Chocolate Orange Gems

Today I have decided to make Chocolate Orange Gems with the recipe coming from the M&M's Fun Stuff Cookbook. The name of this tasty treat isn't very self explanatory so they are kind of like lemon bars but orange with frosting. Let's get started!
To make these non-lemon bars you will need:

• 2/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups M&M's candies
• 1/3 cup orange marmalade

Before doing any preparations to make the bar itself you will need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Now we can start the fun stuff. to begin "In a large mixing bowl, cream [butter] and brown sugar until light and fluffy," (Weber 20). After the first two ingredients are creamed, beat in your egg, orange juice and orange peels. The orange peel and juice is used to make the flavor last in these scrumptious bars.

Next, in a separate, medium sized, mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. "Then, slowly add the dry mixture into the creamed mixture," (Weber 20). After both mixtures have been combined, add in the M&M's candies. Before adding all the dough into an ungreased pan, we are instructed to reserve one cup of it but then spread the rest of the dough evenly.

After that step has been completed, spread your orange marmalade evenly over the dough within a half inch of the edges. Then you want to take the reserved dough and, in teaspoons, randomly drop the scoops on top of the marmalade.

Finally, bake bars in your oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. While the bars are cooking you can make a vanilla glaze to go on top of them if desired.

To make this glaze you will need:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of warm water (to your desired consistency)

To place the glaze on the bars meticulously, put the glaze in a resealable plastic bag and cut the corner of it off. But be sure it is no more than 1/8 of an inch so it doesn't come out too fast.
Make sure the bag is sealed and drizzle the glaze over the bars, after they have completely cooled, into lines to get the perfect presentation for your pastry.

As you can see the glaze I made didn't turn out exactly as planned, it looks almost watery in this picture but it was thicker in person. This wasn't may favorite thing to make in the world but it didn't taste terrible. Hope you do better than I do when making this!

What is marmalade? How is it different from jam or jelly?

Colorful S'mores Squares

S'mores has always been one of my favorite deserts and things to make with the family so when I saw this recipe in the M&M's Fun Stuff Cookbook I had to try it. Let's not wait! Let's make them ASAP!

To make this amazing dish you will need the following items:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 3/4 cups M&M's candies
• 1 cup marshmallow crème

To start this baking process preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 13x9x2 inch pan then set aside. Then in a "Large [mixing] bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy," (Weber 110). After that beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. After all other ingredients are put in add the one cup of the M&M's candies. Then, put the graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the pan and put the batter on top of it and bake for about 30 minutes.
After taking the crust out of the oven "Dollop marshmallow crème over the hot crust," (Weber 110). Spread the crème evenly on the crust and sprinkle the remaining M&M's over it. Finally bake it again for five more minutes and cool completely.
Now you probably notice my lack of pictures but that's because I messed up while making this desert. I didn't realize the graham cracker crumbs were a crust until after I combined the crumbs in the batter with made it this really sandy texture and was not appealing to the eye or to the taste buds. I know you cant make it all perfectly on the first try so this is just an example of how you really need to be paying attention to what you are doing so you don't mess up like I did!

What was your biggest mess up when it comes to baking and what happened?

Dare to Dip 'em Donuts

Today I decided to attempt to make donuts from the M&M's Fun Stuff Cookbook. I have baked two different recipes from this book already and they weren't as advanced as donuts so we will see if this tasty treat will be a success or not.
To make this hopefully delicious treat you will need the following items:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• Chocolate glaze
• 1/2 cup M&M's candies

I'm not going to lie, making these donuts makes me nervous because I've never fried anything before and I know that you have to leave the donuts in for just the right amount of time so they are that perfect golden brown color with the nice fluffy middle. Let's not delay this any longer, we just have to do it.


To begin making the dough you will need a large mixing bowl to first combine your "butter and sugar until light and fluffy,: (Weber 59). Then you will need to beat in you egg and vanilla extract. Next, in a separate medium size bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt (Weber 59). When this is done, we are instructed to wrap the dough and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

To pass the time away I suggest cleaning up your kitchen a little bit so you have less to do at the end. Then with that being done we can make the chocolate glaze to top the donuts off. To do so you will need:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of unsweetened coca powder
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of water
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

To begin making this, in a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and the coca powder. Finally stir in the water and the vanilla. To get the right consistency you need to stir until the glaze is smooth and runny.

