reflection 8

Although this week wasn't as easy as I imagined it would be, I was still able to find some time to finish my uncompleted drawing. I change my mind on uploading pictures because at the end of this I want everyone, including myself, to be surprised by all the progress I will have made throughout this project. With all the videos I have been watching on YouTube, I kind of want to go in a different direction with my drawings, but I have to stick with what I first proposed. I still have plenty time, so I think towards the end of this semester, I will start drawing more abstract things utilizing the techniques I've learned with drawing normal people. I'm working on time management, and this week it has gone well. I'm hoping I'll be able to keep it up so I can have the greatest outcome for my final product.

5

Spring break is coming up and I think I'll finally be able to get things back to  normal again. I just hope my teachers don't assign a whole bunch of projects. Time management is definitely important, I dont want to just work out a little.. i'd rather not do it at all. However i do go for a "power walk" after school for like thirty minutes which is what my teachers have recommended.

week 4

I have been struggling with time STILL. I have so many tests to study for and it's just so overwhelming I've been putting aside this project.

reflection 3

THis week I ate food regularly. I ate breakfast, a snack around 12:00, lunch after school and then dinner thirty min before I go to bed. The main struggles I've been facing is making time to workout. I feel like there's just so much going on right now in school that I have no time or motivation to workout

Reflection 8

So far this week hasn't seen as much effort like last week, probably because of the transition from no school to homework and tests. Mostly this week, I just focused on other things besides yoga(sadly).
I was thinking of actually getting a book of my own because I know basic information, and I know the asanas, but I'd like to understand the history and growth of it more. I like reading information out of a book anyway, rather than the internet and I think I can get more out of it.
As for the asanas(yoga poses), I really like the channel that I found on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. She makes it very understandable and enjoyable.
So, I plan to hopefully buy or borrow a book about yoga, and just get back into watching the YouTube videos and following along.

Reflection 8

MY FRIEND WROTE A MELODY FOR ME!!!!!! So i asked a friend of mine if he would help and he agreed and he told me this week that he has written one for me!!! He just has to record it then send it to me so I'll know how it goes and be able to fully work it out and put it together!!! He is my favorite person right (just saying, had to make it official). So I shall finally be able to push forward with this assignment, record it, film a video and so on and so forth! Yes!!!!! Next week that's what I'll probably work on, putting the song all together. Should be fun! Peace!

Reflection 7

Sorry folks, forgot to post this. It was break during this time, so I didn't really do much for this assignment (hey at least I'm honest about it!) I kept trying to come up with chords, but I ended up getting the melodies to other songs instead. For example I sang my song to the tune of When I Ruled the World by Coldplay and We Belong Together by Richie Valens. It was a hard time, and very frustrating cause you think you have a tune and then you don't. So I've ruled out certain chord combinations, which i guess is helpful. Here's to next week! Cheers!

Reflection 6/7

On Easter, Mickey's mom made polish salads that were paleo, and my mom made coconut flour brownies. The salads consisted of various chopped vegetables and mayonnaise, and some even had bacon or ham. The brownies are paleo because they were made with ghee, coconut sugar and coconut flour. It made a wonderful addition to our Easter.

The next week, my mom had made keilbasa with cooked sour krout and chestnuts. The meat and sour krout were from a Polish store that gets all its food from small, local farms, and the chestnuts were organic. This is a variation on a Polish meal bigos. this is a very healthy meal because the sour krout is fermented, so it has lots of healthy microbacteria, and the meat is organic and without additives. needless to say, it was delicious.

Reflection #7 (Spring Break)

This is one of my favorite meals that we have made throughout all of 20% time. It was a traditional polish  dish that is actually quite difficult to make however I decide to make it because it is tasty, I wanted to educate phoebe about polish dishes, and it's actually paleo ! We made a cabbage stew with kielbasa. The thing is that it was a process. We had to wait for the cabbage to turn sour(I don't know how to explain this term in English). This was very complicated because we needed to keep the cabbage at the perfect temperature and for the right amount of time. For flavor we added mushrooms and cumin. Adding the kielbasa was quite easy because we just cut it up and put it in the pot. However, the cabbage gave me a hard time. What I learned is that sometimes cooking is a log proceeds. Everything needs to go right and it takes time. Some dishes you need to prepare in advance. Ultimately, this dish came out perfectly. It tasted just like my grandmothers. I am very proud of this because I was surprised that we were actually able to make this successfully.

