Day 10 + Beyond

Obviously, since this is the last day of my camp, I can't say much about what the future holds for this blog.  I do know that there is a fair amount of future left for me, and that's a good thing.

The experience of YWiC for me has been good.  Despite the complaining and the homework and the criticisms and the rest of everything else, it has been good, and overall I'm very glad I did this.

So, an average rating of my camp based on all of my previous scores is 6.4, but in lieu of camp being over and my short term memory loss of how I felt that day, I feel as if that rating is a little unfair, so I decided on another one, also including the lessons I learned and the importance of camp and also how good it was to actually do things each day and...

My overall rating of the entire camp: 9/10

Why 9/10?  Well, I had a bad first day, so only 9 out of 10 days did I feel the things about camp that I still feel now.  If my first day at been as great as the rest, it would be 10/10.  Every first day is rough and that should have been expected.

I assumed, on the first day, that because I tried to be confident and friendly, people would suddenly stop the path that they followed consistently through my entire life: ignoring me entirely.

Well, that didn't go to plan.  So once I dropped the assumption that my fellow campers would actually like me, things went better.  Because then when they did like me, it felt great to be part of a group.  Trying to be friendly doesn't work.  Trying to be confident and not shy, also doesn't work.  Excellent advice for all future campers: Try to be yourself.  People will still like you!

So here, in lack of anything really moving and significant to say, because I fail at such things, have a moving and significant camp video.

Yeah, you know you want to click this link.

For any future campers, those things they said, about being creative and passionate and optimistic, they are telling the truth.  It's easy to feel that way with a bunch of girls around me who feel the same and are willing to work and laugh twice as much as me.

It is a good experience.  Let me stress that some more with unnecessary fonts and things.

It is a good experience.
It is a good experience.
It is a good experience.

• It is a good experience.

1. It is a good experience.

IT IS A GOOD EXPERIENCE.

I want to personally thank everyone who reached out to me and made this experience great!  This is to everyone who participated in YWiC, and especially my friends, Charlotte, Kassie, Jenny, Kayla, Galen and Stephanie!  Everyone is just awesome, okay?

So here's my emotions right now:

*obviously I don't own these images*

Thanks again to everyone and I can't tell you all how much it meant to me that all of you and I had this great experience together.

I promise I'll try to keep in touch, but if you want to contact me, I should have opened up a questions box.  That, or leave a comment and I'll get back to you with my e-mail or facebook or tumblr, whichever you'd like!

Goodbye!  This may or may not be my last post!

Day 9

So today, in a word, was pretty sucky.  Not the problem of the camp itself, but rather... computer issues.  Which brings me to the blog prompt of today: I must convince someone why computers are a important part of my life.

Well, I'll start with a list of everything I do with computers, and then I will detail why doing those things on a computer is a lot more efficient than doing those things without a computer.

1. Art.  I can draw with a tablet on a computer, just like a pencil, and it doesn't require so much money and supplies to create full paintings of any size I desire.  I can erase and undo, which isn't easy/possible with traditional art.  I can adjust colors in post, and I can use layers.  And even when I don't want to draw with my tablet, I can use a mouse to create miniature drawings called pixel art.  I use a variety of programs to create art including photoshop, GIMP, Paint tool SAI, and MS Paint.
2. I write my stories.  I don't have Microsoft word, so I use Microsoft Works, which is literally a free-with-Vista program and therefore cheap and efficient, and I can type over seven thousand words and two hundred pages, without worrying about the cost of ink or of paper.  And as many times as I want, I can erase and fiddle and fix and everything.
3. I use the internet to entertain myself, to talk to friends, to get updated on the news, to read stories written by other young unpublished authors, to provide support, to sign petitions to make a change.  I know even if I didn't have a computer, I would still stay inside as I do.  I wouldn't  be able to do any of that if I didn't go out and be active.  Also, I can feel more confident behind the semi-anonymous face of a computer, where people cannot judge me based on my looks or how I talk, or how stupid I can be, because behind a computer, I can evaluate my actions and hide the parts of myself I hate.

