Studio Notes by Shai Coggins

It’s Mother’s Day

Shai Coggins — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:28:01 +0000

Tomorrow, a number of people from different countries would celebrate mothers on the same day. Here in Australia, as well as the US, South Africa, and the Philippines (to name a few), mothers get to take centre stage.

And, I would like to mark this day to celebrate* my mom and being a mum.

Yes, I have a mom and my kids have a mum.

For someone like me who was raised with American English spelling conventions, and had to adjust when I started living in countries with British English spelling conventions (especially since I’m married to an Englishman and living in Australia!), this whole mom/mum thing can be a bit crazy. But, regardless of the spellings, the sentiments are the same: Motherhood is worth celebrating.

Since I can’t take my mom out nor spend any time with her in person, as we’re living in different countries, I thought that the next best thing I can do is to dedicate this blog post to her – and donate to the 38 for my 38th birthday campaign in her honour.

Being the eldest in the family, my birthday marks my mom’s entry in motherhood. And, when I first sent out a call for supporters for my birthday campaign, she was one of the first to respond. She wanted to participate and so she asked for my help in order for her to contribute, as she’s not really too familiar with online payments. Her intention to help inspired me to donate in her name.

This whole “giving back” scenario also reminded me of one of our recent talks. One evening, while I was on a business trip to Manila and hanging out with my mom and sister at a local Starbucks, we got in to the conversation of what social responsibility meant for us.

It was then that my mom said that one of her dreams was to set up some kind of a scholarship for well deserving youths. Perhaps, start off by helping at least one person to have a good education.

My mom, you see, has always believed that a good education is one of the best ways to help society. Coming from an impoverished background, education became their ticket out of poverty. It was definitely one of our parents’ gift to us. That’s why education is something that I also place a high value on.

Having been known to attempt to fulfill my mom’s dreams for herself, her wish for an academic scholarship is something that I have been thinking about since that evening. I’m not sure yet what’s the best way to do it. One day, I hope to be able to figure something out and extend that as a gift to her.

For now, I’ve just started by fundraising for charity:water, so we can help some people get basic necessities. And, I’ll be on the hunt for a project that will enable my mom’s dream for an academic scholarship to come true.

So yes, for all you’ve done – and all your dreams – thank you. And thanks for being a great lola to my kids. I wish you a very happy mother’s day, mom.

And, for my other mum who’s living in South Africa, thank you for being the best mother-in-law and grandma. Wishing you a happy mother’s day too.

To all my fellow mothers: May your day be full of joy and celebration. Have a wonderful mother’s day!

Disclosure: *Celebrating this year’s mother’s day is a bit of a mix for me. Just getting out of a challenging week (more on this another day), plus tomorrow (yes, 13 May), is my dad’s fourth year death anniversary. It’s always a bit of an emotional day at this time of the year. But, right now, I’m hoping to focus on the joy of what we still have rather than what we have lost.

On things and people that matter most

Shai Coggins — Sun, 06 May 2012 14:44:23 +0000

As I fret over some things that have been bothering me for a while now, my husband gives me a hug and says: “Don’t worry about it. It will be fine. No matter what happens, you’ll find the right way. You always do. It’s not the end of the world.”

He’s right, of course. For the most part.
(Yes, he will be ecstatic to read those words, I know, but it’s true. )

The thing is, knowing he’s there to support me with my choices like he has often done for the fourteen years that I have known him, does make me feel less anxious. More at peace with whatever happens next.

Sure, I’d love to have that same support and trust to flow over in all aspects of my life. But, I know that it is not always possible. I’m just grateful that that support and trust I do have come from the people that matter most to me. Everything else, I will learn how to deal with in time.

That’s why in moments like these, I know that the best thing to do is just to stop and to appreciate what I do have. To let go of things that can no longer fixed and things that I have no control over. To stop working so hard and doing so much.

