In case I need a loading bar in Flash:

Online tutorial - 5 min tops.  Flash magic at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llcgABOHcCI

jquery

So, if you looked at my last post, you may notice I'm starting to wander through the forests of jquery. And I love it. I'm working with a good friend on making websites, and the tricky coding falls to me because I've been doing this forever. I love when things are beautiful and simple. jquery is one of those things. For those who don't know, it's a javascript library... so you don't have to write the code yourself, just link and go. I'm a jquery neophyte, but I've already resolved a conflict between jquery and scriptaculous on the same page. (Both javascript libraries.) Check them out for joy! The fade-in is jquery and the effect when you click on one of the pictures is pure scriptaculous.

I don't like blogging, but I really kinda like technology.

In case I forget:
Here's the most awesome way to make an HTML page fade in
In the head put:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4/jquery.min.js"></script>

In the body, just before the tag, put:

<script type="text/javascript">
$('body').hide();
$('body').fadeIn(1000);
</script>

Woo hoo!!! No more stinky Meta tag problems!

Ning Ning Ning... bananaphone!

Hi All,
For any of you strange creatures that are following this blog, I have just finished a tutorial on how to use the social networking site "Ning" (ning.com).

This is a step-by-step guide, and I learned a lot making it. If you'd like your own personal facebook-like site, give it a try! It's free!

Thing 20: Just for me? It's Ning

Hello everyone! My "ning" is at modernmedia.ning.com

For my final project, I'm creating a "Ning" site. For those not familiar, "ning" is a free social network located at (whoda thunk it) ning.com.

This free site allows people with similar interests and tastes to get together in a virtual environment. The participants can blog, discuss, post, connect, contact and probably a whole lot of other things. This allows a great deal of freedom for the participants and a desired amount of control by the site creator.

So, I'm feeling a little shaky with Ning. I've made a site, and I've invited some people, but need to open my invites. I feel shaky because I think I'm a control freak, and I don't know how to control all of Ning's features. I've figured out how to modify the look and add apps, I've tied it to Twitter and Blogger, and yet...

I still feel I don't know what I'm doing.

I can see a great deal of use for a ning site. First of all, it's free, and that's always a bonus when working with educational technology, and second it allows for a space for a group of people to interact. This could be ideal for students. Because an instructor can set permissions (such as no pictures can be posted without approval), this could become a safe environment for class discussions and sharing.

I'll have to play more with settings and people in the network to figure out just how useful this might be. I look forward to figuring out this puzzle that is Ning.

Thing 19: Summary of Thoughts About Thinking Thoughts.

Warning: I will babble.

Some people think I'm smart. I really don't know what that means. I suppose I caught on quickly as a child, and I really can multi-task (2%!), so while I was goofing off through K-12 years, I was actually learning too. I know stuff, but I don't know what smart means. The real thing I have going for me is stubbornness.

That almost brings me to the topic of my blog. Hold on, we'll get there.

My stubbornness makes me not give up. I must figure something out until I get it. That's why I'm not afraid of learning... I'm afraid of not learning. I'm afraid if I don't learn things the first time, I'll be stuck doing them forever. I'm freakin' Sisyphus, and that's why I'm not afraid of technology.

Sooo, the blog. This is my first blog. I can't say it was pleasant because it was assigned. Don't get me wrong - I don't expect everything to be pleasant. School is about forcing us out of our comfort zones. Ideally, school shouldn't be comfortable. There must be pain for there to be growth.

This blog was growth. And parts of it I liked. The blog has reminded me that I miss writing, but I'm not sure blogs are the best medium for me. I liked most of the things learned, although some parts I probably won't use again. I'm not a big fan of Twitter, if you couldn't tell from the posts.

If I could do anything differently, I would do this at my own speed, but that's not an option with a graded program. I would only blog about the parts I found interesting. I probably would have shared more personal stories... if this wasn't a class assignment. I don't know what else I would do differently. I suppose I wouldn't have wasted the first couple of months resisting so much of the blogging.

For me, this program is all about exposure. Exposure to new ideas, exposure to new technology. I know it's only a taste of what's available. (I wish when I was teaching there were regular exposures to new technologies.) I also know I must keep up or I won't know what's coming.

So, although I have been a bit resistant about these new things, I'm grateful. I can see how to blend these new methods into a classroom, the Internet, and the world.

Thank you for making me learn.