Now that the dough has been refrigerated, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough so the thickness will become about 1/2 of an inch. Now the book says to use a 2 1/2-inch ring cookie cutter but because I don't have one of those I am substituting that for a plastic cup and cutting out the middle with a smaller round object.

The next step is to "heat about 2 inches of the vegetable oil to 375 degrees F in a deep sauce pan," (Weber 59). When you put the donut dough in the oil to fry it leave the donut in for about 30 seconds on each side or until it turns that lovely golden brown color. Now you can also fry the donut holes to but for about 10 to 15 seconds per side. After the donuts are removed from the oil drain them by putting them on a plate that has paper towels between the actual plate and the donuts.

After the donuts have completely cooled, you can dip the donuts in the chocolate glaze that was prepared earlier. Finally, to add the finishing touches, place the M&M's on the glaze to give it the fun and colorful look to them

Now these donuts didn't turn out as planned but it was still really fun to make them. I over cooked them slightly but they were still delicious with the chocolate glaze and the M&M's to top it off. Next time I decide to make donuts from scratch, I'll know what not to do when actually cooking them! Enjoy this recipe!!

What's your favorite kind of donut to eat/make?

Can Games Truly Bring Happiness?

Many people tend to not think of games as a catalyst for happiness, but McGonigal seems to claim otherwise. She states that part of the key to happiness is to practice random acts of kindness and to dance more. (McGonigal 183) Well, what exactly would these things have to do with happiness? McGonigal elaborates by saying "they're like the daily multivitamins of positive psychology: they've been clinically tested and proven to boost our well-being in small doses, and they're designed to fit easily into our everyday lives." (McGonigal 184) There are also lots of other ways that happiness can be achieved. However, it might not be as easy as it sounds. Part of the problem here is that in order to be happy, we have to do more than just know what makes us happy, we have to act on that knowledge, which incorporating into our daily lives could prove very difficult. For example, what if one day you just decide to not be nice to people or to make a simple gesture of kindness? This is just one of a few examples of why many people might not throw themselves out there to participate in such activities. These acts of kindness, however, don't necessarily need to be intentional.  Being spontaneous and out of the blue can very much help to find happiness in games.




My hunter character spontaneously dancing with fellow Guardians in the Tower.



For one last time (since this is my final blog post), I'll be returning to Destiny. Here, I take my trip to the Tower, the playable social area where people can pick up bounties, buy new legendary and exotic gear, and communicate. Usually, whenever I visit the Tower, I'll pick up bounties and whatever gear I might need for my next endeavor into the expansive universe of the game. However, this time, I found a couple guardians on my way out, standing by the Postmaster vendor, dancing. I, of course, decided to join them.

Going back to what I said at the beginning of my post, this moment and particular captures what McGonigal was trying to say perfectly. The "dancing" emoticon brought plenty of laughs into the situation, and sparked a communal bond between these players that I didn't even know. All in all, random acts of kindness don't need to always be performed, but when they can, will bring you an endless amount of joy to your gameplay and in real life.

My final question is: When have you performed a random act of kindness? How often do you do them?

McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Print. 

Guiding the Player

An important aspect to designing a game is deciding how the player should be guided through the game. This guidance usually falls under direct guidance or indirect guidance. When using direct guidance game designers need o be cautious of how much information they give the player and when they give the information. "The message must be given to the player when it is immediately relevant. Some games try to tell the player all the possible controls... but it is ridiculous to think that a player will be able to remember all of those controls" (Benson 198). To avoid this problem I give reminders to the player what some of the controls are when they are needed. For example when a player receives an ability I remind them what button is used to activate it as well as when it can be activated.

A brief explanation on how the game is played

For indirect guidance game designers lead players without them knowing they are being leaded. Constraints are needed to be placed to avoid the risk of choice paralysis, which occurs when players are given too many choices and cannot evaluate the consequences of them all (Gibson 100). While it is exciting to be given multiple choices to choose from, however too many choices can create a negative effect rather than a positive one. I avoided choice paralysis by providing a limited amount of meaningful choices that each provide its own distinct advantage.

