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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

If I've Been MIA From The Internet For A While....

It's because i'm burnt out of it for now. Ive been focusing A LOT of my attention to the internet for the pats couple of weeks. I got burnt out of it. I do this all the time. I focus so much into one thing and then I throw it aside.

Plus, im becoming sick and all I want to do is sit around and watch The Office. Staring at the screen gives me a headache when im all nasal-y.

It's been one of my goals to stay away from the internet for a full week. I have just now decided as I'm writing this that it's time to do it.

I'm going to post my wednesday video for 7awesomebookworms tomorrow and then: no skype, no twitter, no facebook, no youtube, no dailybooth, no blogger, no internet until the next wednesday.

I feel like I should do this now because im going to be doing Blog Every Day in November so I obviously cant do this next month. The timing just feels right.

Those of you that have my number, feel free to call/text me during that week. Im sure I will be glad to hear from you.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Basically We're Cool....

[4:34:57 PM] Arka says: :\
[4:35:06 PM] Esther says: :/
[4:35:13 PM] Valerie says: :\
[4:35:15 PM] Esther says: :/
[4:35:20 PM] Paul(SaysThings) says: :\
[4:35:24 PM] Valerie says: :/
[4:35:28 PM] Esther says: :\
[4:35:36 PM] Paul(SaysThings) says: :/
[4:35:39 PM] Valerie says: :\
[4:35:41 PM] Esther says: :/
[4:35:50 PM] Paul(SaysThings) says: :\
[4:35:55 PM] Valerie says: :/
[4:35:59 PM] Esther says: :\
[4:36:06 PM] Paul(SaysThings) says: :/
[4:36:10 PM] Valerie says: :\
[4:36:14 PM] Esther says: :/
[4:36:17 PM] Paul(SaysThings) says: :\
[4:36:20 PM] Valerie says: :/
[4:36:23 PM] Esther says: :\
[4:36:28 PM] Arielle Lindsey Roberts says: wtf guys!
[4:36:30 PM] Valerie says: NO
[4:36:33 PM] Paul(SaysThings) says: CCCOMBO BREAKER

hahahaha. you guys are awesome <3

Saturday, October 10, 2009

How I Came To Be Where I Am Now (on the internet)

It's coming up on my one year anniversary of becoming a nerdfighter. It's been an UH-MAZING year. I've met so many awesome people and done so many awesome things. It's only been a year but it feels like much longer. I cant even think about what it would be like had certain events not transpired. Im going to list how I came to be where I currently am. Please note that all these steps seemed arbitrary at the time, however exciting each step may have been. I would have never guessed that these events would domino effect to change my life so much.

1. The day I got hi-speed internet- I used to have AOL. We had it for SO LONG. After a long time of complaining about it we FINALLY got DSL. I think it was some time late in the year 2007. During that year there were all these amazing things going on that I would eventually get involved with. But I had no idea these things even existed yet.

After I got fast internet I could FINALLY watch youtube videos. I'd been on youtube before but very little because AOL doesnt load the videos for crap. It takes FOREVER to load a video. So I was finally able to watch videos. That first few weeks that I could watch videos was so amazing. Of course I was new so I didnt know anything of the amazing powers of youtube. All I did was watch animals and fat people doing funny stuff. Eventually I started to find videos that I couldnt watch because there was an age limit on them. My brother had started an account in order to verify his age to get past this. He actually had an account on youtube before I did if you can believe it (he doesnt really do much but barely watch videos. He's uploaded a few videos of him screwing around with his friends).

2. I signed up for a youtube account January 23rd, 2008. A seemingly arbitrary thing, but looking back it's incredible how important that move was.

A month after having a youtube account I posted my first few videos. They were recordings from a Ludo acoustic show I went to. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8ukvRYDW-c )

3. On March 22nd, 2008 I posted my "first" video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IIUSrEn2wE ) . It was a bass cover. I put up a few more bass covers until.....


