I've been quite busy, recently.
As adulthood fast approaches, more and more responsibilities slowly creep into my life, making it more and more essential that I manage my time well. I think I've done OK, but I think I could do a lot better...
But let me tell you what I've been busy with!
The main thing is The ProtoBot Project. I've been designing an open source, arduino based mini robot. It's small, fun, and costs less than $12 for the materials used to make it. That's not all I've been working on, since I've been working with the 4-H robotics coach to host STEM camps where kids build these- Which means I'm also working on creating guides for those, improving those guides, and improving the robot to make it easier to build. On top of it all, we're presenting the project at the Western Regional Leadership Forum, a conference in San Diego, CA for 4-H Educators and volunteers. It's gonna be a ton of fun, but there's also a lot of preparation needed. We're gonna have educators build their own ProtoBots, but a camp for adults is the least of our worries. We've also got a massive leviathan of a guide to create, a guide to top all guides- A "How to host a ProtoBot camp" guide. We've hosted 3 successful camps so far, so we know the most about it- But transferring all that knowledge onto paper, so that anyone else with no previous experience can understand, is a colossal task. We also need to fund-raise to pay for the plane tickets, but that seems to be working out quite nicely.
(If you wanna learn more about that, look here: https://theprotobotproject.wordpress.com)
Let's go back to what I said about managing time. I never have nothing to do, these days. That's a good thing! I love doing most of it, and it feels great to get stuff done.
I still get distracted, though. Maybe not just distracted, I let myself become distracted. I know there's something to do, know it needs to be done, but it seems sometimes that I don't have motivation, unless I actually start. The problem isn't that I don't enjoy it, not that I can't do it, just getting started on it. Once I do, it's finished before I know it, in most cases, and it felt great!
There are a lot of things I can spend time on, not bad things- Fun things, interesting things *cough*youtube*cough* - It isn't so bad now that I've installed a plugin that blocks out all the other suggestions- A lifesaver, I think. Still, I need to get better, because I will distract myself sometimes.
Another thing, maybe related- Getting up on time. I want to, I like being up early in the morning, getting a head start on the day- But when I wake up, it's so hard to get up. I just have to do it. It's not hard, but it is. I need to muster the will to get up, even if I know I could sleep longer- I think I could always sleep longer. Not that I'm not getting enough sleep (Maybe not, but I'm sure I'm much better off than any normal public schooler, with loads of homework after each exhausting day at school). Is it simple laziness? I hope not.
Let's get back to what I'm busy with.
Besides the ProtoBots, there's my robotics team at the school- We're doing OK, and also horribly. I'm not as good at managing people as I'd hoped. I know what needs to be done, sure- And how to do it. But, how to motivate people to do things... That's hard. How to convince someone who doesn't even want to be there, who probably has depression and often simply can't feel enthusiasm for things, to do a good job at something? Maybe one weakness is that I try (too hard?) to only give people jobs they enjoy. But, when I don't have enough of those, what then? Some of them have said I just need to assert myself more- They may actually be right, and if it's what they want? I guess win-win.
This is becoming more of a rant/ramble on the challenges I face while trying to be productive, I think. It probably helps me think about them, but it's also probably a pain to read XD
I've also just been keeping college in mind. My biggest worry there is money- I don't want to go into any debt at all. There are scholarships, but getting them is not always easy. Then I just need to fit all the requirements of the college I want to go to... Shouldn't be that hard. I think I'll wait a year- I'm graduating this year, but early- So if I wait, I'll just be going in at a normal age. It'll give me time to learn everything I need to- Both academically, and in the sense of how to successfully get scholarships and be accepted to a college.
What else? Keeping on top of my car(s), two VW Rabbit diesels from the 80s. I honestly think that while they have problems, for the price, fuel mileage, ease of maintenance and really everything else, I'd be hard pressed to find a better choice of car. I love my rabbit! In the cold, it acts like a greenhouse, staying pleasantly warm inside whenever there's sun. There is a slight dampness in the air, but I don't mind... The 5 air fresheners hanging on the air control lever keeps it smelling nice.
Those are the main things I can think of, I'm sure there's more. Busy busy! But I have lots of fun stuff to do, and more fun stuff I can do later to motivate me to finish what I'm working on now.
TL,DR; (That stands for Too Lazy, Didn't Read, by the way)
As adulthood fast approaches, more and more responsibilities slowly creep into my life, making it more and more essential that I manage my time well. I think I've done OK, but I think I could do a lot better...
