Donny's Blog

Former Old Donation Center for the Gifted and Talented from 1980 till 2014 http://www.coastalvirginiamag.com/March-April-2018/Old-Donation-Schools-Innovative-Environment-in-Virginia-Beach/ McClellan taught first grade at Old Donation Elementary School—in the former building at this site—during 1973. A year later, she joined the faculty of the city’s newly inaugurated gifted school. "The gifted program started at Thalia Elementary School in 1974," McClellan says. "They had two grades of fourth, two grades of fifth and two grades of sixth." In those days, kids attended classes just one day per week, leaving their home schools and staying at Thalia with a classroom teacher. They also enrolled in “Special Interest Units” and completed projects called “Contracts.” Over time, Hedrick says, "We also realized that, for some kids, one day a week wasn't going to be enough to maximize their potential.” During the 1979–80 school year, the city’s one-day-per-wee...

Being, trying to be an artist felt constraining. A big depressing actually. I believe now, because it didn't really encompass who I was. It didn't explain why I think and feel as I do. But gifted really does. An analogy might be being gay, but growing up not really knowing what that meant and not knowing there were other people out there like you. And how liberating that must have felt to discover the gay community. That's how I feel now. Like, coming out as gifted and really starting to understand what that means.  It's liberating. Like, a weight has lifted off myself. I feel so grateful to all the researchers who have worked on understanding giftedness and accepting us for who we are. I feel like I can finally be myself and not have to fit myself into a box not built for me.

I've always wanted to be an artist. And I am, for the most part an artist. But I think I always wanted to be an artist because it was an identity I respected and I thought fit me. Because I didn't have an identity. A place in society. A community I felt I belonged too. An occupation, a career, calling, a purpose. At one point I thought I'd like to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to be rich, and common wisdom is that starting your own business is the way to go. There are certain common traits of entrepreneurs, and I fit about half of them. The other half, I figured I could learn to become. But recently, I've stumbled across a way of being that rather than be something to aspire to, already fit me. Being gifted. I never really thought I was special. I often feel overly aware of my deficiencies. I've dealt with depression most of my life. But at the same time, I notice that I think much more deeply than most of people I've ever met. Apparently, those are some of  the ...

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/good-thinking/201407/the-problem-being-gifted A good deal of research indicates that gifted adults who are in frequent contact with other gifted individuals are more likely to feel belongingness and satisfaction, whereas those whose social environments do not include other gifted adults feel isolated and dissatisfied. Another study compared successful and unsuccessful men who were identified as "geniuses" during childhood . Their results showed that, even among geniuses, educational achievement was the major determiner of success in adulthood. http://www.stephanietolan.com/gifted_ex-child.htm The experience of the gifted adult is the experience of an unusual consciousness, an extraordinary mind whose perceptions and judgments may be different enough to require an extraordinary courage. Large numbers of gifted adults, aware not only of their mental capacities but of the degree to which those capacities set them apart, understan...

WBS 1. create work character designs painting concept art 2. develop my portfolio organize existing work - upload existing work to artstation + add new work 3. search out and apply for opportunities film, video games, role-playing games

https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024044/Achieving-Two-Worlds-Every-Year

interesting philosophical point... you actually don't need bad times to make you appreciate good times, because you can just have good times and better times. well, maybe at a certain point in life, you might have experienced some bad times, but you don't need to continue to experience bad times. you can just have good times and better times and great times. you may not appreciate the good times, but you will appreciate the great times. in essence your range of experiences will shift into the positive range, which is a good thing.

2020.01.20 What inspires you to make art? I am inspired by other art (stuff that other people make) and nature. Which is, pretty much everything. What is the meaning behind what you do? Expressing my point of view. Origin Story I was always good at art, but never even realized you could go to college for art or make a living as an artist. It was not part of the life I was raised in. My view of the world was very narrow. I got a full scholarship to college and after my first year, I changed my major from pre-physical therapy to art. From then it's been a long journey of discovery and expanding my worldview. Why do I follow my calling to be an artist? It doesn't a lot of sense, practically. But I love it. And I believe in love. When did you realize that you needed to be an artist? There's always been a lot of self-doubt for me. I've never actually earned my living as an artist, so it seems foolish if not delusional that I need to be artist. But, I've come to acc...

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/why-very-smart-people-are-happiest-alone/ In highly intelligent people, though, the finding is reversed: Smart people feel happier alone than when others, even good friends, are around. A “healthy” social life actually leaves highly intelligent people with less life satisfaction. Is it because their desires are more aspirational and goal-oriented, and other people are annoyingly distracting? However, just in case this makes too much sense, the study also found that spending more time socializing with friends is actually an indicator of higher intelligence! This baffling contradiction is counter-intuitive, at least. Unless these smart people are not so much social as they are masochistic.