Reflection #6 (Easter)

This reflection is a combination of my Easter progress as well as the flowing week which includes the majority of my Spring break. On Easter I helped my mom make a traditional Polish meal. The reason I chose to digress this week is to experiment with different foods and to add some variety to my project. This meal that I made wasn't paleo. First of all it was roast pork filled with dried fruits. I helped my mom with the entire process. What I learned is that fruits add flavor to the meat. In addition, they add moisture which allows the meat to not be as dry. A difficulty I experienced while preparing this meat was that I had to keep track of the temperature and I had to keep opening the oven and checking up on it. Pork is a typical polish meat that we have on Easter. The reason is because for the entire week we are not allowed to eat meat and finally on Easter (the final day) we feast! Let me tell you it was delicious !

Reflection 7: Spring Break

Over spring break I went on a VERY LONG car ride all the way down to Disney World. With the 20 hours I had stuck in a car i did a bunch of things and one of those things included knitting, a lot of knitting. With all this extra time I just made a brave decision to try and experiment with different stitches and patterns that just came to me. I mean this sounded like a great idea at first but it was very hard to come up with your own stitches off the top of your head. This served of great practice however I did make some pretty cool patterns. I didn't exactly make something, just a very long inconsistent piece of cloth. I'm having a hard time finish things just because of the amount of time each item takes, but when I do finish it, the feeling of accomplishment is pretty cool.

2nd Semester Reflection 7

Over spring break I made potato chips with onion dip. I found the chips to be a lot lighter and less greasy than regular fries, and the onion dip to be a more savory and fresh alternative to ketchup. The chips and dip combined to create a really tasty appetizer. The importance of this week was that I created a healthy alternative to my absolute favorite French Fries: now I can make this delicious dish at home instead of wanting fast-food fries. Because this dish was tasty and light, I will absolutely make it again. I did well over spring break! I made time to create the dish and I thought it came out really nicely; I was surprised by how well the chips and dip went together. Next week I will be going simple: A Caesar Club Sandwich. This sandwich seems lighter and healthier than my standard roast beef sandwich or a burger. I can't wait to try it out. Until then!








Caesar Club Sandwich
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/caesar-club-sandwich-recipe.html

Reflection 7 (spring break)

I unfortunately do not have much to report in terms of progress made over the break, as I did not get around to practicing as I had originally planned. A number of reasons contributed to this. One being that the days I projected would be the time I would spend working on my project became unexpectedly busy with college visits and random errands. However, a bigger reason why I didn't get to work on my 20% project is because my hair was in terrible shape over the break because I became extremely lazy in terms in maintaining it. As a result, my hair wouldn't be manageable until I gotten a perm to straighten the roots of my hair and even out its texture. That perm didn't come until Friday, right in the midst of all the craziness. This week, I will try to all the things I said I would do and talk about any progress I make.

Weekly Journal 7

          I regret to inform you all that I have not had the opportunity to work on my twenty percent time project. I got back Saturday night and since then I have had piles of work thrown at me. However, I already have a session scheduled for Saturday and I'm really hoping to get a lot done to makeup for the time lost. Also, before that, on Thursday during twenty percent time in class I plan on looking up videos, tips, anything to help me really. I can't wait to get back to this!

Reflections ii, 6 & 7 Spring Break Edition

Over the course of spring break, it is regrettable that I have not worked on my project. Yes, I have been thinking about ways to go around the wall that I faced in regards to plot, but there were no ideas. It is quite a challenge to write a story with just one main character; there are many factors that I have to think about: make the character likable, find a way to make the story engaging, and most importantly to teach a valuable lesson that I have in mind. I know other stories with one character, like The Hatchet or The Alchemist, so I need to review those stories again to get tips. A collaborator of mine and I decided to change the beginning of the plot and the backstory the same, so things should finally shift into gears.

