The Gliders are Honking....

I was trying to put together a normal blog post for tonight but I've since been distracted by the present situation going on in my shirt involving my two gliders. Okay so to the first probable question; Yes my gliders like hanging out in my shirt. Why? I don't know I guess they like it in there. It's where they go anytime I pick them up unless I have a cozier looking pocket or hood available to them.

Since I've taken them out of their sleepy pouch they've been under my shirt and seem to have started a conversation. Momo is up on my chest making chattering noises at me either asking for treats, pets or just saying hello. I don't speak glider very well so I'm only speculating there. Kiki, however is running around like a lunatic and will occasionally report back to Momo the weirdest noise I have ever heard her make. It's like she's become a tiny goose, she actually honks every time she gets back to Momo. Josh has described this noise as what he imagines is the noise a tiny goose wearing a fancy hat would make.

Actual size of suspect goose.

I don't know what she's found between my chest and belly button but it apparently requires her to become a tiny, fancy goose. I've tried taking a video of this but they both get really quiet whenever the phone comes out. If it wasn't for boyfriend in the room confirming these noises I would not believe they were coming out of my gliders. Momo is still chattering away and Kiki seems to have fallen asleep on my rib cage so I guess her scouting mission is over. So that was fun, I'm going to go back to writing other things now. Here's a picture of the little weirdo for your troubles.

Kiki-face :P

Update: Kiki had to go back in her cage for trying to inspect what was under the couch. Josh died in a DOTA 2 match because of it. Momo stayed because we thought she was calmer. Nope, apparently now it's time for Momo to go bananas. Since I started typing this she has, jumped at the window twice, and has decided to try biting a variety of things including, my headphones, the nano receiver to my mouse, my mouse, my bracelet, my laptop and the drawstring of my pants. Now she's trying to live inside a box of tissues.

Ray Bradbury

On Tuesday night we lost one of the greatest minds in science fiction. Ray Bradbury quietly passed away at age  91. I first heard the news Wednesday morning and I find myself still reeling from it. There have been a quite a few 'celebrity' deaths in the past few years but none have affected me quite as much as this. They all brought a few moments of sadness but the feeling usually passed after a few hours. Bradbury was different. For the first time since I've read "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and "Fahrenheit 451" I realized just how much effect this man had on literature, science fiction and me. He was one of the first authors in my life apart from Tolkien that made me want to be a writer. Bradbury showed me how important books and writing were. After reading "Fahrenheit 451" when I was nine years old I tried to commit my favorite books to memory for fear that they would one day be taken away from me. I couldn't memorize more then a single chapter from any of my books so I tired something different. I kept my books safe and started adding my own stories to the world.

I started writing. When I first started I wrote in an extra composition book I took from school, I littered the cover with the words "Private!" and "Keep Out" in big letters surrounded by angry faces to discourage anyone from peeking in. Which was just as well, those stories were terrible as most childhood writing tends to be. As the years went by I read more, I wrote more, and learned more. I understood that my writing, even at its worst, did no one any good locked away between the pages of my journal. Eventually I got up the courage to show my writing to other people. Those people, whether they liked my writing or not, all helped me grow and evolve as a writer. While I was moving I came across a stash of some of my old journals. Looking back it amazes me how much I've grown as a writer.

Throughout the years there were many people, authors and stories that helped my writing evolve into what it is today but Bradbury was the one of the first. He will forever sit in the top four writers that have affected me the most and who I've learned the most from. Bradbury sits beside Tolkien as one of the first authors to make me want to be a writer and still effected me much differently then Tolkien ever did. Tolkien died long before I was born, his writing was something that existed before I was ever an idea and will continue to exist long after. "Lord of the Rings" was like looking at a naturally formed crystal, something rough and beautiful that was already complete and perfectly formed. Bradbury had also started writing before I was born but he continued to do so throughout most of my life. At any age I could always find something new from Bradbury, as incredible as he was he seemed to grow with me. I could always turn around and find Bradbury, it got to a point that I almost believed he would be around my whole life, filling the world with his stories. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that it took his death to completely shatter that illusion. I knew he was old and one day he would be gone but in someway I was still unprepared for it.

