So day 4 of my video-a-day thing is tomorrow, for which I shall be uploading “Hello, Planet”, which is a little deviation from the original schedule. Because….

Today I learned both parts of Magnet, which was fine, but then came the editing.. oh lordy the editing. I have reinforced the fact that I cannot edit at all. I have reinforced it so much, in fact, that I will not be doing Magnet ever without a partner ever again! I can only facepalm myself and say “fail, addie!” over and over in my head till I find someone who is a good dance-learner and also not embarassed to do silly vocaloid dances in public (harder to find than previously thought..). Along with not dancing Magnet alone, I think I will not do Matryoshka, Panda Hero, Promise, and Cantarella alone either (too many partner interactions.. I apologize!). I will be on the hunt for another vocaloid dancer this summer/fall so I do not inconvenience anyone too much.

It gets better though! Lots of Rin and Len dances coming up this weekend! Everyone likes Rin and Len dances, right?!  I’ll even throw in one of the Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder dances! And with a bunch of the duet dances put aside, I can maybe speed up production next week? Maybe? I’ll see how I do over this weekend :D If it usually takes me 1 to 2 hours to do a duet, and 30 min to an hour to do a solo, theoretically I could do 2 dances on days I was saving for duets (theoretically..)!

My sister’s high school graduation is this Saturday, which makes me feel old. My extended family is coming down for that, and they’re always fun to see :)

This week’s marathon starts with cheating! I’m uploading a mirror today, because I got home a couple hours ago, which cut into my workout/dance-learning time. Running > dancing, so no dancing today! Tomorrow is Happy Synthesizer, then the next day is either Magnet or Kiramekirari, and we’ll see where we go from there!

I’m going to upload a video a day until I get tired, which might be next week, or it might be next month, who knows. I’ll try to get a lot of dances out of the way for as long as I can though. The requests are coming in in greater numbers than they used to, and I already have a second list that’s longer than the one up already… I need to make supply equal demand at the moment, or I just might be overwhelmed. It’s going to be pretty fun! :D

I’m moving all dances to next week, and uploading exclusively mirrors for now, because I’m bogged down with school at the moment, and I have too much work to do before this weekend. Sorry for the inconvenience! Regular scheduling will pick up sometime next week, like it even matters… v.v

And an update on exciting news, my Luka cosplays are done for the weekend! I have a “Just Be Friends”, “Happy Synthesizer”, and Original Luka cosplay all for the con this weekend, and I’m super exciteddddd :D I’m super proud, because I made most of the stuff myself! I want to get my photo taken by lots of people!! ^^I still have plenty to do before the weekend, so wish me luck!

Someone PMed me today, and I got to answer a really awesome question. Just how do I speedlearn? How can I learn a dance in 25 minutes when it usually takes a couple days? Is my memory really that good? (it’s definitely not ^^;) Here’s my reply (warning, it’s looooong ^^):

Hi! I’m actually really glad you asked this ^^ It’s a complicated issue that I have researched, as I was puzzled myself for a bit! I hope this explains it!

Alrighty, let’s see.. Speedlearning a dance is like cramming for an exam. It’s really not the best way to permanently learn something, but it comes in handy if what you’re learning only needs to be remembered for a short time, like a final exam (cramming) or 5 minutes of filming (speedlearning).

Now, most people cram for an exam wrong, which is why most people say cramming is bad for you, but really these people haven’t prepared properly. The same can be said for speedlearning. That is, I prepare most /everything/ that doesn’t involve actually learning it a few days to a week before. This includes picking out a song, getting a feel for the movements (watching the video fully a few times through), reserving a room, getting the music, looking for versions that show other angles of the dance, and making sure stressors don’t fall on the same day as practice-time.

Another thing that makes cramming for an exam hard is the siren’s call of procrastination. When most people say they cram for an exam, it’s ten minutes of studying and twenty minutes of internet ^^ Cramming effectively takes a massive, MASSIVE amount of focus, and speedlearning is no exception to this rule. I do not think about ANYTHING else besides that particular dance; no procrastination allowed. Even my thoughts are focused on learning, letting my mind wander is probably the worst thing I could do while learning something in a short time. That being said, this is also a prime way of getting burnt-out; it is very very exhausting, and I’ve canceled sessions when I’m not in the right mental state to try it.

