I want to learn everything and it is becoming a problem

New-ish studyblr about all the things I'm interested in. Mainly languages and physics for now. I gush over Star Trek, Tolkien and interesting ideas over at my main blog any-shadow.

[mobpsycho100]

[math-memes]

[gottasleepgottastudy]

I wish I could like… download languages into my brain.

[ruby-white-rabbit]

It’s called studying but the buffering speed is a bitch

[study-for-starfleet]

Time to revive the #sad physics student blogging tag

[self-healing]

stop believing that you ran out of time to shape yourself into who you want to be! stop believing that its ruined! stop believing you don’t have potential! you are not a fixed being! you have endless opportunities to grow.

[pippistudies]

can we stop romanticising pushing ourselves to the limit cause I want to stop feeling like I have to not sleep and not eat to be truly productive. pls and thank u

[sixpenceee]

Galton Board demonstrating a normal distribution

[curiosamathematica]

If the umbrella would be a perfectly straight line, the curve on the right would be one branch of a hyperbola.

[the-axiom-of-choice]

I’ve made so many more friends in the math department by being honest and upfront about the shit I don’t know. For example: I know almost goose egg about applied math. Game theory, algebraic geometry, combinatorics, COMPUTER SCIENCE and I have a lot of friends who do those things because even if we can’t have high level discussions about their work, I make it clear I respect what they do and we can have intelligent conversations that aren’t centered around Who’s Smarter and Who Knows What and no one feels threatened or judged

I try to make it incredibly clear to people what I do and don’t know and what I think is difficult and I’ve made a lot of friends because people feel comfortable talking to each other WHEN THEY DONT FEEL INCREDIBLY JUDGED for what they think they’re supposed to know. I make it abundantly clear that I am Allergic to Combinatorics and that my algebra isn’t as strong as my analysis or that geometry is 100% not my strong suit. I’m bad at elementary number theory and I’m not so good at computation at all but I’m good at set theory and explaining things and I’m even better at making connections between fields.

I just wish the math community was better at admitting what they DONT know instead of constantly trying to show off what they do, STEM is such a dick measuring contest sometimes it’s embarrassing and counterproductive and Ugly

Know what you know and know what you don’t know and be honest about it. The best people I’ve met are those that are respectful and stay in their mathematical lane and admit their shortcomings. Everyone else is trash and don’t ever bother with people/feel threatened by anyone who can’t say the words “I don’t know.”

[kiran-wears-science-blues]

I’m not math, but I’ve come to discover that the best way to cope with Imposter Syndrome and other feelings of inadequacy when talking to people who know more about things than I do is to enthusiastically say: “I don’t know that! Tell me more!”

Whether I’m using it in grad school or at the dinner table with my family (who are all far more medically and economically minded than I am), I find it works well to make me feel comfortable because I’m not trying to define my place there by how much I know but by how much I want to learn from the people around me, and it makes them feel better because their knowledge is valued, and overall just improves relationships all around. 

[evepolastrl]

#mood

[the-axiom-of-choice]

I’ve made so many more friends in the math department by being honest and upfront about the shit I don’t know. For example: I know almost goose egg about applied math. Game theory, algebraic geometry, combinatorics, COMPUTER SCIENCE and I have a lot of friends who do those things because even if we can’t have high level discussions about their work, I make it clear I respect what they do and we can have intelligent conversations that aren’t centered around Who’s Smarter and Who Knows What and no one feels threatened or judged

I try to make it incredibly clear to people what I do and don’t know and what I think is difficult and I’ve made a lot of friends because people feel comfortable talking to each other WHEN THEY DONT FEEL INCREDIBLY JUDGED for what they think they’re supposed to know. I make it abundantly clear that I am Allergic to Combinatorics and that my algebra isn’t as strong as my analysis or that geometry is 100% not my strong suit. I’m bad at elementary number theory and I’m not so good at computation at all but I’m good at set theory and explaining things and I’m even better at making connections between fields.

I just wish the math community was better at admitting what they DONT know instead of constantly trying to show off what they do, STEM is such a dick measuring contest sometimes it’s embarrassing and counterproductive and Ugly

Know what you know and know what you don’t know and be honest about it. The best people I’ve met are those that are respectful and stay in their mathematical lane and admit their shortcomings. Everyone else is trash and don’t ever bother with people/feel threatened by anyone who can’t say the words “I don’t know.”

[inahiddenplace]

I love kids they’re all like.. “when i grow up i’m gonna be an astronaut and a chef and a doctor and an olympic swimmer” like that self confidence! That drive! That optimism! Where does it go

[alexundefined]

It gets destroyed by adults not believing in you and telling you to pick a realistic career. And by society creating all these obstacles to the point that you’re too tired to try.

[thechargrey]

But they’re not really unrealistic, SOMEBODY is going to be an olympic swimmer and it might as well be you.

[thechargrey]

Actually I want to talk about this a little more than I did, because olympic swimming is incredible and works perfectly to talk about attaining goals.

