Maybe it's just me, and the fact that I didn't go into a math related field of study or profession. As a young child, I was subject to a lot of various math competitions, such as Math Olympiads, and I went to a lot of various classes ("summer programs") which my parents enrolled me in to improve my math and problem solving abilities. The word problems hence were designed to be tricky and convoluted in the methodology of solving it. It's effective in enabling the student to handle high capacity mental challenges, and complicated calculations and logical trains of thought. However, the problem with that is, that it conditions the student also (at least it did for me) to always look for the complicated answer first. The nature of the problems always encourages students to try the complicated or "hard" way first because the painfully and obviously "easy" way is always wrong or doesn't work. Better to start with the convoluted method that almost always guarantees a sensible answer of some sort than the simple method that potentially could result in a dead end.
I don't know, this is sort of an epiphany to me I guess... It is I suppose in the light of taking the GMATs, the math isn't really very difficult, but I feel like I would be doing better on it if it were. The problem that is created is that Math Olympiads and problems of the sort promote over-thinking of exceptionally simple problems. This perhaps explains why some exceptionally brilliant mathematical minds seem to always underperform when it comes to standardized testing. I'm not by any means saying that my mind exudes mathematical brilliance, far from it, I believe I have a very average notion of mathematics and things of the sort. However, having grown up with this kind of problem solving training, I definitely believe that my initial reaction or move to solve any problem is to make it more complicatd than necessary.
In conclusion: mathletics isn't necessarily bad, certainly there are merits to being a mathlete, and benefits in scholastic achievement. However, make sure you supplement it with simple problem solving too. Otherwise, don't be overly surprised if the SATs or something sometimes seem like its jipping you out of something.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
I Think I Like Writing
I do, I really do.
Ever since getting on the blog scene, I've been pretty content with doing this sort of stuff fairly regularly, enough so that I've casually considered a career shift that would enable me to get paid to do something like this. Wouldn't that be swell. The problem in and of itself, I suppose, most often isn't necessarily the desire to write, I'd have a new post every other hour if I could, but the simple fact of the matter is that I don't really have that much to write about sometimes. I suppose it's something rather natural, something known as "writers' block". It happens to me fairly frequently, and thus I don't have anything to come out with. Specifically though, I like this form of communicative writing that enables to me to in a sense "converse" with people through the screen. One of the quirks (I like to think of it as a quirk) is that the way in which I write is something that I would actually say to people. I hope that it reads more like something of a conversation than anything of an academic work or something. Of course, it could just be the case that my conversation is always stodgy and uptight.
It's not that I haven't tried the whole writing thing before, I've actually made a foray at attempting to write a novel, specifically in the fantasy genre. Unfortunately, my narrative is somewhat lacking and my ideas a little unoriginal, so that didn't go very far. As you few readers who look through this blog have realized, I don't really have all that much to write about content wise, hence the lack of posts. My NBA blog I update extensively and regularly, though I don't know that I'll be anything of an expert nor would I be anywhere near I think getting paid to do that. Likewise for cooking, sans the regular updating thing.
All in all, I think I've found another thing I like, but I don't know that I could make a living of it. I've pondered the option of journalism, but that would require me to go back and redo school, which is something I don't know if I'm necessarily inclined to do, or maybe supplement with something of a communications focus, perhaps that's another option. However, I don't know that I'd be a very good columnist save for an opinion article here and there. It hasn't been explored extensively, but then again, I don't know that many of my hobbies and viable career options have been.
So, yeah, in conclusion; I like writing, I just don't have a lot to write about sometimes. I think.
