Beginners can code! No classes needed!

We have little to no experience in coding... at least, until this year. Welcome to Arduino! This is an open source coding platform, where you can put together hundreds of projects with the electrical layouts, codes, and pictures of operation provided! The actual hardware is around $20 for a basic board, and you can get a pack with different LEDs, resistors, wires, and other fun stuff for $40. The software itself is completely free and the possibilities are endless!

They have tutorials to get you started, and some basic codes to practice on; or, if you think you're up to the challenge, take on bigger projects, like controlling a robot with your mind!

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Follow a Whim! Write a Novel!

It is nearly November, which means NanoWrimo is almost upon us! What is NanoWrimo you ask? Oh, only the best month for a writer to be alive! National Novel Writing Month, which just so happens to be November, gives writers all over the globe motivation and inspiration to write. The goal of the NanoWrimo site is to write 50,000 words in one month, however everyone should consider it a win if they write anything that they wouldn't have otherwise. So many think it is crazy to attempt something like this, since they see it as a waste of time. Maybe you are an armature, at no one thinks you could ever get anywhere with what you've written. Well those of us affiliated with the Whimsical Workshop try every year, put forth our best effort, have failed and succeeded, and plan to do the same this year! Never give up on your dream, go forward with your works, and everything will work out. We look forward to what the next month holds, and wish everyone happy writing!

Try your hand at sewing! We sure have!

For the first 17 years of my life I had never sewn. It always seemed like the thing that people who had their life together did. My mother was never one to sew, which made the task of learning even more daunting, but eventually I decided to make my own choices! One week with a couple hours a week is all it took to get the basic skills to attempt most projects. Of course there are things I will never quite understand in difficult patterns, and that's fine. If you head to any craft store, I guarantee you there will be someone who understands what you need to find out. So where to start? Of course you can watch videos on YouTube, or check out classes in your local area, but I find the internet just as useful. For getting comfortable with the notion of sewing and tackling new projects, sites like Colette seem very useful. Once you seem to get on a roll, you can find loads of patterns online like this or this . Eventually you will feel you are in a place to experiment ...

Can one learn all the languages?

Language is something that I think we all take for granted. We speak and communicate. However, what comes out of our mouths has a lot to do with the culture we were raised in. This is the time of constant networking, and connecting across the globe for both personal reasons and business. Study abroad programs have become more and more popular, and many non-English speaking nations are now teaching their youth English in hopes to bridge the gap. That works for the basic needs of communication, but there is so much more to learning a language. Values, ideals, history: all of these are intertwined into the fabric of a languages grammar, spelling, or even their different vocabulary. So how does one learn a different language? Well, I hope to one day be a hyperpolyglot, but I am far from that right now. I find that different methods work for different people, and maybe you will learn one language better one way, and a different language better a different way. Nonetheless, here are the ...

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