Thing... which? Oh, 18. Wordle and Tag Clouds

I think I can find use for this one. In classes with a State Core Curriculum, there are lists of terms the students should know and use. I could see a Wordle as a graphic for each quarter.

So, first I wanted to make a Wordle for science. Afterward I'll make one based on this class, and all of the "Things" we've blogged about.

I think this is a fun way to play with words. Here's the image for this class:
Of course, this is not everything about this class, but I wanted to pick up a list of the "things" we have played with. I chose my own colors. This was fun.

Thing 17: Podcasts of the World

So, for my podcasts I thought of going to the Library of Congress. After looking around, I realized that it had very little to do with what happens in any school in America. I then went semi-local, and found the the Brigham City library has podcasts, but no feed. I went back to the Education Podcast Network and found an information technology podcast. I figured that the technology updates both satisfy my science background and the Library Science requirements.

So, I found the "Tech Teacher Network" since all librarians must be tech savvy. I chose "Skype in the Classroom" for the podcast. There was a short description of what Skype is, and then the author started talking about how to use Skype in the classroom. The tips were

• Plan the video conference
• Have emergency backup plan
• Test it out a few days ahead of time
• Pre and Post activities, such as a blog
• Use the chat feature for tech problems
• Practice muting
• Learn ettiquite
• Try to avoid wireless
• Document camera is a plus
• Carpeted rooms great
• Set security features in Skype

The author then went into a "safeshare" on Youtube description. I was confused because I personally would split different topics into different podcasts.

Free Moodle - Moodle discussion came next. I'm getting dizzy from the quick-change topics. There was a mention of a site called keytoschool.com which is a free Moodle hosting site. This might come in handy.

Ok, so then I ventured over to iTunes. Wow - that feels disorganized. There are so many free topics, and so many podcasts. Crazy. I listened to one interview of an author... not one I'd subscribe to, but a good listen. I subscribed to one or two that fit my personal interests. I would love to see an organization though.

Thing 16 Part 2: Only music, but great text.

Warning: there may be brief, artistic, blurry, upper-female nudity. Just so ya know. And hey, when do you see that written about library posts?

This is "A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto"

Thing 16: School Library Video

Well, I've learned why there shouldn't be rap songs about libraries. I've also learned there's a high school library game. Thanks YouTube. Reminding me not all information is of equal value.

I did stumble across this video though. I liked its creativity and simplicity. It's not heavy on information, so I'll do that in my next post.

Thing 15: Twits - a verse in 140 characters.

Twitr not 4 me. 140 c 2 short. No use in edu not met by blog. M-T Cals of electrnic world. Wste o time. Notify 4 stdnts? Bettr ways. Drivel.

Things 13 and 14: RSS and the wonderful wide web

Ok, I totally vented my spleen on the last post, so, other than a brief complaint that I have igoogle and don't need "Bloglines," I'll be brief.

I have to remind myself that these are blogs, not treatises.

So, through Bloglines I'm subscribed to the 5030 blog, some California girl's pictures of birds (she's really talented and has a great camera), one I found on Technorati, and some friends blogs. Through igoogle I also have three different local news feeds, and through my email two national news feeds.

Specifically, I found the RSS experience easy, and here's how I found the sites for Bloglines. First, I wanted to follow a picture set on Flikr. I am interested in birds, and so I browsed until I found one with great pictures and a lot of variety. From there it was about two clicks until I was subscribed.

I'm also following a political blog. Because I choose not to discuss too much online, I won't say which, but it was in the top 100 of Technocrati. Again, two clicks and it's funneled directly into my head. I'll do one more learning-based one, or at least science based (my specialty isn't libraries). YES! Weird Things!!! !17 on the science section. It's so... me. But I read it, and it wasn't what I thought. I'm disappointed. The pictures are interesting... but not all in a good way.

So now I'm down to numbers 36-60, and I must say, I'm getting annoyed. Being trained in science, I want more than opinion, but that's what most of these blogs are. I then switched topics, and was horrified at the one-sidedness of some issues I was reading. Ug.

I'm taking the easy way out. I know Discover Magazine has feeds (I found that out on Technocrati) but I don't want blogs - just news feeds. I went to discovermagazine.com and subscribed to the parts that interest me. No opinions, please. But now I'm keeping up to date on the latest in my field.

