Welcome to Creativity in Multiple Mediums

 One might say too many mediums.

Yesterday, I was given an hour to talk about my creative projects. My many, many, many creative projects in multiple mediums. I was asked by the leader of the Writer’s Group which I joined in New Jersey and have been able to stay in contact with (after moving several states away) due to Zoom. 

Naturally, I put together a presentation in PowerPoint that I breezed through in 30 minutes. This included my reasons for why I try so many different creative outlets (it boils down to boredom) and some examples of my work. I had a short diatribe on where I post and share my work (i.e. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Comic Fury, etc.). I even included a slide on transmedia storytelling (the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies.) - something I have dabbled in, but found overwhelming to do on my own - to show how knowledge in multiple mediums allows flexibility and a layer of interactivity in creativity.

Somewhat coincidently, I went to a meeting of my Art Club earlier in the day. 

Normally, the Art Club I go to is a free time for creative expression. Everyone brings in their work in progress (as long as it’s not too messy, we do meet in libraries) and spends a few hours chatting while being creative. Drawing, watercolor painting, and digital art are some of the more popular artistic choices. However, we have our fair share of knitters, cross stitchers, and collage makers.

Typically, I work on my digital blackout poetry project - turning every page in Jane Austin’s Northanger Abby into a blackout poem (see example not from the collection below).

I'm pretty sure this is an example from the novel Phantom of the Opera

This week, we had a theme. For two hours we took turns posing and being models for figure drawings. The shortest poses were held for 5 minutes, while the longest were held for 20 minutes. I held a seated pose for 10 minutes. Sketch books were out. Some people only used pencils, while others had charcoal, pastels or watercolors. Three of us (myself included) were working digitally - two tablets, one computer.

I still work with physical mediums like canvas and paper. I love turning my pictures into paintings with watercolors and acrylic. However, I’ve also been using digital mediums for a while now. 

Technically, the majority of my written works (including this blog) are in a digital space. I may still outline on pen and paper, but my final short stories and blog posts are created on my laptop or tablet (rarely, but still possible, on my phone). My webcomic started as me drawing in pencil and pen on paper and then scanning onto my laptop to post, but is now 100% done on my tablet.

I'm just not as good at drawing on my tablet, like I am in one of my sketchbooks.

At the beginning of my presentation for my Writer's Group, I stated I wasn't sure why I was given a whole hour to talk - that seemed like too much time. I ran through my slides in 20 minutes and reiterated my thoughts. 

And then the questions and requests came in.

The wonderful people listening and watching my presentation had loads of questions and wanted me to drop links to my social media pages. I showed them my webcomic (The Mighty Detective Mortimer & Lou actually does come up first in my Google search), my food blog (Cooking with Spirits), and my art/poetry Facebook Page (AJ's Corner of Cyberspace).

Needless to say, I filled that hour up.

I also have my cross stitch, knitting, and crochet projects (some of which I need to finish sooner rather than later). 

I admit, having all of these projects is a lot. And difficult to juggle. 

As I've gotten older and busier, I've found that balancing all of the projects is getting tougher and tougher. At some point, I will need to let some of these projects go - especially the long term ones that I've been working on for nearly 10 years (see this blog). It'll be hard and emotional to say good bye to them.

But if I want to keep evolving as an artist and writer, I have to be willing to move on to the next project.

I know I mostly discussed my art today, but I am also an avid writer (see my two blogs - you're reading one of them) and have published several short stories and poems in different literary magazines, zines, and anthologies. I'm not stopping writing any time soon, which adds another level to my creative balancing act.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

P.S. You may have noticed that I didn't mention anything about video production or music. I have actually worked in the visual medium space and have zero desire to turn it into a hobby (even vlogging sounds like too much work). Music is fun and I can (kind of) play two instruments (my family may disagree) and was in a music sorority in college, however, it is also an expensive hobby that I can't return to for a while.

Welcome to being Multilingual

Do you know someone who speaks multiple languages? Do you want to write a character who speaks at least two or more languages? Well, here’s my experience as a multilingual person who is trying to keep up the skills they’ve gained.