Ever since getting on the blog scene, I've been pretty content with doing this sort of stuff fairly regularly, enough so that I've casually considered a career shift that would enable me to get paid to do something like this. Wouldn't that be swell. The problem in and of itself, I suppose, most often isn't necessarily the desire to write, I'd have a new post every other hour if I could, but the simple fact of the matter is that I don't really have that much to write about sometimes. I suppose it's something rather natural, something known as "writers' block". It happens to me fairly frequently, and thus I don't have anything to come out with. Specifically though, I like this form of communicative writing that enables to me to in a sense "converse" with people through the screen. One of the quirks (I like to think of it as a quirk) is that the way in which I write is something that I would actually say to people. I hope that it reads more like something of a conversation than anything of an academic work or something. Of course, it could just be the case that my conversation is always stodgy and uptight.
It's not that I haven't tried the whole writing thing before, I've actually made a foray at attempting to write a novel, specifically in the fantasy genre. Unfortunately, my narrative is somewhat lacking and my ideas a little unoriginal, so that didn't go very far. As you few readers who look through this blog have realized, I don't really have all that much to write about content wise, hence the lack of posts. My NBA blog I update extensively and regularly, though I don't know that I'll be anything of an expert nor would I be anywhere near I think getting paid to do that. Likewise for cooking, sans the regular updating thing.
All in all, I think I've found another thing I like, but I don't know that I could make a living of it. I've pondered the option of journalism, but that would require me to go back and redo school, which is something I don't know if I'm necessarily inclined to do, or maybe supplement with something of a communications focus, perhaps that's another option. However, I don't know that I'd be a very good columnist save for an opinion article here and there. It hasn't been explored extensively, but then again, I don't know that many of my hobbies and viable career options have been.
So, yeah, in conclusion; I like writing, I just don't have a lot to write about sometimes. I think.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
I Don't Get "Professional Writing"
So, I don't mean professional writing in the sense of like authors who write books, or journalists who write news columns or anything in the sense that your writing is what makes you money. What I do mean, though, is the whole idea of how to write a professional looking document with all the fancy language and the non-use of personal identifiers, and how it has to "sound professional". Basically, like all those papers we had to write for school. This comes in light of my studying for the GMATs and doing a review on the essay section.
Maybe there's a certain merit to looking all polished and such, but given the context of the GMAT the purpose is primarily for communication anyways. Sure, I'd be less inclined to utilize slang, and such terminology, but I'm a little baffled by all this pretense. Why can't I write it like I write this blog? I probably communicate just as if not more effectively this way, and if people were to come talk to me about whatever it is I'm writing about, then I'd probably explain things the way I'm explaining them now. I don't get it.
That's my gripe for the day, I'm done. It's just how things work, and I suppose I have to deal.
Maybe there's a certain merit to looking all polished and such, but given the context of the GMAT the purpose is primarily for communication anyways. Sure, I'd be less inclined to utilize slang, and such terminology, but I'm a little baffled by all this pretense. Why can't I write it like I write this blog? I probably communicate just as if not more effectively this way, and if people were to come talk to me about whatever it is I'm writing about, then I'd probably explain things the way I'm explaining them now. I don't get it.
That's my gripe for the day, I'm done. It's just how things work, and I suppose I have to deal.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Current Reads
Finished up with some, but still working on most of the same ones. Added a couple new ones to the list, but with GMATs and everything else going on, I've been a little preoccupied.
Finished Good Life, excellent book, highly recommend everyone read it.
Current Reads about Life:
The Four Loves by CS Lewis
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoffer
Current Reads just for fun:
Eulalia by Brian Jacques
The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Finished Good Life, excellent book, highly recommend everyone read it.
Current Reads about Life:
The Four Loves by CS Lewis
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoffer
Current Reads just for fun:
Eulalia by Brian Jacques
The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
All or Nothing
Something I've been thinking about a little while is the idea of compartmentalization. I think it's something that happens because we feel like we need to organize our lives. I don't think I exactly thought of it this way though. If you think of the idea of "big picture/little picture" thinkers then come to the idea of compartmentalization then maybe you get a little closer to what I'm thinking about. Hopefully this conveys my thoughts on the issue adequately, but of course, I doubt my communication abilities do my theories much justice, then again, perhaps there's not much to be had from such theorizing, regardless, I appreciate the time that you (the reader) take to peruse and consider what I have to say (write) and the attempt (however meager) made to understand my point.