I want my future self to read this: please work on writing the story until the next reflection. And continue backing up your themes/etc. If this story comes out, I expect a good analysis!

Reflections VI & VII

Going back to the Friday that Spring Break started on, that reflection VI should have been on, I made a large amount of progress on the project I was working on. I finally got all of the objects into the correct space to make the bird look like a bird and I began to make a background for it. Really all it is is a branch and the rest of the drawing I will probably just fill blue or something. I haven't yet decided what I will do when I finish the current drawing. I will probably move to the making objects move lesson because it seems like fun and then I can actually make something interactive. So, as for an overall report, so far everything is good. It is actually fun to do even though it takes a long amount of time and essentially is just typing lines of code into a document.

As for the reflection 7 being the week of Spring Break I pretty much took off from 20% time because I was never home. For the majority of the week I was down in Salisbury, Maryland, and Ocean City for a bit. So that's why I also forgot to make reflections 6 & 7. This week however I am going to finally start the next lesson in the program and hopefully will have much more to say in Reflection VII.

Reflection 7

Over spring break, I really got time to spend my day however I wanted and that helped out my progress. On most days, I would wake up around 9 and go on a run and then go to the gym. The running really built up my cardiovascular endurance. My gym was also comparatively empty to when I usually go because it was morning and Springfield didn't have off this week. It was good because I was super more productive and I got more familiar with all the equipment and less self conscious. 
Another great thing is the amazing weather lately which opens up a bunch of different possibilities. Going on runs outside is so much nicer than on a treadmill and for me, it makes it easier. At the gym, I've been doing a lot of weighted squats and it helps everything and targets a lot of muscle groups. Overall, everything has been going really well, and I hope I meet more goals as my birthday comes closer. 

Reflection

This week over spring break I got to go to the gym more often. I did some sort of physical activity every day such as going to the gym or running. Since the weather has been really good, I started running outside in the park. I've noticed that when I'm not paying attention to the speed and time I am running at, I travel a lot faster. I ran 4 miles in the loop around Nomahegan park around my house when my phone died and I stopped looking at the time and paying attention to music. Also, I started using different equipment in the gym. For example, I started using the kettle bell for squats and arm workouts. It has been really helpful in increasing my weight without having to wait for the squat rack!!

Reflection 7

I didn't really get to do much this week as spring break was coming to a close. I am still waiting on the ink to arrive and when it does I will begin by painting on myself and eventually on others. On my free time I continued to come up with more designs so that others may choose from a wide variety of designs. 

Reflections VI & VII: The One With a Schedule and Goals

So I missed the sixth reflection and have decided to just combine it with the seventh. In the past two weeks, I have decided to throw out my calorie counting book. It was a waste of time and, quite frankly, annoying. As long as I can approximate my consumption and burn more calories than I'm taking in, I can successfully lose weight.

I promised pictures with this reflection, I know, but you'll have to wait until next week because: 1) I waited until 11:50 pm to write this and 2) my self-confidence was kinda shot down in the past 24 hours. So next week there will be pictures and measurements, even though you shouldn't notice any difference. Personally, I don't think I look any different. Although I do feel different, which is nice. I've started to use working out as a way to decrease my stress levels and adjust my mood, and it's working pretty damn well.

Last week, I promised I'd attach my workout schedule. It does differ from week to week, depending on how much access I have to a gym and also my mood. This week was spring break so all I really got in was cardio and flexibility training. Thankfully I brought a friend down the shore with me, so I was more motivated than usual (otherwise I probably would have accomplished nothing). Last week was a fairly normal schedule. Here's what I try to accomplish each week:
Cardio - 5 days a week
Strength training - 3/4 days a week (working a different muscle group each day)
Flexibility - 7 days a week (seems like a lot but I'm a dancer so I'm used to it)
HIIT - 5 days a week (we do them everyday in fitness class so I really only have to worry about 3 days a week at home)

I think it's good to just have a rough outline of what you want to accomplish every week. Motivates you to reach your goals. I don't know about you, but I like writing down what I'm going to do at the start of the week and crossing it out when I'm finished.

