Last week, our country was ravaged by Typhoon Pepito, the effects of which were felt in various provinces over the archipelago, including ours. Nevertheless, we pushed through with our active projects.
I'm very excited to tell you that we've finally exhausted our previous notebook, and we're moving on to a new bullet journal! Small notebooks are now my favorites, since they're easier to fill and the sense of accomplishment that comes with reaching the last page brings me a different level of satisfaction.
The BF Project
This week we did some practice questions for our calculus course. Because of the typhoon we had no electricity for two days; hence, no internet access. Nonetheless, a pdf file of a calculus book saved us, thus allowing us to re-learn foundational concepts vital in going deeper into the course. This week, we studied the real number system and algebraic operations on inequalities.
We finished a video as part of the Project Management course. On that day, we had a lot of free time so we also distilled our notes. Here, we learned about the different stages of a project life cycle and also got introduced with various project management methodologies that will be tackled in-depth in the next videos. So far, the skills we’re learning from this course continue to improve the way we’re handling our personal projects.
Lastly, we started another foundational course on statistics, and the first course that we took is an MIT OCW course called "Probabilistic Systems Analysis and Applied Probability" (Course Code 6.041). This course introduces us on how probability can be used in a variety of situations. So far, we made progress with the first reading, which is a review of the mathematical concept of sets. This course excites us, because statistics is present in almost every aspect of our daily lives. Additionally, the course aims to teach us how to analyze statistical data in order for us to formulate conclusions that correlate with what the numbers are telling us.
Other personal projects
We got another interview last week. It was for a research role, and honestly, it was a surprise that we even got selected for an interview. As preparation for this interview, we learned a lot about the research that was included under the project and their relevance to the issues we’re facing in today’s world. Moreover, we practiced on the usual interview questions which led us to concise, connected and relevant answers, incorporating the feedback we got from previous interviews. We also released another round of applications during this week; but to be honest, it was a hard week because we received six rejections in a span of three days—some of which greeted me in the morning and some were received one after the other. Then again, these rejections are only a step closer for roles that are meant for us.
There was no progress with my personal writing projects. However, we were commissioned by a friend to write an academic paper (actually, 3) as requirements for her projects. The first one was rushed but the topic was very interesting. For discretionary purposes, we will not be expanding on this. It was an interesting process and it became an avenue for us to practice what we learned from the previous writing course that we took. Of course, it brought us a ton of stress because it was rushed—we were only commissioned three days before the deadline, and writing a paper in three days is a bit of a stretch for us. Nonetheless, we learned a lot about the topic, and the lessons that come with the paper will definitely be helpful in our future endeavors.
This particular commission also led us to think that maybe we should become a ghostwriter. That would be a project for December, and hopefully we can incorporate those plans into this month's review and next month's planning activity.
Our project on Scripture reading led us to paths we never thought possible. It was last Thursday (Nov. 21) when after an emotional devotion, we reached out to our previous leader in the community, and we signified our intention of serving in the community again. This was more of a personal calling, so looking beyond the past and other factors was very helpful for us in discarding the shame and guilt from the years of our disconnect from the service. Because of this, we were able to have a fellowship with them last Friday, right after a mission activity. This was followed by another mission activity that we were finally able to serve last Sunday. It was such a wonderful moment to be able to give back again.
Media consumption
We spent less time on social media this week, and that was a wonderful update. Nevertheless, here are some of the notable content we consumed during the past week:
Two videos on email management, since we really need to make progress on our project of digital cleansing before the year comes to a close in order to also prevent overwhelm in the future;
An IG reel that reframes anxiety as a positive emotion that leads us to better paths in the future, contrary to the popular notion that anxiety almost always leads you to worse situations;
Another IG reel about authenticity which reminded us of that Oscar Wilde quote that goes "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken," which further solidifies our journey of being true to oneself;
A Scientific American reel which described a study that humans are capable of learning echo-location (yes, the way bats and other nocturnal animals visualize their surroundings through sound) through a 10-week training program consisting of 20 sessions, 2-3 hours each;
The majestic Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, UK; and
Yet another IG reel which shared a powerful quote that goes like this: "shared joy is a double joy, shared sorrow is half a sorrow."
Although our social media feed is looking like what our ideal feed should look like (a haven of optimism, hope, and growth), this week's media consumption was becoming more mindful. There were several moments when we noticed that we spent too much time scrolling (it was only for less than ten minutes!); we instinctively released the phone from our hands and instead chose to do the tasks we had intended to finish for that day. Hopefully, this habit carries over next year.
Rest and play
Like we said last week, rest and play have become an integral part of our week, since these allow periods of recovery that help us get through the tough times during the week. There’s conversations over meals with the parents, chats with friends, and a lot of time spent playing with our pets.
We also discovered a lot of music this week, mostly in the Christian contemporary music genre, but we also listened to new releases of secular music.
We spent a lot of time meditating, and most of those sessions were overflowing with emotions. Because we don't want our progress to be hindered by emotions, we learned specific ways of regulating emotions to our advantage without also needing to bury them deep within our subconscious. This was a great step closer to improving our emotional intelligence.
After the mission service last Sunday, we joined our friends to play volleyball that afternoon. It was exhausting, and during the time of this writing, our legs still hurt from all the jumping and running.
On the night of that same day, a friend who just came back from Japan treated us to a cafe where she shared a lot of her experiences. She represented her local government unit as a delegate and during this activity, they acquired practices from Japanese experts on improving their municipal fisheries sector. As a background, she lives in a coastal municipality where most of the agricultural sector is reliant on capture fisheries. She also brought us a Pokemon trinket of Gallade!
This past week, overall, has been super hectic and full of commitments. Contrary to what others might expect, we still progressed in our multiple projects and the variety of activities this week was a great way to incorporate our personality of needing to shift between multiple projects in order to live to the fullest.
Thanks for keeping up with us, and as always, keep wandering and chase what excites you.
First of all, this will be our new schedule for posting a "Weeklies" entry, since we've decided to make Tuesday our "creation day." I'll explain more of our ideal week in future articles.
Just like last week, we progressed with multiple areas of learning, while still maintaining a balance of productivity, rest, and play. I don't know what's happening but I think balance is becoming more of a mainstay in our life since we started our journey to becoming a polymath—the balance between having the power to learn anything and the acceptance of our limited time to do such a feat.
The BF Project
Last week was the beginning of another one of our projects, the so-called BF Project or Building the Foundations Project, where we build a self-learning curriculum to re-learn foundational knowledge and learn new ones that will help us in our future endeavors. This will become our "more formal" approach to learning.
We started with an online course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW, for short) called 18.01SC or Single-Variable Calculus. [1] This is our first foundational course where we re-learn the concepts of college mathematics as a preparatory step for our future pursuit of graduate studies. Of course, this journey is supplemented by various books and online worksheets for their practice problems.
We also started taking the Google Certificate Course on Project Management from their YouTube channel. [2] The certificate will have to come for later, since we currently cannot afford it.
Finally, as part of this project, we conducted our first weekly review and evaluation during the weekend, where we identified our wins and hurdles. With this, we were able to come up with evidence-based solutions in order to improve our learning journey.
Other personal projects
Another one of our projects allowed us to dig deeper into the origins of the concept of curiosity and we've finished one paper detailing the philosophical origins of this virtue. We finished a paper on its philosophical background [3] and we’re currently reading how a curious mind develops in a psychological manner [4].
The novel I started reading last September was still a few pages to completion (a hundred or so). This shows how slow of a reader I actually am. Nonetheless, we learned a lot about the character of Lewis Benedikt as his past slowly unfolded. From this, we learned the connections of faith and spiderwebs, as well as a critical understanding of the different elements that had been building up to the present-day character of Mr. Benedikt. It's just a hunch, but this barrage of information about Lewis might signal the end of this character's journey within the novel. His death should be expected at this moment, since it was foreshadowed in the earlier chapters; it was, after all, a "ghost story."
Another one of our newly-undertaken projects was the establishment of a financial tracker, which is our first step to being financially literate. This will, in turn, lead to wiser financial decisions. I tried this before, but to no avail, because I was too focused on "goals" when a system is all I really need. We strengthened our existing knowledge on budgeting and investments, but it's still a long way to go. We can only hope for the best.
