Month: January 2012

1Q84 and Tree With Deep Roots

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  • 300 pages of 1Q84 finished so far (out of about 1,000)
  • 15 Episodes of Tree With Deep Roots watched

Some thoughts:

  • 1Q84 deals with a lot of the concept of reality, and what is real, and what is not, and to what extent and how we accept unreality/real things. I’m still confused by this and need to put some time to think that. This is definitely different from a lot of previous Murakami works (Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, South of the Border, West of the Shore)
  • Tree With Deep Roots – Well-written sageuk (사극; 史剧: shi3 ju4; historical drama). Such a good example revealing the motives of politicians who want power, the definition of the “greater good”, the History of Hangul (I wanted to cry at some moments), and the desire to empower the greater good.

I still don’t feel like going to school yet.

Throw away the planner

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Schedules are the death of my creative spirit. If you’ve ever felt hindered because there was a schedule you had to keep, that is a part of your self being murdered.

Like holding back the ocean with a toothpick. You fucking can’t do it, so why? Why? Do tell me a good reason why.

Schedules are laborious, guilt-ridden, self-imposing and self-suffocating. Some schedules will suit the nature of the person well. Active movement of the body for exercise is one. Connections with your closest loved ones while one or both of you is away is another

http://castlesintheair.org/blog/never/

Yes! Somebody that agrees with me.

On big rocks

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I was reading ArtOfManliness’s article on study habits. One of the things he argues we should do in terms of forming effective study habits is to create big rocks, permanent “doctor appointments” where all your important work is focused on those things at that specific time in the day every week, and any additional variables, you schedule weekly. ZenHabits suggests we do the important things as early as possible to get the important things out of the way, and the pebbles can come on the side.

I like this process, because it balances out my un-structured philosophy of life with some focus, a backbone that I can depend on. Because ultimately, there are things in life I really want to prioritize doing. Yes, I want to do a lot of things in the world, but there are things which make me, well, just me, that I need to do because it is a part of my identity.

My big rocks: my education. I have big project-related courses

My pebbles: extra-curriculars (still deciding on what to do), language learning, cooking (음식을 요리하는 것 배우고 싶어요0, drawing).

My schedule looks so busy! I always like worry that I don’t get a chance to socialize as much, but then again, the best social moments are always unplanned.