Takeaway 2

I think it has something to do with connecting with our inner child.  When we were little we were full of different ideas and aspirations and we didn't have limitations to our imagination.  For me, as I grew up I was told that some of the things I wanted to do weren't practical or I didn't have any support for the ventures I wanted to pursue.  So I dropped them and went after the path my parents wanted me to go.  I’m not saying I don’t appreciate what all they have done for me, but I feel that a lot of their actions have dampened my curiosity and imagination.  In my mind imagination has a lot to do with creativity.  In your imagination anything is possible and ideas can pretty much flow like water.  When someone is trying to think creatively I feel like having a solid connection to your uninhibited imagination is key.

So having our required textbook as a coloring book, something I’m sure a large portion of us had access to when we were young, is a way for us to connect to our inner child.  In a way it’s a connection to our younger, wild imagination because it’s possible that we have just learned to ignore our imagination to succeed the way the world wants us to succeed now a day’s as a cog in the corporate machine.

Color Your World

I colored my page in black and white.  Black in white is easy to understand and interact with.  Everything is clear cut and incredibly easy to understand because there is no room for questioning or error.  You do it this way or this consequence is going to happen.  In a black and white world there would be much less confusion or error.  There would be no gray areas to murk up the understanding of the world and how things are to be.  

The Egg and the Eye

var sum = 0;

for (var i = 0; i < numberSet.length; i++) {

    console.log(numberSet[i]);

    sum = sum + numberSet[i];

}

var average = sum / numberSet.length;

The Javascript code above is the basic idea behind finding an average of a set of numbers and can be found on my egg for the Egg and the Eye experiment.  I was  stumped for coming up with an idea for this project for quite a while and I had inspiration at the weirdest of times.  I was doing some reading for a computer science class about algorithms and the different types and their respective uses and it just kind of hit me.  I was going to take a snippet of code I had learned in a programming class about averages and write it on my egg.

We are all average to an extent.  Our looks are average, we act pretty average, our ideas are mostly average, this egg is average.  Nothing about us or anyone else is inherently special about you or me or this egg or anyone else.  Sure everyone has the right and the ability to think they are some special and unique little butterfly, fluttering about life in an extraordinary way; but in reality they are just as average as everyone else in this world.

Don’t get me wrong we all have the potential for greatness, but if every individual doesn’t have access to the tools and knowledge to make them great then what are they left with?  Being average is what they are left with.

Takeaway 1

What really resonated with me yesterday in class was the photo that is posted on the class homepage. 

“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?”

Well, can you?  I’m not so sure I can remember anymore.  For as long as I remember I was always told there was only one way to my future and that was it.  No other options.  Absolutely nothing.  This future contained: high school graduation, attendance of a four year university, graduation of said four year university, and employment at some firm with a nine to five desk job earning a six figure salary.  I can remember talking about the plans I had for my life and being shot down when the occupation weren't up to my mother’s standards concerning monetary value.  Hey guys, guess what?  I don’t care what my future salary is going to be.  The one concern I have that has any pertinence to my future is my happiness.  As long as I’m happy I don’t care if I’m the poorest person out there or the richest person out there.  Money doesn't have anything to do with one’s happiness.

Sadly this is not the mindset of today and it probably has quite a bit to do with why I can’t remember who I wanted to be or my dreams and ambitions before my future had any real importance.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one out there that feels this way.  How much of an impact money has on people and they don’t even know it?  What would our world be like if there were more people out there living new and different lifestyles?  Lifestyles that would be preposterous in today’s society?  It would be interesting to see a world like that; to live in a world where you are completely and utterly free to make your own choices and follow your dreams without any pressure to fit today’s “norm”.