My continuous search for jobs led me to multiple career options, but ultimately, while building my resume for one of the positions I'm applying for, I realized that I should be applying to roles which are closer to my previous experiences. Again, this is not a novel idea. I was just so focused on the career shift that I completely ignored my previous employment and academic background. This realization came from multiple rejections from roles I wasn't really knowledgeable about. There's still a lot to learn with this journey, but again, I'm hoping that the breakthrough might already be close.
We also made progress in writing for our digital product. I can't wait to get this out on my set deadline!
Finally, our project on Scripture reading led us to the most profound, and most of the times confusing, realizations about faith and spirituality. This undertaking continues to enrich our humility, and I would definitely keep this project in the longer run until the habit sticks.
Media consumption
Here are some of the notable social media content we encountered this past week:
A Kurzgesagt feature on weed detailing the latest evidence on its long-term effects and responsible use;
A FEATR video of a non-profit organization in Siargao island called Lokal Lab, that aims to bridge the gap between the island's farmers and the market which caters to its tourists;
A Facebook group on UI/UX developers that arouses my interest in the field;
This newly discovered species of wild berries atop the highest Philippine summit;
Free online learning resources for the Geographic Information System;
Tons of lessons on bridging policy and science from the featured scientist Ms. Cathy Manalo and her NGO Ulirat PH focused on counter mapping and human rights in the Pinoy Scientists IG and Facebook page;
The different laboratories from UP Diliman's National Institute of Geological Sciences, the nation's leading center for studying earth processes;
An IG reel that implies what it must feel like to enter a chapter in your life after a difficult season;
Another IG reel that highlights a research study of how uncreative thinking is learned as we grow older, and that we're all actually born creative geniuses;
Multiple subreddits that account methods of how we can help as individuals in combating climate change and if it's too late, help mitigate its effects and adapt to its impacts.
We also spent a lot of time reconnecting with family members, my friends, and my pets. Most importantly, we spent a lot of time getting intimate with nature through our quiet, barefoot afternoon wind-downs and study breaks. We also listened to a lot of new music, and I can't wait to write about some of them soon! It's not a promise, though.
Again, that was a lot of words for a single week. Although there are moments where we feel like we might not be going anywhere, this weekly accounting of what we're doing helps in giving us vision on the necessary steps closer to a life we aspire to have.
Thanks for keeping up with us, and as always, keep wandering and chase what excites you.
Your family could help you find meaning in life | Bridge Point
"The older I get the more that I see;
My parents aren't heroes, they're just like me."
— Sasha Alex Sloan, "Older"
Man’s search for a life of meaning might be connected to how they were nurtured by their families. Their upbringing might hold answers for their current problems and the uncertainties of the future.
The Goods
The introductory chapter of the book Religion and the Meaning of Life: An Existential Approach by Clifford Williams talks about some concepts of an existentialist philosophy. One of these concepts reveal that an existentialist's search for a meaningful life must be anchored on two things: first, engaging in worthwhile activities; and second, having good inner states. The first one emphasizes the importance of how we find our daily activities to be worthy of doing. The latter, on the other hand, highlights the importance of feelings, emotions, and desires that have a positive impact on the person and to the world around him. Williams suggests that these two things are critical in one's search for a meaningful life through the lens of an existentialist.
In one of my active projects, one of my key reflections talks about my growing admiration for my parents. They are not the perfect parents—that is a truth I choose to believe. Some of their beliefs don't agree with mine, but they have values that are worthy of emulating. At most, my reflection gave three values: their unconditional love for family which allowed them to make sacrifices and put others first before themselves; their value for education which brings reason to my curious pursuit; and their hardworking and ambitious attitude which ultimately formed the foundation of my current desires in life. I was blessed (or lucky, as others would prefer to say) to have such parents, while others weren't.
The opening quote of this article are song lyrics, and if you have seen it circulating around Instagram, it was from a reel where a girl was singing these lyrics with such emotion that it was felt by the people who watched the reel, as evident from the comments section. I've seen this reel before, and it made me emotional, but now that it returned to my feed, I am finally able to connect those emotions into the things I'm currently learning.
Transport
Both the reel and my reflection coincided with how existentialists try to find meaning in a world of meaninglessness. Existentialist philosophers believe that we are the architects of our own lives, and that our pursuit for meaning is likely stemming from the virtues that we deeply relate to. It may have originated from our experiences in life, both good and bad, which allows us to craft our personal identity.
Like I said, my parents aren't perfect, at least in my point of view. But the existentialists' sense of individual control to one’s life is connected with the notion that my parents’ approach to life is their own perception of what a meaningful life must be. Their perception paved the way that my brother and I were raised—imperfect, yet meaningful.
They engage in worthwhile activities, even though most of them are difficult and sometimes take too much of their time and energy.
They continue to work for the family, even though my brother and I have already graduated college, and there's this Filipino value that we're supposed to be giving back already. Most people would say it's not their responsibility because "children are not investments," but I would feel better if they stop working already and enjoy the rest of their lives.
Feeling better is an example of a good inner state. But there’s more to it than just feeling better. They're getting old and they've already spent a large percentage of their lives helping us figure out our own. I think it's about time they take care of themselves, because we're already old enough to take care of ourselves. However, our financial situation requires them to still work in order for us to survive each day.
They find these activities worthwhile because they value their family so much that they're willing to sacrifice their own happiness for others to find their own. I feel guilty while writing this, and for me, guilt could be a good emotion to feel every now and then, because it makes me realize what I should be prioritizing and valuing more.
Some, if not all, of their values create good inner states that positively impact their children's lives and the lives of other people they're engaging with on a daily basis.
This is evident with their happy outlook in life. They're generally more cheerful because they think that their values of hard work and determination are essential for a meaningful life. Their daily undertakings are grounded by their ability to love their children unconditionally. Most of their life, they've swallowed their pride and asked favors from different people in order for us to finish our college education. These good inner states became the basis of their daily lives, which resonates in the way they are living now.
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Both my mother and my father continue to engage in worthwhile activities, resulting in good inner states. Because of these, my brother and I were brought up with values that could potentially be used for building our own foundation of a meaningful life.
It also holds true that we do not have the same parents. Some were raised in abusive households. The absence of good inner states and worthwhile activities preceded a family besieged with trauma and abuse. These were unfortunate situations where the parents did not pursue a life of meaning. They were raised in circumstances that prevent them from seeing the good in life. Because of this, it is difficult for their children to pursue and even just ponder a meaningful life.
Regardless whether we have good or bad families, some existentialists believe that our experiences help us decide which path to take in our future. The choice of a meaningful life or a meaningless life lies within our hands. We ultimately have the freedom to decide.
We can use these bad experiences and fuel our desire to let the world experience what we experienced. Or, we can use these experiences to fuel our own desire to make the world experience the opposite. Whichever path we are to take is hinged on the set of values we establish within ourselves. It is imperative to think that we as individuals have absolute control of the paths we take next.
As someone who's starting to delve into the philosophy of existentialism, I'm choosing the latter. I've come to experience pain and suffering from the tendencies of my parents to be perfectionistic and overly reliant on achievements. I've already said this in a previous article. I was molded to uphold excellence at all times because they deem it necessary for a good life. By being the best, I can outrun poverty and live a better life than what my parents personally experienced. I don't think it's wrong, it just doesn't align with my own belief system. The saying which goes “The intentions are good, but the actions are not” can be seen reflected by this.
While trying to finish this article, I was called by my father to assist in what he’s doing outside. He was re-building a pole where my mother's plants are hanging. The old bamboo one was already a bit flimsy and it requires replacing. My father doesn't love gardening, but my mother does. It's yet another illustration of how good inner states (in this case, love for his wife) could lead to worthwhile activities that add meaning to one’s life.
We and our parents are human beings. In an existentialist's perception, one must find meaning for life through activities, feelings, and desires that positively affects others. Our families and the values they’ve instilled within us as we grew older might have contributed to our personal identity. This goes the same for the values that we do not want to emulate. This concept of a personal identity as a result of our upbringing could then allow us to find purpose in a meaningless world.
Now then, it is only fitting that I end this article by quoting one of the most influential existentialists of our time, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and it goes like this:
"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for." (The Brothers Karamazov)
Allow me to ask you three questions. How is your upbringing reflected in your personal identity? How does this relate to your search for meaning? And lastly, what first step are you taking towards your own idea of a meaningful life while using the values that you have acquired from your family?
