Goodbye

It's so strange. I can't believe this class is over. I can't believe that high school is over. It's such a big chunk of my life that's about to sail right out the window. This whole year has gone by so quickly. It's only a matter of days until we're done.

I did alright on my German exam so hopefully that's where I'll be next year. The thought of leaving my home country and studying in a foreign land is exciting but also a little scary. I think WISE has helped me with that though. WISE has taught me that's OK to deviate from the path and go at things from your own way. It's taught me that getting outside of your comfort zone is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

I don't know how else to say this, but thank you. This has been an incredible year.

Tchuss!

Grateful

Tomorrow is the day I turn in all my paperwork, so I'd like to thank some people who have helped me with this project:

I'd like to thank my mother for letting me do this project. It took a lot of convincing, but in the end you supported me and that's all that matters. I'd like to thank my dad for taking us to the Adirondacks, and providing me with cameras and fishing licenses. Many thanks to Isaac for his wonderful background music. Thank you, Mr. Nelson, for being a wonderful mentor. You kept me motivated throughout this process.

Most of all though I'd like to thank Clara for agreeing to do this with me. You've been one of my best friends since day 1, and this was quite a way for us to end our high school years together. I hope you have the time of your life at Northeastern next year and the years to come.

Coyotes or Raccoons?

The first night that Clara and I were in the Adirondacks we heard what sounded like coyotes- very loud and uncomfortably close to our shelter- probably 400 meters away or so. The yipping and yowling sounded somewhat distressed, as well, which leads me to believe that the sound we heard could have possibly been raccoons mating. Apparently, raccoons make these terrible noises when they mate, so it could have been that. The only thing that makes me doubt it is that it sounded like more than just two voices- although there could have been more than one pair mating.

Reflection on Project

Compared other English projects, my WISE project has been much grander than anything else I've ever done. Benefits of this project include that I could do something that was suited to my wants and needs. I could make something that culminated my high school experience that I could be proud of. This project also has been stressful- getting in to edit was always a struggle, but I could make it happen. My project was tough, but I made it through.

Reflection on Class

As an English class, WISE both was and wasn't so English based. Making a film was a traditional, English-type thing to do, but what Clara and were doing to make the film didn't really have that much to do with English. It should still count for English credit, but it isn't necessarily so much of an English class. You didn't have to do something English based, which I liked. Everyone could do something that excited them and suited them as an individual.

Presentation Ideas

Clara and I want our presentation to reflect our project, so we'd like to have an outdoor presentation. That said, we'd also like to show parts of the film, so we'll need access to electricity. Here's what we know we want to have:

• A fire
• Our flint & steel with us
• Food- good as well as stuff we brought with us on our trip.
• Clips from the film

We are trying to work out a location that will suit our needs. Perhaps the Ellis Hollow COmmunity Center could help us out.

Male Loons Fight For a Mate

On the morning of our departure from the Adirondacks two loons were fighting for a mate. My dad caught this video of it on his phone.

Wild- Cheryl Strayed

A book that I've been digging my nose into Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. In the book she talks about her journey on the Pacific Crest Trail, and the events in her life that lead her to the trail. Her writing is absolutely stunning, the way she captures the spirit of the trail and her own thoughts. I have yet to watch the movie with Reese Witherspoon, but I'd like to see the translation from book to film and see how that relates to my own experience.

Loon Calls

I have to say I am a lunatic for Loon calls. I think they are absolutely stunning. Similar to coyotes, their call is something beautiful but also almost has an eerie quality to it. Unlike coyotes, they pose no actual threat. There is something so beautifully lonely about their calls. I can't quite place it.

How To: Build a Fire with a Flint & Steel

The title is pretty self-explanatory. Here's what you'll need:

Flint and Steele
Cotton or some other very small, dry material (i.e. dead cattail fluff)
Tinder (not the app)
Kindling
Large Sticks up to logs

1. Hold flint firmly in you non-dominant hand and place sharp end on edge of cotton. Strike the steel downward against the flint, pressing firmly and quickly. Be sure to aim sparks at cotton. Do this as many times as it necessary for the cotton to light.
2. Once the cotton has lit, guide it to the tinder. Begin creating a sort of "tepee" shape, because fire catches best this way. 
3. Keep building the fire. Gradually add larger and larger pieces. Be sure to not use wood that is too wet, green or rotten. When the fire is really going, moderately wet pieces can be placed near or on the fire to dry out and eventually burn.