Thing 12: Library 2.0 - Christopher Harris Blog

Why did this article leave me unsettled?

And is all change progress?

My mind stumbles to the ridiculous image from Superman 3 where the computer pulls the villainess into its wires and she turns into a cyborg thing. I know - images from Star Trek TNG's "Borg" would be much less comical, but I was young enough with the Superman movies that it made an impression on me.

So, is this the new librarian? Half-digital cyborg plugging good little consumers into the Net?

Can new media teach? Yes, I do believe it can be a very powerful tool, but one that supplements instruction, not replaces it. If digital life alone is sufficient, why not replace all librarians, and teachers for that matter, with text-messages? I can Twitter a science lesson to thousands of child nodes. Why not replace all instruction with blogging? Why not replace all people with circuitry? Really, it would be much more efficient.

I'm being extreme, I know. But not much. Walk across campus and see the loving caresses between the electronics and their hosts.

Are blogs superior to in-class discussions? I don't think so. Pixelated disputes and avatars for dissidents? Oh, it can add to an experience, and I wouldn't be opposed to a blog assignment for my students, but really, I think the personal nature of learning is losing out. Technology is no replacement for flesh and blood.

So, back (somewhat) on topic. Next in front of the guillotine is the librarian, and she must show she can be a good citizen of the digital world, or be labeled as part of the old regieme. Librarians, keeper of dusty pages, must "transcend the physical space to bring services and programming to every student and teacher throughout the school..." So... she must become high priestess of the electric elixr or perish. Hmmm.

There has been a shift in thought as surely as the printed word changed the world. Schools and libraries cannot teach to the old paradigm of limited knowledge in the hands of the few. We now have a populus drowning in information, but we are no more wize than our "primitive" ancestors. Actually, when we add a new thing, we lose something else. Sometimes it's not missed at all, but parts will be. When words became printed, stories started to die, like zoo animals in cages start to die the minute they are imprisoned. While we gained a great deal in the way of knowledge to the masses, the ability for people to remember, the old stories, and folk wisdom started to perish. We gained electronics and lost the knowledge of how to fend for ourselves. When we gained the radio and television, it was the start of decline of the printed word, and now newspapers, almanacs, and encyclopedias are at death's door.

And so are libraries. Already, more and more space is reserved for keyboards and wires. It's no longer a refuge from the world, but a portal with a hardwired connection. Plug in, zone out, give up.

For more reading: a study of children raised by rectangles. See also the original study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Thing 11: Technorati

Oy. I have a natural aversion to that which is popular. Perhaps it's the counter-cultural leanings I've developed. So, I'm approaching the Technorati assignment as thus: I will view it as an alien creature trying to figure out what this strange species values.

Top 100:

• Politics
• Technology
• Celebrity Gossip
• Business

So, I can judge (root word of prejudice) that this is a culture obsessed with itself: politics is the self of the government, technology is the self of the tools, celebrity gossip is the self of the culture, and business is the self of the market.

Ok, that wasn't fair. I was actually surprised at how popular some of the political sites are. I know it's a very big issue, but I wasn't expecting a #1 spot. I am really worried though that a higher "authority number" is based on the number following. That's not logic. That's like saying the more people you have following you, the more accurate you are. That officially makes Hitler far more authoritative than Martin Luther King Jr. Might does not make right. Even so, I laugh that TMZ is higher rated than CNN.

I can see why technology is well represented. It's like having a medical convention and finding a large number of people interested in health. It's just so self-serving.

Thing 10: del.icio.us

It's funny, but since making the delicious account, I have nearly forgotten about it. Now I've gone back to visit, I'm amazed about how much I can learn about myself from my bookmarks. It's clearly I need to limit my interests; I have 200+ sites listed.

One way I've used delicious (leaving out punctuation) is to migrate my bookmarks. This is convenient since I have 2 web browsers (or more) on three computers.

I just looked through my links and found the one I needed to renew my teaching licence. $90 later, I'm a teacher again. Hmmm, you'd think it would be harder. Of course, I've been teaching, taking classes, working on distance ed, etc.

For students, I suppose that it would be fun for students to contribute to lists. I think they would enjoy a collective list from peers of similar tastes.

Thing 9: Rollyo

Select Search Engine...Page of MysterySearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

Well, this was an adventure. I can see the fun and adventure of rollyo. If I had a better website, I'd use this for an interior search of my school materials. Actually, that's all this one does: search my site. If you type "science" you can see my CV.

