For my Tuesday redo post, I went back and re-sculpted my Exercise: Not My Idea of Fun post. Now with 70% less rambling and 100% better organization! 😀
Redo: Navigation Placement, part 1: Traditional Navigation Placement
Another Redo Week kicks off with a much-improved post on site navigation: Navigation Placement in a Web Design, part 1: Traditional Navigation Placement. Check it out for new spiffy explanations and pictures!
The Journal: A Writer’s Sandbox
I used to think of “journals” as strictly diaries or classroom assignments; I was never very good at doing either of them for long because they both involved handwriting, which I hate doing because it’s horrifically slow and makes my hand cramp within seconds.
But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there’s something actually quite magical about a journal, whether it’s an empty book of pages or a blank Word document–it’s YOUR space as a writer, YOUR space to create, transform, innovate, and revise as you see fit. No one else ever has to see it, but it’s as big as your brain needs it to be. It is your writing sandbox, and you are the kid with the shovels and the sand bucket.
How Do You Start a Writer’s Journal?
Very simple:
- Choose your format–paper or digital document.
- Write or type in anything you want to. Random character lines you thought up while out and about, blurbs and dribbles of stories you may or may not finish, brief character descriptions, feelings about topics, blasts of ARGGGGGHHHH I CAN’T WRITE ANYMORE, things that make you laugh, mocking a writing style you hate…this is your sandbox, so feel free to throw some words around and make it messy!
(Note: if you have a digital journal, it can definitely span more than one document if you want/need it to. No need to keep it all in one file, especially if you end up turning one or more blurbs into full-blown stories. My digital journal, for instance, takes up hundreds of files and multiple sorted folders!)
But I Don’t Have Anything to Write About!
If you’re absolutely stuck on what to write about, there are a few really good websites out there that give you journaling and writing prompts. Here are some to start with:
DavidRM.com: Journaling Prompts
WritingExercises: Random Subject Generator
Creative-Writing-Now: Journal Writing Prompts
Approach these prompts as fun challenges rather than drudgery. Can you write about the experience of skydiving by just imagining it? How much do you remember from that childhood memory–can you remember the scene, the smells, the sounds? Dig into each idea, sense it, and describe it.
Whatever you choose to write, try out all sorts of writing styles, plots, topics, opinions, and characters in your journal; shape your words like wet sand. You might be surprised what you end up sculpting with your words!
White Graphene, A Teacher’s Wise Words, Most Beautiful Waterfall, and WebPageDesign
White Graphene: A Game-Changer for Pollution
This amazing new substance is said to be able to absorb pollutants! WOW!
A Teacher’s 100 Wisest Words
Lovely (and occasionally snicker-worthy) proverbs for life. (#20 and #91 made me snicker, and #100 just might come in handy…)
The World’s Most Beautiful Waterfall (Pic)
I love how they captured the silky motion of the water flowing over the rocks… 🙂
WebPageDesign.com.au
How to make websites for free without the hassle!
Why I Hate the New Prob Rule
In 2013, the rules for my absolute favorite HeroClix power, Probability Control, changed. Just a subtle change, to the average Clix player’s eye…but for my personal playstyle and collection, it was disastrous. Here’s the official ruling from the 2013 Powers and Abilities card:
See that line saying “A character using this power must be within range (minimum range 6)?” That’s the change. Your Probability Control character must be within at least 6 squares of the character he/she is Probbing, or have a range greater than 6 so they can be farther back. (They also changed Perplex and Outwit to read the same, but my main beef is with Prob since it’s my favorite power.)
The Problem: This Hurts 0-Range Probbers
Unfortunately, there are lots of older, cheap “just-Prob” HeroClix figures with low or no range (Destiny, Black Cat, and even a Scarlet Witch or two are notable examples). For that matter, any figure with Prob and low/no range falls victim to this–they get granted a 6 range as a grace while using Prob, but they still have to be much closer to the action than you want ANY Prob piece to be.
See, Probability Control, at least for me, is a power best played from mid- to back-field, so that you can more easily protect the Prob piece from attack. Most of my Prob pieces, in particular are shorter-dialed and weaker; this new rule short-circuits my careful Prob playstyle, forcing me to bring my one-trick Prob ponies potentially into the fray.
In short, I’m having to rethink my whole playstyle, since Prob is so important to all my team builds and I’m used to playing Prob a certain way. It’s a challenge to my whole Clix mindset. Argh.
Devil’s Advocate: Why They Probably Did This
However, I can admit that I know at least one reason why they changed this rule–to stop exactly the kind of tactic I’ve been employing. Probbing from way far back on the map means that you can use a 20-point piece to effectively change the course of a 400- or 500-point game. VERY sneaky (and very funny, but that’s beside the point). I can understand how annoying that would be from an opponent’s perspective, not to be able to get to the supportive pieces to knock them out.
