Google: The New Religion - Powerpoint Edition

~Let's take a journey together, and let reality mix with the dream realm~

The essay is finished - but we're not done yet, 

there's still the PowerPoint to make

there is certainly no reason to fret

we'll make a presentation that just takes the cake!

All with Google's presentation

in all it's holy certification.

So it's been a while! Sorry for going off the charts like that. To explain myself I've been preparing for college and trying to relax a bit before my birthday and before I go back to school on the 18th. It's been exhausting. What's important is that I'm back and better than ever so I'll be posting at least once to twice within two weeks!
We're back to the basics, one of the most commonly used Google drive applications that could be utilized more to create an even better presentation is Google's version of Microsoft Powerpoint, called "Presentation." It's fast, though it doesn't have nearly as much flexibility as Microsoft offers, it's still a good makeshift with it's own pro's and con's. Microsoft focuses on creating a professional program to be utilized for business purposes with numerous applications in the real world as well as a vast amount of flexible tools to help achieve this - while Google seems to focus more on the aspect of simplicity and user-friendliness. In Google, you're able to email as well as share your documents much more easily, plus it's free! It's also available to you anywhere you go so if you don't have your flashdrive, if you have an internet connection, you're good to rock n'roll! Oh, plus you can also add images without having to save them to your computer by inserting them in your powerpoint via link and this also means you'll be able to add mpegs (moving pictures) into your powerpoints as well.

Some of my tips to you are to really try to make your powerpoint stand out and look really clean-cut and edgy - just overall to reflect your work ethic and personality while still staying relevant to the topic. You can do that by adding pictures or using layouts that you find available on the internet. There's billions of resources out there to really amp up how amazing your presentation is, you just have to look for them. You can even personalize your backgrounds by using photos or mpegs and moving them to the back. 

Basic Toolbox

(*= the little triangle on the side means you can scroll for more options)

Add another slide*- As stated in the title, you can add another slide to your powerpoint and choose the layout as well.

Title Slide - The first slide that you use to title your presentation 

Tip: Don't just use a bland title, try to mix up your title a bit to add some spice into it. You can change the font to harmonize with the content and slide as well. Usually, in the second text box, you can label it with your name, your class, the period, the date, as well as the project title (the name it goes under in the gradebook) or the club its for, etc. 

Body Slide - Body slides are like condensed paragraphs, you should utilize bullet points but not put your entire script on the slide. It looks really unprofessional if you keep looking at your slide and reading off everything. If you need to put your script in the notes where it says "Click to add notes" so people can refer to the information later.

Insert (Text box/Image/*Shape/*Line) - Separate and make different bits of information stand out by creating your own layout for all the different information clips.

Format background of one slide - Here you can change the color of the slide's background, use an image as the background of a slide or reset the background.

Change *layout of current slide - You can change the format of the title box/text box/images to present information in a different way.

Theme for all slides - These are preset or pre-created layouts for all of your slides, once you choose one, it will show up on the rest of the slides, unlike layout or background.

Transitions - This will change when you present your powerpoint, as it changes from slide to slide, you can change the manner which your next slide is presented.

Present button - Press this button when it's finally show time! Make sure you check this out before you present to make sure everything fits on the slide.

Tips

1. Try to be minimalist as possible, think of the 4 C's. Clean, clear, concise and correlate.
2. Make sure your text or images don't go over the slide - if it looks too crammed or stretched, it's better to condense it or find something else to work. Get to the point. (the 5 W's & H)
3. Use the one step above rule, depending on how official the presentation your presenting is, dress one step above.
4.  Go beyond the text. Sometimes it's fun to give a small BUT RELEVANT compelling story to convince readers of importance. Talk to your readers, interact with them. Don't talk at them, you're not being paid to be their teacher.
5. Make sure  you cite where your information is coming from appropriately. This includes both text and photos.  You'll find that it'll be easier just to make it a habit - you'll be able to refer back and you'll also be crediting the person who publicized the information. 

That's pretty much all I have for you guys this time around, I'll be posting soon to make up for some of the lost time! On the topic of Sam starting his own blog, I'm really proud of him and super happy that he started his own blog and I'm thankful to have had Sam work with me on Dream Dealers and help me start out this blog. He's a really hard-working guy and he's going into his senior year so I wish him best of luck and hope that you guys can check out his blog linked in his goodbye post!  