One thing I regret is that I never truly recognized the impact Bradbury had on me while he was still alive. There are four authors I credit greatly for the person and writer I am today, J.R.R Tolkien, Ray Bradbury, J.K Rowling and Neil Gaiman. So to Tolkien and Bradbury I'd like thank for showing me why I wanted to be a writer. To Rowling and Gaiman I'd like to thank for giving me the courage to keep writing, there were many times I collapsed into a pit of self-loathing and wanted to stop writing completely. Rowling and Gaiman were always there to show me I should keep going, Bradbury and Tolkien were always there to inspire me. For two of these authors this thanks may have come too late but I will never forget them, their stories or the impact they've had on me.  The same can be said for J.K Rowling and Neil Gaiman. I wouldn't be where I am today without any of these writers and I owe them a lifetime of gratitude.

Rest in peace Ray Bradbury. You may be gone, but your writing will stay with us forever and that alone makes this passing just a bit better. Because as the years go by I will always remember him through his writing. These stories will forever remain unchanged but will continue to change me.

Journey Review

For those familiar with Flower and Flow, Journey comes as a successor to the two from ThatGameComany (TGC). Journey is a downloadable title for the PS3 and will only help itself to fifteen dollars from your wallet. Those fifteen dollars will buy you a unique experience that I've come to look forward to from TGC. Much like Flower you’re given no set of instructions or story. Images and a simple tutorial of the controls are all that sets you off on your journey. The game begins with you as a figure shrouded in a red cloak as you wander through the vast landscapes that cover each level. The game’s environments are massive and absolutely gorgeous, you can spend quite a bit of time just exploring and admiring everything around you. Despite the element of wandering around, the game does have a purpose. The goal of your character seems to be to get to the summit of a mountain far off in the distance where a star has fallen. It’s a very simple premise with a very elegant execution.  To get to the mountain you’ll make your way through puzzles as you figure out the best way to proceed through the level. As you reach the end of each level a cut scene of a larger white figure will show you the main idea of the next area that you’ll have to face.  Though you’re free to explore the levels as you see fit, lights in the distance will always be there to guide you towards your ultimate goal.

Along the way you’ll find cards and strips of cloth floating through the environment that will offer you a boost to a higher platform in the game by activating them with a simple, melodic spell. You’ll also come across glyphs which will unlock trophies at the end of the game. While exploring you also have the chance of encountering other players, who will then join you on your quest, creating a truly unique co-op experience. You can communicate with your companion through the same, simple notes that you use to activate spells and control the cloth. The simple notes of your speech and the soundtrack of the game are very reminiscent of the music in Flower. The soundtrack adds to the experience of the game as a whole. The music varies and changes with the environments, creating everything from dramatic scores to simple melodies that will accompany you throughout your travels.

TGC has become known for games with beautiful imagery and Journey does not disappoint in that department. Each level has its own unique beauty to it, adding subtle touches to each environment. One of my personal favorites was watching the light and wind catch the ground at just the right angle, making the sand glisten and swirl as you went through the desert levels. The game environments become more and more complex as the levels go on, taking the player through everything from a vast desert, to an underwater cavern, to the awe-inspiring peak of a mountain.  The imagery of the levels seems to build on top of one another, creating an outstandingly, mesmerizing world by the end of your journey.

As much as I did enjoy the game, it isn’t without a few minor flaws. Some of the levels have a tendency to be very dark making it easy to lose track of your character or any companion you pick up along the way. While I personally enjoyed the element of wandering around and exploring I can see how some, might get a little frustrated with it. It’s easy to get turned around, and there are some points where it is a little unclear as to how to proceed in the level. These flaws aren’t grave, and don’t take too much away from the experience.  

