Virtual Trip

Since the beginning of last month, I'm slowly learning the geography of the world.
My main objective is to remember names and locations of all countries in the world.

As you may know that this is merely a topic from high school geography course.
So I should say "RE-learning" instead of "learning".
But I don't remember much from the course, and I feel that I'm learning something new.

Although my goal is ultimately just learn names and locations of each country,
I want and need to gain more information to solidify such knowledge.
With help of internet, I try to imagine myself sightseeing these countries.
How is the weather there like?
How convenient the public transportation?
Where is good sightseeing spot?

After my virtual trip to several developing countries, I realized that safety is the huge issue in most countries.
For now, beautiful photos are more than sufficient to satisfy my desire.

My Bookshelf

My bookshelf is lack of variety in genre.
I felt that I should explore other field in order to widen my knowledge and to improve my imagination.

First I have to break out from my habit of being stingy.
Second I have to make free space by discarding books which I wouldn't read for the rest of my life.
That requires courage which I failed to acquire in college!

Learn the Taste of Triumph

There are instantly executable things that I'm unmotivated to do.
For example, writing a check for the monthly credit card bill could be done quickly.
Dish washing is another example. Flossing teeth is..still...such a thing.
My rational thinking brain is telling me "just do them right now!"
He knows that once I finished with these troublesome I feel good.
My brain doesn't have to think about it anymore.
However my lazy brain also often tempted me like "hey, we can do it anytime. So do it later."
From experience I really understand that deferation is not a wise decision.
So I have to fight against the temptation from lazy portion of myself.
To become invincible, I have to be addicted and starved for the savor of the triumph.

I Accomplished Something Today!

Hey this is my 10th post of the month.
What so special about it?
One of my goal for this month was to write 10 posts on this blog.
I accomplished it.
Please forget about the fact that I did it with this clumsy post which merely says this is the 10th of the month.
Anyway this gives me confidence.
This accomplishment will be the driving force for the next month!

Do It EVERYDAY!

It was a year ago that I swear...to myself...that I will brush my teeth and use flosses more frequently to prevent getting cavities.
Although I didn't flosses everyday, I did much more frequently than used be.
Acutally I had a secret confidence not having any cavity this time.
But what I heard from my regular dentist was a very brielf disappointing one.
"You have two cavities."

Darn it!
I was so shocked that I didn't want to talk back to him!

Ok. I swear that I floss everyday!
That means I have to make it my habit. Yes, brushing is my habit but flossing is not my real habit yet.

According to a recent book I read, it takes 3 weeks of practice to make something to be your new habit. Three weeks is loooong. But it is a good to have such indicator. With such a concrete number, I feel I can do it this time.

"Imagine is More Important Than Knowledge"

Imagine about how my behavior would influence the other people.
Predict how they react when I take some action.

Then take some action if not inappropriate and observe.
Now I get one sample data.
Reconstruct my model (prediction) if needed then repeat the process at different incidence.

This is a science of human behavior.
First part is essential. I think everybody do "take action" and "observe" part.
But without "Imagine" part, it's not effective.
This will train my observational skill which is good to possess for better daily life.

Get Out of the Chaos

I feel that I know nothing now.
There are too many things which I'm ignorant at.
I have desire to learn those things, but I can't learn everything.
There isn't enough time to learn all.
By thinking so, after all, I have diffiuculty sustain my curiousity.
Consequently I'm not really learning anything meaningful.
I feel that the only way to overcome this dilemma is to give up most things and focus on a few things that I really really want to know more about.
The ability to give up many things for one thing, or the skill to select one from myriad matters.

Sounds easy...why I can't practice it?

My mind is in total chaos, and I haven't figured out what I really have to do....
I guess I have to get out of this maze at first or I'm a unsolved zigsaw puzzle forever.
But once I figure out my direction, I surely can reconstruct my ruler for finer judgement and valuation.

Overcome the first week ordeal (ordeal???)

There is a moment of ecstasy when I actually can feel the improvement on what I'm working on.
And that feeling becomes the driving force to push me even further.

For example, push up exercise:
I could only do it 5 times and give up immediately.
I really hated to do push up.
Yet very recently I started practicing it on daily basis.
Just after one week of unwilling and tiresome praticing of push ups, I could count up to 20.
Not only the improvement in the duration of the exercise, my heart began to feel lighter.
I mean that now I don't feel too much pain to start doing push ups. Actually it's getting joyful (a little bit though.)