I very much admire people who can speak more than one language with little trouble. The skill to speak many languages is tough.

I speak roughly three languages to varying degrees. I also understand some of a forth language - though not enough to make it really count. 

Naturally, as I am writing in English, I can understand it. It’s my native language.

English even popped up a lot outside of English speaking countries (this picture was taken in Iceland)

The other two that I consider myself knowledgeable in are Spanish and Japanese. I began learning them at an early age. So early, that I learned a few things first in them instead of English. Heck, I didn’t know the American Pledge of Alliance in English until I was ten, but I can still recite it in Spanish.

Now, I’ve never lived out of the country, so I picked up these languages from my family and at school. Actually, a lot of my friends growing up could speak two or more languages. The area I’m from was very diverse and it wasn’t unusual to hear two or three languages shouted out in the school hallways. 

I also studied these languages in school: ten years for Spanish (to the point where I often still think and dream in it) and two semesters of college Japanese. Which is why my confidence in them is fairly strong. 

However, it’s been so long since I’ve been in school that some days I worry that I’ll become so rusty, I’ll forget how to speak them. Thus, this year I decided to try practicing in them at least once a day. I’m using a language app (Duolingo) to keep up practice. Though I have also read Spanish books and watched TV in Spanish quite a bit (Telemundo was one of the few consistent channels I got in New Jersey and they showed some good movies). Trying to find similar ways to practice with Japanese has been a little harder for me.

Having the recourses to practice languages outside of school is a great blessing. I can still understand and speak Spanish well enough. While, my Japanese has improved enough that I’m confident in writing in it between myself and my cousins - though I would hate to be asked to speak to someone outside of my family as I am not nearly that confident in practice. 

Now about that forth language...

Years ago, I began learning Portuguese as my roommate at the time was Brazilian. Her family came to visit one holiday season and most of them (particularly her mother) didn’t speak any English. Naturally I took it upon myself to learn a little Portuguese to try and make them feel welcome.

Learning Portuguese wasn’t too hard (not like learning Japanese which has a completely different grammar structure). It’s very similar to Spanish and there are a lot of words that are pronounced the same. I was doing alright with my learning. My roommate thought the app was hilarious and took it upon herself to teach me the Brazilian pronunciation of words.

The challenge came when I tried to speak with my roommate’s family. I would start in Portuguese, get confused or stuck, and switch into Spanish. Also, I found the only phrase I could get out when I was nervous was basically: “I like this.”

I know my roommate and her family appreciated my efforts (they told me). But I was still embarrassed by my poor attempts.

It’s intimidating speaking a new language. Though that hasn’t stopped me from trying. In fact I have a lot of similar hilarious examples of me either trying to speak or understand someone and thoroughly messing up.

Remember how I said that I learned somethings first in a language other than English? Well, I seem to default to thinking my directions in Spanish as that’s the language I learned them in first. This caused a horrible crisis when I was in the middle of a Japanese language exam where I was supposed to be telling the teacher how to get to the library. My mind kept switching from Japanese to English to Spanish, then back to English, finally ending in Japanese. Eventually I got stuck in Spanish and I began freaking out in front of my Japanese teacher... in Spanish.

Thankfully, said teacher also spoke Spanish and could calm me down. I also kept apologizing that all I seemed to be able to think in was Spanish and couldn’t even find the right English words to say (which would have lowered my grade). 

And yes, when I’m trying to speak Japanese, I sometimes switch into Spanish. Just as when I sometimes want to speak Spanish I’ll start thinking only in Japanese. 

Then there are the times where I think I’m following a conversation and it turns out I am way off the mark because I’m confusing a word in one language for a similar sounding word in another.

My Brazilian friends tried to speak English around me as much as possible (not that I minded - it’s easier to pick up a language when it’s spoken around me), but sometimes they’d forget that my Portuguese was terrible. One night, I was near my friends and kept hearing a word that my brain translated as “purple”. So, I stopped and asked them why they were talking about the color purple.

Spoiler alert: they weren’t talking about the color purple.