There really isn’t one way to play this game, TGC has done a phenomenal job of creating a game that makes it easy for anyone to pick up and play their own way. Those who’d like to explore the levels and collect all the glyphs can certainly do so, and those who just want to run straight through to the end of the game, are also free to do so. Journey is a pretty short game, and should only take you an hour or two to get through the entire game. Maybe a little longer if you’re the type to explore every nook and cranny of these extraordinary levels. The mechanics of the game and expansive levels make playing through the game a new experience each time you do it, giving the game a fair amount of replay value. For fifteen dollars this is a journey well worth taking. 

Questionable Applications

This post is a tad more serious than many of my other posts but I feel that this important for people to recognize. For several years now I've been a long time reader of a web comic called Questionable Content by the very talented, Jeff Jacques. I've been reading this comic for so long that reading the newest issue has become part of my morning routine. After today’s comic I was surprised to see a note from the author expressing concern over a certain application in the Android marketplace. The application is a comic reader that collects many web comics and centralizes all of them into one convenient place for easy viewing. Sounds great, except for one thing, the developer never quite got the permissions of the authors to use their content. I've taken a look at the application and reviews for it. Not surprisingly, the app has received quite a bit of negative feedback due to this realization. What I was surprised to see was how many people who supported the app after knowing the content had all been used without permission. The arguments for the application varied in their delivery but the main two points kept reappearing, that it was no different than pirating a song or that it was the artists own fault for putting an RSS feed on their site and it in no way hurt the artists.


While it is everyone’s personal choice to support the app or the artists, I do not agree with the arguments made against the artists.  I’ve been blogging for a few years now; I’ve had my own blog for a little over a year. Before that I followed many, many others. I have looked quite extensively into blogging, along with its place in our current media. Blogging, web comics, web series, they’ve all hit a new stride with today’s media. For many it’s an easy creative outlet, for others it’s a source of revenue, sometimes one of their only sources of revenue. These publications don’t make their money the same way print publications do, some will make money through merchandise, but that tends to be rare and only reliable once the blog gains enough popularity. The main source of revenue for blogs and web series come mainly through page views. Advertisers will post their ads on the pages of these sites and pay the authors based on the number of page views they get and how many times the ads are clicked on.  There’s a bit more to it but that’s the gist of how it works. The problem that arises from an application like this is that it does not require people to visit the sites in order to read the comics. While using the app isn’t stealing directly from the artists, it does mean that they do not get the revenue from the page views they would have gotten had those readers visited their sites. Even putting an RSS feed on the site will count towards the number of page views. To put it very simply, no visits means no page views. No page views, no money.


Well in that case, how is it any different than pirating music? Well for one thing, you aren’t paying to view their pages. While I can’t speak for every web comic on the internet, many do not require their readers to spend money in order to view their materials. While the readers don’t spend any money either way from using the application over going directly to the sites, the creator of the application is making money off the web comics. In pirating music, you are forgoing paying for a song to get it for free. With this particular application, it simply allowed someone else to make money for something that wasn’t theirs. 


I can’t say that I know the intent of the app’s creator. Perhaps they didn’t realize what the ramifications were in making the application and using the content without the permission of the artists. The developer of the app has been confronted by many of the artists and is taking down a good portion of these comics off the app. What I find incredibly unfortunate about the situation is that some artists have said that had the developer asked, they would have gladly come to an agreement in order for their comics to be featured on the application. They thought it was a great idea and many would have been excited to be a part of the application, but they just would have liked to be asked. It is entirely possible that this whole mess was the result of a developer with a great idea, and was just simply unaware of the steps needed to make it possible.


The internet has evolved greatly over the last few decades, and even in the last year alone. As new technology develops, new opportunities arise for those who want to create and share their creations. Unfortunately these opportunities also bring new, sometimes unintended, risks to the authors, developers and their work. There are a million and one arguments that can be made for why this isn’t that big of a deal but the long and short of it is this: These artists, bloggers are doing all of this for their audience, and do it for free. The most they ask is that we visit their pages and support their original work. If you enjoy Questionable Content and other web series, if you want them to be able to continue what they’re doing, then support them. Visit their pages, if you see an advertisement that catches your eye, go ahead and click on it. As far as applications go, when you download an application, make sure you know where the app is coming from. App markets are huge, and like any product you should be aware of where and who your apps are coming from. In addition to keeping an eye out for some shady practices, you may also find some developers you really like and want to follow. There are some amazing developers in the mobile market creating everything from convenience to enjoyment in our everyday lives. So if there’s anything to be learned from this unfortunate scenario, I think it’s just be more aware of what we’re downloading. 