What was the hardest choice you ever made in a game?

Gibson, Jeremy. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From
     Concept to Playable Game-with Unity® and C#. Upper Saddle River:
     Addison-Wesley, 2015. Print.

Linear Perspective in Drawing

In drawing a picture, perspective is used to create a realistic sense of depth. One type of perspective used in art is linear perspective, defined as "the use of converging lines and the manipulation of the size and placement of elements within a composition to crate the illusion of depth and distance" (Willenbrink 32). Linear perspective employs the use of horizon lines, vanishing points, and vantage points. A horizon line is the farthest point of land an eye can reach and is also where the land or water ends and the sky begins. Typically located on the horizon, vanishing points are locations where parallel lines appear to meet. Lastly, a vantage point is the location from where the observer seems to be when looking at a picture.

This sketch is an example of one-point perspective, meaning that there is only one vanishing point (Willenbrink 34). The floorboards and all lines on the same axis converge at the one vanishing point. The other two axes are directly horizontal and vertical.

To make this sketch, I started by drawing the horizon and vanishing point. I then drew out the doorway in the center. To create the walls and floor, I started at the vanishing point and drew lines outward. Since the picture frame, box, and drawers in this scene are all rectangular prisms, I created them by first drawing the lines that merge at the vantage point and then by connecting those lines with horizontal and vertical ones.

Have you used perspective in your drawings? How do you create perspective in your drawings?

Willenbrink, Mark, and Mary Willenbrink. Drawing for the Absolute Beginner. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light, 2006. Print.

Performance Oriented

What way is there that makes a person better, well Brian Billick explains performance oriented, where a person creates steps to have success for a vision they have . This is needing dedication and the grand plan for success.

I relate to this by how I am starting at center and I have to follow a step process to be successful. I have to notice whether or not the linebacker is blitzing, or if the tackle is shaded to the right or to the left, but the most important part is having to snap the ball and block at the same time. This whole step process is important so I can block for the QB or the RB.

If you play football or any other sport, what I your step process at your position to be successful?

Posted 1/26 January 26th

Citation: Billick, Brian. Competitive Leadership Twelve Prinicples For Success. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.                        

Self Assuring

In football and in life we can either put ourselves in a situation to accomplish something or to not attempt anything at all because of the confidents we have in ourselves. Brian Billick explains how people with high expectations of themselves mostly succeed, this is seen as self assuring.  How people with confidence in themselves can do what ever they think they can because the human spirit is a very powerful thing.

 

        I relate to this by how when I was in middle school I was always looked at as a 3rd stringer or worse, my coaches never gave me a shot to prove myself so I would never see myself a good enough player to my coaches or for myself. This all changed when I hit 9th grade, new coach new chances, for my first season in high school  I started 3 games as a line backer, this built my confidence a little, the season after I started 6 games as a tackle and a center by taking the taking the starting role from teammates by outplaying them, this created a certain trust with my coaches teammates and risen the confidence that I am a good player and I can accomplish anything that I set my mind to.

What have you needed to overcome in playing football or any sport?

Posted 8:36:00 January 25th

Citation: Billick, Brian. Competitive Leadership Twelve Prinicples For Success. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.                        

Communication

  Being able to communicate to others is key in football and life. As explained by Brian Billick Competitive Leadership 12 Principals Of Success "You can 't prevail, much less excel, without superior communication skills" (90). Communication is needed to best understand any situation on the field or off, we use it to know what to do to become better as a person and a player. Being a leader, communication is needed to be successful.

        I relate to this by how I talk to all of my teammate to better understand how they play, or the new players(freshman) and better give them an understanding of what they got to do to become better as a player and as a person because I have gone through everything that is mostly known of starting at the bottom in football. I can give them advice of what they should do to stay on track in school and push them to become better.

How do you use communication on or off the field?

Posted 11:08:00 January 25th

Citation: Billick, Brian. Competitive Leadership Twelve Prinicples For Success. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.                        