Stop looking outward because as strange as it may sound, you may already hold the answers to these questions.
Our projects have experienced significant growth over the week. We used our Second Brain system as a tool for tracking progress, listing priority tasks, and reviewing the relevance of active projects. This allowed us to accomplish more and procrastinate less. We did encounter several instances of procrastination over the week, but they’re within our control.
This week’s highlight is the completion of the YouTube course on Rhetoric and Composition: College Fundamentals. We watched the final six videos, which emphasized the concept of the editing phase and how the skills we learned can be applied to different areas of our lives in a concept called transfer. You'll soon see in this blog the experience and the summary of the lessons we learned from the course.
Next up, we're currently in the initial stages of creating our first digital product: an e-book. There's only one other person who knows about this venture (hi Aei!) among my multiple groups of friends. We figured that while waiting for results from the applications we sent out, we have to figure out how to make profit, albeit passively. The challenge for this venture is its current stage: creating the product. Will it make money? It’s worth trying. After continuous revision and the production of the final output, there remains a list of things to do, including the marketing involved to gain traction and the technicalities involved such as copyright and business registration. We'll tackle those obstacles once we're there.
Fortunately we have a network of people that could help in the pursuit of this venture. We were never known for our practicality, so this desire to publish a book isn't mostly stemming from money. Like we reiterated, it’s a dream to just get our writing out there in any way possible, and consequently add value to those who read them. Overall, this project is exciting because sales is fairly new to us.
The job hunt continues, because the bills are starting to pile up. Because of this, we’ve released our next round of applications last week, and there’s more to go for this week.
Another area of learning includes my other project that I’m hesitant to reveal just yet, since it's still in the early stages of development. We don’t even know where the project is currently headed to! We learned a little bit about the philosophy of existentialism, and I can't wait for this philosophy to be reflected in my future compositions.
We've commenced yet another project, called the 30 Days of Scripture Reading, which is our philosophical undertaking of Christianity. Some existentialist philosophers are also Christians, including Soren Kierkegaard and Fyodor Dostoevsky. We stated during the blog introduction that this polymath undertaking is our personal attempt at living a meaningful life. Right now, existentialism seemed the best option to live our life, but the toolset we could gain from reading the Scripture might be valuable in this undertaking.
Maybe an entire lifetime will not be enough for this journey; there’s just too many questions arising from newfound answers. Integrating our learnings from the book Thinking Better, a shortcut might be helpful. Similar individuals have already carved out a path for a life we aspire to have. It would save us a lot of time to traverse and, in turn, enrich those paths for the next generations. This is how existentialist philosophy has deepened our personal search for a meaningful life.
Finally, here’s a list of a few media that we consumed this week:
Two videos from Ali Abdaal’s mini-series on the 4 most important brain chemicals (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins) with neuroscientist TJ Powers; [1, 2]
A video on making time for reading from Odysseas, another YouTube channel; [3]
A Crash Course YouTube video on Existentialism; [4]
“The Answer is Not a Hut in the Woods” [5] by YouTuber exurb2a, which tapped on themes of being lost in your 20s, adventure, and the people we meet along the way; and
Three podcasts on existentialism.
We also went with two other groups of friends (college and high school), had a virtual meetup with Anne, and maintained a continued effort to communicate with some of our friends. Some of these “social responsibilities” stressed us out on certain days, but the good thing is that we didn’t act on those stresses right away. Instead, we carefully thought of what we could do next time in order to reduce the impact of these stresses. Overcommitting has always been a problem of ours, but sometimes those commitments do pay off. Either way, we’ve learned how balance should ultimately be the goal.
Those are the things that happened this week, and like we always say, keep wandering and chase what excites you.
"Nature is lazy, like humans, and wants to find the lowest-energy solutions."
- Marcus du Sautoy, Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life (2021)
Several days ago, I came across this Instagram reel which showed an imaginary conversation between a child version of the original poster and her 20s self. The dialogue (or should I say, the inner monologue) went on like this:
Adult version: Sorry but we didn't become millionaires in our 20s.
Child version: Ok, but can we buy a cake?
AV: Ofc, even two.
CV: Then what are you crying about?
And then I bawled. I literally cried my eyes out at the thought of my younger self being happier at what I have now. It made me rethink the things I wished I had as a child.
I wished I had more books because I was so fond of reading. Well, guess what? I have more than a hundred unread books piled in boxes. I even lend some of them to friends.
I wished I had my own room, so I could have privacy and a place to organize my own stuff. Earlier this year, we finally had our house re-built from the ground up, and I got my own room. It's a long way to go for it to look like my ideal room, but it currently serves those two purposes.
I wished I had more friends, because I’m just an extrovert. Guess what? We have several friend groups, each with their unique way of showing all kinds of love.
Literally, those are the only three things I dreamed of as a child.
When I was in high school and college, I wished for a laptop of my own. Surprise, surprise, we got it. It’s second-hand, but it does the job. In fact, it does more than what I imagined it would.
And then there's this lifelong dream of mine: I wished I was a writer.
For the past month, I was going through this course about writing on YouTube. I was dedicating time to furnishing my craft. I once longed for the recognition and award when I was in my late teens because of this acquired belief that achievement is vital for people to like me. But again, I have lots of friends.
We don't talk much because everyone is leading their busy lives, but a lot of them still communicate with me. I don't have awards; I don't even have a job right now. But why do they still talk to me? Why do they continue to treat me as their “friend"?
This led me to realize-–and this was emphasized so much by some of them—that my achievements have nothing to do with why they liked me. This might sound like bragging, but I'm not: it was more about my personality, my humor, my character, and overall my easy going attitude. Those aren't me all the time. I still can get pretty annoying; go ask them. I ramble a lot, as evidenced by my blog posts. I sometimes fail to appreciate them, and I sometimes fail to reply to their messages.
Strangely enough, they still talk to me. Some of them continually reached out to me when I was in a darker phase of my life. They were the ones who believed and reminded me that I'm capable when I myself did not believe so. I will not go into details because each of them has their reasons for keeping me in their life.
I was raised in an environment where the only way to gain approval or even the tiniest bit of affection is through the amount of medals you can receive. In turn, this had instilled in me this mindset of always needing to stand out.
But I don't have to—not anymore.
This particular reel had me in tears because it made me realize what the essence of life really means to me. Having no job right now means a lot of free time, and a lot of those are spent on reflection and journaling. I learned a lot about myself: what drives me, what motivates me, and what goals really matter to me, without the need to please everyone.
I still have dreams I have yet to fulfill. Like, building my own house because I also value being independent. Or having my own property. Having a master's degree. And having the job that's aligned with my personal vision.
There's still a lot to do, but the most valuable lesson that this resting season has taught me is to just appreciate all the little things.
I learned how to be content with what I currently have and to use these limited resources in making the most out of my current situation. This perception of contentment has been essential to becoming what I always aspire to be: a happy individual.
I've noticed how I've become more appreciative of the things around me. This joy, this inner sense of gratitude, disappeared when I was too busy trying to earn more because I was filled with the constant urge to have more and be more. It's this weird concept that society (and to be honest, most of social media) continues to put in our minds: that having the next big thing or keeping up with trends will lead to a happy life. But it's not. At least to me (and to some experts in the field of happiness psychology), it certainly holds true.
A mindset of abundance and completeness—that everything you need in your current situation is already with and within you—works for me better than the delusions of scarcity brought by greed and the constant fear of missing out.
Don't get me wrong, I still aim for a better, more comfortable life, but it’s not just for myself. It's for my parents and for the people that matter to me.
I'm also not completely optimistic about everything, and I recognize that there are worse things happening in the world right now. But I can't just let that continue to happen. I want to take action in making the world a better place for future generations. But I should stop waiting for the time I have more. I cannot let my limited resources prevent me from doing what I think could help people. Being a better person through continuous learning, which eventually leads to having better and more resources would allow me to reach more people. I have to take control and take action now.
As you have noticed, I ramble a lot, and for some reason, I love to write. I will not be the next Maya Angelou or Pablo Neruda, but I was blessed with a mind that tries to find the connection in everything. And I want my writing to reflect that dream of helping people figure out their life purpose the way that self-learning is helping me figuring out how to live mine.
