Mental illness in adolescence update

Currently, I have researched only three illnesses in depth. These being schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety. In preparation for the end of the month, I have already started creating my visual. (Nothing fancy-a simple old PowerPoint). I am thinking about making the project slightly more on a personal level by taking experiences from people I know that are diagnosed with these conditions, but I'm not sure if I would be able to find a willing participant for every illness. I think that's about it for an update. I could probably go into what all the illnesses treatments and such are but that is taking away from the actual presentation, so I won't do that.

This month, I am doing my project on mental illness in adolescence. The first reason is that after high school, I want to major in social psychology and become a psychotherapist/neuro-scientist. These fields often encompass mental illness during child/adulthood. Secondly, myself and one of my best friends suffer(ed) from a variety of severe disorders. This is one of the things that prompts me to want to study this because it is relaypteable for me.

Challenge 2

For my second 30 Day Challenge, I decided to learn about sound recording and editing systems and how to use them. Since I alrady have a number of electirc instruments- including a guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and multiple microphones- I only needed to buy an interface and download software onto my computer. I went to my favorite store in existence and one of the most useful stores to me, GutarCenter. I looked at a variety of different interfaces. Akai, Audiobox, Presonus, Scarlett and other brands were some of the most important of them. In the end, I decided on an Akai Pro which has 6 inputs and 4 outputs. Recording the sound isn't going to do much if I can't turn each channel (or insturmental track) into a single audio file. Instead of purchasing a pricey software package though, I downlaoded audacity which is a free DAW (Digital Audio Workspace).

Ukulele Progress Report
  It's a little less than a week until my presentation for class, and I've certainly run into some problems.
  I decided on a song: I'm a Believer by The Monkees.  I found the song in one of the music book that I found at Guitar Center.
  I continued to practice the song and and individual chords chords when I had the time.  Between band, other school work, and being involved in my brother's activities, I had to find whatever time I could.  It wasn't- and isn't-a whole lot of time.  I did manage to get most of the song finished though! (whoop whoop!)
  Here is where I get into a bit a trouble. While cleaning off my dining room table, I had to take a big pile of things up stairs then failed rather miserably. My poor little Ukulele suffered a fall.  Two strings snapped and the neck chipped, making it pretty obviously unplayable.  I'm still not sure how this whole presentation is going to go Wednesday.. Hmm... time to cry in a corner then.. Nah..
  I think I may just have to do a presentation on something like the basics of a Ukulele. Eventually I'll figure it out.

For my first 30 Day Challenge project, I am learning to play the Ukulele.
  See, its generally a helpful concept to learning to play the Uke if you actually have one that works. Last Christmas, I got a-pretty cheap-Ukulele. It's purple.  I learned to finger pick a few simple songs, but not much more. When I went to find a book to teach myself with, I discovered that they were made for regular concert Ukuleles.  I had a Soprano.  A soprano ukulele is about 3-6 inches shorter than a concert Uke, and plays an octave higher in pitch.
  I've learned how to read TAB, which is a way of reading music. The number of lines on the staff directly correlates to the number of strings on the instrument.  The numbers represent the fret that the note is on.  The other parts of TAB is general to basically all other types of music.  You have measures, note lengths, a key signature, and a time signature.

Example of TAB

  After learning how to read the music I would be playing, I had to learn what my playing position would be. A common method of playing the Uke is finger style.  Playing the Ukulele finger style is simple enough to do for a beginner.  You position your hand to be almost claw like.  Your thumb should rest on the top string and your middle or ring on the bottom string--depending on which is most comfortable. The thumb plays the down strokes and the ring or middle finger will play the up strokes.
  I went to Guitar Center to pick up some music books and began my search for a song.