Noble Notes
“The most damaging thing you learned in school wasn't something you learned in any specific class. It was learning to get good grades.” Paul Graham
This school-week went by in the blink of an eye. There was loads of work, as always, but since there was not a "major" exam on the weekend it was a mellower vibe. The exam on the weekend being French-Philosophy. Thus I got to finish all of Arcane. A really great series, especially if you happen to know a little about League of Legends. On Thursday I went to a little event organised by the radio association of my school. There was quite a bit of techno and quite a bit of people. The result was quite a fun night.
Other than that this work-week was pretty dull. The interesting stuff happened on the weekend. On Saturday I went to my French exam. My preparation for it was watching video resumes of the books and one video on the dissertation methods the morning before. Last time I got 8/20 while working myself to the ground so let's see if I get more or less with this amount of effort. During that exam I had an interesting experience. In an exam everyone is allowed to use the bathroom after two hours of examination. Every time we do, we have to sign a paper where we say how much time we stayed in the bathroom for.
This time, like any other, I needed to use the bathroom. I headed out of the classroom and started walking towards the bathroom. After a second or two I noticed that someone was following me, turning around I realised it was one of the overseers of the exam. I stopped and asked what the was problem, he then said that "Oh I am just following you to the bathroom." I was lost for words. I laughed out loud. Then I realised that he was serious. He proceeded by saying "Don't worry, I won't enter the bathroom." I just continued walking to the bathroom while being speechless. I just need to mention that we had all the books with us in the examination so there was truly nothing to really cheat with. Either you know how to write a dissertation or you do not.
Also on Saturday, after a bike ride to Belgium I went and refereed a tournament of under 13 year-olds. After having biked 30 kilometres I struggled with standing upright, but it was still a great experience. I could recognise myself in those young little volleyball players. Most of them were a lot better players than I could have ever been at that age but it was even more fascinating to watch. There was a lot more continuity than can be expected at that age, some points lasted for more than a minute.
On that note, the next day we played our league's first team: Tourcoing. Their whole team is consisted of young players ranging from 17 to about 21. A solid half of them train with the first team, the team that competes in the highest league of France. Going into the game we knew that there was not a chance of winning, but the idea was to be entertaining and entertained. I feel like we managed that. The crowd was really engaged and was cheering us on at every single point. I even managed to squeeze in a few blocks and attacks myself. But most of the time the opponents were attacking over us. It did not matter much if we tried to stop them or not, they usually got their way. Playing against such a high performing team raised our team's level as well – another reason to challenge oneself. Doing tasks that are above our level will make us raise our level.
Since I had quite an all over the place week I especially appreciated my note-taking habit that helped me render everything down into this blogpost.
General Note-Taking Tips:
Note-taking is a pillar of our civilisations. It is how we transmit information from one generation to another. It is why we should know how to do it well. In my opinion note-taking is not something we should only do for school or work. It should also be applied to everyday matters. To journal, to write down random information that comes to mind is such a powerful way of expressing oneself and a way to get closer to understanding oneself.
This blog has been an incredible following of my personal life. Not only for an external person but also for myself. My writing style changes, my stories change and my life changes. All this change is less visible on a day-to-day basis but when comparing my first blogpost to my last it is visible that a considerable leap has been made. Here are a few tips from my personal experience.
- Ideas can always be rendered simpler
The simpler the explanation the clearer the understanding of it will be. This also applies in the case of a personal journal. In a short time we change so much that within a year of writing a piece we might not recognise the person writing it. I remember having to translate an article of a person who had a very developed vocabulary. The only problem was, she wanted to use every single word she knew. This made the text very complex, there was no fluidity, it was just a bunch of very specific words put together. To make any sense of it I had to read it through meticulously 5 times. But as Steve Jobs put it "Simple can be harder than complex."
- Blank page syndrome or writer’s block
It is not something easy to overcome. All writer’s struggle with this on a daily basis. The solution is, simply put, to just write. Sounds absurd but that is the way. Something I have personally found useful in is making a draft of a first draft. So basically I am just making a first draft, but telling myself that it is a draft of the first draft really removes the pressure. The typical problem is trying to write the most beautiful phrasing on the first try. This is simply not possible. But working through ideas that are already scribbled down is a lot easier than coming up with new ones.
- Write for Yourself, Write Yourself
Writing essays for school is important to get grades but in every day life writing out thoughts can bring clarity. Personally when a certain idea comes to mind I misleadingly believe that I understand and can reproduce it with ease. When I do try to extract the information from myself I struggle. When we write we have to put our complex thoughts into words. This limits us because language is a limited tool but at the same time it helps us determine the idea itself because we have to consciously analyse and extract it. From thereon there is room for development.
This week's suggestions:
A very well animated series that has a great story with intrigue. I believe that the series can easily be enjoyed without any knowledge about the game of League of Legends itself. There were some goose-bump inducing moments for me and not the cringe type.
📚"The School of Life: An Emotional Education"
About to finish this book. It has been an amazing ride. The book goes very much in depth trying to explain all sorts of human behaviour. I already quoted the book a few weeks ago in Meaningful Melancholy. It is not only interesting but there are a lot of very beautifully written ideas.
I wish You a great rest of the week!
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