Another something on Hard Work by Orson Scott Card:
"How about opportunity? The great geniuses of the home computer revolution all seemed to be born at around the same time -- three or four years after me. (Which is fine -- I wouldn't have been in the running because I didn't care enough.)
What was so magical about 1954 and 1955? Because these kids were coming of age at precisely the time when computers transitioned from punch cards to terminals with screens. Instead of carrying your computer program in a shoebox, it was stored electronically, and you could change it on a screen.
So if you were just as smart, and just as in love with computers, but were already out of college as a punch-card computer programmer, the revolution took place under your nose -- but you weren't really part of it. And if you were just as smart, etc., but were born three years later, when you got to the party the punch was already gone.
But it's more than talent, and more than luck. How about 10,000 hours?
The number is approximate, but that's about how much practice and work the "geniuses" put into their careers to take them over the threshold into the big leagues.
Sure, there's some natural talent or aptitude. But then comes decision time -- are you going to really do this, or just continue plinking around at it?
Musicians. Painters. Writers. Mathematicians. Computer programmers. Game designers. Actors. Singers. They don't sit around feeling good about themselves and building up their self-esteem. They do the work. They put in the time.
I didn't even know I was going to be a writer. I was in drama, not writing. But I sat there, hour after hour, filling notebooks with play scripts or short stories or essays. I was a writer, whether I thought of that as my career or not.
And I put in my ten thousand hours.
It's like I tell novice writers. You learn more from writing a 100,000-word novel than from any number of classes. (Except, of course, the ones I teach.) (OK, I was including them as well.)
I also tell my students that every writer has to produce ten thousand pages of pure drivel. Some people have to write all ten thousand pages before they produce anything good. Some of us are luckier and get to have our lousy pages spread out over our whole career, so we can be earning money along the way.
Talent? Sure -- any amount of it above a certain threshold.
Opportunity? Absolutely -- grab it when you see it.
Hard work? Essential. As Gladwell makes clear, nobody gets to the top of any creative field without working at it until they simply know things that other people can't even guess at. "
Putting it in because heh motivation is sorely needed-- Chem (my first paper) is in 4 days! So, if I want to go anywhere and get out and away... I need decent A levels. And decent A levels requires one to be able to answer questions, but I can't do that :( Practice, my friends, is in order.
This is not the time to be whining about subject combinations, Nicole!!! You picked what you wanted to do, so stick with it. Be grateful you don't have any papers on monday or friday. Stop reading amandapalmer's tweets! Is she going to help you pass chem???
Friday, June 26, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Back! From week-long hibernation.
During the WLC (World Leadership Conference) there was a recurring conversation:
FRIEND: Are you planning to go to a university in singapore?
ME: No not really. *mumbles something about expanding horizons*
FRIEND: So where would you like to go to university?
ME: Um. The UK?
FRIEND: Any particular universities in mind?
ME: Um mm uh Melbourne Uni if I can get the scholarship?
[Yes, melb is kind of not in the UK but I've said that New South Wales was in WALES, so you understand my aptitude in geography.]
FRIEND: Oh okay.
So friends! Naturally I embark on a quest to find The University.
A vietnamese friend who went to the conference goes to Wesleyan University, so I google it, and do the campus tour and all that jazz. To find out about what other people thought about it, I tried collegeboard.com, and then I see this amazing academic program called Semester at Sea. So I google that, and I found this!
SEA Semester is this exciting program in Woods Hole, MA. You get to earn 17 college credits while spending a semester of college there, plus actually sail and learn to man[?] a working ship. You spend a few weeks on shore first, attending classes, and then about 3 weeks at sea carrying out an independent research project. When I first read it I was like [!!!] I would kill to be able to earn academic credits while doing fieldwork and learning about conservation, sustainability, genetic anthropology and the like.
It sounds a lot like what I did in wales-- fieldwork, testing your own hypotheses, understanding the significance of the tests you're conducting, getting to be up close with intertidal organisms etc. There is a large variety of programs they're offering:
"Ocean Exploration takes an interdisciplinary approach that combines data and insights from oceanography, the humanities and social sciences, and public policy – together with practical skills in nautical science – so students can develop a broad understanding of the sea."
You take courses like Oceanography, Nautical Science and Maritime Studies.