How Games are Tested

Once enough of a game has been developed playtesters are needed to help refine the game. Two important factors for playtesting is who you ask and when you ask them. The reason why it is important to consider when you ask someone to playtest your game is because a game is best tested by people who have no prior knowledge to the game, "Once anyone has played your game even a single time, they know something about it, and that knowledge biases subsequent playtest sessions" (Gibson 145). Evaluating a person's insight on the game will aid you in deciding when in development they will be most useful because they will only be a new player once.
The most beneficial way to playtest is through informal individual testing. Deciding how a game will be tested will help with getting the necessary feedback for adjusting the game. The factors to keep in mind when letting someone playtest is not telling them too much, not leading them, not making arguments or excuses, and taking good notes (Gibson 146). This kind of feedback will provide the game designer with how players will interact with the game on their own without help and letting the game designer keep an open mind on the feedback. This mindset allowed for me to test if new players are able to understand the game. Also, i received feedback on how new players first interact with the game to adjust the appearance and balance of the game.

What are the things you notice when playing a new game?

Gibson, Jeremy. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From
     Concept to Playable Game-with Unity® and C#. Upper Saddle River:
     Addison-Wesley, 2015. Print. 

Structure in Drawing

Prior to reading Drawing for the Absolute Beginner, by Mary and Mark Willenbrink, I would always jump into a drawing before sketching out an outline. This caused the structure of the final drawing to be off. In the book, the Willenbrinks suggest to draw the basic shapes of a drawing first because it allows you to keep the structure accurate (Willenbrink 65).

Although faint, you can see some of the rectangles that outline each individual shape

As the authors had suggested, in drawing this steam engine, I outlined the basic shapes before I started adding details. The outline consisted of multiple rectangles, each representing an individual element. I chiseled out the shapes of each element from their rectangle and finished the drawing by adding details and shading. Outlining the drawing before everything else especially helped with drawing ellipses (circles in perspective). To draw an accurate ellipse, you "first [sketch] a square in perspective. The lines of the square will be used as the boundaries for the ellipse, because both a circle and a square are eqaually as wide as they are tall" (Willenbrink 42). Using this method allowed me to make the wheels of the train more equally rounded.

When you draw, do you jump right into it, or do you first plan your drawing with an outline? Do you know of any other ways to keep the structure of your drawing accurate?

Willenbrink, Mark, and Mary Willenbrink. Drawing for the Absolute Beginner. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light, 2006. Print.

How to Make a Paper Prototype

When designing a new game, it is important to make a simple prototype of it to get an idea of what is going to be in the game. The easiest way of doing this is by making a prototype of it onto a piece of paper. The benefits of creating a paper prototype for a game are initial development speed, iteration speed, low technical barrier, collaborative prototyping, and focused prototyping and testing (Gibson 126). Paper prototyping constructs an idea faster than programming it from scratch in a program. This allows for the concept of the game to change and become focused on specific ideas before programming starts.

The paper prototype to my game

In this prototype I draw each section of the game and what they are used for. I list ideas to improve the game next to each drawing to help focus on specific aspects of what the game will do. Also, this helps with deciding what resources are needed for the game to function and what can be added later. While paper prototyping has its benefits, there are some things that need to be avoided, "Several things in the prototype could have been handled better by a computer. These include visibility calculations, tracking health... For the paper prototype, you want to focus on the simple systems in your game" (Gibson 139). I tried avoiding these disadvantages by limiting my time spent editing the paper prototype and focus primarily on the functions that the game has to have to be playable.

Have you ever thought of playing a video game on pieces of paper?

Gibson, Jeremy. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From
     Concept to Playable Game-with Unity® and C#. Upper Saddle River:
     Addison-Wesley, 2015. Print. 

What is a Game?

One of the many important aspects of game design is analyzing the definition of what a game is. Over the past 30 years people created various definitions that are all true in their own way. The most intriguing definition was created by Tracy Fullerton, author of the book Game Design Workshop, "'a closed, formal system that engages players in a structured conflict and resolves its uncertainty in an unequal outcome' is not a good definition of game but also a list of elements that designers can modify" (Gibson 10). What makes this definition interesting is the focus on game designers rather than focusing on the players. This gives game designers a better understanding of how to create or modify games by listing the elements of a game. It is important to learn the different definitions to the word game because it gives game designers the tools to refine their game to fit specific needs. Creating a definition for the word game that is all-encompassing is very difficult due to different people having different meaning to the word game (Gibson 16). Multiple specific definitions to the word game exist because of the difficulties of creating a broad definition. These definitions also are used to help game designers understand what people will expect from their games.