The word they were saying sounded like the Spanish word for purple, but actually meant boyfriend. They had a good laugh at my expense, I blushed and took the humiliation in stride.  It they didn’t want to discourage my curiously and happily explained my mistake.  I enjoy telling this story from time to time as an example of how to help a person who isn’t a native speaker speak your native language.

Learning new languages is tough. Your friends who can speak multiple languages have an awesome skill. If they mix something up or forget a grammar rule, it’s probably because of all the languages floating around in their head (seriously Japanese grammar is no joke). Don’t make fun of people who try to speak English, at least they’re trying.

Finally, if you want to write a character to be believably multilingual, have them make lots of silly mistakes like forget the word for snail and call them a house less slug or mix up the grammar or substitute two similarly sounding words that mean entirely different things. (A good example in English is the word sheet, my poor fifth grade Spanish teacher always had a room full of laughing ten years olds when he told us to take out a sh*t of paper).

If you’re interested in learning a new language or practicing one you think has gotten rusty, check out an app or a game. There are lots available on Steam and in the app stores. I picked Duolingo because it has exactly what I need to keep practicing, but there may be a better option for you.

Happy practicing.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Movie Magic

It's been a movie marathon weekend for me. I started with treating myself by seeing "Thor" in theaters Friday night. I spent Saturday watching calming children's movies like "Song of the Sea" and "Muppet Treasure Island". Today, my friend, Krystle, and I have been enjoying our Halloween movie marathon part 2 (several weeks after Halloween, but hey I love watching Halloween movies any time of the year).

Picture from "Metropolis"

The movies have a magic all their own. They tell us stories about romance, fantasy, superheroes, historical events, and tragedy. There's action that gets our hearts racing. There's epic music that helps us empathize with the characters' emotions.

If books nourish our imagination, then movies allow us to see the imaginary as reality.

The first movie I remember seeing in theaters was "The Lion King". It was big and epic.  I remember how awesome it felt to see that movie on the big screen. My young mind was blown.  (I also might have fallen asleep right before the end.)

Movies, much like books, can teach us important lessons and influence how we see the world.

I finally understood what death was while watching "Little Women" with my mother when I was three or four years old. My mother loved "Little Women" and would take every opportunity to watch the movie whenever she could. She enjoyed having me watch it with her...until Beth died.  I experienced an epiphany.  I realized how permanent death was and that one day mommy and daddy would die. My poor mother spent the next few hours trying to console me and get me to stop hysterically crying. I remember my dad coming home completely confused.

I've never been able to watch "Little Women" ever since.

There's a great tradition of passing stories down from one generation to the next. Whether the story is told orally, is written down, or is up on the big screen doesn't matter. Parents and guardians love sharing their favorites with their children.

My parents love watching movies with me. 

My dad would watch "Star Wars", "The Goonies", and every Disney movie available with me while he worked on his trains in our basement. I don't know if I would have ever seen half the movies I have without him. Whenever I go to visit him, we watch movies. Our favorites are usually old war movies like "The Dirty Dozen" and "Kelly's Heroes".

My dad was also responsible for me becoming afraid of spiders after talking me into watching "Arachnophobia" when I was five. I had really liked spiders up until that point in my life. The movie pretty much killed my interest in them.

My mom introduced me to a lot of black and white movies like "Some Like it Hot", "The Thin Man", and pretty much every Carry Grant and Betty Davis movie ever made. She got me into fast-talking comedies with strong women characters like in "His Girl Friday" and "A Philadelphia Story". It did take me a lot longer to warm up to these movies (young me thought that only movies in color were worth watching for a long time), but once I did, I fell in love with film noir.

I'm not saying that movies are a better medium than books or audio or stage plays. Just that movies have a special place in my heart and tell entertaining stories. They aren't always good, but then some books aren't good.

While typing up this blog post, Krystle and I have been watching "Psycho". Krystle has never seen "Psycho" and might be one of the few people who had no idea what the twist ending was. I enjoyed listening to her theorize and speculate on what would happen next and who the psycho was. Her reactions to the dramatic moments were priceless and I got a real kick out of her gasping at the sudden changes in music when a murder was occurring.