How To: Build a Debris Shelter

Debris shelters are some of the easiest to build and most stable shelters you can make. To build one you'll need:

Sticks and logs of varying length and widths
Leaves or other methods of cover
Bark (optional but highly recommended)

1. Assess the size of the shelter you will need based on the number of people that plan to sleep in it. It is better, however, to have a shelter that is a little smaller in colder temperatures to better insulate by utilizing body heat.
2. Based on this assessment, find a log of an appropriate size and strength to be the main support beam. It is very important that this log be sturdy and absolutely not rotten. If the log is too weak your structure could cave in on itself and possibly seriously injure you.
3. Once you have found such log, place it in the Y of tree, ideally by flat ground. If no such place exists, and you have twine, tightly tie this log to a tree by flat ground. If you sleep on steep or uneven ground, you will find yourself moving to the whims of gravity while you sleep. If you neither have twine nor a good location, seek another method of shelter building.
4. Once this log has been placed and is secure, gather sticks and lean them against the main support. Make them close together and don't use rotten sticks.
5. Weave smaller, greener, more flexible sticks between the stick you laid against the  main support.
6. Cover this frame with leaves and other debris. Pack them down while you put them on so that it is tight. To make sure that your structure is as insulated as possible, make the leaf walls approximately one foot thick. Crawl inside your structure and check for any holes, and cover them with leaves if you find them.
7. Lay bark across leaves to make "natural shingles". These are excellent at keeping out rain, and if it does rain, make an adorable "pitter patter" when it starts to fall. 

There you have it! Go forth and be wild.

How to: The Minnesota Fishing Rig

The Minnesota fishing rig is a shore-fishing technique my father and his friends did up in the Northern Woods, when they wanted to catch something but also needed to sleep, or wanted to gather around to fire. It's fairly simple to do and does not require much.

What you need: 

Fishing Rod

2 pieces of split shot

A kayak or canoe

A can

Worms

Hooks

Swivels

Line

1. Take your fishing rod and attach a swivel. Tie a hook to about six inches of line and attach that to the swivel. Attach two pieces of split shot to the line as well.
2. Put your worm on the hook. Stab it through the heart and wrap it around a few times.
3. Have one friend get in the kayak or canoe and take the pole with them. Have them paddle out about fifty or sixty yards and drop the line. Give it plenty of slack.
4. The friend in the kayak paddles back to the shore and hands it to you while they get out. Place the rod in a place where if a fish does come and take it, your rod will not get pulled into the water.
5. Take some of the line and loop it around a can filled about half way with water. It should be light enough to fall over, but not blow away in the wind. 
6. Sleep, play cards, or do whatever and check on your can every now and then. If the can has fallen over, you most likely have caught a fish!

Sentimental

A little while ago Clara and I decided to head back to our old forts and "cities" that we built as ten-year-olds.We walked back down to what seemed like so far away, and found that some of our structures were still standing. All of the interiors were now overgrown with thorns and weeds, some old trinkets scattered around the "mall". For fifth graders, our structures weren't so bad, especially if only a few boards had fallen over. It made me somewhat melancholy, though. We're going to graduate in a month or so, and soon all of this will be so far away both in mind and geography.

Music from Students

My fellow CBC teammate Isaac Lawson plays guitar, and he can finger pick pretty well. Recently I asked Isaac if he would be willing to record and send me some of his own work/covers of other songs, and he did. What he's sent me is pretty good, and I will end up using it. This helps me out a lot too, because then I don't have to worry about copyright infringement or licensing fees.

Possible Community Outreach

Clara and I were both girl scouts many a year back, and we had a blast at campouts and meetings. Besides our initial interviews, our community outreach has not been the strongest component of our project-so we were thinking, we would have a workshop with some girl scouts on fire building. We feel that this is our strongest survival asset, and we could do a good job teaching young girls about fire safety, how to start a fire, maintain and build a fire, and also partake in some campfire cooking. We will reach out to the troop at Ellis Hollow, if there still is one, and give back to our old troop stomping grounds in a way I never could have guessed.

