Working Force

“Work expands to fill the time allotted to it.” Parkinson’s Law

This week was mostly spent on trying to understand physics. It was tough. One thing in prepa is that the transitions between study subjects are not smooth for me. I try my best to follow in class to avoid having to catch up later on but I do not work on a subject that I do not have as an exam on the weekend. Thus I go all in on only 2 subjects at a time, which is quite a bit in my opinion. For example for physics there were six chapters. Each is basically a PowerPoint with 15-20 slides but let's not forget about the number of exercises we do for each of those chapters and the varied mathematical methods used.

Not being comfortable with maths can cause a lot of problems in physics. I am speaking from first-hand experience. I am decent in maths but sometimes the calculations in physics confuse the living hell out of me. This is usually when the teacher says something along the lines of "You do know there are other variables than x and y?". Half of the times we do not understand something it is because we do not understand how something works mathematically.

About that Saturday's exam: it went okay. Physics went as well as it could and English was simple, I had my fun with it. We had to write an article about a movie that represents well our culture. After a little thinking I decided to go with "Tõde ja Õigus" (translation "Truth and Justice") which I very well translated as "Truth and Rigeousness" (I am very much aware that it is not how you spell that word but it is how I wrote it on the exam page). I explained how every Estonian should at least know about the existence of this work and how making a movie about it made it more accessible to foreigners and also locals.

This week I tried to do a few sessions of guided meditation. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing guided meditation again because it does give a clearer structure to the time spent on it. Unguided meditation is fine, it is a moment for rest, a moment to just try to think about the breath, but it is very easy to get distracted. One of the meditations was about self-love. I cannot say that I struggle with that subject a lot, but I just wanted to give it a whirl. I must say that repeating out loud "I love myself" multiple times in a row felt completely absurd. On the other hand there were other techniques that worked really well and left me satisfied with my session.

During one of those sessions it really hit me that I will not be able to do some things while I am in prepa. It is not that I cannot, but if I do it will be at the cost of something else: my sleep, mental health or physical health. That means there is another year and a half to go at least without much experimentation. There are a few things that I do still plan to implement like trying out new recipes and overall trying to stay open to everything as much as possible. For example one thing that I cannot really see myself managing for the moment is building a habit of going to the gym. I am really interested to see what results I would get if I went to the gym for more than half a year in a row. I do have 3 volleyball trainings a week, but I miss free weight workouts. Lifting weights is rewarding on a different level than smashing a ball into the three meter space.

We had another game in Paris this weekend. This time I was prepared. Last time we were gone for 12 hours. I could not get anything done. This time I took my computer and could complete some tasks in a packed minivan. We lost the game. There were a few very questionable calls by the referee but of course we did not play well either. I got to play one and a half sets which I am very happy about. I am a genuine replacement at this point, not just a bench-warmer. Anyway, after a disappointing game we headed back towards Marquette where some of us went out for dinner. It was really great to spend time with the team, once again, getting to know them off the pitch.

This week I was really à la ramasse. This means that, once again, there is a missing value point. I will try to write one for next week though! If there is any certain subject You as a reader would be interested in let me know! I am reachable through all my social media!

That is it for this eventful week, till next time!