So, this weekend was dedicated to:

… sleep-ins and naps
… family game night (Creationary by Lego – highly recommended!)
… writing and blogging
… taking pictures
… home cooked comfort food
… home baked goods
… talking to the kids about Important Stuff and delighting in their insights
… cuppas, long talks and hugs with hubby
… watching home videos and favourite shows
… reading by myself – and being read to by my kids
… laughing and inside jokes with the family
… connecting with people who care
… dreaming
… sitting by the fire
… watching my kids play soccer and become much better swimmers than I am
… just pondering about The Good Things

Yes, I will be fine. For as long as I am well with things and people that matter most to me, I will be just fine.

And, regardless of what you’re going through, I hope that you are finding comfort in things and people that matter most to you too.

Source: peasinourpod.com via Shai on Pinterest

Billy Cart Adventure for Charity Water Birthday Campaign {Video Trailer}

Shai Coggins — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:29:03 +0000

When I asked people to support the 38 for my 38th birthday campaign, I also promised something: All supporters who donated to the campaign get to view a never-before-seen video of me that I prefer not to release in public under normal circumstances.

Well, I figure that supporters deserve that kind of thank you at the very least. At least I get to squirm for a good cause.

To give all the wonderful birthday campaign supporters a sneak peak of what they’ll see once the campaign is over, here’s a special trailer I created:

And, as an update: As of this writing, we now have raised $442 in less than one month! Hooray! This means that there will be 22 people served with safe, clean water, thanks to the following people’s generosity:

Arnold Manuel – my smart, youngest brother, based in Toronto, Canada at the moment.
Kari Rohl – a wonderful and supportive online friend for many years now, based in USA). I can only wish we will meet in person one day…
Adam Geniusz – a really cool work-related colleague based in Poland, but met in person in San Francisco last year. He’s fab to hang out with!
Luke Williams – a nice Twitter buddy with a kind heart
Vangie Fuhrman – Another great online friend who’s smart & techie. Based in the USA.
Stanley Woo – Always supportive and sweet, he’s a good online buddy.
Aaron Manuel (and family) – My younger brother who’s based in Ohio, I just managed to spend some time with him, his wife Sally, and cute kids during my recent US trip
Christine Gooding – One of my bestest buddies, based in New Zealand. Met online but hung out in person a few times now. She is one of my favourite people.
Nicola Borgfeldt – A great online friend I met through Studio Notes when she was still based in New Zealand. Met her when she moved to Melbourne a couple of years ago.
Daniel Mateos – One of the nicest colleagues I have at the office. Being the first and only supporter of this campaign, he gets extra points from me. Plus, we both love Game of Thrones.

So yes, thank you all for your generous support! Also wish to say thanks to all who Tweeted/RTd, Liked/Shared on Facebook, etc. Getting the word out also helps!

If you want to join this fantastic group of supporters who will get to view the rest of that video trailer, please consider supporting the 38 for my 38th birthday campaign today.

To reach the target of 38 people served, we only need $333 more. So, all donations – whatever the amount – would be welcome!

In the words of supporter, colleague, and friend Adam Geniusz, here’s his reason for supporting this cause (published with permission):

I really like your b’day and fundraising combination. It is obviously well thought of and wise. Also, since it’s my daughter’s b’day you caught me extra responsive to such initiatives [:D]

In addition, water and sanitation is something that is absolutely essential to any other development work anywhere in the world, so it was more than natural to win me for this (besides of the daughter b’day reason [:-)] .

Thank you for that Shai and I wish all the best for your birthday (btw – i don’t believe you are 38!).

Impressive and inspiring!

Support 38 for my 38th and give the gift of clean, safe water.

#12NTC Highlights from San Francisco

Shai Coggins — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:05:28 +0000

Just over a couple of weeks ago, I was in San Francisco to attend the Nonprofit Technology Conference 2012. This is my second year attending this amazing conference by NTEN and I think I loved it even more than I did the first time around. Something I didn’t expect, really.

As the wonderful, smart and generous Beth Kanter pointed out, it felt more like a reunion. Yes, even though I barely see the people in this community and I live in Australia, attending this year’s NTC felt like a homecoming of some kind. And, Beth was only one of the many that I ended up spending great time with.

