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Monday, October 29, 2012

101 Things in 1001 Days

Superfluous Backstory

Early in the summer of 2006 I went through what I'll call a bad breakup for simplicity's sake. The following month I lost a friend to cancer. I spent the summer in rough shape at a job that I hated, and suffice it to say that by the time school started again at the beginning of September I wasn't exactly ready for it.

I don't remember exactly when I found the Day Zero Project, but whenever that was, I was apparently ready to start climbing out of the pit I'd found myself in and start setting goals for a brighter time in my life. I dropped two classes to finish the university term in one piece, met a new boy, and made a list of 101 things that I wanted to have done by my 23rd birthday in September 2009.

The Project

The Day Zero Project website looked a lot different when I first found it. At the time there was an About page and a list of people's 101 Things in 1001 Days blogs.

That's all you really need, though. The project is exactly what it sounds like: you give yourself a list of 101 things to accomplish over the course of 1001 days. Why 1001 days? Well, it's longer than a year (it's 2.7406 years), so you have plenty of time to set up something like a trip overseas or to win NaNoWriMo. It's also shorter (hopefully) than some hypothetical "before I die" point in time that will allow you to put things off indefinitely. The idea being, as far as I'm concerned, that if you really want to do something, you can put the plan in motion within two and three quarter years, or at least be more mindful of accomplishing it at some later date when you're working your way through other goals.

The goals should be realistic but also stretching, so for example nothing like "skydive from the edge of space" but also nothing like "blink at least twice per day."

Tips!

Since I started my first list at the end of December 2006, I've worked my way through two of them and started on a third this June, which I'll wrap up in March 2015. Over the course of that time I've learned a bit about how to actually successfully accomplish what's on the list. Mostly I'll try to use examples of stuff that has been or currently is on one of my own lists. The following tips are in no particular order.

  • Set definitive goals.
    This one is surprisingly easy to get wrong. A couple of my lists have included things like "#29 - Write a poem every week." or "#28 - Floss." While these are probably good things to aim for (I don't write poetry anymore), they're also really hard to track over the course of 2.75 years. It's way better to set goals that can be crossed off after under half a dozen actions or so. For example, I still have "#22 - Read at least five books dealing with Canadian history." but I've gotten rid of a lot of other stuff that isn't just one single discrete activity. There are still a few things that are a little too abstract, but I'm getting better at not doing this.

  • Keep the list handy and visible.
    This one is also kind of tough. After a lot of trial and error (I don't even remember where I kept the first list, so obviously it wasn't anywhere prominent), I finally feel like I have a good system for keeping my list somewhere where I can see it. I've been using Toodledo to keep track of all my to do lists for the last few months and it's been extremely useful. All of my current 101 things are listed in Toodledo, and I also have an item to review my 101 in 1001 list that recurs every month. Plus, I set up a blog that only I can see where I keep track of the different items as I complete them.

  • It's ok to change your mind.
    When I made my first list, I was still pretty close to/struggling with the faith I grew up in (Roman Catholicism, for anyone who wasn't previously aware). So I had a few things like "#35 - Go to confession." I always hated going to confession, so that was definitely a stretching goal for me. But the fact is that by the time I got to the end of those 1001 days I didn't really care to maintain that faith anymore. Similarly I finally gave up "#20 - Make a zine." because I figured out that if I really wanted to make one I would've done it already. In some ways this can kind of feel like failure, but I like to look at it as a sign of progress and change.
Final Thoughts
While the 101 Things in 1001 Days method/project has treated me fairly well over the years, I think that my current list is going to be my last, mainly because 101 things is a lot of things. Half the time I feel like I end up including things on my list just to fill it out rather than because they're things that I really do want to do.

At the same time, though, I feel like a set of mediumish-sized, mediumish-term goals is a really good thing to have. I may instead try a list of 71 Things in 71 Fortnights, or something like that. About the same length of time, but a smaller number of items. That way I'd still be pushing myself toward things that I want that are outside of my normal set of actions/behaviours/whatever, but I could be a bit choosier about what those things are.

If any of you try this out, let me know how you fare!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Writing Essays, or On the Power of the Shitty First Draft

Hi everyone! The topic I'm covering for this month's skill-share is essay writing. Since this is a pretty big topic to discuss in one post, I'm thinking more specifically I'll talk about getting to the actual writing part of the process.

Writing essays is hard. I'm sure that anyone who's tried writing essays has found themselves sitting in front of a blank document, cursor blinking accusingly as the minutes pass and YouTube gets more and more appealing. I still do this, and I've written a lot of essays in my time. (And watched a good number of depressingly procrastinatory YouTube videos).