The gliders are really confused

So we've been driving for about six + hours now with Momo and Kiki in the backseat and they have no idea what's going on. The cage is moving, and there's weird smells everywhere. That's about all they know and they're not particularly happy about it.

Kiki's taken refuge in one of the hanging sleeping pouches and Momo's been popping out every once and a while to run around the top of the cage. I can only assume this is the glider equivalent to, "are we there yet?" They've both fallen asleep at this point but here's picture of Momo being a crazy butt.

We're in Delaware!

You know what's interesting about that?
Nothing! Moving on...

Pennsylvania

We just crossed over into Pennsylvania. It's not terribly interesting but this guy seems oddly enthusiastic about it.... :-P

Leaving NJ

It's kind of sad but we just finished loading up the car and are on our way to North Carolina. I'll miss everything and everyone here but it should be a great adventure and I'm glad I have Josh with me. So goodbye Randolph, goodbye FDU, goodbye Bridgewater and goodbye all of you. It's been a blast.

I'll be posting here throughout the trip.

I'm Real People Now

Okay I'm almost real people. This past semester was my last semester of college so I'm done for good unless insanity strikes and I decide to go to grad school or go back to teaching. But until then I am done and this was very, very exciting... Until reality started setting in. I'm a college graduate now, I need a job, a real job, to pay bills, all sorts of bills. There are bills that I never even knew existed up until this point.

I should probably back up a bit. Before the start of this school year boyfriend Josh and I decided that we were tired of winter and living with our parents (whom we still love) and decided to move. After doing a bit of research on where we wanted to go, what jobs were around what areas, and other factors we decided on North Carolina. We started looking at places and even went down for a week this past August to look at apartments.

It was pretty cool and we loved the area so we decided to apply for an apartment. Fast forward a few months later and we were told we had been approved for the apartment and would be put on a wait list for any apartments in February. We went on finishing up our last semesters excited about the idea that we would be moving. Fast forward till now. It's January and we've picked our apartment, we even signed the lease for it. You know that excitement before I mentioned? About the idea of moving in? Yeah, well now it's excitement mixed with "Oh shit, we're actually moving in a month," mixed with "Oh wait we need renter's insurance?", "We need jobs!" and with a health dose of "How are we going to get all this stuff down there?"

The move is still exciting and we are looking forward to it but as I'm sure most people are aware of, picking up and moving from one state to another is a special kind of burning place of damnation. The kind of Hell where everything you have to do beforehand is always in the state you're not currently in. The kind of Hell where you have little to no idea what is important to bring with out and what you should just throw out because when on Earth are you going to use a broken samurai sword? The special kind of Hell where you're still living with both of your parents and all of your stuff is conveniently split up into two separate houses.

That particularly has been kind of a pain, or a lot of one. We've been slowly moving all of my stuff from my house to boyfriend's house and then packing it into a POD, which is just a large storage unit that gets delivered from one place to wherever you want it to go. As a result we've spent a pretty good amount of time at both houses.

Which was not so bad but different enough that our gliders noticed. It was so different in fact, that Momo felt the need to comment on it every night we stayed at my house. When they come to my house both Momo and her new sister Kiki, stay in a small travel cage.

This is Kiki :)

 Every, single, night in that cage Momo feels the need to come remind us that they're not in their normal cage and something weird is going on. This would be adorable because she makes this face:

Wat's wrong Mommy?

Except that she does this every morning at 3 am. Every 3 a.m we woke up to barking alerting us to the fact that we were somewhere different.

We've had to do this for a few weeks and she still hasn't quite figured it out. There's still a month before it have to move and still a few trips to my house in between now and then. It's going to be a bit of a pain but we'll muscle through it. In the meantime I'll keep posting our trials and pains for the amusement of the internet.