The Morning of Our Departure

I took these photos with my flip phone the morning of our departure. It takes surprisingly good photos.

Back from the Adirondacks

Clara and I got home from the Adirondacks on Sunday, and we had quite the time. Black fly season has begun, and I got so many bug bites that weekend I still am finding some. We really lucked out on the weather- it didn't rain once. I can't wait to edit the footage from our last trip- it's going to be great.

The View From the Kayak

Manly?

A hot topic of recent conversation is the (not surprising) announcement of Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential Campaign. Not only does this mean that I will be registering to vote very soon, but also that if she wins, she will be the first female president in the history of the United States. Obnoxious, sexist things have been said about the possibility of a woman being president- from wondering how she'll manage being a grandma and being president to periods impairing a female president's judgement once every month. Not only is this nowhere even close to reasonable- periods do not impair judgement- and even if they did, Hillary Clinton is in her sixties- she hasn't had a period in about ten years.

I'm talking about this because like the Oval Office, for some reason the woods is seen as a place for men. A "real man" knows how to hunt, catch, skin and gut his own food, and should know how to survive so he can "save the day". Now this is a load of bull and in no way reflects my own opinion, but this is what's enforced when we find survival information on sites with titles that have the word "man" or "manly" somewhere in them. This idea is demonstrated in survival shows on television- almost all of them are exclusively male, except for one in which the participants are naked (Naked and Afraid), and another which features a married couple (Man, Woman, Wild). There are no large survival shows that solely feature female survivalists. According to television, a woman in the wild is accompanied by a man- always.

Let's talk about Naked and Afraid for a second though because the way gender dynamics play out in that show is interesting, and changes episode to episode. Naked and Afraid is a show in which two survivalists, one man and one woman, must survive for 21 days without even the clothes on their backs. The nudity serves another challenge to the survivalists to make them both more vulnerable and is in no way intended to be sexy for the viewers. However I do remember one time when the male contestant, a devout Mormon, was uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping in a smallish cave with a naked woman- even though he had signed up to do the show- because he had a wife, and thereafter was just ungodly rude to his co-contestant.  Throughout the show he would interrupt her, insist that his opinions on what to do were right, even though he was wrong and it cost them two perfectly good meals of snake. Some pairs work better than others, however, and the way their friendship blossoms over the course of those twenty-one days is quite amazing to watch.

Sometimes, too, the men will get sick and the women end up doing all the work for the entire three weeks. One episode the two contestants were on a large island, and the man drank some nasty water, even though the woman told him it probably wasn't worth the risk. He spent the rest of the stay lying in the shelter in agony, red as a lobster from the sun and having to pass diarrhea on the regular. Not only did that woman take care of herself- she took care of that poor, smelly man. I'm by no means saying that women are better survivalists than men, but there are some excellent, highly skilled female survivalists, and they deserve their own shows as well.

Trailer is Here!

Trailer Tomorrow

Yes the trailer will be out tomorrow! I'm very excited to release what I've spent a lot of time on. This trailer however has also helped me practice editing in a way which is much more manageable, considering it's only 2 minutes long, whereas the documentary is still going to be pretty long in comparison to that. It also helped me chose clips rapidly and know which parts I wanted to use, which saved time in the long run and will help me when I return to editing the big documentary.

In Class- April 28th

Clara has been the main force behind pushing me out of my comfort zone. As one of my closest friends and teammates, I've had a very strong desire not to let her down. It's very rooted in a similar desire to keep pushing your hardest in a crew race. You have faith in your other boatmates that they are pushing their hardest, so the thought of giving anything less than your hardest is unthinkable. Clara has been doing a lot of research on her survival, so in turn I have been staying after school to edit.