(I forgot to mention somewhere in here was when I got my laptop. This was a key event but im already at step 8 so I dont feel like changing the story. If i didnt have my own computer then all of the events may not have happened because i had free reign of the internet whenever i felt like it)

4. I posted my first video that had me talking in it on March 22nd, 2008. It was done in one take. I talked about some DVDs. It was REALLY HORRIBLE ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnawMGqLn90 ) The best part is that I messed up what I was saying in the second sentence to come out of my mouth. I was so awkward talking on camera.

5. I finally figured out how to use the editing software my computer came with (Windows Movie Maker). The video files had to be converted before I could put them into the editor. Once I figured that out I was in business. I started looking around youtube for people to gain influence from. One of these was HayleyGHoover. This channel that I randomly stumbled upon began the changing of my life.

I did not know of the fiveawesomegirls the time I found Hayley. I don't remember how I eventually found her on the fiveawesomegirls. It was probably in the related videos or something. Hayley talked about this thing called "nerdfighters". I just kind of ignored her when she talked about it because it confused me. Eventually she posted footage on the fiveawesomegirls channel of a nerdfighter gathering. At that moment I thought nerdfighters was a Live Action Role Playing (LARP) game. The title "nerdfighters" made me think of a bunch of nerds standing in a field screaming "TWO MAGIC! 5 DAMAGE!" to each other.

6. The vlogbrothers were linked in the sidebar of a fiveawesomegirls video. I checked it out. I was still very confused for a while. I didnt consider myself a nerdfighter yet. I figured that I didnt have the credentials to be one or to be recognized by others as one. I decided that I must read these books that John Green wrote as a way of starting my initiation. I started with Looking For Alaska which I bought some time near the end of October. I consider the end of October when I officially became a nerdfighter.

From then on I considered myself one. I realized that I was a nerd at heart. I had been one in grade school but had repressed it severely in high school because of the bad reaction I got to it in grade school. Becoming a nerdfighter made me go back to my roots and to sort of liberate part of myself that I was repressing for the past few years.

During this whole time I was making videos and making acquaintances. Youtube had already given me lots of things. In many ways it simply served as a media outlet. A place I could check out music videos for new bands to listen to, see movie trailers, etc. There are no huge specific examples of my life being changed, but this period of time is still very important.

7. On February 2nd, 2008 I started my second youtube account- PaulSaysThings. I decided that my old account (bassownz) didnt have any focus. I was making dozens of different types of videos and it didnt look like i knew what I wanted to do with my channel. The other big reason for switching was that I finally got an HD camera and was getting confident enough in my abilities to entertain people and make quality content. I knew that I had lots of copyrighted material on my bassownz channel and that that was going to hold me back from potentially gaining my goal of becoming a youtube partner. So I decided to scrap everything that I had done and start completely fresh. It was very liberating and exciting.

8. Some time after making my channel, im not sure when but It was a few months in, I was subscribed by a user named Morgan (outofmyelement). This seemed like just another subscriber, but if I were to say that I would be terribly wrong.

(I think Morgan may have been the first nerdfighter to subscribe to me. Im probably wrong on that but it sounds about right.)

Morgan was the first to take the initiative in conversation. I can't remember what was said exactly but long story short we ended up following each other on twitter. (twitter could probably be another step but that's more of a side quest than something directly relevant to the main story line) Morgan told me about this thing called tweetdeck which was an application that ran twitter. I got tweetdeck and it caused me to tweet more because it was an open program and I didnt have to go onto the website every time to use twitter.

We replied back and forth until somewhere along the line I got skype and talked to Morgan on skype.

9. Step 9 actually involves another person. Katy (karatetentacles). I met Katy one night on skype because she was in a call with Morgan and then I was added to the call.

After becoming very confident in my video making abilities I began to start to want to become part of a collaboration channel on youtube. I asked Katy if she would want to start one and she said that she was already in one and they happened to need a new Wednesday. Eventually I joined the 7awesomebookworms channel. Here I met the other people that were the other days of the week on the channel.

10. Im not even sure how this step came to be. One night on skype Katy randomly added me to this giant skype chat. I recognized lots of the usernames in the chat from blogtv but had never actually talked to any of them.

