"White are the far-off plains, and white the fading forests grow..."
2016 has been a crazy year. Some great things--and more stress than I've ever had before, ugh! I'm hoping 2017 is a little calmer!
I'm an elementary/primary math teacher living in Washington state, USA. When I have free time, I write/read fanfic, sing/arrange music, work on my conlang, and manage my digital (and physical book) collections. You can always find me on IRC (the #yuletide channel on Slashnet).
This year's wishlist is full of pipe dreams, I fear! Ah well, I can wish, yes?
1. A non-destructive book scanner, the sort that snaps photos of the pages, with a cradle and glass plate to assist in getting quality photos of each page. You can read more about this sort of thing here. The kits are really expensive, but people also build their own. I have tons of old and unusual books that are not digitized anywhere and I'd love to be able to digitize them so I don't worry about losing my only copy and not being able to get another.
2. Custom-designed music player/database software with some very unusual features. (I have a 14-page document outlining the features and dialog boxes and everything; there is really nothing out there that does what I want it to do.) Walking me through creating it myself would be fine if you'd rather teach than do it yourself. (I don't know how to program but I am good with logic and math and pick things up quickly if I have someone to ask questions of.)
3. Custom-designed teacher software, to create individualized math worksheets per student depending on which concepts they've mastered (involving a database of questions for each concept, organized by the number of the concept or topic). I've got the database of questions figured out (well, I don't have an actual database to put them in, but I have the structure for it all planned out)
4. Custom-designed educational software to teach elementary/primary math (with a client/server model), involving an initial assessment and multiple ways to work on a concept, as well as student choice to a degree of which concept to work on. This is more of a long-term project, I fear, but I'd love to find someone who'd want to work with me on it.
5. Write me a fanfic! I'm already signed up for Yuletide so I'm getting at least one awesome fic that way but I love fanfic so much, and treats are AWESOME. You can see my Dear Yuletide Writer Letter for this year here. Even if stories have been revealed, you can post a fic as a "New Year's Resolution" and have it added to the associated collection on Archive of Our Own.
6. I could use someone who is experienced with linguistics and has time to chat on IRC about it. I've tried to create a conlang but I keep getting stuck on complicated concepts and having someone who is interested in what I'm doing (for general encouragement and direction) and can explain things when I get stuck would be amazing. I've posted on message boards but there's something about an immediate conversation that I find really helpful. I'm in the Pacific Standard Time zone and stay up late in evenings so those are the best hours for me. I find IRC easier to use than IM, even, and am on several servers (Freenode, Slashnet, and Spotchat, mainly).
7. I'd love a kantele with more than 10 strings. I got a 10-string one for my birthday last year and love love love the sound (so does everyone in my family).
8. Do you have a really old book or two (particularly a music book or hymnal of some sort) that you don't want any more? I collect old music books (one of my most beloved ones is a hymnal that has been in my family since the late 1800s) and old Christian books personally, and volunteer at a yearly used book sale for a local nonprofit organization. Old books are a treasure and would be found a good home. (Well, pretty much any book will, but really old books and new books in perfect condition are the most sought-after at the sale.) Shape note books are particularly awesome to me.
9. Donate to ADRA International. It's a humanitarian agency committed to improving the quality of life for people in need through "community development initiatives targeting Food Security, Economic Development, Primary Health and Basic Education", "regardless of race, gender, and political, or religious affiliation". You can give to specific projects that call to you, so you can choose to donate to whichever of these you are most passionate about: feed, clothe, and give schooling and healthcare to children/orphans, provide a community or school with clean accessible drinking water, protect women and girls from abuse and violence, or provide food or improved cooking materials for children to elderly people who are struggling to feed themselves properly. ADRA is also active when disasters strike, and are often one of the first on the ground working because of pre-existing infrastructure in 120 countries. After the immediate needs are met, ADRA stays by to work with the community for years to come, connecting with other organizations to help restore the community to better living conditions than before the disaster, if possible.
10. As always, I welcome gifts from my Amazon wishlist! I love used books (most of my library is composed of those), and used CDs and DVDs are OK too if they're not scratched up. I've commented on EVERYTHING on the list, and there are priorities but really, anything on there would make me happy! Feel free to surprise me, or tell me ahead of time, I'm great with either way.