We're moving on to the 1939 version of "Dracula". This should be fun (insert evil cackle).

The magic movies possess is wondrous and unique. We feel so many emotions while watching the story play out. We root for our favorite characters and sometimes hope the ones we hate die horribly (especially the annoying teenagers in slasher movies). We bond over our favorite movies and laugh at the bad ones.

One of my favorite quotes about movies comes from the Disney Channel Original Movie "Phantom of the Megaplex". Mickey Rooney's character tells the two main children that movies are a magical experience, even after children grow up and learn that there's very little that's truly magical in our world. It's a quote that has always stuck with me and thinking back on it makes me smile.

"When we arrive in this world, magic is all around us. You simply have to see a baby discover a butterfly or a toddler splash in the bath for the first time. Yet, as the years pass, simple pleasures aren't quite so simple to find. Myths and legends fall away. Santa's secrets are revealed. Card tricks lose their fascination. True wonder is hard to come by. But there's always... magic at the movies. Pirate ships, bicycles that fly, angels earn their wings, beautiful women marry handsome men and we all learn there's no place like home. To destroy that magic, to shatter those moments to me is a sin so grave it would almost be incomprehensible! If there truly is a phantom, my friends, I assure you it most definitely is not me"

Until next week!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Information Overload

I don't think it's any coincidence that my chosen day job profession is as a Market Researcher. I love doing research and information gathering. I able to learn make better choices.

Of course I might go a little overboard with my research on occasion.

I have a hard time making decisions and choices if I can't count for every possible variable. Since many of these possible variables are unknown, the possible starts to turn into the impossible. It sort of feeds into my own fears and self doubt. It's the primal fear of the unknown (well in my case unknown consequences of my actions).

It doesn't help that in this day in age, there are more sources to obtain information. The Internet is a wonderful tool that allows all of us to find out about obscure facts, the best restaurants, and places to go. We're able to document our experiences and promote the things we like best to a wider audience that generations couldn't. We can do this instantly.

Not only can we find out about world events we might not otherwise hear about on the news or facts that might not be taught in schools, we are also exposed to many new and different opinions. Behind the anonymity of our computer screens, we can engage in discussions that we might not otherwise have participated in.

The Internet often feels like the ultimate freedom of expression.

The downside to all of this information is that it can be overwhelming, easily taken out of context, and extremely misleading. Many of us are already seeing the effects of this.

Bias is always present in any source of information. The phrase "history is written by the winners" can be found in almost every history documentary. Facts and numbers can easily be manipulated to show the outcome that someone wants.

That phrase "there are two sides to every story" has also been tossed around a lot. I think this one in particular is too simplistic for the reality we live in. There are usually dozens of different perspectives each based on past knowledge and future outcomes.

What does this mean for me as a person who needs as much information as possible to make a decision?

Well, it can mean that it takes me far longer than necessary to make choices, perhaps a missed opportunity, and the constant feeling that what ever choice I end up making is the wrong choice. It creates a need for perfection and a fear of failure. It makes me constantly compare myself to my peers and those who have already succeeded, while I hesitate to take the next step in my own life.

There's a lot of information to be gathered. There are a lot of things I still need to learn. I will continue doing research because it's what I do best. However, I'll have to work on stopping myself from becoming overwhelmed by all of it.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To The Joys in Reading

Believe it or not, there was a time when I hated reading. I didn't see a point in it. If I wanted to know what something said, I would ask someone to read the message for me and tell me. I know now that that is a foolish thing to do (people can lie after all). It wasn't until I was in the third grade and spied a book with a young woman and a scary looking cat on the cover that I became interested in books.

I've been going to more book signings since moving to New Jersey

It might be a bit of a stretch to suggest that "Nancy Drew and the Clue of the Tapping Heels" was the book that finally got me interested in reading (I liked several books as a child, but the needed to have pictures), but it was the gateway book to many other mystery novels including the "Cat Who" books by Lillian Jackson Braun and anything related to Agatha Christie.

