Hope all of you enjoyed New Year festivities! On the last day of of 2018, I opened the front door late at night to check out the early fireworks after I popped my small champagne poppers. We have some eager neighbors who are ready to start the new year with a bang! There was some heavy fog that swirled together with the smoke creating a dense screen of opaque gas.
As much as I like the mystical nature of fog (when I’m not driving), I couldn’t help but feel that the fog symbolically represented the concealment of transitioning to 2019 this time. It was as if the fog was teasing me, “Na-na-na Sa, you are not allowed to peek ahead quite yet! There’s something I want you to pay attention to first!”
At least 2019’s fog seems more playful than the 1980’s killer fog from the horror thriller flick! 😀
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson
Hold on Thomas Jefferson! I know you’re waving your translucent hands impatiently waiting to get to the meat of the issue, but I’m going to indulge in the past just a little bit before jumping to my dreams for the future! I invited you here because I heard that various educators and editors were taking you out of school textbooks in our region. Interesting debate! You are such an enigmatic founding father in American history!
Anyway, the foggy weather reminded me of a novel I read as a young girl called “Fog Magic” by Julia L. Sauer published in 1943. Greta, a young girl living in Nova Scotia, is able to travel back in time every time her village is covered in fog.
I’ve been looking forward at everything in my life through my front windshield to avoid crashing into anything and enjoy the present. Since it’s foggy outside, I’m just going to park in the woods for a moment and enjoy my warm order of “acceptance, courage, and self-love” venti potion from The Sunshine Artist’s garden cafe.
Part of self-love involves forgiveness of myself for the things I felt like I couldn’t do. There’s an acronym floating around the blogsphere: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Comparing yourself to others is a harmful habit. Sometimes, I’m in awe of what someone else is doing and wonder if I should being doing that too like say… rock climbing for instance.
So, it’s time to look at my rear view mirror and reflect back on the highlights of my year, bullet journal style!
Overview of 2018
January:
- Elected Secretary of the Justice Society, Vice-president of Chapter Operations for a business fraternity, Treasurer of Guild of Geeks at my school which simultaneously scared and excited me because I’ve never been elected for so many student officer positions
- Started a more rigorous fitness and nutrition regimen to help me maintain energy for all those new responsibilities
February:
- Began planning for several community service projects
- Learning “Infor: ERP Cloud Software” and COBOL programming language that is causing everyone in my class migraine headaches
March:
- Happily grew some squash, flowers, lettuce and maintained my garden patch during spring break!
- Organized a clothing drive for the Battered Women’s Shelter for women’s history month
April:
- Organized my first video game tournament which gave me many lessons in project & event management
- Organized speaker series for World Water Day and Earth Day for Environmental club
May:
- Graduated from a bachelor’s program with a major in information technology, project management and minor in English
- Humbled to be awarded “Student Leader of the Year” along with other distinguished honors
June:
- Preparing to be bridesmaid in my best friend’s wedding
- Served a homeless shelter
- CISCO, CCNA, CompTIA+ cyber security training
- Participated in a summer reading club
July
- Started my blog, “Culture Shocks” where I enjoyed writing fiction, taking photographs, and interacting with many bloggers around the world. THANK YOU! It’s been a pleasure!
August
- Began my year long commitment with a local youth literacy reading buddy program
September
- Participated in San Japan Convention, cosplayed as Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece anime, and enjoyed time with boyfriend before our 3 month separation as we focused on our studies.
October
- Started studying graduate admission testing workshops. I was thinking about practicing my essay questions here…
November
- Handled busiest retail season for Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years!
December
- Participated in a fun song challenge on my blog which hid my incredibly packed holiday schedule. Believe me, it helped tremendously! 😀
Goals for 2019
After that bullet list, you’d think I’d just want to find ways to relax for 2019! Now that’s an idea! In my last Q&A, I said I wanted to remove some clutter. One evening, I noticed that Netflix featured a show with master organizer: “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”. Guess my goal is everyone else’s! I will ponder on these quotes while cleaning and trying out a few things from the #KonMariMethod.
For my blog (same, some tweaks)
- Book/Movie/Restaurant reviews
- Crafts/Art/Drawing/Painting/Sketch
- Fiction/Poems/Stories
- Questions/Responses/Thoughts
- Photographs/Challenges/Prompts
For my personal life
- Transitioning to a new job/career
- More studies- Tech certifications
- Read at least one book each month
- Spending more time with family and friends
- Sleep more often. Make sure I get enough rest.
- Dream up new dreams throughout the year!
Culture Shocks 
My New Year’s resolution was pretty simply stated in three words: Let It Go. 🌟✨💫
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Nice! A one liner that covers it all! 😀
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Wow, that’s a lot!
Im surprised to find out the we both just started blogging this year 😅
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Oh! We’re both newbies! Though I guess we both learn quickly! 🙂
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I guess so too! 😄
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You got this!
