AP English

Since I frequently focus on the FRQ portion of the AP Eng. Lang. exam, I wanted to talk about the multiple-choice section. 

Honestly, it's annoying.

On the real AP exam, you're given 60 minutes to complete 45 multiple-choice questions that pertain to the given passages. In other words, 60 agonizing minutes to complete 45 cryptic questions on the most boring stuff you'll ever read. It's standardized test B.S. at its finest. You're given a bit more time because you have to read, but you still gotta move that ass quickly if you want to finish without spam clicking the last 5 questions. 

Some of the passages are honestly O.K., especially the ones that claim "The passage below is a draft", since it's basically like if a normal student wrote it. Others, however, are excerpts from random works from the 1800s derived from who the hell cares. These are usually awful; the language is old and confusing, they're long, the topic is often abstract, and they're boring. The questions that follow are also pretty challenging, so if you didn't really understand what you read, then you're going to be lost. I really don't understand the obsession with 1800s writing from Britain. 

Because my teacher has made it a routine to give practice MCQ tests every week, I have become a bit more skilled and proficient at the MCQ portion. If I'm being honest, it takes practice and exposure to become better at these tests. You can’t exactly "study" for questions like these, so the best way to improve your score is by taking practice tests and carefully reviewing each question to understand why you got it right—or where you went wrong. My teacher actually goes over why each of the answer choices were incorrect, which really helps in understanding the distractor choices and how to better understand the entire question (and not just understand the correct choice). 

Plus, if you really think about it, 45 questions isn't that much. It sounds like a lot at first, but it will go by quicker than you expect. 

The MCQ certainly isn't the worst part of the test—it's obviously the essays.

 

 

Video Editing - It's not really that easy

 I was editing one of my videos--which usually aren't part of a let's play series--and I got a bit tired of it, so I decided to come here for my break. 

If you're here, then you probably watch a good amount of YouTube. Each one of those high quality videos you watch (which is the majority of what most watch) takes a good amount of time and effort to edit. Unless you make videos yourself, you probably don't think about how annoying it is to edit the video for optimal viewer pleasure. Every aspect of the video must be considered, so it gets extremely technical to ensure the most frictionless experience to your viewers. Good quality audio, engaging video footage, minimal eye movement, silences, sound effects, and interesting content are all things that you have to think about when making and editing the video.

It's honestly annoying whenever I record a long video. I have a good time during the recording process, then realize I have to edit the shit out of it to make it somewhat interesting. I suck at editing and have nowhere near the amount of experience as professional YouTubers, but even my edited videos take a long time. I try to cut out every silence or breath, since it's not really necessary for the video and is boring to listen to after a while. We like constant stimulation, so any amount of silence or lack of that makes us instantly bored (trust me, even I'm guilty). I also try to add some effects here and there to add some humor, and maybe even some visual effects to spice up the screen recording. Just that alone, minus all the extra technical stuff that makes videos really shine, takes forever to edit. It takes like 10 minutes to get through only a minute and a half of the video.

Once you get more comfortable with it, it goes a bit faster, but it's still not a quick process after recording. If you're wondering why I never edit my Yoshi's Island or Oracle videos, it's because those are old games. It would sorta take away from the game if I were to hyper-edit it and use too many jump cuts (Yes, even over-editing videos is bad. Nobody wants 4000 obnoxious sound effects in their video). Most YouTubers who play retro games don't edit the video a ton, and it makes perfect sense. 

I haven't quite learned the full repertoire of techniques to really captivate an audience to gain a large viewership, but at least I'm making some cool videos for the small number of people who do watch.

Magical Keyboard

I'm not sure why Apple named their keyboards "Magic Keyboard"--they don't ever ask me to pick a card. Either way, this distinct keyboard has really grown on me over the past couple months. 