Thing 8: Library Thing Thing

So, I have a Library Thing account, and actually I could see more use of this if I really was in a library. It's good for students to know that adults read. It also offers interesting suggestions, if others have similar tastes. My tastes are ecclectic, but lean toward classics. I swear I'm semi-Victorian. Even my more recent tastes lean toward the romantic, and I DON'T mean love and sex and Jane Austin. I mean Poe and Hugo and that lot.

I haven't added many titles. I've read far more than I have listed. But, at least there are a few titles here. The more I started adding titles, the more I wanted to add. Really, as I'd posted before, I wish that I had a list of every book I've ever read. Mmmm... Boooooooks.

Thing 7: Image Generator

Ok, I liked my (probably copyright violating) picture earlier with Hermione. Here's another one. This was made at fototrix.com and a picture I stole off of some family's site. Just a reminder people, if you don't want it stolen, don't put it online.

This is fun!

Thing 6: Skype

Skype is incredibly useful. I just don't need it. Well, maybe today I do; I think my phone is in my car. If it's not, I'm in serious trouble.

Hey, if you get bored, you can send me a message. I'm never on live. dyingemberlowe is my handle. (10-4 good buddy).

Sometimes I look at cell phones and skype and imagine I'm in Star Wars. I really want a phaser, although the temptation to stun people while driving would be too much temptation to bear.

Thing 5: Walkin' in a Wiki Wonderland

Finally, after five entries, I figured out why I'm redoing these first assignments. The first time I did them, it was for a grade. This time, it's for me. I want to own this.

And no, I'm not blowing sunshine. Really, I'm behind, and could better use the time for new assignments, but sometimes I have to remind myself that grades aren't why I'm doing this. I forget that sometimes.

So anyway, Wikis. Again, because I do html coding, I haven't used wikis much. They're dead-useful though. And when I choose to use them, I can appreciate them.

I've been going Wiki-nuts for the past few days. I figured that because we have the Wiki assignment coming up very soon, I'd get a jump on it, and I'm really glad I did. Here's what I've discovered:

1. pbworks wikis are really ugly. I kind of hate them. So, the first thing I did was migrate over to wikispaces, where I at least have marginal control over the appearance of the Wiki. My new site is http://dream2live.wikispaces.com/ and it's at least not grotesque.
2. I'm really a weird perfectionist on these things. I have put in hours, only to tweak the little bits until I like them.
3. A really good Wiki takes a bit of time.

I still prefer web pages. There is so much more control (see #2). But I can see how many people would find this much more user-friendly and manageable. I'm starting to enjoy wikis more.

Thing 4 Part 2

Reading
Originally uploaded by Phrenetica

So, I decided to try a "fancy app" and use the site bighugelabs.com to turn this picture I stole into a motivational poster. Enjoy!

Thing 4: Flickr is quicker and other lame name games and dime rhymes

Book Worm
Originally uploaded by boopsie.daisy

Howdy.
I want to remember how to do this later, so I'll first write about signing up for Flikr. Due to the ghosts of my past (in this case the memory of Geocities), I have several Yahoo accounts. I'm trying to remember which I used for my last picture post. Alas. It only took me three tries.

Speaking of Geocities, I once had about a dozen free websites there. I'm still in mourning that all of those pixels have died. Fortunately, I have their clones safely stashed away in two digital bomb shelters where they will someday see the light of day again. May their less fortunate brothers rest in peace.

Back on track... (and now you see the real reason why I don't blog... I babble)... So we find a picture on Flickr and blog. I've done this, but in the spirit of doing it with a new attitude, here's my new thoughts:

I chose this picture because it was so violently colorful. As I looked more closely at the pic, I noticed the girl Sadie looks about three. That's the age I was when my older sisters started teaching me to read. I was reading on my own by age four. Little Golden Books were great. Of course I loved "The Monster at the End of This Book", but my favorite was "Lambert the Sheepish Lion." Or was it "The Tawny Scrawny Lion"? It was a lion book. Anyway, this picture reminded me of that.

Thing 3: Blogging about blogging

Well, since I already have a blog, I wanted to write about two things. First, I want to remind myself about the process of creating a blog, and second, possible applications for me. Unlike most of the class, I am not in a library, and probably won't ever be, but I may be back in the classroom.

