The Final Blog Post

Bauhaus Art Movement Piece

As the year is coming to an end, it is a good time to reflect on my interests and provide some recommendations. Shit, it really is the end. I want to wish everyone the best of luck to in their future endeavors. Myself included, I'm gonna need it. See you guys around. -E
Listen to this:

• Artists

Father John Misty (I saw him on the 15th, he put on a good damn show!)
Bauhaus
Car Seat Headrest (Twin Fantasy is their most popular album)
The Cars
Any kind of 80's new wave basically
Albums:"No Regerts" by Chastity Belt"Funs Cool" by The Prettiots"Kerplunk!" by Green Day"A Crow Looked at Me" by Mount Eerie"Pinkerton" by WeezerPodcasts:Hemma hos Strage podcast ft. Father John MistyRead this:Music news sites such as Pitchfork? Watch this:Rick and MortyF is for FamilyVanilla SkyLook Who's BackKids (the movie from 1995)Binge watch this:Bojack Horseman (you will be in for an amazingly depressing trip)DariaPlay this:Counter-Strike Source, The Elder Scrolls series, classic arcade games basically
Eat this: a LOT of plain bagels and fat-free cream cheese (also honeycrisp apples, bananas, and sushi are pretty good)
Click this: the indieheads subreddit
Do this: Sleep.
... and finally, go to Chicago ALOT!
Always remember this...It is okay to make mistakes. We are granted life on this earth to live through the trivialities, confusion and beauty of what it has to offer us. Contrary to popular belief, imperfections are key to survival. Yes, some might lead to eternal pain, and some definitely may lead to the next best thing. It's also important to think about one's experiences and how it has contributed to their psyche and overall presence in your life. Being bitter about one little thing forever will foreshadow your attitude towards the next thing that comes around. Don't be like that. Try to be as positive as you can. Things will always be changing, and so will you.  

Is There Really A Correct Treatment Option For Depression/Anxiety In Children?

Depression and anxiety are very common mental disorders, which may affect children and adolescents. There can be many circumstances of which these individuals may be involved with, such as with being at home or school. The adult figures in these situations may have a difficult time pinpointing their child's issues, and there is a lack of help especially in the academic setting. With treatment, medicine and therapy are the most common. However, is there a right or wrong way to treat these issues?

CLICK HERE FOR PRESENTATION

A Satisfactory Representation of A Good Speech

There are many factors of a speech or presentation that can be made or broken: either with errors made by the speaker, or the lack of the topic that is being presented. However, it is also important to point out the positives of a well-thought out story. I mean, that's what a presentation is, right? It has to be able to flow in a way that can be remembered by everyone, even if they aren't as remotely interested in the topic as you are. Besides that major point, it is crucial to mention those little things that impact your overall presentation.

Steve Jobs giving a presentation

In this article by Dave Finley, the basics of a good presentation can include things such as simply showing enthusiasm, facing the audience, and speaking at a good volume so everyone who is listening can have a good context of your idea. Some cons to address include providing too much material: as those who listen to your speech will only gain about 3-4 ideas presented about your subject. Some other advice includes basic body movement and gestures: not be too overbearing, or not expressive at all. It is not at all interesting to have someone just standing up there, serving the purpose of putting work into make their subject seem even remotely important, to show that through their body language that it is only being forced. What a buzzkill.

Girl's movement

In this particular video, the girl is presenting a sarcastic idea about there being a supposed "pill" that will change your inner flaws: such as with being shy or extremely talkative, this "pill" will make you likable by your date, significant other's family or for an important job interview. This is a concept of being not who you want to be. Once you're at it for a while, you'll want to go back to being yourself: just like the effects of a pill. The idea is that you should always strive to be yourself, and what is on the outside does not matter on the outside. No matter how much concealer, how many zits on your face, or how your hair is dyed, you are always yourself.

