Hashtag Symbiosis

It's that time again! It's time for some goshdang realtalk, ladies and gents!

So I've been thinking. That's a thing I do pretty often, really, but this time I've been doing it in a more specific way, y'see. That's why I'm here, writing stuff on the internet for people to read--sharing my words with you guys. And this time I use the word "sharing" for a very specific purpose: to establish a theme! Yay, sharing!

Now I know there's this whole stigma about the word "sharing" which brings up images of a guy in a purple dinosaur costume singing some song about how "sharing is caring" and all that jazz. But I'm here to talk about sharing in a far more scientific and analytical way than any purple dinosaur has ever done. I'm also going to throw around the word "symbiosis", as you could probably already tell by the link you clicked earlier that brought you here.

But now that all that's out of the way, let's get down to it.

Symbiosis is this thing in nature where two creatures learn how to become codependent to prevent themselves from dying a horrible grisly death. This concept is how society eventually developed, how animals became domesticated, and how you're even reading this article that you probably saw on Facebook in the first place. Humans are all about the social networking, and everything social stems from some form of symbiosis.

Symbiosis is the entire reason that society can even exist the way it does today! You think the internet was made by some monkey who just so happened to put a bunch of minerals together the right way? Nope! That monkey needed some other monkeys to invent some stuff first, like that electrical engineer monkey named Nikola Tesla did. And that monkey needed another monkey named Benjamin Franklin to discover electricity first. And Benjamin Franklin needed someone else to invent a kite, et cetera, et cetera.

The point I'm making here is that all technological advancements have pretty much been a symbiotic passing of knowledge from one highly-advanced, sapient super-monkey to another. We're all born knowing absolutely nothing, and in order to progress from the point that society is currently at, we must first be brought up to speed. That's the whole point of the educational system--to help us learn from and eventually surpass those who taught us--hence the phrase "now the teacher becomes the pupil".

We've gotten to the point, though, that it's impossible for any one human to know everything that all the previous humans have discovered. This is why society is so specialized. You learn everything you need to learn in order to push forward in the field you've decided to specialize in. And in order for society to not lose the information discovered in another field, someone else decides to specialize in something else. Different people take different paths--and now you have something that resembles a college environment that offers a wide variety of majors for an even wider variety of careers.

What I've learned from attending RPI is that even the people taking the same courses learn different things. All the stuff we learn tangentially from the research we do and the mistakes we make--it all gives us unique experiences. You can have a team of seven people in the same major, and have each person bring to the table something entirely different. This is how you make a great product. This is how your skills grow even faster than they would if you were on your own.

I believe that RPI is all about helping each other out. What sets us apart from the more cutthroat, competitive schools is that we don't leave each other in the dust, but pick each other up and brush ourselves off. By sharing the knowledge you've learned from your mistakes, you prevent someone else from making those mistakes, which gives them more time to learn other things that you haven't yet. And, hopefully, they'll share their discoveries with you as you did with them.

This is how we all grow together. This is how we become smarter much faster than we would by ourselves. At RPI, we always say "Why not change the world?" Well, guess what:

This is how we change the world.

Now go out and share your knowledge!

--J

Hashtag Footprints

Five months later, and I think it's time to start the hashtag train running again. Gotta shovel some coal into this bad boy, because magnet rails weren't exactly in the budget ever at any point and, to be honest, I'm not totally convinced magnets aren't just witchcraft. Make me a little uneasy, those magnets. Now if you'd be so kind, please allow me to find my writing fingers.

Oh, there they are. On my hands. Duh (writing fingers, check; rudimentary observational skills, check; everything seems to be in order, so let's get this train on the tracks so we can immediately derail it again).

Now we all probably know the classic story about the man walking along the beach with Sasquatch. There's something about how the man looks back and sometimes there's two pairs of footprints and sometimes there's only one? And then I think Sasquatch says something along the lines of "HHUURRRGGGEERRRHUUU! AAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" What an inspirational story. Just beautiful, really. Such imagery in those words.

Sasquatch's sage words of wisdom aside, however, the only thing I'm really trying to pull from this story is the footprints metaphor. What better way to represent where you've been in life other than a literal trail of footprints? That was a trick question. There's nothing better. Don't even try to think of anything. No, seriously. Just... just let me have this one, okay? Please?

I've recently re-discovered an electronic album that I used to listen to back in 2008 or so, and what a blast from the past it is. Made me remember that the reason I got into electronic music in the first place was because of someone I haven't spoken to in years. That's kind of a crazy thought. It's like there's always some small part of any inter-personal relationship that will persist even if the two people grow apart.

