TEDTalk Reflection: The End in the End

Wow, has this been a roller coaster ride! There have been some real ups and downs, but overall this project has been pretty chill, besides week two, that was a real struggle. Other than that, I feel this metaphor is a pretty apt comparison to my process. (This is the part where I tell you I can't ride roller coasters because they make me sick, and that I hate them).Besides constant vigilance and manipulation, I've learned a great deal over the course of this project. However, I'm not going to go on a tangent about that, this is a reflection on the PAST after all. 

                                 

So, let's begin by stating the facts. 1. I am not good at public speaking (at least in my opinion, but I'm also a very harsh self critic) 2. I looked like a forty year old lawyer at a casual lunch meeting (shout out to Emma) 3. I felt a little off while speaking, but may or may not have faked the audience into thinking I wasn't (I really hope so)  Now that we got that out of the way, let's delve into the wide world of opinions. I tend to be pretty harsh on myself so this will probably end up being more of a roast of my speech than anything, but nonetheless we'll proceed. 

                                 

Public speaking and I have had a complicated relationship as long as I can remember. It's somewhat ironic, because I love talking. Honestly I could talk all day if I was given an interesting subject, regardless of how tired I am. However, I absolutely hate public speaking, which I assume comes from my fear of failure. That most likely comes from the fact that I haven't failed often, and when I did I didn't handle it well, but we won't go into my life problems (you've probably had enough of that by now). Point is, getting up in front of a crowd terrifies me in a way that dogs never could (Dogs are a short burst of terror, not a long feeling of dread and stress). 

You would think that the stress would be over now that my TEDTalk has finished, right? WRONG. The worst part of these projects are afterwards, once you've gone and you're left to reflect before you get to see how it is. Coming into these things, I like to keep my expectations as low as possible so I'll always be pleasantly surprised, but afterwards I over analyze my presentation and convince myself that I failed. There's actually a good chance I may have "failed" as I normally evaluate things on the Allison scale of acceptable which is completely and utterly messed up (and somewhat over-dramatic). This happens every single presentation, which really sucks cause I hate stressing and it's bad for your sleep, which I'm already deprived of anyways (thanks high school!). 

                                 

Onto bullet point three (bullet point two has no relevance in the reflection so we're skipping it). Unfortunately about halfway through my presentation, some people walked in. This threw me off my game for a second, and I wasn't entirely sure what to do before going back to my presentation and trying to play off my awkwardness, but it probably didn't work. I'm pretty sure at one point afterwards I was literally shaking, but hopefully nobody saw that either.

To be honest I actually learned a lot from this experience, as it taught me that presentations almost never go as planned because it's real life, and newsflash, real life is never perfect. Adapting to changes that come your way and improvising is an important skill to learn while presenting, so in all actuality I'm glad that I learned this lesson (though it was pretty terrifying in the moment).

                                 

The worst part of that was the off feeling that I had, but I'm sure that was just me stressing again. You know that feeling when you've practiced something for a really long time and you know how it's supposed to feel and how it's supposed to go, and then it doesn't for some unknown reason and the thing just feels off? Well that was the last third of my presentation, though I feel that it went reasonably well.

Side Note: Thank you all for being a great audience and helping me to lessen my stress by asking some pretty awesome questions at the end. You guys are the best!

                                 

When I got up on that podium, I wasn't nervous at all. I was stress ranting to Mr. Perlman in the gifted IE a few weeks ago, and he gave me a tip to limit the stress I was feeling, and I used it right before I went on and it worked, so thanks so much for the help! However, since I couldn't use the tip every thirty seconds or so, my nervousness increased steadily over the course of the presentation, but I had expected it. By the end, I realized that everyone was on my side and was looking for me to do great (another great life lesson from Mr. Perlman), so I relaxed a bit and tried to just deliver my conclusion as best as I possibly could, which I think went well. In my opinion, the conclusion is the best part of my TEDTalk, after all who doesn't want to call themselves a loser? Now I can check that one of the bucket list...

                                 

To be 100% honest, I would just like to say that I'm so proud of what both me and my classmates have accomplished over the course of this project. Everyone worked so hard, and I felt that these blog posts and presentations really helped to provide insight into the person writing them, and I just wanted to tell everyone how great of a job they've done.

Psych gifs, well that's a throwback...

For me specifically, I'm extremely proud of what I've accomplished over these past few weeks and the conversations that I've started. Even though it may have been awkward, I'm proud of how I got up on the Audion stage (something I was afraid of doing) and told you a story, and let myself shine through. I'm proud that instead of focusing purely on the grade I challenged myself to focus on the story and how I felt about the presentation, not the merit the grading scale gave it (though I would hope it gives me a mid B to low A in an ideal world). I'm proud of what I learned, explained, and listened to. I'm just very proud today, and everyone deserves a pat on the back. 

                                 

Snapchats: The Only Way to Communicate

So if you all didn't know, I'm a great artist (as long as it requires no effort). Kyla may be a poet, and I may have made it big in the poetry industry by being her manager, but art has always been a focus of mine. You can tell this based on the 0 art courses I take. Therefore, I have decided to publish an entirely new addition to my many works of art. I call it, Billiards: A journey through Snapchat. It's a modern masterpiece. 

