Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior →

thatluciegirl:

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western parents tend to give up. But if done properly, the Chinese strategy produces a virtuous circle. Tenacious practice, practice, practice is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is underrated in America. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it’s math, piano, pitching or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction. This builds confidence and makes the once not-fun activity fun. This in turn makes it easier for the parent to get the child to work even more.

It’s like my own mother is lecturing me through the Wall Street Journal.

reading

In lieu of preparing for the MCATs, and other more responsible obligatory activities, I’ve been indulging in novels and feel-good DVDs poached from the library. Something about being at home just isn’t conducive to concentrated studying. I’m beginning to feel the suburbia induced angst/antsyness.

Productivity needs to start now. (as in, tomorrow)

Things I need to accomplish this semester - in no particular order

- Thesis

- MCAT

- Research

- Classes

- Watch lots of Basketball

- Graduate

Things I need to accomplish before the end of break

- Email professors

- Write chapter 1 draft of thesis (and finish reading book of dense research while I’m at it)

- Finish part 1 of MCAT review

…will check back in a week to see how much of this actually gets done and how much will need to be crammed. (I really need to stop procrastinating this year)

papers completed

1 biochemistry final to go…

40some lectures to review. 13 problem sets, 4 practice exams, krebs cycle and cholesterol processing yay :)

Having 1 final isn’t particularly conducive to motivation for studying. I have therefore done no work since I turned in my last 3 final papers on Friday - and spent the large part of the weekend eating food and sleeping. sooo glorious. 

Friday night: awesome Korean food! (bimbimbap is pure genius) and adorable IV Christmas party. On the bus ride back to West, I saw a girl with a flashing red reindeer nose! My next holiday purchase…do you think I could find one at Walmart? Otherwise I think I’m just going to order off amazon.

Saturday: (early) Birthday dinner at Revolution sooo goood.

Unfortunately, it looks like I should actually crack open a book today.

Last saw your face in a watercolour sky As sea birds argue, a long goodbye I took your kiss, on the spray of the new land star You gotta live with your dreams, don’t make them so hard It’s early fall, there’s a cloud on the New York skyline Innocence, dragged across a yellow line.

~U2

morals

Had a great discussion with my thesis adviser today about how she became a philosopher (by a lot of random chance; moral: life is full of surprises I should stop trying to predict) which then somehow lead to a discussion on the differences between the anglo philosophical tradition and the french/german philosophical tradition (moral of the story: decided not to take graduate level class on Heidegger). Then had dinner with an awesome Duke doctor who shared her experiences in being a woman, having a family, and being a doctor, and when/how all those things do and do not fit together. Moral here: challenging but doable, as long as you define your personal values very carefully and then stick to your guns. Female mentors FTW.