In my second year at NTC, I have been asked to facilitate Global Connections: The World of International Nonprofits, which is a networking session for individuals and organisations interested in international NFPs. If you visit the link, you will find a summary of the session I covered. This is my second year facilitating this session as well and I feel a lot happier about it too.

Apart from speaking at this networking session, I was involved in a number of other activities – both official ones (like the Day of Service, where I ended up volunteering at a local senior community centre in San Francisco + a number of meetings and sessions I attended) and the social ones (lost count of the number of dinners and parties I found myself in).

There are so many stories to tell, so instead of recounting each one here, I thought I’d finally use Storify to summarise my #12NTC experience. In this summary, I share a number of tidbits and useful resources that might be of interest to some of you. I’m hoping to write a bit more about some of the fun stuff that I encountered during my US trip, outside of the #12NTC adventure.

For now, I hope you enjoy this:

38 for my 38th: A birthday wish with a twist

Shai Coggins — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:02:05 +0000

On Friday, the 6th of April, I’m turning 38.

Scary, but true.

Then, I found out that millions of people don’t live to see their fifth birthdays because they don’t have access to clean, safe water. Now, that’s even scarier.

Usually, I have a huge hang-up about celebrating my own birthday due to a number of life-scarring reasons. But, nothing quite like the ones who never get to celebrate their birthdays for lack of water.

So this year, I decided that I would finally find a reason to celebrate my birthday. But, instead of parties and presents, I’m giving up my birthday for those who need access to water.

I’m asking for $38 — or any amount you might be able to offer (even a dollar would help!) — towards my goal of raising $775 to allow 38 people to benefit from this birthday fundraising.

I believe every cent of the money raised will go directly to fund clean water projects in developing nations. Also, charity: water promised to show us exactly which projects we end up funding with this effort once they’ve been fully completed (which takes about 18 months). That means we’ll be able to see the communities we’ve helped. So, I’m really looking forward to that before I turn 40!

I haven’t had a big birthday celebration in years. And, although I have donated to a number of causes, I have never done any fundraising for a cause I care about. This is my first effort and I hope that you will help to support this cause.

And, as an added incentive, I am doing something scary for donors/supporters: I am making a private video of myself available to all donors as a “birthday roast”. Hah. Private video can be voted on as either: 1) Of me, falling over from my son’s billy cart (ouch!); or 2) Of me, dancing to a song to be voted on later (yikes!). People’s choice.

This campaign ends at the end of June 2012.

So yes, do join me to make this birthday count. Let’s help to change people’s lives.

Please support this cause today.

On the way to San Francisco and Ohio

Shai Coggins — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:10:44 +0000

In just a few hours, I would be off to the U.S. to attend and present at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco through my work at Connecting Up, Inc.

Last year, I attended this same conference in Washington DC and was excited to witness the nptech scene on that side of the sky in person. There were around 2,000 delegates and plenty of sessions, parties, and events to attend. And lots of wonderful people to meet!

This year, other than the International Nonprofits session that I would be facilitating, I am also looking forward to attending a volunteering session with the Community Technology Network during the day of service part of the conference.

And, unlike last year when I basically just went with the flow regarding dinner plans and such, I am going there fully booked every day this time around. I’m actually surprised that I even had to decline some invites due to prior appointments. Since when did I become such a social butterfly?!

Anyway, as part of this trip, I even managed to organise a couple of extra days to hang around San Francisco to celebrate my birthday and to play tourist. Thankfully, some work friends have generously offered their time to play host.

Then, I am off to visit my brother and his family in Ohio. Having never been there before, I’m curious to know what it’s like. I’m also looking forward to hanging out with my little nephew and niece. It has been over a year since I last saw them.

Now, let’s see how good I can be again when it comes to blogging on the road.

Oh, and yes, here’s my post about this upcoming trip at the Connecting Up blog.

Index Card App for iPad: Featured Writing App of the Moment

Shai Coggins — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:02:09 +0000

I have been searching for the perfect writing app on my iPad right from the beginning. I was looking for something that would mimic the way I like to write on my MacBook. Basically, pretty much the way I like using Scrivener.