Evaluating my game using Fullerton's definition of a game

I used Fullerton's definition of a game to help improve the game a game I made by applying the different elements of the definition to the game. Is there a specific definition you use to define games?

Gibson, Jeremy. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From
     Concept to Playable Game-with Unity® and C#. Upper Saddle River:
     Addison-Wesley, 2015. Print.

Quarterback Tips: Mental Strength

A powerful and dominant team 99% of the time has very strong leadership from their Quarterback. That's why you see great teams like the Seattle Seahawks because of great leadership from guys like Russell Wilson. Part of the reason the QB's have strong leadership is due to their mental strength. According to The QB by Bruce Feldman QB's have such a high standard for themselves that they mentally become strong enough to believe they can achieve what ever they put their mind to. "They all want to prove that they're The Guy and want someone to tell them that they're good. I can't think of one quarterback who isn't self-conscious, because they have such high expectations and high standards" (Feldman 81). This leads on to the fact that QB's have to prepare themselves mentally before games, skills camps etc. to be the best they can be mentally so they can perform to the best of their abilities.

Mental preparation before a football game is key to being able to perform well during the game.

I used this Quarterback tip of mental preparation by focusing on my task before my game. I've seen many greats preparing themselves by bowing their heads, closing their eyes and focusing on the game and task in hand. This I believe increases the ability of performing well within a game; as a quarterback if you do well most likely, the team does well also. Which makes it very important that a QB is mentally strong before every game.


Do you believe mental preparation is a very important aspect not just in football, but everything in life in general?


Feldman, Bruce. The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. New York: Crown
     Archetype, 2014. Print.

How Can Alternate Realities Benefit You?

In my last post I talked about how games can feel truly epic. Many people tend to believe that alternate realities or video games in general tend to be a tremendous waste of time. However, that belief is not necessarily true. There are principles in alternate realities that can be present in real life situations. For example, she references the game Chore Wars, which is a game where you play in your real life to enjoy it more. (McGonigal 120). You might be asking, how can you make a game out of life? The game is specifically designed for people to "track how much housework people are doing - and to inspire everyone to do more housework, more cheerfully, than you would otherwise." (McGonigal 120) Whenever you complete one of your chores, you go online and report on it through the game. Every chore is described to give you a specific amount of experience points, virtual gold, etc. You can also customize the game the way you want to, by adding modifiers to make the least desirable chores worth more experience points. McGonigal also states that "as an added bonus, [her] place is cleaner now." (McGonigal 121) This proves that the virtual reality created through Chore Wars can be an efficient and fun way to get work done.




Me looking at my review packet, reluctant to start it





Though McGonigal used Chore Wars to demonstrate how these alternate realities can benefit us, I used the same basic principle to use in real life situations. Recently, we've all been stressed out when it comes to finals, and we've all been bombarded with review packet after review packet. Having felt overwhelmed myself, I used these same principles in Chore Wars to help me complete my math packet. Going into it, I knew this was something I needed to do rather than something I wanted to do, so I did something similar to McGonigal. She rewarded herself with an abundance of experience points, whereas I rewarded myself with my favorite snack, Doritos whenever I completed a page of problems. It might sound silly, but these simple motivators, as present in Chore Wars, can be very effective when it comes to getting work done that you need to complete.

Overall, these concepts and principles of alternate realities have benefited me in real life by giving me the motivation and drive to complete my review packet. This, in turn, will enable me to score higher on the final exam. How do you incorporate some form of game principle/motivation into your everyday life?

McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Print. 

Body Proportions in Drawing

Drawing subjects accurately is important since it adds a greater sense of realism. Because of their complex shape, drawing people accurately is a common struggle among many drawers. But with the proper knowledge of bodily proportions, it becomes much easier to accurately draw people. In Drawing for the Absolute Beginner, by Mark and Mary Willenbrink, the authors describe the proportions of human adults: "For both sexes, almost half the height is made up of the legs, with the tips of the hand falling to the mid-thigh region...For most adults, their height is equal to the width of their outstretched arm" (Willenbrink 78).

