This Post Needs More Cowbell

Hello everyone! This week has been crazy hectic. I feel like I haven’t stopped doing assignments! So I am going to run through my assignments and talk about them. I have linked to them if you want to read more.

We started off the week by doing our Daily Create. In this assignment we had to tell a 280 character story of aliens invading our planet. I decided to be funny and lighthearted with my tweet. I was partially inspired by the “No, David!” books that always have  a funny twist at the end. 

“The aliens ate my homework!” Jimmy declared. Mrs. Moore sighed, ignoring his silly response. “Aliens? Aliens don’t exist Jimmy.” But they did, and Jimmy had seen them land in their UFOs. Initially they ate homework, but now they eat teachers. Poor Mrs. Moore. #tdc2213 #ds106 pic.twitter.com/LjR6WTyh1t

— cypherpunk106 (@cypherpunk106) January 30, 2018

The second Daily Create we did this week was about National Backwards Day. We were tasked with taking a picture that illustrates the idea of “backwards”. I decided to point out the irony and backwardness of National Backwards Day itself. I think this is slightly a cop-out, but I did stick to the assignment by demonstrating something that is backwards.

Now that’s backwards! #tdc2214 #NationalBackwardDay #ds106 #theend106 pic.twitter.com/yQyYnx2s3k

— cypherpunk106 (@cypherpunk106) January 31, 2018

The third Daily Create I did this week was create a video for a surreal compliment. The compliment that I got was “Your brother’s chicken coop is as abundant as the home port of the U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet.” I used various videos and audio clips to make this video. I also used a title and converted a gif into frames to keep the transparency.  

Your brother's chicken coop is as abundant as the home port of the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet. #tdc2215 #theend106 #ds106 (also a video is a series of images, so loophole) pic.twitter.com/ocY16o9TGi

— cypherpunk106 (@cypherpunk106) February 1, 2018

This week I also finalized my decision to read “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood. I’ve read a couple chapters already and I’m dying to know more about this story. 

I’m going to read “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood. I’ve read a couple chapters already and I’m dying to know more about this story. The image is that of a pigoon which are genetically modified pigs. Pigoons play a major role in "Oryx and Crake" #bookchoice #thend106 #ds106 pic.twitter.com/W1JCZH3pYT

— cypherpunk106 (@cypherpunk106) January 31, 2018

Moreover, we were tasked with reading two short stories this week. After doing these readings, I reflected on what I gleaned from them. The two short stories I read was “The Screwfly Solution” and “Finis”. I really liked “The Screwfly Solution” and highly recommend it. You can read my full and complete thoughts in my post.

We had a lot of assignments this week. The first assignment I did was to write an alternative ending to “The Screwfly Solution” by Raccoona Sheldon. It’s a little dark and murder-y, but I have to say it’s pretty good. I think that this is the work I am most proud of. I think that I was able to add more pizazz and flare to the ending. Yes, the ending I wrote was a bit more tragic. However, I think that my ending rightly gave Anne a badass exit. You can give it a read here.

The next assignment I did was Products Of The Apocalypse assignment. I decided to write about how the SHEWEE (an amazing product honestly) would help me survive the apocalypse. I even designed a nice little photo to go with the review. One thing I wish I did better on this assignment was the image I made to accompany my photo. The emojis are all at different heights and the OCD in me is too strong (but the laziness in me wins out). You can read my review and process here. 

Another assignment I did was write the Apocalypse Terms of Service. This was a fun assignment as I was able to write something official(ish), but also funny. I think I was also able to add a bit of story into my Terms of Service so it is a little bit more exciting than the normal TOS we read.

The last assignment I did this week was write an apocalypse inspired haiku. Hilariously, this is the shortest assignment and yet it gave me a lot of trouble. However, I am proud of this assignment because I overcame my inability to count syllables and was able to create a pretty good haiku. 

Some other little things I did this week was work on my site. Last week I mentioned how I was creating categories. So this week I was playing around with placing those in my menu and navigation widget. In general, I’ve been combining and adjusting them so that my users can find my work easier.

This week I was also able to read some work my classmates have been posting. I have to say that everyone in the class is doing really well. We are all using different skills and creative approaches to assignments, so reading all of them is just fascinating. One post that I really enjoyed was from Jillian. Jillian’s post was about their reflection on the short stories they read this week. Jillian also read the story “Finis” and we both agreed that the female character was somewhat annoyingly fragile. It was also nice to read that someone else has the same thoughts on the lovey-dovey ending the author wrote. You can give Jillian’s post a read here.

I was also able to read a post from Elizabeth’s website. I read her product review for the Freehawk Multifunctional Portable Outdoor Knife. Her review was amazing and really had a story aspect to it. I felt like I was reading an excerpt from a book and not a stand alone Amazon customer review! It really was an amazing review and it even made it on their official Customer Review page. You can read Elizabeth’s post here.

This week was a lot of writing for me. So it meant that I had to get into a writing and analyzing mindset in order to do well on this weeks work. I am glad that I was forced to have this mindset because I am not much of a writer myself. Having to step into it really broadened my horizons and made me channel my creativity differently.

If I could do this week over again, I would have tried to spread the work out a little. I ended up doing a lot of my posts on Saturday. This kind of put my creativity in a funk and made my head hurt a little. I think in the future I will try to force myself to start my work earlier and keep at it. Leaving everything last minute only caused more stress for me.

I am looking forward to photography week. Not that I don’t like writing, but writing a lot in a week really took it out of me. I know that we will obviously continue writing throughout this class, but I feel like it will be less intense. I am just excited to change it up a little and try out another medium for my creativity.

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This week Martha asked us:

In the event of an apocalypse, do you think you’d be the kind of person to hoard your supplies (for yourself and your loved ones) or would you share them with those around you in need? Why or why not?

As someone who already hoards things, I think that this behavior would translate to the apocalypse. I think that in the apocalypse all rules and maybe even morals are off. So, I feel that hoarding my supplies for myself and loved ones is ethically fine in the apocalypse. I also think that a “survival of the fittest” situation fits in the apocalypse. Obviously I love my family and friends, so I am perfectly okay with hoarding supplies for them and ignoring the needy.

Well, that is my Week 3 everyone. I hope you enjoyed reading about my assignments and the various things I struggled and am proud of. I’ll catch you on the flipside.