We live a world where everything needs to have a time and place, everything is categorized, filed, and organized accordingly. If you go to a store, items are sorted by type and arranged accordingly, in a music store there is a guitar section, an acoustic section, a bass section, a live sound section, a keyboard section, a recording section, a miscellaneous items section, etc... in a supermarket there is the fresh produce section, canned goods, dairy, frozen foods, meat, juices, beverages, etc... Likewise, we've been encouraged to perform such organization with our lives, and to some extent it's helpful, we have work, school, recreational hobbies, family, friends, and various other things in our lives that we can make various categories for. We take each experience and then neatly file it away under a specific category in our lives. In some instances, things might fall under a couple of categories which might make things a little messier, but it's still manageable nonetheless.
The problem with this view is that life invariably is more than the sum of its parts, and there are things that call from us our entire being, not just a part. The "here and now"s of life require our everything, and if we're not all here, then invariably we miss out on something. Not to say that we ought not look at the future and plan what may be had, but we ought not be reserved or hesitant because of what "might be". When we start planning based on hypotheticals, then we start holding ourselves back, we miss out. Life will be that much sweeter if we learn to immerse ourselves in what we have now as opposed to what we might have in the future.
Maybe I'm being "irresponsible", but I think the fact of the matter is, that we live in the here and now. There's no point in fretting over something that hasn't happened yet, in fact something that might not even happen. I don't know what's going to happen, plans have changed for me several times, I've gotten it wrong enough times to know; I miss out of I hold back now. I feel like that I cheat myself of a lot if I don't. Hopefully this made sense to whoever is reading it. I hope.
We live a world where everything needs to have a time and place, everything is categorized, filed, and organized accordingly. If you go to a store, items are sorted by type and arranged accordingly, in a music store there is a guitar section, an acoustic section, a bass section, a live sound section, a keyboard section, a recording section, a miscellaneous items section, etc... in a supermarket there is the fresh produce section, canned goods, dairy, frozen foods, meat, juices, beverages, etc... Likewise, we've been encouraged to perform such organization with our lives, and to some extent it's helpful, we have work, school, recreational hobbies, family, friends, and various other things in our lives that we can make various categories for. We take each experience and then neatly file it away under a specific category in our lives. In some instances, things might fall under a couple of categories which might make things a little messier, but it's still manageable nonetheless.
The problem with this view is that life invariably is more than the sum of its parts, and there are things that call from us our entire being, not just a part. The "here and now"s of life require our everything, and if we're not all here, then invariably we miss out on something. Not to say that we ought not look at the future and plan what may be had, but we ought not be reserved or hesitant because of what "might be". When we start planning based on hypotheticals, then we start holding ourselves back, we miss out. Life will be that much sweeter if we learn to immerse ourselves in what we have now as opposed to what we might have in the future.
Maybe I'm being "irresponsible", but I think the fact of the matter is, that we live in the here and now. There's no point in fretting over something that hasn't happened yet, in fact something that might not even happen. I don't know what's going to happen, plans have changed for me several times, I've gotten it wrong enough times to know; I miss out of I hold back now. I feel like that I cheat myself of a lot if I don't. Hopefully this made sense to whoever is reading it. I hope.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Beyond Simply Patience
I haven't written much recently, and perhaps that's not necessarily a bad thing. In some respects I suppose I'm my own harshest critic and therefore my own worst censor. On the other hand a lot of random junk doesn't get thrown up here because of it, and perhaps it's better that way, the Internet already has enough of that already. Then again, this could possibly be construed as random junk. Anyways, I think I probably already wrote about this somewhere, I have the recollection of doing so, but I want to revisit this simply because it's something that I feel like God has been pounding into me again and again.