So what helps make writing essays less stressful? Less intimidatingly, overwhelmingly blank page-y? Well, it turns out that NaNoWriMo has gotten something right in their concept of the "shitty first draft" - once you get *something* on the page, even if it's god-awful, you can then improve it. It's difficult to edit thin air into an assignment.

There's a lot of advice out there for writing essays, and countless writing guides will tell you that outlining helps in the writing process. This is certainly true for some people, but I know others who swear by simply sitting down to write whatever comes out of their brains, and then tackling that mass of roiling words, attempting to wrangle the glob into something intelligible. In this way, I think that it's useful for everyone to approach writing an essay as something that doesn't have to be perfect when you start.

Whether you're writing a detailed outline or starting from scratch, the first draft should be bad. I mean, if it's got some good ideas in it, that's fine. But your first draft isn't the place for using the backspace key excessively - you should be putting words on the page, not taking them off of it! Instead of searching for the perfect word, use the one that comes to mind first. Often, once you've tried to turn off the voice in your head questioning your choice, you'll find that the first word that comes to mind *is* the right one. And if it isn't, so what? You can go back and change it, but at least the basic concept will be there to work with.

So I offer this piece of advice: no matter how solidified your ideas are, when you start writing, do it as a  very tentative part of the process. Don't edit as you go, don't overthink it, and don't expect to be able to hand it in the next day (unless you're an insanely quick and skillful editor!).

I found that my essay writing skills were very much improved by the practice of writing for NaNoWriMo, even though the things I was writing for that novel had absolutely nothing to do with my schoolwork. The practice of putting down words - any words that could possibly work - to page helped immensely in shutting off the voice inside my head that criticized as I wrote.

Here's to the shitty first draft! The giver of a point from which to start, the shabby placeholder, and the reassuring piece of work to say "yes, I can get something done" when you're doubting your abilities and your deadline is rapidly approaching. Whether you outline like Tolkien, or fly by the seat of your writerly pants, expect your first draft to be just that - the first of several.


Monday, October 15, 2012

Cosplay 101 and why I love it.


I am by no means an expert when it comes to cosplay, but it is definitely one of my passions.  I have always been a fan of dressing up, and/or playing a character.  At the same time I consider myself a builder and/or a maker.  I am always building something, or thinking about how to build something.  I am also a pretty shy guy.  With such a combination cosplay is a great way for me to put my creative side to work, and to go outside of my comfort zone, all whilst having a good time!

Cosplay - The building and displaying of wearable art! ~ Dictionary of Me
Or from wikipedia - Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for "costume play",[1] is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea.

The thing I really love about cosplay is that it can be so many different things to so many people, and that it combines so many skills and passions.  Some people do it to play a character, others to show off something they made, and others to be goofy, or make a statement.  It can be a thrown together build, or something that someone worked on for months or even years.  I love it all.  (Except people who just buy costumes, or insert 'sexy' in front of any other word and make that their costume)  Cosplay is about art and creation, and I love seeing what people make, and how they make it.  Just like a home cooked meal, a homemade costume is always better.

I have only been into cosplay for the last few years... or have I?  Looking back on it, I have been dressing up my entire life.  My parents were awesome about costumes when I was growing up.  My mom would sew costumes for my brother and me; anything from cowboys, to start trek, even the headless horseman one year.  My dad always helped getting us outfitted with props too.  We still have a set of wooden swords and shields back at home, which he built so my brother and I could be knights.  So, I was blessed to grow up in an environment where building and wearing awesome costumes was the thing to do.

While it used to be that Halloween was the big dress-up event of the year, I am now a year round cosplayer.  It is one of my main hobbies, and takes up much of my free time.  It is a great hobby, as it combines so many of my other hobbies: drawing, designing, building, and painting are all things I like to do, that can all be part of making a great costume.

As I have gotten more and more into cosplay I have done a lot of research and development (including many unfinished projects).  I figure you can break all costumes down into roughly 3 groups: clothing, armour, and props.  Here is a brief summary of some of the materials and methods that are used, and what they are used for.  This is by no means a complete list.  Possibilities really are endless; I am constantly learning new and unique methods from people all over the world (yay internets).  

First up is clothing.  Almost every costume is going to have some sort of clothing article, and some are all fabric.  I have very rudimentary sewing skills, and as such I generally have to use existing clothes to make my costumes.  Thrift stores are often a good resource for finding cheap clothes.  You can also find lots of useful clothing pieces online, with prices from very affordable to very pricey.  If you can sew, it really opens up what you can do.  If you are sewing your own clothes, you can easily modify existing patterns, and add/remove necessary details.  Or maybe you know someone who can sew; work with them to create that fancy dress, or sharp looking uniform.

