Catching up: 8 random things about me

Huh, what a busy August! After a lovely Greek vacation (I highly recommed Greece for vacation - great food, great people, crystal clear sea!) I had one of the busiest week (and weekend) ever: all the catching up with RSS feeds, mails + intensive work on two different projects... and the result of that is that I still haven't managed to reply to all mails (bad Alja, bad!), and I'm also late for my blogger homework, which was assigned to me by The Four Eyed Technologist 12 days ago (so says Technorati :) ). So, it's now time to stop making excuses and join the "8 Random Things" game that has been spreading around the blogosphere for quite some time now. I admit that I've been reading many random things about many of you in the past weeks with quite some interest, so it's only fair to do my share now :)

First, The rules:

1. Post these rules before you give your facts.
2. List 8 random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them.
4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged.

My 8 Random Things:

1. I trained track and field athletics for about 10 years in different disciplines; I started in first grade in long distances, and ended up doing long jump and 60m/100m hurdles. I wasn't too bad at it (even got into the national team once), but I quit because I lost my interest in competitions.
2. At the end of elementary school I wanted to study chemistry, but then lost all interest for it in high school and turned towards computer and social sciences.
   
3. I love animation movies and cartoons in general. On my top list are Pixar movies (this short one is imho enough to explain the brilliance of Pixar) and Japanese sci-fi animes, but I like to watch just any animated thing that pops on screen.
4. I don't like travelling much, especially by car. I keep hoping teleport systems will be invented in my lifetime :)
5. My interested for education highly derives from the fact that I was bored at school 90 % of the time, and I spent most of that time drawing various sketches in my notebooks.
6. I am shortsighted - couldn't get far through the day without glasses or contact lenses! Part of it is inherited, and part of it is the price of being a computer geek and living behind computer screens.
7. I love the sea; now that I don't live by the sea anymore, I really miss the sea air, and the wind you only get on the coast... And thinking of that always reminds me of the song "Gente di mare".
8. I had compulsory Italian classes for 12 years in school as I lived in a bilingual zone (near the Slovenian-Italian border). And now I haven't really spoken it for 5 years! I still understand it very well, but I don't dare to speak or write it anymore - and that's something I'd like to change.

So, I hope you found my 8 random things interesting :) Now, I should tag 8 more people, but I feel like so many of you already played this game or been tagged, and I also don't want to make anyone play this game, sooo I will follow Angela's example (and KJ's ;) ) and invite you readers of this blog, who want to be tagged and share with us 8 random things (I assure you: it is quite fun and painless! :) ) to leave a comment on this post and I'll add you to the list, ok? :)

List of great bloggers that will be happy to share 8 random things:

1. Daniel (not a blogger (yet! ;) ), but he shared some interesting things in his comment)
   
2. Christopher
   
3. position open
4. position open
5. position open
6. position open
7. position open
8. position open

Gotta Get Goals Meme

I admit: I've been a bad blogger lately. I've been tagged for my first blog meme over 3 weeks ago, and I still haven't done my homework :blushes: I'm glad that I can now finally take some time to add my post to the Gotta Get Goals Meme, for which I was tagged by Eduardo Peirano (also, check out his College 2.0 network on Ning), who also wanted to learn about my goals.

I admit it took me some time to write this post. I'm in a way at a turning point of my life - just got my bachelor degree, and now I'm trying to get a full time job and continue with my formal education. And although I'll probably continue in the field I'm already so involved in, it certainly is a good time for me to think about goals, and all the things I'd like to do in the future.

So, after much thought, I have decided that these are the most interesting goals for me right now:

• I'd like stay on track with recent developments and best practices in the the field of e-learning, and also in other fields that can help me with my work or are just interesting for me (for example informatics, psychology, communication science, marketing, graphic design,...). My goal is to keep my eyes open for new discoveries, to keep reading, keep asking questions, meeting new people, learning something new every single day, and trying to apply new knowledge both to my professional and personal life.
• I'd also like to continue with my formal education. My goal is to find a good online master and later a doctoral program connected with e-learning, during which I'll be able to improve myself as an online learner, and of course continue to reflect on my work as an online tutor.
  
• I'd like to continuously improve my tutoring and teaching skills, and try to share my passion for my work with my students, colleagues, and anybody else that is willing to listen ;) With that I'd like to inspire people to discover new things that are not necessarily related to a single course subject, and to start viewing the process of learning as a daily activity and not just as part of a formal educational setting.
• I'm my lifetime I'd also like to learn another foreign language - currently I know English and Italian (although I need to improve my speaking and writing skills in Italian!), and I would once like to learn a language that is completely different from the languages that I already know. Currently, Japanese looks the most tempting for me. Why? Because it is something entirely new, because it'd also give me the opportunity to get to know a different culture, and because it would enable me to watch Japanese anime in the original language :)
• I'd also to continue blogging and make my blog an interesting place to visit at least once a week :) Although blogging takes a lot of time and effort, it gives back so many wonderful rewards that I certainly hope I'll be able to actively use my blog as my starting point for learning for as long as possible.
  
• And at last but certainly not least, I'd also like to continue making the lives of people closest to me (my family and closest friends - you know who you are) brighter with tiny thoughtful displays of affection that show them that I care about them and that they are special for me. By doing this I'd also like to thank them day by day for all their love and support - because that in the end is what fuels all my passions and makes me go on.

Eduardo already tagged some people I'd have wanted to tag, but one person he didn't tag, and I would like to learn more about, is Joan Vinall-Cox.