The Many Adventures of Mo: Part...Something

A while ago, Josh and I were shown a video of this guy opening up a "Cool Whip" container to reveal eight Momos (sugar gliders) packed into it for cuddle time. It was adorable, I highly recommend watching it. In fact, go do that. Right now. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqSGJzSiz5s

Now go watch. Don't worry, I'll wait.....

Daww, they're so little ^_^. Anyway, today Josh and I were having pie.

And we of course had to have "Cool Whip" which lead to this discussion:

Josh: We should put Momo in this.

Me: What? No, why would we- *GASP* Oh my God, YES! That would be adorable!

So after we were done with pie Josh proceeded to clean out the container and cut a hole in the side for Momo. And this was the result:

That's right, Momo has a fortress now. You know you're jelly :P.

Why Technology and I Don't Talk Much

It would appear that technology and I have a very tremulous relationship, especially technology that doesn’t belong to me. Recently my phone suffered from a serious fall which shattered the glass screen. Amazingly the touch screen and phone itself still seem to work. However, I do have some reservations about putting a pane of shattered glass to my face so Josh was kind enough to lend me his phone until he can either fix mine or I get a new one. I’ve used Josh’s phone before, if only just to play Robot Unicorn Attack and Fruit Ninja, and my phone was similar to his. So I did have a good grasp on how the phone worked prior to receiving it. I’ve borrowed his phone many times before this, in very brief snippets and had never run into any problems but this time the phone seemed to sense that something was different. I can only assume that the phone now realized that I was acting as its primary handler and responded poorly to this. Anything I asked it to do was met with either defiance or a completely different action altogether. The first few interactions between Josh’s phone and I went something like this:

Me: Phone would you mind dialing the number of my friend Kat?

Phone: No.

Me: Please phone? I would very much appreciate it.

Phone: No. And now I’m going to turn off for no reason because I hate you!

Me: Phone, that’s not very nice, now please turn back on and dial Kat’s number.

Phone: No! I’m going to freeze at the home page and not let you do anything now!

Me: Now phone…

Phone: F*** You! You’re not my dad! You can’t tell me what to do! I’m going to shut off again for no good reason!

After a few minutes of arguing back and forth like this I finally get the phone to work properly and seemingly regretting how it behaved before, the phone was now trying to be super helpful to the point of annoyance. 

Phone: You want to dial Kat? Here, and I’ll dial your friend Nick for you too!

Me: No phone that’s not necessary I only want to talk to Kat, please don’t dial Nick.

Phone: Toooooo latttttte :D

After hanging up on both my friends I receive a call back from my friend Kat who I’d been trying to reach for the past twenty minutes. Everything at this point seemed to be going fine until the phone decided to be annoyingly helpful again.

Phone: Do you still want me to call Kat? Here, I’ll call her now!

Me: No phone! I’m already talking to her you don’t need to dial her again..ah OK fine. -.-

The phone’s helpfulness didn’t seem to get in the way too much that time and I was able to complete my phone call with only some minor confusion. As I was walking back from the car the phone seemed to get the impression that I was angry with it and tried to make nice.

Phone: Are you mad? I’m sorry. Here, let me call girlfriend and you will feel better.

Me: No phone I am girlfriend, I do not need to talk to me to feel better, stop it!

I guess I hurt the phone’s feelings after that because it proceeded to stop talking to me for the rest of the evening. We clearly need to work on our communication skills whilst my phone is in the process of being broken.

P.S. Sorry for no pictures but my laptop is also broken and I do not have Photoshop on my old computer. Here's a picture of Momo in a coconut to make up for it. :P

The Story of Mo

Earlier this year, my boyfriend Josh and I decided it would be a good idea to get a sugar glider. For those of you who don’t know what that is and don’t want to use the Google search bar at the top of the screen, a sugar glider is a small marsupial that you can keep as pets. They are adorable and look like this:

This is is HER blueberry. You may not haz it.

