Two Minors or Not To Minor?

So there are two new minors this year at my university that I am interested in, the Entrepreneurial Minor and the Writing Minor. The problem is, I don’t know which to pick, if any, or if I could handle both. The deal is, I’m already looking at being here four and a half to five years with summer studies to stay caught up in my art studies. AND I’m trying to study abroad. I don’t know if I can fit it in, let alone handle the insanity of a double minor.

Considering I will pick one, I’m balancing which would be more useful versus fun. Entrepreneurial would certainly be useful. I can see it being creative and fun. I mean, being an entrepreneur means starting your own business from scratch and being your own boss. Keeping a business like that takes a lot of creativity. So I think I’ll be okay, just as long as it doesn’t get all technical business lingo-y on me; that’d just be downright scary.

Writing, however, I would probably pick mostly creative writing classes since that’s what I enjoy the most. I would love to take some Creative Writing classes or Intermediate Poetry. But writing can also be useful. So many people don’t know how to communicate effectively with the written word. Or their grammar makes them sound like they’ve just graduated from Primary school. Just the other day, someone posted on facebook, “I don’t want to go to class either but I already have went to one.” That makes my die a little inside, each time I read that.

Anyway, writing is a big part of communicating properly on the internet. You can’t be there to explain your services to someone on your website, so you have to be good at communicating effectively in writing without getting too long, or complex. I tend to be a little bit long winded (as I probably am here, but it’s my blog and I’ll rant if I want to), or I can’t think of enough to fill the space.

Winding down, I still can’t decide. I think next semester I will start some Intro classes for each and maybe that will help me decide. Until then, any input from readers would be great! Anything I’m forgetting to consider, ideas, opinions, your experience with college minors? Thanks!

Odosketch

New favorite website! Not that I really had a specific favorite before, but I think I have one now: sketch.odopod.com This site is SO much fun. You just sit there and sketch… whatever the hell you want. The canvas is your browser window (Want a smaller size? Shrink the window!), the brush your mouse or trackpad. Or in my case, this site made me bust out my Wacom Intuos Tablet and play for a few hours. :P

Things I love about this site, is the textured background. It has that grainy paper feel that just gives it that little bit of realism rather than the obviously generated, perfectly white computer screen you get most of the time. Another thing I love, is the texture of the colors. I can’t decide if it’s like marker or like chalk. But the properties of the utensil (whatever it’s supposed to be) are very intuitive, with slower motion bringing it to a smaller point for detail work, and the fattest width when you scribble quickly. The other thing I love is the limited palette. Whoever made the color choice, made it very interesting. The colors aren’t loud or vivid and they all work very well together. It gives every users work just a little bit of professionalism because it takes away any garishly bright colors your average 14 year old would first pick.

Overall, I love the Indie feel of this site. I just don’t know what it is about it other than the above mentioned that makes it so homey. Great job Odosketch creators! Check out my sketches!

NaNoWriMo

“National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.” ~What Is NaNoWriMo?

So, I love NaNoWriMo. This is my 5th year participating in the madness. I began my sophomore year of high school when a friend told me about it over the summer. I idly blew it off. But then when she started getting excited for October to start when the NaNo forums open, I decided to check it out and I was hooked. I stayed up late that night, refreshing the NaNoWriMo home page on October 1st, 2005, the first available day for new sign-ups to start that year. And every October and November since have been filled with novel writing goodness.

The first two years I completed NaNo with two sci-fi novels in a series. The third year, I tried to continue the series, but I think they ran out of steam, and I was also swamped by my senior year of high school and college applications, etc. Similar story with my freshman year of college. I was simply too busy with the new load of homework and social life I was unused to. But this year I have more free time, a lighter class load, and my own apartment to escape and write in. I’m determined to finish this year with a new slightly sci-fi/adventure novel. Catch my synopsis under Novel Info on my NaNo Profile.

This year I started my free trial of Scrivener for Macs (which is recommended for large research papers and writing projects, even if you’re not doing NaNoWriMo). And there’s a special offer in the forums that gives you 50% off the purchase price if you win and would like to buy it after NaNo! Definitely a great motivator for me this year, because I love this program already and I’ve had it a week. Also, there is an offer from CreateSpace to give you one free printed proof of your book if you reach 50k. That’s right, you can hold a copy of your book, for FREE! I’m definitely doing that as well. (Keep in mind, these offers are only for registered NaNo users who reach 50k and validate it on the website.)

This year I donated $25 to The Office of Letters and Light that runs NaNoWriMo! $5 for every year I have participated. And if you’re a NaNo Participant on Twitter, be sure to add this Twibbon to your avatar! Made by me!!

OMG! *pop*

So, it’s about time I explain an obsession of mine. OMGPOP. OMGPOP is described as, “a place to hang out, play free online multiplayer games, chat and make friends.” And it does just that!!! It’s fantastic.

They started out as iminlikewithyou. Very cute, no? But kinda long. I kept accidentally typing inimnlikewithyourmom or some other mangled form of that. I liked “IILWY” better, but omgpop is way easier to type.

Anywho, my all time favorite game on there you should know if you follow me on Twitter, is Blockles. Or, their version of Tetris. I love it! I can play for hours. I’m not fantastic at it, but it’s amusing nonetheless.

Look! I'm winning!

One thing I love about this site is the interactivity. You can play with other people and you get items that lets you scramble opponent’s screen, send them lines, take away your lines, etc. It’s an added element of fun for me.You have the option to start a game without items though, for you hard core rule abiding tetris players.

Some other awesome games OMGPOP has include, Hover Kart (Mario Racer), Letterblox (Scrabble), Jigsawce (puzzles), Draw My Thing (Pictionary), and Balloono! What’s better than moneys and water balloons?! They have several other fun games as well.

So go sign up and add me as a friend and we can play some Blockles or Balloono together!

EDIT: They removed the original Blockles due to litigation from Tetris, which I am very unhappy about. Unfortunately, I no longer use the site. I hope it returns someday. Until then, it’s boycott for me.

It’s Not Lupus

Nor is it strep. Symptoms said strep. My mom said strep. The clinician even said strep, though the rapid test came back negative. They sent in labs and days later, once I was better, they called and said, “Nope! Not strep!” Thanks, I had no idea. Hah.

Anyway, so that was the last half of my week. Spent skipping non-essential classes to sleep 10-13 hours a day and drink five or six refills of my aluminum water bottle. My reward, not having to do homework, and making a full recovery by the time I had to go see my parents and go to a play.

Oh! Something interesting now, you say? Yes, I saw a play. My family and some guests went to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It is a Broadway musical, though somewhat lesser known. My critique is it was very good and enjoyable. Quite funny and cute, with good music and an interesting twist of some audience participation! If you have seen this musical, or know of it, then I will tell you, my favorite character was Leaf Coneybear because he has cats. Don’t worry. That’s not a spoiler if you have not seen the musical. Just an inside joke. Hehe.

Well, back to my continuing hectic work week. All my final project deadlines are coming up very soon, so I’ve got a lot to finish. Good luck to me!