Moving Forward: How to Play Around This New Rule
So how do we players with no-range/weaker Prob pieces adapt? Well, after some thought (and some trial/error), here are some ways I’ve come up with?
- Pair a no-range/weaker Prob piece with a stronger piece, ideally with Flight/Carry ability, longer range, and/or Defend. The Flight will make the Prob piece more mobile; Defend will bring up the Prob piece’s defense; range will enable the stronger piece to fend off opposing pieces before they get too close.
- Position weaker Prob pieces on Hindering Terrain to give them a defense boost at range.
- Use several close-combat pieces as “tie-up” for opposing characters, so that they cannot get free and attack your Prob pieces.
- When possible, do not move your Prob piece any closer than 6 squares away from the general center of battle.
- Use Elevated Terrain to your advantage, especially when playing against a largely close-combat team; your no-range Prob piece sitting up high will enable that 6 Prob range to be used more effectively.
God’s Word Needs No Additions from Us
John 5:9b-13
9b The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
In this passage, Jesus had just healed a disabled man, and told him to pick up his mat and walk; the Pharisee leaders, following the letter of the Old Testament Law, considered that the man was carrying a “load” and thus was violating Sabbath law. When they question the healed man, they learn of Jesus, “this fellow” who is apparently healing people AND telling them to violate Mosaic Law (at least in their highly legalistic understanding)!
But Jesus, following the spirit of the Law, knows that the formerly-disabled man walking is an important demonstration, not only of Jesus’ divine power but of the old order changing. God is moving among His people again, shaking up the human-created hierarchies and pointing out the useless legalism in their interpretations of His Word. And, as you might expect, the Pharisees are none too happy about that!
We modern Christians, however, are not immune to Pharisee-like beliefs. We, too, like to put human-created pseudo-Christian laws and opinions in God’s mouth, like the following:
- You HAVE to be dressed nicely to enter church*
- The more money you give to the church, the closer to God you are
- If you call yourself a Christian but don’t belong to a certain political party, you are not actually Christian*
- Certain kinds of people (homosexuals, junkies, etc.) cannot be saved*
* I have actually heard “Christians” say these things
These sentiments may have started out based on wanting to honor God, wanting to be holy, etc., but along the way they got twisted to serve human interests and conveniences instead of God. It’s very easy to do–you might say it’s very tempting to do. That’s why it’s so important for us to do a faith self-exam every so often, to check ourselves against the Word of God so that we don’t start falling into Pharisee traps!
Lifehack: Give Yourself Time Limits to Complete Tasks
This post seems counter-intuitive at first, especially for somebody who hates being timed as much as I do. But I tried this and it worked, when no other anti-procrastination tactic had. Read on to find out what I did!
The Situation: A Sunday School Lesson Left Undone
I teach Sunday School, and I like to have my lessons thoroughly researched and typed up–I do not strictly read out of the teacher’s guide, but combine elements from the the teacher’s guide, the students’ guide, and NIV translation text notes into a cohesive whole. I also write up my own real-life applications for each Bible passage we study…yeah, it’s a pretty involved process, but my OCD perfectionism demands nothing less. LOL
Unfortunately, once you factor in all the time I spend goofing off in between completing sections of the Sunday School lesson, the whole thing usually takes me about 3 hours. I was tired of that, and was frustrated with myself–but it didn’t come to a head until one Saturday evening a couple of weeks ago, when I had left my Sunday School lesson prep quite literally to the last minute.
Epiphany: Set a Deadline
“It’s 10:00 and I’m STILL not done!” I raged at myself. “I need to be in bed by 11 so I’m not a zombie tomorrow morning!” In that moment of frustration, I grabbed my phone and typed in a reminder for myself: “Get done with Sunday School lesson,” set for 11:00 pm. My goal: to be done with everything regarding the Sunday School lesson (writing, saving, putting it on my Kindle for easy reading the next morning) before the reminder bell rang.
Even as I did this, however, I was worried. I usually hate being timed–I hate feeling like I’m racing against the clock. Would this backfire and send me into a fit of anxiety, or worse, make my brain lock down and refuse to do anything?
I had already gathered my Sunday School lesson materials, and so once I hit the fateful “Set Reminder” button, I was ostensibly ready to go. I tapped the button…
…and go I certainly did–I began to read and type, revise and write, as if I was back in college and preparing a final paper for submission. I felt focused, somehow, energized by the clock, given a singular purpose to drive toward. The reminder bell rang an hour later, as I was copying the PDF of my lesson file over to my Kindle; I had made the deadline! What had usually taken 3 hours and involved a lot of unfocused “time off” had instead taken 1 hour of dedicated work, after which I could rest.
What Made the Difference?
This seems so simple it’s almost obvious. But it was something I had literally never considered doing, since I hated being timed so much. Several important factors made it possible, in hindsight:
- The time limit (1 hour) was just enough time to complete the lesson without any goof-off time; thus I didn’t freak out but I knew I had to stay on task
- The time limit was for one task’s completion only, so I didn’t feel overwhelmed
- The time limit was a challenge and not a hard-and-fast “succeed or fail” mission; if I missed it by a couple of minutes, I wouldn’t be an awful horrible person.