Trailer Coming Soon

Yes! Although it has been tough to get in the lab three times out of four, I will be releasing a teaser trailer very soon, if not tomorrow.I'm very excited to release a snippet of what Clara and I have done, because it is work to be proud of. These last couple of weeks have been really hectic with the music trip, the TestDAF, and the AP German final. However I've pulled together something and it's almost ready to go.

Images from our First Stay

My Lord And Savior- US Audio

So I just found my personal savior- us.audionetwork.com  . This website is full of licensed music that is made to be background music for films. You can browse by mood, and then listen through the various tracks listed under that mood. The music is inexpensive, and only costs a little more than a dollar to use. I'll look around for some free music, but this is definitely where I will come back.

Contrasts and Juxtapositions

It's so incredible. Two weekends ago Clara and I were in the woods and this past weekend we spent in New York City. It almost made me a little sick to think of all the spoils and luxuries there. Now- by no mans is everyone in NYC living luxurious lives, most aren't, but we were high schoolers spending he weekend goofing off in downtown Manhattan, seeing shows, eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, and enjoying lovely, seventy degree weather. It certainly boggled my mind.

Practicing

Every time we slept in our shelter we were outside our comfort zone- or, at least our feet were. Although I row, and encounter wet feet often, sleeping in the outside with soaking wet cold feet was something I haven't quite done before. The shelter itself was actually pretty cozy, it was just those wet leaves that made us so uncomfortable.

Two ways I can make myself practice this week are putting more footage onto my film and pushing forward with my editing.

Deadlines

My project has revolved around deadlines. That has been a strategy that my mentor, Mr. Nelson, and I have used to tackle the large project that Clara and I set before ourselves. Each trip serves as a deadline as well, because we have to make sure that we know what we're doing. When they are material things, or meeting with other people, I have been able to meet those deadlines. However getting into the media lab to edit has been challenging, and I have found it hard to meet those deadlines that I set for myself. I often also get stuck on revising parts that I've already edited, and nothing new gets done. Things get better, but nothing new.

In general deadlines work well for me. Even if I pull an all-nighter the day before the deadline, I feel much more pressured to do the work. It also helps me a lot if other people are depending on me to do the work, cause I don't like to let other people down. When it only depends on myself, I'm not letting anyone down if I don't do it. Clara and I both have that need- that's why we work so well together.

Jiggity Jig

Today we came home from our first survival trip. The first day was physically taxing but very fun. We walked back, packs slung over shoulders, and found a nice spot up on top of the gorge where the creek bends, creating a steep point in the land. We spent about six hours building the shelter- first putting a large log in the Y of another tree, then placing and weaving sticks along that log. After that we gathered leaves by the armful, and layered them over the stick frame. We placed bark on top of that, sort of as makeshift shingles, and laid a couple more sticks on to keep the bark in place. Walking up and down the sides of the gorge, hauling logs and sticks with us as we went, we expended a lot of calories, and as soon as we finished the shelter and set our stuff inside, it was time for dinner.

We gathered more tinder, kindling and small to larger wood, and then sat down to start the fire. It took us three tries to get the fire going, but as they say, three times' the charm. Soon we had fed the fire almost everything we had collected, and we had to gather more sticks. We got ourselves in a good spot,wood-supply-wise, and Clara made a tripod out of three live spruce bows, twine and another live Y-shaped branch to boil water. That night for dinner we had one can of kidney beans and an onion, fried together in our pan from the 50-something-year-old mess kit. We didn't have any utensils, so we ate it with our dirty hands. Those were the best tasting kidney beans I had ever had in my life, and the best they would taste the entire trip. It had started to rain while we were making dinner, and so as soon as we were done eating we got ready for bed. It rained throughout the night, and our shelter held up spectacularly well. There were only two small places where water dripped through. However because of the slope of the hill, we kept sliding down to the bottom of the shelter, where our tarp didn't quit reach, and the wet leaves soaked through our sleeping bags and wool socks and made our feet incredibly cold.