How to make a blog
I went to blogger.com and realized it's the same as blogspot.com, a site where most of my friends who have blogs post. From there it is easy. It's easy to sign up for anything these days. Email, password, verification, clicking an "accept the terms" box, and voilà, I am a published author capable of spewing truth or lies, fiction or reality from the comfort of my couch. Oy. We really do need to teach children (and adults) how to discern between credible and non-credible sources.
I could type nonsense, such as "The President just gave a wedgie to the Vice President" and someone could potentially be quoting me. Oh, and with that sentence, I could also be getting an FBI file. HI FEDS!!!

I'm already following the class blog.

Potential uses for me and blogs getting chummy
When I taught, I made a big ol' site for my classes. I'd post the daily journal entry, but I'd hard-code it in html. This is just the short-cut version. I could use blogs like that, and people could rss-follow me. Poor, bored souls. I could make students blog, but I have mixed feelings about that, and really do think they should spend as much time learning as they do posting. With the growing narcissism of the upcoming generations, I worry they put too much stock in their own thoughts. Hmmm... I could use the blog how I'm using it here; I could write about what was learned, whether what I learned or what I taught. I suppose this may be a different way of doing what I did with the website, and a way much more fluid and malleable. I'll have to think on this.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 - I ain't redoing these

Thing 1: Make a blog and respond to the 7.5 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners.
I'm working on my attitude. That's something I need to improve. I wasn't always a resistant learner, but I think I have become one. Well, I do love learning, but I have started becoming selective. I think it is good for me to recognize this. Sometimes when I'm stressed it takes me some time to warm up to an idea, but it happens. Like with biochemistry. I've learned far more after the class. So, here I am taking more responsibility for my actions. And so, this blog becomes part of my toolbox. Hmmm, I guess I am redoing Thing 1. Alas. :-) This time, Learning 2.0 becomes my forest of adventure, and I'm not resisting the path.

Thing 2: Usernames and passwords and gmail
Already had a gmail account. Actually, two. I have my reasons for multiple accounts :-) But with passwords, I have a set I rotate through. I have passwords for financial accounts and personal stuff, and I have simple passwords for accounts I don't care about.
I'm terrible at changing passwords frequently. I also can't manage terribly complex passwords. I do like what they do in the FACT center though, and use replacement letters. Here's a "replacement" alphabet @bcd3fgh1jklmn0pqr5tuvwxyz - notice the vowels aeio and the letter s are replaced. So, if "fact password" (not an actual password at FACT) is a password, it becomes f@ctp@55w0rd That's as complex as I get.

So, I went to the Microsoft Online Safety site and checked out the safety of my passwords. I don't use symbols much, so I know it's not the most secure. Both of my regular passwords rate as medium. The password f@ctp@55w0rd rated as a strong. The one I use for my junk accounts (for most of the ones I'll be using) rated weak. It's short.

Now, on to more entertaining apps!

Starting over... kind of

Being honest, I must say I didn't want to blog. I have two issues here, and one is that I believe blogs to be a waste of my time. Hold on... before you write this off as a complaint, remember the title is "starting over." I am not a fan of blogs because they're so much like diaries and journals with two major differences. First, blogs are public, and anything I would write in a journal is intended to be personal. Second, blogs are electronic, and therefore even more ephemeral than paper. One glitch, one "delete" hit, one forgotten password and it's the equivalent of a fire. I love written words for their privacy and permanence, and therefore, have been fighting the notion of the blog.

It's time I stop fighting.

I am convincing myself this is not a journal, but serves another purpose. And because this is tied into the Learning 2.0 site, I have figured it out... for now. I will use this blog as a shortcut to the tools covered in Learning 2.0, with shortcut instructions meant just for me.

So, to do this justice, I must start over. I will be using the blog as a notepad, scribbling in the margins of my life as I learn the tools. I do this in hope that it will be useful when I need to revisit the tools. And maybe, just maybe, I'll through in a personal thought whe I feel up to it.

Things 7 and 8 - Pictures and Books

Part of me wishes I had recorded the names of all the books I've read. Or even the number. Hundreds? Thousands? I have no idea. I read so many in elementary school and middle school that I would have a hard time re-creating the list. Good books are like good meals in that you may not remember what was consumed, but you remember it was pleasant, and the nourishment stays with you.