Okay, so let's be honest, I suck at art. However, I do have a bunch of Snapchats that were in my memories or screenshotted by friends from this experience, so I figured that it would be great to show you my favorites (which is all of them, but we'll make do with just a few). Unfortunately I didn't know how to make an album, but I did strive to perfectly space them and make them look as aesthetic as possible. With all that said, enjoy!
      
    
       
          
     

Time Lapses Galore (2 Time Lapses)

So most of you who know me know that I can be a bit psychotic about my grades, and have been known to spend way more time than usual perfecting a project that really was fine as it was. This project is no exception to this rule, and I have literally been working on it almost all weekend, so I was abnormally stressed out and crabby (normally I'm minimally stressed out and crabby but this weekend was like double the normal amount for a point of reference).

Anyways, so my parents noticed this and being the caring people they are, tore me away from my work and forced me to do something else. At first they tried to get me outside, and after figuring out there was no chance in that, they made me play billiards for a while. To be honest, I think it only worked because it was still related to the project, so I could stress about it if I wanted to. Since I was forced to play, I figured I should actually come through on my promise of a spam, so here's some time lapses. 

By the way, just to make it clear I did in fact win this game (above). It was on a technicality though, my brother said I lost but couldn't find it in the rule book, and then hit the eight ball in too early. Still a win though!
Unfortunately I was only able to get half of a time lapse here because we were forced to stop to see my grandparents, but the first half of the game was actually very fun. Games at this point are much better than they were a few weeks ago. (By the way, the flash of red you see is my sister, sorry)

Beware: A Spam of Posts Are Coming

Hey! I have been reflecting on my blog considering that the big Ted Talk is coming up, and I felt that I was lacking in some areas. Mainly the videos and pictures of my progress stuff, so I'm going to try to fix that.

In the next few days I plan on posting a bunch of videos and helpful guidelines and stuff to liven up and inject some personality into my blog. Hopefully, that'll be helpful for you all to learn and see more about me and my personal journey. If not, who cares, I do what I want, so watch anyways.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the oncoming spam!

- Allison

Week Five: Cutthroat is Basically Monopoly and You Can't Convince Me Otherwise

First things first, I would like to apologize for the horrific video I posted earlier today. As always, it was extremely awkward and I cringed the entire time that I made it, but I think that it illustrates the rules of the game pretty well, so it should be educational nonetheless. If you want to spare yourself the cringe, just don't watch it and find another PBS (I shudder just saying the three letters) video that will enlighten you on the subject.  Anyways, sorry about that.

So, onto this week's topic: Cutthroat billiards. To describe the game in one word, I would choose intense. Okay, so that might just be a Michaels thing. My family is known for turning everything into a competition, and most of us aren't a fan of losing. As we always say, "If you aren't prepared to lose everything you hold dear during a competition, you aren't trying hard enough." Don't get me wrong, absolutely nobody takes the game seriously or has any lingering hatred, it's all just about the fun of the game, I swear. However, during said game, it can become very intense. So word to the wise, the faint of heart should not play this game.

Long story short, Cutthroat billiards is a story of alliances won and lost, blunders made and avoided, triumphant victories, and agonizing defeats. To compare it to something most people know about, I would say Cutthroat is the billiards equivalent of monopoly. Both games are way too long to be enjoyed in one night, and after both games you'll have lost at least two friendships (once again this might just be a Michaels problem). In my opinion, a random tumblr post sums it up well enough "Nobody ever reads the monopoly rules until an argument breaks out."

                                     

This is the same with Cutthroat billiards, which in itself is simple, but in practice can actually be somewhat challenging. The first step to understanding Cutthroat is simply to understand eight ball billiards, as many of the rules in the two games are the exact same. Afterwards, it's just a matter of sounding as official as possible before someone breaks out the rule book so people believe how you just cheated is actually entirely legal. 

                    

So, onto what I've learned in terms of actual stuff this week. I've got to be honest, I learned more this week about ball path from playing the game then I did in research, so I'll just relate to you my experiences on the matter instead of giving you another boring link. If you want to scratch, hit the ball more on the top. This will eliminate some of the spin placed on it, and will allow it to travel faster in one straight line. If you aim more to the left, often the cue ball will veer off to the right, and vice versa, as the ball will always move away from the cue. From what I've known to be true, you should aim to hit either a bit above or a bit below the center of the ball for the best shot, which is backed up by Colorado State University, my billiards bible of sorts. (I know I said I wouldn't link it but here you go anyways)

                           

Considering that I've already posted today, I figured I should keep this short and sweet, so I hope that it wasn't to long for al of you. Thank you again for reading!

Video Blog: Allison's Unofficial Guide to Cutthroat Billiards

For those of you who have been reading about my love for cutthroat billiards and have no idea how it works, here's a handy guide to show you all how it's played. While this is a simplified version of the rules, it will provide you with enough information to play the game yourself if you so wish. Hopefully this helps you in your future billiards endeavors!