Aaand in Maritime Studies you get to do Maritime Literature, which I hope is what the kid says in the video about NOVELS about sailing like The Old Man and the Sea, because then I would squee! It's like... studying The Great Gatsby before going to NYC or doing something like Wuthering Heights or Rebbecca or even Brideshead Revisited before visiting an English estate complete with country and moors and things. Ahh omg I can't imagine earning credits for this.
and then there's "SEA Semester: Oceans and Climate provides an unequaled opportunity for undergraduate science students to study the place of the oceans in one of the pivotal scientific questions of our time – global climate change."
If I want to do this I have to do a science major, but I shouldn't base my decision on SEA Semester because I might not even get in (25 people per program; there are only so many people that can fit on a sailing ship) but still! It's a good reason, right, to do a science major? Ach the non-science majors I would take might be political science or sociology, but sometimes when I choose my major I think: I would like to be able to take philo classes along with ecology and environmental studies; there is so much that I do not know o_o but that's for another blog post.
Anyway in SEA Semester: Oceans and Climate there's a Oceanographic Research Techniques course which means I'll get to do fieldwork!! :D And look at plankton samples and intertidal organisms... there's a wide range, with [acoustic measurements of water flow] as one of the research options, which is very physics. Exciting exciting
When you look at the pictures, also, the ships they're sailing are REAL ships, with sails and masts and everything. Not like lame cruise ships/ yachts with no sails. The sails are so Dawn Treader, right? Go go look at the pictures. There's a part where Lucy leans off the bowspirit and looks at the merpeople and sometimes Reepicheep goes up to the crow's nests and the rain will fall on deck like a real STORM, just like in Dawn Treader! If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's just a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean.
eee it would be lovely to go. Really exciting. And there is TRAVEL involved! And managing on your own! And no cellphone signals or internet in the middle of the OCEAN. (Onboard computers are only for research purposes) You're just left alone to do your research and work and let the sea inspire you. Talk about isolation! :D The ship also docks at places like Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica, and you get to go onshore to visit.
Has anyone read Troubling a Star by Madeline L'engle? It sounds A LOT like that, with the lectures and sense of community.
During the WLC (World Leadership Conference) there was a recurring conversation:
FRIEND: Are you planning to go to a university in singapore?
ME: No not really. *mumbles something about expanding horizons*
FRIEND: So where would you like to go to university?
ME: Um. The UK?
FRIEND: Any particular universities in mind?
ME: Um mm uh Melbourne Uni if I can get the scholarship?
[Yes, melb is kind of not in the UK but I've said that New South Wales was in WALES, so you understand my aptitude in geography.]
FRIEND: Oh okay.
So friends! Naturally I embark on a quest to find The University.
A vietnamese friend who went to the conference goes to Wesleyan University, so I google it, and do the campus tour and all that jazz. To find out about what other people thought about it, I tried collegeboard.com, and then I see this amazing academic program called Semester at Sea. So I google that, and I found this!
SEA Semester is this exciting program in Woods Hole, MA. You get to earn 17 college credits while spending a semester of college there, plus actually sail and learn to man[?] a working ship. You spend a few weeks on shore first, attending classes, and then about 3 weeks at sea carrying out an independent research project. When I first read it I was like [!!!] I would kill to be able to earn academic credits while doing fieldwork and learning about conservation, sustainability, genetic anthropology and the like.
It sounds a lot like what I did in wales-- fieldwork, testing your own hypotheses, understanding the significance of the tests you're conducting, getting to be up close with intertidal organisms etc. There is a large variety of programs they're offering:
"Ocean Exploration takes an interdisciplinary approach that combines data and insights from oceanography, the humanities and social sciences, and public policy – together with practical skills in nautical science – so students can develop a broad understanding of the sea."
You take courses like Oceanography, Nautical Science and Maritime Studies.
Aaand in Maritime Studies you get to do Maritime Literature, which I hope is what the kid says in the video about NOVELS about sailing like The Old Man and the Sea, because then I would squee! It's like... studying The Great Gatsby before going to NYC or doing something like Wuthering Heights or Rebbecca or even Brideshead Revisited before visiting an English estate complete with country and moors and things. Ahh omg I can't imagine earning credits for this.
and then there's "SEA Semester: Oceans and Climate provides an unequaled opportunity for undergraduate science students to study the place of the oceans in one of the pivotal scientific questions of our time – global climate change."