As part of their lesson on human proportions, the authors gave  step-by-step instructions on using the correct proportions in drawing a man standing. To start, you make lines to indicate placement of body parts and their proportions. This consists of horizontal lines marking the placement of the head, neck, chest, waist, and feet as well as a vertical line down the center. By using these guidelines, you are able to draw in body parts while keeping them in proportion.

Here you can see me using the guiding lines to draw out the basic body shape.

I finished the sketch by adding details and a little shading

Does anyone know any methods to accurately draw people in different poses?

Willenbrink, Mark, and Mary Willenbrink. Drawing for the Absolute Beginner. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light, 2006. Print.

Learning how to Study the Game Properly

    As a quarterback it is very important to know every little aspect of the game of football. It is their job to know the responsibilities of every single player on the field. This forces a quarterback to know how to study the game properly. According to the book The QB by Bruce Feldman there is a very helpful tactic QB Peyton Manning uses to study and prepare for his next games. Peyton explains that he watches 3rd downs on Mondays, first downs on Tuesdays, blitz tape on Wednesdays, a complete game on Thursday and watch the same complete game again on Friday (Feldman 178). The key here to studying the game is taking bits and pieces of what you're studying at a time to be able to obtain full knowledge.

   Take note of how I'm studying only the first downs of this game displayed above. As shown here I am only watching bits and parts of the game to obtain different types of knowledge before putting all of what I learned altogether. "Instead of watching an entire game in one sitting, you're looking at stuff in increments and still getting good work in the film room" (Feldman 178). Studying in increments is a more efficient way of studying certain pointers that you want to work on.

Do you believe that studying in increments is more efficient then watching a game in one sitting?

Feldman, Bruce. The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. New York: Crown

     Archetype, 2014. Print.

Inspecting and Preventing Damage

After repeated use of your equipment it may become damaged putting yourself at others at risk. It is important to make frequent inspections of all of your equipment to make sure there is nothing wrong which could cause problems in any part of its usage. Checking all of your equipment every time you use it before and after can prevent injury and make your equipment last much longer saving you money.

Inspecting the limbs of the bow is always important, repeated flexing of them during drawing puts a lot of stress on them and may cause splintering especially if it doesn’t follow the curve of the bow when drawing. You should also avoid pulling back the string farther than the intended design or dry firing. Dry firing is when you shoot without an arrow. This puts all of the stress that’s normally put into the arrow directly back into the limbs which can end up in broken limbs or worse (Engh 100). As long as you take care of your bow and make sure to check it thoroughly it will be fine. Make sure there are no splinters, check screw tightness, and make sure parts aren’t too worn.

Obviously to be able to shoot effectively you are going to need arrows that are in good shape. Shooting them can over time put a large amount of wear on them from hitting hard objects or pulling them out any way other than straight out. After shooting them “Look for tightly glued vanes or feathers and tightly glued points and nocks. Also, inspect for any broken nocks or cracks or splits along the length of the arrow. Finally, examine the arrows for straightness (Engh 102). Shooting a broken arrow is a good way to get hurt or damage other equipment. You could try to repair arrows if you know what you are doing but replacing them is probably a better idea. Bent arrows can be straightened over time, but the condition they are kept in will need to be changed or else they will most likely get warped again.

How often do you check your archery equipment? Do you think this is often enough?

Engh, Douglas. Archery Fundamentals. IL: Human Kinetics Inc, 2005. Print.

How Can Games Feel More Epic?

Welcome back to my blog! It's been a while since I made my last post, that being on how failure in games can lead to enjoyment. Today I'll be focusing on a much broader topic covered a little bit later on in the book: How we can be a part of something greater through video games. What that means is through our collective gaming culture, becoming a community of gamers all focused on one universal goal. McGonigal talks about how "In April 2009, Halo 3 players celebrated a collective spine-tingling milestone: 10 billion kills against their virtual enemy, the Covenant. That's roughly one and a half times the total number of every man, woman, and child on earth" (McGonigal 95). Why does something like this matter, you may ask. The 10 million enemy defeats was a symbol for the dedication of the fans. Sure, fans knew there wasn't any real importance or consequence to saving the human race in a science fiction video game, but even though there was no realistic value, there was meaning. This meaning was the feeling that we were all a part of something much larger than ourselves. McGonigal quotes philosopher Martin Seligman: "The self is a very poor site for meaning...the larger the entity you can attach yourself to, the more meaning you can derive." (McGonigal 97) This being said, it wasn't the Covenant kills in Halo 3 that gave it value, rather it was the massive communal goal that made it seem meaningful. Thus proving that something doesn't need to be real for it to have real meaning.