It also helped me to enjoy many other books my school assigned me to read. I still maintain "To Kill a Mockingbird" was the best book I read my freshmen year of high school. "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry" is one of my all time favorite books along with it's squeals "Let the Circle Be Unbroken" and "The Road to Memphis".

My mother was the one who got me into Harry Potter. Someone recommended it to her as a great children's book. She read the first three out loud to me and my sibling. By the time the fourth book came out, I had finally started reading on my own and would steal the book the read ahead. One of my aunts found me hiding behind a chair at my grandmother's house late one night reading the fourth book.  Apparently I begged her to keep it a secret from my mom, which she did. Now that I'm older, my aunt loves to bring that story up whenever Harry Potter is mentioned.

When I went to Japan for six weeks, my aunt insisted I read as much as possible (and work on my penmanship). I found that I enjoyed "Lord of the Rings" (regardless of how much the first movie scared nine year old me) and the Lloyd Alexander books. I was encouraged to read as much as I could and to ask for help if I needed it. The only book I had a really hard time with (and have still never finished) was "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".

Despite all of my personal struggles with reading, I found that I really enjoyed it. The struggles and feelings the characters went through were similar to what my young self was going through. I enjoyed being able to solve the mysteries well before the main character (or detective) did. Through reading I could be anyone and go anywhere. It helped me develop an active imagination.

I usually bring a book with me to the beach

Then I started reading nonfiction books.

One of the first nonfiction books that I remember liking was assigned my senior year of high school, "From Heaven Lake", and was followed by "Iron and Silk" a year later in one of my freshmen classes. Both were autobiographical accounts of people visiting China, going on a journey of self discovery.

I have since read more nonfiction books. Currently I'm reading a book about Introverts and before that one about Buzz Aldrin going to space. Nonfiction books aren't that different from Fiction books. They still tell a story and you are getting the author's point of view. Both teach the reader something (whether the reader accepts or agrees with the lessons is up to them).

Reading is very important. Most of how we communicates is through written words be they emails, blog posts on social media, or just a random meme someone texts you. They all convey a message. Some of us find them funny and others find them outrageous.

Some platforms limit you on how much you can write at any given time. Twitter is especially good at limiting the amount of text a person can use to express thoughts and arguments. Memes can help draw attention to a message, but can also limit a person's ability to see a whole picture. The message the reader needs to understand can be lost due to the limitations of the platform.

That's not to say a message needs a million words to drive a point home. Too many words can leave a reader confused or bored (like when Tolkien goes on and on for two pages about the scenery and you just want to get back to the action).

Like every good thing in life, there needs to be a balance.

I read because I love the adventure and the new points of view I am exposed to. Yes there have been books where I have screamed myself hoarse because of some stupid action the main character took (my entire junior year high school class had a lot to say about the protagonist of "Like Water for Chocolate"), but at least I understood where that character was coming from.

I'm not a mind reader (and I really hope I never become one). Reading has become just as important as listening in the age of social media. It's easy to share a post from someone you agree or disagree with. It can be harder to interpret the original author's tone (sarcasm in particular is hard to detect through written words alone).

I love reading and writing. I've learned a lot from opening up many good books. I don't always understand the world around  me, but reading other people's opinion's helps me to understand where they are coming from.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this blog (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now I have a book about ghosts that I hope doesn't give me nightmares tonight.

Welcome to Packing For a Trip

I wish I had enough time and money to travel the world. I would love to say that I've been on every continent. If I had thought about it, I would have tried to travel more when I was still a student. Unfortunately I didn't. Now that I'm no longer a student, it's harder to find the time (and sometimes money) for travel. Most of my traveling time is used to go to visit family (or moving because I've been doing a lot of that too). I've also traveled for work, which carry an entirely different set of rules than when traveling for fun.

I prefer to travel by car. Though long road trips can be taxing, I can pack everything I need. I don't have to worry too much about what I pack (as long as I remember a change of socks that is) and I have plenty of room to fit all my luggage.