But let me tell you what I've been busy with!
The main thing is The ProtoBot Project. I've been designing an open source, arduino based mini robot. It's small, fun, and costs less than $12 for the materials used to make it. That's not all I've been working on, since I've been working with the 4-H robotics coach to host STEM camps where kids build these- Which means I'm also working on creating guides for those, improving those guides, and improving the robot to make it easier to build. On top of it all, we're presenting the project at the Western Regional Leadership Forum, a conference in San Diego, CA for 4-H Educators and volunteers. It's gonna be a ton of fun, but there's also a lot of preparation needed. We're gonna have educators build their own ProtoBots, but a camp for adults is the least of our worries. We've also got a massive leviathan of a guide to create, a guide to top all guides- A "How to host a ProtoBot camp" guide. We've hosted 3 successful camps so far, so we know the most about it- But transferring all that knowledge onto paper, so that anyone else with no previous experience can understand, is a colossal task. We also need to fund-raise to pay for the plane tickets, but that seems to be working out quite nicely.
(If you wanna learn more about that, look here: https://theprotobotproject.wordpress.com)
Let's go back to what I said about managing time. I never have nothing to do, these days. That's a good thing! I love doing most of it, and it feels great to get stuff done.
I still get distracted, though. Maybe not just distracted, I let myself become distracted. I know there's something to do, know it needs to be done, but it seems sometimes that I don't have motivation, unless I actually start. The problem isn't that I don't enjoy it, not that I can't do it, just getting started on it. Once I do, it's finished before I know it, in most cases, and it felt great!
There are a lot of things I can spend time on, not bad things- Fun things, interesting things *cough*youtube*cough* - It isn't so bad now that I've installed a plugin that blocks out all the other suggestions- A lifesaver, I think. Still, I need to get better, because I will distract myself sometimes.
Another thing, maybe related- Getting up on time. I want to, I like being up early in the morning, getting a head start on the day- But when I wake up, it's so hard to get up. I just have to do it. It's not hard, but it is. I need to muster the will to get up, even if I know I could sleep longer- I think I could always sleep longer. Not that I'm not getting enough sleep (Maybe not, but I'm sure I'm much better off than any normal public schooler, with loads of homework after each exhausting day at school). Is it simple laziness? I hope not.
Let's get back to what I'm busy with.
Besides the ProtoBots, there's my robotics team at the school- We're doing OK, and also horribly. I'm not as good at managing people as I'd hoped. I know what needs to be done, sure- And how to do it. But, how to motivate people to do things... That's hard. How to convince someone who doesn't even want to be there, who probably has depression and often simply can't feel enthusiasm for things, to do a good job at something? Maybe one weakness is that I try (too hard?) to only give people jobs they enjoy. But, when I don't have enough of those, what then? Some of them have said I just need to assert myself more- They may actually be right, and if it's what they want? I guess win-win.
This is becoming more of a rant/ramble on the challenges I face while trying to be productive, I think. It probably helps me think about them, but it's also probably a pain to read XD
I've also just been keeping college in mind. My biggest worry there is money- I don't want to go into any debt at all. There are scholarships, but getting them is not always easy. Then I just need to fit all the requirements of the college I want to go to... Shouldn't be that hard. I think I'll wait a year- I'm graduating this year, but early- So if I wait, I'll just be going in at a normal age. It'll give me time to learn everything I need to- Both academically, and in the sense of how to successfully get scholarships and be accepted to a college.
What else? Keeping on top of my car(s), two VW Rabbit diesels from the 80s. I honestly think that while they have problems, for the price, fuel mileage, ease of maintenance and really everything else, I'd be hard pressed to find a better choice of car. I love my rabbit! In the cold, it acts like a greenhouse, staying pleasantly warm inside whenever there's sun. There is a slight dampness in the air, but I don't mind... The 5 air fresheners hanging on the air control lever keeps it smelling nice.
Those are the main things I can think of, I'm sure there's more. Busy busy! But I have lots of fun stuff to do, and more fun stuff I can do later to motivate me to finish what I'm working on now.
TL,DR; (That stands for Too Lazy, Didn't Read, by the way)
- I've been working on robots!
- I should manage my time better.
- I should manage my sleep better.
- I wanted to work on robots, ended up working on people instead!
- College and Scholar(ships) and Test Scores, Oh My!
- My car is awesome!
Welp, there it is- Quality material that will enlighten the world for ages to come. (Well, at least it helped me get thoughts in order.)