It's these moments of deep reflection that make me so grateful for what I have right now, and make me wish that other people could potentially hold the same mindset.
Life may be uneventful right now but here's what I know: my younger version would be smiling from ear-to-ear when he hears that his dreams have now become a part of our reality. We are living the life he once yearned for.
We started off this week with an interview in a position I applied to. While reviewing for the things that could help me during the interview, I learned about the effects of climate change with tuna fishing and strengthened my knowledge with the agency's structure and its projects. I was anxious even before the interview started because of the delay and the lack of time for preparation. After the interview proper, I was overwhelmed and delighted with how it went. Regardless of the result, my heart is at peace. The biggest point of learning with this activity came after the interview itself: feedback. Using my Obsidian app, I took notes of the things I could've done better and developed alternative answers to the interview questions I was asked as reference for future interviews.
We went through with our November planning and started conceptualizing our priority projects for this month as a result of our last week's review.
The end of October also signaled the end of this mini-series called "today in photographs" in my personal Instagram page where I posted photographs of the highlights of my day-to-day activities. It was only visible to a select audience. It served two purposes: first, to document this particular phase in my life; and second, to bring an element of accountability with my progress on my healing journey.
For November, I started with another daily challenge called 30 DoP, which is intended for all my followers to see. This is my 30 Days of Photography/Positivity challenge. Its goal will be: (1) to serve as an avenue with my practice of using the "pro" mode in my phone’s camera app; and (2) to share the overwhelming positivity that's been pouring out into my life to those who are in need of a little dose of optimism and hope.
We also made progress with the YouTube course on Rhetoric and Composition: College Fundamentals by finishing Videos 19 to 24. I did a little bit of distillation of my notes under the third module of our Dr. Mendoza series. I procrastinated a little bit on my other areas of learning, because we didn't make any progress in the tipping elements class and the FAO e-learning course about other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) in marine fisheries.
This procrastination, however, allowed us to continue learning in areas that aren't my priority.
While having breakfast last Tuesday (Oct. 29), I watched this YouTube video [1] by FEATR about the cleanest city in the Philippines: Bayawan City, Negros Oriental. Its local government unit should be the country's model in developing a solid waste management system that actually works. Excitedly, I shared this with some of my friends who might be interested in the video: to Ana, who was writing a policy brief about the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act as a requirement for one of her courses; and to Ruby and David, who both were able to visit Bayawan City two years ago.
While doing my business in the comfort room, I re-watched a TED Talk titled "How to escape education's death valley" by Sir Ken Robinson [2], and I was able to peer into the faults within the American education system and alternatives to those. Since my country's education system is largely influenced by systems of the West, I was able to relate the points made by Dr. Robinson in a local setting. This, in turn, deepened my understanding of alternative education systems and how a personalized learning curriculum could help in "escaping education's death valley." It provided me with more evidence that this journey of self-learning I'm taking is a great first step to doing that. This talk inspired me greatly that I was able to outline a talk idea about how being curious could lead us to find our purpose in life, and eventually satisfy the Japanese concept of ikigai. One thing led to another, and we were able to brain dump about a project that revolves around curiosity last Saturday.
On Wednesday, I watched yet another YouTube video from ParkNotes [3] and learned about the "Zibaldone" (pl. zibaldoni) which is an Italian version of the commonplace book that contains their favorite quotes and passages. I learned that they didn't just write their favorites in their own notebooks, but they also shared their "memorized" quotes by writing these in the zibaldoni of their acquaintances in the public setting.
I also started reading the book "Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life" by the Oxford mathematician and professor Marcos Du Sautoy. I reckon that finding "shortcuts" I can use in this journey of learning will be valuable in maximizing my time to make progress in my numerous areas of learning.
I also procrastinated by watching multiple videos from Scott Young's channel. One video [4] emphasized the twelve foundational habits we must build first in order to make way for greater productivity and overall, a more meaningful life. Connecting these habits into my already-existing knowledge of the SPIRE model to becoming "anti-fragile" by Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar [5], the life portfolio model introduced by the Harvard Business Review [6], and the 12 Rules of Creation by Dan Koe [7], allowed me to develop more of the system I'm currently building.
I also learned how to play Kagura in Mobile Legends! Unfortunately, it took up a lot of my time.
On Saturday, I fell deeper into this procrastination state that I was doom scrolling for hours on end. I commented on a Reddit post that during moments of being stuck, small things are often the biggest victories. It was a reply from another comment which talked about how a simple accomplishment of making your bed early in the morning could snowball into a state of routines and productivity. With this, I realized that if I am having trouble with wanting to be productive and working on my projects–besides making the bed, which I already do every morning–the next simple thing I could do is to write in my commonplace notebook for fifteen to thirty minutes. I find that this helps because it resets my dopamine levels, especially when faced with the challenge brought by doom scrolling. Working in smaller chunks of time is already a proven technique in kick-starting productivity.
Finally, this Sunday, I went to a night out with my friends Mayi, Neil, and Dean, and just caught up with the happenings of each other's lives. I learned a lot about the conversations we had until two in the morning and this time made me appreciate more of the current situation I am in.
This week has been a reduced version of our productive self last week, but I think we’re still doing okay compared to before. Like I always say, keep wandering and chase what excites you.
Footnotes:
[1] The Cleanest City in the Philippines (CAN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY DO IT?) | FEATR [Link]
[2] How to escape education's death valley | Sir Ken Robinson | TED [Link]
[3] Journal Like a Renaissance Philosopher | Park Notes [Link]
[4] Build the foundation first: An antidote to our brain’s tendency to overcomplicate simple things | Scott Young [Link]
[5] Don’t chase happiness. Become antifragile | Tal Ben-Shahar | Big Think [Link]
[6] Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want | Harvard Business Review [YouTube Link, Blog Link]
[7] Disappear And Come Back Unrecognizable (12 Rules To Change Your Life) | Dan Koe [Link]
Our country experienced a week of torrential rains and flooding brought by Typhoon Kristine with its immense diameter! For the last three weekdays, work was suspended, which meant that my family was forced to stay home.
Thankfully, like the downpour of rain, productivity also poured down over me. I was able to conduct a Monthly Review session for October and continued with the development of my habits to keep my current system stable, which include notes capture (both digitally and by hand), organization, and distillation. This system was adapted from lessons I acquired from the book Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte.
We've also made progress with some of our topics of interest.
First, the paper on the tipping elements of the Earth's climate system is finally starting to make sense, as we've delved with two more of the identified elements: the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC). I've learnt concepts on the difference between positive and negative feedback mechanisms in nature, features of the polar environment such as ice shelves and ice streams and how they are affected by global warming, and the connection between the North Atlantic Deep Water formation and the thermohaline circulation (aka the ocean's conveyor belt). I also increased my understanding of a system's bistability and the physical mechanisms behind these particular tipping elements, including those that we studied last week (the Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheet).
Next, we started a new module on other effective area-based conservation measures (or OECM) in marine fisheries from the e-learning academy of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Here we were able to provide a definition of OECM and its relation with biodiversity. Next week, we'll be studying the origins of the OECM concept and strengthen our knowledge on the connection of OECM with other biodiversity conservation approaches. All of these are just under the first lesson of the course.
We also made progress with a YouTube course titled Rhetoric and Composition: College Fundamentals where we finished watching Videos 7 to 18. We expounded on the different stages of the writing process and the techniques that could be used in those particular stages. We also strengthened our existing knowledge on writing a resume, personal statement, and cover letters.
Moreover, this particular online exam from one of the jobs I've applied to allowed me to learn and relearn the following: (1) the budgeting and planning process of the Philippine national government and its legal basis; (2) the concepts under the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (or AFMA); and (3) the guiding framework of the National Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization and Industrialization Plan (NAFMIP) 2021-2030 which currently guides the plans and projects under the Department of Agriculture and attached agencies and bureaus. We also acquired supplementary knowledge on how climate change impacts the food production sector. Additionally, we reached out for help from some of our friends to strengthen the answers for the online exam. (Hello to you all: Monette, Ate Irish, and Dennise!) We spent two days trying to finish this exam, and it became the highlight of our week. It was a feat that literally brought me to tears! I told you already, I'm very emotional!