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Thank you for being a cheerleader!😀🤷♀️
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My grandson is an avid reader and all he ever wants as a present is books. I bought him a box of books for christmas and one of them was, seriously, “Fog Magic”
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You don’t say!?🤣 Did he ever talk about the book? It’s wonderful that he feels that way. Books as a gift can last a long time and be reopened again and again.
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I don’t know if he’s started it yet but I’ll be interested to hear about it when he does. He’s 8 yes old now. My daughter was only 26 weeks pregnant when they had to take him. Born 1 lb 9 oz. Has had more surgeries than I can count, and is autistic. Before he could read himself, he could have any book read to him and repeat the entire thing back to having heard it only once. Lol.
He is a book consumer and loves nothing more than a good story. 😊 He already has a huge library of his own. Lol
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Wow!! What a miracle story Laura!! A remarkable autistic savant who has been through so much!! I wrote a 30 page research paper about these special individuals in senior year of high school. My peers said it was a passionate piece. Very heartwarming story! I can only imagine how your daughter feels. I would love to know how he feels about Fog Magic. ❤
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I’ll be sure to let you know. He’s definately my miracle boy. 💕
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Oh to be young with energy and ambition! You accomplished so much in 2018 – congrats. Love the analogy of fog. It’s a good reminder to all of us that the future is unknowable.
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Thanks VJ! I often tell people: I’ll do as much as youth will allow me to do, so as not to feel regret for things not experienced in youth. A friend tells me that every age has its charms.
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Your friend is right!
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You slayed it beyond measure. Yesssss. Happy for you and congratulations. I know you’re going to tackle 2019 with class. Love how you connected everything as well *enigmatic*. Cheers to an amazing year and achieving milestones
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Thank you so much for your well wishes and praise! It’s my hope for you as well. 🙂
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Thank you, that means a lot. 😊
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Oh the exuberance of Youth! 😉 I was worn out just reading of your many accomplishments!
You might have to write a blog about how you stay so ‘organised’ and give us all some tips! 😉
So glad you started blogging and that i found your blog last year, Sa!
Wishing you clear skies for 2019. 🙂
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Oh, stop! You make me blush. My professor told me I was a pain to grade for being an overachiever, but that didn’t stop me. I gave him some Christmas chocolate to make up for my *ahem*…character trait. 😉
Hm…a blog about organization? What works for me may not work for everyone! My classmates were bewildered too, but I was super motivated and surrounded by inspiring people. 🙂
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I guess finding your inner motivator is a key… but i’m sure there are some tips and techniques the SMARTER of us could follow if you revealed your secrets!
I’l give you a bar of chocolate? 😉
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I use a day to day planner that I carry with me wherever I go! 🙂 As tech savvy as I am, I don’t really like to use apps or online calendars to help me organize my day. There’s a study conducted by some university students that when you write down what you want to accomplish, you’re more likely to achieve them. I find that this was true in my case.
I tend to also have my own personal tiers of difficulty.Tasks that I know will require more time to accomplish, I break it up into manageable chunks so that the sheer size of the whole doesn’t overwhelm me which would make me not want to do it at all. I even break up my planning so that there’s some tasks that go step by step. I also categorize my tasks by things that require similar sets skills so I can knock them out all at once. I fall into a pattern or rhythm that becomes more efficient when doing similar things. So, there could be a variety of projects, but I try to knock out tasks that require one particular software. Other tasks require some intuitive know how like design..I’m more flexible with my creative tasks that require application of certain ideas.
I’m more driven by internal standards than external rewards which I believe affects the quality of my work. Internal standards though are sometimes influence by what inspires me externally. 🙂
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See – now That’s pure gold right there! 🙂 so logical and also intuitive – in tune with your own mental acuity. Definitely agree writing it all down brings a ‘deeper’ level of mental activity into the process and helps more than using apps. Typing can add some thing, but not as much as manual dexterity/language links.
That’s so important being driven by internal more than external reward – if only that were taught more and made more aware in the education system and in life! 🙂
Thanks so much for your thoughts Sa! 🙂
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No problem! I hope to see a daily funny about a virtual chocolate bar now! 😉
Educational systems are not complete. It’s been an interest of mine! I read a fascinating book called “The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got that Way” by Amanda Ripley one summer. It was interesting to see various systems around the world. I’ve known many students who do far better when studying on their own, yet I know some that need the structure of school in their lives.
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A virtual chocolate bar…? Hmmm……that could be tricky – but i’ll have a go! 😉
I feel i learn better in my own, rather than in a school, environment. My problem with it though is a lack of any real discipline – too many distractions. 😦
I feel educational systems are designed on limited budgets to suit a particular purpose – and it is not to produce the best learning each student can get!
For one thing there are many ways of learning and what suits one will not suit another yet a teacher of 30 kids can’t possibly teach each one individually to their best ability. Number 2 and most importantly is that the whole idea of mass education was to produce workers for the economy, not intellectuals who think and learn for their best advantage in their life.
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Especially in this day and age, there’s distractions left and right. It’s no surprise that many students drop out of college.
