Reflection

Use Second Life to tell a story is a very interesting experience. The virtual world shows newbie many resources, such as the wonderful mesh body and the unique animation. It always amazes me that certain object has offered several fun poses and gesture. I put some of them into my story, such as the pose of brushing rabbits and reading the book. With these realistic motions, the spectator may feel more connected to the virtual world. What’s more, the motion with fantastic elements may show the spectator an unforgettable scene, such as riding the dragon. I wish people can share the same excitement and sensation with me as I see the avatar riding on the dragon and facing the sunrise.

Thanks to Professor Mei-Ya teaching me many techniques. I also learned several online English learning skills and put them into my task design. I really like the course about the power of the story. I wish my story can also offer people some positive emotion and motivation. 2020 is a year full of chaos, so I wish everyone can have their own blue birds at their side. Thanks to Professor for offering me this chance to tell the story with E-Book. Although it takes me lots of time to run the simulation, and the bad program nearly drives me crazy, I still feel a sense of achievement for my final work. It may offer me a good standing point when I pursuing my dream for the publishing work.

Other Thanks- Sabrina! My cute and only classmate. Her blog post always talk with a professional tone, but she is a really sweet girl. It is great to have the class with her.

Special Thanks- Xaos Family. I was walking at the social island, then Xaos greet me and invite me on their family island. My computer does not run very fast at that night, so from my point of view, it is a very deep blue color block inviting me on her island. I agree, and I start to build the relationship with Xaos’s family membership. They are all good people! They encourage me to finish my story and use their island and cave for the setting. They show me how to brush the rabbit and beware some adult place. How amazing it is that Second Life connect people all around the world. Their little baby wolf, Fang, is also in my story. How I wish I can have something as furry as Fang in my real life…Ooops, seems Snowball is angry at me now.

The Blue Bird-Other Materials and Tasks

Materials

Virtual World

Second Life

  

Background Music

The Dragon Charmer (Remake), composed by Peter Gundry

Software

PDF Flip

Bandicam

Tasks
Pre-discussion - Prepare for the story
Form a group and discuss two questions:
1) What does the happiness mean to you?
2) How do you think about the symbol of happiness?

Vocabulary- Identify the plot of the story
1.Prepare some blank sheet.
2.Write down the places that the girl has gone to
3.Write down the animals that the girl has met
4.Cut down the paper with each place and animal on it.
5. Scramble the paper and combine it to represent the story.

Vocabulary and Sentence - Build the sentence with the vocabulary in the book
(Step 1 to Step 4 is same as above)
5. Scramble the paper, pick one place + one animal and write down a new sentence with these.
6. May draw a picture to show your understanding toward the words.

Post-Discussion - Think more about the meaning of the story
1.Form a group and discuss these questions:
1) Do you think the girl would be able to become the symbol of happiness, even though she doesn't know the meaning of it?
2) How do you think about the symbol of happiness after reading the story?
3) What does the title "The Blue Bird" really means?
2.Stand out and share your opinions with other people or other group

The Blue Bird- Major Events/Actions

1.The girl would keep asking animals, "Where can I find happiness?"
The animals would answer a place. They would also mention two meaning, one of it would be the word ended with "-ness".
Example-
The girl asks the rabbit, “Where can I find Happiness?”
“In the grassland.” says the rabbit. “It means food and vividness.”

2.The girl's final destination would be the dragon's side. The dragon would reveal the girl's true identity. The girl would learn that, she may not know the true meaning of happiness, but she want to be the symbol of happiness for the others, especially the dragon.

The Blue Bird-Storylines/Scripts

Once upon a time, there is a girl living in the forest. She has beautiful blue eyes and always wears blue shirts and skirts. One day, Starry Sky tells her a story about happiness. The girl gets curious, says “I am going to find happiness!”

With the help of Night Wind, the girl starts her journey.

The girl finds a group of rabbits in the morning. She asks the rabbits, “Where can I find Happiness?”

“In the grassland.” says the rabbit. “It means food and vividness.”

The girl walks around the grassland. The grass is full of life, welcoming her with their green and little heads. She shakes her head and says, “The vividness here means nothing to me. I don’t feed on grass.”

After brushing the rabbits, she leaves the grassland.

She finds a baby wolf at noon. She asks the baby wolf, “Where can I find Happiness?”

“In the woods.” says the baby wolf. “It means freedom and wildness.”

The girl goes between the trees. The trees are high and strong, waiting for the next wanderer. She shakes her head and says, “The wildness here means nothing to me. I don’t run around the trees.”

After howling with the baby wolf, she leaves the woods.

