2 weeks since I last posted, due to various problems. We had yet another new lecturer last week, drafted in at the last minute. Clearly hadn’t had much time to prepare for the session as the teaching was quite confusing in parts even though I pretty much know the stuff we’re doing, especially the bits we’d done the week before. And an amazing development this evening - we actually had the same lecturer as last week. Finally some consistency! Unfortunately, the lecturer in question is still very confusing when explaining the subject, which doesn’t help when we’re already behind schedule. To add to the fun this evening, the smart board didn’t work when we started and then, when it had been brought on line, there was a power surge in the building which knocked it out again!
It’s half term next week and we’re still messing about with basic arithmetic concepts - indices and fractions tonight. We need to start moving ahead or it’s going to bite us later in the course. I’m going to have to invest in the course textbook and do some extra work at weekends, especially now that we have finally been told what the course textbook actually is!
I’m reading The Histories by Herodotus at the moment, about the Persian invasion of Greece around 480BCE, with a lot of incidental information about the world in general at that era. Or the part of the world which was known to the Greeks, at least. It’s a fascinating read if you can keep track of where Herodotus is up to, as he does jump around a lot from the main thread of the story to side stories on the background or just related anecdotes. I’m impressed by Herodotus himself in the way he presents information, clearly differentiating between what he knows from personal experience and what he has only heard about at second or third hand.
And I didn’t realise that the Phoenicians had circumnavigated Africa in about 600BCE, going from the Red Sea round South Africa and West Africa to the Mediterranean and finally to Egypt.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don’t.
WELL T ANOTHER WEIRD WEEK FOR YOU
PERSONALLY I WOULD NEED THOSE BASIC ARITHMATIC AND FRACTIONS LESSONS FOR SEVERAL MONTHS!
IT IS AMAZING HOW QUICKLY THE OLD SKILLS ATROPHY WHEN NOT IN USE. I KNOW I AM NOT STUPID BUT BOOK SMARTS ARE ANOTHER MATTER. THIS GETS ME THINKING ABOUT IMPRINTS AND ALL THAT NEURO LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING MALLARKEY I USED TO READ, PARTICULARLY BY ROBERT DILTS ABOUT HOW (LIKE DUCKS AND OTHER ANIMALS) WE ARE IMPRINT VULNERABLE AND AS SUCH, WE HAVE PERIODS WHERE (AT A DEEPER LEVEL THAN CONDITIONING) WE ADOPT BELIEFS ABOUT IDENTITY AND OUR ABILITIES THAT DECIDE OUR FATE. FOR EXAMPLE, I THINK I AM USELESS AT MATHS....AND YET IF A SKILLED ENOUGH TEACHER WERE TO TEACH ME, I AM SURE I COULD SURPRISE MYSELF, YET I PROBABLY WOULD GIVE UP BEFORE EVEN ATTEMPTING BECAUSE "I AM JUST NO GOOD AT MATHEMATICS"
WEIRD. READING A GOOD BLOG SITE AT THE MOMENT,BY STEVE PAVLINA. HE FOLLOWS THE LAW OF ATTRACTIONS, AFFIRMATION, NEW THOUGHT PHILOSOPHY OF THINKING ONLY OF WHAT YOU DO WANT, SINCERELY, REGULARLY AND WITH FEELING AS IF YOU ALREADY POSSESS THIS ITEM....AND IT WILL MANIFEST IN THE UNIVERSE. THAT IS WHY IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO THINK "I DON'T WANT X" BECAUSE BY NEGATING "X", YOU ARE GIVING IT POWER AND ACTUALLY MORE LIKELY TO BRING THAT TO FRUITITION. SO NEVER CONCENTRATE ON WHAT YOU DO NOT WANT AS AN AFFIRMATION...ALWAYS WHAT YOU DO WANT
SO IT IS BETTER TO STATE "I WANT 'Y' "
RATHER THAN "I DON'T WANT X"
MY REASON FOR GOING ON ABOUT THIS IS THAT HE STATES THAT WE ALL HAVE A META BELIEF, THAT BELIEFS THEMSELVES ARE HARD TO CHANGE. HE SAYS, WHILST WORKING FROM THAT PARADIGM, WE ARE DOOMED TO FAILIURE AND LIKE THE NLP TECHNIQUE OF ACTING "AS IF" WE SHOULD SUSPEND AS BEST WE CAN OUR NEGATIVE SIDE AND KEEP AFFIRMING THAT BELIEFS ARE EASILY MALLEABLE AND KEEP CONCENTRATING ON THE POSITIVE
DOES IT WORK?
WHO KNOWS, HE SEEMS CONVINCED AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE OUT THERE WITH SIMILAR MESSAGES. I HAD INITIALLY GOT SUSPICIOUS BECAUSE MOST OF THESE INDIVIDUALS MADE THEIR INCOME BY SELLING THIS VERY IDEA.....BUT THEN I REALISED MY OWN CYNICISM AND I THOUGHT, WELL THERE ARE PROBABLY LOADS OF OTHER PEOPLE UTILISING THIS SAME TECHNIQUE IN OTHER AREAS BUT THEY ARE NOT ADVERTISING THE FACT OR EVEN DOING IT UNCONSCIOUSLY AND REAPING THE REWARDS IN OTHER AREAS UNBEKNOWEST TO MYSELF
I WOULD LIKE TO THINK SOMETHING SO SEEMINGLY EASY WOULD WORK BUT I AM A DOUBTING THOMAS AND FROM MY LITTLE FORAYS INTO THIS AREA, IT IS SOON APPARENT THAT WHILST IT SEEMS EASY, TO MAINTAIN THIS MINDSET WITHOUT SERIOUS DOUBT, FEAR OR FRUSTRATION SETTING IN IS ACTUALLY INCREDIBLY HARD
BUT I AM TRYING
ANYWAY, WHEN I OVERTAKE YOU IN THE MATHS CLASS TONY, THEN YOU KNOW THAT THIS STUFF WORKS
SEE YOU SOON
JOE