School is definately fun.

This last weekend I was very concerned about writing an essay. Since high school ended (almost two years ago) I've only taken math and science classes to further my education until now. Needless to say, those math and science classes I took did not require any formal writing. So, for my writing class today a rough draft of our first essay was due, and I was very nervous. I feel great now though, because durring the class was an editing workshop, and I got very positive feedback about my essay. Not that I was in the most critical of audiences, but it felt uplifiting to hear that someone thought my ideas were really inspiring. I don't even know the name of the girl who read my essay, but her face seemed to light up when she started talking to me about the ideas. The only problem was I never really explained the main subject of my writing. That makes me feel good, because it won't be hard to find a place to put that in.

The next step is letting Meli's mom (Grandma from Grandma's Attic) have a hack at editing it. Meli insists that I do it, and I know it will be good for me, and since I got some good feedback today in class, I'll open myself up to whatever good ol' Grandma Rachel has to say about it. (I've heard when papers come her way, they leave soaking in red ink as if blood stained from a mortal wound.)

Honestly though, I'm having a great time and I look forward to what she has to say. I know that it will only increase the power of my expression to have a seasoned editor refining my document. I really could spend a lot of time improving the already great work I have (my, don't I have a bloated ego). So, hopefully I'll be mindful enough to tell you how it went after I let her have a hack at it. Also, please comment if you would like to see a post of my essay (probably not in this blog, but I could post it somewhere else) or just to say hi. Comments are fun. I promise.

School is Fun! (?)

It's strange that I enjoy it so much. In the past I followed the trend of my peers in detesting school, tests, assignments and such. Now I get a new kind of enjoyment from it. I actually enjoy doing assignments. I excell at what I do.

Okay. Now I must admit I'm being two faced. I just had a heart to heart moment with myself. I'm being decietful to a degree. Decietful to you and me. I'm not communicating at a personal level with my writing professor. I am under the impression that responses from readings are due each day, but a little unsure. Unsure because I wasn't there when this was explained (if it is so). The first day I missed because I was a new student and began classes a couple days late. My first day responses were due from a reading. Yesterday (my second day at this class) responses were due again. I didn't have a response, I hadn't done the reading. I suspect both of these were assigned on the first day, but I'm unsure. I don't remember my professor assigning anything of that sort, but maybe I just didn't hear it. I haven't talked to my professor about it so I wouldn't know the answer. This is the result of letting fear control my actions. I know when I feel uneasy I need to talk to someone. I've finally decided to do that, and you're that somone.

Anyways, I have class tomorrow and I don't want to start a trend for myself. I've been in these kinds of situations before and I'm quick to freeze up and not do anything about it. Especially not tell anyone. I've gone months hoping no one notices that I'm hiding away from my emotions and assignments. God forbid anyone know I'm incompetent and can't understand directions or communicate with people. I'm preparing to break this old habit of mine. I'm being reborn as a masterful person. One who can easily talk with his professor about the miscommunication that has happened and remedy it.

Wow. That was big. I didn't even see it coming. I was going to tell you how much I enjoy my Computer Science class, but that was a pressing issue. I'll celebrate now by telling you of my successes. My classes overlap on tuesdays so I'm a half hour late to my CS lab. Testing each piece of my program as I went so I could easily catch any mistakes (which there were a few) I completed the lab elegantly and was one of the first few to complete. This morning in class we had a quiz. When asked to identify a few out of several errors I easily spotted and corrected (not just the few) all of them . There were a few of these kinds of questions and I made short work of them. I was the first one to finish. This made me beam with joy. I enjoy succeding. And I'm not rushing through any of this either. I'm taking my time being thurough. I work slowly and stedily. I am good at what I do.

Hello Mr. Governor!

Today Governor Ted Kulongoski visited Dallas on a tour of local buisnisses and Grandma's Attic made the list. When he came, he entered through the back door and our entire staff greeted him. I was introduced as "the webmaster" of our webstore. He was immediately intrigued. He asked "can you show me how it works?"

Pleased that I had caught his attention I enthusiasticly replied, "Of Course!" He followed me back to the office. Embarassingly I had too much software running at the time to even load our homepage (winamp, photoimpact, hp picture viewer, msn messenger, a few web pages). Closing winamp freed up enough space that I could open our home page. I explained the process of creating an item for sale online.

"I want to buy something called wedding rings, how do I do that" he says. I show him our search engine and it finds six pages of results. He identifies what he wants, and says, "that's it, my wife has one of those." It happend to be one of ours. I explained how we own two pattern companies (Calico Hills Farm and Patti-Ann Publications) and that he had found a pattern by Calico Hills Farm. He wasn't very interested in patterns. "So, where do I buy the quilt?" He asked.