Over the past 20-some years of my life I've had 4 major relocations. That's not a lot by any stretch of the imagination, I know people that have jumped from country to country throughout their childhood, however, it's enough. My most recent and shortest relocation being moving approximately 850 miles south from Seattle to the Silicon Valley. The furthest relocation being a 7600 mile move from cozy old Niskayuna, NY to Hsin-Chu, Taiwan for two-and-a-half years, and then an about face and back. In the middle is a 2800 mile move from Niskayuna to Seattle for college. Within the course of the past 4 years or so I've had to move a good 9-10 times within the local area, so I'm pretty familiar with the whole moving process and all that. So what's this have to do with anything?
I think the major thing that I've learned from the frequent movement is that I really can't take anything for granted. Furthermore, I can't afford to be idle, lest time pass me by and take away whatever opportunity that I may have had for growth and development of relationships. God put me in each and every situation for a reason, and for that reason I'm there. It's no good to sit and ponder if I should be somewhere else, and even if I plan to be somewhere else, I'm here now. I don't know if I'm being clear, but the lesson is this, make the most of what you have now. I may not plan on being where I am a year, maybe two years from now, I may more may not see my plan through for various reasons. However, any time I hold back because I don't plan on being here, I'm losing out. Any time I spend worrying about what may be is a moment lost in the here and now. If I say, "I'm not going to commit to anything because it's only short-term" then in essence I idle away whatever time that "short-term" period denotes. If that's not a waste of time I don't know what is. I am where I am, I need to make the most of what's in front of me.
Over the past 20-some years of my life I've had 4 major relocations. That's not a lot by any stretch of the imagination, I know people that have jumped from country to country throughout their childhood, however, it's enough. My most recent and shortest relocation being moving approximately 850 miles south from Seattle to the Silicon Valley. The furthest relocation being a 7600 mile move from cozy old Niskayuna, NY to Hsin-Chu, Taiwan for two-and-a-half years, and then an about face and back. In the middle is a 2800 mile move from Niskayuna to Seattle for college. Within the course of the past 4 years or so I've had to move a good 9-10 times within the local area, so I'm pretty familiar with the whole moving process and all that. So what's this have to do with anything?
I think the major thing that I've learned from the frequent movement is that I really can't take anything for granted. Furthermore, I can't afford to be idle, lest time pass me by and take away whatever opportunity that I may have had for growth and development of relationships. God put me in each and every situation for a reason, and for that reason I'm there. It's no good to sit and ponder if I should be somewhere else, and even if I plan to be somewhere else, I'm here now. I don't know if I'm being clear, but the lesson is this, make the most of what you have now. I may not plan on being where I am a year, maybe two years from now, I may more may not see my plan through for various reasons. However, any time I hold back because I don't plan on being here, I'm losing out. Any time I spend worrying about what may be is a moment lost in the here and now. If I say, "I'm not going to commit to anything because it's only short-term" then in essence I idle away whatever time that "short-term" period denotes. If that's not a waste of time I don't know what is. I am where I am, I need to make the most of what's in front of me.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A Thought on "Personality" Tests
By "personality" test I'm generally referring to something along the lines of Myers-Brigg assessment or the Carl Jung test or something along those lines. Those four random letters that people seem to spout that supposedly tells you everything about them. Are you ISFJ? ENTP? INFP? ESTJ? BXYQ? ASDF? It seems kind of ridiculous after a while, yet a lot of people get really into it and some people make a pretty big deal out of it. I've taken a number of them before, I've been everything from ISFJ to INTP, though most consistently I'm something of an INTP, and I suppose it fairly accurately describes me, but a lot of it seems to something of posturing as well. Honestly, I don't really see how any of this really counts for a whole lot. Certainly it's a form of behavioral sciences to an extent, but simply put it's trying to define us by what we do. I must be an "I" because I am more frequently alone than with other people. I must be an "E" because I enjoy being at the center of attention at times. Sure I think it has its merits, it allows us to understand tendencies and the patterns in which people behave to better help us interact with one another, but honestly, do we really need it?
