Academic
- I participated in the Graduate Symposium for Creativity and Cognition 2015! Basically, I gave a short talk about all the research I’ve done so far (sorta like a practice version of my eventual thesis proposal). It was a very valuable experience — not only did I get great feedback from fellow graduate students and the panel, but it was also a good forcing function for me to think clearly about how all my work so far fits together and how to construct a cohesive story and theme. Also, I think I picked the right conference for my work, which helped a lot (I loved all the talks!). I also had a poster on designing creativity tools for failure.
- This summer, I also had the opportunity to participate in the CURIS program at Stanford! It’s basically a summer research internship experience for undergraduates, who apply to various ongoing research projects in the department and help out with them over the summer! I had two wonderful undergrads to help me out with my project on designing tools for failure, and had a lot of fun organizing board game nights for our research group 😀
- My paper on crowdsourcing social media stories using narrative structure got into CSCW, after two rejections from CHI and ICWSM! The feedback from reviewers were great, and I’m much happier with the state of the paper now.
Art
- I tabled at Kinyoobi-con, another small one-day con in the Bay Area, and had a blast! It was surprisingly busy, and I got a lot of commissions during the con and after, so that was great! I even met another artist who had read my blog post on designing Artist Alley displays with grid cubes in preparation for this con!
- My Storenvy store opened!
- Got lots of drawing done this quarter as well! Notably, I finished my companion print to Artemis — an illustration of her brother, Apollo 🙂
- I participated in the Pokemon Gijinka Collab: see my contributions for Pangoro and Staravia!
- I reached 800 followers on Tumblr! I’m trying to expand my social media presence, so I spun up accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for my art.
- Redesigned my business cards!
- I finished Chapter 3 of Herogirl, and started Chapter 4! I really feel like I’m sharpening my storytelling skills. Here’s to more practice!
- Art goal: up my gesture/figure drawing skills and environment painting skills!
Personal
- Travel: I spent about two days in Edinburgh hostels right after Creativity and Cognition. Scotland is amazing! There’s something relaxing about travelling alone.
- Books: I finished American Gods! It was interesting, and super weird. Not sure how I feel about the ending! I’m in the middle of The Righteous Mind right now.
- Anime: Kuroko no Basuke (FEELS), Ore Monogatari (cute and relaxing), Kinmoza 2 (cute as always!), Hibike Euphonium (WOW, I loved it. The last two episodes were fantastic!), Food Wars (my weekly dose of shounen), I Can’t Understand What My Husband is Saying 2 (more cuteness), Punchline (so promising but so bad), Oregairu (sarcastic and clever)
- Games: I got Fantasy Life and Story of Seasons for my birthday! Started Fantasy Life — it’s a nice relaxing sort of game, kinda like Animal Crossing with RPG elements. Currently chugging through FFXII (still). My boyfriend got me back into FFXIV, so now I have a level 50 Bard, and I have bought Heavensward. 😛