Erwaman's Personal Journal - November 2010

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Winning at College

Last spring, I visited Andy at Hopkins in late April. On my last day there, I saw a book he had called How to Win at College by Cal Newport and started reading it. I hadn't finished it yet when I had to leave, so Andy said I could borrow it. I still have the book in my room right now - I forgot to return it to Andy when he visited during Halloween weekend this semester.

The book is 191 pages, but it's double-spaced and there's 75 chapters. I finished it on the Bolt Bus ride from Baltimore to NYC. Basically, the book is a collection of 75 strategies to help you succeed at college such as "Don't Do All of Your Reading," "Create a Sunday Ritual," "Drop Classes Every Semester," and "Start Long-Term Projects the Day They Are Assigned." Newport compiled these strategies after traveling around the country interviewing some of the top college students at the best schools.

Well, obviously, after reading this book, I wanted to try some of these strategies out. Newport makes the caveat that not all of these strategies will work for everyone, but everyone should be able to find a few strategies that really work for them. I've been trying out some of these strategies and I would like to share my experiences using them with you:

  • Make Your Bed - that is, make your bed every day. This was one of the first strategies I tried out, just because it sounded so simple and I was curious whether doing so could really make an impact on my day or performance. Well, I started making my bed daily, and I did so all summer in California, but I didn't feel any different or notice any performance changes. This semester, I started out making my bed daily, but then I started getting lazy sometimes. (Today, I made my bed, because writing this paragraph reminded me to do so.)

    I just went back and reread the 1.5-page chapter (all the chapters in the book are about this length) and it seems the larger idea behind making your bed is just keeping an organized room in general - putting books back on the shelves after using them, taking out the garbage, not leaving clothes, food, and food wrappers laying around - the idea being that you need as few distractions as you can and that an organized room helps you focus. I guess it's not so much making your bed as keeping an organized room that's most helpful. However, I've always had a very orderly and organized room. I can't stand rooms of disarray. I also fold my clothes and put them away in my drawers or in the closet. So I guess I was already practicing the general idea of keeping an organized room, and thus, making my bed in addition didn't really make any difference.

  • Never Nap - This was one of the strategies that I strongly disagreed with. Newport's argument was that you lose large chunks of time to napping and throw your sleep cycle off, causing you fitful nights and droopy eyelids in class. I've always felt that when, during the day, you truly are too tired, it's more productive to sleep for an hour or two in order to recharge than to try and struggle through your work with a fatigued, unfocused mind.

    Well, I barely napped at all all summer, but that was mainly because I didn't have any homework, so I could always get a full night's rest. But once this semester started, I quickly relapsed back into my habit of napping. I felt napping was an effective strategy for me, so I didn't feel guilty doing it, but Newport's words stuck in my mind. I'm still napping now, but I think I've been napping less. Also, instead of taking massive 3-4 hour naps, I've only been doing one-hour naps usually. I've also noticed that when I don't nap and go to sleep early instead, I end up sleeping less cumulatively and still feeling more energized during the following day. I'm starting to think there's truth in Newport's strategy of never napping. I think he's right that when you're feeling tired, there are more effective methods of dealing with your tiredness than napping. If it's just a little fatigue, eating some fresh fruit and cold water or going for a light run can be very effective in boosting your energy level. If you're still tired after trying these things, don't give up. Instead of giving in to the nap, push through the rest of the day and accomplish some simpler goals - check your mailbox, take out the trash, do the laundry, fold your clothes, reply some emails, check out/return library books - get something done and then head to bed early. It's better to struggle through one afternoon than to throw your sleep schedule off for days with one map. I think this is an effective strategy, and I want to gradually eliminate my napping and embrace a normal sleep schedule.

  • Use Three Days to Write a Paper - The idea behind this strategy is pretty straightforward - start early and do several rounds of editing and revising. I think it's clear to most people (including me) that this will result in a better paper. However, nonetheless, we (especially I) procrastinate and end up pulling all-nighters to crank out awful papers.

    Writing is always something I have struggled with. It's painful and difficult for me, I feel like my theses and ideas are unoriginal (and often obvious), and my papers often lack organization and structure. I'm not very good at organizing my thoughts. However, I think I knew all along that really, I just need to give myself more time to write these papers and spend more time revising. I guess I'm just more used to problem sets, where you have a very clear goal in mind - solving a specific problem, so you try all sorts of approaches until you get the answer. But with a paper, the goal is not very clear - you have to generate it - your thesis. And then you have to try to synthesize lots of material and the ideas in your head into a coherent argument. That's a lot harder in my opinion than attacking a problem on a pset from different angles, discarding the failed attempts, and then just copying over the successful solution.