She finds a mouse in the evening. She asks the mouse, “Where can I find Happiness?”

“In the books.” says the mouse. “It means knowledge and cleverness.”

The girl shrugs her shoulders and asks, “Where can I get the book?”

The mouse suggests, “You can get one in my treehouse.”

The girl reads a book under the treehouse. The words in the book are talking about the memorable past and the possible future. She yawns, stretches her body then says, “The cleverness means nothing to me. I only focus on present.”

After making a face to the mouse, the girl leaves the books behind.

The girl keeps traveling.

She goes to the top of the volcano and finds an old Dragon at night. She asks the dragon, “Where can I find Happiness?”

“In my chamber.” says the dragon. “It means wealth and richness.”

The girl goes into the chamber. She finds much coin and many golden decorations. She walks out, shakes her head and says, “The richness here means nothing to me. It can’t meet my demand.”

The dragon says, “How about you stay by my side? It is my duty to guard the treasure, but I feel lonely.”

So the girl stays. During the day, the girl and the dragon greet Sun. During the night, the girl and the dragon greet Moon. They stay at others side. The dragon feels happy. The girl seems a bit lost. She says, “I feel happy and warm...but I do not find Happiness.”

The dragon looks at the girl’s blue dress and laughs, saying gently, “My dear, don’t you understand? You are the Blue Bird that represents happiness.”

In the end, the girl keeps the dragon company. She still can’t grasp the meaning of happiness, but she would like to be the symbol of happiness for the others.

From now on, the dragon and the blue bird always flying together in the sky. As long as they are by each other’s side, they will live happily ever after.

The End

The Blue Bird-Characters

The Girl- Has blue eyes and always wears a blue dress. Getting curious about happiness, able to fly in the sky. Has two black, long pigtails with two blue ribbons on it.

Materials-Mesh Body

Rezology Long Pigtails 2

Hair Ribbon-Baby Blue

* EXiA * Evelina Dress Blue Maitreya

                Ayuna Sandals - Maitreya Beta

The Rabbits- Live in the grassland. Think the happiness means food and vividness. One has brown fur, one has gray fur, and one has black and white fur.
Materials-DFS Rabbit Doe 2

 DFS Rabbit Buck 3

 DFS Rabbit Doe

The Baby Wolf- Live in the woods. Think the happiness means freedom and wildness. Has gray fur and likes to smile at the girl.
Materials-Fang / JIAN Warrior Wolves 8. Timber Wanderer 

The Mouse- Always reading a book. Think the happiness means knowledge and cleverness. Wears a huge glasses on his head. Wears a red shirt and blue pants.
Materials-Oscar

 The Dragon- Live in the volcano. Old and full of wisdom. Know most people's happiness means wealth and richness. Know the girl's true identity. Invite her to stay with him. His think the true happiness means good accompany and fellowship. Has yellow sharp eyes and green, wrinkle skin
Materials-Rideable Dragon

The Blue Bird-Story Time/Settings/Places

Story Time: Present
Settings: A very remote place, full of animals
Places:
Love Isle- Xaos’ Archipelago, Cave and Forest

Lawst Paradise- New Resident Island

Lawst Paradise- Isle of Lawst Sohl’s

The Blue Bird-Motivation/Objectives

I always like the story about the blue bird and the happiness. But at the same time, I've wonder a several questions, "Blue Bird doesn't choose to be the symbol of happiness. What would happen, if it starts to question the meaning the happiness? What would happen, if the bird couldn't grasp the ideas of happiness?" So the story, "Tale of Blue Dress Girl" is born. The protagonist is a girl with blue eyes, always wearing blue dresses. The girl is actually the incarnation of Blue Bird. I choose the image of the young girl, not only because they represents the innocent and pure heart, but also that the happiness may be too hard for a little girl/ a little bird to understand. The girl would start her journey to find the meaning of happiness. She would encounter many animals then find her own answer. I wish the readers may also find their own answer after finish the story.

Second Life- Light is Beautiful

I am not feeling good recently, so I do the project by myself at dorm. Today I tried out some light and  make my setting more complete. I really like the effect of the sunrise. It gives me the sense of hope, feeling the bright future is waiting for us. It makes a good combination for my protagonist, who is the symbol of happiness.

I also decides to use the sunrise for the last scene of my story. The girl would fly on the dragon's back, only show the audience their back view. It is a happy ending for them. The girl and the dragon's future is as bright as the sun. Future may be ambiguous, but they have each other staying be their sides. 

I tried out the night effect for the forest. It is too dark for my taste... but the Fluorescent Mushroom looks mysterious and special here.