I have always had a passion for armour, and much of my costuming effort goes towards building armour.  There are so many ways to build armour, from actual real armour to completely fake armour (that looks real!).  There are numerous groups that still make real armour out of metal, leather, and wood.  Most costume armour is fake however.  There are many ways of building armour using cheaper and lighter materials than steel.  The three main categories that I see most often are thermo-forming plastic, pepakura, and scratchbuilding.

Thermo-forming plastic is basically using heat and often vacuum pressure to form various types of plastic into a desired shape.  In it’s simplest form, someone could use a heat gun (or even a hair dryer) to heat plastic and bend it into a desired shape.  Getting more complicated you could use (or build and then use) a vac-form table.  Such a device can heat a large sheet of plastic, and form it over a mould using a vacuum.  This is how people make storm trooper armour.   It is also how the movie makers made storm trooper armour, and it is a common manufacturing method for all sorts of products.  This method yields lightweight armour that can be easily duplicated.

Pepakura is the Japanese word for papercraft.  This method uses computer software (called Pepakura) to flatten 3D models into 2D shapes that can be printed out from any home printer.  The flat patterns can be cut out and assembled into a 3D object in the real world.  Paper armour is not going to be very strong, so a healthy coat of resin is added to the model.  Once the model is hardened with resin, filler materials like Bondo, can be added to the model.  The filler is used to help smooth out models and add details.  This method will yield a unique set of armour, and allows the builder to shape it to whatever level of detail they desire.  It is a popular method, as models for the armour are often readily available straight from video games, or from 3d designers on the web.  It is the closest thing to a Lego set for building armour; you get the instructions, and just have to build it.

Scratch-building is a pretty broad category.  When scratch-building, people can use almost any material to build armour.  You can sculpt a model from clay or foam and build a mould, then cast it.  You can cut up cardboard boxes and foam floor mats and piece it all together.  You can build a pepakura model, then use a vac-form table to make endless copies.  This method allows you to make exactly what you want, and it can be as simple, or as complicated as you like.

Props are just an extension of the costume, and will use the same methods.  Props can be anything from a giant sword, or fancy gun, to goggles, pouches, belts and tools.  They are the finishing pieces that can help define your character.  The things that can really make a costume are the details, and props are often those details.  Other details come out in the paint and trim work.  A flat paint job is pretty boring, but highlights, grime and battle damage give your costume an authentic look.

As I have learned more methods and techniques for building costumes, my projects have improved, and my ambitions have grown.  I started with costumes like Mal Reynolds from Firefly.  This was a completely found costume, where I simply bought everything I needed and pieced it together.  Then I went onto being Doctor Horrible.  Much of this costume was pieced together from items I bought as well, though I did modify the boots, and goggles to fit the costume.  Then I got really ambitious and built some armour from scratch.  The armour is a space marine scout from Warhammer 40K.  For this costume I built pretty much everything.  The coveralls I already owned, along with the boots and goggles.  But I built the armour, and weapon, and have added little bits to it over the years.  In other builds I have learned how to build moulds and cast objects.  Jeff and I made Steam Fleet badges for a group of us.  These badges were some of the little details that really made our costumes.  I have learned many new things whilst building costumes, and many of these skills are useful outside of costuming as well.  My costuming experiences have also taken me to cool places and events from the Calgary Comic Expo to DragonCon in Atlanta.

Cosplay is a great hobby for anyone, as it utilises so many other skill sets; there is something in it for everyone.  If anyone ever has questions about an ‘impossible’ costume, feel free to ask me about it, as I would love to help make it real!

Well this is really long, so I will limit the pictures.




Monday, October 1, 2012

How to talk to your first stranger

At the request of Cat, I will be writing about talking to strangers. She figures that I might know a thing or two based on my thousands of kilometers of hitchhiking. She may figure right, who knows-- after you try out the tips in the post, let me know!

I haven't thought much about this topic in the past, although it is an interesting topic. My post won't be that theoretical; it will be rooted in practical experience. I'll leave it up to you to bring the theories.

