Over on the other side

Over on the other side of the building at school there is a bunch of equipment available to students. We checked it out yesterday. I'm not sure what the technical term for it is, but we saw the "cave". Since this blog is really meant for people who are already familiar with the class/school/what's going on, I won't spend time explaining it. But it gave me some ideas about what i could possibly do with my book. I was interested in the idea of a virtual book. Or the book coming to life through the cave. I don't know how difficult it would be or if I'll actually do it, but I think it'd be neat to install a camera (if there isn't one already) that treated certain visuals in a book as it would a QR code. Or like what was shown by the touch table - 3D models overlayed onto the image shown on screen through the Ipad when its camera is focused on that particular graphic on the table. Somehting along the same lines but it changes the entire area around you in the cave. Or have it in some way so that certain pages from the actual book can be laid out on the table. Maybe the are transparent enough to shine light through and touch the table. That'd be neat to have a physical page on the table, drag a digital graphic and line it up with the physical graphic and a new image is revealed to the user.

I am

The person I am today is not the same person I was five years ago nor will this iteration be the same in the next five years.
My name is Frank Justin Moussette. I was born Frank Justin Jarrell. I am the only child between Shannon Jarrell and Danny Moussette. My parents weren't married until after I was born and later divorced when I was about 10. "Frank" is also my dad's first name and my Grandpa's first name. My birthday is March 15th, 1989 - The Ides of March. My classical zodiac sign is Pisces and my Chinese Zodiac is the snake. I have a tattoo of the Triforce on my right hand and the Pisces symbol on my right wrist. I have my mother's fun loving, goofy temperament, interest in art, and love for classic and alt rock like Zeppelin, Dave Mathews, Beatles, RHCP. From my dad, I have his looks, detail-oriented mindset, analytical skills, impatience and self-loathing. I consider myself a Christian, though I'm well aware that I don't live up to it. Like everyone, I have my own ideas and questions about it all and at times have my doubts. But I try to be a good person for what it's worth. I like to think I'm incredibly loyal and protective of my friends and loved ones. I consider myself to be the loyal watch dog-companion to my friends.
Around the age of 14 I learned that I wasn't born a Moussette. It was the first time I was faced with the question of who I am and why I'm here. I tried expressing this struggle through creative writing. If I was an accident, then I was unintended. If I was unintended, then I have no purpose. As I grew, I learned that almost everyone is an accident but it did not mean we were without purpose. I'm just not entirely sure what that purpose is for me. Sure, I can go with the religious POV and hope that I fulfill my part in the grand scheme of things but that just sounds likes bullshit and a cop-out. I feel I could answer why I am here in two different ways: On one hand, the only reason I'm in college is because my parents pushed it onto me and I'm still in Indiana because it was the only realistic option. I'm here to get the degree, so I can (hopefully) get a good job, so I can eventually be able to support a family, so I can grow old and finally die peacefully with the most toys. That's one way of looking at why I'm here. But, what I actually want from it all is on the other hand I feel. I want to express my thoughts and ideas. I want people to know I exist. I'd like to start my own business. I want to be a good father and husband (someday). I want to be remembered for doing something remarkable.

One of the things we will be doing in Seeing Sideways, is alter a book of our choosing so that it becomes a sort of altar to ones self. Last night, we were supposed to sleep with that book underneath our pillow. I've heard of doing such a thing before as a joke - You sleep with a book under your pillow and your mind absorbs its contents. But all I did last night was dream about trying to save David spade from his evil parents and then I got infuriated with the waiter... Huh? lol

This is going to be a short blog because I figure it was pretty cut and dry what stood out for me: When it came time to present our eggs in class - Beth pointed out that I focused too much on how unhappy/disappointed I was with mine because. I kept talking negatively about, but she expressed that she really liked it. I learned that by focusing so much on the bad and pointing it out - something that may otherwise be seen as good to anyone else, could be destroyed because of my own deconstructive analysis of my work.

Going into this assignment I had no idea what I wanted to do with my egg. Luckily for me, I had Tiff sitting right beside me - who began doodling almost immediately after I cracked my egg on the floor. Her doodles consisted of an egg becoming more and more cracked until a dragon hatched out of it. Now I'm not as into dragons as Tiff is, but it gave me the idea to replace the dragon with a phoenix instead. I had several ideas for how I would bring this phoenix to life but I ultimately settled on creating a Japanese origami crane. Unfortunately for me though, I've never made a crane before and there aren't too many places that sell origami paper (as far as I know). I tried making my cranes out of sketch paper because I wanted a thick, strong paper that I could later spray paint. Well...That didn't work out too well for me. They either came out too big for the egg or too sloppy because of the paper being used. Thank god for Tiff though; She had made dozens of origami cranes a long time ago and was kind enough to give me one of hers. All that was left was to spray paint it.

The word of the day was Synchronicity

Yesterday the instructor gave each of us an egg. She wanted us to do whatever we wanted with it as long as it was expressed/documented in a creative way. I thought nothing of it at first - figured I'd think of something when it came time - and just continued to listen to her and the classmates discuss about the doodles we presented. I didn't want to hold on to it or leave the egg on my desk for the duration of the class; constantly making sure it doesn't roll off the desk. So, I made a little "kangaroo" pouch for it with the bottom of my shirt and forgot about it. And then at some point during class I stretched my body, completely unaware of the egg now. My stretching unrolled the pouch and the egg fell right out. For a split second I thought I dropped my phone or something when I heard the "splat" on the carpet. Then the "Ahhh shit" moment came over me. My egg was busted right in front of my feet. What the hell am I gonna do with this thing now!? Not like I had any ideas to do with it anyway. But still - what am I gonna do with a broken egg. Thankfully, Olivia gave me her empty yogurt container to put the remains in. A little while after, I saw Tiff doodling in her notebook beside me. She had a series of small drawings with an egg completely intact and each doodle to the right of the last one had the egg progressively becoming more and more shattered. She must have been inspired by the little egg-splosion because it seemed like she started doodling immediately after I broke my egg. But what I found most fascinating about the class period was that her doodling gave me inspiration for what I'll do with that egg. In a way, my serendipitous negligence with the egg turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I don't want to give it away but it will involve...transformation and adaptability. Hopefully what I plan hasn't been done too many times, but I mean...It's kind of a typical thing to do with a broken egg. Especially when this class is meant to evolve oneself.

Polly Wolly Doodle

For this post, my instructor wanted us to explore doodling and how it improves creativity and retention of topics if one were to listen while doodling. In class we discussed the 4 S's that are involved in the creative process: Serendipity, Synchronicity, Spontaneity, and Surrender. our assignment was to think about the 4 S's while doodling and to watch the videos the instructor had posted on her own blog.
I agree that doodling can be beneficial, I don't feel like I was really spontaneous or surrendered to just...the flow of things. Whenever I start doodling I always revert to drawing swirls, circles, abstract shapes, designs, patterns. It's just what comes to mind and I go with that usually. Also, I kind of feel like the actual act of doodling itself comes on spontaneously. This felt a little forced. I don't think I was able to really surrender to the drawing because my goal was the drawing.