If I can't travel by car, then I usually go by train or plane. I like taking the train for short trips. There really isn't a lot of room for big bags unless you are going from one of the big stations, but it's a lot more relaxing and I can read while the train takes me to my destination. I traveled a lot by train when I lived in Maryland. It was convient. I've even taken the train from Washington D.C. to New Orleans. It took 13 hours and I hardly got any sleep, but it was so much fun.

Traveling by plane is probably my least favorite (I'm not talking about boats or ships today because I haven't taken many to far away places). There're a lot of hoops to jump through and it's very expensive. Packing for a plane trip is also a pain. I don't like checking bags because of the fees and horror stories about loosing luggage. It's always a risk that the flight will loose a bag, even if it's not actually that big of one.

Packing can be the biggest challenge of any trip. I usually make a check list for each day of what I will wear and then add one or two more shirts, an extra pair of socks, and a few other pieces of clothing just to be safe. I never know when I might have a fashion emergency. If I can get away with not having toiletries, I don't bring any with me.

If I'm traveling for work, I make sure I have very nice cloths (even while en route to my destination). I keep my laptop in an easy to get to location and I try to arrive early. Going to visit family is easy because they usually have anything I might forget at home (sorry mom but it's true). Though holiday travel can be difficult with how crazy everying is.

Traveling for pleasure is very different. I have a very long check list of things I need to bring with extra space in my bag for souvenirs and gifts I buy along the way. I can't forget anything because it'll be expensive to replace (like chargers or shampoo) or I have to do without entirely (my glasses for instance). If I'm traveling by plane I need to make sure I don't have any banned items and to remember to check in 24 hours in advance.

The list seems endless.

My mom just might be the master at packing bags for flying though. I don't know how she did it, but my sister, mom, and I lived out of one bag a couple of times. It was so we have an extra bag free for he things we brought on the road.

Traveling is expensive, but I'm always happy when I can. Whether to reconnect with family or explore a new place, I find I have a good time. Sometimes I learn new things, other times I'm just there to relax.

Until next week and may the wind always be at your back.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Lessons Learned In My Mid-Twenties

One of my friends was kind enough to remind me that both of us are now in our mid-twenties. Well, we've been there for a little while already. I just had never really thought that that much time had passed. I mean I still get carded when I go out with a group of friends.

Anyway, my friend got me thinking about everything that has happened so far in my life. I haven't done a lot of things, but I've still managed to do a lot. I've had my ups and I've had my downs. I've also had to do a lot of reevaluations of what I want out of life.

Some of my hardest lessons have come with tears and hurt feelings. Other experiences are so amazing, I sometimes have a hard time reminding myself that they actually happened. Life isn't easy, nor is it a straight path. There's rarely a time when my long term  plans haven't been drastically disrupted by something I didn't account for.

Throughout all of this, there is one thing I know for sure about myself and that's that I am a life long learner. I want to learn new things. I want to understand how things work. I'm also notorious for learning things by putting my head through a brick wall (metaphorically of course).

I've done a lot of learning since graduating and moving out. Most of it good, some of it not so good, and then there's the occasional so terrible I don't want to leave my bed ever again bad life lessons. The only thing they all had in common was that they were lessons I needed to learn, for better or worse.

One of the best lessons I've learned in my mid-twenties is that change is going to happen, whether I want it to or not. I've moved four times in the last 5 years. No I don't recommend doing that and one was very unexpected. However, I was able to discover that I can handle these types of changes a lot better than I originally thought I would.

Another lesson I am happy to have learned is that it's okay to not have a significant other. There seems to still be a lot of pressure in our society to pair up. I am perfectly happy single and  when/if I do find a significant other, I hope I'm happy in that relationship too. Otherwise it's not worth getting into.

I've learned that pride and arrogance are not only dangerous, they can also be destructive. I don't really want to get into this one too much (especially with the current state of affairs around the world politically). I'm also not talking about the kind of pride that drives me to work hard. I'm talking about the kind of pride that leads to arguments and lost friendships.