I guess really who I am today, then, is a sort of culmination of every relationship I've had so far, platonic or otherwise. I pick up phrases and preferences from just about everyone, as the nature of my being is generally to observe and process. Kind of really cool to think about, especially when you realize that everyone in the world is interconnected in the same vein. We all mold and are molded by each other, the result of which is a sort of ever-shifting gradient of the human condition along uncountable axes of personality and behavior.

What I think might be the most interesting thing I took from listening to this album for the first time in about seven years, however, is the fact that what used to be my favorite track is still my favorite track, even after all this time. I talk so much about how humans are changed and sculpted by the passage of time, and yet certain preferences and traits we have seem to remain static, regardless of everything else that appears to change.

But maybe "change" isn't the word to best describe what happens to the human mind. Perhaps the word "accumulation" is better suited to convey the metamorphosis we undergo over the course of our lives. As a person who relishes nostalgia and sentiment, I'd like to think that we never really lose any part of our selves. Would a sorcerer forget the most rudimentary spells upon learning that one spell which is better than all he previously knew? No. He just wouldn't use them anymore because they don't kick nearly as much ass as the new stuff. Okay, maybe that metaphor isn't totally relatable, but I think you get the picture.

The moral of the story is: HHUURRRGG--wait. No, not that, sorry. The moral of the story is that we never stop growing. Learning new things and making new memories is what we're all about, but that doesn't mean we lose where the old knowledge and memories brought us. This game called life auto-saves your progress when you sleep, so just keep moving forward, and maybe you can even go back and take a look at some of your weaker spells every now and again. Or footprints. Either metaphor works here, honestly.

Just grab Sasquatch's big ol' hand and enjoy the walk.

--J

Hashtag Don't Break the Chain

For those of you who watch Game Grumps religiously, or have heard the phrase before (because they weren't the ones who originally coined it, obviously), you may already know where I'm going with this from the title. I think it was during one of their more recent Pokemon: Fire Red episodes where they were talking about the concept of "not breaking the chain" and I started to think that maybe I should try it out. For those of you who don't know what "not breaking the chain" is, however, allow me to elaborate for you.

The concept of not breaking the chain is about building up confidence and dedication to something. It's not necessarily about creating a masterpiece every day, but more so about psychologically bolstering your confidence by practicing or working on something every day without skipping any days in between. Even if all you do in that day is draw something quick, or write one line of a story or one song lyric, you're still not breaking the chain. There will obviously be days you make a lot of progress towards whatever goal you set for yourself, and there will be days you make very little, but all that matters is that you keep working towards your goals every day. You'll feel like you're accomplishing more this way than you would if you took a day off.

Naturally, some days will feel like a grind. On those days, maybe take it easy on yourself and do something small. And you can certainly take a personal day if you think that's what's best for your overall goal. Taking the time to refresh yourself for the next day, depending on what rules you set for yourself, can count towards not breaking the chain. Perhaps even just putting thought into what you'll do tomorrow is worthwhile. It's really all up to you. Just don't do that every day.

The thing to really be wary of is skipping a day just because you don't feel like it, or skipping multiple days in a row under the assumption that you'll get back to it once you're rested. Obviously, if this happens a lot, perhaps "not breaking the chain" is not something you really want to do. Maybe the goal you set isn't one you really want to strive towards. That's fine. Perhaps you can change your goal to something you'd be more willing to work towards every day. Trying not to break the chain will show you where your priorities and aspirations lie.

Lately, I've been taking on more responsibilities as an artist than I had previously. Ever since I chose my concentration in computer science, I've neglected my artistic side, even though I've been an artist for much longer than I've been a programmer. A few weeks ago, when I first saw the episode of Game Grumps that I mentioned earlier, I decided that I wanted to try not breaking the chain, but I didn't know where to start. I knew that I wanted to do more art, and decided that I would be both an artist and a programmer for the new game I was working on with my team, but aside from working on the project I had no ideas of what to do artistically. Obviously there'd be days when I'd need to wear exclusively my programming hat, so breaking the chain seemed inevitable.

This past weekend, however, I got to see my muse in person once again, this time under the guise of my valentine. She brought with her a few gifts--mostly chocolate (because Valentine's Day), but also a book with lots of pages to draw and doodle on, as well as a prompt on each page telling me what to draw. This was it--the thing I was looking for! This would give me the direction I needed to be able to form a chain!