The evening effect for the sea is great. The ecology sea-forest is more colorful and vividness. I can feel their energy and life force. They look more like the treasure than the real underwater plants.

The evening effect with the animals have caused a dramatic scene. The fire of the camp looks brighter. The smoke is more obvious. My character doesn't look like she has a friendly chat with the cow and the boar. Instead, she seems to prepare for the beef and the pork for the dinner.

Here ends my experiment with the light. My story for my final project is nearly finished. The girl would go on a journey to find the meaning for happiness. She would keep asking the animals, but get disappointed by their answers. In the end, it is the dragon that offers her a satisfied reply. I really wish people would like my story.

(Draft) Online English Learning - Review the Past and Prepare for the future

Today's blog post, I'm going to share my thoughts toward three students' final project on Second Life. First of all, I must show my great respect for my seniors. They did a great job for this lesson. They show their creative way on telling the story, makes me wonder what have they experienced in their college life.
1.2012 Project: New Princess' Generation
The story is interesting, but the recording equipment is a little bit bad. I think it is better to put on the subtitle. When Snow White said "The sheep is going into the water." I thought it was "The ship is going into the water." Can put on the time card to show the time difference between the present and the past. It causes me confusion when Cinderella is happy then becomes sad for the next second. Then I realized from the script that the happy Cinderella is just the memory.... (OK) I like the gesture design. The characters keep changing their action. Their body language is great and full of emotion. It might be good if their acting voice could hold the same emotion in it. The race car scene is cool. They even have the gesture of opening the car door and sit in it! The background music is intense for the racing car, makes me want to race with them as well.

2. 2014 Project: Hail the Judge!
I can feel the students' passion from this project. Their background and music design is great. I have laughed out loud when the Wedding March comes out. I really like the uses of Chinese culture.  It would be a good material for the foreign students to learn Chinese culture. But I think the plot of the story can have some improvement. Shouldn't Hang Over died in the beginning? How can Smart Bao knows that Wine Lady lied? What is the relationship between the caller and Hang Over? Is it Okay to announce your affair in front of your wife? So many questions in my head...
I like their task design and riddle. Although I am unable to see the completion of their project, it is obvious that they put a lot of effort in it. Their acting is also interesting. I wish they can have a chance to play for the story for the better plot.

3.2012 Project: XIV Stories
(Before the video) A story of the fantasy world! My interest has been stirred up! (After the video) O...K...? I like the background and the setting. The world is full of magical. The elf has beautiful orange wings and I like it. The music is nice and calm. But the tempo of the telling is sort of strange. Sometimes the pause between different characters' talking is too long. The plot is sort of confusing. I mean, Yeen and Lenny just met Christine three minutes ago. How can Lenny say "I would miss you deeply" ? I think it is better if they can put more character relationship development in the story.

Second Life - More Animals, More Merrier

In this week of Second Life, we tried up some gesture. After combining gesture, setting and character, I make much process toward my story. Now I made several revisions, and my story is now focused on the girl and other animals. In the nature of things, I tried to find out as many animals as possible in Second Life.

I found a cow.

I found a black boar.

I found a reading-mouse.

I found a lion.

I found a rabbit with flying ears.

I found another cow (cartoon version).

I found a cat.

I found Sabrina…Just joking, I invited Sabrina.

I even found a dragon!

It’s so awesome. Sabrina and I rode the dragon together. Although it looked like I was riding the dragon and Sabrina was riding me.

“To infinity and beyond!”

I also found some cool places and art. Such as the place full of cherry blossoms.

The gallery about Chinese Ink Art.

You can join Four Treasures in Traditional Ink Art.

The miniature art of Mouse Family.

A golden chamber guarded by Dragon.

A beautiful forest full of colorful light. I think this is a suitable place for my story. Can’t wait for next class!

(Draft) Online English Learning - Fine the Creative Way

Now, let's us learn some unusual way to learn English.
1. Scrabble.
Fun to play, fun to try, fun to learn. Challenge people with your vocabulary account. Scrabble has become popular among the world, and you can download app for you. Or you can buy a set of Scrabble for social party! You main reduce the distance with your friends. (Sort of)
2.TeacherTube
Youtube is famous, but have you ever heard TeacherTube? Students and teachers can post their video on there, with

Second Life - Be The Girl You Like

Second Life is about social, so connecting your friend is important as well. I send Sabrina my location, introducing her the place that I saw last time.

