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!

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!!

Poetry and the Pretty Song

In some rare occasions, a song strikes my ear in an amazing way, and makes me listen to it’s every instrument, chord, and lyric with such rapture that my imagination explodes and creates an instant animated music video in my head. Recently, one of these visions even lent itself to become a poem.

In my scramble to write down the words that came to me, I opened a web page and started writing. I got it all typed down and I copied it to my clipboard but somehow between opening a new document to save it and closing the web page, I lost it.  And to my dismay, there is no clipboard history (there really should be) so it was completely gone.

Now, thanks to modern technology I was able to buy the song from iTunes via my iPod Touch and listen to it on repeat while writing what I remembered of the poem on paper this time. I also ended up skipping my boring science class to do this. Well worth it I think. Later, I went back and did my usual editing process with about three different revisions which brought it to where it is now.

Click the link to listen to the song that inspired this all while you read the poem.

Welcome Home, Son by Radical Face

Lovers and a Pretty Song

When you hear a pretty song,
it’s like getting an unexpected hug from behind
by an unexpected lover.
You look up and smile at their face
and you see yourself, brighter than before.
They smile back and you feel warmer,
as you forget your fears from yesterday.
“Welcome home,” they whisper.
And there’s a new smile on your face
as you examine your radical feelings inside.
And the choir remains singing,
as the invisible lover leaves your back,
leaving you with their breath on your neck
and their imaginary scent,
drifting from memory.

When you hear that pretty song,
it’s like getting an unexpected hug from behind
by an invisible lover.
You look up and smile at the cloudy sky
and see your day, brighter than before.
The sun smiles back and you feel warm
as you forget the fears from yesterday.
“Welcome home,” the wind seems to whisper.
And there’s a smile on your face
as you look at the radical new colors in your world.
And the choir remains to sing
as the invisible lover leaves your back,
leaving you with the breeze on your neck
and the effervescent scent of summer,
drifting away.

#73. Look into doing a semester abroad in England.

Lately I’ve been looking at my university’s study abroad program, looking at my possibilities of traveling to England for a time. It’s looking very likely for summer 2010. With the requirements I have to fulfill for my university, I have to take a liberal arts “theme” course. If you’re doing your theme at the university, there are I think fifteen themes to choose from, and you have to pick from three of the 5-12 given courses you are allowed to take within that to fulfill it. (You following? Yeah, it is confusing.) Although, if you choose to study abroad, you can create your own theme and complete it at your desired location!

So, of course I don’t like any of the fifteen themes provided here so I’ve made up my “perfect” theme for a summer study abroad in England; Creative Writing and British/European History. My class options include, Creative Writing, Poetry, Shakespearian Literature, and European History from 1848-1914. I might add a Philosophy course or another history course as options, but in the end I will choose/be assigned three courses to take.

I’m excited for this opportunity, but it’s a little far off. Sometime next year, I’ll really look into it and start applying. But I’ve found out what information I needed now and this is the first thing completed on list of 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days. :) Yay me.

Kingston University