Learning that you can't be friends with everyone was a tough lesson. I don't think I'm alone when I say it's nice to be liked and to like other people. That doesn't mean that I can get along with everyone else and hey, maybe there's something (or a lot of things) that I do that really annoy other people. Some people find it charming and others discover they want nothing to do with me. Trying to not pursue a friendship when it's a lost cause was tough.

Probably the most important lesson I've had to learn is that no one is prefect and that's okay. This is similar to learning that it's okay to fail, but different I feel it's different enough to be it's own lesson. Failure implies that I made a mistake and can correct it later to achieve success and by extension perfection. Maybe it's a silly association, but I really struggled trying to separate the two. I understand now that I'll never be "prefect".

Huh, I got really personal with this post. Maybe I should have learned some of these things a lot sooner than I have. I don't know if anyone else has had to learn these lessons. What I do know is, is that I still have a lot of learning to do. Figures crossed, nothing too dramatic happens.

Oh, who am I kidding, I never learn anything without putting my head through a brick wall first (again metaphorically).

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome to a Language Barrier

Because why only know one language?

Americans seem to be stereotyped as a people who only speak one language, American English. I wouldn't say that's an accurate stereotype for the Americans living along the Eastern sea board (or at least northern New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and New York). There are a lot of different people and cultures.

My roommate is Brazillian. She speaks Portugese and English (and I think she also knows Spanish). A lot of her friends are also Brazillian and though they also speak English, their friends and family who come to visit don't. This can lead to difficult conversations.

Today, I went to visit my roommate, who has been working at an Itallian cafe (it's a neighborhood cafe in Nutly New Jersey). A friend of her's was also at the cafe with her family visiting from Brazil. Everything that we said to each other had to be translated. I really wanted to be able to communicate with them, but I didn't know enough. I even accidentally said "good morning" instead of "good afternoon". 

My roommate's family is coming to visit and I don't want to sit there awkwardly while they're staying here. Therefore I've decided to learn Portugese. 

It's not the most difficult language I've tried to learn and thankfully I have a background in Spanish that helps a little bit. That doesn't mean Portugese the same as Spanish. I'm already noticing a lot of differences between the words. It does mean that the sentence structure is familiar and I can figure out a lot of the vocabulary with context clues. It's easier than learning Japanese (and some of my family members have been trying to teach me Japanese since I was young). 

I've been studying Portueges by using an app call Duelingo and listening to my roommate and her friends speak. So far, I can understand a little bit, but whenever I go to say something, I almost always end up saying something in Spanish. 

But I can't give up. If I want to be able to master a new skill, I have to keep practicing. 

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I like hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now, back to the studying.

Welcome To The Learning Curve

Careful It Can Change Without Warning...

I like to think that I know a lot of things. I understand that I am young and still have a lot to learn, but I tend to be under the illusion that I know how to do normal adult things. Key word in that sentence: illusion. Sure I know how to cook food and drive a car, but there are so many additional components that add on to the "cook" and "drive" action. For instance I do not always know how to fix broken components on my car, but I do know when I need to seek professional experience (or most of the time I do). I also am perfectly capable to cook an egg, but might lack the knowledge that if you put a lid over the cooking egg it might explode. Did you know it might explode? I didn't either until yesterday, but it wasn't that traumatizing.

Some things I have learned since starting out:

1. Things will break because they are old, not just because you did something stupid. In this case I call the apartment maintenance people. If you have any questions about why I suggest this, see any of my post about my toilet situation.
2. There is very little you can do about electrical and gas prices, but you can always find ways of cutting back on usage. When I was at school and in my parent's house, I didn't worry about silly things like heating bills and would hardly notice when people would change the thermostat. I happen to like my world a little on the cold side (though with this winter I'm looking forward to swim suite season more and more). I didn't always remember to turn it back up when I had people over and they would end up shivering.
3. A lot of things are expensive. It's not just the gas and electric bills that can be high. Everything is paid for by yours truly now. I have to budget and keep track of my spending. It's tough, but so far I've been successful with it. If I really want something I have to make sure it either fits into the budget or I have to save for it. Maybe I'll do a "How to save in the first year of starting out" for those who are curious as to my method.
4. Making friends is hard especially people your own age. I'm not kidding, unless you are moving to a place where you already know people or there is a great social life just waiting for you (read any major city in America), you might have a hard time figuring out how to make friends in your area and aren't at work. I finally found an Anime club to join and have been going to church. My area isn't exactly hopping with activities for people just out of school and I'm a bit shy about meeting lots of new people right away.
5. You will continue to find out about things you never knew you didn't know about. Hand washing, how to fix the circuit breaker in you apartment, anything bad that can happen to your car, all of these things I never would have thought about before leaving home. I had other people to do these things for me (wow does that make me sound like a spoiled brat). Anyway, now I'm learning all of these things for myself. Some of them are hard to manage (finding a dentist I trust for one). Others make me feel real accomplished for learning how to master (hand washing).