Until next time dreamers-sweet dreams,

Marilyn Nguyen

Goodbye!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this looks like a final goodbye. I'm sad to be leaving Dream Dealers, but at the same time I am excited for the new horizon. 

I would like to give special thanks to Marilyn Nguyen for allowing me to work with her over the course of last year, and wish her luck as she goes to college this upcoming year.

If you are interested in continuing to follow me, check out my new blog, High School Aspirations.

Bye! See you guys on my blog!

~SQ

Google: The New Religion - Word Edition

~Let's take a journey together, and let reality mix with the dream realm~

It's been 6 hours since school ended. 

In that time, you ate some after-school snacks and chilled watching the TV.

Now it's 6 PM and it's about time you started that essay the teacher assigned.

Hah! As if: it's nearly dinner time. 

So you decided to chill out and play some video games, scroll the net and just goof off until dinner. 

Now dinner is done and you've "digested," your food. 

Time to start on that essay! 

Only to realize, you don't have Microsoft Word or Word on your computer.

Don't worry! With a Gmail account, you are able to use all of Google Drive, included Word!

Phew, thank the lord for Google.

Let’s face it, there are brilliant people in the world - our aim in life is to become one of the greats. The thing is though, you don’t really realize you’re great until you’re acknowledged. One of the companies that I want to acknowledge the most and has saved my arse throughout my high school career is Google. Google is a great company to work at and I love their work. Honestly, it’s amazing how much you can do with Google if you are resourceful about it. I loved their April Fool's prank with Google Maps and capturing all the Pokemon. Google is probably one of the top engineering companies and is practically the Disney of the entrepreneurial world. While Disney focuses on entertainment and making dreams come true, I think that Google really allows you to build your own dream - for those people with ideas rejected numerous times, as well as those people who just want to learn, it really isn’t just a search engine anymore. It sets itself apart from Disney in the way that you, as well as their workers, are given the freedom to experiment and really bring to life whatever ideas that they can imagine.  Although Google programs may be limited compared to companies like Microsoft or Dropbox who specialize in these programs, there’s still a lot in terms of flexibility available to users in terms of style and formatting. Today, we’re going to talk about one of the most commonly used programs to date - Google "Word".

Basic Toolbox

(*= the little triangle on the side means you can scroll down for more options)

Print - Print everything in the borders of the paper of the document.

Undo - Reverse your last action. (Like if you accidentally deleted something)

Redo - Repeats your last action (I.E. if you typed ‘life,’ and pressed this it would add more e’s at the end since your last action was to type an ‘e’)

Zoom* - This button zooms in and out of the paper so you can get an idea how much more (or less) you have to write. You can also zoom out to see 2 pages at a time as well.

Styles* - This basically changes the size/font to preset options you choose from to emphasize different titles and headers.

Font* - Changes the font of selected and the following text.

Font size* - Changes the font of the selected and the following text.

History - This is the editing history of your document. Every time you edit, it should be noted if you click this area here. You can see all edits past/future by scrolling over and hovering your mouse over different days. This deletes eventually though unless you get a specific add-on for it. It also auto-saves for you as long as you have an internet connection.

Font: Bold/Italic/Underlined/*Text Color/*Highlight - So here you can manipulate the font to emphasize certain words or phrases you have highlighted by left clicking and dragging.

Insert Link - Allows you to post a hyperlink to a website or link a website onto your document for quick reference online.

Commentary - This is for spectators or yourself on your document; they can highlight a section and comment their opinion on it for feedback. You can still edit the section and it will still be highlighted but whatever you edit will be gone.

Alignment of the text - These four buttons align the text’s format on the page in order to save you time formatting.

Line Spacing* - This button allows you to format the spaces between each line of text.

*Numbers/*Bulleted Lists - Allows you to create lists.

Indentations - Allow for custom formatting of the content on the paper.

Clear formatting - Undoes all formatting done to the page.

Comment View - Allows anyone to view the comments

Publication - Edits the publication so you can share the document online to work together on group projects or allow other people to comment, view, or edit your paper.

