Thought Diary - Upside Down Snow Globe

Propinquity is a word that stuck with me ever since it appeared in my vocabulary book. It has a certain warm feeling to it: the closeness of friendship. I thought about what is actually behind friendships, so I put together this little post. Picture by  George Arriola Similarity.  Friends talk about something. It is usually something that they both like, care about. It can be any topic: politics, science, computers, philosophy, life... We are all social animals. We have varying degrees of social skill and social tendencies, but I am sure the majority of us enjoy company of someone close to us.  Most friends meet in person. Some friends meet online on forums or websites. The starting base of friendship is a common interest. Friends have to be "close" in this giant world. Not only close, friends have to be close in a good way.  Special equation: Friendship = (propinquity)² ...to be continued.  Confession: Before this post, I want...

I was at a picnic for a volunteering program.  We sat a rectangular table merged from eight school desks in middle school. There were about fifteen of us: mostly grandparents and two volunteers like myself. The grandparents expressed their gratitude to us for teaching them English (I volunteer at a Chinese school).  I wanted to say that I was inspired and motivated by them too.  But their conversation was too fluid. There were no pauses where I could easily join the conversation. I did not want to interrupt their thoughts. I hesitated to speak. Chances passed. In the end, I never spoke what I wanted to express. I never thanked them for their dedication in going out of their way to come to class and learn.  Image by  Daniel Chodusov That is not all.  There are countless times where I wanted to express myself but didn't. Many of them I do not remember, but some I do. When I think about it, I feel a bit irritated. If I spoke out then, I would ...

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." "千里之行, 始于足下"  - 老子 An overused quote, but also a ground truth. Many times we will see inspiration but take no action. Let me throw in another overused saying: "It is easier said than done." Sure we can understand deep proverbs and cry with an inspirational talk, but turning wishes into action is a universal struggle we share.  We can get a clearer picture of our goals and get better results by: Setting a long term goal Making ourselves accountable to progress Picture by Gabriel White. It takes 500 tries to learn how to mount a unicycle.  A few years ago I started to learn how to ride a unicycle. The actual ride was a lot easier than mounting, or getting on, the unicycle at the beginning. It takes about 500 tries to "learn" how to mount a unicycle efficiently.  This simple example applies to many other activities. Doing things over and over again until it becom...

I recorded my day every 10 minutes.  I was inspired by wait but why  to block my life every 10 minutes and label each block to keep track of my day. I did it as an experiment to debug my life and see where my time leaks and where I can improve to live a more productive life. I hate when a day passes, and I see no solid progress. I hate when something sporadic takes a large chunk of my day and I end up tired and unproductive at night.  I saw where my time went.  Productive day pie-chart. Summary first: I spend 36% of my awake hours on necessities such as brushing teeth, cooking, eating, driving, walking.... I spend 35% of my awake hours on non-pressing matters such as browsing the web, chatting, and resting.... I spend 29% of my awake hours learning and working on various projects (on a very productive day). My total awake time: < 16 hours I colored in each activity type.  Block life picture. "Uncolored" blocks are necessities, blue ...

I like libraries.  Libraries are places where I can escape the fast paced world we live in and immerse myself in my studies. Libraries are quiet, clean, and above all, simple. Book shelves, tables, chairs, lights, and air conditioning are the essential factors of a high productivity environment (AC, above all else, is indispensable). MIT Library.  The study vibe.  Our human brains have this wonderful ability of imagination: we can simulate situations in our head. We probably all know what to expect before we eat chocolate, because we have tasted it before. I believe that a similar effect happens in a library. We imagine ourselves to be hardworking scholars, and we feel good about it, mainly because hardworking scholars are better than couch potatoes. In the library, with other people focused on their works, we feel more inclined to work and be productive.  Environment is a big factor.  There is this old saying that "you are the average of your fiv...

The Start I saw various snow globes many times in my life, but I only realized some of its implications a few moths ago, during my seventeenth year on Earth. Snow globes are pretty, expensive, and offer no practical value. They are the embodiment of the modern materialistic mindset: often found at tourist traps and bought at a high value as gifts and souvenirs. The only value they offer is perhaps a sense of awe that decays rapidly with repeated sightings. We can argue that they have sentimental values, but I rebut that all objects can have sentimental values, and therefor, snow globes are not better in that aspect. Picture from Flikr.  But, they are beautiful.  Even I cannot deny that. A majestic world with castles and sky scrapers inside a transparent glass sphere is beautiful. However, when I stumbled across deeper implications behind its attractive appearance, I started to ponder about the face values of happiness.   A world without snow is a sad on...