If I want to do this I have to do a science major, but I shouldn't base my decision on SEA Semester because I might not even get in (25 people per program; there are only so many people that can fit on a sailing ship) but still! It's a good reason, right, to do a science major? Ach the non-science majors I would take might be political science or sociology, but sometimes when I choose my major I think: I would like to be able to take philo classes along with ecology and environmental studies; there is so much that I do not know o_o but that's for another blog post.
Anyway in SEA Semester: Oceans and Climate there's a Oceanographic Research Techniques course which means I'll get to do fieldwork!! :D And look at plankton samples and intertidal organisms... there's a wide range, with [acoustic measurements of water flow] as one of the research options, which is very physics. Exciting exciting
When you look at the pictures, also, the ships they're sailing are REAL ships, with sails and masts and everything. Not like lame cruise ships/ yachts with no sails. The sails are so Dawn Treader, right? Go go look at the pictures. There's a part where Lucy leans off the bowspirit and looks at the merpeople and sometimes Reepicheep goes up to the crow's nests and the rain will fall on deck like a real STORM, just like in Dawn Treader! If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's just a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean.
eee it would be lovely to go. Really exciting. And there is TRAVEL involved! And managing on your own! And no cellphone signals or internet in the middle of the OCEAN. (Onboard computers are only for research purposes) You're just left alone to do your research and work and let the sea inspire you. Talk about isolation! :D The ship also docks at places like Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica, and you get to go onshore to visit.
Has anyone read Troubling a Star by Madeline L'engle? It sounds A LOT like that, with the lectures and sense of community.
Monday, June 15, 2009
omg omg omg LOOK at the hbp posters in a nyc subway station!
I love this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33124343@N07/3619082336/in/set-72157619574502635/
and and alan rickman and tom felton look so hot in this one!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33124343@N07/3618314885/in/set-72157619574502635/
*fangirls* I seriously CAN'T WAIT.
Especially with the stupid 7-month delay and all, and the trailer excitement... I can only be patient for so long!
*squee*
I think I'll have to catch up with mugglecast, pottercast, and snapecast.
In Neil Gaiman's blog it says that he and amanda palmer are dating and it is so !!! exciting. I mean they are both awesome people who produce things that are macabre, fantastical and intriguing-- I wonder if this will lead to more creative collaborations, like the coffeetable book.
Yes. Like a selfish, impersonal fan, their creations are the only things I'm worrying about.
Talking about the tabs I'm being led to here-- so neil gaiman links to kyle cassidy, the photographer of Who Killed Amanda Palmer, and I'm reading his lj. There's a post that talks about the value of hard work in a different way, and it kind of makes me hopeful that One Day I could volunteer at a harry potter conference or One Day I could be at an anthropological excavation site and discover something exciting or One Day I could be studying succession along the eroding coastline of south africa. As in if I really really want something and I really work hard at getting at it and looking out for opportunities the chances of me getting it are higher.
There's a similar trend of thought in on the nerdfighter blog by alan lustufka (fallofautumndistro) that talks about working at building up one's audience.
It's not that I've never heard about the value of hard work before, but to hear it from people I respect and admire puts another spin on it. Honestly though, who else to learn the value of hard work than from people whose jobs I would kill to have, and from people who have put in years of effort to get where they are?
another gaiman/palmer link: http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/469136.html (watch the video!)
Kyle Cassidy quote: (taken from the comments of the post with the gaiman/palmer video)
"i can truly say that it doesn't capture the moment. it merely proves that it happened. it might have been lack of sleep, it might have been wearing the same clothes for a week ... it might have been a lot of things, all on top of one another ... but it was a Very Special Moment that i don't think can ever be explained or quantified.
sadly. because part of me would like to reach out and grasp it from time to time. but that's the lazy part. the rational part of me realizes that every day should be better than the one before. and we march onward -- trusting in sweat and luck. the harder we work, the luckier we are."
Right gtg offline now to attempt to cancel the effects of my mooning (WHAT was I thinking?!) and to make it for the WLC tomorrow. I need to remember to bring my camera!
