New Stuff to Learn
When I was thinkingabout retirement, I took to heart the adage that one should never give uplearning new things. It went hand in hand with the realization that the scienceI knew was too far out of date for me to attempt to write science fiction. So Istarted reading science magazines to try to learn Where Science Was At Now, andwrote in other genres in the meantime.
Shortly after Iretired, I started publishing, and that required I learn things like editing,formatting a manuscript into a book, and things like that. (And Marketing,which is a never-ending challenge.)
Recently, I signed upfor a one-on-one online class. I didn’t think about it at the time, but ideally,this class would require a camera and a microphone attached to my computer. Mycomputer had neither. I tried to make it work by using my cell phone to call into the classroom, but the url was long and complicated, and my fat littlefingers kept hitting the wrong keys. After half an hour of our hour-long timeslot, I suggested we reschedule for the following week, and promised I wouldhave a microphone by then. I couldn’t imagine them being very expensive.
When I mentioned toHubby that I needed to drive to Best Buy for a microphone (about 15 miles ineach direction), he said we had a couple mics he wasn’t using, he’d dig one outfor me. Later that evening, I found a giant box on my desk. Inside was a hugeSnowball microphone.
Procrastination is afunny bird, but it does tend to light a fire under you when a deadline islooming. My next ‘class’ was scheduled for today. Yesterday morning, I decidedI’d better get a move on with getting a microphone set up. I had found aheadset with attached mic a few days ago, so I decided to try that one first.But first, I needed software that would record audio files.
Both my youngest sonand my hubby suggested I download Audacity because it was ‘fairly easy’ tolearn to use it. So I downloaded it AND set it up on my computer, all bymyself! Okay, the computer did most of the work, I just hit a button here andthere. But I basked in the glory of having done that much.
After much studying ofthe Quick Guide and a couple of tutorials, I finally figured out how to make atest recording and then listen to it. I was surprised at how tiny the squiggleswere on my test recording, and when I listened to it, I could hardly hearanything. So more studying and more testing, and I finally figured out how toup the volume. Success! And a good thing, too, because it was time to makesupper.
As we were watching tvafter supper, it dawned on me that I had made the volume changes in Audacity,which I would not be using during my class. Obviously, I needed to find someway to adjust the volume on my computer. To make a long story short (I know,too late), I found a couple of places in Settings to test the microphone. Ifanything, the output may be a little too loud. Maybe I’ll have to whisperduring my class.
Anyway, I learned somenew stuff. Before this, I had some nebulous thoughts on how I could use audiofiles. Now that I’ve got a little bit of knowledge on how to make them, thosethoughts are already blossoming into full-fledged plans.
Wish me luck!
