Cinderstein!

So this past weekend was "show weekend" for the play at my school.

We did the play Cinderstein which is a wacky, crazy comedy about a high school student who writes and produces his own play yet as rehearsals happen things start to get a little... twisted.

I was the proud and boastful Stepsister 4! (Yes there were 5!)

Here are some of the highlights!

I had such a blast doing this show! I love all the cast, crew, and dancers of Cinderstein!

Please help save lives

IMAlive is the first ever 24/7 online suicide hotline. It is a new service kicking off that will use an instant messaging service to provide a safe place for those on the verge of suicide.

I would like to become a volunteer for the website, committing 4 hours a week for 1 year to act as a volunteer on the recieving end of the crisis calls.

My first task as a volunteer is to recieve $250 in donations that will cover my training.

NONE of this money goes directly to me, only to IMAlive.

Any donations will help. Thank you all!

Much love!
-x- Lauren

Too Much

School takes too much time. I have no more time to crochet! Plus I've kinda hit a rock and a hard place with crocheting, I can't find anymore good, basic videos that I can learn from so if anyone has any suggestions they would be GREATLY appreciated!

This is one of the craziest times of the year, my AP classes are really kicking in, it's the middle of rehearsal season for my school's fall play, Show choir auditions are tomorrow and I'm captain, PLUS smaller things such as honor society, school ambassadors, our morning video broadcast anchor AND I have a wonderful Internship with YFU.
This is what I keep telling myself, so to all of you out there who need inspiration, whisper this to yourself during the dark moments.

More Crocheting!

I made my first amigurimi! It's quite small and simple but I still think it would be considered an amigurumi! I also made a crocheted ball just for practice although it could have turned out a bit more circular.

I made the cherry by following a Youtube video and I made the ball free-hand to test if I had actually learned what the Youtube video taught me!

Any feedback, tips, advice, etc. is greatly appreciated!

First Crochet!

Finally I started to learn how to crochet, off of Youtube. =]

It's called a Granny Square and the holes are supposed to be there, of course it's supposed to be an actual square but it didn't quite turn out that way.

I'm quite proud of it for my first time though!

Hopefully I can work up to amigurimi sometime!

Blog Award!

I've been nominated by my wonderful friend Sarah from -x- EssHaych -x- to recieve the versatile blogger award!

So now under the terms of the award I get to enlighten (=P) you with 7 exciting things about myself!

1. I love the human mind and want to become a psychiatrist
2. Sarah has inspired me to learn how to crochet
3. My celebritiy crush is Lady Gaga
4. I am an only child
5. I started this blog as a requirement for my Tech Ed class
6. My best friend is bravely serving our country in the marines
7. I've saved 3 lives

I'm also supposed to nominate 15 blogs but unfortunately I'm only following 2 people on this site and one of them nominated me so I don't really have anyone to nominate, maybe someday along the line I will nominate people!

Thank you Sarah!

Animoto & 3 Goals of Communcation

Animoto videos not only explain all three goals of communication but also display all three. The way the videos are layed out are the entertaning part because Animoto makes the videos very interesting to watch and the music makes it very entertaining. The videos are also informative because they can explain many different things using text, in this case the goals of communication technology. Lastly, they are persuasive because they can be used to validate a point or give examples. In the case of the communication videos pictures are used to intrigue the viewer and persuade the creater's points. The way the way the videos could demonstrate the goals further would be if the video could expand further on the point the creater is trying to make, but unfortunately the videos are limited to 30 seconds unless a subscription to the website is purchased.

Graphic Communication and Sketchcast

Graphic communication is all communication using drawings, pictures, graphs, photographs, photographs, or words on flat surfaces. Sketchcast is a good respresentation of a graphic communication because you can create a picture or some other sort of artwork digitally. Because a picture, etc. is created it is automatically graphic, then the video can be shared with others on the web. It can either be shard through Sketchcast or embedded on to another website for people to see. This part of Sketchcast creates commuinication therefore, Sketchcast offers a graphic communication system to users.

Twitter: Good or Bad?

In the article, "Twitter: Can chaos be a biz model? " the author, Martin Langeveld, argues that Twitter is easy to understand and a very convienent way of transmitting information. The author is obviously in favor of Twitter and it's simplistic design. He lists many different aspects of Twitter and how they can help people do various activites. Everything from networking, to personal branding, and breaking news.



Another author argues the opposite, saying that Twitter opens the world to false news and scammers. The Bad Side of Twitter brings up the point of how most people are following more people then are following them and how most twitter users don't even personalize their account with a profile picture. Is this really a bad thing though? Does a person have to be really into using twitter as a personal website? Can they not jsut choose to follow other's twitters? The author, Brenda Williams, also argues that Twitter is "spam central" because of so many users connecting at once. Personally, I believe that the author has a very narrow view of Twitter and does not back up her arguments with valid reasoning.


Barry Collins, author of 20 Good and 20 Bad Things About Twitter, notices the good and things about Twitter and lists them in a condensed, bulleted format. His points are straightforward, down-to-earth, and to the point, his articles is also user friendly. He lists self explanatory reasons for both sides. Some examples of his positive things about Twitter include, the website's simplicity, trend spotting, and it's 100% free. To counter those he also lists some negatives, reliability, addictive, and fake celeb profiles. Although both of his sides are legitimate, there is more valid points on the positive side but his article maintains very unbaised and very helpful.

Throughout the web a reader can find many articles about social networking both negative and positive. The ironic part is that most of the people trashing the sites, use them themselves and are using some sort of social networking to get their opinions out. Ahh.... the world wide web.

<3

Tech Blog- What is Web 2.0?

As defined by Webopedia, "Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online." Web 2.0 is more organzied and provides Web based applications for users. It has also allowed communication to move freely and easily and an open sharing of information. Examples of Web 2.0 applications are, "User-generated content, comprised of blogs, wikis and social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, lets everyone have their say on anything and publish it to the world at large."

Web 2.0 is revolutionizing the world and has allowed humans to increase the pace at which they "live."