When the next “task” among the series of learning for our zone of proximal development was given, I was actually excited and glad that it has something to do to with learning itself, be it learning a new skill, overcoming our fears, breaking a bad habit or establishing a good/new one.
I have decided to correlate my actions with what I've written in my dream journal. From there, I have realized that I need to strengthen my connection with other people, for I have been caught up in the cycle of everyday depression. And since the best way to cure that emotional and mental “phenomena” of mine is to straighten out my relationship first with my very own family, I made my personalize calendar of action points.
What’s that? Well, it’s just my way of establishing a good habit, at least for me, a habit of everyday interactions with the members of my family. Because honestly, I’m not really close to my parents and older sister, only with my 8 year old little brother. Most of the time, a day just pass without me talking to anyone, I mean after coming from school, I do my stuff, eat, sleep, wake up, and repeat the process. What a lazy-ass, standoffish am I! I suck! Boo me! Rawrr!
Moving on, please see the attached copy of the calendar I printed out and posted inside my sister and I’s room (we share the same room but it does not help for us to get close). The original copy has been unfortunately messed up with lots of my personal scribbles, too disgusting to be shown. Just kidding. I have been typing my “comments” for each task I imposed upon myself, thanks to technology it reduces the risk of it being exposed to others. Yes, I’m shy to show this to them. Too early for super closeness. Maybe someday I’ll go there. Yes, in the near future.
Now, for my contingency plan, I used the positive reinforcement technique (wow, I really love saying the word technique, sounds like a ninja =). I was able to do my everyday action points by fooling myself that I will have the right to watch 1 episode of an anime a day. Yes, now watching an anime on weekdays is no longer a sin since I have given myself a valid reason to do so. I won’t have to wait for weekends. Gyehehe. Sounds like a child, right? But that’s how shallow my happiness is. Furthermore, seeing my bond with my family getting better as I did those unusual things from my point of view is the more effective reinforcement I received from this activity.
I was actually planning to give myself a negative punishment by not watching AND reading a manga if in case I couldn't do the task for the day. That’s a major predicament for me that’s why maybe fortunately I didn't have to. Nyahahaha. I worked my pride off just to do those stuff. I’m such a bad girl, aren't I?
Part II: “At Last I Learnt It”
This is an offshoot of my bonding time with my little brother. We were watching an anime together when he said he wish he could read and understand the English subtitle. Aww. My heart ached. It has been also my longtime frustration in life since I want to be able to help in the propagation of the goodness and greatness of anime, and not just be a leecher who just waits for other people to shower down the blessing. In other words, I want to be of use. Even to my little brother. So the idea of making a Filipino version of the subtitle hit me. The problem was I didn't know how. By the power of Google vested upon us humankind, the answer was given to me.
The next problem was what’s the best program to use and how do I use it. Since I hate reading very long instructions, I succumbed to the YouTube’s side. And so I found this very cool program: Aegisub
As you can see (or cannot since the picture is so tiny, sorry for that), the video you want to sub is shown in the upper left corner, the audio is on the upper right, while at the bottom is where you write the subtitle. You just have to tweak it up a little bit for the timing and styling the fonts, it’s a very cool program. Regarding my learning process, as I've said I looked for a video tutorial since my attention is better with visual aids, here’s a sample screenshot:
As you can see in the previous picture, I did put a “mark” on the video to prove that it was I who did it. The written words are: psych101 learning activity g.h.a. and on the first few seconds of the vid, I also put a watermark – g.h.a. psych101 (g.h.a. is my initials).
It actually took me almost three hours to finish my first ever subtitle, and remember it was just a three-minute video. Familiarizing myself with the features of the program was not that easy.
But as I continued making a Filipino subtitle for the next episodes, I noticed that my time has become shorter, from three hours to two, then to one and as of now, I can finish a three-minute episode in thirty minutes. The anime has actually 26 episodes and I’m currently on episode 13. Whew!
After doing the subbing, it was saved as .ass file (advanced substation alpha) so I needed another program to merge it with the video. What I found is just for a softsub but I guess it’s enough since hardsub files are larger. This is what I’ve found: the mkvmerge
Doing all this subbing really made my little brother happy. And I can feel that now he has this “wow” feeling towards me since I was able to boost my “power” with this new capability. Haha.
Now, I’m planning on finishing Chitose then do another Filipino kids-oriented anime. I actually want to share it with other kids, that’s why I was looking for a site that is willing to host it. What I found so far is this group called “KadiriSubs” which just started this May 2013. It’s a very cool and funky Filipino group of anime enthusiasts who also do Filipino subbing.
I know I’m still such a newbie but there’s no stopping me. Happy learning to me! =)
By the way, here's the Calendar of Action Points I've mention. I got this idea from my youth org.
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