Hello Culver Creek!

I have had an absolutely nerdfightastic day that included me screaming “NERDFIGHTERS!” whilst throwing out the hand sign, and then I won two books. So, yeah. Really, really good day.

But today I wanted to reflect. Cause that seems to be the thing to do.

I don’t think I’ve grown at all this month. But I just blogged. I didn’t have conversations. I just ranted. And that was amazingly fun. And I definitely opened up and talked about myself and my interests and I really enjoyed it. Basically, I got to keep a journal, except not really one where I talk about my day. One where I talk about my thoughts and opinions and my passions. It was great!

However, the best part of this month is all the vloggers I’ve found. There was a huge community doing VEDA and they were occasionally promoted by other youtubers (especially in the past week). Also, some of them I found through their video responses. So that was really fun. And I’ve brought myself far closer to actually vlogging. So that’s exciting.

I’m really tired. I’ve been up since 8 and need sleep so am not feeling as reflective as I hoped. Mostly, this month has been amazing. BEDA was not nearly as difficult as I expected. I didn’t learn nearly as many Israeli dances as I’d hoped but oh well. Nothing can go exactly to plan. That’s part of the joy of life.

I’m not going to keep up the blogging every day. But I’ll definitely talk to you later.

TTFN,

-Merr

Sorority Events: 9

Israeli Dances: 5

Hello Middle Earth!

My programming midterm today was surprisingly Lord of the Rings free. Okay, I know that sentence made no sense. Let me explain. Nearly every single example we’ve done in class that involves some form of text input or output has been LotR based. It’s AWESOME! And all of the practice tests I took while studying (I didn’t actually take a lot but I did at least look over the problems on four) had at least one programming prompt that involved a LotR reference. So you can imagine how disappointed I was this morning when I had to take a test and there was no mention of Frodo.

However, I do believe the test went well so that’s all on the up and up.

So now I know I can get away with dressing up as a superhero and hanging out with friends until 1 in the morning and then taking a programming test at 10. At least I think I can get away with it. I should probably wait until I get my grade before passing final judgement.

Yes, I spent last night dressed up as a superhero. Not any known superhero (though apparently I looked like Nightwing), just a compilation of my friends’ awesome clothes. And then we watched the first two X-Men movies and decided that all of the extras (especially the police) were Nicholas Cage. I honestly don’t even know... My friends are weird and made of awesome.

Which is one little bone I have to pick with some of my friends. Apparently, a few of my friends from high school are nerdfighters but just neglected to tell me that they’re part of this brilliant community that just might be something I would adore. Come on guys! Be proud of Nerdfightaria and spread the love with the people you are stuck sitting next to in class every day. Well, at least the college friends know what’s up. Thanks for introducing me to this amazing community!

Okay, one more day. That day being tomorrow. And I will be summing up this experience.

TTFN,

-Merr

Sorority Events: 9

Israeli Dances: 5

Hello Sunnyside!

Yesterday I got a flower plant to keep in my room and it’s making me happy (which is part of the reason why I got said plant). It was an event that I did with my sorority, we decorated old containers and put plants in them. Mine has this gorgeous red and yellow-orange flower so I named him Godric. I mean, seriously. What else could I possibly name him?

Now maybe you think that naming plants is a bit excessive but I’m a bit excessive and one of the sisters suggested I do so, so I did. Whenever I’m given an excuse to name things, I do so. All of my electronics have names (except for some reason my laptop doesn’t have an official name) along with nicknames that describe how they relate to me if I was the ruler of a kingdom. Like, my laptop is my Minion and my iPod is my Jester.

As a child, and still now, all of my stuffed animals had names. This was simplified by having a TON of beanie babies that come with names. However, I still used to know all of their names. Unfortunately I don’t remember basically any of my stuffed animal’s names from when I was little, however the crocheted octopus currently sitting on my bed is named Pearl (after the octopus in “Finding Nemo”).

I know that naming children is a topic to be taken seriously (at least when you really, truly have to name a child) but therein lies the fun of naming inanimate objects. You can call them whatever you want and it won’t affect them (I apologize if I misused affect there). It’s just a way of claiming ownership over things, personalizing them, and making them slightly more special to you.

So I name a lot of my stuff.

TTFN,

-Merr

Sorority Events: 9

Israeli Dances: 5

Hello Nerdfightaria!