Some of these things are hard to learn (and I'm notorious for learning things the hard way ). But with some patients, a little trial and error and a whole lot of luck, they can be learned and put into practice. I enjoy learning new things and this list doesn't even count the things I'm learning from the work environment. So the next time someone asks a question you feel they should already know, please stop and take a second to consider where they are in life and then help them to understand why its important they learn these things because I'm pretty sure I blew off a few of these lessons in my school days. Thank you for reading.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please leave a comment or share it with your friends, family or worst enemy. I enjoy hearing back from my readers and I hope you enjoy my posts. Until next week.

Welcome To Do It Yourself

It's okay to ask for help...

I like to think of myself as self sufficient. I know that isn't always the case, but in my mind I could go off the grid if I had too. I enjoy working with my hands and love the feeling of burning muscles after a long day of manual labor. Perhaps I chose the wrong path by getting a job where I sit at a desk most of the day, but I do like my job. 

I like being able to fix things and enjoy learning alternatives ways of doing a task (see my post about hand washing my cloths, I've actually expanded my practice). This weekend, my college roommate accidentally blew a fuse in the kitchen while making breakfast. When I went to go pay the rent I told one of the handy men and he came down and showed me how to fix it without getting someone else. It was pretty easy, though a little different from the setup I was used to back at my parents house. It was nice to know how to fix it, however the circuit breaker is in an outdoor closet where spiders like to hang out in the summer. I think that will encourage me to not blow a fuse.

I still have toilet problems every now and again. A few weeks ago my toilet decided to flood my only bathroom in a magnificent display of exploding water. It turned out that one of the hoses that fills the tank had come loose and was spraying water in the wrong direction (as in into my bathroom instead of into the tank). I was able to jury rig the toilet to stop it from spraying water everywhere, but still called the handy men for help. They took another look at my tank and said that what I did was correct, but since my toilet was so old they were going to have to replace much of the tank anyway.

Honestly, I think most of the handy men know who I am. I tend to be a little paranoid about my apartment since it's my first place and I don't want anything to happen to it. I also tend to ask them questions when they come to make emergency repairs and they don't mind showing me how to fix it either per inanely or until they can either replace the part.

I feel the maintenance people at my old college should have done something similar. I lived in a house on campus my senior year and we managed to have to call the maintenance people several times (once for blowing a fuse because we used two microwaves at the same time). They always kept the door locked to the area were the fuse box was and wouldn't let us see how they fixed something. I'm not sure if they were worried if we'd break something or if we'd hurt ourselves, but it would have been nice if they had explained to us what to do in these situations. Well at least before we caused significant damage. Of coarse we knew to grab a fire extinguisher for fires (or just get the hell out of the building), but simple plumbing and electrical problems were not covered in how to live in a dorm 101. Should they have been? I don't know, college students aren't always known for respecting the place they sleep at night. It still would have been nice to know what had been going on.

Eventually I would like to be able to fix any problem that I might run into in my own home. Right now the internet is a great resource. Watching Youtube videos is very helpful. However I think the best way to learn how to do so,etching is to physically fix it myself. I'm going to keep learning how to fix things (maybe I'll get to my Wii someday). It makes me feel like I've accomplished something.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please leave a comment or share. I love hearing from my readers and hope you find my life's journey as entertaining as I try to. Until next week readers.