That may not seem very important, but it is.  Those things are things that help me keep going, even when school and life makes me feel awful and invisible and unreal.  Those are my fantasy and they are provided for me through a computer.

Enough of that depressing nonsense, onto more interesting things.

Mom, this trigger is all for you.  I'm going to talk about the Hunger Games.  Don't read this.

 So here today was Hunger Games day!  Which means "Nightlock" berries and homemade garlic bread and the movie playing in the afternoon.  Sweet.  Although I almost cried watching it from the corner of my eye.  I can't watch that movie without crying a bit, I think.  I've only ever read the first book, because the way the book ended, it was so final.  I never knew there was a sequel until someone mentioned it to me and I couldn't think of a way they could continue it.  I mean, she won with him, right?  They're not going to make her go back.  She can't go back, and so I disregarded the sequels.  Maybe if the movie sequels come out, I'll be inspired to read the books before going to watch them.  Maybe.

OKAY MOM I'M DONE.

So Alice killed me inside today.  It crashed this morning, and it almost took my entire file with it.  I couldn't lose that entire file, and luckily someone had another version, but if I want to get it done by tomorrow, well... it looks impossible.  I think I'll just have to work twice as hard to finish, and it still doesn't look good for me.

I'm exhausted with working with this program.  I should've picked something, anything, easier than I did.  I'm proud of what I've done, but in the time frame, I overlooked what I could do.  I'll try to finish tonight and tomorrow morning and just hope for the best.

*crosses fingers*

Tomorrow is the last day.  I'm excited and sad for it.  I actually found people I would like to keep track of, and the thought that they are going to spread to the winds and I'll never see them again leaves me a little sad.  It's okay though, I've had a lot of practice losing friends and people I like.

My rating for today is a 5/10.

So, until tomorrow!

Day 8

There's no real dramatics to be told: except that the murderer was caught and the victim identified!  Our murderers were Miranda and Noor, and our victim was Lindy, who were the ones my group correctly identified.  Anyway, so we won't know who got the most things right, from the murderer to the victim, that will be revealed on Friday.  I can't wait to see if we won!

So, here we go on things I actually did today.  So, unfortunately I did have time to make this a shorter essay than usual (ha ha Mark Twain, thank you my dearest mother for telling me that) and so it's going to be choppy and hopefully not lacking in the wonderful humor I know you all enjoy.

(For the millionth time, I wrote that as "Humour" because I feel as if the "U" has a purpose, but I was befouled by spell checker.  Well, it's not my fault I live in America and we spell everything differently, but it does make me feel a bit relieved that I have opted out of taking British Literature.)

 First, in the morning, I murdered some whales with my mouth.

It's like goldfish only whales.

Then, I built a radical robot!

Flipping Gymnast

Then, we built another radical robot!

Dolphin OF AWESOME

And then Korean food.  There is nothing quite as scrumptious as delicious Korean food.  Delicious delicious Korean food!

And then Alice.  Oh god, I don't know whether the motion is creepy on a scale that can only be described with the Uncanny Valley.  For those of you who don't know about that, go educate yourself.

 

So, trying to escape Uncanny Valley here, and probably failing, but I am learning a lot more about Alice and computer programming together, so it's a nice feeling to begin to understand the program and how it worked.

So, I feel pretty sucessful and happy today, but also DEAD TERRIFIED OF DRIVING.  On a good day I have heart attacks trying to get the car to move a meter or two going 1 mph, so you can imagine my sheer terror to be driving today, as there is warp tour on town and in campus.  Scary?  Oh yes.  I want to cry and call my mommy so she can drive me home?  Not a doubt.  Will I drive myself home like a good teenager?  Certainly.

Ignoring my mild amaxophobia, today was a good day.  So, in total it is rated 7/10.

Signing out!

