Author Archives: tblradmin

What I’ve learned about University

1. So everyone knows that you don’t get badgered to turn you homework in or go to class once you reach university, however, while ranting about independence and responsibility people tend to neglect to tell you that everything you really still informed of everything you need to know and what you have to do. It’s not really that big of a deal, just do it.

2. Even though classes are a little terrifying at first, once you really absorb your first few lectures you’re likely to come to a surprising conclusion: I did this in highschool. Say WHAT?! What I found in my classes (except chemistry) is that we were retaught a lot of stuff at first, with variable names and theorems suddenly attached. Formal definitions and so many subscripts. If only they just taught things the right way the first time…in an ideal world.

3. Time management is HARD

4. Find people to study with. Teachers and TAs are good resources when it comes to questions and extra help but so is your class. So help each other out, it reinforces concepts when you explain them to someone else so both parties get something worthwhile out of it. And its a way to get some social interaction in when you have a ton of stuff to get done.

5. It’s important to know your priorities, and learn to actually keep them. Along the same lines as time management.

6. There are going to be a million people around you who suddenly seem better than you. Try not to let it be disheartening. There are mad skills everywhere, but this is a good thing, you can learn from them, make friends and such. Always surround yourself with good people and remember you’re capable of stuff.

7. Keep on top of things. Meaning, don’t just half understand course material and then teach yourself the whole course the night before your exam. It’s doable and people do do it all the time, but its the most sucky thing ever. Just buckle down and resist those kareoke parties.

8. Buy snacks somewhere (anywhere) other than on campus vending machines.

9. Go to class.

10. Take breaks while studying to keep focused, but don’t use the “I can’t focus anyways” excuse unless you really deserve a break (after midterm week anyone?) In those cases cut yourself some slack, the rest of the time focus.

11. More on focusing: figure out what works best, places, people, music, times of day.

12. Find the good times to do laundry.

13. The transition is hard for some people, but it really isn’t that bad for lots of people too. Don’t psych yourself out. Embrace challenges, let things go, do things that make you happy and work hard.

Stories and streets are powerful venues for contradicting the imminent doom of loneliness. The public art we make of ourselves in the street, the languages of our bodies tracing postures and assuming them, the paths of our eyes grazing each other,  are either participatory or resistant. Here, in public, we can choose to change our immediate world by remaking our myths and telling our own stories, by remembering how to ask and listen, and by learning to show our most real faces to each other and celebrating them. Show your warts, and you defy the very process of airbrushing the truth. Risk smiling at the person sitting next to you on the bus, and immediately the message of isolation is undermined. Not just for the two of you, but also for these watching this unusual event unfold. The moment we notice that we can meake fresh choices every minute the moment we take Funky’s advice and think for ourselves, it’s easy to see that we’re all in this together. Isolation was somebody else’s bad idea.

pg 43-44 from ‘off the map’

There are so many ideas I agree with outlined in this piece. So many. I miss doing my own writing.

I guess the idea is that I don’ t do your actual questions..as if

Math 117 TA

Oh, man. I can’t remember anything without you.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind  (via kristyn)

I watched part of this on the plane to school and I would like to see the rest. I liked that it was science fiction that didn’t need to explain itself, there were no deep plot points about the technology, everything was just matter of fact. Something in the part I did see struck at something deep in me, I may have to watch the rest.

It might have be the mix of intimacy and imperfection that made not for perfect love, but for hard earned right love.

I thought of Christophe, the sweet man who had picked us up an hour before Paris yesterday, and taken us directly to the public transit station so we wouldn’t get stuck trying to hitch through the city. I thought: I believe in people. It’s not the mystical benevolence of god that count I count on day-to-day, it’s the goodness of other human beings, the kindnesses lying ready in the human heart. I believe in the goodness of people and people bring me goodness. It was this wash of gratitude that I stuck out my faithful thumb on the A-10.

off the map

New display picture! This is where it came from 🙂

kittwalker:

Each mountain is made from 100% lambswool, which has been knitted and felted to create a super soft fabric. The triangular shape is perfect for cuddling and looks great propped up on your sofa to make your own Rocky Mountain scene.  http://hilarygrant.bigcartel.com/

I miss the mountains! There are even rocky mountain cushions…oh man temptation.