I used to be a varsity swimmer, and I was damn good, but I was forced into it by my parents and completely lost my love for it and therein my drive. But in high school I was swimming against such talented swimmers like Olympic Swimmer Missy Franklin. I’ve met her, and the main difference between her and me was that I was strong but had no passion, but she was strong BECAUSE she had passion. 

And I could have been good, really good, maybe even Olympic good. I even have the predisposition for it, been swimming since I was 2 years old, have a mom who was almost an olympic swimmer. Missy didn’t have either of those things, she just wanted it, loved it, had been doing it for a long time, and decided she was going to kick ass at it.

Right, that’s great and all, but I completely missed my opportunity to be an olympic swimmer, yeah? and can never achieve those dreams I had as a kid? No, not even though. There was this whole thought that female athletes peak when they’re 17 years old and lose their skills quickly after that, and male athletes peak around 19. But then Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres shows up. She was an olympic swimmer when she was 17, 21 and 25. Pretty normal age for retirement. She had a few kids. She kicked butt at being a mom. 

And then at 33 years old she decides she’s bored or something gets back in shape and kicks so much ass at the trials that she lands herself on the Olympic Team ONCE AGAIN. And then 8 years later, she decides, heck I’m 41 now, no one has ever made the olympic swim team as old as I am, I want to get in shape yet again and teach these children how sports work.

And she still has the record for oldest US Olympic Swimmer, not even any men have beat out that record.

So basically what I’m saying is you could be an olympic swimmer, you really could be. And there are obviously a lot of things stopping you and trying to get in your way: your brain, society, too much chocolate cake for example. But if you really dedicate yourself to it and love it with all of your heart you could, you really could.

And lets say olympic swimming isn’t your jam? That’s cool too. There isn’t a single skill in this world that you can’t learn if you absolutely love it and want to. Any skill you want is going to take time. There are countless famous people who started learning a skill after 20, 30, 40, or even 50. Not a single person has even been president under age 35 (most likely because you’re not allowed to be, but there’s a reason for that). Whatever you want to do you’re probably going to be bad at first, and I’m talking really shitty.

Van Gogh got started in his 20′s and was thought to have no artistic talent at first and was forced to sit in the back of classrooms where the worst artists in the class sat. So yeah you’ll probably be bad, like really bad and everyone including you will think you’re bad. If you stick with it though, if you’re willing to work for years and years, if you keep loving it after all the pain it’s given you, 

then you might just paint Starry Night.

[ooksaidthelibrarian]

#looks like there’s still time for me to learn how to draw … YES. As someone who started drawing at 35 and who always was like: ‘eh, I can’t draw a stick figure to save my life, but I would love to be able to’ this is near and dear to my heart. If you want to draw, start drawing. Keep drawing. Be shit at drawing at first. Keep it up, doodle things on scraps but also draw stuff you don’t think you can draw. Challenge yourself, you will be surprised what you can do. It will be frustrating at times, but it will also be awesome. It is SO much a matter of practice and dedication, not talent.

[arialerendeair]

This applies for writing, too.  

Don’t ever think for a second that it doesn’t!  Want to start writing?  Then write!  You will get better the more you write, the more often, and you will improve, all of the time, as long as you dedicate yourself.  

[lauraannegilman]

The worst lie we tell ourselves is “it’s too late.”

[boodlesandtonicplz-deactivated2]

[shinchido]

Replace any hobby or interest for any curiosity you have, and pursue it. Yes I was one of the 5000 kids who started karate and never quit.

But one of my buddies started in 1975.

IN 1975.

He quit 5 times, because of life. Work. Kids. Marriage. Etc.

But he’s back again and he is still practising. Not as my training buddy anymore like 10 years ago, but as my student. But he doesn’t care. He just really loves what he does.

And I’m sure he will get to his black belt. I’m damn sure of it.

Because he has drive.

He has love.

He’ll make it.

[math-memes]

[hufflepuffwannabe]

[dxmedstudent]

Ghibli characters always make me feel better about the complete chaotic mess of my workspaces.

[jumpingjacktrash]

ghibli characters make me want to work hard

[one-small-garden]

“No language is justly studied merely as an aid to other purposes. It will in fact better serve other purposes, philological or historical, when it is studied for love, for itself.”

— Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics

[peoplecallmecarfanatic]

I just love how in English you say “great minds think alike”, which is a completely positive thing since you’re kinda praising yourself, but in German you go like “zwei Dumme, ein Gedanke” = “two fools, one thought” 

German is beautiful, isn’t it

[reinermariarilke]

Kind of reminds me when my french teacher explained us the french idiom “L’espoir fait vivre” (Hope makes us live) and he asked me how Germans say it and I was like “Hope dies last” and his legit answer was:

“See, that’s why no one likes you!”

[defectivegembrain]

not to sound like a nerd or a killjoy or whatever but talking all through lectures is really rude to both the lecturer and your fellow students, especially as some of them may have trouble filtering out background noise