As with most Apple products, the design is very minimalistic and visually-pleasing. The small, aluminum frame contrasts well with the white keys laid across in a compact and neat way. The keyboard is extremely light, too. I often put it on lap when I'm sitting at my desk. The battery feels like it lasts forever, and I cannot notice any delay from the bluetooth (there's definitely some, but who even cares).  Apple has refined the design of the keyboard over the years; I have an old version that feels much different than the newest model. I have the small version without the number pad, and it looks so damn good next to my trackpad. There's no flashy RGB, no mechanical switches, no windows key, no complications--it's just pure Apple necessities at your fingertips. I find gaming keyboards to be unnecessary, since I rarely even play computer games (hello, I'm a Mac user) and don't find the need to have an overly loud and LED flashing keyboard for everything I do. Some people enjoy the sounds of a mechanical keyboard, but I find it annoying and distracting while typing for a long period of time. If you've watched my previous videos, you might remember that I often used a mechanical keyboard when playing retro games. Honestly, that keyboard was a piece of shit, so I didn't really enjoy using it after a while. I gave it away to my cousin a while ago and haven't really missed it.

The Apple Magic Keyboard literally works for anything I do while being stylish and fun to type on, so I'm gonna be an Apple sheep and use it with pride.

Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy Paper

    If you're in school or work at an office, you've probably come across copy paper at some point in your life. It's most commonly seen in letter format, which is around 8.5x11''. I have a stack on my desk--standard, 30% recycled paper with a 92 brightness. It's been there for a while, since it honestly takes a while to go through copy paper if you're not using it for school/work purposes. I've tested out some other types of copy paper like premium, which have a thicker sheet and heavier weight to them. They're nice, but I prefer the lightness of regular 'ol paper. I know you may think that copy paper is primarily meant for printing/copying documents, but what about writing?

    If you really think about it, having a blank sheet of paper for writing is essentially like having a blank text file on your screen. A white void of nothingness, with no lines or marks that taint the page. If I need to write something by hand, I almost always do it on a blank sheet of copy paper because it gives me the same feeling of writing on a blank text file. To me, copy paper is equivalent to opening a terminal window, full screening it, and using Vim or Nano to type, type, type away. I hate writing on lined paper, graph paper, dotted paper, or whatever other crap that's out there. The most friction-less experience comes from having absolutely nothing on your page. 

    I've read quite a few articles online discussing writers' dissatisfaction with distractions when writing with a computer. To combat this, many of them chose to use expensive, kindle-esque writing machines that intentionally strip digital features to enhance productive writing. This might be helpful for a lot of writers, but personally, I don't think I could justify (with myself or anyone else) spending over a hundred dollars on a glorified VTech device. 

   I've thought idly about typewriters for a while after re-watching a scene from YOU where Joe puts a typewriter in the cage for Beck to have her "low-tech writer's retreat". I've always wanted to try one out and see how it feels. With the age of digital technology, going analog might sound pointless, but I still feel like there can be something there when you use antiquated gadgets. 

 

Plastic or Reusable?

    As I sat at my desk this Friday morning, I watched the water in my plastic bottle gently swish with each stroke of my pen on the paper. And then I decided to transition my writing to this blog. I thought about the growing number of people using reusable water bottles, and the benefits and disadvantages that come along. 

    First of all, I still see the appeal of plastic water bottles, even in this day and age. For one, they're much more convenient in a lot of ways. You can easily stuff them in your backpack without filling them up, they're lighter, they're disposable and they're smaller and easier to carry. You don't have to worry about washing them, of course. The water already inside of them also means that you don't have to worry about getting that nasty tap water taste if when your filter's not working--that is of course, if you don't have a water dispenser on your fridge door or have some other water spout that has a filtration system. If you want your water to be cold, you can easily store a few plastic bottles in the fridge overnight. It's a little harder to get cold water in a flask. You either have to have ice cubes to drop in there or have a source of cold water in the fridge (from like a Brita or a dispenser). This doesn't really bother me, though, since I don't mind my water room temperature. 

    Even though they're convenient, disposable bottles do have their own issues. The most obvious issue that anyone thinks of is their environmental impact. Plastic bottles, since they're manufactured at an insane rate, produce tons of plastic. Who knows if recycling actually does anything? We still find these bottles in the ocean. A lot of environmentalist are urging people to stop using them because of this. Additionally, the microplastics that may be in the bottled water might have undesirable effects. I'm not even sure what chemicals (not to sound like a damn anti vaxxer) are in the plastics, but I'm not dead, so who cares. Beyond the environmental impacts, disposable bottles may add up in cost over time to an expensive Stanley or Hydro Flask. It doesn't seem like it at first, but you're likely to go through a bunch of bottles over time and spend more money. 