Finally, you must have noticed how concise this weekly entry is. It's because while going through the rhetoric and composition course, an idea came to me. Reading my previous weeklies was a bore, and it would really be hard for a regular person to read it (especially if they’re unaware of my personality). They're bulky and full of statements that the audience I’d like to reach would otherwise not relate to. Combining them into just one post defeats the purpose and it’s enough evidence that even if the intention was good, the way it was written (or the action behind the intention) was not.
Because of this, I went into a quick brain dump of the actual purpose that I want this blog to serve. I wanted this blog to reach people who want to delve into their own journeys of learning and these will include different types of people from various walks of life. At least, making my future posts concise and specific would make this blog reach a wider audience. This brain dump went on to identify sections that could be used in further organization of this blog.
Right now, though, I'd like to emphasize that my weeklies will now be just limited to documenting my different areas of learning and brief observations I've encountered while in the learning process–hence, the shortness of this post. I hope you join along for the ride as we expand the contents of this blog!
We've also identified several opportunities for improvement for our Second Brain system during our October review session, and I can't wait to share them with you in more digestible pieces of information in the near future. I won't make any promises, though!
So far, this week has seen an increase in our productivity and we've kept track of some of the priority activities and tasks that we are supposed to accomplish. I'd also like to emphasize that while we're still building our system, I don't aim for it to be perfect but rather useful, so adjustments will be made along the way.
That's it for this week, and like I always say, keep wandering and chase what excites you.
Our productivity stepped down a notch this past week, but that might have stemmed from a few other things, such as lack of motivation over certain topics due to an inefficient weekly planning and the looming anxiety over the job applications I sent a week prior. My lack of control over social media and phone usage in some moments to cope up with this anxiety also might have been a big factor. However, since we consider everything (and I am not exaggerating when I say every single thing I do) an instrument for learning and growth, I guess our productivity doesn't really define the things we learned this week. So, without further ado, here's our summary of how this wonderful week went.
Last week's new learnings:
A. Online Courses
I finally finished the last training video of the Dr. Mendoza series with the title "Basic Concepts and Impacts of Climate Change in Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources." [1] That means we can move forward to the next phase of this project: distilling the knowledge we learned from the four videos and connecting them in different activities you will be reading soon in this blog. The training title already defines the knowledge contained in this training. It provided definitions and connections between climate change and all related terms like greenhouse gases (GHGs) and global warming, as well as delved into the factors that affect climate change, and how climate change impacts several important aspects of our modern lives such as agriculture, health, natural resources, weather patterns, and biodiversity. Furthermore, what really brought me the most attention was the part that presented the international and national (Philippines) approaches on addressing climate change. Besides having a recalling of the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, I was also introduced to other initiatives such as:
the REDD [Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and (forest) Degradation], which is an initiative developed by the UNFCC that works by providing incentives to developing countries to slow down rates of deforestation, which the organization inferred to be the main cause of around 17-20% of the increase in total carbon emissions within 5 years;
NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) which allows individual nation-states to provide their conditional and non-conditional commitments in developing their own ambitious plan to reduce their carbon emissions; and
the "cap-and-trade" market based mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol that manages GHGs emissions of participating countries.
Moreover, I learned that the Philippines had its own activities in contributing to combating the effects of climate change. This includes their NDC plan of cutting our GHG emissions by up to a whopping 75%! You read that right. The Philippines really took it to heart when the parties under the Paris Agreement said "ambitious." How are we doing this, so far? The Climate Change Act of 2009 led to the creation of the Climate Change Commission, which is the primary agency of our government reporting under the Office of the President tasked to coordinate efforts relating to climate change mitigation as stated by the law. This then led to the formation of a strategic plan that is contained within the National Climate Change Action Plan from 2011 to 2028. [2, 3, 4, 5]
Another key takeaway for me is this: although developed countries contribute significantly higher percentages to the total carbon emissions worldwide, it is more practical and less expensive to limit the GHG emissions of developing countries instead rather than to completely change the already-established system of the developed nations. The first thought that came to my mind was this: developing countries are already suffering more from the worsening effects of climate change and yet we are still asked to adjust for the sake of these wealthy nations. However, the international initiatives such as the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, allows the wealthy countries to provide financial support to the developing nations to compensate for the reduced GHG emissions, which to me, seems like a win-win situation for both parties. But the most surprising thing about these initiatives is that they're completely voluntary, and although as unfortunate as it sounds, it became even clearer to me that the key to actually combating climate change to save our species from eventual extinction really lies in the hands of those currently in power.
B. Scientific Articles
I'm still working my way towards this article on the "Tipping elements of the Earth's climate system" but I'm slowly coming to terms with the concepts contained in the article. It's a slow process but this leads me to realize that I actually do not have the necessary foundation in order to easily understand this topic in greater detail and in a faster rate, because the mathematical derivation of how a tipping element is defined had connections with topics such as bifurcation theory or maybe even nonlinear system dynamics (which is offered in MIT Open Course Ware for free!). [6] Additionally, I had to tweak my learning strategy especially on hard topics like this, and I learned that digital notes is not the way to go. Instead I wrote down in a notebook in order for me to digest the information more carefully and connect the ideas better. Plus, you can never really go wrong with the aesthetics of a pretty handwriting! It also made me realize that I have to revisit my foundational knowledge on chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics in order for me to fully advance with my areas of interest. It makes me wonder how ineffective of a student I must have been during my years of schooling to actually not have these basic knowledge drilled into me. I don't fully blame myself though because when I told this story to my friend (hi Ana!), it also revealed the areas for improvement on our education system solely focused on the students getting good grades. But I'm already here, so I'm trying to make sense of this article one way or another with whatever I already have. Who knows, maybe in the near future, I'll find time to solidify this foundational knowledge that would greatly benefit me if I ever pursue graduate studies.
C. Other areas of learning
Note: Since I consider my thinking as an avenue for learning, I am abandoning the last section on my 'realizations' and instead write about them under this particular section.
I am having a hard time reading through a 567-page thriller novel called Ghost Story by Peter Straub. Reading a hundred pages in a span of a week is too slow for my usual reading. One of the intriguing reasons I could think of as to why this is happening is that I am taking too much time analyzing the book. It was supposedly just a leisurely activity, but here I am trying to analyze the characters' development and connections, how the setting affects the overall plot, the language being used, and the patterns that continually present themselves as I go deeper into the novel. I made it an intellectual activity, and although it might seem weird to others (and completely over-the-top or OA as the current trend refers to it), I actually find this fascinating and I might create an informal analysis about the novel in the future. It got crazy to the point that I even had a nightmarish dream of this Annabelle doll attacking me during the wee hours (at 3:00-3:30, I know, what a coincidence) of Saturday morning, which led me to eventually jump out of bed, and forgo sleep during that morning. That's how terrified I was! It might be because I used the Hemingway bridge technique in order for me to look forward to the next few pages, kind of like how telenovelas or TV series use cliffhangers to hook their audience for the next episodes. I stopped reading the book Friday afternoon at a particularly terrifying page with no actual conclusion as to what happens next. My mind must've been too eager to find out what's next; hence, it stayed within my subconscious and decided to attack me in the form of a nightmare. Well, guess what? Getting up that early on a Saturday morning means I got nothing to do but continue the next few pages, leading to me eventually finishing the novel's second part, which leaves us the last chapter to finish (equivalent to more or less 200 pages). [7]
Doing some of the learning activities within the Dr. Mendoza series led me to realize that the Geographic Information System (GIS) might be analogous with a Second Brain. The GIS software does exactly what a Second Brain does: (1) it captures data and stores it within the software's database; (2) it organizes data in a way that is readable for the system and accessible for the users of the software; (3) it distills data by manipulating it for spatial analysis; and (4) it expresses data through creating aesthetically pleasing maps based on the user's interpretation of the data. This leads us to believe that information or knowledge is just data that is captured, stored, organized, sometimes updated, and used in whatever purpose you desire. This is not a novel thought, but finding some analogy across two separate areas of my learning journey is a fun way to integrate the knowledge I'm learning. It kind of serves as a proof that what I'm trying to do (learning several areas at once) is not in vain.
