday. And I also have make up work due to missing class from the AP tests, and packing, and other stuff to do. Needless to say, my 20% project has been at the very bottom of my priority list so I haven't worked on anything related to it, and I definitely won't have any time to work on it until next week. Sorry to disappoint!

Reflection 9

This week has been a slow one, so I spent some time watching videos and doing lazy doodles, nothing overly amazing. i saw some very interesting two point perspective videos on Mark Crilley's challenge, and i think I'll go that direction. I think I will do a sort of garage, with something in it. Maybe a train or a ship or a car.

relection 11

Now that there is nice weather, I've been spending a lot of time outdoors. I haven't spent much time on my 20% project in the past week. However, since I usually just walk around during co and do nothing, I will start bringing my sketchbook to school and drawing whatever I can during co. Even this upcoming weekend will be busy, I am determined to work on drawing eyes and improving as much as I can. Looking at the calender I see there are about 5-6 weeks left before finals, which should give me plenty of time to finish everything I mentioned in my last reflection. I'm still excited to see how much I've improved during all of this.

reflection 10

I went to the doctor and received a diagnosis. I've been taking medications for my problems. I also started walking again and eating again. I try to eat three meals a day whether it's rice, a sandwich just SOMETHING because snacks alone arent good. This week I am going to try to go the gym again regularly like I did before

reflection 9

I haven't been eating at all. I have like one major meal a day-- and it's usually very unhealthy. I've been going through a lot of things and I really feel like it's affecting me and this project. But I'm going to the doctor this week to see what's up/

Reflection 10

So after speaking to my teacher I discovered Etsy can be an option for my selling issue, Etsy is an online selling website much like eBay and includes merchandise that is handmade, sold by people just like me! I did some research and decided to make an account with the website to see how soon I will be able to put some of my jewelry online. According to the site, in order to start my own"shop" I have to pay .20 cents for every item I place for sale and then once these are sold 3.5% of the profit goes to the website. After reading these conditions I realized 1) I'm going to be spending more money in order  for these products to even go on sale 2) I'm not going to be earning the full percentage of the profit. I have yet to place anything for sale because I have to look over my options and my budget. So far however Etsy is looking like a good option.

Reflection 9

I'm unfortunately a week behind on my reflections and so this tells me I haven't been focused on my task like I should be. The start of this project excited me and of course I still love making the jewelry but I'm not quite sure what to do next. I've been continuously practicing on my free time and although it has been a hard and slightly costly journey I'm still glad I chose this as my twenty percent project. Getting my items to be sold has been a harder challenge than I imagined. I have been making some rings and other small things for some family members and a friend or two but I would never ask them for money so my "business" has yet to take off. I'm still going to have to figure out to fix this problem but for the mean time I'm still making some small pendants.

Reflection X

So this week for 20% time I got a lot done. I finally started the animation program which I didn't think I would get to until next week. It is pretty simple what I have done so far. Basically I just wrote var draw { and then put all of the code making an object into the brackets and then I can make it slowly get bigger over time. Also I learned another thing where I can connect the mouse movements to the color thing. This allows you to color the drawing by moving the mouse around it. I can also have it change colors depending on where the mouse is moved. Thats all for now, animation is fun, bye.

Reflection 10

It was just another week of lifting weights.  Everyday I went to the gym and worked out.  I did not do much cardio because this week I really anted to focus on lifting.  I only ran once over the weekend. Fortunately, it was better than my previous runs, so it just proves that I am becoming a better runner.

Next week I will still continue to go to the gym and lift, but I will try to run more outside of school.

Reflection 10

This week I feel like I accomplished a few things. I was able to download a software that can help me create my app a little bit easier. With this software I was able create a few characters but they appeared as boxes not the images I intended them to be. So I'm going to have to research what I did wrong with those characters before I move on. This week after I fix the characters I intend on assigning them their roles and creating the terrain/background.

Reflection 9&10??

So, I forgot to do my twenty percent last week, so this will be an update of two weeks.

Last week, my new oil pastels came in the mail. It is a set of 25 Erengi Art Aspirers.  I tried them out with a drawing of an apple, and they're great! Way better than my old ones I had, they are much softer and I can actually blend with them. I also drew a picture of a desert sort of which turned out alright. It is much harder to get used to oil pastels than I thought, because you really aren't able to put as much detail into a drawing/painting. I liked the apple better than the desert. It's also tough when I'm blending another color such as white into a painting, and random spots of color get on the white pastel, and then if I try to use it in another section it makes a smudge of that color. I'm actually enjoying this project though, and it's definitely much more low-stress.

This week, I didn't have quite as much time to work on my twenty percent project. However, I did start a drawing of a waterfall. It's not turning out great so far, but I'm playing around with the effects of different techniques. For example, if I blend the colors with my finger stroking a certain direction, it creates a different texture than if I go in another direction. Unfortunately due to AP's and stuff, I'm not sure how much time I'll be having to work on this in the next week or two, plus I'm going camping next weekend, but we'll see.
I will post pictures of a bunch of drawings at a later date, since some of the drawings aren't done, and it will be more efficient to do more at one time.