TABS

1. File - Here you can share files, make/open new ones, rename, make a copy, move to a specific folder to organize/move to the trash, look at revision history or download it to your computer as well as publish to the web or email collaborators/email as an attachment.
2. Edit - This is where you can fix your errors by undoing, redoing, cut, copy, paste, look at the copy/paste clipboard, and find and replace words with synonyms.
3. View - You can edit the format the program shows you like the ruler, or printer preview format, equation toolbar as well as change the mode (editing mode/suggesting/viewing mode)
4. Insert - You can make your paper unique with this by adding images, links, equations, drawings, tables, footnotes, special characters, horizontal lines and page numbers/counts/break/header/ footer/bookmark/table of contents.
5. Format - Diversify and emphasize your content by reformatting it to be bold, italic, underlined, have strikethrough, superscript, subscript as well as edit the paragraph style, adjust the text alignment, line spacing, or add lists and clear formatting.

1. Tools
1. Spelling - Checks your spelling on a highlighted word or anywhere in the document.
2. Research - Brings up a little tab on the right side to do research so you can multitask.
3. Define - defines any highlighted word.
4. Word Count - Counts your pages, your word count, and your character count with or without spaces.
5. Translate - Translates your document into another language (though I don’t recommend it. Languages is one of Google's infamous weaker points.)
6. Preferences - This is basically for you to adjust, making symbols such as copyright, ½ or ™.
2. Table - For when you want to insert a table but are too lazy to use excel. Only drawback is that all the rows and columns have to be the same amount. You can’t have one column for a title for the table. If it’s 2x2, you can’t put a row above as a title for the data. Pesky, but manageable.
3. Add-On’s - Kind of like apps/power ups for your Google Word (I recommend Easybib for citing your sources). You can download add-ons to customize your program to help you.
4. Help - Basically a search engine for tools on the Google Word program.

Until next time dreamers-sweet dreams,

Marilyn Nguyen

March to the Rhythm of Your Own Drums

~Let's take a journey together, and let reality mix with the dream realm~

You open your eyes to the sound of rumbling in the distance as you march

You hear the shrill scream of a flute playing behind you, 

playing the tune Yankee Doodle.
The rifle in your arms continue to rumble from the thunder in the distance behind you, 
clattering against you as the beating of the drums push you forward to your destination,
Whilst you synchronize with it.

Music - a medium that has walked alongside human kind throughout millions of decades, is not only used to express sentiments of love, hatred, sadness, self-doubt, human victory, and downfall, but to form a sense of unity that resonates in the human race.
Humans are a paradoxical race - we constantly contradict and disagree with one another. In music, we celebrate our differences and agree to disagree. Music has been used through loosely- interpreted dance movements and strict rigid dance moves, conveyed through instruments, through the length of the note, the pace, the pitch, and the harmonizing (or lack thereof ) of them all to create a mood to convey a message. Whether through the movements of the dance to the message of the lyrics or mood of the tune that curls along your senses, in music, there are no wrong moves - you simply play and create. 

"Music comes from a musician, not an instrument.  A language works best, when we have something interesting to say. Many music teachers never find out what their students have to say, we only tell them what they are supposed to say." - Victor Wooten. 

I get people left and right asking about "What kind of fundraisers should our club do" or "What kind of socials should our club do"? While it's great to have an eclectic mix of ideas at your fingertips, you need to know that what works for one club in one place or one time, may not work again. Humans work off past experience in a chain of action and reaction. We try something, then wait for the outcome - if we like the outcome, we repeat again. The world moves at 30 kilometers/second, spinning at the same time around 1,000 miles per hour. You really think that if you hit repeat, the same situation is going to keep on happening again and again? Of course not! We're humans, a rapidly developing (or deteriorating) race. You were not the same person you were when you were 2 or 5, and you certainly have changed the tune of your own drums since then. You need to experiment, do the new, find something that is special to you!
             So, honestly what does this all have to do with extracurriculars? Every club, at each school, each year has its own melody and adjusts to the people who have left and arrived.
Mix it up! Members change all the time - the beat of your club represents what ALL or at least a majority of you have to say. Not just you. Not just your board. Your entire club and the members. So don't just ask your board for ideas, ask for ideas from your members.  Don't just reject ideas because you think it's impossible -come up with halfway points or possible alternatives that work similar to their idea. Work with what is possible - you are all a team walking toward the same goals. A club isn't about doing what you or your board specifically want, and even though sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions because you believe it's what's best for the club, but you also need to know that a club isn't made of 1 or 5 people. It's made up of each member that dedicates the time to come to meetings, drive up for different events, arrange socials and fundraisers, etc..
Harmonize! Being in a club is a two way street and you need your club to be on the same key. You can't just be like, "I think we'll have a social tomorrow because I feel like it. Everyone will know by word of Instagram."  Sometimes you won't be in the mood to do things, but you need to at least feign it so you don't bring negativity to the table and ruin the mood.  Fake it till you make it. Sometimes when you are excited about something or you smile, other people smile and laugh with you.  You want to inform members of your decisions as well as progress on any goals you had at the beginning or really anytime during your term. By letting them know the progress, you'll be able to keep them motivated and drumming along to the same unique and one-of-a-kind beat from your club.

