To the next Seeing Sideways class...

I will remember this class as one of the best I have taken at IUPUI. My only advice: However odd or uncomfortable you may feel... run with it. This class not only helped my creativity, but on a personal level it reaffirmed where I was going in my career and what I want to do when I grow up.

The atmosphere of the class was one of a kind and I really wish it was like that in more of my classes. This is one of those classes you actually don't want to miss class.

Highlights of the semester:

• people in boxes
• distraction animals
• pink poster board Keanu Reeves
• iPumpkin
• madlibs
• paper octopus

I get most of my inspiration a lot of the times from listening to music. It's relaxing and it can easily put me in a certain mood and help me focus. It's the start of my inspiration. From there I just browse/research what I am wanting to do, not taking anything too serious. I find just aimlessly wandering (the internet) will give me exactly what I was looking for.

To my next classmate:
Pick an artist or an album that relaxes you and as Beth says... do something. :)

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Thanks to Kara for her inspiration blog. Her dog is extremely cute and that made me decide to pick a photo of my furry baby and do something inspired by it. I picked a photo of when I first got her from a local Husky rescue group. I started a blog about her but haven't updated it in over a year. I've always been meaning to give the blog it's own custom design so that's what I did. Her personality totally inspired the design. Heck I even gave this blog my own touch!

I really enjoyed seeing everyone's projects. It does show their thought process and how they see themselves. I am still working on my project on this subject and going to present it as my last project. Every week it seems like it evolves into something better. 

My last project is directly related to this topic so instead I'm going to play a little show and tell today.

I knew this class would give me the idea I needed for my last project. This weekly reflection brought to you by the Distraction Octopus. Yes. I said octopus.

Honestly I can't really decide on what I would like to do for my final project. I could continue and build on my portfolio concept, but I'm not sure if there's something new I'll miss if I do. Hopefully Monday's class will give me clarification on what direction I want to go. I want to make something meaningful, usable and practical but at the same time fun, beautiful and engaging.

I liked this week's class! We were given a huge topic to think about, our final projects, and then told to go play. Don't come to class, don't do work, just do something fun. For me, fun reduces stress and gives you more room to think about problem solving. I still don't know what I'm doing for my final project but I know I want to do something conventional in a  non conventional way. :)

I know what it is. Dylan, the keeper of the answer has the right answer from me to prove it. I know why we were assigned this task. This is something that's a mundane everyday item made in a very unconventional manor. In order to figure out what it is, you needed to use unconventional methods. I'm not going into those methods since this assignment is still in progress.

I did have to send another mail to another student that wouldn't tell everyone his name. Fine. To fix that I just did a scan of our roster, picked the guys it could be (like all of them without a photo) and mailed them all the same mail. I didn't want to give the real answer to them because I have no idea any of them did the assignment.

I really liked the creative things people came up with for our assignment. My favorite was the iPumpkin :)

However, I think I need to clear some things up because people took what I presented the wrong way. Our assignment was to create something. Yea, something is kind of a broad term. My something was a beginning, a starting point. It was the thought process behind a decision I have been dealing with over the past year and a half. NOT the image I created. That's why at first I didn't want to share it with the class because it's not as important as my decision I came to; the thought process behind it. That was created simply as a visual representation of that decision. I was not ready at that point to start designing the look and feel of it yet. Yes it sucks! I know that! But to me that doesn't matter because that's not my assignment. It's a validation to me on the end result of my problem solving.

I call this My Start because I finally have one - a place to start. I committed on where to go from here and I have no regrets looking back. This is the choice I've been deciding over the past year and a half and I have finally taken it. All starts start pretty small, and this is no exception but I have big plans for this. After all, this is what I want to get hired to do!

Yea, OK, I broke a rule of class today. No stereotypes. I should have said "Those men on the video can't dance." It is a silly stereotype, but the ones meant by the rules were the ones that hurt and breed hate. I am pleasantly surprised the class went so smoothly as it did. There was a lot of honest thoughts and opinions on such a touchy and personal subject such as faith, and why it matters most in so many people's lives.

Next week we present something we've created to express what matters the most to us. What matters the most, what drives us in our every day lives also drives what we're doing here, in New Media. I have thought about and observed this very question. What people hold value in is a strong indication in what they reach for in their careers.

Yea, I know, I forgot to post last week's response. This week brought to you by Distraction Kibby and Distraction Snake. Thanks Beth and John.

