Remember friends, sharing is caring…

So I don’t know about you guys and gals, but I can honestly say, it’s very satisfying learning something new. And by something new, it could be anything. And once you’ve learned it, you take it and you can do 3 things with it:

1. You can parade it around in front of everyone you know, in a way that says, “Look how cool I am because I know how to do this…”
2. You can be nice and do the “Oh my god! There’s this awesome new ability I have, let me show you, so you can do it, too!”
3. Or you can take that tidbit you’ve just learned, and stash it away in a private space in your mind just for yourself, snuggling that new knowledge like a soft fluffy baby bunny rabbit, grinning from ear to ear while everyone else is none the wiser.

I get it. And all three of these are all perfectly acceptable ways to handle what you’ve just learned. And quite honestly, I have done all 3 of these myself. Many times in fact. But now, I am slightly more focused on finishing things and doing a little more of number 2. Haha. I said number 2…

Remember to subscribe to my blog so you can keep up with the fun as often as I can produce it. Please, and thank you.
Sincerely, Jenny.

Now back to the fun, keeping everything I just said in mind, I’d like to share something with all of you. Just to reiterate, I love learning new things. I love learning new twists on old things too. I love finding new ways to create things, exploring different parts of my imagination/creativity that sometimes even surprises me. Seeing how other people make things and their thought process astonishes me too! And when you keep learning, you pick up tools that you can tuck into your personal arsenal of info or skills of sorts. Then pull them out one at a time, or all at once, like a super crafty ninja and wow people! Or you can just wow yourself! No harm in that either.

A small secret… I love to write. I love to make art.

That’s not the secret.

The secret is, and it’s not even really a secret because if any of you asked me, I’d probably tell you in an instant. When I was a kid… and when I say “kid”, I actually mean teenager, I wanted to be a teacher. “But you’re so small, the students might be taller than you are!?”. Yeah, and that, my friends, was a valid point. “You aren’t so good with children, how could you possibly gain control of them and make them pay attention to you?”. Yet another wonderful point. Trust me, friends, these were all things I pondered and although I’m not sure of the real reason, I am sad to say, this idea of being a teacher did very quickly vanish like a “fart in the wind”! Anybody know that reference?? Haha.

Anyway. Back to teaching. So yes, I wanted to be a teacher. Not just any teacher, mind you. I wanted to be a creative writing/art teacher. I thought that would be the coolest profession ever. And not only the coolest profession but definitely the coolest class ever. The kind of class I would love to take. The kind where you could express yourself through words as well as visual arts. Any kind of visual arts, whether it be sculpture, or painting, or textiles, or jewelry making, or woodworking, taking a photograph or creating a video, a dance, a song, anything to go along with the story or poem that was created. It would go hand in hand. And I love when things just fit together unforced. It would have definitely been something amazing. But as you all can probably tell from my bio or those who know me personally know, that is not the direction that I went in. I did not end up a teacher. But that doesn’t mean I can’t teach you all something. Hopefully, one of these articles that I write will teach someone somewhere even the tiniest bit about something. Then they can hold it over others and do the “look what I can do” dance!

So yes. I am proud to say I am a constant learner also. Whether it’s piecemeal learning new methods of programming for my full-time job or learning little bits of new ways to make art or particular crafts. And the point of this post, sharing, which I seem to be taking forever to get around to actually doing… is telling you about a website out there on the world wide web called edX.org. This site has loads of online courses from accredited colleges and universities all across the United States. The majority of these classes are free to audit. Meaning you can take the class online, do the assignments and find out how well you scored.  There’s even a paid option provided by a lot of the colleges to get a certificate of completion, which can totally look awesome on your resume. And some of the classes you can also use towards college credits, or to advance your career, or for students still in high school. A portion of the classes are paid but I looked through, and I would say more than half of the courses are free, with no strings attached. They even have a mobile app, and a lot of the courses are available for mobile viewing and participation, so you can learn on the go. Since the mobile app is new, not every course is available for mobile viewing, just an FYI. In fact, I am currently enrolled in two of the courses. One from Boston University and the other from a little college called Harvard University say what!!?? For a little while a part of me was totally doing a combination of #1 and #3 on my list but on the inside only, so I was doing a little “I go to Harvard!” dance while grinning like the Cheshire cat! Haha.

I will save the title and description of one of the courses for another post when I share with you all how to make something surprisingly useful using skills I tucked away many years ago, demonstrating with an assignment I’m currently working on completing. Neither, of the courses, are visual art courses but they are helping expand my mind in ways I couldn’t be happier to say.

Until next time friends, keep doing what makes you happy!