Reflection 10

This week Mickey and I helped out his dad. He bought steaks, fresh spinach, and russet potatoes, and Mickey and I helped with the preparation and cooking. The potatoes were the easiest; those we just wrapped in tin foil and put on the grill. The spinach we seasoned and threw in a pot to cook them down. The steaks we also only seasoned with salt and pepper, and those we put on the grill and checked periodically. I am personally afraid of burning myself on hot things like grills and ovens, so even opening the grill scares me. This was a learning experience for me and helped me overcome my fear a little bit...and, not to mention, the results of our cooking were very satisfying. :)

Reflection 10

(My laptop's currently out of my possession at the moment, so I'm trying to send this via my phone; my apologies if it doesn't upload properly.)
   This week went rather swimmingly; despite several projects that were assigned and due, I did manage to get a decent amount of writing done for the game. Working solely in text is a little difficult, as I want to describe everything in as much detail as possible but don't want to use so much text as to bore the player. Nevertheless, the story is coming along decently, and the Twine program I'm using to plan it out seems to be functioning properly. Twine also runs JavaScript, apparently, so I don't need a seperate launcher to begin testing the code when that stage is reached.
   I don't want to spoil too much, and don't have any passages worth sharing that don't potentially spoil the plot; this coming week, I plan to do much more writing and will most definitely have so shiny fun worth showing in this blog. Until then, I'll work as much as possible on the story for the game, and perhaps begin reading out loud to better train myself and ready myself for the presentation.
Until then, until then. Have a great week, everyone (or no one; whomever's reading this. Probably the latter.), and praise the sun!

Reflection 10

Sadly once again, I have not made much progress. I have made Saturdays my review day for reenforcing previous lessons and exercises. I practiced my four short simple songs using the major scale and finger dexterity exercises yet again. However, today I had been unable to continue onto new lessons because it was the last day before the due date of my final for the English research paper so I dedicated most my time to major revisions. I promise to do some lessons throughout the week to make up for lost time. It seems that teachers are starting to wrap up their lessons in preparation for finals.

Reflection 10

This week for my 20% project has not been the lost productive week. I did not have a lot of time to practice at all. I was busy with projects and frankly I have barely been home to practice this whole week. However I did make a big change of what I am juggling. Before writing this I tried out something new to juggle: golf balls. I was watching a few YouTube videos on juggling and one guy said he learned the easiest using golf balls. It makes sense because they are smaller than tennis balls which makes them easier to catch. This is a lesson on how sometimes change can be beneficial to your goal. So next week I will try that out some more and hopefully have more time to practice.

Reflection #10

I'm going to be completely honest and say that this week, I accomplished absolutely nothing in the world of twenty percent time. It has been a very stressful week with that May 1 college decision deadline hanging over me every day. I still could have found time to draw, so it's not really an excuse, but drawing and twenty percent time just didn't cross my mind. This coming week, I am committing myself to draw at least one thing that I am satisfied with, on top of other attempts.

Reflection X: The One With a HIIT and a Miss (See what I did there? Haha, I'm not funny)

Yooooooooooooooooooooo- sorry, I was excited. I may have gotten Taco Bell again today. In other news, I did convince my mother to buy me a set of five pound weights, which is unfortunate because I should be using at least ten pounds. Anyway, my fitness class has started Project Adventure so I can no longer lift during class. I think I'm going to start putting my YMCA membership to use and take advantage of their gym (and possibly a personal trainer?).

I have noticed a teeny change in the way my abdomen looks ... I'm starting to really like the way I look in my clothes, and I've started running in just shorts and a sports bra. Yay, self esteem!
PICTURES WILL BE POSTED NEXT WEEK

As promised, here's the HIIT that I practically live by. Notice there are no burpees? Yes, that's because I don't believe in torture. :)

20 lunges (10 each side)
50 crunches
10 hip bridges
20 high knees (both sides=1)
25 squats
1 min. plank
30 calf raises
30 sec. water break
30 mountain climbers (both sides=1)
15 scissors (both sides=1)
20 butt kicks (both sides=1)
25 plié squats
15 push-ups
1 min. wall sit
300 jumping jacks

*Keep in mind that I work my body to certain extremes, and if you're looking to try a HIIT you should adjust this or find a different one because if not, I guarantee you will not be able to finish it without cheating. Don't cheat yourself; adjust it.
**Also, make sure you aren't doing the same HIIT everyday. You need to change it up. Don't let your body get used to any schedule- you won't be working your muscles and therefore won't be benefiting.

I have noticed that my reflections get a decent amount of page views and no one is leaving me comments ?? C'mon, guys! I'd really love some feedback, or a question, or advice, or really anything.

Reflection #10

20% time this week I prepared dinner for my family and my girlfriend. This entire week I was craving steak so I decided I should make it on my own on Saturday. So I went to Wegmans and purchased NY strip steaks. Right after, I researched a bit about what type of steaks there are and what methods of seasoning there are and how to prepare it. I came to the realization that it is so important how you cook the steak. I learned that the thickness of it can change how long you should grill it for. Well I took the measurements and followed the guidelines that it showed me online and made the steak. I prepared it with only salt and pepper so that the taste of the steak will be noticeable. Moreover, I grilled them medium rare since that's the best way to cook a steak to. To accompany the steak, I had a baked potato and spinach. The baked potato was fairly simple since I just wrapped it in tin foil and threw it on the grill. The spinach however, was much more difficult. I had to cook it. I also prepared it with garlic and olive oil and some salt and pepper. Overall I think I overcooked it. Next time I will know not to leave it on for so long. As far as it goes, I think the dinner was a success. The steak was cooked to perfection and the potato was yummy. I'm proud that I was able to make an entire dinner, learn about food, and use it as my project all at once !

Reflection ii, 10

I completed yet another chapter, so I am 3/8 done with the story. I cleaned up my outline so I could easily follow it when I type up the rest of the story. To get a head start on editing, I recently sent the first 2 chapters to someone who agreed to help me in this project. I am currently waiting for their response, but I also plan on editing those chapters myself. So far, everything is running smoothly, and I hope that it continues to be this way. The next goal is to complete chapter 4 and editing chapter one. I will make this story come to life!

And now a small tidbit of the day: this story has maybe 3 characters that intentionally have no names revealed. And it will never be