They originally come from Australia but the place we got her from apparently raises them in Florida and then just brings them all over the place to adopt them out. They happened to be at the mall near Josh’s house one weekend which lead to this conversation:

Josh: I want one.

Me: Ok.

Josh: No seriously, I want one.

Me: Ok. Let’s do it.
Josh: No you don't understand I've wanted one for like, four years.
Me: Ok, so let's do it then.

Josh: Wha- What? Really?

Me: Yeah we’ll split the cost.

Josh: Awesome! Let’s get one tomorrow.

And so we did. The next day we were off to the mall again as soon as it opened. We pooled the money in our wallets together and managed to scrounge up enough money for a glider and a little extra just in case. When the stand finally opened we were told all they had left were girls.

This is what they would all look like if they had bows on :)

It was our understanding that there wasn’t much difference between them and we were happy to take home a girl. We had even come up with a name for her, Momo, after the lemur from “Avatar the Last Airbender”.

We gave the sugar glider guy the money and he picked one out for us commenting, “She’s on the smaller side but she’s active.” He wasn’t kidding. When we first brought her home we were instructed not to hold her or handle her very much for the first two days. So for two days we kept her in her cage with some clothing that smelled like Josh and I. She alternated from running around the cage in circles like a maniac and burrowing in the mountain of clothes we had provided her on the top of her heat rock.

I'm hiding!

We finally got to the point where we could start taking her out and handling her. We were excited, Momo was not. She clamored in desperation to get away from us. Pushing and biting as hard as she possibly could.  There was a certain way we were told to hold her to help her bond to us more but she was clearly having none of it. It became a huge stress for everyone involved partly due to her still being terrified of us and partly due to our inexperience with her. After a few days our grips got better and she began to mellow out. During this time we decided to try to teach her to stay on us when we had her on us. The way we were told to do this was to put her on a shoulder and constantly walk around a room with tile or hard wood floor. The logic was she couldn’t figure out where she wanted to jump off too if she were constantly moving and if she did decide to make a grand leap of faith she would land on a hard floor which would be ouchy. Trust me it sounds a lot meaner than it actually is, and it’s much better than the alternative of having her jump off and running away somewhere. We chose Josh’s bathroom since it was the only room we could close off that had hard floors. We closed the toilet and took every conceivably dangerous object out in the open and put them away. Josh started with Momo on his shoulder first. He walked around the bathroom in circles while I watched. Momo, who clearly did not enjoy being on this strange human, was scampering from shoulder to shoulder, trying to figure out a way off.

Momo stayed on Josh for a good while, he moved around too much for her to actually lock on anywhere. Finally she began trying to jump off. The first few times she hit the floor and was rather reluctant to try jumping again. Eventually the fear of the bespectacled giant she was attached to would win out and she would make a daring leap, only to land on the floor again. She did this several times in the half an hour we had been in the bathroom. At one point Josh couldn’t get around me fast enough. Momo took this time to leap into the air, right onto my face.

You can't see it but I'm frowning under there.

While she hadn’t landed on the floor she found that what she landed on wasn’t much better. This was a new giant and didn’t seem all that happy with a Momo attached to its face. (There wasn’t much panic in this event I just didn’t expect it and her nails were kind of sharp).  Before I could grab her she ran off my face and onto my shoulder to prepare to launch herself elsewhere. I took Josh’s place and began wandering around the bathroom to keep her on me. Josh in the meantime was looking at all of this in hysterics. When he stopped laughing I looked at him and said “We’re renaming her Heady Lamarr.” Josh said, "no."

Head crabs are from the "Half Life" series which is made by Valve :D

After awhile Momo began to get used to us more and actually started to relax around us. We started introducing her to other people when she was very little and now she’s become very good with meeting people. We’ve had her for a little over seven months now and she’s bonded to us quite well. We now joke that we’re her parents and she’s the baby. She’s become Josh’s little angel.

Twue Wuv. <3 :P

And my little buddy :)

Photoshop Woes.