So far it's only been a few days, and one of my doodles is strikingly more elaborate than the others, but I've resolved to open up the book to a random page every day and doodle something in there. I've missed the practice I used to have all throughout grade school, when I used to draw in my notebooks during class, and I'm looking forward to seeing some improvement in my art skills over time.

With every day, I feel more and more inspired to better myself, and it's all thanks to the one who I lovingly refer to as "my muse". I can only hope to bring out the best in her, as she has undoubtedly done for me. I finally feel able to unlock all of my untapped potential, and be the successful person I always aspired to be, and it's a wonderful feeling, indeed.

For all of you reading this--try to find something to help you form a chain, as well. I hope you find that "not breaking the chain" helps you achieve the goals that you always set for yourself, but don't really know how to start working towards. Even if your prompt every day is asking someone to give you a random word (or getting a word from a random word generator), try giving yourself a daily task to help you slowly build towards whatever it is you want to see yourself become. I believe you can do it--just take it slow and you can be whatever you aspire to be some day!

Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you next time!

--J

Hashtag Euphoria

I think it's been too long since I decided to write a post simply because I had strong feelings about something that was on my mind. The fact that I'm about to do that right now is honestly pretty refreshing for me, as that's kind of the point of me having this blog in the first place. Y'know, to realtalk for a sec about life and stuff.

It's been a while since I've been genuinely happy and upbeat almost 24/7. That was my thing for a while until some shit went down, and gravity stopped behaving the way I wanted, and my life sort of started to slip through my fingers for a bit. But then I started picking myself back up, and I think I'm finally back at the top of my little mountain here--metaphorically speaking, of course (although I do live at one of the highest altitudes on campus).

There are a lot of factors involved with my reinvigorated state of euphoria, some of which are probably easier to guess than others. I think the main drive of it all, though, is probably one person in particular who has helped me realize that all I really have to do to change the world around me is to be that change. If I just be the change I want to see, suddenly things will start to get better. It's really all about figuring out what you want and then seeking it out.

It all started during this past break. Last semester kind of kicked my ass, even though my GPA is now the highest it's ever been since I started college. I think the amount of work I did to get those grades is probably the reason I really needed a break this time. After I got home, I took time to sleep in and play games, and just generally relax. I even went to Maine for a week with my parents, and spent a fair amount of time just expending my new-found creative energy on a big project for my friends (creative projects are more fun when you do them for the benefit of others, I've been told).

Finding a creative muse, however, was only part of the upturn I'd started to take. Reforming my social life kind of needed to be done for a while, and I knew this, but I didn't really think I could do anything about it until recently.

Now, most of you probably know that I'm a very social person. I like being with friends, and I have a lot of them. I do my best to be there for them if they need me, but I need to feel included or I'll start to lose heart (typical Cancer, for those of you who believe in astrology). Show me that you care about me, and I'll very quickly reciprocate. I am, however, very sensitive at times, and I can take things more seriously than they might have been meant to be taken.

Unfortunately, we're all each other's punching bags in my group of friends. I didn't really think anything of it for a long time, but as I've started to meet other people and see other group dynamics, I started to grow less and less tolerant of this mentality. And I get that friends can poke fun at each other sometimes, but they also have each other's backs and are there for each other whenever trouble arises. Ultimately the overall positivity of the group should outweigh the negativity, and that balance started to snowball in a pretty bad direction from my perspective with my particular group. I grew distant because I felt like I was getting hurt more often than not, and my first response to social adversity is to retreat into my shell.

I'm not sure if what I did was necessarily the "right" response, but it was how I chose to handle it, and I'd definitely make the same decision again given similar circumstances--I put my own happiness first. Thankfully a few of my friends saw the distance I was putting between us and told me they wanted to remedy that, and I'm really thankful for it. One of the things I hate the most is losing close friends--especially ones that I've had for so long.

Ultimately what I learned from this new muse of mine, though, is that I have the option to surround myself with people who genuinely like having me around, and it made me realize that there are more people like that than I originally gave myself credit for. My new-found self-worth started to blossom, and with it came yet another surge of creativity (turns out all I need to do to have good ideas is believe that I have them). As it stands now, my semester looks full of potential--between my Game Dev II dream team and an unprecedented amount of free time to capitalize on my creative potential, I think I can really be a part of something awesome. Not to mention a budding relationship that has me excited to see what each new day brings. And I've even started a weekly Dark Heresy campaign with some friends who I'm super hyped about getting to know better (spoiler alert: new blog coming with details on all of those crazy shenanigans)! All-in-all, it looks like it's going to be a good year, and I'm looking forward to spreading the positivity!