First of all, I find this to be a very creative way of presenting a social problem. Clearly, she is addressing the fact that there can be problems in terms of presenting yourself towards an audience: focusing mainly towards making a first impression. While she is heard being slightly excessive with the repetition of "the date, the job interview, etc", she later gets her point across with her creative delivery that someone like me can easily be hooked onto. Her hand gestures are quite spot-on, there is not at all a lack of it. Her eye contact is presented well. Although there is possibly one point in time where she is slightly troubled with flow, she quickly recovers without too much of an impact. Although this video is more so a speech than an actual presentation with slides, it can still go to show how well this can be done: especially in creative ways that can well-compliment your topic.

Overall, there can be many topics that can be discussed when aiming to complete a well-done presentation. Whether it be to prevent too much information at once, or simply even providing enthusiasm to said topic, there were many things that went well for this speech. The one thing that made it stand out the most was a matter of contributing to the topic of the speech, by creatively providing a different style to ensure that it could properly catch the audience's attention.

If I had the time and money, I'd like to advance my art and graphic design knoweldge

a hand-drawn piece by me

Now that my high school career is coming to an end, I'm taking the chance to reflect on my achievements and the experiences that I gained, as well as what more I'd like to do in the future to supplement my interests. However, as I am preparing to pursue my college education, there are some adjustments I'll have to make in terms of my career choice.

Today's world can be difficult in terms of what you can do to make the most money: besides, money is the ultimate goal of a career for long-term financial stability. In this case, me pursuing a career in computer science would be my best bet, due to my slight interest in computers and the fact that it can be hard to determine how much you could make through a career that I'm about to mention. Having to put your true passions to the side can be difficult to come to terms with. For example, I've always wanted to have a career with design and art.

I've been involved with art, both professionally and self-taught, since I was little. It's something that I can confidently put my feelings into, in my own artistic style that I've been developing for years. And being able to put my art on display for everyone to see can be amazing. Hearing their praise and their opinion on my creation is something that I appreciate: whether it be from the internet, or something I recently created through school. The first art class in high school I took was in first semester of my senior year. I explored other art mediums, such as with paint, block printing, and collaging. There are multitudes of possibilities that art can hold- and the sheer amount of expression that can be seen through something so mundane can be extraordinary. Also, there are no rules to art; it can be about anything you want. The viewer may not immediately interpret its message: but its general presence can have a tremendous effect on your image. Whether your work is in Le Louvre or on a forum page on the internet, it can be worth something to someone, even if it's just you.

a graphic piece by me

Along with hand-drawn art, graphic design is considered another passion of mine. I took a class for desktop publishing and web design back in my freshman year of high school. I instantly fell in love with the programs I used, such as Photoshop and Illustrator. I have been fortunate enough to be able to continue to use these programs, since I have been in a photography class this year and Photoshop is used quite a bit in the class for editing/line drawing. My creative style really flourishes with graphic design, as I am able to take advantage of the many sources for derivative works and even make things of my own. The piece to the right of this paragraph for example, is something I created for a friend as a banner for one of his social media accounts. I used images that formed the vaporwave-y A E S T H E T I C, and I think it turned out pretty cool. I feel like this would maybe be something I could create a side job with. as I have recieved positive feedback on the quality of my work. Not to say I'm the best (believe me, I'm not!), but it serves as some motivation to drive myself to commit to something I know I love.

I feel like once I'll be in college, I'll actually have things to keep me busy. But one things for sure, is that I'll never ever abandon art. I'll always be an artist, even if I don't have a sketchpad next to me. As much as I have a bit of knowledge on art, there is always more to learn. 

I Wish I Took Advantage of The More Vast Opportunities of An Ohio Vacation

A few years ago, my family and I had taken a trip to Cleveland, Ohio. Our main goal was to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I did in fact enjoy that. As I wish I would have appreciated it more: due to the fact that I was much younger at the time and I did not understand the vast history of music, that is not the point of this post. The point is that we basically did nothing much exciting for the rest of the days that we were there. We did go shopping in the local mall and eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, but we would have had a better experience if we took more thought and research into the seemingly exciting city of Cleveland.