Until next time dreamers-sweet dreams,

Marilyn Nguyen

What's Up?

Hello, readers!
Sorry for being unable to publish new articles recently! I am happy to say I am a recent graduate of NJROTC's Leadership Academy, and I've been *WHOA* busy ever since I came home.

I just wanted to let yall (I live in Texas, remember?) be aware of what'll be happening soon. I have decided to leave the Dream Dealers writing team, and will be instead making my own blog to write about topics to avoid meandering in this one. The decision was difficult, but frankly, I did it out of respect for what Marilyn has going on here.

Don't worry, I won't be too far away. Once the blog is set up, I will be sure to link the site to this one. For now, I will remain the Dream Dealers' Editor until the end of July. I will withhold on writing articles until I can establish the blog. I hope to see you all soon!

~SQ

Drama Lama's Diva Days Part 1

~Let's take a journey together, and let reality mix with the dream realm~

For those days when no matter how nice you are,

 you still end up with spit on your face.

            So first off, I want to apologize for my tardiness in making articles - it's been busy trying to work on the blog while handling summer activities - but I assure you - right now I'm in the works of a huge article that is going to be beneficial to all of us in the long run! I will be gone from June 30 to July 7th but I'll have articles that will be released every Friday in my absence. Thank you for being patient, it means so much ;o; Anyways, this article will be a new segment, all about dealing with high school drama. I'd be lying to say that drama isn't going to pop up at any age or place in any form or extent. No matter how squeaky clean a person/club/group looks, you're going to come across some sticky situations - so if you guys have stories you'd like to tell - or get a second opinion on - feel free to email us at dreamdealersguestblogger@gmail.com; don't worry: everything will be anonymous. Please note that some details may be changed or censored/rephrased due to awkwardness in phrasing.
           So this first story sent in from Aladdin called, "Blame Game."

 I remember in Freshman year, I used to call this person my best friend. We were literally close until I got with my 3rd ex. She warned me so many times and I still didn't find anything wrong with him but yeah, I know I was young and stupid. Anyways, after I broke up with him she kept making accusations about my ex and I started getting really annoyed because he didn't do much. Then she started blaming me for things I didn't do- for not hanging out with her or blaming my ex for stealing something, then she would be like "Why are you so stupid?" She called me this one night and was threatening me of my personal relationship stuff. Seriously? You already f***ed up my relationship, even though it was a rebound and now your trying to f*** my life? I broke down so much I almost started cutting. I always had scissors with me and I'd stare at myself like, "what is life anymore?" Yeah. She, my ex and I don't speak to each other at all. ;-;

Sounds like you're in a tough quagmire there Aladdin! First things first, you should NEVER consider violating yourself because of anyone else or even your own reasons. Resorting to self-violence doesn't solve anything and it only creates more problems. I have no room to judge people who do or have cut, but one thing that you should note is, how would cutting benefit you anyways? The thing is, it doesn't. It's only a temporary fix for a problem, the thing with temporary fixes to problems is that it's like clogging up the sink - the problem doesn't magically go away. It gets worse when you leave it to sit until it eventually can't be held back and is released in a blind rampage. It's best to try to talk things out, even if you don't want to, this way you can sort out misunderstandings and cut them at their roots.

One thing that you should keep in mind is that there are different kinds of relationships -friendships, careerships, familyships, and loveships. Love comes in all different kinds of forms and types and people show their love in different ways. Sounds like you went through a total titanic moment between the three of you. I've got to say that relationships sometimes can get mixed up and get messy - we all go through it. There's always that one friendship where you and your friend like the same guy - or the opposite, where your friend doesn't like the guy you like and you have a clash because of it! Your friend sounds like she was trying to look out for you but ended up getting frustrated with you and the frustrations lead her to some sort of resentment that she kept locked up until she called you that night.  It doesn't sound like this story ended on a good note - in fact it seems like everyone just ended up with llama spit on their faces.  Try and make up with your friend - if you can't, just know that there are plenty of new friend and relationships out there in the future and that people are not always out to get you - sometimes accidents happen and you just have to make the most of what you have and keep moving forward.

