February 2008 Archives
I have been the sickest now than I've been in a long time. About three weeks ago I got a cold, probably from somebody in the office, because everybody was sick except me. Then this past Sunday, when I thought my cold was virtually over, I came down with a fever.
I don't think I have had a fever since I was 6 years old, I mean---who gets a fever? It hurt me on Sunday but I thought I could ride it out and walk it off. By Tuesday my fever was worsening so I hit the health center at school. By the time I got there, my fever was 103.7 degrees---insane. They nursed me down to 100.3 degrees after a few hours. I can say that the USC student health center doctor's and nurses are wonderful people. I've spent time in hospitals before, and this staff as a whole were wonderful all around. They said if I had gone to the hospital sooner they could have given me a better flu medication solution.
My Twitter family has also been very supportive, believe it or not. I've been twittering about my illness, mostly due to boredom. Frida Kahlo learns how to paint while she's bedridden---I learn how to wallow in my pain and suffering in 140 characters or less throughout the day. Go figure.
Now I have this horrible cough that won't go away. My abs feel like I've been doing crunches for 36 straight hours, due to all this coughing and heaving.
Being sick is so not the business.
I don't think I have had a fever since I was 6 years old, I mean---who gets a fever? It hurt me on Sunday but I thought I could ride it out and walk it off. By Tuesday my fever was worsening so I hit the health center at school. By the time I got there, my fever was 103.7 degrees---insane. They nursed me down to 100.3 degrees after a few hours. I can say that the USC student health center doctor's and nurses are wonderful people. I've spent time in hospitals before, and this staff as a whole were wonderful all around. They said if I had gone to the hospital sooner they could have given me a better flu medication solution.
My Twitter family has also been very supportive, believe it or not. I've been twittering about my illness, mostly due to boredom. Frida Kahlo learns how to paint while she's bedridden---I learn how to wallow in my pain and suffering in 140 characters or less throughout the day. Go figure.
Now I have this horrible cough that won't go away. My abs feel like I've been doing crunches for 36 straight hours, due to all this coughing and heaving.
Being sick is so not the business.
For the past six months, I've been experimenting with different internet video broadcasting formats. I'm not sure why, as I don't have any personal interest to be in front of the camera, regularly. I'm quite shy when it comes to strangers, so naturally, broadcasting myself via video (live, or taped) would practically be a nightmare for me. Still, I persist in my experiments because I am fascinated with those who are brave enough to give the internet increased access to who they are as individuals. Even more fascinating are the communities that form, or don't form, around these internet personalities.
In The Beginning
Back in August, it all started with Ronald Lewis. I stumbled upon him via Twitter, which lead me to his 24/7 lifecasting channel on Justin.TV. It seemed like every night I would log on his channel and chop it up with the other regulars. We'd talk about Ron, Ron's topics/issues regarding life, etc. We'd catch up on each other's lives, too. It was fun. At the time, broadcast channels were invite only, and when JTV opened its doors to the public, the site went a little crazy. Girls were flashing the camera, some broadcasters were having sex on camera (subsequently getting banned from the site), and the community began to annoy me as it turned into this mob of users looking for the next controversy.
Seesmicking
I won't go into all of the other video broadcasting formats and shows I have tried, but today it seems as though the most intriguing to me are Seesmic and Yahoo! Live. I've been on Seesmic for a few weeks now, and I will say I am about fed up with the community there, and I barely post anything myself. The site lets you record a video and post it to a public timeline for everyone to see, and reply to. Threads and conversations spring out. Think of it as video e-mail on a discussion group, but viewed solely from your inbox and not a more sensible forum or message board format. Picture that full of people you probably don't have any common interests with. To me, that's Seesmic. On Fast Company, Bill Cammack effectively summarizes how the setup of the site assists in creating confusion (and subsequent civil unrest) on Seesmic.
I don't interact much on Seesmic, mostly because the site was really broken when I first received my invite. It was in a pre-alpha release, so this was understandable. After features started working, and more features were being added, I started to post a few videos, mostly to people I already knew in some capacity on the internet. That was great.....until I ran out of people I knew on the site.
In The Beginning
Back in August, it all started with Ronald Lewis. I stumbled upon him via Twitter, which lead me to his 24/7 lifecasting channel on Justin.TV. It seemed like every night I would log on his channel and chop it up with the other regulars. We'd talk about Ron, Ron's topics/issues regarding life, etc. We'd catch up on each other's lives, too. It was fun. At the time, broadcast channels were invite only, and when JTV opened its doors to the public, the site went a little crazy. Girls were flashing the camera, some broadcasters were having sex on camera (subsequently getting banned from the site), and the community began to annoy me as it turned into this mob of users looking for the next controversy.