Map of Cleveland's Location

Ah, Cleveland. The city of the Browns football team, the Cavaliers basketball team, the Indians baseball team, their museum of art, and many other historical oddities. It is one of the many cities surrounding the Great Lakes, and popular with sea travel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean back in the 1800's. The area had been a trading hub, especially for iron and coal. Railroads were eventually introduced and built, as well as new settlers moving in. Quickly fast forwarding to the 20th century and beyond, the city has since prospered as a more definite cultural hub within the Midwest.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The year was 2009. My family and I decided to take a well-deserved vacation for a few days. In addition to making a stop in Shipshewana, Indiana (Amish Country!), we decided that Cleveland was a great place to go. Everyone in my family has a decent knowledge of music, so the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was ruled out as our main stop. We explored through many parts of the museum, including the artifacts from Woodstock, outfits/costumes, posters, and especially John Lennon's white piano. We even got to go inside Johnny Cash's Tour Bus which was sitting outside of the venue at the time. All in good fun! However, for the rest of the week that we were there, we were just laying around the hotel and not productive with exploring the rest of the city. My mother did suggest going to sports game that was happening that week, but my dad shot it down immediately. With many places to visit in the city such as local food shops, a college campus, and an art museum filled with art forms ranging from contemporary to impressionism, we sure did miss a lot.

Inside the Cleveland Museum of Art

The lesson learned here is that before going on a vacation, be sure to do some heavy research into what a place has to offer. Whether it be famous or obscure, a new place to explore is always a fun activity for the whole family. You never know what you're bound to discover!

(I do have photographs from my trip, but I have been unable to locate them. As soon as I do, I will update this post.)

The Comfort Level of My Personal Data Being Collected

Comfortable Technological Setting

There is definitely a large misconception behind the "privacy" of one's information, as well as how their data is being used for business purposes. The privacy that I'm familiar with is the one of which that I approve certain users of seeing: for example, my social media posts. I do understand that the website itself can still see what I am posting to my account.

As for day-to-day app usage, there are some apps that do save me a lot of time when I'm on my phone or my computer. A couple examples include LastPass, and the Starbucks app.

LastPass is a service where users can store their passwords and other sensitive information in a very secure medium. By medium, it is either in a Google Chrome application, or on the smartphone app. The service uses hashing and other advanced encryption methods to ensure that you are the only person who is able to access your information. 1 master password for all of your passwords. That might seem terrible: but in reality, as long as you have a strong master password and 2-factor authentication enabled, you should be safe. If there were to be a problem with the service, they have vowed to alert users if they needed to change their master password or something else along those lines. It is convenient because you can simply have a different password for every single app or website that you sign on to. One site gets hacked, only one password that you have to change. It's overall much less of a headache for me to remember all of my passwords, and a feeling of ease when managing my online life.

Binary Code Strings

With the Starbucks app, you are able order your drink in advance at a location of your choice, and keep track of your payment methods and rewards status. I do find this useful because I sometimes have anxiety while physically ordering something, and I can be more precise in terms of what I want in my drink without blabbing at the counter for more than 10 seconds. The only kind of data used by this app that I'm aware of is my location and payment methods. This is used particularly to pinpoint where I am in relation to the nearest Starbucks, and make me able to pay for my order in advance. Them having this information does not bother me at all. This information is crucial for the app to even work the way it is supposed to.

However, I am aware of many companies who have access to more of my data, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Some of the websites I shop on such as Etsy and Amazon use my browsing history in order to present an advertisement to a product I was looking at on another website that I visit. I really like when they suggest something new to me that I never thought of before. My aesthetic is always fluctuating, and it is nice to add onto it every once in a while.

The seemingly-scary methods of data tracking and collection don't even necessarily bother me. It's just how apps and services are supposed to work: I couldn't imagine another possible way of retrieving this information without breaching some kind of privacy. Information from this document by the Florida State University has some clear bullet-ed explanations to social media data collection in comparison to physical methods. And clearly, because of the heavy influence of social media on people such as myself, there's no way to avoid internet data collection. Social media companies are becoming stronger, and technology in general is becoming more advanced with many new innovations being introduced.

8 Reasons Why No One Should EVER Have A Bird As A Pet

1. They'll steal all of your clothes.

2. They can never get along with your other companions.

3. They're just vicious.

4. They'll eat you of your house!

5. They can never pull of a Halloween costume as good as you.

6. They do nothing all day!

7. AWWW!

8. THEY NEVER WANT TO BE AROUND ANYONE!