So, the bad news is I’m going to put this project on hold until the summer. I’m disappointed about putting it off, but the good news is I’m doing it because I’m starting my first internship! It was an amazing opportunity that happened just this week — completely unexpected!

The other bit of bad news is that while I was testing out my camera to make a new series of videos, I actually dropped it. It made a very loud sound against the hardwood floor, and that was the end of it. Bye bye camera.

But that’s OK. A little bad luck, a little good luck. I think it’ll all work out in the end.

I sat in on tons of classes, trying to find something interesting that wasn’t already full. Last Wednesday, I was in class from 12 PM until 9 PM with no more than a 30 minute break the entire time! It took a week to figure it out, but I finally have my class schedule settled.

And what about the new site? Well, I probably won’t have much time for it, but I’m planning to start it within the next month. I realized that no matter how much planning I do ahead of time, I won’t be able to make a video more than once every week or two — at least not until the summer. But something is better than nothing, right? At least I’ll be working on it a little, rather than letting the idea gather dust for a few more months.

So, here’s the current plan:

• Launch Date: Definitely before March
• Update Frequency: At least every 2 weeks (more likely once a week)
• Length of Videos: 1 to 5 minutes

Do you think a short video every 1 or 2 weeks is worth it, or should I just wait until the summer? If I have more free time than expected, I will certainly update the site more often. I’m just trying to be realistic (for once!).

1. Starting the new site as soon as possible, but only being able to make one video a week
2. Starting the site much later, and then making a video every day or two

I’m really leaning toward the second option. I would’ve liked to start the site as soon as possible, but it’s been very time-consuming. On top of that, I’ve developed a case of tonsillitis, and my college classes start again this Monday! Stress and more stress.

That said, I still feel guilty about saying I’d start the site January 1st, then January 10th, and now… I don’t know when! But maybe I should give myself a lot more time so I don’t stress myself out with a project that’s supposed to be fun. It’s probably better to start the new site feeling confident that I’ll be able to keep it up. So, a reasonable launch date would probably be in February or March, considering that college takes up more time than a full-time job.

What do you think? Also, do you have any home remedies for a sore throat? Or any remedies for improving time management?

I’m still hoping to make a video every day once I get it started, though — well, at least for the first month. I’ll have to see how time-consuming it is.

By the way, can anyone guess what my new domain name will be?

But here’s the big news: On January 1st, 2010, I’m restarting this site! Yup, it’s time for a fresh start. I still have the same goal — to learn everything there is to know (and then world domination!) — but I need a new plan of attack.

I have a brand new domain name that’s shorter and more personal, and I’m thinking of remaking the site into more of a video blog, with shorter videos and more of them. I’d really like to try making a video every day. Do you think that’s possible? Realistic? I might as well give it a shot, right?

Anyway, we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, happy holidays and thank you for sticking around even though I haven’t updated this site in so long. Your comments and emails have reminded me that I need to bring this crazy little project back to life. Please share any suggestions you have for making the new site as great as possible!

I’m taking a creativity workshop class, which had me read part of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. If you haven’t already heard of it, read Wikipedia’s entry on Flow for a summary — or, better yet, watch Csikszentmihalyi himself discuss “flow” in this TED Talks video.

The state of “flow” basically occurs when you’re completely focused on a task. It’s often called “being in the zone” — you know, like when you look up and suddenly 5 hours have passed. One of the characteristics of this state is that the activity is autotelic; you’re running just for the sake of running, or painting for the sake of painting. If you’re doing it for fame or fortune, it isn’t autotelic.

Autotelic comes from the Greek roots auto-, “self”, and -telic, having an “end” or “goal”. Combine the two and you get a self-goal — a goal within itself.

What are your favorite autotelic activities?

The Encyclopedia Britannica has an interesting bit of history about the dog days:

“The name originated with the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians; they believed that Sirius, the dog star, which rises simultaneously with the Sun during this time of the year, added its heat to the Sun’s and thereby caused the hot weather. Their belief that dogs were subject to spells of madness at this time also may have contributed to the name.”

Here in Los Angeles, the dog days came a little later this year. It’s been hot lately! Anyone else suffering from spells of madness? I know I am.

Bonus word: the adjective canicular means “relating to the dog days” or the Dog Star, since the Latin name for the star comes from canis, the Latin word for “dog”.

This word comes from the Old English word fæge, “doomed to die”. As a very old word preserved through Scottish, it’s no surprise that it sometimes comes up in fantasy-themed literature and video games. In fact, I came across this word precisely because of the game Dwarf Fortress!

Photo by polandeze

Some examples found on Google News include “America’s abstruse tax code”, “abstruse terms and conditions”, and “abstruse mathematics”. The abstruse sign pictured on the left is another prime example of something that’s hard to understand.

Interestingly, abstruse and extrude both share a Latin root: trudere, which means “to thrust” or “to push”. So abstruse literally means “to thrust away”, while extrude means “to thrust out”. The word extrude matches its literal Latin meaning perfectly, but abstruse doesn’t. How does “thrust away” mean “hard to understand”? Well, it turns out that abstruse has a second, obsolete meaning: “hidden”. I imagine an old book pushed under the bed, hidden from sight.

As a term used in mathematical notation, it refers to “a horizontal line placed above multiple quantities to indicate that they form a unit” (Wolfram MathWorld).

And in the world of Star Trek, the vinculum is a processing device in the core of Borg vessels that connects the minds of all the drones (Memory Beta Star Trek Wiki). Brainwashed drones all working in unison? Yup, vinculum is a perfect name for a device that creates a bond like that.