The next day we woke up again around 9:15. Everything outside the shelter was incredibly wet, and it took us four tries to get the fire going. Luckily there was some dry wood still, otherwise we would have been out of luck. We kept the fire going all day, and had oatmeal for breakfast and lunch, which Clara ate with her jackknife, and I with my Leatherman . I never thought that I would relish the taste of cold, burnt oatmeal, but that was a delicious lunch. There was no end to the amount of sticks and wood we collected that day. That night for dinner we chopped up a potato, one and a half carrots, and poured half of our big can of kidney beans into the pan and fried that over the fire. We ate that with our hands, and by then the sun had come out. We went for a hike down to the other side of the gorge, and then came back and sat around the fire for a little while, then went to bed. It didn't rain until early the next morning, however our feet were still incredibly cold.

The third and final full day we awoke to a very light snowfall, around the same time as yesterday, and got right to building a fire. This time it only took us two tries. Our lives had fallen into a monotonous pattern of gathering wood, putting it on the fire, and gathering more wood, and putting that on the fire. Rinse and repeat. We had nuts for breakfast, and a small can of chick peas for lunch. In between wood trips we played a game called, "What do you want to eat", where we shared our dreams of food from the outside world.  I was fixated on these lobster ravioli I had at Ciao- I would have drop-kicked Betty White to get me some of those. Memories of fresh fruit, leafy vegetables, and meat danced across my mind all the time. For dinner we had the rest of our kidney beans and the last onion, as well as the one and a half carrots that we had left. We were both so sick of kidney beans, but Clara was a lot more sick of them than I was; she couldn't make herself eat more than a couple bites despite the fact that she was starving. I finished off the kidney beans and we went to bed. It's safe to say that I never want to see a kidney bean again.

We inhaled way too much smoke from the fire this weekend- enough that the thought of going to a friend's bonfire makes me physically ill. The same set of clothes that I wore for those days smell heavily of a fire. When we got back to my house this (Sunday) morning, I weighed myself before I ate anything, as I had done the day of our departure. I lost six pounds over the course of three days. We ate like kings at home- breakfast sausage and all. After Clara left to go home I took a nice, long, hot shower, then sat down to write this post. Overall the trip wen very well, and I am looking froward to our Adirondack Adventure.

Helping Out Others

Today I held one of the boom mics for my friend April's WISE project. She's making a TV show called Living With White Rice, that seeks to point out ridiculous Disney Channel stereotypes by parodying them. We had a blast- the script is great, the actors are phenomenal, and we got a lot done. You can learn more about April's Project here.

Packing List

Food:

• Brown Rice
• Black Beans
• Pinto Beans
• Raw Almonds

Cookware:

• Aluminum Mess Kit
• Boiling Pot

Tools & Supplies:

• Hatchet
• Machete
• Twine
• Knife
• Tarp
• Flint and Steele

Camera Needs:

• Memory Cards
• AA Batteries (and a lot)
• Portable Lithium battery charger
• Dry sacks
• Tripods
• Panasonic Lumix Camera
• Nikon Coolpix 

Clothing:

• 4 Changes of underwear and socks
• Layers
• Rain Jacket
• Boots

Gleaning From the Past

My project to evaluate from the past was Phil Durnford's Aviation Project from 2010. He had what seemed a very fun and exciting project- learning to fly a plane,

Reading his journal was very easy, because it was typed, fairly interesting, and to-the-point. He posted regularly, and had many journal entries. The entries themselves showed great evidence of research from many different sources- this guy put a lot of time into reading his books and passing his level tests to earn the right to sit in the cockpit and learn to fly. The entries included diagrams and other images, however some of the entries seemed to repeat themselves somewhat, as he described a couple different times the different kinds of visual mishaps that pilots may have and other technical issues. I loved his description of his first flight- it sounded incredible.  He also seemed to be fairly skilled at goal setting, and managed to meet his own mini-deadlines most of the time.

What I enjoyed most about his journal was his display of conviction and passion. He was very enthused about flying a plane, and worked very hard to achieve his goal. He spoke of his family history in aviation, and his plans to join the Air Force. I wonder if he continued to pursue flying.