Here is the sea I found. There is a beautiful ecology underwater. Sabrina is amazed by it, and she wears in fabulous taste. Her wedding dress looks lovely on her. On the contrary, I look like a bridesmaid. (I don’t mind) From the picture, it looks like a scene of “Little Mermaid”. The only difference is the sex. Instead a mermaid and a prince, we have a merman and a princess.

Everything is as mystery as I saw last time. I change my hair style and meet a friendly troll. He takes good care of his garden. I really like those pink flowers. I have already decided to make the troll a character in my story.

Then Teacher Mei-Ya called us to gather in a secret location. We take a picture here, exchange some money and some information. Don’t worry, we aren’t doing anything illegal. Teacher want us to find a house, but I think it is not urgent. Maybe next time I will find other places that is suitable for me. By the way, Sabrina change her style into a portable one, so I think I must change one as well.

Then I find out, I can edit my body, my face, my height, my boob size…

So now, I am a little girl!

I know the boobs are too big for her, but she looks so cute. I really like her posture in the sky. I am content with my design. I am going to write a story: a girl in blue starting her adventure to find “Happiness”. The beginning of the story would start in the forest, and she suit it in well. Can’t wait for the next preparation for the project.

Online English Learning- Power of Story

A story is a contextualize, meaningful and structured text. It slowly becomes a manifestation of culture value and prospection. There are many sources to learn the story online. You don’t need to limit your reading on the paper. One can even learn the perspective of speaking and listening from these website:

1)Audible stories of Amazon https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

Don’t need an account, just choose the book you like and listen to the audio. There are many categories under it. You can choose from ages, such as littlest listeners, elementary, tween, teen. You can choose from genre, such as folk and fairy tales. You can choose in language, including Japanese, German, Italian, French. By the way, Harry Potter is so famous so it has its own category.

2) Reading IQ https://www.readingiq.com/teachers

A website that is 100% safe and friendly to kids. Don’t worry about that the kid might encounter with book that is “too mature”. Every book is suitable and appropriate for child to read, ranging from preschool students to preschool students. There are two kinds of mode: Read to Me and I can Read. You have to summit first, so you can enjoy the sources online.

Second Life - New Life, New Style

Second Life, a virtual world for everyone to enjoy. It makes me think of the time of playing online games. My character can fly as high as I like, and the building are majestic.

My first selfie (sort of). It’s actually taken from the high floors of the building. The scene from the window here is more beautiful.

After finishing the basic introduction, I can see many portals waiting for me to explore. Each portal lead to different island, some is about art, some is about nature. One of the island named “Adult Island”. I don’t think I am prepared for the content in it so I just move over to explore other part of the world. The portals have different colors, just like the rainbow.

During the exploration, I found many books.

Found a beautiful landscape. Like the scene from my dream.

Found a beautiful ecosystem underwater. Including a merman. (So cool)

Although the adventure of discovery is fun, but there is a more important thing: CHANGE MY STYLE! Thankfully, a kind stranger is willing to point out some freebie clothe shops for me.

My faith to humanity is improved.

After a long time of changing and shopping, my new style is finally here!

Black hair, blue eyes and white dress. I feel GORGEOUS. With my ability to fly, I feel like a goddess of the sea.

I can’t wait to learn more about Second Life.

Online English Learning- Two Websites that I Recommend

There are many English learning websites. People may not only improve their language skills but also broaden their sight. Here are two websites that is full of knowledge, and may enhance viewer's English language:

(1) Goodreads | Meet your new favorite book https://www.goodreads.com/

If you are a bookworm or a book lover, you would definitely love this website. If you are trying to find a book to stir up your passion toward reading, this website is a helpful tool. The web of Goodreads is a place for discussing book. The web is consisted of book reviews, introduction, Q&A and rated. It has many book genres here, including classic, self-help, spiritual, cookbook, comics etc. You can nearly discuss every kind of book on this website. The site of a book is like this, I use the first book of Harry Potter as an example:

Surfing down, you can see the reader's rated and preview.

Rate the book that you read, give out the reviews that you think. Exchange the ideas with the others may offer you a new view to read the book.

(2) ProCon.Org| Pros & Cons of Current issues. Reliable. Nonpartisan. Empowering.

 https://www.procon.org/

Near everyday, we encounter many controversial topics. Here's a website that offer the discussion and the debate by lining out pros and cons. The website has divided the topics into the genres like economic, international, education, science, gender or most popular etc. For example, I choose to learn more about gender, and there’s a topic saying “Should gay marriage be legal?”

Surfing down the web, you can see the pros and cons.

You can join the web to offer your own opinion, or look into these suggestions and think more about the topics from different view. You don't have to make a conclusion in haste. With the help from this website, we shall learn that every choice has a valid reason behind it.