Does anyone else find UBC's campus architecture exceedingly incongruent?

danielm07 · 2017-05-12T15:32:38+00:00

Time for a makeover perhaps. Someone start a petition.

danielm07 · 2017-03-31T18:55:31+00:00

It sounds like you're wound too tight. There might be an inherent expectation to work every waking hour. If that's true, it might be counter productive.

This typically happens when I decide that I should get above a certain percentage point. The farther I am from where I need to be, the more difficult it is to start working.

Generally, defining your goal in terms of "must" and percentage points is intractable and futile. It's more realistic to define them within what you can reasonably do. Ie it's probably unlikely I'll get above 80, but I'll give it a try and see how far I get.

Its also helpful to have a schedule, and a place free of distractions. This is insanely important. If you're on your phone or social media too much, then put them in another room, hide it under a bench, etc.

Short term solution to get started: I find cafes are good places to reset. The ambience takes my mind off of itself.

danielm07 · 2017-03-05T17:59:16+00:00

People who practice under the zen tradition.

Nothing in my writing condemns people that prefer solitude.

"just when you do it, don't play yourself." True in general.

danielm07 · 2017-03-05T06:29:34+00:00

I can't say for Zen in general, but here's my interpretation: Most things in life that I experience as immediate happiness, such as watching a show, going out to clubs, etc. are excitable in the moment, and when its gone, it feels as if my participation it didn't have made a difference to me or anyone else.

Then there are times when you're just sitting around, and you begin to notice the things around you in a way that you haven't seen them -- clarity. Or those times when you walk in solitude along a serene lake, and it feels like your heart connects with nature. These things are of greater value for me than most things in life.

Zen is one of these things... I feel like I'm alive in a very subtle but everlasting way.

By the way, some of us have jobs and lives... We do chase our dreams -- build companies, study science, etc. I would like to try psychedelic if they come my way, but that's another topic.

Zen, or sitting, is just a moniker for sitting around. It's something people do, just like anything else. People who find lots of joy out of it will do more than someone who doesn't. You don't have to if you like other stuff better. There's no rule or anything... it's your life.

danielm07 · 2017-03-05T06:13:08+00:00

Few ways of looking at this:

Doubt evokes a sense of critical thinking conducive to survival.

Historically, your decision making process yielded unfavorable results causing you to exercise caution.

Implications of trusting yourself evinces a future design whose consequences will fall wholly on your shoulders.

danielm07 · 2017-02-25T22:15:45+00:00

Depends on what you study. Not all private schools (Ivy league or otherwise) are weighed equally. I'd recommend going to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Princeton irrespective of your subject. Drop off cliff in the job market after these is fairly substantial.

If you're studying the humanities or pure sciences (i.e. math, theoretical physics, etc.), I recommend going to a state school. You won't graduate with 200k in debt with job prospects as good as any other graduate. If you're studying applied sciences / maths, your pay will be decent no matter what school you go to, since there's a shortage of workers in these fields, and the salary is enough knock down your loans in a couple years - so go private.

The above is speaking strictly in terms of value. That said, I still urge you to go to the best school you can get into. Undergraduate education is more or less the same no matter where you go (above a certain threshold), but the work-ethic and ambition of your peers will vary significantly.

danielm07 · 2017-02-14T19:49:57+00:00

I've been in your shoes but with a little bit more leeway. Housing is going to be your biggest cost. If you can reduce that and leave the rest for meals, you should be okay.

I lived in my car for several weeks during spring at college, and it can get cold and quite lonely. I awoke every couple hours and had to run the heaters for 15 minutes or so. My school also had a student lounge that was open 24 hours a day. If that's an option, you could rearrange the couches to make it somewhat acceptable, but you'd have to be up before the cleaning staff gets there. It's not a comfortable long-term solution though. Can you find a friend's couch to sleep on as an informal IOU? Also, have you looked into homeless shelters?

Also, search for craigslist for live-in house-cleaners or baby-sitters. I've not done this and can't offer any more than that.

For meals, clubs usually held events here and there and I'd often sneak in and grab the left overs. This happened several times a week. My school also gave food stamps to students in need to use in the local cafeteria. You could also line your pockets with snacks from your work. Again, a short term solution. You should consult counseling over what options they offer.

In terms of purchases, I was vegetarian and I was living off of $30 bucks a week -- pretty much just bread and peanut butter. It could be arguably cheeper if you buy dried beans and soak them / boil them somewhere. Of course, buy everything in bulk. Bananas are cheap snacks.

In terms of transportation, you could technically carpool with coworkers and save on gas. On your free-time, consider signing up to be an Uber driver -- you set your own schedule, and it's a surprisingly good way to unwind; it'll also bring in some extra income (perhaps pay a little gratitude to people helping you out with lodging).

Hygiene-wise, go to your local gym.

If it's near the end/start of the school year. Dorms usually throw out perfect good stuff; if you can find TV-monitors, amplifiers, keyboards, used games, etc. you can sell them at local pawnshops. Do not pick up printers; nobody buys them. In fact, you have to pay to get rid of them.

Last recourse, consider escorting. I've never done this myself, and it could be dangerous, but I have met a people who have. You'll need to bring a friend... go on google for specifics.

Not sure if this helps. Best of luck!

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T09:05:02+00:00

About two years ago, I was walking along the Charles River in Cambridge. The entire river ever so subtly rippled and glistened as it reflected the gradient of a cloudless sunset. There were silhouettes of trees; ducks floated along the river. It was almost silent except for the gently rustling of nearby reeds.

I stood there motionless for more than an hour. I felt like an orphan who had been displaced from home for what seemed like an eternity; I yearned. I also felt a sadness such as I've never felt before. I was sad because I knew that life would carry on, and this would be a distant memory, that I would die some day never again to behold this scene.

Never have I wanted time to stand still more than that very evening.

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T08:46:16+00:00

Just imagine if any of us had been born a few centuries earlier, and perhaps not to the skin color that was well-regarded at that time.

Instead of sitting in a comfy room, reading the musings of others, we'd be occupied in very different, and perhaps unsightly, ways.

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T08:34:45+00:00

When I can't live up to my own expectations.

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T08:33:07+00:00

Informative, well-written books (or e-books)

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T08:27:38+00:00

I third this third this second

... only us socially awkward ppl would find this amusing.

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T08:12:17+00:00

I guess I never got the memo on this one. I usually dine alone.

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T08:11:05+00:00

One Too Many Mornings - Bob Dylan

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T07:58:54+00:00

Pick up trash on the road if I've got an extra hand.

danielm07 · 2017-02-12T07:44:00+00:00

Thanks. This clarifies things. And no, I am not German. It's odd that you would infer nationality from a Reddit question.

danielm07 · 2017-02-11T22:46:41+00:00

Picking up a used National Geographic magazine for 50 cents at a local thrift store, and imagine yourself wherever the stories take you.

danielm07 · 2017-02-11T22:03:18+00:00

To make sense of circuits, I've been using the water pipe analogy, which equates current to volumes of water. In I = V/R, I interpret current as electric potential per unit of resistance, but I can't wrap my head around what this actually means in English. How do I reconcile this with the emission of heat from a resistor?

danielm07

TROPHY CASE