[/edit] And I thought teenage girls were the only ones who did blogged in white font or small undecipherable letters. Blog link here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/06/edinburgh-in-august.html Picture here: http://twitpic.com/7acx7
I love this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33124343@N07/3619082336/in/set-72157619574502635/
and and alan rickman and tom felton look so hot in this one!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33124343@N07/3618314885/in/set-72157619574502635/
*fangirls* I seriously CAN'T WAIT.
Especially with the stupid 7-month delay and all, and the trailer excitement... I can only be patient for so long!
*squee*
I think I'll have to catch up with mugglecast, pottercast, and snapecast.
In Neil Gaiman's blog it says that he and amanda palmer are dating and it is so !!! exciting. I mean they are both awesome people who produce things that are macabre, fantastical and intriguing-- I wonder if this will lead to more creative collaborations, like the coffeetable book.
Yes. Like a selfish, impersonal fan, their creations are the only things I'm worrying about.
Talking about the tabs I'm being led to here-- so neil gaiman links to kyle cassidy, the photographer of Who Killed Amanda Palmer, and I'm reading his lj. There's a post that talks about the value of hard work in a different way, and it kind of makes me hopeful that One Day I could volunteer at a harry potter conference or One Day I could be at an anthropological excavation site and discover something exciting or One Day I could be studying succession along the eroding coastline of south africa. As in if I really really want something and I really work hard at getting at it and looking out for opportunities the chances of me getting it are higher.
There's a similar trend of thought in on the nerdfighter blog by alan lustufka (fallofautumndistro) that talks about working at building up one's audience.
It's not that I've never heard about the value of hard work before, but to hear it from people I respect and admire puts another spin on it. Honestly though, who else to learn the value of hard work than from people whose jobs I would kill to have, and from people who have put in years of effort to get where they are?
another gaiman/palmer link: http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/469136.html (watch the video!)
Kyle Cassidy quote: (taken from the comments of the post with the gaiman/palmer video)
"i can truly say that it doesn't capture the moment. it merely proves that it happened. it might have been lack of sleep, it might have been wearing the same clothes for a week ... it might have been a lot of things, all on top of one another ... but it was a Very Special Moment that i don't think can ever be explained or quantified.
sadly. because part of me would like to reach out and grasp it from time to time. but that's the lazy part. the rational part of me realizes that every day should be better than the one before. and we march onward -- trusting in sweat and luck. the harder we work, the luckier we are."
Right gtg offline now to attempt to cancel the effects of my mooning (WHAT was I thinking?!) and to make it for the WLC tomorrow. I need to remember to bring my camera!
[/edit] And I thought teenage girls were the only ones who did blogged in white font or small undecipherable letters. Blog link here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/06/edinburgh-in-august.html Picture here: http://twitpic.com/7acx7
Friday, June 05, 2009
hello I just have to say after catching up on google reader-- reading sam's sydney's mustard rabbit's hailee's and kristina's blogs-- I feel happy and convinced that the World has promise and hope and All Is Not Lost. :D *happy*
like the mario kart love song. ahh I can't link it now because I'm in school and you can't get youtube but if you watch meekakitty you'll know or try searching it on youtube? Trust me it's wonderful and pretty.
like the mario kart love song. ahh I can't link it now because I'm in school and you can't get youtube but if you watch meekakitty you'll know or try searching it on youtube? Trust me it's wonderful and pretty.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Realised that I could embed a video by just going to someone else's blog with a video embedded and clicking "view source". >( all the fuss for nothing.
I only know this because of a puzzle game I played in sec 1/ primary 6 in which they give you the first page and you have to find the url to the next, and sometimes clues will be in "view source". It was like thisisnottom, for the nerdfighters reading this.
--since the days I played the puzzle game, (for the life of me I cannot remember what it was called! former classmates you played it too... remind me?) I have realised they have made the source code (correct me if I'm using the wrong term) coloured 8D I'm using internet explorer 8, if that makes any difference. However, the coloured source code DOES make a difference! It is so much easier to read. Like technicolour. --- [anyone watching Joseph, by the way?]
okay I hope this works.
[/edit] view source didn't work; will try to trawl for the crack way. In the meantime, here's the link
Above song made me feel like I was being swept up into the teen movement where you go out and buy cool clothes and go to cool concerts and listen to cool music and adopt the attitude of the times.
Back to the last post! On Writing.
