Seeing Sideways Take Away 2

Today in class, I have learned that there is a difference between doodling and sketching a drawing. I always thought that I doodled in class when I was bored, but actually, I was sketching. I also learned that doodling is good for the mind when learning. Kinetic learning I think is what they call it, when one learns best through doodling, or making spontaneous marks, as the teacher is teaching. I had only been in trouble once for doodling in class and the trouble was combined with daydreaming in class as well. This happened when I was in pre-kindergarden. I don't remember what I was drawing, but the teacher walked passed me as she was talking, and saw me drawing. She walked away, and I had stopped drawing to hear more of what she was teaching, which lead me into visualizing what she was talking about. Granted this was many years ago, so I don't remember now what she was talking about back then. I just remember the punishment. She came back to me and told me to hold out my hand. I held out my hand because I thought she was going to hand something to me. She smacked the palm of my hand with a ruler then walked on. To this day, I still do not understand why she did that, even though she told my mom that I was not paying attention in class. Anyway, after I had left pre-k, I continued to draw in class, and I was never questioned about it. Drawing in class kept me awake during class, and I would pay more attention if I was sketching or doodling. If I was not sketching or doodling, I was falling asleep; not because the lecture was boring, but because I was not focused on something active to keep me alert. Even the most interesting lectures I would doze off on if I wasn't sketching in my notes, and later I would wake up frustrated that I had missed something in the lecture. Watching one of TED talks, the girl, Sunni, talked of how people who doodle are 29% more likely to remember what they've learned to the ratio of people who don't doodle. That was very interesting, and inspires me to doodle, or in my case mindlessly sketch, more when in class. Maybe I'll be better at remembering some of the harder math problems.

The Egg and Eye

So, the first day of class we were all given eggs. We were to decide to do whatever we wanted with our egg, and my mind wandered along the many things I wanted to do with this little egg. First I had to figure out how I was going to carry this egg home without breaking it. I held it in my hand the whole time after class waiting for my ride to pick me up. I had too many ideas of what I wanted to do with this little egg. When I got home, I placed the egg in a desk drawer and forgot about it. I forgot about the egg on purpose because I had too many ideas going at once, and needed to take a breath from the chaos in my head. Throughout the week I did have miner thoughts of which idea I wanted to pursue for this little egg setting inside my desk drawer. I finally decided that I will go about using this little egg to describe how good I am at holding off on things, such as assignments with deadlines, until the last minute, thus procrastinating. My goal is to write "procrastination" on the egg then break the egg in class to signify that I will no longer procrastinate any future assignments or projects. Procrastination is one of those habits that are hard to break. Every time I look at this little egg, I keep seeing how cute it is because it's so little and fragile, which for me, makes it kind of hard to want to break the egg. Since I have written the word "procrastination" on the egg, the egg is not as cute as it once was, and I feel I have more control over the feeling of wanting to procrastinate. When I broke the egg in class, I felt like I was breaking the control that the urge to procrastinate had on me. It is stressful when one waits until the last minute to work on something on its deadline. The rush and strain and the "is this perfect" or "is this good enough" aspect really takes over and makes one's anxiety run high. After breaking the egg, I have a lot of relief, and have faith that procrastinating will be something of the past, so I will no longer go through the stresses of trying to get something, such as an assignment, started and finished on the day that it is due.

Signed up for an interesting class.

When I first heard of the Seeing Sideways class, was in my Team Building class from last spring term. My peers were talking about some of the projects done in Seeing Sideways, and then the instructor talked more about the class which brought about my interest. I can't remember in detail what all was said about the class because that was a while ago when they talked about Seeing Sideways. What I do remember is the talk of a fear project where you create something that expresses one of your fears. After hearing about Seeing Sideways, I felt I had to check the class out. I registered for it last fall. I heard that the class fills up fast, and you already know that when a class fills up fast, it's a good class, not to mention the instructor is a really cool instructor. I have had her before in my Team Building class, and in Photoshop. There were only nine openings when I registered, and I jumped in joy when I was registered, so I wouldn't have to be put on a waiting list. I look forward to the awesomeness I expect out of this class. Before class started, I checked out some of the assignments for Seeing Sideways, and saw one about an egg. I have already started planning what I'm going to do with the egg, but not sure which idea to go out on yet. The first day of class during the discussion of the criteria, I felt at ease and more relaxed because unlike all the other classes where grades are judged on what the instructor thinks we did good/poor in, we're not being judged on how good or bad our work is. I never knew such a class existed where you could create whatever you wanted and not be judged on it looks! Hopefully, having this break from the judgment world will help me kickstart drawing for myself again. I haven't drawn for myself in a long time, and I miss it. Drawing is a part of my identity. I would draw for the pleasure of drawing; it used to be one of my biggest passions. I don't know what happened, but whatever happened, I suddenly stopped and am only just getting back into the swing of things, but my drawings look very poor. I'm sure if I had continued, they would have gotten better over the many years lost of not drawing. I also think this class will help remind me of who I am. I used to be so carefree when I was younger. I'm hoping to return to that so I can shove out the negativity and continue to grow my wings for my journey to the goals I have set for my future.