Day 7

A misty yet harsh light settles over NMSU campus.  Students quiver in their seats and detectives wearing berets (couldn't find a proper deer stalker in time) with magnifying glasses and finger print kits swarm and crawl over the grounds in hopes to find the murderer.  A classroom is roped off with yellow caution tape, and sirens echo in the background.

So, maybe that's an exaggeration.  But there was a murder, and we at YWiC got to play 'who done it' after lunch.  And, who did do it?  No one knows!  The trial will yield results on Friday and it shall be known who did do it.

My trials with Alice 3.0 are continuing.  It's an epic journey and it's only getting more disturbing.  Lifting arms, who knew it was complicated?  Moving heads, who knew it was so creepy?  I see homework, homework, homework, and now for something completely new and unexpected, homework!

Today wasn't my favorite day but I did enjoy the lunch.

The crime scene was fun, and I enjoy the challenge of Alice, but so far it looks like Lego NXT won't be my favorite thing to do.  Mostly because it looks like very little programming to a lot of building, which I get really frustrated with.

My rating for today is 5/10.  Not good, but tolerable.

I'm a little down because my friend was, so all the best wishes to her and etc!

Day 6

End of yet another day!

I have learned today that I am disturbingly violent when it comes to Sasquatch blood.  Yes, today we all have discovered this: I have way way way too much fun with dish soap and red blood coloring!

Trigger warning: blood

So here we go.  Blood splatters I have learnt go something like this: Farther the distance, the smaller the parent drop, the longer spires.  Isn't that awesome?  Blood is fascinating!  Especially because the viscosity of it is higher is water, so it has fun and interesting reactions.  (Also I painted a house with it)

Which goes to say that the sacrificial draining of the Sasquatch for its blood was put to good use.

Okay, it's safe now.

New friends also, because new campers!

We participated in several team building activities, and one of them included a challenge to fit all of us on a blanket, which would be folded over each time until it got as tiny as we could manage.  The rules included the ability to have a person be carried by another who was touching the blanket, to use half a foot, etc.

So we faced a great challenge: Blanket is too small to fit us, how do we all fit?

Yeah.  That's how.

Now, onto the actual computer-y things.

We started in on Alice 3.0, which is a 3-D digital animation program, so far as I can describe.  I'm working on making a music video with songs from Dalton.  If you understand that reference, I'm not sure whether I'm embarrassed of myself or proud of you.  A mixture of both maybe?

I get the feeling that lots of homework is the name of this game.  To do this project, it looks like I'm going to be putting in several hours every night.  I hope that I don't get red eye syndrome.  I like my eyes looking normal.

Lunch today was sub sandwiches, which were better than I expected, and I tried and FAILED at the oreo challenge.  I don't think anyone understands how distressing that is for me!  I was good at the oreo challenge!

So our prompt (I really did leave that to last) is this: What talent is most likely to make you famous one day?

So I wouldn't say it's a talent per say, because talent implies you're good at it so that's pretty much a lie, but my writing.  I have written a 70,000 word story before, and while I don't measure most of my works by word count and instead I do so by page count, page count is tricky.  In 10 point font, Times New Roman, double spaced, my stories tend to be anywhere from 50-100 pages, with my longest being 200 pages.  I guess if I keep writing, despite the improbability, I could become famous somehow?  I don't know, that's a long stretch.

Today's rating is an 8/10.

Day 5 + Weekend

So I forgot to update on Friday.  To recount: I didn't win any of the contests, I spent a far amount of time dusting for fingerprints, and showed off my bag, and displayed my app with my partner-in-app-making-crime, Lea.

And then the weekend, which I'm so sure you're absolutely interested in what I did, so here's a recap:

• I went shopping
• I made cat eats
• I knitted some more of a scarf
• I ate muffins that my mother made
• I ate cake batter fudge that my sister made
• I ate quesadillas because we have too many tortillas for anyone's happiness.
• I catsat my kitty friends, Mulligan and Bogey.  They're named after golf terms.  Extra points to anyone who knows that!

So, there you go.  Expect another post this afternoon, and a good day to you all!