I think I would like to start writing again, but D: in my head I just know it's going to turn out horribly cliched, like all teenage writing [yes yes stereotype] And I've written too many book review- like things which attempt to be witty and have Structure as opposed to Style, if I were to write fiction or poetry. Ahh how how how I don't know how to BEGIN. The moment I start putting pen to paper out comes these horrible horrible things that are dredged up from the recesses of my mind that should not be allowed to see the light of day, ever.
Maybe I should write some pretentious parody/ humor thing that won't be so pressurising because people are _meant_ to laugh at it. As opposed to writing something that will be laughed at but is supposed to be serious. (I laugh at serious writing all the time. It's the Seasoned Critic in me. ) I don't mind doing art-critic type things where you can cattily flame somebody or fangirl another and sound pretty clever doing it, without even trying.
Meep I guess if I continue to stay within my comfort zone of doing editorial-like things-- which don't sound much different from blogposts, actually-- I won't be learning anything new. Challenge is a good thing! You learn from it and gain skills and are better equipped for the next challenge! So I will do it! I will, um, write a short story by next monday! okay you know when I say these things I NEVER do them but uh hope? And a REWARD. hmm. I like rewards.
Someone go out with me next week! And politely decline my invitation if the writing is not produced. I don't know.
oh yes Shopping. I will ask someone out and we will go shopping and I will stop wearing clothes I wore when I was 12.
Whenever I lack the motivation, I will remind myself of judy garland's love poems she wrote when she was 18. No offence to a lovely voice, but she wrote some pretty b-grade poetry, I can tell you. Reading her biography right now, hence the reference. I didn't know there was more to her than dorothy gale before reading it. After looking up wikipedia, I now know that she was a gay icon (yay!) and took speed. (felicia's drug of choice, by the way)
I only know this because of a puzzle game I played in sec 1/ primary 6 in which they give you the first page and you have to find the url to the next, and sometimes clues will be in "view source". It was like thisisnottom, for the nerdfighters reading this.
--since the days I played the puzzle game, (for the life of me I cannot remember what it was called! former classmates you played it too... remind me?) I have realised they have made the source code (correct me if I'm using the wrong term) coloured 8D I'm using internet explorer 8, if that makes any difference. However, the coloured source code DOES make a difference! It is so much easier to read. Like technicolour. --- [anyone watching Joseph, by the way?]
okay I hope this works.
[/edit] view source didn't work; will try to trawl for the crack way. In the meantime, here's the link
Above song made me feel like I was being swept up into the teen movement where you go out and buy cool clothes and go to cool concerts and listen to cool music and adopt the attitude of the times.
Back to the last post! On Writing.
I think I would like to start writing again, but D: in my head I just know it's going to turn out horribly cliched, like all teenage writing [yes yes stereotype] And I've written too many book review- like things which attempt to be witty and have Structure as opposed to Style, if I were to write fiction or poetry. Ahh how how how I don't know how to BEGIN. The moment I start putting pen to paper out comes these horrible horrible things that are dredged up from the recesses of my mind that should not be allowed to see the light of day, ever.
Maybe I should write some pretentious parody/ humor thing that won't be so pressurising because people are _meant_ to laugh at it. As opposed to writing something that will be laughed at but is supposed to be serious. (I laugh at serious writing all the time. It's the Seasoned Critic in me. ) I don't mind doing art-critic type things where you can cattily flame somebody or fangirl another and sound pretty clever doing it, without even trying.
Meep I guess if I continue to stay within my comfort zone of doing editorial-like things-- which don't sound much different from blogposts, actually-- I won't be learning anything new. Challenge is a good thing! You learn from it and gain skills and are better equipped for the next challenge! So I will do it! I will, um, write a short story by next monday! okay you know when I say these things I NEVER do them but uh hope? And a REWARD. hmm. I like rewards.
Someone go out with me next week! And politely decline my invitation if the writing is not produced. I don't know.
oh yes Shopping. I will ask someone out and we will go shopping and I will stop wearing clothes I wore when I was 12.
Whenever I lack the motivation, I will remind myself of judy garland's love poems she wrote when she was 18. No offence to a lovely voice, but she wrote some pretty b-grade poetry, I can tell you. Reading her biography right now, hence the reference. I didn't know there was more to her than dorothy gale before reading it. After looking up wikipedia, I now know that she was a gay icon (yay!) and took speed. (felicia's drug of choice, by the way)
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