A big advantage I have that not everyone else does is that I was a really intense dancer growing up (though it may not show now), so I’m more in tune to my body than most. Being a trained dancer also helps in recognizing moves performed by someone else, as dance class consists mainly of memorizing small combinations. I watch videos unmirrored and normal speed, because that’s how I was brought up learning dances.

Another aspect to this would be practice. I had a lot of practice from my past, but I’m also getting better at this type of learning as I do more videos in the present. I’m learning dances slightly quicker, and I can focus more on presenting myself (smiling mostly ^^;). In my first few videos (two-faced lovers is the best example..) I looked pretty pissed off, but that’s because I was so focused on replicating the dance that I forgot stage presence (see ‘focus’ paragraph). Compare that to my newest dance, Packaged, and you notice that I smile a lot more… that’s definitely me improving (I hope!).

Now, if I had the choice, I would definitely learn it at a slower pace: the common way, just like I would do my homework instead of doing all this cramming ^^ My schedule does not permit me to spend more than a couple hours a week learning dances, though I wish it did. I have no recollection of dances I did months ago, and I have to relearn these dances if I want to do any sort of real performance. I’m actually planning on relearning a couple dances for an upcoming anime convention, as I would be ashamed performing them as I presently remember them.

Anyway, I hope this answers your questions! I certainly enjoyed putting my recent thoughts into words ^^ If you have any other questions or maybe suggestions, let me know!

hahaha PS: I think I average around 40 minutes a dance, I definitely do not learn most dances in 25 minutes ^^; The only ones that took me 25 minutes were Rolling Girl and Ilevan Polka, I think. The reason they are quicker than the others is that they are a bit more repetitive (and short). (Bad Apple took me 2.5 hours!) ^^

So, as you can see, speedlearning isn’t all that incredible when broken down into parts. I’ll update this explanation as I think of new aspects, but this is pretty much a rough outline of how I do what I do! :D

My break is over, and I’m back in school for summer sessions as of today. This means no more goofing around, back to business! For this session, I’m taking a philosophy class and brushing up on my chemistry for next session. I dislike most humanities, philosophy being no exception, but I’m anxious to see what this class will be like. I’m definitely looking forward to labwork during July! I think I’ll be having a good amount of freetime, so I’ll be doing dances again!

Speaking of that, in terms of dances, I took a three-weekish break and was uploading little dances I had in my inventory. That’s over now, and I’ll be getting back to other dances. I came back to a ton of comments and new people.. but I think youtube messed up on comments that I’ve replied to, so I’m starting replies from scratch from this point on (if I haven’t replied to you during the last couple weeks, I apologize!!). Getting back on track will be the goal for this week internet-wise. The dances I’m doing this week are Packaged and World is Mine (uploading Packaged today). Next week will be Magnet, Kiramekirari, and Happy Synthesizer.

A schedule of sorts again, as I have been a neglectful Addie, and have not updated in a while. I’m uploading saved videos currently, which will put me back from a surplus into a demand (unfortunately for me). Number 50 is coming up soon (World is Mine). That’ll be fun :D

For 46-49, I’m putting up the rest of my stock, which is Beware of the Miku Bacteria, Packaged, and the Carnival Phantasm OP dance. That leaves room for one mirror, which’ll probably be Change Me.

I don’t really have much to say this week, except that I’m planning on doing Rolling Girl and Llevan Polka on Thursday and Friday. Next Tuesday, I may experiment with a greenscreen, maybe do a dance like Magnet? That’s an idea I’m playing with anyway. Short update, heh.

Edit: I’m pushing back Rolling and Llevan to next week, for I’m super busy and will only have time for running tomorrow. Sadface. Oh well ^^;

I think I’m all better! I didn’t have any problems attempting Ura-Omote this morning, so I think I’ll put an end to this break :) I’ll do an easy dance on Thursday though, for I need to catch up in school work I missed last thurs and fri.. maybe First Kiss, Llevan Polka, or Look This Way Baby (haven’t decided yet, but one of those three) Probably hopefully maybe Bad Apple next Tuesday; I feel really bad for putting it off for so long, but I think I need two hours to learn it instead of just one (being long and not my typical genre) so it gets the back seat when I’m deciding which dance to do. Mirrors will also come out sporadically this week, I think people asked for Tell Your World, Clover Club, and Luka Luka.

Nothing much else to report; time for class anyway. ^^