Talking Nonsense & Analogies: My progress on My Capstone

As a terrible musician I know this to be true: Sometimes the music comes to you and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and absolutely have to get a pen, paper, and my guitar because I am inspired. Sometimes I sit on my bed, guitar in hand, crying, kicking, and screaming because I want to write but everything sounds stupid.

I have come up with an analogy for what this project has made me feel like when it comes to playing and writing: 

Writing when you're not inspired but must write is like popping the worst kind of pimple. The kind that it ready to be popped but has no head so you grab some tweezers and squeeze as hard as you can, and hope an alien doesn't burst out. 

I am happy to say I have completed all four songs for Life On Cassette. Above, you can see track 3, Rest & Comfort while in the recording process. I have finished editing them and will be putting them on CD's tomorrow afternoon. 

My gofundme activity has slowed down in comparison to the first couple of weeks it was up. I am currently at $115. My original goal was $100 but my director, Matt Kushin, encouraged me to raise the bar to $300. 

My page, These Maps, has a total of 71 likes (just a mere 29 likes short). 

My key audiene analysis is complete and I went as far as to make an example of the type of person I feel may like my music and campaign. 

My binder is on its way to completion! I am a little stumped on my business cards. I'm not sure what to put on them. I'm going to go with my gut and just write up what I want my future business card to look like. 

My resume is complete and I'm collecting references tomorrow afternoon. I am very nervous about my presentation on Tuesday.  

Tomorrow, I plan on using most of my day getting a presentation ready for my faculty review. 

I feel as though I am always behind, but I did in fact post a video explaining my project onto my gofundme campaign. 

$115 dollars and 71 likes later..

My project is looking swell!

I am frantically trying to edit my music to perfection.

I have received several shares on social media and a total (as of today) of 71 likes on my page.

Thus far, I have reached my $100 goal on gofundme and have passed the goal by $15. Under Matt's wise advice, I decided to up my goal to $300.

Wristbands and CDs for the donors are still in progress. Hopefully, this will be completed by Friday (March 20th).

My binder is a work in progress, to say the least. I have lots of assignments I am still printing out and putting together. Therefore, my table of contents is slowly coming together.

Organized chaos is my best description for my project up to this point. Then again, I'm sure many other seniors are feeling this way right now.

Grandchildren's Dinner at Cheddar's (Because a Funeral Was Too Depressing & Morbid to Post As a Cultural Event)

  This past weekend, I had the pleasure of traveling home to the mountains in southern West Virginia. Greenbrier county, to be exact. Despite the unfortunate circumstances of my sudden visit (my great grandmother, Annabelle's, passing), I had a great time seeing my family.                                                     So perhaps I am strange or absolutely average, but I tend to people watch. I'll walk into a public place and if someone catches my eye, I observe until I learn something about their life. I like to think it's important to see what someone else is going through because we all have our own unique stories. 

  Six of the 36 great grandchildren -including myself- decided to lighten the mood of the weekend by agreeing to meet up for dinner at Cheddar's (a great contestant for best places to people watch).                                                                                                                                                                                                So despite the occasion of the dinner, I am writing this post as a cultural event post because of the opportunities to explore cultures in such a public place. The people, location, and food were all culturally different and that's got to count for something, right?
  Depicted in the top right photo you will see (from right to left) me, my cousin, Liz, and my baby sister, Megan (the elbow belongs to her husband, Nole). The lower picture shows my crazy, lovely cousin, Holly and her significant other, Jeremy. Not pictured is my oldest brother, Jake, and his wife, my significant other, Nick, and my cousin, Preston.
Going out to restaurants with family (depending on the family) is a great way to spend quality time and relax. It's also a brilliant opportunity to learn new about the cultural diversities in your own backyard.

Shepherd Graduate wins best new director at the Sundance Film Festival

Inspiration can be found anywhere; even in the small, quirky, historic streets of Shepherdstown, W.Va. Samantha Goodgrades, a graduate of Shepherd University, found just that.

With courses such as studio production, single camera production, history of film, and many more, students of Shepherd University have harnessed their creativity behind a camera.

A former communications major, Samantha learned the skills necessary to direct her own indie film.

Based on Shepherdstown, Samantha's film is a romantic comedy about two people who go to school at a liberal arts college in a quirky, coffee-shop infested town.

This film won Samantha Goodgrades the "best new director" award at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Everyone has to start somewhere and from there, they can only go up. Samantha chose the mass communications department at Shepherd University.

A Visit From The Rhyme Fairy

With unexpected twists and turns, I've also had unexpected visits from the Inspiration Gnome (seen to the right). She brought her plus on, the Rhyme Fairy (seen to the left with her Corgi, Lyric), and we chatted for a while.

In other words, I've mostly been working on music. I've continued to try new samples to mix into my music with the lovely resources found in the CC mixer.

My resume draft is on its way to completion.

I have bought supplies for my project: CDs, CD cases, and the image to print on each one. Needless to say, I am very excited to see how it turns out!

The next part of this process is getting it all together and finish the editing. I still have some writing and recording to finish so I am really busting to tail to get it all done! I am currently home for my great granny's funeral but will be back to the grind as soon as Monday morning.

As far as my campaign goes, I am working on my promotion plan and trying to find a good tie-in for my project.

Cheers!

Singing for The Sake of Being Cultural

FINALLY. I got the guts to sing at karaoke night at Tony's this past Monday night. This is what I'm using as my second cultural event. I know what you're thinking: Big deal. It's just Tony's! Though this is true, it is a big accomplishment for me because I have some BAD stage fright.

I sang "Maps" by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. What an adrenaline rush! I loved it! ..Or maybe I was going into shock. Without the support I received from my friends Austin, Hunter, and Kayley, I would have never gone up there. Well, maybe after an Irish Car Bomb.

Unfortunately, I waited too long and didn't have time to sing a duet with my friend, Kayley but there is always next week!

Tony's holds karaoke night every Monday night from 9:30pm - 1 a.m. 

I believe Tony's likes to encourage their customers to go up and sing their hearts out. Why else would they offer single liquor mixed drinks for $3?

The usual bartender, Carrie, is wonderful. Everyone in attendance are fun and supportive (usually).

I would highly recommend karaoke night to anyone who likes taking a load off after a busy Monday (or if you just don't like Mondays).

I Grew Insane With Long Intervals of Sanity!

I get exactly how Poe felt. I am losing my mind! It feels a lot like computer mediated communication class: You kind of get what you're doing but ultimately you're just doing stuff, and you're somehow getting stuff done. I just can't see the big picture.
<== I feel like this.

This week, I've finished my intro for Life On Cassette as well as song two. I've looked into the CD burning and printing process. I've continued the recording and editing process for other songs.

Wristbands for donors have been ordered. They are grey and embossed. They say "I support music therapy" on the oustide and "Life On Cassette" on the inside.
I like the idea of ordering a cool jackalope sticker for them, as well. I've created a cool design but I can't find a tie-in for it.

I plan on posting another sneak peak for my "Sneak Peak Saturday" as soon as I finish this blog post.
You can find my page here.

My promotion plan is currently in the works.

For my binder, I have begun finding old homework assignments and such (which has scary because I forgot that the computers were wiped out). I have also been working on my resume.

This week has gone by far too quickly, it seems.