The quote of this blog pretty much sums up our class. We finished up our fears presentations, talked a bit more about fears and created some hilarious quotes.Props to Justin for sharing a very personal and emotional journey with us. It's very inspiring to hear someone finding the strength to become a better person.

I'm really loving this class. This is such a unique atmosphere between everyone that I honestly wish there was more of in our every day lives. We have people from different backgrounds, ages and beliefs but every week we come together like old friends and are able to express ourselves without the reservations we have in a normal environment.

I can't wait for next week and see people's answers to the question "what matters to you the most".

I think I got the most out of  Kathryn's box project.


The only reaction I got from our fear presentations was when some one lit the corner of a box on fire... with a person inside it. I actually got that feeling and thoughts racing though my mind: What if it don't go out? Will the smell attract someone from outside? What if we catch something else on fire (including the guy inside!).

Of course, it wouldn't catch like kindling, but I've used cardboard to start bonfires before so I know it's not 100% fire proof. It still gave me a little rush though.

I was amazed how the experiment went from just putting a guy in a box to an array of tests thought up by the class. It showed that even though you might design something to go a certain way, it can easily take on a life of it's own though user interaction and collaboration.

Since I was a nub and thought presentations were this week, I don't have the luxury to process the class reactions in this blog. However, I will go over why I think most will have some sort of discomforting reaction.

Fear comes in two parts. One fear we can't control, it's a physical reaction. The other side to fear is one that we create ourselves, in our minds from irrationalities. For example, when confronted by a lion face to face, your fight or flight (fear) kicks in. If you're in the middle of class and think about getting attacked by a lion because you heard one escaped from the Zoo, you will have some anxiety that can lead to fear taking over (even though there's no real threat).

disturbed

So today was... interesting. The topic of distraction was pulled off flawlessly thanks to Gizmo the Distraction Ferret. No this is not a picture of him but I imagine this is what he thinks he looks like. He broke up the serious moments quite nicely by bounding across the room and into someone's bag. Well done Distraction Ferret.

By far, my favorite part of the Indianapolis Zoo is the sharks. I love the sharks they have in the shallow pools you can actually pet. It's as close as you can get to the real thing, but what if technology can put you in, say, a Great White's environment? If there was a room, with huge screens on the walls, and you walk though with your 3D glasses, and you're seeing Great Whites swimming/feeding/etc what seems like right next to you. I guess you could call it a walk-though IMAX.

It's kinda funny how we take one thing we do without thinking, add a different twist to it and all the sudden we become concerned with the details we once thought were too trivial to think about.

Having to walk backwards... um yea.... there's reasons why we don't walk backwards (besides our eyes tend to be on the opposite direction). How much do we take for granted when we walk normally? It shows when trying the exorcise of walking backwards. Not only do you not see where you're going, you don't really want to pay attention to the same things you do when your walking forwards. You don't look ahead of you, after all you've been there. You have this urge to turn your head, even if it's familiar to you like your house or yard.

Oh great. Not another new way of looking at games. Just when I thought I throughly enjoyed them enough, here comes Beth turning me sideways... again (thanks Beth). On our tour of the goodies department (the AV part of our IT building), we were introduced to the various AV stuff that would make any techno-graphical geek giddy with delight.

Should I be scared? Should I be hiding in a corner, holding back my sobs asking myself what I got into? Or should I go running though the halls yelling "WHEEEEE"? How about I just sit here quietly at my computer waiting to see what next week brings. I'm more in the dark about what to expect out of Seeing Sideways than my classmates because I was severely late to class.

Beginning

Ninja woke up covered in warm soapy water. The warmth must have awakened him somehow. He couldn't remember anything, except the feint comforting sounds of clucking echoing in his ears. He was all lone in this strange new world.

He met a warm fuzzy creature that was strangely comforting when he snuck underneath the beast. However, he had to move on. He had to discover why he couldn't remember anything.

So I had this assignment to take my new egg home. I had no idea everything would get out of hand so quickly. I thought to myself, "Hey self, this is awesome!" I had so many plans and ideas for my egg. First off, I decided to name him George. I know, you're asking why I didn't choose Egbert? Ha. Way too easy.

Anyways, I wasn't prepared to bring an egg home today. I mean, it's such a big commitment, and I didn't have anything to take him home with. I am a big fan of recycling, so I took some old note paper and made a makeshift  carrier. Yea, it's not the best, but like I said, I was caught a bit unprepared.