    Part of me doesn't care, though. I like the feeling of cracking open a fresh bottle and seeing that crisp, new plastic shell with all those little ridges and bumps. I like the feeling of crushing the bottle once I'm done. The plastic water bottle is a symbol of a day outside and a day of hard work. 

    I still see the benefit of the other side, too. Reusable water bottles, whether metal or a durable plastic, can be great for some. If you like cold water, then metal bottles often offer insulation that keeps the water cool for hours. This can be extremely nice when it's a hot day out and you want to have ice-cold water for when you're dying of thirst. On top of having cold water, you can have a lot more water when you use reusable ones, as they often have much larger capacities than 16.9 FL OZ. Obviously, reusable ones are more environmentally friendly, since they're not nearly as wasteful as the plastic ones. They also last forever. Like forever. If you treat your bottle with good care (which really isn't much) and wash it regularly, the thing'll last you for years and years and years. There should be no reason it will ever "break". This is also why it's probably more cost-friendly, since you don't have to buy another one for a very long time. On top of durability and lifespan, reusable bottles offer more customization and aesthetics, since you can apply stickers and get it in your favorite colors. 

    Overall, if you're stuck on which one to go with, do both. I use both types off and on, and I like the benefits of each kind of bottle.

Google Vids

 You knew this was coming after I made my most recent Lucas animation with it. Google Vids is a new video editing software released in the last year that uses Gemini and a Google Slides like interface to make "engaging" videos. It is very simple and easy to use, encouraging users to utilize the AI features to make short, appealing videos. You can do everything manual, too, but I feel like the AI makes it better. You're basically able to add images, shapes, text, and audio to a bunch of "scenes" that you can adjust. Google actually (probably unintentionally) made it more optimized for animations, since you can time each individual slide (scene) and add music and effects on top of the animation. It actually feels easier to make animations and the new features make the process smoother and more fun. The AI is great for finding backgrounds for a scene since you can ask it to generate an image. The fact you can directly import audio means I can already have voice clips for each character without using a separate editor. The only gripe I found with this software is that the time limit for a video is 10 measly minutes. I'm not sure why it's that short. Google claims is so that the video can remain engaging, but what if you don't give a shit about that? It's not like this is widely known about either-- I never heard people talk about it when it came out. This is partly because not every Google account can access this; only work/school ones (which aren't free) or personal accounts with "Google Workspace Labs". 

 Even with that time limit, I think this app is still pretty cool. It's cool to see Google adding goodies to their line of web apps now and then.

LibreOffice Writer

Months after downloading Microsoft Word, I glanced at it every time I used my computer and never opened it. The costly, bulky software sits in my Applications folder hogging space and collecting digital dust on its blank pages. I don't really know why I never use Microsoft Word--it's perfectly capable of handling everything text-related that I do. I’ve been using TextEdit for most of my word processing, so I didn't want to bother using a complicated and hard to use software for doing basic tasks like writing a video. In the end, I deleted it off my computer for good and replaced it with LibreOffice.

LibreOffice is basically the free and open source version of Microsoft Office. It has 6 softwares: Writer, Impress, Draw, Calc, Math, Base. I feel like people hardly talk about it, especially since most remember and recognize Word as the go-to software. LibreOffice is a successor to OpenOffice (which is much older) and is still updated today. The software I care about most--and the one I use most--is Writer. I want to learn how to use it effectively and efficiently. Writer is very customizable, giving you the freedom to change how the interface looks to optimize productivity. If you're intimidated by the amount of customization, the default look works perfectly fine for anything you're accomplishing. Personally, I like a clean and minimalistic toolbar with only the things I frequently use. Mine looks like this:

 

As you can see, it looks pretty plain. The top bar has only a few things, and the bottom bar has very basic formatting. I've already written a decent amount of text in it, so I can attest that it runs well on pretty much anything. Even on my slow, old Linuxbook, it ran without using much CPU or RAM. 

I suggest you give this program a try, especially if you don't want to pay for expensive software and need a capable program.