Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ and Nyan Cat played on piano simultaneously
(via Video: Seeking Asian Female | Watch Independent Lens Online | PBS Video)
Beautifully done.
“There just happen to be people like that. They’re blessed with this marvelous talent, but they can’t make the effort to systematize it. They end up squandering it in little bits and pieces. I’ve seen my share of people like that. At first you think they’re amazing. Like, they can sight-read some terrifically difficult piece and do a damn good job playing it all the way through. You see them do it, and you’re overwhelmed. You think, ‘I could never do that in a million years.’ But that’s as far as they go. They can’t take it any further. And why not? Because they won’t put in the effort. Because they haven’t had the discipline pounded into them. They’ve been spoiled. They have just enough talent so they’ve been able to play things well without any effort and they’ve had people telling them how great they are from the time they’re little, so hard work looks stupid to them. They’ll take some piece another kid has to work on for three weeks and polish it off in half the time, so the teacher figures they’ve put enough into it and lets them go to the next thing. And they do that in half the time and go on to the next piece. They never find out what it means to be hammered by the teacher; they lose out on a certain element required for character building. It’s a tragedy.”
– Haruki Murakami, “Norwegian Wood”
“
There are a lot of myths about productivity — that time is fungible, that focusing is good, that bribing yourself is effective, that hard work is unpleasant, that procrastinating is unnatural — but they all have a common theme: a conception of real work as something that goes against your natural inclinations.
[…]
But if you’re trying to do something worthwhile and creative, then shutting down your brain is entirely the wrong way to go. The real secret to productivity is the reverse: to listen to your body. To eat when you’re hungry, to sleep when you’re tired, to take a break when you’re bored, to work on projects that seem fun and interesting.
It seems all too simple. It doesn’t involve any fancy acronyms or self-determination or personal testimonials from successful businessmen. It almost seems like common sense. But society’s conception of work has pushed us in the opposite direction. If we want to be more productive, all we need to do is turn around.
”–
Aaron Swartz, “HOWTO: Be more productive”
Currently in the process of making my resume prettier (previously this).
I am enjoying this a lot.
I now really want to buy a website just so I can create a layout for it.
Max Frost | White Lies
notes
- I have this really horrendous habit of spectating. I stand at the sidelines and observe while other people go out and have amazing adventures and life-changing experiences. And then there’s me. I’m trapped in my own thoughts and my own mind. There are benefits to that. I feel like it’s probably made me a more analytical person. I probably wouldn’t be where I am today if I weren’t like this. But life isn’t just about being analytical and I think I need to go out and feel things more.
- I’m going to try to get in the habit of waking up early in the mornings and not staying up at ridiculous hours of the night. I used to think I was more productive past midnight, and actually, that might be true, but I don’t think I care enough about that anymore. Plus, there’s something REALLY nice about getting up at 5am and seeing the sun rise and hearing everything wake up and become alive.
- I’ve had a longing to go hiking for a while now. Maybe it’s a side-effect of sitting in front of a computer all day. I was originally thinking about going to SF at the end of summer, but I think I might go to Yellowstone instead.
- It’s reading period and I have a shit-ton of work to do, but I’m writing this instead. I’m a bit over work at this point. I’ve been turning in homeworks/projects that are wrong or don’t work, not because I don’t know how to fix them or don’t have time to, but because I don’t see the point. The amount of work this semester hasn’t been ridiculous, but there have been quite a few times this semester where I’ve had to sacrifice things in order to do schoolwork, and I’ve decided it’s not worth it.
- I’ve recently developed a thing for tattooed men who are also really good fathers.
Pedro Pinto
Daehyun Kim
The Saudi Marathon Man : The New Yorker »
Magic Man - Paris
“Girl, girl, get that cash
If it’s 9 to 5 or shakin’ your ass
Ain’t no shame, ladies do your thing
Just make sure you ahead of the game”– Missy Elliott on survival and integrity within patriarchal capitalism (via calloway)
I’ve ruined so many undies from unexpectedly getting my period so I just drew it on there permanently
loooooool