So that is the first article in our series of Drama Lama's Diva Days. If your interested in sending in your story please emails us at dreamdealersguestblogger@gmail.com . Please fill it out to the most you can as short or long as you like! We can't wait to hear from you guys. :)

Subject -Title of Article/Your Nickname
Content-(Suggested Questions below)
Who is involved in this story(feel free to use nicknames)?
What happened? What did they do? What did you do in reaction to what they did?What is their relation to you?
When did this happen?
Where did this occur?
How did you react?
Why do you feel that the other party is in the wrong?

Until next time dreamers, sweet dreams.

~Marilyn Nguyen

What are Clubs (and other definitions)?

Note: all definitions are my own personal definition only and may not reflect the terminology used in everyday language.
As Marilyn and I go through a lot of topics that we want to talk about, I forgot that we should be talking about something that is very important: why clubs as an extracurricular(s)?
Now, there are a lot of types of choices in the extracurricular world, and today I'm going to be writing about one that seems to take a significant chuck out of that pie: clubs.
Actually, the "why" part will come in a later article.

Hold up. What are Clubs?

Glad you asked, faithful reader! From my noggin right now, I can come up with many different activities that would count as extracurriculars: clubs, organizations, academic competition organizations, jobs (which would warrant its own special spot on a resume separated from its constituents), special projects not affiliated with any standing group, internships, Honor Societies...the list goes on and on. Time for definitions!

An extracurricular is anything that you do outside of coursework at school, including any extra extensions of coursework, such as significant long term projects. And, as you can imagine, that means a lot of variety. No wonder this section is the most varied part of a high school student's resume!

As for the difference between a club and an organization, the line gets blurred, and the names become interchangeability most of the time. A club is an official or non-official group, on school grounds or otherwise, that consist of members that share the same interests. So, take groups interested in singing (not affiliated with a school's choir), Anime, or an ethnicity pride and culture encouragement group: all would be considered clubs. In my eyes, an organization is a group that is affiliated with other groups at other places (not necessarily schools), usually under the direction of a higher hierarchy and share the same name. These may also qualify for the definition of a club (such as Key Club International), or may not be and instead be the extension of a school program (such as JROTC or a musical department-the key here is some participation outside of normal school hours), and by no means do these groups have to work together within the larger organization (which many don't...GO KEY CLUB FOR BEING UNIQUE!).

A job is work, with a great emphasis on making money (i.e. you'd be angered if you were paid very little), and internships are unpaid (usually) or paid, with the main goal of experience instead of making money (i.e. it's acceptable to be paid very little because it is understood that you don't have the skills yet and are still learning).

Academic competition organizations/clubs are groups solely focused towards competition, such as HOSA-there are truly many out there too numerous to count.

Honor Societies are worthy of special mention. They are selective to varying degrees (much argument and debate can be done about this, but this isn't the place for it).
With the majority of clubs and organizations, there is no true requirement to get in, and application, if any, to enter is relatively simple: paperwork and membership dues. However, honor societies such as Japanese Honor Society, NHS, and the Thespians (there are a great number of societies covering all sorts of subjects and interests) have screening processes: they don't just accept anyone that walks in. Usually, demonstration of skill or other excellence in the area (what would the area of excellence Chinese Honor Society be looking for, I wonder?) is required to meet certain criteria for joining. You HAVE to be accepted to join these, while clubs and organizations, when sanctioned by school authorities, usually cannot select membership without being accused of being discriminating. There is also usually a criteria to stay in the honor society as well, which, when not met, can mean being booted.

And last but not least, there are the special projects and anything else outside of school.
An example of a special project (which usually are limited in time span, be it short or long) would be a high school orientation counselor team, or a Homecoming planning committee-something that is usually set up by the school and recruits its members from all walks, regardless of club/organization memberships or none at all, if a person chose not to join any.
The "everything else" is basically everything else not previously listed. Music outside of school, team or individual sports, martial arts, community service outside of a service club or organization, all of these and probably more fall into this category.

I hope that this was helpful! Feel free to leave comments below if you have any questions!
~SQ