I've been updating my other blog a bit. I'm having a hard time finding the time to, but I usually do it in class. There are a bunch of cool recipes and little workouts that I've been trying on there. Check it out here: http://twentypercent15-cat.blogspot.com/

Reflection 7

This week was spent mainly setting a goal for my app and research to see what the other apps have and what they do not have with them. This time was spent to see if there were any aspects of details that I can make unique to myself. A few of the questions I had to answer for myself were.
What is it going to do? Who is it going to appeal to? What  problem if any is it going to solve, or how can it make life better. I know that it will be for entertainment, appeal to all audiences and genders, and will solve hopefully boredom. Know that I have my research results, this next week will be used for creating a unique storyline.

Reflection 7

This break was a very productive break.  Everyday I had gone outside and done at least some physical activity.  Some days I went on a run, other days I had baseball  practice, and other days I was playing sports with my friends.  All of the exercising I had done has really helped with my goals. It seems as if my running route is becoming too easy for me.  The first time I went running outside a few months ago I had a difficult time.  However, the past few times I ran my route it was much easier for me to finish it.  I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I can definitely feel myself becoming a better runner already.

Reflection 6

This week I finished the remaining levels of code school. A majority of the levels was used to put what you learned to the test and see whether or not you can garner results. Needless to say after completing these 3 levels I wouldn't say I mastered the language,but I built confidence that I can work with it. I feel that having no previous coding experiences that I can work with it and get the ultimate goal of the creation of my own app done. In the following week I plan on beginning the early stages of my app production.

Reflection 7

"Eye Contact"

I didn't make as much progress as I’d wanted to this break but I made progress nonetheless. I drew in 13 additional panels which isn't that bad. I also took a trip to the store to re-stock on my lead for my lead pencil so that shouldn't be a problem anymore. Starting out this project I thought that thinking of the story line would be the difficult part – that’s how it usually is, right? I didn't think drawing would become such a problem. It’s not that I don’t like doing it, it just surprisingly requires a lot of time. That and I suppose I get easily distracted between panels. I’ll try to focus more while I’m drawing. My goals for next week remain the same; draw more panels.

reflection 6 & 7

The second time around, I should have organized myself better to beat procrastination. Ten days off from school is a long time. Although i did not accomplish much for my final project, all this time didn't go to complete waste. I helped my brother with his spring break project and drew people's portraits. Even though, they were terrible, it was somewhat a bit of practice for when i continue my project. This upcoming week should be a little bit easier and the work load shouldn't be too bad, so i will use all my extra time to catch up on my project. I am determined to have my existing drawings completed by the end of this week and I will be sure to put up pictures whether they are actually done or not.

Reflection 6 and 7

Pardon the combination of reflections, my Easter was not exactly pleasant and my six reflection had completely slipped my mind. However, I did practice a decent amount of guitar by the end of break, factoring in the time spent doing birthday related things (my birthday was Thursday). I repeatedly did each one of the exercises, my pinky just refuses to cooperate sometimes, and learned how to play Amazing Grace and Wicked Thing, warm-up songs, the major scale, and am currently trying on some chords. I never did find a good tutorial on All Time Low's A Love Like War, so I went out and bought myself a book of Def Leppard tablature. I'm planning to learn the song Love Bites instead. It's an old favorite. I'm halfway into writing the lyrics of my own song. My heart's really not into it, but I'm trying. I'm mostly preoccupied as of how I'm going to pair the lyrics to music. Will I just end up putting some chords together? I'm not sure how it works. I'll start looking into that once I at least have made it through Wish You Were Here.