At what point does it vary from "oh, that's just his/her personality" to being some kind of cop out for a means of behavior? I feel like a lot of times we live in a society where if we can explain something that makes it okay, regardless of the consequences. We live in a society of justification, if you can spout off enough reasons that smatters of legitimacy, if you can convince enough people that your case was something of an exception, or that you were in an extenuating circumstance then anything is permissable then you are always right. If you want it put shortly, we live a society of lawyers. Not to say all lawyers are like that, however, there's that idea that if you can sell your case strongly enough then it's okay, if you can get away with it, it's not wrong. So how does this tie in with a Myers-Brigg assessment? I appear to have deviated onto a major tangent here. To bring it back to my original point, I believe that the more people fall into these "personality" categories the more they pigeon hole themselves into something that they are not. We're a society that likes to label without looking like we're labeling people.
From personal experience I have found that interaction with other people is largely something that is developed. Sure it comes more naturally to some than to others, however, I believe that each person is capable of change. Through the labels of INFJ, ISTP, ESFP, etc... then there creates a sort of boundary. In our attempts to explain ourselves we also devoid ourselves of any reason to change. I believe there is a difference between being accepting of someone for who they are as compared to being a doormat. In any social interaction there is a certain amount of etiquette to be observed, however what these labels successfully do is toss out that etiquette because that's "just who people are". Sure I can buy that, but that doesn't make it okay. For any good thought experiment to work, we need to take it to an extreme, say I'm belligerent by nature and just smack any random person I don't like the look of. That's just the way I am. Doesn't make it right. If that's who I am, and who I am is not right, then I need to change it.
Now before people start bashing me for bashing Myers-Briggs and Carl Jung let me speak in their defense. They are positive for the purposes of self-reflection. In understanding ourselves we can then make that move to improve the areas where we are weaker, to work on being more outgoing if we're introverted, on being more understanding of others feelings if we're more rational and calculating in thought. When it becomes something of, "this is who I am, take it or leave it" I think then that it's a useless label maker that doesn't really do anything except marginalize people.
At what point does it vary from "oh, that's just his/her personality" to being some kind of cop out for a means of behavior? I feel like a lot of times we live in a society where if we can explain something that makes it okay, regardless of the consequences. We live in a society of justification, if you can spout off enough reasons that smatters of legitimacy, if you can convince enough people that your case was something of an exception, or that you were in an extenuating circumstance then anything is permissable then you are always right. If you want it put shortly, we live a society of lawyers. Not to say all lawyers are like that, however, there's that idea that if you can sell your case strongly enough then it's okay, if you can get away with it, it's not wrong. So how does this tie in with a Myers-Brigg assessment? I appear to have deviated onto a major tangent here. To bring it back to my original point, I believe that the more people fall into these "personality" categories the more they pigeon hole themselves into something that they are not. We're a society that likes to label without looking like we're labeling people.
From personal experience I have found that interaction with other people is largely something that is developed. Sure it comes more naturally to some than to others, however, I believe that each person is capable of change. Through the labels of INFJ, ISTP, ESFP, etc... then there creates a sort of boundary. In our attempts to explain ourselves we also devoid ourselves of any reason to change. I believe there is a difference between being accepting of someone for who they are as compared to being a doormat. In any social interaction there is a certain amount of etiquette to be observed, however what these labels successfully do is toss out that etiquette because that's "just who people are". Sure I can buy that, but that doesn't make it okay. For any good thought experiment to work, we need to take it to an extreme, say I'm belligerent by nature and just smack any random person I don't like the look of. That's just the way I am. Doesn't make it right. If that's who I am, and who I am is not right, then I need to change it.
Now before people start bashing me for bashing Myers-Briggs and Carl Jung let me speak in their defense. They are positive for the purposes of self-reflection. In understanding ourselves we can then make that move to improve the areas where we are weaker, to work on being more outgoing if we're introverted, on being more understanding of others feelings if we're more rational and calculating in thought. When it becomes something of, "this is who I am, take it or leave it" I think then that it's a useless label maker that doesn't really do anything except marginalize people.
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