Pretty much the rest kinda fills in itself. There are other stops along the way such as 2008's Project For Awesome where I strengthened my ties as a nerdfighter and discovered some amazing youtubers such as Doctor Noise. Another thing worth mentioning is the blogtv shows along the way. I meet cool people there all the time.

So here I am now. Youtuber, twitter-er, blogger, dailyboother, skyper, and nerdfighter.

These things came to be because of this chain of events.

I am so much nerdier now that I have ever been and it's pretty great (*makes raocow reference*)

I also read a LOT more, which is also pretty great.

So many other things worth mentioning. They all wont come to mind at the moment though. Things like The Mountain Goats and Raocow and all the amazing inside jokes and awesome times ive had with everyone through my computer.

To the people I have met (mostly via skype): Morgan, Katy, Cory, Darci, Kaitlin, Eevee, Rachel, Valerie, Abby, Esther, Arka, Julian, Blaze, Sara, and everyone else im forgetting because im sure theres a LOT im forgetting. You guys are amazing. Im lots of ways I definitely think that you are all cooler than I am. You guys have been PROUD nerds for a long time and I have only just recently reinstated that title upon myself. I love you guys VERY VERY MUCH <3

Best year of my life? We'll see...

Thursday, October 8, 2009

If I did NaNo, the terribleness would kill people.

I'm talking on skype with a bunch of people. Some of them are mentioning NaNoWriMo. This is something that i've just recently heard of. Its where you write an entire novel within the month of November. All the "cool kids" seem to be doing it. But not me.

I am a horrible writer. Even as I write this I only have a vague grasp of what the next sentence is going to be. I don't really know what it's going to be until it comes out. Like this. Or this. Typing. Typing. Typing (jee, typing is so fun when you do it really fast) Anyways....

If I WERE to participate in NaNoaweroaiwefomweit;am;df, the end result would be a disaster. I have creative blocks. Not just with writing but with just about everything. And sadly writing is where lots of creative outlets are started.

Maybe I just need to do it more often. Isn't that why i'm here in the first place writing this right now? Actually, in this case, it's not. I decided to write this blog because of our skype conversation about NaNo.

Getting back on track. If I were to to participate, my "novel" would probably end up as all my school papers. I don't have any experience with long intensive writings other than school essays. Sure i've written short stories, but that wasn't since like the third grade. (that was also quite a disaster). When I write (anything) I tend to make it up as its happening on the page. Its kind of exciting in a way. The way the words just kinda stream through my head and make sentences that hopefully work with one another to form something. But as far as planning goes there's usually next to nothing buzzing around in my head. I have an inkling as to what I want/need to talk about and where I want/need to go with it. Usually i'll have a few specific points of interest along the way. Things that I know I must touch upon. But even that stuff is mostly being formed as its coming onto the paper/computer.

Here I am writing a whole blog about not being able to write. Maybe i'm better at it then I think I am. Maybe my writing "style" does work and I just need to know how to write something and then revise, edit, and rewrite it. Maybe I should keep up writing like this to gain my confidence and try NaNo next year (?). I guess I could, actually. Just not this year because I've only just found out that it exists a few months ago.

The whole reason I'm writing this blog in the first place is because of the skype call. (here's another problem I have: I babble too much and seem to mention the same things over and over. I talk like that sometimes too). I decided that I would come up with the basis of a story on the spot to show everyone what it would be like if I did NaNo. I write an incredibly short and unfinished plot off the top of my head. I didnt put much thought into it. I just tried to get through with the story portion then focusing on all the details that could make even a bad story bearable.

Anyway. This is the disaster that came out of my fingers within about 3 minutes:

So theres this guy, and he's walking down the street. he keeps walking until he finds this sandwich lying on the ground. he picks it up. it looks seemingly delicious. he decides to take a bite. he puts the sandwich up to his mouth. stops. hesitates. he begins to wonder what might happen if he eats the sandwich. he puts the sandwich back on the ground and walks away. the sandwich begins to glow. "eat me" it says. so he picks up the sandwich and takes a bite.

chapter 2: sitting in the hospital bed our as of yet unnamed protagonist is conversing with the doctor. he is told that he has aids....