Some of us laughed, one of his associates said, "this is for the other people," meaning the ones who sew the quilt, not the collectors. That's a common misunderstanding about quilt shops. They don't sell quilts, just materials to make them. Anyways he seemed at least mildly intrigued. All this took place at my fire hawk workstation you might remember from an October post.

Next Ted was shown a world map with red pins stuck wherever we've shipped orders. We had just recieved our first order from Costa Rica today where coincidentally Mr. Kulongoski attended his son's wedding recently. He was very interested in the places we shipped to. "All of these are legitimate?" he asked. All but Nigeria, where a village of 200 seemed to want to attend a weekly sewing class. That's been a joke around the office for a while.

The whole day was very fun, everything seemed so exciting. It was all such a big deal. Reporters from a couple of state newspapers were asking people for names and job titles so hopefully we'll be in an article. I'm especially excited about the chance of my picture being in the paper. I do hope it is. I just had my hair cut, and I'm very photogenic by nature, so any pictures I'm sure will turn out fabulously (I'm so swollen with joy that I can't help but be conceited). I would be so happy. Aw, heck! I'm happy anyways. I just can't contain myself, I think, "if anything, this is worth posting about," so I post. I hope you enjoy the story. I know I do.

Supprise!

Not for you, sorry. I was supprised by a comment in response to my last post. Here it is:

I was here. I read your blog on a regular basis and I enjoy it very much. I think these things get read by more people than post. I really do! Anyway, keep writing. The best way for a writer to improve is to keep doing it!

This suprised me. Of course who posted this is right about more people reading than posting. But what suprised me is the encouragment I've been given, and that you enjoy it. Not that I thought readers wouldn't enjoy it, I've been having fun writing, and write about things I like. Thank you for the feedback though. It's great to hear you enjoy reading what I write. Also when reading the last line I had to take a step back. I don't regularly consider myself a writer. When I think about being one, I like it. Thank you for the encouragment. Thank you for your witness of me.

Sign Below Please

So I decided on monday to go to school. Tuesday I went to class. I have arranged a schedule that will allow me to take a couple of classes and still work full time. I'm taking a basic computer science class and also a writing class. It's perfectly in the center of my intrests in the sense that I know I'll enjoy using the skills I learn. It's not, though, in the sense that I'll be interested in any of the projects that I'll be assigned to do (unless by some miracle they are vague on the topics of assignment). I'm going to keep an open mind about it though. I'm happy to be in school again, and still have time for work. I'll keep you posted on how things go (and if I don't ask me "what don't you? You said you would.")

One last thing, I'd like you to post a comment below. Please, if all you say is "I was here," I'd appreciate it. I just want to know if anyone is actually reading or if I am talking to the wind. Either way, I probably won't stop. I really haven't done much to try to attract people here. Anyways, sign below, and have a good day.

Education of sorts

Grandma's Attic is my workplace. The descriptions of a large portion of the inventory for sale on the web are mine. That, and the images to accompany them, are pretty much the whole of what I am in charge of at my job. I am not a great writer. I am enthusiastic at times, and I do have glimpses of greatness but my love is in other areas of creativity. Drawing, math, computer animation, photography: these are things I am more passionate about. In High School I studied computer aided drafting for three years, the third of which was not so much CAD but more animation. I wonder now if I could get copies of the finished renderings of my class projects. I would like that. It was in independant study class of sorts. At the end the year my teacher made a proposition: If I could solve a certain block puzzle I'd been working (unsuccessfully) on in under two minutes before the final, I could skip the last day of class. It was a good time (I figured it out). I would have loved to take a fourth year, but I didn't out of laziness. I'm dancing down memory lane because I've decided to go back to school. Take some classes that will serve me in enhancing my skills to do the things that I love. I'm not even sure what classes those will be or which specific things I love they will be enhancing, but I know that it is what I want. This is a good place to have discussion, I'm craving some kind of social intimacy. It even seems awkward to me, but I invite everyone to post comments to any and all of my posts. I'm honest and real, as much as I know how. My intent is to share my open heart and create from it. This is good for my intent.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! In the spirit of New Year's Resolutions I've added a link to The Doctor Within to my favorite places in my sidebar. The thing I'm resolving to do this year that relates to The Doctor Within is drink more water. "Two liters is the intake necessary to maintain normal good health. If you want to get into anti-aging applications, intake goes up to THREE liters. Obviously this is something you'd have to work up to. But for maximum hydration of skin cells, three is the number." Most people know they should drink two liters a day, but few consider trying anything more than that. I'd like to start monitoring the amount of water I intake, and increase to be between two and three. I would be very excited to get up to three, but also I would be happy to at least get to two. I invite everyone to join me in my resolution as well as share about there own resolutions. Through this may my way make your way easier, and your way make my way easier.