This came from an Instagram comment I saw yesterday (Sunday, Oct. 20) and it read: "self-growth never ends, we should always be trying to become better people." It reminded me that there really is no end goal in the learning process. Sure, maybe some day, there might actually be an audience for this blog and the success of this blog might be defined by the metrics of how many people visit and read what I write about, but the process of learning itself technically doesn't have an end. Yes, some courses might have learning outcomes and checking off those course goals could lead to a finished course but learning doesn't stop there. In fact, gathering new knowledge only leads you to ask more questions, and therefore, creates even more avenues for learning. In my opinion, if you start to view learning and self-growth as another ambitious goal, you will never get the sense of achievement or satisfaction commonly associated with goals. This might sound depressing, but this doesn't mean you cannot celebrate your own milestones, such as finishing a course or just getting your way through a tough lesson you spent so much time on. No, you can celebrate all these because they are still considered victories, but they don't necessarily correspond to a finish line, because learning has no finish line of its own. Additionally, as we progress towards the future, research and innovation will continue to bring new knowledge that we soon need to learn. Again, this seems like a depressing thought: what's the point of learning anything if I'm not achieving any goal in particular? Well, to me, here's where the journey matters more than the destination. Isn't it fun that we live more every day knowing we tried to step a little bit further into the top? Isn't it comforting that as we gain more knowledge, we eventually become better versions of ourselves? Isn't it exciting that we're learning because we're making ourselves more competent and equipped to face the increasing difficulties of our daily lives? In moments of rest and stillness, you can further comfort yourself by zooming out and appreciating the many steps you've taken, the amount of knowledge you've gained along the years, and just think to yourself: look how far you've come.
This is another random thought while I was scrolling through social media and watching this video on why more people are in the phase of burning out: we really are a broken generation. It sounds awful, but social media, overconsumption of information, and overall the capitalist world we live in brings in many of the stressors we as a species experience almost surprisingly in a collective manner. The theory of evolution encompasses the notion that the more successful species eventually adapt to their surroundings in order to survive. I'm nowhere near being an expert in genetics, but maybe our bodies will eventually form new genes essential for coping with the current stressors of our modern society. That's how previous species overcame extinction and survived through the years: through genetic mutations that allowed them to build a better version of their species. It's a scary thought, but it could also be comforting for the ordinary person: eventually, we as a species will find ways to adapt and survive in our constantly changing world. [8, 9]
I'm also currently reading two books on meteorology, which is another introductory activity for a more detailed course in the future. We had a subject on hydrometeorology when I was in college, and reading through these allows me to recall the knowledge I learned during that time. I learned about the following: the theories on the origins of our planet's atmosphere; how climate affected several extinction events in the past; how geological and biological activity impacts the climate of a specific time period which also by the way, involves a lot of chemistry; early weather forecasting methods and the development of modern ways to tell the weather (I have my eyes on you, Robert Hooke!); and the different ways to classify climate. It also allowed me to recall the primary difference between climate and weather. Climate is highly based on patterns and can be predicted given the right data, but weather is highly variable and random and your prediction for the next three hours may actually change because of a single perturbation. I couldn't think of a better analogy so I'd like to borrow the words of J. Marshall Shepherd quoted from one of the books: "Climate is your personality; weather is your mood." [10, 11]
Finally, it's always fun to chat with some of my friends and the people around me, because they, too, are valuable in my journey of personal growth and polymathy.
Here are some of this week's bops and constant listens:
Southern by Sleeping at Last: I used this as my focus music during my read through of the tipping elements!
New Orleans by Parachute: romantic, because of certain events happening in my life
Important by Ian McConnell: A really creative take on optimistic nihilism, a philosophy I would not be able to embody but still can be a great source of ideals and values for living;
Euphoria by The Ridleys: I danced to this music one night, and I just felt the love overflowing from within me. Ah, what a beautiful memory.
These two odd collaborations by Charli XCX which gave me profound realizations: i think about it all the time (feat. bon iver) and i might say something stupid (feat. the 1975 and john hopkins).
A recently released jazzy instrumental version of one of my favorite Coldplay songs, that gave me all the feels there is to be felt: Sparks (Instrumental) by Evan Jacobson.
May Singil Ang Pangarap by Barefoot Theater and the cast of the Bar Boys musical: Instant regret because this led to a queue of songs from various musicals that I sang so loud one early evening, which eventually led to a sore throat the following days. Hah!
Horizon by yuragi: A shoegaze track from a Japanese band I found from one of my old playlists, which gave me feelings of transition, of becoming, of change, a topic I've recently been spiritually connected to during this current journey of healing.
Gale Song by The Lumineers feat. James Bay (Live from Wrigley Field): A live version of a track from the film score of the Catching Fire adaptation, sang by two wonderful folk artists, was an unexpected surprise to me. I didn't even know this version existed until Wednesday afternoon!
A Model of the Universe by Johann Johannson (from the film score of The Theory of Everything) and Chopin: Nocturne No. 20 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. Posth. (sorry for the long title, I am not well versed in classical music notation!): these 2 tracks are the main reason why I got through pages of the Ghost Story novel! Fantastic background music.
Introduction to the Snow by Miracle Musical and Tally Hall: I found this I think last year from an Instagram reel about self harm, and it absolutely introduced me to a genre of music I didn't know I would appreciate. For me, it reminded me of the seasons of my life: how my journey can sometimes lead to challenging and enduring winters. I don't necessarily know if that was the artist's meaning of the song, but that's how it appeared to me. I searched for the song, and it was a track from a musical! What are the odds!
There's another long read, but I do hope you enjoyed the bits of here and there in my journey of learning and self growth. I'll see you next week!
Once again, I leave you this: keep wandering and chase what excites you!
---
Footnotes:
[1] Basic Concepts and Impacts of Climate Change in Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources; Link
[2] Public Registry for the Nationally Determined Contributions of different countries; Link
[3] Philippines' First NDC; Link
[4] Climate Change Act of 2009 (RA 9729); Link
[5] Official website of the Climate Change Commission; Link
[6] For MIT OCW courses related to nonlinear dynamics of systems; Link
[7] Ghost Story (novel) by Peter Straub. I got the Pocket Books first print edition (1980). Oddly, enough, I salvaged this book for free from one of our cleaning sessions from an agency I used to work in!