Quick Disclaimer: My camera broke the day before I wanted to start editing my footage, so I had to re-film the footage in a short time span, leading to potentially bad image quality (I had to use my phone). I apologize if this bothers anyone, but as hard as I may try I could not get the image quality to improve for my video. 

Interview: Maybe all Billiards Players are Actually Mean?

So, we've finally arrived at the expert interview, which was a real struggle for me. Some people have found experts with PhD's or college positions, but as far as I know there isn't really a PhD in billiard sciences. However, what I did find was a college level billiards player, and part time professor with advanced degrees in engineering and science, so I think I came as close to academia as the subject would let me.

For the expert interview I interviewed Mr. Alan Shell, a past member of his college club billiards team at the University of Delaware. He has a Bachelor of Science, and an MBA along with a degree in Quality Science from Drexel, and has worked in predominant companies such as Lockheed Martin and L3 Communications, where he is currently employed as a quality engineer. His time as a billiards player along with his extensive knowledge in the field of science, allowing him to understand the properties of the game and manipulate them to his advantage have made him a great billiards player.

As for his billiards experience, Mr. Shell first learned how to billiards at about ten years old. He used a billiards table in his own basement to play amateur games with his own family before beginning to challenge friends and classmates. This turned into a love of the game leading him to join a prominent club billiards team at the University of Delaware, where he would compete in the game. Now in his fifties, he has won awards and amassed a bit of money as well over the course of his long career.

Now, onto the interview itself. Here I have embedded a few of the questions and some of my commentary. If you would like to read the rest of the interview, I will link it here. 

1. What made you decide that billiards was something you would like to pursue in college? How serious was college level billiards?
I was one of the best in my college, so it was the next logical step. I was the best at my fraternity and was constantly winning competitions in my house, and at one point someone came up to me and asked me to join the club, as he thought we could both really benefit from my being on the team. Being on the team really helped me to step up my game, and I really enjoyed the camaraderie that I experienced on the team. I wouldn’t say it was very serious for me at least, as I was more focused on my education and found it to be more fun than anything else, but for some people it was very intense. I liked to be there as moral support for them, and just be around the team in general.

2. What are your greatest takeaways from college billiards? Has it helped you in any other areas of your life?
The greatest takeaway from college billiards for me is the friendships, as so many people on the team are great people who I still keep in touch with today. We just bonded over a common interest and found that these people who were just like you were funny, and often very fun to hang around with. It has also helped me with my confidence, as when you’re on a team like the one I was on, you get used to winning which is a real ego booster if you ask me. In terms of other areas of my life, besides the friendships and confidence is the ability to keep calm under pressure. I use this all the time, and it is a skill that has really helped me.

3. Okay, final question. What are the top three things I should do to improve my chances of winning the game? Any pregame rituals or billiard traditions I should know about?
Okay, so the top three things are as followed. One, practice, obviously. Two, relax and focus. Three, practice some more. As for rituals, I think it’s more like free throws and see what works for you, not everyone has one, but some people swear by one so you never know. All I can say is just take your time when you’re playing, and don’t always take the first shot you see, as there could be a better shot on the horizon. 

4. Okay, I sense that you’re getting tired of the more in depth questions, as am I. So, do you know any trick shots? What’s the coolest thing that you can do?
I know tons of trick shots! Are you even a real billiards player if you don’t claim to know any? Even the most basic shots could be considered cool trick shots if you pull them off correctly. The coolest thing I can do is putting a ball on top of a beer bottle and shoot another ball so it knocks the first ball off of the bottle and into the hole. I can also balance two balls and hit the bottom ball with enough force that the top ball drops straight down. Physics is extremely important in trick shots, and lucky for me I got my degree in engineering so I know a great deal about physics.

5. Over the course of this project I have been asked about hustling people to win money. What is your opinion on the subject? If not to hustle, then what is the point of the game?
In my opinion, hustling is wrong. I’m more a fan of just winning straight up and shoving it into your face. I love talking smack, and I hate to lose so I enjoyed more dragging the game out and making fun of you as I soundly beat you, if that doesn’t sound too horrible. When I used to see hustlers at bars I would play them in an effort to put them in their place, and sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t, but at least I had more of a challenge. However, I feel that the point of the game is to win, just kidding, but it is nice to win. The point of the game is to enjoy yourself and learn focus and discipline, which can help you anywhere in your life, not just in the game.

To synthesize, I feel that my philosophy on billiards line up with his, which is both reassuring as he is an expert but also somewhat frightening. I would like to thank Mr. Shell for his time and honesty in answering these questions, as it was a very helpful insight to my projects. The most important thing that I have gathered from this interview is that while Mr. Shell played billiards to win, he also made many lasting friendships from his experience, and has come to the conclusion that this is the most important aspect of his journey. To him, the hours he spent in the very beginning of his journey playing with his siblings was the highlight of the game, showing that the point of billiards is to have a good time, but maybe you'll win something on the side as well, which is always a plus.