Unfortunately, when the iPad first launched, the folks behind Scrivener said that they won’t be releasing an iPad version.* So, my hunt for the perfect writing app had been really tough. I tried several apps for writers – Writers app, Novel 30, and many others that never fully fit the bill. The closest I could get was just a combination of using the Notebooks for iPad app and Pages.

Early this year, however, I finally found the Index Card App.

What’s so great about the Index Card App?

Out of all the writing apps that I have tried, this is the one that I found most useful with the way I write. I like being able to map out a novel, nonfiction manuscript, script, short story, or article using the index card writing method (partly thanks to a series of writing workshops I attended). That’s one of the reasons I fell in love with Scrivener.

And, since the Index Card app has some function that enables projects to be synchronised with Scrivener, this makes this app quite a good tool to have. Unfortunately, I found that this sync option is only easily integrated if a project is started using Scrivener. I haven’t found an easy way to import/export projects started using the Index Card app in to Scrivener, unless it’s just using a compiled text version.

Other cool stuff I like about this app:

Export projects as RTF, plain text, or PDF document
Email or send to Dropbox
Choose which index cards will be included in the compiled version
Make notes ‘behind’ the index cards
Drag and drop cards
Colour coding the cards, with ability to label each either using default settings or settings per project
Stacking of index cards within projects
Word and character count within individual cards
Reasonable price (AU $5.49)

My Wish List for the Index Card App

Unfortunately, this is not yet a perfect writing app. There are a few things that I wish it would include in future updates such as:

- Being able to sync projects more seamlessly in to Scrivener, especially in its index card format.

- The RTF version of the compiled document should work better, as at the moment, I seem to be unable to open it from the Index Card app in to other apps like Pages.

- The ability to format text within index cards (eg, bold, italics, etc).

- Option to have total word count in stacks, complete projects, selected stacks, etc.

- The ability to add images and such in notes.

- More flexibility on how index cards are compiled.

Bottomline

Regardless of its limitations, I find the Index Card App to be one of my most useful writing apps available on the iPad. I’m currently using it to draft and track some of my writing projects.

At the moment, I find this as a useful tool to use for my works in progress. However, I still see using something else like Scrivener (on the Macbook) or Pages (on iPad) to format and finish off my writing projects.

So yes, for me, this is a keeper writing app. At least, until I find something better.

Get the Index Card App from the iTunes store.

* Note: A few weeks ago, I read that Scrivener is now developing an iPad app. I’m not sure when the release would be.

Learning Filmmaking at the Adelaide One Day Film School

Shai Coggins — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:30:09 +0000

Some of you would recall that I’ve been fantasising about filmmaking for some time now. Since it’s a dream that passed my 60-days-to-something approach, it’s one that now persists.

So, when I first heard about the Australian Film Base (aka the International Film Base and Sydney Film Base), I kept my eyes open for the courses that they offer around the country. I wanted to attend its one week film school a couple of years ago, but I didn’t really have the time nor the budget to do so. Instead, I just subscribed to their newsletter, downloaded their free resources, and read the blog posts whenever possible.

Early this year, I learned that they were going to offer the One Day Film School in Adelaide. I knew it was something that I needed to check out. So, with some support from my workplace, I signed up for it a couple of months ago.

And today, I finally attended my first official filmmaking class taught by filmmaker Colm O’Murchu.

Well, okay. Let me amend that slightly. Truth is, I once attended an intensive weekend video creation and editing course, where I ended up as part of a team that made a TV commercial for a program that was aired on telly briefly. But, the Adelaide One Day Film School is the first course that I’ve ever signed up for that really talked about filmmaking.

Things I really liked about the One Day Film School

1. Meeting people who love filmmaking. To me, this is the best part of the course, hands down. Having had the opportunity to talk to people who love telling stories and making movies was a real treat. It was inspiring just to share ideas and encouragement.