Smart people are more often alone. A fascinating recent study found that compared with the less gifted, smart people tend to spend more time alone. Why? "Those with more intelligence and the capacity to use it ... are less likely to spend so much time socializing because they are focused on some other longer-term objective," Carol Graham, a Brookings Institution researcher who studies the economics of happiness, explained to the Washington Post . There's a silver lining for the exceptionally smart, however. While science suggests that they're likely to be less socially connected than others, it also suggests that this lack of human contact will impact their happiness less. So while you're more likely to be a loner if you're highly intelligent, that lifestyle is less likely to make you lonely -- presumably because you're too busy building a world-changing business or curing disease to be much bothered about missing bowling night. https://www.inc.com/jess...

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/05/15/commentary/world-commentary/america-one-cultures-insults-smart-people/#.XiOWsi2ZPOQ Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-people-dislike-really-smart-leaders/ The study's lead author, John Antonakis, a psychologist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, suggests leaders should use their intelligence to generate creative metaphors that will persuade and inspire others—the way former U.S. President Barack Obama did. “I think the only way a smart person can signal their intelligence appropriately and still connect with the people,” Antonakis says, “is to speak in charismatic ways.”

I'm a big fan of the book fooled by randomness and it's thesis that what people may attribute to personal qualities may in reality be the product of randomness (I admit, I haven't read the book in a while). This idea is freeing in that I shouldn't take personally, my "failures" in life. And humbling that I shouldn't take credit for my fortunes. For example, Warren Buffett says that he was really born in lucky circumstances that set the foundation for his "success." However, there is the possibility of internalizing the thesis as a sort of learned helplessness against the odds of life. If life is random, why try anyways? Well, I'd like to take this idea a step further and posit that it is not randomness but complexity and degrees of complexity that not only fool people, but provide a path to change. Reality is almost infinitely complex, but at the same time it can be broken down by degrees. For example, the weather in a month from now ...

https://www.livescience.com/56542-most-empathetic-countries.html

https://d18ky98rnyall9.cloudfront.net/_970aa8cc76282ccbac6dc21dc547bd61_5th-Reading----East-and-west-emotions-and-Creativity.pdf?Expires=1578787200&Signature=PHe5K7Y4kWzguHWCqjtmcKDNAxR2fyfwtgdyM6WVedYyc8petSnVdjZEW615kxk8gqfiNY9Pov2l-8rSYgwrgvW8fV-yE5YYSsha1mrA~F38DGeNeZMGnuIJM2Sete51dLq~49xEAoQCiIlVua8OjFWnSOutxlc3g11oa1779Mo_&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLTNE6QMUY6HBC5A

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature An appeal to nature is an argument or rhetorical tactic in which it is proposed that "a thing is good because it is 'natural', or bad because it is 'unnatural'". [1] It is generally considered to be a bad argument because the implicit (unstated) primary premise "What is natural is good" is typically irrelevant, having no cogent meaning in practice, or is an opinion instead of a fact. In some philosophical frameworks where natural and good are clearly defined within a specific context, the appeal to nature might be valid and cogent. General form of this type of argument: That which is natural, is good. N  is natural. Therefore,  N  is good or right. That which is unnatural, is bad or wrong. U  is unnatural. Therefore,  U  is bad or wrong. [2]

I'm really enjoying DJ'ing again lately. And I'm really getting good and making some really creative mixes. It's something I've been doing my whole life, starting out making mix tapes back in the day. I've also gamified it for myself, which makes it more fun (addicting), especially considering I'm not getting paid to do it: I'm now in the habit of numbering my mixes and have a streamlined workflow for creating the mix, creating the cover art, uploading and promoting them. I've also put a lot of work into cataloging my music collection and organizing my mix archive.  I also make music, but the process is more unorganized and at times overwhelming. I was contemplating giving it up, to focus on comics and mixes. But I came up with a way to streamline and gamify the music production process, so it will hopefully be more fun. Similar to the way I number mixes, I'm going to number my tracks. I'm going to release singles and therefore w...

excerpts from https://nobaproject.com/modules/motives-and-goals A goal is the cognitive representation of a desired state, or, in other words, our mental idea of how we’d like things to turn out ( Fishbach & Ferguson 2007 ; Kruglanski, 1996 ). motivation , or the psychological driving force that enables action in the pursuit of that goal ( Lewin, 1935 ). individuals’ motivation in the course of pursuing a goal ( self-regulation ). what motivates individuals to keep following their goals when faced with other conflicting desires ( self-control ) The activation of a goal and the accompanying increase in motivation can influence many aspects of behavior and judgment, including how people perceive, evaluate, and feel about the world around them. Goals can also exert a strong influence on how people evaluate the objects (and people) around them. When pursuing a goal such as quenching one’s thirst, people evaluate goal-relevant objects (e.g., a glass) more positively than objects that...

2020-2039 goals earn my living from my comics / art / music / business / investments draw 10,000 pages of comics make 1000 mixes make 1000 tracks new plans start publishing my essays make music videos starting reading, analyzing and writing about stock SEC filings develop my marketing and sales develop my 3d skills continuing plans make comics, music, art collect stock positions 2020 draw 1,000 pages of comics make 100 mixes make 100 tracks January draw for 50 hours draw 100 pages of comics make 10 mixes make 10 tracks Daily Make a mix Make a track Draw comics Market Sell Take care of my physical and mental health Live Love Laugh Learn