Seesmicking
I won't go into all of the other video broadcasting formats and shows I have tried, but today it seems as though the most intriguing to me are Seesmic and Yahoo! Live. I've been on Seesmic for a few weeks now, and I will say I am about fed up with the community there, and I barely post anything myself. The site lets you record a video and post it to a public timeline for everyone to see, and reply to. Threads and conversations spring out. Think of it as video e-mail on a discussion group, but viewed solely from your inbox and not a more sensible forum or message board format. Picture that full of people you probably don't have any common interests with. To me, that's Seesmic. On Fast Company, Bill Cammack effectively summarizes how the setup of the site assists in creating confusion (and subsequent civil unrest) on Seesmic.
I don't interact much on Seesmic, mostly because the site was really broken when I first received my invite. It was in a pre-alpha release, so this was understandable. After features started working, and more features were being added, I started to post a few videos, mostly to people I already knew in some capacity on the internet. That was great.....until I ran out of people I knew on the site.
Continue reading The Telephone = Better Than Seesmic, and other Social Media Musings.
What's this? Mainstream hip-hop praising independent women?
I am amused by the representation of what an independent woman looks like in this video. Still, it took me by surprise.
I spent the evening trying to play podcaster, to no avail. After all the mixing and recording I did, I ended up abandoning my intro track, and just getting straight to the music.
Today is Valentine's Day, and also the day that some bloggers, podcasters, twitterers are releasing a music mix for Cupid's Hunt. Shout out to TGrundy for getting me excited about spending way too much time mixing mp3s together.
I am a lover of love songs, so it was difficult for me to be able to pick a few tracks to honor Valentine's Day. I tried to think up so many ways to hash a love music playlist. In the end, I decided to go back to the days when I first fell in love with love songs, and bring together the tracks that fanned the love flames for me. The year was 1994, with a little cross over from 1993.
Hope you enjoy!
Right-click, Save as.
Tracklist
1. Weak - SWV
2. U Send Me Swingin' - Mint Condition
3. Can We Talk - Tevin Campbell
4. You're Always On My Mind - SWV
5. Lay Your Head On My Pillow - Tony! Toni! Tone!
6. Love No Limit - Mary J. Blige
7. Cry For You - Jodeci
8. Breathe Again - Toni Braxton
9. If I Ever Fall In Love (Remix) - Shai
10. Before I Let You Go - Blackstreet
11. I Miss You - Aaron Hall
Check out these other fine contributions to the project:
Today is Valentine's Day, and also the day that some bloggers, podcasters, twitterers are releasing a music mix for Cupid's Hunt. Shout out to TGrundy for getting me excited about spending way too much time mixing mp3s together.
I am a lover of love songs, so it was difficult for me to be able to pick a few tracks to honor Valentine's Day. I tried to think up so many ways to hash a love music playlist. In the end, I decided to go back to the days when I first fell in love with love songs, and bring together the tracks that fanned the love flames for me. The year was 1994, with a little cross over from 1993.
Hope you enjoy!
Right-click, Save as.
Tracklist
1. Weak - SWV
2. U Send Me Swingin' - Mint Condition
3. Can We Talk - Tevin Campbell
4. You're Always On My Mind - SWV
5. Lay Your Head On My Pillow - Tony! Toni! Tone!
6. Love No Limit - Mary J. Blige
7. Cry For You - Jodeci
8. Breathe Again - Toni Braxton
9. If I Ever Fall In Love (Remix) - Shai
10. Before I Let You Go - Blackstreet
11. I Miss You - Aaron Hall
Check out these other fine contributions to the project:
I came across this video today and wanted to make sure I posted it before Super Tuesday came around. I don't think I have expressed how much of an Obama fangirl I am on my site, but I am. I've been a Obama fangirl since before he announced his run for President. I attended grassroots meetings for his local campaign. I stood in lines to see him speak. I've never done this for politics before, in fact, I hate politics. But there's something about him that inspires me.
I don't know why or how, maybe it's just pure emotion, but Obama has always represented hope for me--as corny as that sounds. There's never been a question, to me, about if he was qualified enough to run the country. I buy the whole thing about him being The American Dream, because in a sense, I feel like it transcends to me. Obama and I have shared experiences: Black, bi-racial, troubled childhood, educated yet absent Black father---all these things counting against us, yet managed to attend elite college institutions and come out okay. I feel connected and relate to him, and perhaps this is very shallow of me, but it is what it is. I know others use (or claim to use) sophisticated algorithms (or research) to determine how they vote, but me, I vote by emotion. This could be viewed as an ignorant motive, but the beauty of this country is that I still have a right to my vote.
Anyway, this is my spiel for now. Hopefully after Super Tuesday I will have reason to continue my Obama Presidential fangirlism.
