Curling

There are many animals whose defensive action is curling up. Some are quite good at it, in fact they are made for it. Porcupines, pangolins, hedgehogs.
Sometimes I feel as if people are awfully good at it too. The problem with curling though is that when only your prickles are showing then no one can ever get to know you. I think some people don't find this a problem because they have two, three, five, etc people that they are always uncurled for, so they don't feel the need to uncurl for anyone else.
I've heard people mock those individuals who come out and tell you their whole life story for no apparent. Sometimes it probably is just personality, but sometimes I wonder if it's because they don't have anyone to uncurl for, and so they uncurl for anyone that walks by, hoping that the favor will be returned, but it rarely happens.
Why are we all so defensive all the time?
Uncurl, maybe it's not even for something you need, but for what another person needs.

Needs

Obviously we have physical needs, basic ones like food, water, sleep and such like, but far more interesting in my opinion, are emotional needs. Partly why they are more interesting is because they vary more between people. My sister says she needs to see new things, it's convenient that she gets to be a world traveler.
Here are a few of my needs:

• Intelligent, thought provoking, interesting conversation. If I don't get it every so often I think to much in my head (instead of outloud) and often it makes me depressed, and yet one good conversation can solve most of it.
• An engaging, physical, activity. Soccer, shoveling snow, and sometimes walks can all count. This is arguably a physical need, but sometimes I think it's partly mental too. 
• Social interaction. Not necessarily a lot, and the above conversations don't always count although if the above physical activity is done with people it might work. Usually it's something more fun based, and although it's better when I am the active participant I can just be an observer.
• A book. I get book deprived. When I don't have a satisfying book (or computer game, etc) that I can fall back on in my free moments I am actually less productive. This is because when I "take a break" and it's not satisfying then I just keep looking for other entertainment so that I will be satisfied and never accomplish anything.
• A productive/creative project. This can be blogging (usually not) painting, drawing, crowdsourcing, list making, documenting, writing, researching, and a bunch of other things. If I don't do anything like this I get restless, and grumpy.

These needs are definitely not as well defined as food, and sleep. I couldn't tell you how often I need them. Is it daily? weekly? biweekly? monthly? Sometimes I think it varies. When I was on my two year LDS mission when books were not an option, surprisingly (or more likely I was just blessed) I didn't really notice getting book deprived. But I did get conversation deprived on occasion. 

What are your needs?

Consuming and Creating: Part 4: Crowdsourcing

My brother and I talked a little about different crowdsourcing projects, yesterday. It is when a group or company gets a large amount of people involved in a project. I don't know too much about it, but I think it is often done through volunteers via the internet.
Indexing done by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a good example of this. People sign up, download documents and then transcribe certain information from the documents, particularly to use for genealogical work. I've done some of it, but not recently.
https://familysearch.org/indexing/
Recently I have worked on two other crowdsourcing projects.
Operation War Diary
It's a project similar to LDS Indexing, but you don't type in much, mostly you pin little tabs on documents. They are journal entries from WWI battalions. I've recorded casualties, training, trench building, and football games. It's interesting to see the day to day activities of some of the groups.
http://www.operationwardiary.org/
Snapshot Serengetti
This might be my favorite. As the volunteer you look at pictures taken by camera traps in the wilds of Africa, and then record what types of animals are present, how many and what they are doing. Who knew wildebeests were so common! I've also documented ostriches, zebras, hartebeests, elephants, and topi.
http://www.snapshotserengeti.org/

Now that you know all about crowdsourcing this is how I think it relates to creating.... There are a lot of short games you can play on the internet, and most of them are addicting to some degree of another. But when you are done you haven't accomplished anything. Consuming just isn't as fulfilling as creating. And so essentially people that have set up crowdsourcing opportunities make productive things into short addictive "games." When people get involved, they enjoy it, and they feel better about themselves then if they had only been playing a game, because it's creative in some ways. Plus, you get to be a part of a project that is bigger than yourself. It's exciting. I know I've enjoyed doing them.
So basically crowdsourcers have capitalized on helping people be creative/productive.