Implementing This for Yourself
- Set two reminders for really important tasks–one reminder to start and one reminder to end, so that your time limit is well-defined. (For instance, I now have “Start SS lesson” and “Be done with SS lesson” in my phone)
- This works for just about every kind of task; I have done the same thing with my nightly “tidy-the-house” routine, as well as my “composing-blogs” routine.
- Treat it as a challenge or game–can you clean this room in an hour? Can you finish cleaning out your inbox in 30 minutes?
- Change the time limits as you see need–something you thought may take 20 minutes may actually take 40, so be ready to adapt your reminders accordingly.
- This will take a little getting used to, so if you miss your deadline by a little at first, don’t worry.
Got Any More Time-Limit Ideas?
If you have your own anti-procrastination lifehacks, feel free to leave them in the comments! 🙂
What IS “Flat Design” and Why Should We Use It?
After seeing several webdesign blogs mention “flat design” as a still-up-and-coming design trend for 2014, I was intrigued. “What do you mean, ‘flat’ design? Ain’t the screen flat already?” I thought, jokingly.
At first, I wondered if perhaps the CSS box shadows, pretty text bevels, and all of that had started going out of style–you know, the stuff I worked really hard to master and have just now begun implementing into my new designs. But the answer is a lot more subtle than that.
Flat Design: A Feeling Rather than a Set of Rules
The Ultimate Guide to Flat Web Design is where I began my research, and after perusing the screenshots of several different “flat design” layouts, I began to understand. Not only was flat design already a “thing” on the Web, but it wasn’t necessarily just “flat” as in boring. It was, instead, a certain minimalist approach, a “less-is-more” feeling…and it was EVERYWHERE.
A few examples:
Tumblr’s login form, for instance, has elements of flat design; the fonts are simple, the text boxes are only very slightly rounded (VERY slightly!), and the colors are basic (white, blue, and a touch of gray here and there). And yet, there’s an elegance in this simplicity–there is no high-gloss “Web 2.0” feeling, but it still looks “finished.”
My WordPress login screen is treated very similarly–subtle variations between colors, pictorial icon rather than text logo, and clear, readable fonts. Notice on the right and bottom sides of the form, there is the very faintest shadow, just barely there.
Here’s the most surprising example of flat design, at least to me–this comes from Version 13 of my own domain’s layout! In my search to give my layout a new, icon-heavy/pictorial feel, I quite by accident wove in some flat design aesthetics. You can’t call my color choices “subtle” (LOL), but the simplicity of the icons and fonts still fit.
Basically: Flat Design = Natural Makeup
Flat design is to webpages as “natural” makeup is to faces. I know that’s a weird analogy, but it’s accurate. When you choose natural makeup, the point is to not LOOK made-up–it’s all about enhancing the bone structure and features that are already there, with skin-like shades and very careful, subtle color placement. Flat design does the same thing, with 1px strokes of faint shadows, minimal color choices and simple icons, and only the very subtlest shaping and rounding of page elements.
Where Can You Use Flat Design?
Thankfully, like all web trends, you can choose to hop aboard the “Flat Design Train” or not. The look can be too boring for some and too cold for others, especially if used all over the page. Some projects just don’t need that much minimalism (as weird as that sounds!).
That’s why I personally advocate using flat design for your basic page functions, such as navigation and web forms, and perhaps use a more striking graphic or design aesthetic for news, updates, or anything else which needs immediate user attention. Just as a makeup artist balances a strong red lip with just the barest touches of eyeliner, flat design’s concepts can provide just enough styling to your page to make it look polished, without detracting from your most important content.
Summary
Give flat design a try with your next design–toy around with shading things just right, picking simple yet effective icons and fonts, etc. Who knows, you might find your next idea hiding amid your musings!
Redo: Phases of Songcraft
My first creative post on Crooked Glasses got a significant revamp for Redo Week–check out the spiffed-up Phases of Songcraft post and see what you think! (I think it makes a lot more sense and has a lot more substance to it now :D)
Tree Urn, Ultimate Guide to Writing Better, Frozen Air Bubbles in a Lake, and Recycled Lamp
This Awesome Urn Will Turn You into a Tree After You Die
Want to “go back to nature” after you die? This urn will use your ashes to grow a tree of your choice, working as a natural tombstone. Slightly morbid, but perhaps it’s the ultimate expression of going green?
The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better than You Normally Do
Funny but also useful for all us writers out there! (Some NSFW language)
Stunning Frozen Air Bubbles at Abraham Lake, Canada (Pics)
Liquid to Light
Making a light fixture out of “discarded drink packets.” No, I’m not kidding. This is pretty crazy/amazing!