[8] Why We're All Burning Out | Byung-Chul Han's Warning to the World, by Einzelgänger; Link
[9] The Price We Pay For Being Productive - A Philosophical Critique of Hustle Culture, by Robin Waldun; Link
[10] Weather: An Illustrated History edited by Andrew Revkin with Lisa Mechaley (2018)
Here's some general overview of what we learned this week. I'll be making separate articles on some of them once I've actually finished them, so be sure to check them out! In the mean time, here's the gist of this week's new knowledge:
A. Online Courses
We finished three courses of an ongoing project titled "Dr. Mendoza Series" which involves finishing four special courses in the DOST-PALMS website taught by Balik Scientist Dr. Guillermo Mendoza. Each course has its own certificate, and we've acquired three already! The first seminar introduced the basic principles of the Geographic Information System, which we finished a week earlier, but still had remaining activities for strengthening the learned principles. Last week, we finished two more, which delved into more specific applications of GIS in agriculture, and an introductory course on remote sensing and satellites. It was fun re-learning about the functional capabilities of GIS and which career tracks suit you if you decide to become an expert in geospatial technologies. Don't forget to check them out in case you're interested! [1, 2, 3]
We watched the first six videos of the Rhetoric and Composition course from YouTube, taught by Dr. Emily Zarka, in the hopes of improving my writing and composition skills. There's already been a long list of principles that we could use to enhance our writing skills and habits, including learning about the writing process, and introducing writing as a literacy which allows even the good writers to hone their craft deeper. I'm basically taking this course to pave way for a more structured and in-depth learning of an MIT OCW course I'll be taking next month. [4]
B. Scientific Articles
I'm currently trying to understand the concept of tipping elements in the Earth's climate system through a research by Lenton et al. (2008), and it discusses what particular subsystems of the Earth system as a whole could improve policy making in the field of climate science and in hopefully mitigating the effects of climate change. So far, I've learned how the tipping elements are small things that could affect big changes in the processes that happen in our planet. The team had devised a special mathematical criteria on how they consider a system to be a tipping element, and three more criteria to consider if they could potentially drive policy. I'm still in the early stages of understanding this topic, but I do hope I could talk about it more simply soon. [5]
I read about a scientific article that could potentially change our current science textbooks! A team by Dr. Joanne Stephenson (a geophysicist) from the Australian National University confirmed in a 2021 study the presence of an innermost inner layer of the Earth's inner core—it's a handful to say, I know. They used a search algorithm to "trawl through" previously-made models of the inner core and matched these models with decades-worth of observed data on seismic waves. Simply put, seismic waves are basically just vibrations that happen in the earth that transmit energy in waves caused either naturally by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, or artificially by man-made explosions. Here I also learned a new word, anisotropy, which in this context is how the differences in a material's composition affect certain properties of these seismic waves. The team found out that there were several "more likely" models that matched with the seismic wave activities and it could be due to the different structural configurations of iron crystals within the inner core (anisotropy of iron, whoosh). Although I still have to read the paper to fully understand this, the team concluded that their research might have revealed two separate cooling events in the Earth's formation and proved the inconsistencies in our current planetary models. Knowing full well during my younger schooling that the Earth only has three layers (the crust, the mantle, and the core), this discovery is shockingly awesome, since it means we're still learning a whole lot more about our own planet and it's exciting that the knowledge taught in schools is still evolving! Fun times! [6, 7]
A more recent study (published just this year) by Michinobu Kuwae and his colleagues from Ehime University in Osaka, Japan, have shed some light on the ongoing debate within the scientific community: are we already in the Anthropocene? Basically, the Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch characterized by how human impacts significantly changes the way Earth systems work. There was an earlier article from the New York Times that I could not read because it needs a subscription, but the headline says that some scientists do not believe we're already in the Anthropocene. The study, however, suggested that we may actually be in this epoch since the 1950s! Through their research, they listed three candidate points when the Anthropocene began, but concluded that the huge increase in the rates of human impacts between 1948 to 1953 may hold the greatest evidence to establish the 1950s as the origin point. During this brief time period, organic pollutants, microplastics, and byproducts of the nuclear age (i.e. plutonium and carbon-14) were first spotted. Moreover, these increased rates in 'anthropogenic fingerprints' uncovered in rock layers were found to be simultaneously occurring across the globe, which is indicative of a global scale shift. How is this finding relevant? Well, to this day, there still is no final agreement within the scientific community whether we're currently living in the Anthropocene, and this discovery clearly changes our perspective on the relationship between humans and the planet in the context of the long history of the Earth. With this knowledge, we can hopefully spread increased awareness to the public so we can develop policies that could reduce the impacts of human activities on the Earth system in order for the future generations to thrive in a safer environment. [8, 9]
Finally, the last article I've read was actually related to one of the training courses I took this week (Dr. Mendoza's Introduction to Satellites and Remote Sensing). Dr. Olly Bartlett, a remote sensing specialist from the University of Hertfordshire, together with his colleagues, used satellite imagery taken by Landsat from 1986-2021 to reveal a rapid change in land cover across the Antarctic peninsula. From less than a square kilometer of vegetal cover in 1986 to almost 12 km^2 in 2021, the region experienced an alarming rate of plant growth, particularly moss, during the four-decade time frame used in the study. What's more surprising is that the rate is significantly higher between the years 2016 and 2021. Further spread of moss would actually lead to a buildup of a soil layer that would provide a habitat for non-native (and potentially invasive) species of more complex plant life that would compete with the native species that are more adapted to the colder conditions of the region. It is to be emphasized that higher amounts of vegetation was caused potentially by the increasing global temperatures, with the Antarctic region experiencing the biggest increase in temperature (3°C) compared to what was observed across other parts of the planet since 1950 (which is oddly related to the previous article suggesting that the Anthropocene might have started during this time period). As native and non-native species compete for space and resources, most of the native plants would eventually be lost due to rapid changes in the Antarctic ecosystem, thereby implying species and biodiversity loss in the region. The authors suggested that the main driver of this landscape shift is most definitely the changes in the Antarctic climate. There are several opportunities for this research area, as this was actually the first study that looks at a regional scale. This study provides a 'baseline data' to further investigate the land cover change across the Antarctic region. It must be an exciting time for polar scientists! [10, 11]
C. Other areas of learning
I just finished last Monday (October 7) my I-don't-know-how-many-times-already re-watching of the Haikyuu!! anime, and I am still in awe with the many values portrayed within the different episodes. Values are generally the core principles by which we should live by, and the anime holds in its episodes values of passion, perseverance, determination, teamwork, and even how healthy competition could lead to immense growth (which is actually a concept of Darwinian evolution). I can't even begin to list down all the notes I took because of the shocking facets of my life that I see within the series.
I bought a secondhand MacBook Air (2015 model) from a friend and it's my first week of familiarizing myself with the Apple ecosystem. It was fun, and a little bit challenging in the first night and the next day, but eventually I got the hang of it. There are still several features I haven't encountered, but when I switched to a Windows platform yesterday (Sunday), my fingers were trying to adjust again due to some small differences in the positioning of keys. Switching between environments is one thing I have to get used to, but at least now we get to practice in case we decide to buy a newer model of the Mac in the near future.
Although this did not happen last week, but rather last October 6, I still would like to include how a friend who literally ghosted the entire friend group for five long years taught me about the true meaning of independence and how she actually embodied the word. I mean, she still had other groups of friends, but she was one of my closest friend during college (and I'd like to believe she considers us that way, too—hi Mai!), so I just got really shocked that that Sunday was her last day in the country! She moved to Japan the following day and I'm glad we've been in contact since. Talk about surprises, though, but really her story during the past five years really taught me a lot about independent life, and how you shouldn't really depend on others for your decisions, really. It's inspiring how she was just really set on doing things, and she accomplished it. I hope she's having a fun time there, though. She got a nice view of her apartment, after all!
I won't elaborate on this one but there is this video by Stephen Antonioni in YouTube about how the world is in the middle of something big, like a major global event (yes, the pandemic is just the beginning). Using three books, he discussed how the Earth in general is just stuck in cycles of 80-year periods, if I remember correctly, whereafter a major shift occurs, in the form of wars or economic depression. It was mind-boggling to say the least. [12]
Finally, one of the highlights of this week: the Nobel Prize [13] announced this year's winners! A lot of really well-deserved wins. Here's a succinct list:
Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine: Viktor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of the micro-RNA, a type of RNA involved in the regulation of gene expression.
Nobel Prize in Physics: John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks"
Nobel Prize in Chemistry: divided into 2, first to David Baker “for computational protein design” and the other half to both Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper for their research on protein folding which has its applications in the medical field!
South Korea gets their first Nobel Prize in Literature as Han Kang bags the award for her poetic prose that "confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." I'll be sure to add her to my reading list!
Finally, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo for their advocacy on completely ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
Here are some of the music that kept me sane throughout the week:
Alat & Tupa, both by Munimuni
Nang Makita Kang Muli, a really short song by Unniko Ijo but got me thinking about the moon
The Fray's comeback EP! I mean, the entire EP is fire!
Multo by Cup of Joe
Kung Sino Man by Benj Pangilinan
Soup by Amiel Sol (I'm blushing!)
Hirap Kalimutan, a recent release from a new therapy artist: Jan Roberts
Satisfy Me by Anderson East: This was in my liked songs since college and the instrumentals and East's gritty voice still impresses me to this day!
Crying Season by UDD, just because!
Note: I might release playlists soon in this blog!
Lastly, here are some realizations I've had this week from my captured thoughts:
You are capable of change—simple words that hold significant weight in my life right now. My gratitude journal entry last Tuesday read: "new day, new opportunities, new challenges, new you." Although the idea of novelty might scare some people, I am instead kept excited by it. Every day gives you a chance to live a completely different life than before if only you choose to, not that it requires you to (that would be exhausting!), and create a life you really want for yourself. There's this notion that because you were previously known by people around you as this and that, it means that you're eventually going to be like that all your life, unless of course, you leave the place or the people. But that, to me, is a lie. Everyday, new circumstances arise and you're being asked to respond differently depending on what that particular circumstance requires you to. But it's also a choice. You are capable of change, but you have to choose to change. Being aware of this allows you to explore opportunities you never thought possible, and plants within you an idea of how you are infinite, boundless; that you are capable of accomplishing great things regardless of your past. This eventually destroys the notion that you have to be perfect on the first try; it rejects perfectionism in such a way that you can actually revise your life over and over again, if you think that the current situation is not working. Yes, it is absolutely helpful to have a vision and values to guide how you live your life, but that doesn't mean that you can't adjust along the way. Our current circumstances require different things, and it is completely okay to modify your life track along the way, because simply, you are capable of it. It's scary and comforting and nerve-wracking all at once, but if you do not resist these changes, it might lead you to heights you never thought possible.