2. Learning about the tools and tricks of the trade. Granted, there was a lot of information to cram in one day. But, just hearing about suggested cameras, microphones, tripods, etc, as well as learning the different ways to run a casting call and understanding some filmmaking terminologies, were well worth it for me. They were definitely things that would’ve taken me a long time to learn if I kept to my self-taught ways.

3. The interactive sections made for some lively and inspiring moments. While the mock casting call and mock shooting were entertaining and somewhat useful, I was more drawn towards the story brainstorming activities with a partner. I guess, I just prefer activities that involve the majority of participants. Anyway, to me, the story brainstorm was especially interesting as my partner (Mary Aloisi) and I ended up having so much fun with the story that slowly developed from 5-10 minute discussions. By the end of the activity, I was still chuckling to myself about some of the scenes in my head. And, Mary and I were joking about the possibility of actually filming the story. Thanks to the excitement between the two of us, I ended up busting to write a script. In fact, I did make a start on the script on my way home. Let’s see if Mary and I can finish and film it!

4. Watching some of the films made by former students. I found it quite encouraging and inspiring watching films that were created by “regular people” who simply wanted to tell stories on film. Knowing that they were done on budget and with limited time (mostly evenings and weekends), I was really pleased. It reminded me that if this is something I’d really like to do, I should be able to make it happen.

If only these things happened in the One Day Film School…

1. Communications needed to be a bit more organised. I’m pretty sure mine was somewhat an isolated case. But, I’ve had problems receiving the right communications from the course organisers. In fact, I almost didn’t show up at the event because I was worried that I wasn’t going to find anybody at the Hotel Meridien (venue of the course). Thankfully, my ever supportive husband encouraged me to go and check it out anyway. So, I did. And it was good that I did. At the event, I asked why I never got the information and I found out that the admin was sending emails to the wrong email address.

2. A quick intro/ice breaker. Really, it would’ve been good if we had an opportunity to at least get to know everyone in the group. A quick “hello, my name is, and I’m here because…” kind of activity at the beginning would’ve been a much better way to spend the time than watching an episode of Entourage. This way, people with similar or complimentary interests could’ve gotten to know each other a bit.

3. More variety of participants during interactive parts. A few people seemed to have been called up over and over. Perhaps, partly because they were the bravest ones in the group. But, I really would’ve liked to hear more from the others who could’ve put their hand up, given a bit more encouragement. Of course, I understand it’s not always easy to get people involved.

All things considered…

For a one-day course, we did manage to cover a lot of ground even though the original outline posted on the website wasn’t followed to the letter. That doesn’t really matter overall. Although I did wish the topic of finance was covered a little bit more (eg, best way to find funding for a micro budget film). I know it was covered a bit, and in fact, I really appreciated learning about how much budget I would expect to use for certain types of film – and how I can stretch the budget using different skills on finding location, getting and keeping actors, extras, and crews, etc, understanding and renting gear, etc. Again, these are tips that only people who have been “walking the talk” can give. They’re not easy to find in books. And, even though web searches may help, it would take so much longer to gain all those information.

I’m sure the networking drinks post-class would’ve been a great opportunity to connect with everyone as well. Unfortunately, I had to slip out of class half an hour earlier, as I needed to be home to look after the kids for the evening. Thankfully, some numbers and social media names were exchanged around lunch time and during class, so hopefully, some of us can keep in touch.

So yeah, I was happy that in spite my hesitation to get going this morning, I’m glad I did. If anything, it’s another step towards following this filmmaking fantasy.

Studio Notes by Shai Coggins

It’s Mother’s Day

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On things and people that matter most

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Billy Cart Adventure for Charity Water Birthday Campaign {Video Trailer}

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#12NTC Highlights from San Francisco

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38 for my 38th: A birthday wish with a twist

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On the way to San Francisco and Ohio

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Index Card App for iPad: Featured Writing App of the Moment

What’s so great about the Index Card App?

My Wish List for the Index Card App

Bottomline

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Learning Filmmaking at the Adelaide One Day Film School

Things I really liked about the One Day Film School

If only these things happened in the One Day Film School…

All things considered…

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