Reflection 7

This week, by far, was the least productive ever. I didn't do anything at all except continue to eat healthier meals than before, but that was because of my mother. I really hope going to the gym in school will bring me back on track because I can feel the effects of not doing anything. I feel slightly sick and my back always has a sort of tension between the shoulder blades. Hopefully tomorrow I can cook a healthy chicken dinner and continue with my workouts. I've realized, however, that if I do not have the drive to continue something, nothing will get done. I need to reboot myself, in a sense, and remind myself why I continue this project. Until then, I'll be resting until spring break ends.

Reflection 7

This week I continued working on wire wrapping different stones, and glass for pendants. It's getting much easier to maneuver the wire around the stones I've been getting and I'm hoping to start making some designs not just simple wrapping. I need to buy thick string to use as the necklace and then I'll be ready to start making them for other people! I'm still having issue finding enough stones or glass material to use for the necklaces but I'm going to look at different craft stores this week and see what I can find.

Reflection 7

A week of freedom from school means a week of progress, right? Wrong.

Procrastination all around the bored this time around. Not afraid to admit it either. Doesn't mean I didn't work on the song at all, but I didn't work as much as I would've liked. Too many distractions, especially the computer that I'm typing on right now.

In terms of progress on the project, things have improved. I feel like i've chosen whatever sounds, whatever instruments, or whatever assets that will be used in the song. Since that is all laid out, I can work on the sequencing of the song A.K.A actually making it in full. After that, a bit of rough sound-engineering should do the trick in making the song sound like a hot track... if a hot track means amateur electronica you can hear on Soundcloud.

I've gotten to see first-hand experience of physical electronic instruments on stage at a performance in the Union County Performing Arts Center. The Polish pop-rock band Kombii, who my father met back in the 80s, had a gig there, and I got to see synths and sound-engineering up the wazoo. What makes this more interesting is that alot of the background comes simply from the person controlling the synths, since he controls what loops and plays in the background most of the time, as well as playing regular synth parts. It seems simple to some musicians to create music by the touch of a button, but time was spent to create and organize electronic music, and that is no exception in my case.

Just thought I might share a personal experience during the break. In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflections 6 and 7: The Dual-Holiday Curse and Random Number Generation

   Due to the fact that I was in Albany on Friday and Saturday--miles from any Internet access--and was with family for the entirety of Sunday, I was unable to post Reflection 6 on time; and, due to my stupidity and incompetence, I forgot I had not posted it. I sincerely apologize for this tardiness and my ineptitude, and can only try to improve my response time in the future,
   In more Java-based news, I have accomplished much over Spring Break. I managed to finish several JavaScript lessons; as per the instructions and limited guide, I created a basic luck-based game where the player is pitted against the computer in a high-intensity, dangerous, highly complex contest of rock-paper-scissors. I learned to use the "Compare" function, which compares two values and decides an outcome based on a set of commands. For example, I can compare two numbers to decide which is greater (and by how much). I also learned how to use the function I have long been anticipating: the random-number-generator. Called "Math.random" in JavaScript, the RNG randomly generates a number between zero and one by default, or within any range specified by a programmer. With an "If... else" function, one can decide what the program will do if a certain number is generated (if it is less than 0.125, for example, something will happen; if more, something else will occur). With the addition of this command, I believe I can begin construction of my game. I won't be abandoning the lessons, of course, as I still want to learn how to construct objects; however, seeing as the end goal of this project is to create a text-based game with luck- based components to implement a sense of risk, I can begin working on my first one.
   The random number generator will allow the use of percentage-based events and branching story paths; some choices and decisions will be more risky than others, possibly affected by items or other variables (if I can figure out how to program it). The game will be text-based and rely entirely on story, so I shall begin the story's construction this coming week and possibly the week prior. I shall also need to know what "platform" to code it in, as I have yet to understand what menu to use on my actual laptop to code in Java (yes; I am that out of tune with technology), so finding that out is most certainly a secondary priority. All in all, I am very pleased with the progress made over the last two weeks, and hope that I can continue this trend in the weeks to come.