Overall I would give his project 45/50 points for the narrative and research components. His hands-on and book research, combined with the time he clearly spent on this project were phenomenal. The only reason why I would take off five points is the need for a little development in some of his entries, particularly a couple of his reviews of books and movies, and he could have paid a little more attention to conventions and spelling, however nothing interfered with comprehension. I also would have liked his writing to have been a little less plain- kind of like mashed potatoes. If you put too much salt on them they're repulsive, but not enough salt can make them bland and also unappetizing. Now don't get me wrong- his mashed potatoes, I mean writing- wasn't repulsive at all, but for my tastes it could have used just a dash more of salt.

Weather

Now we are six days away for our first weekend in the woods. I'm excited and also a little nervous but I believe we should be fine. The weather is looking not-so-great for Thursday and Friday, but great for Saturday and Sunday. However they are predicting rain for pretty much the entire upcoming week, so maybe the storm will pass sooner rather than later and we'll have an extra day of sun.

Collecting Wood

On Sunday Clara and I gathered wood in my backwoods and hid it in a dry place, so that we won't be totally out of luck come next Thursday. We got a lot of good footage and had a great time. We're both excited and a little nervous about how soon it's coming up.

I spent the night at Clara's last night and this morning we made a list of all the things we need to bring. We need to buy some things on Amazon for the cameras, such as chargers. Hopefully we can get everything together in time.

Barnsong

Monday in our weekly WISE meeting we watched an old project called, "Barnsong", a documentary on another students WISE project to build a barn. I thought that they did a really good job, however I would have like to see more scenes from later on in the barn project, rather than just the ones from February.

Watching this made me want to make our documentary the next one that they show in classes. I hope it ends up being longer than Barnsong, but if it doesn't that's alright. I want to make something that Clara and I can be proud of, and something that exceeds the standards set by Barnsong. Technology has improved since that project, and I know that our video quality will be better, I just want to make something that's interesting and enjoyable to watch.

Hooray Hooray

Yesterday I met with my coach, and among other things we discussed my absences for the upcoming season. Luckily she was totally fine with us missing the Syracuse Invitational, so that's when we will go on our second trip. This was a total relief.

Spring break is coming up next week, which means it's survival skills week for me and Clara. I can't believe we're going out in two weeks. It's crazy.

Throwing Curveballs

Winter training ends this week, and at the last tanks practice Coach Molly announced a strict new attendance policy that may result in some very sad Ellies and Claras. In addition to a new policy about lateness, Coach Molly has introduced a new policy about absences. The only excused absences are illness, or emergencies. Educational may be excused on a case by case basis. Since Clara and I are aware of when we will miss, and the first set of dates do not interfere with the regatta portion of season. Clara and I also really do not want to suffer the consequences of two unexcused absences (a 10k erg piece!).

However this has thrown a little wrench in Adirondack plans. We can't miss a regatta, and my dad can only go the first few weeks of May. We may be able to work something out, but if not then Clara and I may just have to go somewhere else.

Stills From Filming- Thursday March 12, 2015

A Moment

A couple nights ago I was witness to a very wonderful, albeit brief moment. My dog Ginger is getting older, and doesn't have quite as much mobility to climb stairs and the like, so when I take her out to pee I carry her and then stand by the door waiting for her to come back to the porch.

It was probably some time around 2 AM and Ginger had woken me up to take her outside. I was standing by the open door, waiting for Ginger to come back inside, when in the quiet still of the night I heard the timid vibrato of an owl's hoot, immediately followed by a chorus of coyotes.

There's something so brilliant about the sound of coyotes. It chills me to the chore but also astounds me- it's beautiful. I feel some primal version of myself stir inside and for a brief moment overtake me.

That was just the sensation from the comforts of my screened in porch with a fence, and the sound of the coyotes far in the distance.Imagine what it could be like when Clara and I are out there, and we hear some. Terrifying. Gorgeous.

In Class Entry

Alex Turner is an inspirational figure of mine. Along with the other Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner took something he loved to do and made a living out of it. The band formed in 2002, but when, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" came out in 2006, Alex Turner and most of the band were just 20 years old. They had already gained popularity in their hometown of Sheffield, and when that first song came onto the scene it exploded. Thirteen years and five studio albums later, the Arctic Monkeys are now worth millions, and have won seven Brit Awards, been nominated for three Grammys, and played at the London 2012 Opening Ceremony. I don't know much about their process for success, or how Alex Turner writes the songs, however all the members of the band are good friends from school, much like Clara and I are. I have no doubt that their personal chemistry plays a major role in their success.