It is difficult to initiate the unwanted and painful work.
However once we get used to it and see some improvement, bright future (like I become strong enough to push up 100 times continually) seems at the graspable distance.
Am I daydreaming???
Maybe that's true...but it is better than doing nothing by giving up every hope.

Old Man Uses Paper and Pencils.

As electronic devices become parts of our life, we probabaly don't use paper and pencil as before.
But I feel that my mind is sharper when writing with pencils than when typing with keyboard.
It is probably because I learned with pencil way when I was young.
I hope that my mind stays sharp or sharper with keyboard because of its convenience and speed.
Which is more realistic: adjust my brain to computers OR computers adjust to my brain.
I guess the latter is the answer; therefore, I'll wait the arrival of next generation computers which make me staying sharp or sharper.

Establish the Learning System

What is the most primary thing that we learn at school?
Well we are obliged to absorb lots of knowledge.
But I think that's not the point.
What we have to do at school is to establish a good system of learning.

Time management which optimise our learning
Study English to learn how to read and absorb more knowledge.
Study Math to learn how to utilize numbers, functions, and graphs.
Study each subject to learn way of thinking linked to each subject.
School provides a guidance. Tests tell what's more important than others (things appear on test and things don't). Homework tell us about an amount of work that one should do everyday or one can handle. Discussion helps us to learn how to communicate and learn the existence of various point of view. Project gives hint to find out problems by ourselves.

Once one acquires the effecitve learning system, one can progress into one's new stage of life.
On the other hand, even if one memorize all the knowledge needed to graduate from school, one has to start from the beginning in one's next learning environment. Think about a computer that can answer to all the typical questions within the ambit of high school level  yet can't answer anything outside of the scope. Would you hire it? Probably no...unless it still have a huge free memory and it is a fast one.

Don't Rush.

Eating hastily is probably not the best way of eating. Foods wouldn't be digested efficiently.
As I force myself to gain more knowledge rapidly in short time, I'm sacrificing the opportunity to deepen my comprehension. 
For more effective learning, I want to strengthen my digesting system.
A cliche which I should keep in my mind all the time is "Don't Rush. Chew Well".
Even though I shouldn't rush much, I shouldn't drive like at a turtle speed.
I should figure out the speed of absorbing which would optimise my comprehension both in quality and quantity. Well I will need innumerable amount of trial and errors...hoping that the sequence of refinement will converges quickly.

Accurate and Concise Expression

Recently I realized the importance of commuincation skills.
Every jobs require some amount of commuincations.
I should've taken it more seriously when I was a student. I was a moron.

Right now,  I'm trying speak/write more accurately yet concisely.
But with my limited set of vocabularies, my expression tends to be circuitous if not accurate.
I must study English literature.
To learn more vocabularies and phrases, read more English paragraphs.
I should occasionally read aloud to improve pronounciation. (Pronounciation is one of my problems.)
I must speak up more and master new words and phrases.

Well that's not enough.
I have lots to learn from daily life as well.
I desire to have a chef's tongue and nose to distinguish the tastes and smells.
I desire to have artist's eyes to observe the world.
I desire to have musician's ears to differentiate sounds.
Then I must look for opportunity to express the nuances by words.


Unremitting observation and practice are inevitable.
But actually this is getting fun. I believe my English and myself is getting lively at communication.

Set Short Term Objectives

Do you have a definite objective that worth spending all of, if not most of, your life?
I don't have one.
Mathematical research or Mathematical education might be the ones.
But I haven't determined to live in these directions.
Decisions are always my weakness through my life...

The disadvantage of undeciding of one's life path is that one can't focus on one thing.
Athletes would majority of their time on practicing their althletics.
Musicians would spent their time on brushing up their musical skills and playing.
Professors of Math would devote their time on studying math.
People who haven't found out the objects to pursue would have difficult time figuring out what they are suppose to do now.

Without knowing one's fate, one would have difficulty setting concrete objectives.
It's like that one is in a maze without any clue for escaping.
However one has to act something. If one stays at a same place or just strolls randomly, one can't achieve anything. Escaping is just a dream.
So set some short term objectives. It might gives a progress. Achieving such short term objectives will strengthen one's mind. Some of the trials might lead to an unexpected breakthrough, too.

For the discovery of the thing to worth devote all of my life I'm working on my daily, weekly and monthly objectives.