REflection 7

This week has been unfortunately the opposite of what I envisioned it to be. I expected to go to the park frequently and record however I didn't go not once this whole week except last Saturday (is that even this week?). I've gone lazy and I did not manage my time at all like I should have. I got nothing accomplished and now I'm going to have to spend all my free time (which is little to nothing) at the park, which I didn't want to happen. As of last Saturday, my free kicks have been able to curve at a rate of probably 5/10 shots that I took, most of them being from around 20 yards out. I'd definitely like to get that number to a 10/10 and then move onto the left foot. This week I'm REALLY gonna try to take shots.

Reflection 7

This week because of spring break, I was not able to do much Hindi writing, but I did watch one Hindi movie called Sur. Along the way, I tried to understand the Hindi language without looking at the subtitles. I did pick up some words such as faith and love. I will continue to write the alphabets next week.

Reflection 6&7

I forgot to post last weeks so again I am combining two posts.

This week I performed the elastico in game against one of my friends. It was pretty hilarious the move tripped him up and he ended up falling over to the side. This was really important because if I can do it in a friendly game that means soon I will be able to do it in a real game under pressure. I have decided my next skill move will be the Zidane roulette. I have also watched a few videos on how to perform the skill. Hopefully by next week because of spring break I can practice this move.

This week was pretty good I went out multiple times with friends to practice my skills. After hundreds of trials and slipping on the ball I think I finally got the move down however I have not yet used it in a friendly game so I am not sure how well I would do with pressure. This is very good tho because I almost got an entire skill move down in a week. I also practiced my juggling with the ball and it has also improved a lot since the beginning of this project. My juggling will be important for learning other tricks in the future. For next week I am going to hopefully perform the zidane roulette in a game and look for a new skill move to begin.

Reflection

I'm not sure what reflection I'm supposed to be on, but I think I skipped a few. So I'm just going to give an update of the work I've done over the last few weeks. Since I haven't been able to make it to AC Moore, I decided to try a picture with oil pastels that I already had. I suppose it was a bit of a mistake to make my first serious oil pastel painting a horse, since that's a little complicated. It was really, really hard to blend my old, low quality oil pastels. I guess they shouldn't dry out since they're oil? I don't know. But here's my work. First, I started out with an online photo.

Then, I made a pencil outline (as indicated by my research)

Then, I blocked in the colors roughly.

Then, I attempted to blend and finish off the drawing. Sorry it's upside down. I couldn't figure out how to rotate it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my first attempt, although I am kind of kicking myself for not getting nicer oil pastels. These were terrible to blend and I really couldn't get the kind of detail I wanted. Until next week!

Reflection 7

This week was spring break but 20 percent time was still assigned. To be completely honest during break it was more like about 5% time because I was busy all week. I did find a little time to do it Friday night before I went out. However I was a little rusty from not doing it all weekend and the week. But I'm happy I remembered to do it for that 15 minutes I did it because that little time keeps your cycle going. So this week should be a good week to look forward to.

Reflection 6

This week in 20% time has been a normal one. Finally relay is over so I am not stressed out 24/7 anymore. Now I could practice juggling more than I did before. Trying to juggle relay and this project is like something you have to do in the real world. It taught me how to handle more then one important responsibility. To be honest it is challenging to do that and I guess that's how life is when you grow up.

Reflection 7

This week I've just been continuing doing yoga, mostly in the afternoon or at night. I thought I would be able to in the morning before work but I'd rather sleep in the morning. I'm just following the 30 day yoga challenge by yoga with Adrienne on YouTube, but I'm not doing a video a day. More like a video every few days, so I'll repeat the techniques of a video for a few days before moving on.
I definitely enjoy this a lot, it's not a lot of effort but I think it's a good thing to be doing. It really helps a person relax and take a break from everything else. This week especially has been great because of spring break, which gives me more time to do yoga and relax and just forget about everything. I'm just going to continue doing what I'm doing so far for these next few weeks.

