“I welcome new technologies. My mind is capable of easily learning new things and grasping new concepts.”

It is taking every fiber of my core to channel Bob Ross tonight, looking for anything resembling Joy. First it was the Daily Create that stumped me because I couldn’t figure out how to flatten a file–layering a bubble on top of the image then making it one .jpg file. So I reached out to some folks and while waiting for a response I decided to work on this assignment, #210, called “Based on 1-Quote-A-Day Project!!”

The object is to record a quote you read out loud, and with feeling! So I read it with two different emotions. The first reading is how I currently feel about my ability with technology (especially tonight as I tackle Twitter); and the second reading in the spirit of Bob and his effusive joy at his work and in life. I do need that joy in my life; it’s what I’ve been thinking about since August. Perhaps I’m meant to be here, in this space, reading this quote, and gaining joy in this way, with electrons. Who knows.

Got the Twitter problem solved, so got this recording done using the Voice Recorder on my laptop. After writing up a quick script–I never go unscripted, I cleared my throat, had some water, did a little vocal exercise, checked the volume and did the recording. I played it back to see how it sounded and I realized I used the wrong word twice, was too close to the mike and needed a do-over. No worries, that’s what scripts are for. I made a couple of notations on the script where I messed up so I wouldn’t do it again then did the recording again. This time it was better and good enough.

I uploaded it to SoundCloud. This is my first time uploading to SC and it took awhile to figure out how to do that, and figure out that my file is a “stream.” Then I needed to embed it to WordPress, so I opened up the embed here on the draft post so I knew where I was going to put the URL. After that, I went to SC to create the URL and I got confused. I found where I could “Share” and there was both a URL and a button to Embed. So I clicked on embed but that URL was wrong so I copied the other URL and that seems to be the correct one, at least it looks fine on the Preview. But nothing happened. After over an hour of trial and error, I finally remembered that I cut and paste the URL where the audio file resides, and paste that into the embed box at WP. Finally.

Before publishing, I think it’s important to write the quote in the text of the blog so everyone can see it when they are listening to the recording. I didn’t do a close captioning for this one, and my enunciation may not be perfect so repeating the quote in text is important. Also, it’s redundant but makes the point to have the photo of it next to my technology. Does that make it “tongue in cheek”??

I made a stickie note to remind me in the future to cut and pasted the URL where the file is located for embedding. Maybe that will save me a lot of minutes and frustration in the future. It’s now after midnight and I tried SO hard to beat the clock tonight. So just a quiet Namaste, and to all a Good Night.

For the first assignment I am posting, I did the Based on 1-Quote-A-Day Project!! Assignment  (2.5 stars). Although this is not the first one I started, it is the first one I finished. I have slowly been working on the other ones, but they are taking more time. I did not quite have enough stars with just the assignments I was doing with my group, so I added this assignment. It still relates to my character, though.

I thought again about a quote that I would tell Ella, especially since I feel like I have really developed her character in the other activities I have been doing. I looked to Pinterest for a good quote, and found this one: “This above all: to thine own self be true.” I thought this was fitting because the author is British, and the essence of the quote makes sense for Ella at this point in her life. She has some big decisions coming up that she will have to make for herself. I would want to give her the confidence to follow what she feels is the right direction.

After I found the quote, I went to iMovie to record myself saying it. The description of the activity mentioned using an appropriate tone to say it, so I decided to try a British accent while reading it. My British accent is awful, and spending a semester in England has made it no better. I went online to research how to have a good British accent, practiced, and then recorded the quote. It also sounds somewhat masculine, which matches the author.

It seemed like the activity wanted us to make the author anonymous so that other students could guess who she or he was, so do you know who this quote is from??

For my next audio assignment was worth 2 and 1/2 stars. The assignment was called Based On 1-Quote-A-Day Project. I chose this project because I am a huge fan of motivational quotes, they inspire me on the days when I need a little extra motivation. To complete this assignment I picked one of my favorite motivational quotes from my personal journal, recorded it on Soundcloud, and embedded it on my blog! This quote also applies heavily to my life! When I get bored, exhausted, or overwhelmed I had to learn how to give myself a rest and get back to work instead of giving up.