In my final presentation, I'd like to include some hands-on work, as well as presenting some clips from the film.  I think doing these things would make the presentation engaging and enjoyable for the people that go.

First Night of Filming

Although we had originally planned to do it earlier, tonight was actually a beautiful evening to go out and film our planning process. Granted the vast majority of the footage wasn't incredibly riveting, but we did film at a pretty interesting location- the quarry, and we did get some good stuff. We filmed right at Golden Hour, where the sunset provided the gorgeous lighting that reminded me somewhat of the movie Submarine, especially with the industrial setting we were in. When I get the chance to upload and edit, I will put something up.

Another Camera

Last night I got me another camera and I am in love with it. The resolution is absolutely stunning, and the audio is pretty clear. It'll be nice to have two cameras, so that Clara can have one as well. I've also got a GoPro coming my way from a lovely classmate of mine. Life is good.

Test DAF

So I just registered for the Deutsch als Fremdsprache test at NYU this spring. I'm very excited that I've taken another step closer in my university application process. For those of you that are not aware, next year I will hopefully be studying in Germany- not as an exchange student or anything but as an actual international student. I'm really excited but also a bit nervous and scared.

"But what does this have to do with your project?" Well. it gives my project some more meaning. This project is kind of a chance to really get to know the land I'm leaving before I go off to Germany. I want to go to Germany because tuition there is so cheap, it makes it worth it to go. I don't want to be paying off student loans for the rest of my life. I'm choosing what I think is right for me, it wouldn't suit everyone.

---

Yesterday after first period I was struck down with the same illness I had on Thursday. I'm feeling a lot better today and will be back in school tomorrow.

I have a camera!

Yes it's true I now have a camera! It's not the Canon, but rather a Nikon. It's resolution is not quite as good, because it's main focus is actually still images but the video quality is still pretty good, something like 1280x720p. I still want to save up I think for the canon though, because it would be nice to have two cameras, and the Canon does have just a little bit better quality. I also have two body cams for action shots.

What I do love about this camera is how well it handles low light settings. Clara and I may be under a somewhat thick canopy or it may be cloudy outside, and it could still do pretty well. The audio is alright, and I don't think I can afford a tascam so this will have to do.

I used the camera at Cabaret Night last night to take some videos. I'm still figuring out how to work the zoom just right so that I can find the balance between the shot that I want and the focus. Tonight I'm meeting with Clara to plan out the dates of our trips and what not. Things are lifting of the ground!

101.9

At around 3:30 AM on Thursday, I awoke to the unpleasant sensation of needing to throw up, and I did. I then slept on an off for another fifteen or so hours. I was in no position to leave the house, let alone the couch. On one of the few occasions where I did, I took my temperature and found I had a fever of 101.9 degrees Fahrenheit. I was too sick to go get my camera, but I probably will go this weekend.

I feel a lot better today, though. I think I could actually eat something.

Equipment

Tomorrow I am getting my camera. At home I have a couple body surveillance cams that will be good for action footage, however for some more still shots I want to get something that has better image and audio quality. Now my dad is paying for the camcorder, so I don't want something that is too expensive, but I also want something that isn't too cheap-looking. I have my sights set on a Canon Vixia HF R500, which shoots 1920x1080 footage, and is fairly cheap. I watched someone's review and use of the camera, and it looks great. There were some weird things going on with the sound while he was zooming, but when he wasn't doing that the audio was pretty crisp. I'd like to maybe get some sort of audio equipment as well but that will take more research before I make a decision on that.

Father Water, Mother Woods

Recently I finished this book by Gary Paulsen, Father Water, Mother Woods. The book is a collection of essays on his time in the North Woods fishing, hunting and camping. The fishing portion is the longest, and I found myself getting hungry while reading it. He describes in detail how they would prepare the fish after catching it, and all the foods they would have with it: trout covered in cornmeal with watermelon for dessert, fresh salmon slowly roasted over an open fire. I want Clara and I to be able to make something good out of something we catch, and we can practice that before we go on the trip.