I've put into this librarything tool a few books that have shaped me in some form. I'll remember more later. IF you'd like to see some of the books that have shaped me, go to http://www.librarything.com/home/dyingember

Wiki-wiki WIKI

Oh yeah! I forgot to blog about wikis. It seems strange to me to blog about wikis. It's like Tweeting about Facebook. Sometimes I wonder about technology for the sake of technology. I know wikis are useful for collaborative work, but I find it doesn't fit my style well. I tend to work alone. I know that flies in the face of every constructivist dogma ever written, but I often find that the challenges of groupwork are not worth any benefit that may emerge. The whole concept of a group document is strange to me. Maybe it's the Ayn Rand in me, but I think where there is no ownership, there is no excellence.

With that said, back to the topic of wikis. The concept is decent, and it does serve its purpose. To open up a document to the masses seems strange. I know that wikis overcome the problem of emailing documents back and forth, but I suppose I'm a bit old-school. At least it's good to know that they exist, and knowing how to use them can't hurt anyone.

New Heights

{ Reading makes you grow ,,
Originally uploaded by B a r ش a </3

I don't exactly suppose this picture is school library related... directly. Yes and no. It was created by a self-proclaimed "book eater" named Barca. It's a wonderful picture. The obvious concept is that reading makes people grow... makes them reach higher. That's not why I picked this picture though.

What I'm about to say will be really unpopular with this class. People go into Library Science stuff because they love reading. I know. I have sucked life out of many, many books in my day, and in my self-made monastery of academia find myself shelved with the greats. Dusty books line my walls and litter my nightstand. I read because I breathe. But all that should be no shock to this crowd. These are all book eaters here.

As I looked at the picture, I came to see a couple things that disturbed me. First, that paper podium only holds one. Reading isolates. Heads get so full of the dust of time and people and ground-up fairies that the senses get clogged. To read is to know solitude. I mean that in both positive and negative aspects of the word. It is a high and lonely plane, and the more books, the higher the tower grows.

Also, the words stood upon are the words of others. I remembered the day when I realized everything I wrote had roots elsewhere. Then I realized most everything I thought had roots elsewhere. Perhaps that's true of everyone, and better Socrates than soda commercials. But when you stand upon the great ones, it's easy to lose where you begin. A shaky stand of philosophy, literature, art, history, drama, passion and pain, and you do tend to lose yourself. But I still don't know if the individual soul is diminished or expanded by climbing the pillars of others' wisdom.

The Life-Long Learning Lurgy

Intro

I have an illness. The symptoms and causes are murky, at best. Victims are often found surrounded by dusty volumes of other people's thoughts. Lips of the sufferers often drip with platitudes and concepts borrowed from the dead. Eyes frequently rip through print, seeking for something new. Other symptoms may include strange imaginations, a penchant for things distant in space and time, and occasional dissatisfaction with the way things are.

Being a life-long learner isn't my problem; knowing when to quit is. I cannot relate to people who need to be urged to be life-long learners. I'm currently working on "the history of everything" project I made for myself... I'm collecting the history of (pretty literally) everything, including my own family history, and putting it into a usable format. I have hundreds of pages of facts, untold thousands of names, and new ideas and notions that I'd never had before. It's fun. It's horrifying.

The Seven and a Half Habits

So, to the actual purpose of today's blog is to analyze the 7.5 habits of life-long learners and evaluate my strengths and weaknesses. Here are the habits:

1. Goals: Begin with end in mind


2. Accept responsibility for own learning


3. See problems as obstacles


4. Have confidence in self as competent, effective learner


5. Get a learning toolbox


6. Use technology to my advantage


7. tutor/mentor others


8. 1/2 play

Ok... my normal way to deal with this question is to analyze each point, but this is a blog, not a novel. So, my strengths and weaknesses... Strengths: I'm not bragging, but I'm confident in most of these. (Does that mean #4 is my strength?) Weaknesses: I'm horrible at setting written goals. I'm much better at doing than writing about doing things. It doesn't seem to get in my way, so I'm kinda unapologetic. Truthfully, I'm kinda bad at playing. I love to play, I just don't make it a priority.

That's why learning is a sickness for me. It's like a hunger or thirst that cannot be filled. It drives and grinds me onward, and tears down the psyche. It can be nearly debilitating, but has the strange side-effect of renewing the eyes, so every day the world looks a little different. That's why I'm not trying too hard to find the cure.