Day 4

Welcome to Thursday, which is pretty much all of the rest, but with a special twist.  Potterluck!  Potterluck, as in, Harry Potter Potluck.  It involves Burty Botts Every Flavour Beans and a whole lot of other goodies.  My favorite: BUTTERBEER.

Our prompt today is inspired by the Leanin prompt: What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Irony.  Pure, unadulterated irony, considering who I picked as my character yesterday.  Nothing like Tasslehoff and permanent fearlessness to make one consider how one would act if without fear.  Honestly, the question was so loaded that it will probably take me several paragraphs to consider.

First, what is meant by 'afraid'?  Do they mean the never ending nervousness that plagues everyone, wondering if they can succeed or whether they will fail?  Do they mean more specific fears, like hydrophobia or hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia?  Because certainly either calls up different answers to that question.

As for general nervousness, I think I would not try so hard in the STEM fields if I wasn't so concerned that I would be unable to find work unless I worked in a STEM field.  I probably would pursue art or English or both, and I would not be in this camp in the first place.  I do not like math.  I do not like science, but I would rather be eating three meals a day and in a house than worrying about which couch I was sleeping on that night and that really has changed how I experience life.  This doesn't mean that I won't continue to nurture my talents in those areas, just not as much as I would otherwise.

However, fear has never stopped me from doing anything.  Fear has never been a deciding factor in why I shouldn't do something or why I shouldn't be somewhere.  I have never felt that type of fear. 

In regards to more immediate and gripping fears, I have to admit that my phobia is of confined spaces, whether big or large or not a space at all and rather a situation.  This is extended to surgery.  I think if I didn't have this fear, I would be more accepting of all types of hospital treatment.

On to more interesting matters: my day today.

It's not the best day I've had in camp, but its definitely the one in which I talked the most.  I actually spoke to people!  *throws confetti* *throws an elephant* *throws up an armful of doves and rice*

Yes, yes, I would like to thank all my loving fans for this honor.

My LilyPad Arduino bag is coming along. I have started on sewing the speaker, and I have completed the button.  With extra work this evening, I should have the project completed.  The app, not so much.  It's a little more worrying on my part, but I'll work on that tonight more if I can get the password from my partner.

I have realized that pictures are common things to have in these blog posts.  Honestly I have have been treating this all more as an essay than an actual blog.  That is a concern, so have a picture.

This is the background for our app.  Enjoy!

So, today's rating:  7/10.

Day 3

It's officially Wednesday, and that means I'm 1/4 of the way done!  Also-- it's only two more days to the weekend, which is almost as important.

Speaking of which, today means a new prompt: If I could meet any book character, what would I do with them and why?

Well, that's a wonderful question to which there is no short, good answer.  I suppose I would choose Tasslehoff Burrfoot, the kender.  If you understand who that is, we are now best friends.  If you don't know, kender are creatures with a complete lack of fear and no respect for personal property and are shorter than your average dwarf, and Tasslehoff is no exception (except for the fact he has the best tales to tell).  Basically, very friendly, tiny thieves who will alternate between setting powerful wizard gods on fire and stealing your silverware.

1. Although I know many people have already asked and tried to figure it out, I would ask how it was like to feel completely fearless in every situation.
2. Second, we would get into all the trouble.
3. Like, in jail.

 So onto my day today.  My rating first: 8/10.

The music was good as always (although lots more of the Harry Potter movie themes than I expected but that's perfectly acceptable).  I got tons of exercise chasing after beach balls in the morning and the Korean food was exceptional.  I have never actually had Korean food before but it was all good.  And I got in lots of practice trying to get the cookie properly in my mouth from my forehead: IT IS NOT EASY.

My bag for LilyPad Arduino is almost complete, with the exception of the fact I still need to sew things onto it, and also that I need to figure out the program code for the song How To Be A Heart-breaker by Marina and the Diamonds.  That's homework.