It has come to my attention that the adult world requires a more well-rounded individual. No longer can I just get by know how to write well and learning how to do so on the computer. No, no, those days are long gone. Now I have to learn other forms of media to make myself seem worthy to the job world. This came to my attention a few weeks ago when I went to visit the career resources center at my school. I was in the market for an internship and had taken a crack at redoing my resume for the first time since I graduated high school. When I went into the office the woman looked over my resume and pulled out her big book of internships.

                “So what other computer skills do you have?” she asked me.

                “Um, just what I’ve listed there.” I replied.

                “Oh.” She said with a hint of disappointment. “You may want to consider familiarizing yourself with some other things. Do you know anything about Photoshop or Illustrator?”

                “Um, a little bit.”                                    

By a little, I meant almost nothing. I’d seen Photoshop and Illustrator used by my boyfriend Josh. Other than that I had absolutely no experience in them. Apparently, many jobs involving writing now require I know other things. Like some sort of media or the internet. I was now faced with the task of not only having to write well, but also have other marketable skills. So with donation of my boyfriend’s old tablet and the use of both programs from his computer (whenever he wasn’t using it), I took up the task of broadening my horizons and learning something new. While I’m not the most tech-savvy person I know I am able to manage my way around a computer well enough. If left alone with a program for long enough I could even figure out the basic functions of whatever it is. I couldn’t imagine Photoshop or Illustrator being any more difficult. I opened up Photoshop and began my quest for future employment. I was going to learn this program and become proficient enough to put on my resume. Energized and revved up, I took up the pen tool and decided to draw a turtle. I then quickly realized I had no idea how to navigate the program and quickly closed it. Alright, that was a slight set back but it was no big deal. I was on a mission to make myself seem valuable to the adult world. I wasn’t about to let a single act of cowardice on my part keep me from that goal. I opened up Illustrator with a new determination. I was going to learn this program and draw that turtle. I put the stylus to the tablet and…got confused and closed the program in frustration. This was not going as smoothly as I had hoped, both programs were much more complicated then I initially gave them credit for. It appeared that I might actually need someone to teach me how to use these programs. Seeing as Josh is a graphic design major he seemed like the perfect choice to teach me. He, however, was working on his thesis and as much as I did ask him for help I could never in good conscious pull him away from his thesis just because I couldn’t figure out how to draw pictures. So until his thesis was over with I decided to make do with what I had. I had a tablet and a free drawing program on my computer. 

If I couldn’t figure out how to use the software, I could at least figure out the hardware. 

The tablet consisted of a flat drawing tablet and a stylus for it. From looking at it I could gather a vague idea of how it worked. Just plug it into the USB drive of a computer and use the pen like a mouse. Easy, hell;  I’ve doodled before in class and for funsies, using this couldn’t be that much different. I thought stupidly, clearly not having learned anything from my last two failed attempts. Controlling the stylus was like trying to house train a stubborn dog, it still made a mark where I didn’t want it to and seemed to hate me for trying to make it go elsewhere. Any line I made was either extremely sloppy or in the wrong place all together. It was perhaps the poorest excuse for turtle I had ever seen. After failing twice already, I wasn’t too eager to fail again. I kept at that turtle for a solid hour, picking up little tricks along the way on how the pen and tablet worked. After an hour of effort and a firm hand on the undo button I finally came out with something that looked vaguely like a turtle. Sort of. It was good enough to be loved, kinda. I had tamed the wild beast of the tablet and achieved my turtle, life was good. It made the next step rather difficult. I had to delete my turtle and make one in Photoshop. Sure I made the turtle but I still hadn’t learned anything about Photoshop or Illustrator which was my goal in the first place. After awhile Josh had finished his thesis, so I had no excuse not to learn how to use Photoshop. With his help, I poked around, learned quite a few things and even managed to draw my turtle. He’s a derpy little guy but I consider him a small victory on my path to employment. Also he’s a wizard.

Update: Josh lent me his old Photoshop and InDesign textbooks from when he took the class. This learning thing has gotten much easier since then. :)


Update: I can use Photoshop! This is a happy day indeed. Now onto learning InDesign.