I'm an elementary/primary math teacher living in Washington state, USA. When I have free time, I write/read fanfic, sing/arrange music, work on my conlang, and manage my digital (and physical book) collections. You can always find me on IRC (the #yuletide channel on Slashnet).
This year's wishlist is full of pipe dreams, I fear! Ah well, I can wish, yes?
1. A non-destructive book scanner, the sort that snaps photos of the pages, with a cradle and glass plate to assist in getting quality photos of each page. You can read more about this sort of thing here. The kits are really expensive, but people also build their own. I have tons of old and unusual books that are not digitized anywhere and I'd love to be able to digitize them so I don't worry about losing my only copy and not being able to get another.
2. Custom-designed music player/database software with some very unusual features. (I have a 14-page document outlining the features and dialog boxes and everything; there is really nothing out there that does what I want it to do.) Walking me through creating it myself would be fine if you'd rather teach than do it yourself. (I don't know how to program but I am good with logic and math and pick things up quickly if I have someone to ask questions of.)
3. Custom-designed teacher software, to create individualized math worksheets per student depending on which concepts they've mastered (involving a database of questions for each concept, organized by the number of the concept or topic). I've got the database of questions figured out (well, I don't have an actual database to put them in, but I have the structure for it all planned out)
4. Custom-designed educational software to teach elementary/primary math (with a client/server model), involving an initial assessment and multiple ways to work on a concept, as well as student choice to a degree of which concept to work on. This is more of a long-term project, I fear, but I'd love to find someone who'd want to work with me on it.
5. Write me a fanfic! I'm already signed up for Yuletide so I'm getting at least one awesome fic that way but I love fanfic so much, and treats are AWESOME. You can see my Dear Yuletide Writer Letter for this year here. Even if stories have been revealed, you can post a fic as a "New Year's Resolution" and have it added to the associated collection on Archive of Our Own.
6. I could use someone who is experienced with linguistics and has time to chat on IRC about it. I've tried to create a conlang but I keep getting stuck on complicated concepts and having someone who is interested in what I'm doing (for general encouragement and direction) and can explain things when I get stuck would be amazing. I've posted on message boards but there's something about an immediate conversation that I find really helpful. I'm in the Pacific Standard Time zone and stay up late in evenings so those are the best hours for me. I find IRC easier to use than IM, even, and am on several servers (Freenode, Slashnet, and Spotchat, mainly).
7. I'd love a kantele with more than 10 strings. I got a 10-string one for my birthday last year and love love love the sound (so does everyone in my family).
8. Do you have a really old book or two (particularly a music book or hymnal of some sort) that you don't want any more? I collect old music books (one of my most beloved ones is a hymnal that has been in my family since the late 1800s) and old Christian books personally, and volunteer at a yearly used book sale for a local nonprofit organization. Old books are a treasure and would be found a good home. (Well, pretty much any book will, but really old books and new books in perfect condition are the most sought-after at the sale.) Shape note books are particularly awesome to me.
9. Donate to ADRA International. It's a humanitarian agency committed to improving the quality of life for people in need through "community development initiatives targeting Food Security, Economic Development, Primary Health and Basic Education", "regardless of race, gender, and political, or religious affiliation". You can give to specific projects that call to you, so you can choose to donate to whichever of these you are most passionate about: feed, clothe, and give schooling and healthcare to children/orphans, provide a community or school with clean accessible drinking water, protect women and girls from abuse and violence, or provide food or improved cooking materials for children to elderly people who are struggling to feed themselves properly. ADRA is also active when disasters strike, and are often one of the first on the ground working because of pre-existing infrastructure in 120 countries. After the immediate needs are met, ADRA stays by to work with the community for years to come, connecting with other organizations to help restore the community to better living conditions than before the disaster, if possible.
10. As always, I welcome gifts from my Amazon wishlist! I love used books (most of my library is composed of those), and used CDs and DVDs are OK too if they're not scratched up. I've commented on EVERYTHING on the list, and there are priorities but really, anything on there would make me happy! Feel free to surprise me, or tell me ahead of time, I'm great with either way.