Another Seeing Sideways Blog by Dagny Colgan

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In the beginning I wasn’t sure about Seeing Sideways. It was just too sideways for my logical, computer-nerd brain. There were many times where I felt out of place because everyone (but one other?) was a New Media student and all chummy with each other and Beth. It was pretty much throwing an engineer into a group of artists.

Sometimes I left wondering, “Why on Earth did I sign up for this class?”

CIT students aren’t meant to me creative or artsy or silly or random. We’re logical and straightforward, dammit.

But eventually I realized Seeing Sideways unleashed a little creativity from me every now and then. I would go home with the latest homework in my mind, woefully telling myself that there was no way I could do it. One week later I came back with my finished work in tow, proud of what I did and thinking about how awesome it turned out. Creativity doesn’t come when you want it; you can’t sit down and plan out your creativity, write it on your planner. It just comes. I was trying too hard to be creative, but it always came when I least expected it (usually at 3am).

So I guess that’s what I got out of this class. That and “don’t be afraid to have fun, be silly, and take breaks.” All my favorite philosophies.

There’s really nothing I could suggest. Have more fun? Promote more discussions? Bring in more chickens?

The assignment reminded me of the movie Surrogates, which wasn’t the best movie but still somewhat entertaining. It’s basically about a world in which people control beautiful, flawless robotic versions of themselves while they sit safely at home. They can be anyone they want and do anything without danger to themselves (until, of course, someone gets a hold of a device that makes their heads explode).

If this were the case – the ability to control a robotic version of myself – I would go out and do all the stuff I’m afraid to do at the moment (for various reasons, namely death): sky diving, scuba diving, mountain climbing, going into the Amazon, wrestling bears, etc. If there was no risk to me I think I’d be more willing to do “extreme” things. It’s not like I dream of jumping out of planes but haven’t the guts. I don’t really feel the need to at all, but knowing what it’s like would be cool.

I’m not sure I could keep up a true double life. Too much work for nothing, since I really wouldn’t want to do anything too different. Maybe if I were in a position of power in some company I would hire my other self for some extra income.

On another note, I didn’t make it to class today because I chose not to go (gasp!). I had a ton of work piling up, some research assignments to plan, a presentation to put together, and some PHP to code, so I figured I would take some me time at the expense of class time. I’m happy to say I’ve finished everything, though I missed not being in class.
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Listening to: God Is An Astronaut- From Dust To The Beyond

Monday was a good day.

I almost didn’t go to class because I wasn’t feeling well. I’m glad I did, many laughs were had.

Then I came home to the new Stephen King book.

And then Left 4 Dead 2 was released. Speaking of which, I think I’m going to go play some more.

I just found out there was no class today. Hnnngg.

What’s funny is I actually overslept by an hour and a half because my alarm didn’t go off or something. My boyfriend actually woke me up when he came to pick me up for class. You have no idea how close I was to just saying Fuck It and going back to sleep. Why oh why didn’t I just say fuck it?

So I’m sitting in the hallway outside Mike’s class, my ass hurting because there are no comfy chairs available, so I might as well do my 50 What-If’s.

1. What if everyone perceived colors differently from everyone else but know one realized it?
2. What if we could see all the colors that we can’t see now?
3. What if we all had chips implanted in our brains at birth and no one knew?
4. What if I had joined the Air Force?
5. What if there are interdimensionary creatures watching us like a reality TV show?
6. What if the Earth had 50 hour days instead of 24?
7. What if animals knew exactly what we were saying?
8. What if everyone was deaf and mute?
9. What if there really was a zombie apocalypse (I call shotgun)?
10. What if the spirit world was really 1 foot above ours?
11. What if our universe was inside a snowglobe?
12. What if we are careening into a black hole?
13. What if we knew everything the government didn’t want us to know?
14. What if the government isn’t really hiding anything after all?
15. What if Soylent Green wasn’t people?
16. What if our houses just got up and walked away?
17. What if I could stop time?
18. What if someone has stopped time before but know one knew?
19. What if someone stopped time but died before they could restart it?
20. What if plants were conscious?
21. What if squid will take over as the dominant species once humans die off?
22. What if humans found a way to live forever?
23. What if we could see eternity?
24. What if my cats had meetings with other neighborhood cats at night?
25. What if the light from that laser pointer I shone into the sky is still traveling through space?
26. What if there is another student on another planet in another galaxy doing this exact same assignment?
27. What if I switched places with me in another dimension?
28. What if the bamboo on my desk is angry at me for cutting off its dead leaves?
29. What if humans lived underwater and wanted to keep land animals as pets?
30. What if dead animals have ghosts and cows and chickens watch me eat their delicious meat?
31. What if I could ride a stegosaurus to class every day?
32. What if were were all part of a computer program and we became aware of this fact?
33. What if our brains were trying to tell us something when we dream?
34. What if our brains were self-aware and only used us to live off?
35. What if invisible tape really was completely invisible?
36. What if the Internet went down forever?
37. What if we were suddenly forced to live without technology?
38. What if we and the only other intelligent life in the entire universe were just slightly too far away from each other to receive each other’s signals?
39. What if we are the most intelligent living things in the universe?
40. What if Earth was the only planet with life on it?
41. What if the cycles of the universe repeat indefinitely and everything will always happen how it happened before?
42. What if glue was made from pig sweat?
43. What if I really did have a tail when I was born just like my parents joke about?
44. What if everything you erase goes into some Erase World where it lives with other erased things?
45. What if you move into another dimension every time you pull a shirt over your head?
46. What if you move into another dimension every time you blink?
47. What if something horrendous and terrible appears in front of you every time you blink but you never get to see it?
48. What if we were given the idea of the Matrix to throw us off the truth?
49. What if the sun just goes out? Would we know 8 minutes later?
50. What if the universe wasn’t always there?

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Listening to: Dead Can Dance – The Host of Seraphim (Paul Oakenfold Rmx)

We talked about burnout and how we approach assignments we don’t want to do. I really wish I could say fuck it to things but I just can’t. I tried once, in my first semester of senior year at high school. I ended up failing AP calculus. So yeah, I got rid of those thoughts pretty quick.

This post needs more headcrabs.

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Listening to: Sasha – Xpander