I think it's important to realize that when going into a conversation that you and the stranger share a common interest and that you can shape the conversation to find and discuss that interest. Here's an example relating to a potential conversation I might have about sports, a topic that I don't think much about:

Stranger: Hey man, what's up?
Scott: Not a lot, how about you?
Stranger: Good.
*potential for end of conversation or awkward pause or recovery*
Scott: How's your day going today?
Stranger: Oh, it was alright, except the Pats [blah blah sports things].
Scott: Oh that sucks. I'm not a huge sports fan myself, except I:
 - saw that movie Moneyball and it was pretty interesting. I use statistics like that in my job and I think it's really cool how different industries are using technology and statistics to radically redefine themselves
 - went to my first Jays game a month or two ago. I'd never been to one before, and was surprised at the franchise's use of social media / how cheap and accessible to the public a game was / how expensive booze at the game was / how it was funny how hotdog prices went up linearly with how close to the stadium they were / etc
- was getting hcore into biking while I was in New Zealand. Upped my trips from ~20km to up to 50-60km. It's crazy that the limiting factor is your gooch / how big of a role that nutrition plays / how one's mind wanders when you're doing something for several hours / etc.

Two things of note here. Firstly, They start talking about sports, and then I take that topic and relate it to something I'm interested in that's tangentially related to the topic that they brought up. We're now talking about something fun and interesting: statistics, how technology is changing society, accessibility to public events, how old institutions have to change themselves to remain current, or an amusing anecdote related to my experiences. Neat! In this way I'm having a good conversation about something I'm interested about, and they might be having a conversation about something they're interested about. Sports might be the subject, but I'm getting something completely different out of the conversation.

TIP 1: Take what they're talking about, find a relation to something you're interested in, and change the conversation to something that you're interested in talking about.

Second item of note from Example 1. Notice my recovery after Stranger's response to "Not a lot, how about you?". "How's your day going today?" This is an extremely useful sentence. I'm going to say it twice more so you remember it. "How's your day going today?" "How's your day going today?" Anyone who you're talking to is coming from somewhere and they're feeling an emotion relating to their experiences that day. After someone answers that small talk question, take what they've said and ask a question about that. Distill until you're finding something interesting about that person. Here are some other power questions that you can use as a launching point to something interesting:

TIP 2: Use "small talk" / power questions to find something authentic the person is feeling or thinking about and then explore that feeling / thought. Here are some power questions:
- How's your day going?
- What are you up to today?

Sometimes, your small talk questions might lead you to something that you know nothing about. If you're interested, great! If not, great! Here are two such possibilities:

Stranger: ... and that's why my favourite show is Big Brother.
Scott: I don't know too much about Big Brother. Have you seen that fake reality show, The Joe Schmo Show? /  I don't know too much about Big Brother. ... What are you up to today?

Stranger: ... so Newfoundland should separate. 
Scott: I don't know too much about the situations leading NFLD to join Canada. Why should they separate?

I've italicized the important feature in these examples. Acknowledging to the other person that you don't know anything about what they're talking about is huge. You can either let them know that you're interested and to tell you more, or tell them that you don't know much and then change the subject. In any case, don't talk about something you don't know anything about.

TIP 3: Tell the person you don't know what they're talking about. Change the subject if it isn't interesting, or encourage them to tell you more.

That's all I got for you. Here are some other quick tips:

TIP 4: If you don't want to talk to someone, don't. Your life is too short to expose yourself to hate speech or boring speech. 

TIP 5: Pauses in conversations are okay, especially when you have a long time with the other person, such as a road trip. It's only awkward if you feel awkward. I love pauses in conversations -- gives me a chance to recollect my thoughts.

TIP 6: Seriously Cat + everyone else, read this book already. Fantastic read about how to communicate positively and effectively with others.

TIP 7: Don't worry if you put your foot in your mouth. There is a finite amount of ways you can do it, and after each you'll get better and won't do it the same way again :)

Hopefully these were helpful! If you only remember one, say "How's your day going?" in an awkward pause and you'll be good!

October!

It's October!

As I mentioned last month, we are doing something a bit different this month, and writing some instructive posts based on each other's requests.

Presuming all of us get around to posting, topics will be as follows:
  • Catherine - Essay/paper writing
  • David - Costume building
  • Jeff - Gingerbread houses
  • Megan - 101 things in 1001 days
  • Scott - Talking to strangers

Contributors: You can interpret your topic any way you want, and you can write about anything else you'd like to share as well (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). Make sure you tag your post with your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.

Everyone: There is a poll for the November topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.

Some of the topics have been languishing on the poll for months but continuously getting a vote or two that prevent them from being discarded. In the interest of keeping things fresh, I'm going to say that three months without votes, period, will get a topic kicked off of the poll (topics currently in danger of that are writing, reunions, travel, and manual labour/skilled trades).

Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll.