That will never happen anyway

Well, a first week of classes went pretty well. I only missed one class, and that was because I tried to do math too early in the morning and missed my bus, but other than that I think I am doing pretty good.

I outlined some of the things I wanted to try in last Mondays blog, and I guess I should report to how well they have been working.

The “no laptop in bed” thing has worked amazingly. After just a few days I shaved hours off of my “toss about bed” time. I have been waking up early (on time) more frequently, and in general I have been more refreshed by the sleep... then again there is more sleep being had, so I guess that makes sense. When I have kids, I am definitely NOT letting them use a laptop in bed. Maybe just as a video screen to watch things as you drift into sleep, but not for high level mental interaction in bed, shit is dangerous.

As for the other points... they were more difficult. I definitely did better than I have in the past homework wise, but not the hour-per-hour method that I had going in my head. Probably because I did not have a lot of the books I needed, and there was just not a lot of homework... But other than that I have a good feeling about this too.

Overall I am really excited, now all I need to do is actually study Russian so the girl who sits next to me does not look so distraught with my existence. But hey, that will never happen anyway.

But right now I an the guinea pig

Classes started up again today. Getting up at 8 was easier than I thought it would be, considering all the lounging I did on the winter break... it was glorious.

And so, as this is some sort of web based logging system for my life, I will share with you what I am going to do to make this semester a better one.

First off, I got a nice notebook. ONE notebook. A five subject one. Which is good because I have 5 classes. Sure I may need to lug around some textbooks and additional notebooks for a lab class, but overall keeping all of my notes in one simple book will be nice for organization.

Second, Ill be trying to follow some rules I have set for myself

1. After each day, notes will be transcribed from the notebook to a .txt file per class. After the notes are taken from the book, any additional information I can remember from the day will be added to the relevant text file. 
2. For Russian class, in addition to typing the notes in cyrrilic (learning to type in Russian, WOAH) any words that I do not know off the top of my head will be put onto flash cards. This will result in duplicate flash cards for frequent words, and help me learn them faster.
3. On each normal working weekday, a period of time equal to or greater than the time spent in class will be spent studying. Transcription time counts to this minimum, as does homework. This is not intended to rush me through homework, but rather to assure that I do something every evening. I may go over this time limit to finish an assignment, but if I have no homework I will find another way to study for that class for the time.
4. Attempt to finish homework one day before it is due. This is quite normal, as people often finish work before the due date, and as my classes are not every day, but it is a good goal.
5. I will not surf the web or otherwise use my laptop while lying in my bed (exceptions to watching movies while in bed or lying on the couch). It is an incredibly comfortable and bad habbit that I got into when space was at a premium in iraq. Lying in bed playing games. It associates your bed with playtime, reading time, and all other things you do in it. It is better to only have your bed associated with sleep in your mind, so that it is easier to fall asleep when you want to. I say this having horrible sleep problems, I often go to bed at 0200, and lie awake doing nothing for hours because my mind has lying in my bed so strongly associated with mental activity (maybe I should also not lie awake in bed in general) I have a desk now, time to use it. Good sleep is important. Almost as important as,
6. I will eat in the morning. Something, anything! Grain from the side of the road, or a stray orphan, in the morning, feed is important! It boosts your metabolism a bit and generally prepares you for a more energetic day!

So these are my rules for a better learning experience. perhaps ill use them on my children, but right now I an the guinea pig.

Why just spoken languages anyway?

I try to make it a habbit to peruse the TED talks, new ideas being shared, makes me happy. I happened across this one by the guy who helped make the captcha, now he is focusing his efforts on a new endeavor, and I find it quite noble.



Being bilingual is a personal goal of mine, and his "duolingo" idea is quite novel. It accomplishes something good, and helps people learn another language. I really hope they have this in Russian :)

Talking about the education system again, in the US we start teaching languages far too late. We should introduce kids to a wide variety of different languages before they are 10. I would be happy if I could have a conversation like this with my 7 year old:

"What classes do you have now?" I said to my child.
"French, multiplication, and python."

Why just spoken languages anyway?