These are my current thoughts on the issue of community building brought up by Andrew Bravener along with the responses I’ve watched and read.

There seems to be a disconnect between the older and newer youtubers. The newer ones seem to feel that there’s more of a community than the older youtubers are perceiving. And I have an idea of why that is.

The older youtubers started with a very small community in which they all interacted with each other and grew together. And that was wonderful and they have become fairly idealized in the eyes of the newer youtubers. And with that came this feeling of awe and power that was just bestowed upon the previous generation and I think that’s where the problem begins.

For the best of the new generation, going to a youtuber of the older generation and vying for their attention is extremely taboo and frowned upon. So they don’t. They create their own small communities (which there are far more of than the single one that used to be the community) and interact with each other and hope that the older generation will stumble upon them. And, from what I’ve observed, the youtubers in these small communities seem very content and satisfied with where they are and the friendships they’ve made.

However there are now two issues: 1) there are a lot of little communities that, while they have overlap, are still separate from each other. This isn’t really a major issue because they are continuously making incursions into each other and similar communities will eventually start to merge. The more important issue is that 2) what the older generation mainly sees is a huge quantity of content, some amazing, some horrible. And they’re being left to themselves to sift through it.

Here’s the thing, major youtubers will get comments and video responses. However, a lot of the comments don’t contribute anything and are just praise or a brief answer to a question or a completely random comment that’s disassociated from the topic of the video. And the video responses will often be the youtubers who don’t yet know what they’re doing and are not part of a small community and are reaching blindly towards their idols in hope of help and inspiration.

I’m not saying that they don’t get some amazing responses to their videos, I’m just saying that this is the majority of what they will see. And this will give them a very disheartening view of their subscribers.

So, there are these communities that are growing and evolving. But they’re mostly starting where the older generation started because the creators of the best content are those most hesitant to outreach to the older generation. So the older generation, while they know of some of these new youtubers, are unaware of the vast majority of them (also very much due to the changed nature of youtube with all of its different content that is really not of interest to this community but still is there and still requires the sifting). And this is what creates the disconnect.

What to do?

Well, while I’m not really a fan of the frustrated rant format of Andrew’s video, I think what he did and what he sparked is what we needed. One of the responses I think did the best job at responding (though not really as a direct response) was Kayley’s. She challenged her viewers to come to her. So maybe they will. Hopefully they will. Even I, not a vlogger, have considered attempting a video response.

That kind of outreach will help. Because youtube isn’t going to go into the channels of the small vloggers and try to help them based on their preferences. The best help that these small community builders can get is from the older generation and those with a fan base.

And I know this is putting a lot on their shoulders. But if they want the community they used to have, they’re going to have to put themselves back in it. It’s there and it wants them. It’s just scared of disapproval.

But I assure you. We want you in our community.

TTFN,

-Merr

Sorority Events: 10

Israeli Dances: 5

Hello Narnia!

A lot seems to have happened in the youtube community in the past two days. Is there always this much drama? I haven’t been around for too long but so far this is at least the second big “thing” (cause I’m bad with the words) that’s happened. There was also that “what is nerdfightaria and what makes a nerdfighter” discussion a bit ago.

So, I’m going to talk about that tomorrow cause I will hopefully set aside more time. Though that’s unlikely unless I decide to blog during class (which isn’t going to happen cause I really need to pay attention).

A short summary of my thoughts is that I don’t really know where all of the more well known youtubers are coming from. And I think that’s cause I haven’t been around for so long so I haven’t watched the progression of youtube content. They were around when it was just a few vloggers discovering their voices and their styles. They watched each other grow. But they also watched the massive quantity of worthless content amass online and I can see that being depressing.

I think they’ve gotten disenchanted with youtube. It’s so different than what it used to be and they’re looking back and seeing what it used to be an no longer is. And they seem to think that what it was is so much more spectacular than what they’re exposed to now that they’re losing hope.

And this is what makes me kinda sad. Cause there’s a community out there. However a lot of it seems to be detached from the bigger names. But more importantly than that there’s so much crap that’s also out there that they just don’t want to try to wade through it all and just give up.

At least that’s how I see it. Well, how I see what I think they see.

But mostly I’m confused and concerned. Does anyone want to explain?

Thanks.

TTFN,

-Merr

Sorority Events: 9

Israeli Dances: 5 (this is just sad)

PS. I used Narnia cause it’s a land of childhood fantasy and wonder, especially for those disenchanted with the world. It’s kinda a metaphor, but I’m not an overly talented with the literary devices so I’m not sure if it worked too well :/

Hello Hogwarts!

