2 hours for 2 minutes...

Yesterday during Day 3 of SI...I spoke with a colleague about whether or not it would be important for me to put together a video of my life as a writer? The participants of this experience are being asked to do and the fact that I just labeled "them" as participants puts me in the awkward position of being something "other" than that yet...I am participating...aren't I? Anyway...my colleague and I decided that it would be a good idea for the both of us to put something together. I'd just shown her some cool thinking I was doing in a digital space I'm using to put my dissertation proposal together. After listening to me babble about things, my colleague encouraged me to put "something quick" together about what I'd just shown her and to "just go for it." I shook my head in agreement...not knowing about the digital vortex I was about to jump into. When I home...I went about trying to figure out how to get a screen cast application (a way of video-ing what is happening on your computer screen) to work. When I couldn't figure out how to use it...I Google'd it. It was here that I found out that my computer already had the capability to do such things WITHOUT PAYING 6 bucks for an application! Yeah me for learning something new! So...I decided to go with the application my computer already had. It took a while but I figured out how to use it. Then...my next problem was trying to figure out how to layer audio over this masterpiece. I needed another program...iMovie. I've used this awesome tool a few times and my experience with it last night reminded me that like all things new...the only way you get better...is to keep using it. In the span of 2 hours I re-taught myself the difference between a new event and a new project...how to drag a video into the event...then to the project...how to layer audio over the video and how to finalize the whole project. I also learned that I'm not very good at just talking off the cuff while video is running. I ultimately needed my daybook to write a short script to help me through the voiceover. Even then...it took me 14 times to get it close to sounding like I wanted it. 2 hours for 2 minutes.