Snow

Who can resist looking into the depths of a fire? Always changing, always the same, potential power. Fires are almost hypnotic. Running water is the same way.
Lately, I have decided that still water is the same too... and when I mean still, I mean frozen. Well, the same and different. Snow and ice. Snow falls, coats the land, blown around by wind, melts, crystallizes, packs, and sublimates. It's potential power is not as obvious as fire (heat) or water (temperature as well as kinetic and gravitational potential energy). Maybe I shouldn't even call it potential energy but it is does have a potential to change. Plus, every day the same snow looks different. In every place the snow looks different. I remember going out in the marsh behind our house when I was in high school, and taking picture after picture of snow and ice. Landscapes, and close ups. Trapped bubbles, crystals, icicles, and packed snowmen. The changes in snow/ice are slower than in fire and running water but they are no less captivating.

Indiana

Indiana

Snow Crystals on Ice in Indiana

Indiana

Indiana

Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming

Graupel in Wyoming

Wyoming

Utah

Utah

Utah

Memory

Think of a memory that these things remind you of (that is if you want, I'm not going to be bossy):
a) the song The Spirit of God
b) the smell of skunks
c) the sound of crickets or cicadas
d) the sight of a brick sidewalk engraved with names
e) the taste of apple pie
f) the feel of fluffy cat
g) the idea of trust

Which memories came easiest?
This week I've been thinking about how we remember things. Mostly I remember things spatially. When people ask me what someone I met looks like, I draw a blank. Someone asked if one of my teachers was bald. I had absolutely no idea. I feel like that should have been kind of obvious. It turns out he wasn't. But, I could tell them where they were standing in the room (to the left side of the desk).
I was sharing some memories I had with my parents and I realized that almost always I start with "I was standing and they were over there," or something like that. Also, I'm more likely to remember if that person said something interesting, or told a story or something of that nature.
I know other people that can describe someone they saw once with surprising detail, or people who have songs that bring them back powerfully to a certain time and place.
Although, like I said I'm quite spatially drawn, occasionally sounds (like a car door slamming) smells (peppers) or other things can trigger memories. I suppose triggering memories and the way you remember may be different, but still something to think about. I wonder if knowing your ideal recall can help you learn to remember things more accurately.

Blankness

Just a week ago or so I started a new journal. I like empty journals, I think they are exciting, mysterious. Just think in a year or a month those pages will tell what exciting and boring things I've done. Those pages will know my future (that will then be my past). I don't know. I just find it intriguing.
Empty blogposts are not nearly as exciting. :) They intimidate me, because perhaps I didn't have any interesting thoughts, or make any cool paintings, so it;s there taunting me.
So here is for consistency and an end of this weeks blankness.

Perfection

So I have noticed that different people have different things that they must have perfect. It annoys them when they aren't. Some people have to have things perfectly cleaned or all the cupboards all the way closed. Others have to have their sewing projects perfect or their bookcases uncluttered and all lined up. I assume that most people have something they have to have perfect even if it is not immediately evident.
So do you want to read what mine is?
As some of you know I don't care if there is a bit of clutter around, or if there are water spots on the mirror or if the wall hangings are cutesy. But, I really don't like stuff around that I have made that looks junky. It bugs me. I want the stuff I make to look professional and nice. Whether it is a wooden outside nativity set or a painting or something else. When I was in Activity Girls (a church group for 8-11 year olds) I was given a ceramic nativity set to paint. We could choose a realistic looking set or one where all the characters are bears. I choose the bears, and now looking back I believe it was because the bears were less intimidating. It doesn't look quite as bad to have badly painted teddy bears as it would to have badly painted "realistic" people. Anyway, needless to say every December they drive me crazy because I see them and think those are so ugly, and really poorly done. Especially when my older sister had done one of them (so there was one king that looked nice). So this year, I tried to remedy the situation, I repainted almost all of them (I didn't finish doing 2 of them, and I left the one my sister had done but I started), and now it doesn't bug me when I walk by them.
Happy New Years, by the way.

 Before (and it doesn't show the details of how bad it was)

After