Reflection 6

I realize this post is a week late, but due to family matters and extremely busy schedules I was not able to post on time. However, I was able to make empanadas and egg salad. It took me a while to peel all of the potatoes and fold the empanada crust, but it was an overall success. My working out schedule has slowed down due to lack of time, but I plan to get back into that when school starts again. I've just gotten really lazy and I realize that if I don't fix that, I will not be able to get anything out of this project.  

Reflection 6

I began to try modern dance this week. It is not what I expected at all! Modern or contemporary dance doesn't have specific "basic steps" the way ballet and jazz do. It is very interpretative and uninhibited. What makes it different from random flailing is the precision it requires. It requires much more specific and minute movements than other dance styles to look right! I would not entirely consider myself an expert in the field of "precise" dancing. I can follow the coreography in the YouTube videos, but I think it will be difficult to choreograph a modern dance routine myself. Next week, I will try to improve on my modern dance abilities.

Reflection 6

This week, I continued working on the past alphabets I had learned. Learning from a specific book with only hindi alphabets has helped a lot, but I am still having trouble remembering the past alphabets I have learned because the sounds are similar to Kannada, but there are some alphabets in Kannada that are not in Hindi, so I still need to get used to that. Hopefully I am still on schedule. I am planning to finish learning the alphabet by the end to April or mid May so I could start learning some words. 

Reflection 6

I finally am able to work on my project on the go. Instead of my original plan to put the program on a USB and simply plug it in so it can be used on other computers, I instead put the program on an old laptop that was lying around in the house. The main reason was because the licensing for the program had to be put into the computer registry, which saves information like serial keys and other important program information. Basically, I wouldn't have been able to use the program on other computers without the license being on the computer itself.

Besides that, I managed to add a flowing bass line to the song, albeit rudimentary. It's a bit jerky to the ear, but some modification can make it flow much better. I've been trying to order out specific parts in numeral format, e.g Drum 1, Bass 2, etc. This helps identify what the part it is and puts it in a neater format. This especially helps since i'm not a very organized person.

That's about it. In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 6

This week I can say was a huge success! I was completely wrong about needing better wire and specific rocks to make some pendants. After intently watching more YouTube videos I realized for these types of pendants thinner wire is prefered and although you can make better designs with real jewlery rocks, you can also make wonderful pendants with your everday beach glass or rocks around your house. The picture above are my first 3 attempts at wire wrapping rocks I had around my house. I tried different styles on each one but I realized there isn't just one speficic way to make these pendants because since they're handmade they'll always come out differently anyway.  The hardest part about this task was making sure the wire was securely around the rock so that the rock wouldn't just simply fall off from the necklace as I'm wearing it. Making these dont require as much wire as a bracelete would and I think these are so much more fashionable! I'm hoping to keep practicing so that after I buy some string to put through the pendants I'll have necklaces I can start selling!

Reflection 5

So for the pendants I'm going to want to do I am going to need durable wire and stones. The wire I know I can buy at A.C Moore for a few dollars but finding good sized stones is the biggest problem. From the research I've done the stone should be a little bigger than a quarter and to make the pendant easier the rock should have a whole already so the wire can pass through the secure it in place. I've checked A.C Moore, along with other stores like Walmart but I haven't been able to find any. I know I can buy some online but that will definitely not help my budget. Since I was unable to make the necklaces I want, instead I looked at a tutorial on how to make simple bracelets and made one for my sister using wire and some beads around the house. Bracelets are much easier and convenient but they use way more wire than anything else.