The app that I am working on in the team 'Whatevers' is called Bystanders and Burglars, and is an adapted version of Whack-a-mole.  It improves society by teaching a moral code and to always be on the lookout for potential dangers *cough*haha*cough*!

Since I had such a good day today, I'm signing this off with this note: human beings are adaptable and able to make anything feel more like a natural habitat.

Day 2

So here's the prompt: Type a run-on sentence of what all I need to do this week.

I need to update this blog every day at the end of the day, fill out the end of week survey everyday, code the LilyPad for the bag, figure out the main notes for the chorus of Heartbreaker by Marina and The Diamonds, update my tumblr layout, eat dinner, brush my hair, kep up with basic hygiene, write another 30 or so pages of my original story, beta my friend's novel and give her ideas on improvement, rewrite a song to make it extraordinarily violent as to be applicable to my Everquest adventure, drink the tea, eat the rainbow cake before it goes bad, update my fanfiction, read more fanfiction, draw things, draw things that may or may not be applicable to pokemon, clean my room, check the mail, take care of the cats, whose names are Mulligan and Bogey and who belong to my neighbor on vacation, start on my summer reading for AP English 12 and also my chemistry homework for AP Chemistry, and most of all, have fun.  *le gasp!* Okay so that's done.

I think I won that challenge, my friends.

Today, there was painting.  Painting!  In computer camp!  Blasphemy!  I brought in my fabric paints and my glasses especially because of my experiences and my warning.  I also brought in a slice of my wonderful lemon flavored rainbow cake, topped with lemon bars and coated in a sugary glaze.  Jealous yet?  Yeah, I didn't think so.  I have it on good authority that my baking is "okay" but it is well known in my house and beyond it, so much as to say perhaps even INFAMOUS, that I have the ability to kill people with anything food-related that I have participated in creating.

It's a good thing my art isn't like that.

Speaking of art: I saved my picture on another computer and I need to get it back so I can work on it some more.

What else need I say?  I'm surviving this place.  That's magic, don't you think?  Here I thought I would be ostracized from others from my sheer lack of computer knowledge and smarts (it is a well known fact that the stupid blonde stereotype comes from me), but it turns out it's just like school; I may not have made any friends, as expected, but I am starting to relax and assume that everyone else doesn't hate me as completely as I immediately expected.

That's a good thing, so the rating goes up.  Today was a 6/10.

Day 1

Today was my first day at the YWiC Summer camp, week 1.  So far, we have started learning the core concepts of programming, including functions, methods, variables, and et cetera.  This brought us to make posters as well as play jeopardy, which I am extremely bad at.  Jeopardy was never this hard back in AP Euro or AP US Gov, so it may be the subject and not the game itself?

Which brings me to: Memorization is not my strong point.

Then, we moved on towards to a progamming thing for LilyPad Arduino, which is the first sensible thing which happened today.  Finally, code, not people.

Teamwork, also not a strong point.

LilyPad Arduino is a programming type thing to make fabric light up and make sound.  We're designing bags, and I have a basic idea of what I want mine to be already.  It just will require a lot of work and red and pink LEDs.  So far this all is making me miss Webpage Design 2, because it hurts to think that I left so many projects behind unfinished.

Also, of most import: Where do I save things on this computer?  I started in on making a pixel doll on MS Paint in hopes of doing such in break times and during lunch instead of forcing myself to do any socializing.  But, where do I save it?  I'm nowhere near finished.  I'm thinking of saving it temporarily and then e-mailing it to myself, but I would be much happier without the extra work of doing that everyday.

On the most important note of the day: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Yes, as of today I am another year closer to death, and another year closer to the forced possibility of responsibility.  Ha!  Wait, no that's a lie, I will never become responsible, I will just get older and better at faking it.

Best thing of today: music.  I would've trolled with my headphones all day long, but I figured instruction followed the same type of rules; no headphones, no phones, no iPods, no mp3s, nothing that could distract from the educational experience.  I kept my music in my pocket and was rewarded with Pandora over the speakers instead.  Thank.

Today, on an overall scale, was a 5/10.