Other Uses

I really feel like last class was a mind-broadening experience. It really got me thinking and on the train ride home from school all I could think about was what I could do more than what I'm doing now in any way, shape, or form. I usually try and find projects to work on in my free time (if I have any) that are thoughtful and creative, like painting or writing. When I'm bogged down with work or school I usually end up spending all my free time watching cartoons because I can't handle anything else.

Sometimes, though, I'll get a creative spark and finish a project. I really liked talking in class about how so much technology that used to be inaccessible is now something you can pick up at the store. I've gotten really into Adobe Illustrator because you can make any kind of custom merchandise you can imagine if you turn your art into a vector. Adobe products are a little expensive, but with it I've made some really cool presents for my family because I'm a broke student and can't afford anything else:

This was for my sister and her husband. I took two halves of a heart and made a tattoo-style logo with their names because Bobby works as a tattoo artist. I had the design put on mugs for them, and I think I got a deal so each mug was just $5.00. Super cheap but also thoughtful present. It's a few steps up from macaroni necklaces. 

I'm excited about all the different collaborating efforts online that we talked about. I've looked into Threadless before (since I like designing stuff). What really inspired me was talking about music collaboration. I really like singing but I've had trouble figuring out what to do with it.

That got me thinking about how (well duh) I could collaborate with my husband (who likes writing music). We've talked about it before but never really finished anything. He wrote me a song for my birthday last year:


Chris likes to write chiptunes, which is like the music they would write for Gameboy and other early gaming systems that couldn't handle elaborate, symphonic music. As electronic music has become more popular, you can hear elements of the chiptune style in popular music, like Lady Gaga's "Starstruck."

I thought that kind of connected with how we talked in class about different ways to use technology. I mean, who would have thought to take chiptunes and play with them so much that you get a whole genre? I always assumed we would just move on to orchestrated video game music when we had the hardware for it.

So on the train home I tried to write some lyrics and Chris and I are going to see if we can make anything cool. We have a robot love song we need to finish.