REflection 6

Thankfully, this week I have gone and recorded. I went Wheeler Park in Linden with Jonathan and we recorded for each of our 20% goals (punny). Unfortunately, I was only able to salvage short clips of the practice session at the park because of my camera app malfunctioning. I used the link below to help me when I took these free kicks and I tried to emulate the style shown in the tutorial. I for the most part was not able to completely emulate the style. I believe my run up is the biggest issue but I got one or two lucky shots that were quite nice. If it gets to the point where I can curve/bend the ball perfectly with the my right foot, I will move on to my left foot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYqvAmhxY88

reflection 6

This week I practiced drawing some random designs on my spare time. I came up with some new interesting designs that would be pretty cool to draw on skin. I have ordered the jagua ink and should be arriving in about 2 weeks. This is the ink that will allow me to make the temporary tattoos rather than using a pen. I can't wait to start using the ink and making my drawings a reality.

Reflection 6

This (technically last) week i made absolutely no progress whatsoever. There were a couple of projects due and major tests this week. That combined with homework, i just didn't have time to work on the drawings. I also noticed the week goes by pretty fast - 7 days really isn't a lot of time (at least with this schedule). I could't even make use of the in class 20% time because I had an EMT test to take in the morning. I plan to overdo it for the remainder of the spring break. I need to make up for last week's lack of progress and for any potential (and probable) upcoming unproductive weeks. I'm not going to give myself a specific number but i just want to try to draw as many panels as possible.

2nd Semester Reflection 6

This week I made Lemon Bars! I found them to be light, delicious, and relatively easy to make (I just needed my mom's help with the gelatin). The importance of this week's work is that I am continuing to grow in confidence, and am becoming more and more comfortable with cooking. Because I enjoyed the lemon bars so much, I absolutely plan on making and devouring them again. I did notice that it became easier to work with my materials; no one ingredient gave me significant trouble. I think I did great this week, simply because I loved the lemon bars so much and found a new favorite dessert. Next week I am making "Cracked Pepper Potato Chips with Onion Dip," an appetizer which requires Greek yogurt and has a healthy dose of Vitamin C. I can't wait to try, until then!




Potato Chip Recipe

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/cracked-pepper-potato-chips-with-onion-dip-recipe2.html

Reflection 6

This week during 20% time, I watched a couple of tutorials that taught how to do havana twists, which are essentially senegalese twists but much larger. Though I'm not actually looking to actually do havana twists (I don't have the hair required to do them) I thought it would still be helpful to see how other people do their twists so I could possibly learn some more tips. One video surprising showed me a more effective way to starting off a twist which I hope to use soon. Basically, what she did was take one end of her real hair and one end of the weave and twisted them the same way you do to the actual twist. Then she did the same thing to the other side and then twisted the two strands all the way down. I noticed that it made her twist appear a lot tighter, which is a problem I had before. Hopefully during the break I'll get around to trying the new method on my own hair and when I do, I'll be sure to post pics.

Reflection 6

Now that we're caught up, I can post my newest drawing. So far, it is my favorite. It looks a little more cartoonish than the other two, but I actually like it better. I think I might try to move on to a bit of a different style now because realistic drawings can be a little boring to me anyway. I don't know what made this one come out a little different, because I didn't use a tutorial or anything. I guess I'm just figuring out what works for me.

Again, the hair isn't realistic, but I think it almost works with this drawing. Unfortunately, I can't find the photo I based this on, but if I do, I'll just add it to the post later.
I think for next week going to learn how to draw hair and then move into an even more cartoonish style, possibly using color.

Reflection 5

I am way behind on reflections, so I'm just going to provide updates from the last three weeks in this one. I have been working 20% time, I just haven't been updating the blog.
I finished my first drawing. I think it looks pretty bad and flat, but that's okay because it was only my first attempt.

The line through the middle is where I folded the paper, so I won't be doing that again.
Here is the photo I based it on:

Clearly, the hair needs a lot of work, and the shading looks too soft and not accurate to the photo.

I then began another drawing. I tried watching tutorials to improve, but I feel like I learn better through a lot of practice and trial and error.
Again, the hair looks like a stringy mess, but I think the shading improved a little.

The eyes look very cartoonish and the hands are very strange looking, but I think over all it is an improvement from the first drawing.
Here's the photo I based it on:

I'm beginning to realize that all the mistakes jump out a lot more in a photograph than they do when I'm looking at the actual paper.