That's really it for this one. Special thanks to my lovely muse (you know who you are). As for the rest of you, thanks for reading, and be on the lookout for my new blog (perhaps you'll see it tomorrow??? #foreshadow)! I'm going to do my best to make it entertaining even for those of you who don't know about the Dark Heresy universe, because the dice rolls alone are really not that entertaining without proper context and storytelling. Luckily, we have an amazing GM and a party of people who get really engrossed in their characters, so the storytelling won't be too much work on my part.

Until next time!

--J

Hashtag Collegiate

It's that time again. I've heard the question "When was the last time you made a blog post?" with enough frequency to make me write another one (you do this to yourselves, you know). So here we go:

I've been thinking a lot lately about college--makes sense, I guess, seeing as I'm attending one. All of us here seem to be so stressed out all the time, and I've been examining why. I mean, it didn't take long to figure out, honestly, having lived it myself--we've got classwork up the wazoo! Golly gee willickers, what a discovery!

Obvious revelation aside, my GPA has been gradually increasing with each new semester, and I think I've worked out why that is. The biggest reason (and, watch out, this'll be a shocker!) is because I'm actually learning things here. The more you learn, the better you get at handling all the work they throw at you. "Well that's great!" I hear you all say. And yeah, you're mostly right. Being smarter is nice. But there's a catch.

While new concepts aren't that difficult to extrapolate from what we've already been taught, the workload seems to increase with each semester. It's almost as if the scheming bastards who wrote these curricula know that you should be able to handle the work they throw at you with greater efficiency than you did when you were a freshman (I mean, duh, that's just common sense). So they naturally give you more work than you got before.

Now, some professors understand the struggle of the students and want to lighten their load a little. I've had a few classes that required less work outside of the classroom, which was a welcome breather. I also, however, had other professors (and this applies to most of the ones I hadn't previously categorized) who seem to think that their class is the only class you're taking. You can probably see why that would be stressful (and a lot of you reading this can probably sympathize). I've had a lot of friends leave this school because they couldn't handle it. Thankfully they all took the less drastic option of taking leave, but I know some of my fellow students have not been so lucky.

I know that we don't want to think about that more drastic option, because no one should ever have to be driven to that point. But I think it stands to remember that it happens sometimes. Stress can be your undoing if you let it--you just have to be stronger than that. In my case, I surround myself with people who I enjoy the company of. My socializing is a coping mechanism. We all have our own ways to deal with the pressure, some of which are less healthy than others. I won't really delve much further into that right now, though.

Right now, I'd like to focus on listing some priorities. I think these are all fairly obvious, but sometimes people tend to forget. Let's just get down to it, shall we?

1. Top priority: living. We're going to college so that we have a shot at a brighter, more successful future. Need to be alive to actually have a successful future, though. Graduating from an institution like this one, especially, will almost guarantee success; if you can make it through here, you can make it anywhere, kiddo. Just keep doing your thing and make sure to keep breathing (eating and sleeping are also important, but the par for the course can be a little below average for these four years of your life on those, so just do your best).

2. Getting a job. Sort of another big no-brainer. We're going to college to eventually be employed. That's why we're learning all these fancy new skills--we want to look good so we can get hired! The best way to do this is to have an impressive portfolio. Alternatively, perhaps you should be able to show off your skills at the drop of a hat (if what you do doesn't take days upon days of development time and bug-fixing, that is). If you have a finished product that's actually published (talkin' to you, fellow GSAS Majors), employers will definitely take you seriously. And if that product is actually good? Hot damn, you might have them contacting you for an employment opportunity!

3. Getting experience. Really scoring big on the "duh" counter today. Might be a new record. Employers are looking for people with experience. Once you get an internship or get your foot out in the real world somehow? You're golden. They aren't even going to care what your GPA is anymore if you get rave reviews from whoever it is that gave you a shot in the first place. Although having a GPA might still be crucial if your employer is absolutely terrible at networking (which he definitely won't be, seeing as he's probably at the top of some food chain or another).

So really what I'm saying here is "Don't sweat it too much." Just do your work and learn your stuff, and everything will turn out fine so long as you don't let the stress get to you. Taking a little bit of time to de-stress can save your life. Diploma don't mean shit to a corpse, so take care of yourself, dammit!

Now go do the thing, everyone!

--J