A few years ago, a rapper who goes by the name Prince EA created this video about the educational system that highlights the issues that you mentioned. I think many have understood the problems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8
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WOW! Perfect!! 🙂
Problem understood – so now for the solution part??
ON a similar theme i’ve been looking at our brain ‘waves’. I figure it’s time we all learned the latest science on brain functioning in order to learn better/faster/smarter. Rote learning is so 19th century Curriculum learning is so 20th century! It’s time for Creative Individual (Self) learning! perhaps ‘guided’ by professionals in psychology/neurology?
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There’s still so much to learn about the brain. It is still such a mystery. Self learning will be great! Wonder how different that would be from autodidacticism. How would standards be measured? Hmmm…
For some time, I thought about working at the cognitive science center downtown. Psychology is important
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AS far as i know the difference with autodidactism would be that you have a ‘second opinion’ from someone with practical knowledge and or experience in the thing you wish to learn about! 😉
AS for ‘standards’ there would only be those you set for yourself or by the people providing the ‘second opinion’. I see the idea as more results assessed than meeting some pre-defined ‘standard’ – you are judged by how well you perform/what you can produce/how well you feel.
If you have the chance I say GO FOR IT!!! We need to better understand what drives us and how our brain operates so as to produce the life we end up living.
I’m currently looking at brain waves and thinking about starting a new blog where i present the latest findings and topics of research into brain activity/function.
If you are interested you might want to look up ‘gamma waves’ sometime.
I’m also open to the idea of collaboration on the blog idea! 😉
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Sounds like a mentorship of sorts which is generally seen positively.
Interesting blog idea! I’ve read several articles on several topics regarding brain function exploring the relations to age, behavior, gender… It intrigues me. 🙂
I can’t believe you mentioned gamma waves!! My boyfriend and I were just discussing gamma rays when it was mentioned in the movie “The Man Who Knew Infinity”, an Indian mathematician by the name of Ramunujan. He found a way to calculate the negative values.
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Re: the Brain Blog – I’ve decided in the interim to start a new section of my blog ‘Our Brain’ where i will post my ideas and thoughts, and ask for input from others, on the topic of how to better understand just what that 1.5 kilogram lump of grey matter encased in a hard bony shell is and what it does and how we might be able to better use it to live better lives in all aspects of our being. I might then later transfer that info into a seperate blog?
As for Gamma waves it seems we are at triple cross purposes.
I meant gamma waves, being the 5th discovered form of brain wave activity with frequencies between 32 and 100 Hz (i have my own reasons for thinking it might be 32-64 Hz) which is at a higher level of frequency than those associated with typical ‘conscious’ thinking activity (wakefulness or usual level of awareness). Some experiments with Buddhist monks suggest that when entering a meditative state of enlightenment their brainwaves are predominantly in this region!
Gamma Rays are the ultra-high energy electromagnetic radiation waves that can pass through planets as easily as a fly passes through an open doorway and Ramanujan Master Theorem was concerning the mathematical statistical function, the Gamma Function.
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Sounds good to get ideas and feedback from the community you already have on Lwbut! It will take some time to transfer that to a new blog. Your content will gradually attract another community in time. Best wishes on this project. I would like to respond to the topic as well.
Thanks for the clarification between Gamma Rays, Gamma Waves, and the Gamma Function! 🙂 I’ve heard about that study with the Buddhist monks! Now I would be really curious to see what you think of that movie the Fountain.
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Wait a minute, information technology? High five!
Just out of curiosity, what game was the tournament in? 😀
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OH yeah!! *high-five* You’re a programmer, video gamer, 3-D modeler. That’s awesome. Snap! It was Super Smash Brothers. I picked a game that could appeal to many in the city. Drew in a lot of people. Was not expecting crazy experts at the game! Handled public relations, got some cool prizes, had a woodworker carve and paint some original wooden trophies for me, made gamer food, jamming out to gamer music, and away we went! Successful event that lasted three days – Loads of fun! 😀
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Oh my goodness, you had it all planned! Gamer food?! Sounds like three days of pure joy! 🙂
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Congrats on a stellar year! You’ve set the bar high for 2019 but I have no doubt you will meet it and then some!
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Thank you! I’m grateful for an inspiring community as well!
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Great post, Have a blessed 2019 !
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Thank you! You too! Look forward to your posts this year!
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wow! you did a lot in 2018! Congratulations on graduating and all the events you organized. It’s awesome you still had time to keep up with your garden. I remember your post on compost even. I hope you have another great 2019.
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Sounds like you had such a busy 2018! Congratulations on all your accomplishments 🙂 I’m sure we all need to de-clutter our lives a little bit in this new year lol!
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Thanks! 🙂
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Woah.. Looks like you’ve done an exceptionally wonderful job! Kudos! 🙂
Wish you a blessed 2019.. Cheers!❤
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Sounds like a good plan! 🙂 Blessings on your year.
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Thank you so much! 🙂 ❤
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