In "The Tower" with friends celebrating after a collaborative effort to complete the raid.

Likewise, in the game Destiny (which I referenced two posts ago), has a very similar concept. In the game, you are stopping the alien forces known as the Fallen, Hive, Vex, Cabal, and Taken. Though as an active player of the game I've defeated many a foe, it's not always about my individual efforts. Everyone I've played with has helped to contribute to the ever growing number to the expansive, epic universe created around the game. Another way Destiny is similar to Halo 3 in this way is the environmental design in the game. McGonigal describes the development of Halo 3, stating that it took Bungie three years to craft this gaming cathedral, with a team of more than 250 artists, designers, writers, programmers, and engineers collaborating together. (McGonigal 105). Destiny, having also been developed by Bungie, had this same care, attention to detail, and intricacy put into it as Halo 3. The Moon, one of the planets in particular, is very beautifully designed and well thought out, proving that good environmental design can make the experience all the more epic.

My question for this post is:

How does a larger community of players or environmental design help to change the experience in your eyes? Does it make it more or less epic to you?



 

McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Print. 

German Finale Dinner

All of my posts so far have focused on the technical side of the German language, but for my final post I wanted to do something special and delicious. I decided to test my knowledge and cook a German dinner for my mom and I using products brought back from Germany with German instructions. I made Pommes Frittes mit Wiener Schnitzel (French fries with breaded chicken) and Kroenung Salat (Paprika salad).

I started by pouring out the contents of the Wiener Schnitzel into a flat bowl per the instructions then took the chicken breasts and dunked them in the crumbs. Next I put them in the oil and butter, which have been simmering in a frying pan, for about 4 minutes a side.
                                                                        

 
















Now on to my salad, I first had to figure out the strange measurements. In Europe, they use the metric system, now imagine using the metric system but in German. ml is not written the same way especially when cooking. It is written EL so the dressing recipe called for 3 EL Wasser it meant 30 ml of water. I combined the 30 ml of water and 30 ml of oil in one jar with the contents of the packet inside and shook it. It combined beautifully and made a yummy vinaigrette which my mom then poured onto my lettuce.

The 3rd dish I was preparing was the Pommes frittes. They were the easiest by far, I just took some out of the freezer and salted them before placing them in the oven at 450 degrees. After they were in the oven, I cut up a lemon for the garnish.

Finally, I could plate my master piece!

This whole process was very useful and it has helped me improve my reading skills. Edward Swick stated that "You can easily learn the German names of food, beverages, and utensils" (31). I feel that trying to read the ingredients, with the fate of dinner hanging in the balance, helped me recognize words I already knew and to use context clues to infer the rest. In this last picture I can name the chicken (das Hauhnchen), french fries (Pommes frittes), salad (salat), lemon (zitrone), water (wasser), and glass (das glas) (Swick 31-32). 

All in all, I had a lot of fun cooking this great meal and being able to share it with my loved ones. I wonder what other traditional dishes are made by my peers and if they use another language for the ingredients? 

Swick, Edward, MA. The Everythig Learning German Book. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Avon: Karen Cooper, 2009. Print. The Everything. 

Power Chords

Even if people don't have prior knowledge in playing guitar, most know what the basic terms mean, such as, chords. Although people know what chords, the question is can they decipher the differences between the various types? I knew what the basic major and minor chords were and what they should sound like, but I never knew what power chords were. David Brewster defines power chords in his book, Teach Yourself To Play Guitar, 

As sounding powerful, even though they're very simple chords that only consist of playing two notes on the strings (26). 

For a beginner in playing the guitar, the simplicity, yet usefulness, of these chords definitely caught my eye as something I should check out! The first one in the book was called an "E5 Chord." Brewster explained that, 

"Power chords are composed of a root note (name of the chord) and the 5th scale degree. As such they are known as "5" chords" (26). 