    Well, anyways, for the first time, I'm actually taking three days to write a paper - for a paper for U.S. Lesbian and Gay History. I wrote most of my draft two nights ago and got most of my ideas down on paper (either in paragraph form, outline form, or in a list of notes/thoughts). Last night, I spent time reworking and expanding the arguments I already have and also reorganizing the paper a bit. Today, I'm gonna finish the paper and do more editing. Then, tomorrow, I'll do some final polishing before turning it in.

    I can already tell that this is going to be one of the best papers I've written. I guess I am capable of writing decent papers. What I've realized during this process is at least for someone like me, who really has a hard time writing well academically, I really just need to give myself more time to do the writing. It takes more time for me to synthesize the material and craft my argument, I guess.

    I have two more papers to write this semester - a final paper and then a take-home essay, both for Asian American History. I plan to utilize this "Three Days" approach to writing these papers, and I think it'll be less painful, I'll write better papers, and I won't lose sleep (or pull an all-nighter) because of them.

There are lot more strategies in Newport's book, many of which I have tried (and often failed at). There's a lot of truth to what Newport says, if you just try out some of the strategies, even if you're unable to keep them up. I would like to discuss some more of them, but I have to get back to working on my U.S. Lesbian and Gay History paper!

Good luck with final papers, projects, and exams!


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Harry Potter

I don't go to the movie theater very often. When I do, it's usually to see some sort of blockbuster. Well, I want to go again, because there are two recent releases that I really want to see - Social Network and Harry Potter. I remember watching the trailers for Social Network over the summer and thinking the movie sounded so stupid and exaggerated, but after hearing many good reviews about it and how it leaves one feeling like Zuckerberg is a douchebag, I'm curious and now want to see it.

I also want to see Harry Potter because...well, I just love Harry Potter - the books and movies and all. However, I've heard very mixed reviews about it. While working on my compiler in the Zoo, another student asked his friend how the Harry Potter movie was. The friend replied, "Oh my God, it was soo boring. There was like one make-out scene and barely any action." Over the break, back at home, I also read a Time magazine review of the movie that criticized it for being too slow-paced, two and a half hours full of aimless wandering. Hearing these reviews, it sounded like the movie was a flop. But then I heard two positive reviews from bandies: Monica Ague posted as her FB status "Just saw Harry Potter. I take back my previous lack of enthusiasm." And when I asked my fellow second clarinetist Kate Carter what she thought of the movie, she replied, "I saw it twice. It was really good." Heh, interestingly enough, the negative reviews both came from men while the positive reviews both came from women. Perhaps guys and girls were expecting different things in the movie? Anyways, the best way to settle this is to just see it myself, and I plan to next Friday, December 10, after I've submitted my Asian American History paper and my final project for compilers.

Recently, I've also been asked two Harry Potter-related questions: (1) Who is your favorite character, and (2) Which house do you think you'd be in if you were at Hogwarts? My answers:

  1. Luna Lovegood. When I told my questioner, she replied, "Luna Lovegood?! What kind of crazy fantasy is that?" I wasn't able to explain myself clearly at the time, but since, I've read a Yale Daily News article in which a Divinity School professor, Danielle Tumminio, who teaches a course called "Christian Theology and Harry Potter," explains her reasons (which are similar to mine) for loving Luna: "She’s charming, loyal to her friends, intelligent and always open to new possibilities. She has a light spirit and faith that I find incredibly endearing as well. At the end of the fifth book, after Sirius dies, she has this wonderful way of telling Harry that she believes love and relationships are so strong that they transcend death." I completely agree with her. Luna carries herself with a quiet self-confidence and is very open-minded. These are admirable traits. She doesn't get upset or worry about losing her possessions over the semester; then at the end of the semester, she puts up signs asking for her things back with an optimistic faith that she'll get them back. I was also a fan of her giant roaring lion's head at one Gryffindor quidditch match. Many spectators found it ridiculous, but I thought it a brilliant and spirited costume.

    Now that I've biased you, I'd like to ask you who your favorite Harry Potter character is and why?

  2. Ravenclaw. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." This was my reply when asked the question. Basically, I like Ravenclaw's emphasis on wit and cleverness, which I think often comes with knowledge. I also think Ravenclaw's slogan suggests ingenuity as being a quality of its students, which is something I highly respect. (Ooh, I just Wikipedia'd the Hogwarts houses and discovered that Hufflepuff's colors, yellow and black, and the same as Ezra Stiles's colors.)

    What about you? Which house would you be in?

If you've already seen the latest Harry Potter movie, feel free to also share your opinion of it, too, or to let me know what I should pay attention to.

P.S.: Have you ever thought about witch and wizard sex? Do you think they use magic (wand spells and magical herbs) to enhance their experience?


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