I am not so sure exactly how much stuff we will actually end up bringing, but I know that it would be really nice to fish for at least some of our food. Yesterday I researched how to get your fishing license in New York, and how much it costs. For an annual pass it is $25, which is not much. A four-day pass is something like $5, so it makes sense to get an annual one. You can get them at sporting goods stores, town clerks, and whatnot. That will be a deadline for a later date.

Going Forward

Yesterday I had my first mentor meeting with Mr. Nelson. It went pretty well; we talked about strategies to keep me on task, and what I could do to keep moving forward. I need to get a physical calendar, and sit down with Clara and plan things out. For myself, I also need to set mini-deadlines. My first mini-deadline is to have sat down with Clara and gotten my camera by next Tuesday, when I have my next mentor meeting. I think that that's how I'd like to set my deadlines- plan them around my mentor meetings, and then bring that work to them. I'm getting my camera on Thursday though so I'll have at least half of that done.

The First Two Weeks

So this is one of my favorite parts of the documentary, Grizzly Man, by Werner Herzog. One thing that Timothy Treadwell does well in this clip is not filter himself. He is not acting as if a camera is in front of him in the way that normal people would. I want to be able to capture Clara's and my behavior in the most organic way possible- one that really shows how we interact with each other, what we really look like after a few days in the woods,  and how we really act in different situations.

For these first two weeks I want to start filming. Clara and I won't be trekking out yet- I just want to capture our conversations. I want to get use to being filmed without being very aware of myself- appearance and behavior wise. Timothy Treadwell, in this clip and many others, was very comfortable in front of the camera. Perhaps some of these he never intended on showing anyone ( the clip above probably would not have made any final cuts), however eh could look into a camera and say those things. He is not constantly adjusting his clothes or messing with hair- things that would distract viewers and waste time while filming. I also would like to start working with Adobe Premiere and learning the ropes of that.

Yesterday I had my exit interview. The project begins now!

Introduction

I've always been interested in the woods and film, and in this WISE project, my friend Clara and I will combine both. Our goal is to learn primitive survival skills and successfully spend three weekends in the woods over the course of the spring. However we will specialize somewhat- my focus will be directing and editing footage of our experience into a documentary. Clara's focus will be learning the skills and teaching them to me, as well as making a survival handbook of her experience I am very excited to start the project, and already have many ideas for shots, locations, background music and the structure of how I want to develop our story.

Our first stay in the woods will be in the very beginning of April, in the woods the extend back beyond my house on Snyder Hill. Every stay will be three days, two nights long, usually from Friday to Sunday. The first stay, due to the time of year and our novice primitive capabilities, will be the most comfortable of the stays. Each stay will also have a focus. Our primary focus of the first stay will be shelter and fire. This means that we will bring food, twine, survival knives, hatchets,- anything that will allow us to focus more on building a warm, dry shelter and starting a fire without matches. The stream that runs through the gorge will provide us with adequate water, provided we can get a fire going to boil it.

Our second stay, in a location TBD, will take place the first weekend of May. We have yet to determine the focus of this stay, however it most likely will be getting food and drinking water- if we are in a location where there is no stream- and preparing that food. This stay will have fewer comforts than the first, however we may still bring food to supplement our catches.Exactly how much we bring will be determined by our confidence in our skills and capabilities.

Our third and final stay will be in mid/late May, and will be (parent permitting) on lower St. Regis, near the town of Saranac Inn, in the Adirondacks. This will be the most primitive. We will eat only what we can catch, and bring as few tools as our skills will allow. This trip will involve all of our previous accumulated skills, as well as primitive fishing skills, because it's on a small lake. Last summer I spent the night in a shelter on the shore with my family, and it was absolutely gorgeous. To get to that camping spot, you have to paddle across Little Clear Pond (which is not too difficult), hike the portage (which is long but not too extreme), and then paddle out across lower St. Regis. We will not be staying in the shelter that I stayed in last year, but rather build our own on another shore. The view from the lake is gorgeous.

Again I am very excited to start this project! Watch my progress by following this blog!