As you can see, I only had to put my finger down on one string while I strummed upwards on the string i'm holding down and the string above it only. I do agree that these have a very large sound to it!

There were 4 more of these chords shown throughout the book, so if you wanted to try out all of them, here they are: (also attached the chord diagram so people could reference them!)

 This one is the "A5 Chord"

And the "D5 Chord"

The "G5 Chord"

Lastly, we have the "B5 Chord"

So do you prefer to show off your skills with fancy chords or do you like to incorporate simple ones like the power chords?

    Brewster, David M. Teach Yourself to Play Guitar. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2004. Print. 

Putting Accessories On a Bow

Choosing accessories to go on a bow can greatly enhance your capability if chosen well, but may also be a hindrance if you just buy something fancy without thinking about what type of shooting you are going to be doing, and possibly discuss it with others. When starting off you will learn better what to do if you are not using extra gadgets. However once you are proficient enough that you think you can add some accessories there is quite a large range to pick from. A few of the ones you can get include arrow rests, armguards, finger tabs, quivers, sights, plungers, clickers, and chest protectors.

One of the few of these that I have is an armguard. Engh when talking about armguards says that it is “…a very simple accessory and does nothing more than keep the string from striking your arm or sleeve…If the string were to glance off your sleeve, it would also affect the consistent speed of the string and cause your accuracy to suffer as a result” (Engh 91). If you have any experience with a bow you have probably shot wrong at least a few times. I personally know that the pain from having the bow string snap against your arm is quite painful and having it strike your sleeve, whereas better, does mess up the shot pretty badly. This makes the armguard a very useful accessory as well as being easy to use and normally quite cheap, I always wear one when I’m actually shooting.

Another accessory that I own is a quiver. Although what you are thinking of when I say quiver might be different than what I actually have. Most people probably think of a bag like device on your back holding all of your arrows like Robin Hood, however Engh states that quivers fall into three main groups. These groups are bow quivers, side quivers, and ground quivers. The side quiver is what most people think of just attached to your side, allowing for easy and safe carry, making it what is generally recommended. I own a bow quiver which is a holder for your arrows built right onto the side of the bow, only really useful for hunting as it can mess up the balance and function of the bow. There is also a ground quiver which is just something that holds the arrows upright on the ground, made from things like traffic cones, tubing or formed wires (Engh 92). Quivers make it a lot easier to carry more arrows without having to go and grab the ones you have already shot. Although I have a bow quiver I would recommend a side quiver as like previously mentioned the quiver being on the bow does mess up my shooting.

The sights on my bow

My plastic armguard

My bow quiver holding 4 extra arrows

What kind of accessories have you used/owned in the past? Do you think you should get more?

Engh, Douglas. Archery Fundamentals. IL: Human Kinetics Inc, 2005. Print.

Minor Scale Chords

We've established thus far that major scale chords are the happy-sounding ones, so what are the dark, evil, Jaws-sounding one you may ask? The answer to that question is known by almost everyone that does music, not just guitar: Minor scale chords! To jump right in, 

Minor scale chords are pretty much the opposite of major chords (Brewster 20). 

This is good because were trying to expand our knowledge of different types of chords! Just like the major scale chords, there's 3 minor scale chords. Each one has the name of a minor chord like "D", with just an "m" next to it to represent that it's minor now. For example, the first chord I worked on was the "Am Chord":

Here's the chord diagram just in case you want to follow along with your guitar!

 

Here's also the "Em Chord"

And lastly, the "Dm Chord"'

As you may be able to have heard, the minor chords sound a lot different than the major scale chords. This is explained in David Brewster's, Teach Yourself To Play Guitar, 

"Minor chords could be described as having a dark, or melancholy sound" (20).

I'm really excited to implement minor chords in my journey on learned the guitar because I personally love the sound! Although the major chords are pretty, I love the dark sound and vibe I get from the minor chords. They feel like very powerful chords to me.

We all have our preferences, so what's yours? Major or minor chords? Let me know!

   Brewster, David M. Teach Yourself to Play Guitar. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2004. Print.