I am still in a healing phase, and that involves learning new things, re-learning old ways, and unlearning bad habits. Last Tuesday, I wasn't productive, really, so I assessed myself what was the primary reason for this reduced interest in doing productive work. What stood out was that I was so sleepy which points out to my lack of sleep the night before and the fact that I opened social media first thing that morning which added to more energy lost in things I do not enjoy. So I listened to myself that day, and actually took an afternoon nap, because what else can I do but rest? It's really important to find the right balance between being stern to yourself about the things you need to improve and being gentle when the situation requires you to. It doesn't hurt that a day wasn't spent on productive activities, but it certainly helps that you listen to how you feel when you're in a stage of transition within your life, especially coming from a place of burnout.
I wrote this last Friday, but I thought I was becoming too comfortable with the idea of platonic relationships and maybe I was losing the feeling of magic of romantic relationships. I don't know if it's a bad thing or a good thing, but it might be stemming from the fact that romance isn't in my list of priorities right now. It might be, in the future, but as of now, I am more entranced by the beauty I find in nature and the banal moments of daily living. That doesn't mean I don't get infatuated; in fact, I still do--the simplest thing could make my heart skip a beat. Like a reaction from an Instagram story, or a common ground in music taste, or the tiniest bit of attention given to me at the right moment. I'm not a robot, it's just dating might not be a central tenet of my life right now, and it's okay.
Lots of novel realizations with the Building a Second Brain (BASB) book, which I'll be making multiple separate articles soon! [14]
Finally, I started building my career portfolio through compiling my previous records, and systematizing an inbox of non-digital files which reflects my current PARA setup introduced by Tiago Forte in his BASB book to maintain uniformity with my workflow.
It's a long read, I know, but I'll try to keep it succinct in the future entries, or maybe I won't. This is basically my way of keeping track of my weeks in my life, summarized in journal-like entries.
That's it for the previous week, and this might just be my tagline: keep wandering and chase what excites you!
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Footnotes
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (Link)
GIS and Its Application to Agriculture (Link)
Introduction to Satellite and Remote Sensing: Basic Concepts and Applications (Link)
Rhetoric and Composition: College Foundations (Link)
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system by Lenton et al. (2008) (Link)
Scientists detected signs of a hidden structure inside Earth's core (Link)
Innermost inner core from the ANU website (Link)
Toward defining the Anthropocene onset using a rapid increase in anthropogenic fingerprints in global geological archives (Link)
Geological Fingerprints Suggest The Anthropocene Started In The 1950s (Link)
Believe it or not, this lush landscape is Antarctica (Link)
Sustained greening of the Antarctic Peninsula observed from satellites (Link)
Does Anyone Else Feel Like Everything Has Changed? - Stephen Antonioni (Link)
The Nobel Prize YouTube channel
Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential (Tiago Forte, 2022)
I am Pong, and I am 26 years of age as of this writing. This blog is mainly created for two main reasons: first, as an outlet for my creative expression and secondly, to potentially serve others who may be affected by the various stuff I write about.
A little background about me: I graduated with an engineering degree three years ago. However, I found out that this is not really what I want to be doing for the rest of my life, so here goes another try at maintaining a blog.
I come from a small city in the Philippines and have lived here since I was a child. I've always felt like I did not belong here, and maybe one day, I might actually have the courage to leave and find myself someplace where I feel like I would fit. Or I might not.
I have the tendency to overshare so please bear with me, but it's mostly stemming from my fear of losing a voice. I feel like I'm a great talker, and God gave me this gift (although to some, it might be annoying hehe) so I might as well put it to good use.
As an Enneagram Type Seven, there is no singular thing that interests me. In fact, spontaneity and variety are the two main attributes that you'll find in my daily life. Many of the people I've worked with and even my friends have noticed that because of these numerous interests, I tend to be a bit scattered and out of focus. There is some truth to that, but I have this inner belief that everything in the world exists for us to experience, at least even once (or several times if we're blessed enough). It absolutely makes me ecstatic that we're surrounded by all this beauty to indulge ourselves with for the entirety of our lifetime.
One of my core values is seeking fun and I'm keen to chase things that stimulate the pleasure areas of my brain. As of now, this journey to becoming a polymath or a modern Renaissance person will be a fun journey to finally traverse. This journey is the origin of the blog's name "The Polymath Excuse" because it's basically just my excuse for fully immersing in life. I am currently on a healing season and this particular project of being a polymath seems to me the best way to rekindle the fire within me.
You have to keep this in mind: as a seeker of new experiences, my interests may (and will probably) change along the course of the journey, but I have one thing that I know is for certain: I will never get tired of writing.
Writing was my first love and continues to hold a dear place in my heart. It's the first hobby I've committed myself into since high school. From reading fantasy, dystopian, and young adult books back then, I've always dreamt of becoming an actual writer. I once even dreamt of winning the Palanca awards when I was in college. Quite the crazy ambition, right? Writing is part of literature, and I can mostly attribute my love for literature from my high school English teacher, Ma'am Cynthia, and the friends I surrounded myself with during my high school and college years. My writing goals have evolved from winning awards to just becoming an outlet for self-expression. I had maintained a literary blog when I was in college but that project had long reached its final breath. At present, I mostly write to share my thoughts and to keep a record of my life. It's always fun to go back and reminisce the past versions of ourselves, after all. I have, over the years, regularly kept a journal and a commonplace book to store my thoughts and knowledge I've acquired from various pieces of content. Now, I continue to record my life in several pieces of writing—from little notes of my daily musings to commonplace books that hold insights from my own self and from other people.
But writing and literature aren't my only interests. You can't even describe me an expert in the field. As emphasized in the previous statements, my interests continue to expand and now they span across multiple disciplines: from philosophy to the natural sciences, from mathematics to something as obscure as tarot reading, and from mythology to the many subfields of arts and humanities. Sometimes these interests may not be related with each other, but the first challenge of a polymath lies in finding the connection of almost anything.
Hopefully, through combining my love of writing and my fascination with all that life has to offer, I could craft meaningful articles that could serve two main purposes: firstly, for my future self to look back on the things that previously have interested me; and secondly, to hopefully inspire others to do the same. The second one might be a long shot, but the probability of sparking even the tiniest bit of interest about any random topic isn't equal to zero, so I guess it's worth a shot! There's the second challenge to a polymath: creating unique ideas interweaved from multiple niches.
My former idealistic self dreamt of changing the world and it's a noble purpose in and of itself, but maybe it's time I "dial down the scope" [1] to just trying to become a better version of myself one word at a time.
Basically, there is no noble reason for starting this blog. In fact, I might even consider it inherently selfish since it's a project that mostly benefits me in case no one ever sees the things I create. It might even prove the perception of other people about me: that I'm all over the place--because, surprise, surprise, the topics that will be contained in this blog will not be about a single, particular niche, but basically a hodgepodge of my varied interests.
It's just an excuse--an excuse to make my life worth living. It's that simple.
If I didn't reach the outcome of eventually becoming a polymath, at least the journey had been fun. I might abandon this project a few months (gosh I hope not) or a few years from now, but at least, it was a fun road to have taken.
I appreciate you for reading that scattered, all over the place introduction about this blog. May this blog fulfill its purpose both for me and to my future readers, and may all our dreams turn into reality, even if it's just one step at a time.
All the love,
Pong
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Note(s):
[1] I encountered the phrase "dial down the scope" from Tiago Forte's book, Building a Second Brain. It means breaking down certain projects to a more manageable size so we can actually finish them. He adopted it from the idea of "scope" from software developers, which refers to the full set of features a software program might include. From the usage of this phrase, dialing down the scope means making my dream into a more attainable one.