I’m a Hufflepuff. I’ve been a Hufflepuff since my family got the Sorcerer’s Stone Trivial Pursuit based on the book, a game at which I dominated my family and friends (and I mean my elementary school friends; my high school friends and my current nerdy friends can and have crushed me). Anyway, for the game you are sorted into a house and these are used for some of the curses and charms and as your final destination when you have enough items. The way you’re sorted is that you’re supposed to randomly select from the 4 upside-down house cards. Seven of the first ten times I played, I got Hufflepuff.

This was back in fourth grade (meaning 2001 and 2002) so before the fandom started getting together and far before I became aware of them so I had yet to start identifying with Harry Potter as a cultural springboard. It was before I’d given any serious thought to my house. I’d kinda thought that I’d be a Ravenclaw but this was even before I was eleven so I really didn’t have to decide cause I could still leave it up to the sorting hat. However, after the first fourish times of this happening I started jokingly identifying with Hufflepuff.

Then I started more seriously identifying as a Hufflepuff, and I started to see some Hufflepuffy traits reflected in me. My mom has always called me a trooper, mostly in reference to helping set up with her events and being volunteered to help with the childcare. “Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil.” [I’m sorry I don’t have the book and page number of the poem to quote but I’m fairly certain this is correct.] The other bit that’s very much me is that I’m extremely loyal to my friends and will fight for the ones I want in my life.

So yeah. I’m a Hufflepuff. I’m a badger (though no, I do not go to the University of Wisconsin, Madison). What are you?

TTFN,

-Merr

Sorority Events: 9

Israeli Dances: 5

Hello Mathmagic Land!

There are 24 hours in a day. On an absolutely spectacular night (or the average weekend) I get 8 hours of sleep.

16

There’s the 1 hour I spend brushing my teeth, showering, and getting dressed because I am a zombie when I wake up and my movements are unnecessarily slow.

15

At some point a permissible hour of youtube spent watching the new uploads and their recommendations.

14

An hour and a half of meals.

12.5

Most weekend days I have an event or a meeting or some sort of activity so I’ll give that 4 hours because I’m generous.

8.5

An hour of reading twitter.

7.5

An hour of miscellaneous online stuff like reading blogs and checking facebook and emails.

6.5

That’s three decently long movies. Eight and a half episodes of Glee or Doctor Who or Buffy or Firefly. An entire John Green book read slowly. A flight from the east coast to the west coast plus at least half an hour. A flight from the west coast to the east coast plus an hour and a half.

How do you spend it?

I think I’m going to make the above into a video at some point cause I really like the idea. I just stuck to a weekend because, well, it’s a Sunday and I’ve done so little it’s embarrassing. I’m sick so I can’t do anything fun and it’s Passover so I can’t even go anywhere to eat so I have literally not left my floor all day. And the most productive thing I’ve done is watch the movie for one of my classes.

I have work to do. It’s not like I’m sitting around watching Cate’s old youtube videos (she’s an amazing vlogger so you should definitely watch some of her videos) because I have nothing to do with my life. I have math homework that I should have started. I have so much reading that I know it will never all get done. I have dances to learn. I have books to read. I have research to get done. And none of this actually requires leaving my room.

But I chose, and I mean actively chose, to spend my day reading The Graveyard Book, watching youtube videos, and starting a list of all my Pokemon on my Heart Gold game.

And I was thinking: it’s really, really silly sometimes what we chose to do with our lives. I have had on my to-do list for ages the task of naming all of my Pokemon using biology vocabulary terms. That’s really, really not important. That is FAR less important than watching Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek, which are both arguably not nearly as important as doing my homework or even sending my emails. However that’s something I did today.

I had more things to talk about but I’m getting really tired now and I still probably should do the 6 problems of my math homework from the section we already learned before I go to sleep so I’m going to go do that.

By the way, Mathmagic Land is from this movie “Donald in Mathmagic Land” that I loved when I was a child. I probably should have used this title for a blog explaining the glories of math and why I love it and thus why I’m majoring in it but that’s something about which I am even less coherent than usual so that will be saved for a blog not during BEDA that I spend time preparing and editing.

For now, goodnight.

TTFN,

-Merr

Sorority Events: 8

Israeli Dances: 5