Category Archives: Writing Assignments

Weekly Summary #3: Getting the hang of it

M. Marshall 1.31

Another week another summary, let’s get into it.

I felt pretty good about the work I did this week. I definitely did better with the procrastination issue. I am taking 17 credits, which gets pretty overwhelming pretty fast. To counterbalance this, I made sure to spread out the work for this class instead of having to do it all Friday night. Of course, I am here Friday night, so the process isn’t perfect. I think sometimes I feel like if I do an assignment before the last minute, then I will realize that there was something I need to fix, and doing it last minute puts just the right amount of pressure on me to do it well and in a good amount of time. In reality, when I do something early, I am completely relieved and don’t feel so stressed.

This week I leaned in to the design aspect of this course with my assignments, these turned out pretty cool and I was pretty proud of myself. I showed my girlfriend my guess the song photo, and she got it immediately.

I was relieved to only have 3 daily creates this week, as keeping track of them every day last week was pretty tiring and I would get stressed when would accidentally leave them to the end of the day.

Edit: I tried to embed these, but WordPress did not like the link. Maybe next week I’ll have the hang of it.

Day 1: Design a header for @creating

Day 2: How woke is your sandwich?

Day 3: Obviously photoshopped

Day 3 was definitely my favorite. I got to combine my two favorite things!

Overall, this week was pretty fun and I’m glad I’m doing this class. I’m excited to continue learning and trying new things. I can’t believe next week will have been a full month of classes.

For Clover

M. Marshall 1.24

Dear Clover,

I have loved you since the moment I saw you. I don’t really believe in love at first sight, but what I experienced the first time I saw you says otherwise. I spent months convincing Mom and Dad to get a dog, I would beg them to take the family to the local SPCA and look at potential pets, but what I really wanted was a puppy.

You were 2 months old, and I was 14 years old. Your mom had birthed a pretty big litter of puppies, but there was one left on that fateful evening, the little runt. At that time the SPCA let you put a hold on an animal you were interested in adopting but needed time to consider. It broke my little heart to see you on hold.

After realizing this, Mom and Dad had gone over to the cat section to see other options, but they didn’t understand, I just needed a dog. I stood around for a few minutes, maybe 15. Eventually in protest against getting a cat because I knew I was meant to get a dog, I returned to the glass you were behind.

But something had changed. The hold tag had disappeared. Absolutely giddy, I told Mom and Dad what had changed. She’s off hold now! My parents shrugged and we went to the front desk and asked to meet you. The couple behind us in line also wanted to ask about you, but we got there first. They brought you into the private room with us, you had just been spayed, so you were pretty tired, but you were so damn adorable and cuddly.

We put our own hold on you, went out and bought puppy food, a bowl, a collar, and that cow you loved so much, and brought you home the next morning. I couldn’t have even imagined a better dog.

I just want you to know that I love you and I miss you every day that I’m at school. You’re the light of my life and you have been for nearly 8 years now. Thank you for being you.

This Almost Feels Like Rap

So, for my first assignment I chose Never Fear It’s Words of the Year.

Merriam-Webster keeps a year-by-year list of when words were first recorded, or first recorded as being used in a particular sense. Each year gives us a list of somewhat random but also fascinating words. The challenge: Take the list from some significant year, such as the year of your birth, and build a poem from the words on the list.

I decided to go with my birth year which is 1991 and I think I got pretty lucky. The 90’s were a time where technology was really ramping up its capabilities, so I feel I got off easy with words that could relate to cyber/AI technology. This is what I wrote, so I hope you enjoy my poem that kind of flows like rap in some parts.

Going through life like a laggy NPC.

I’m no OG, I just hang out with my bestie.

I’m not involved in any cyberspeak or cybercrime.

It seems like I’m working with an asymmetric digital subscriber line.

sometimes this life feels like a dream.

everywhere I look, oops another lock screen.

Too much nanotech running in my skin deep

work is such a time suck, too much mission creep.

It’s too much shit, making me want to force quit.

I’m beyond fed up with it.

Tim to grab my game pad and go bag and leave this place broken.

But no worries, I’m about to give my life a new cold open.

Well, I hope if you decide to do this assignment, the year you choose is as cool as mine.