When I posted my last challenge report, 30-Day Workout-Every-Day Challenge Complete!, I resolved that my next challenge would be a 30-Day positive affirmation challenge. That means writing at least one page of positive affirmations a day for 30 days. I did it for 24 days, from October 18th until November 10th, before stopping. Now I've gone 7 days without writing a page of positive affirmations.
I guess I didn't have enough self-discipline for the challenge. But it's like lifting weights, you do what you can, and try to push your limit, and gradually increase the weight.
The funny thing is, it's hard to even explain why the positive affirmation challenge is so hard. The "work" is very easy, it takes just 30-45 minutes of writing and it's relaxing and peaceful; you can even listen to music if you're not simultaneously doing a music diet. And yet, somehow, it's one of the hardest challenges I've grappled with yet. Maybe it's because of a deep fear of success which makes the subconscious mind resist taking thoughts to such a positive extreme. Even though I had relatively little trouble with the strenuous 30-day stretch of exercises every day, and even though I was able to time-manage the incredible time burden of writing big articles every day for 30 days, the comparatively easy positive affirmation challenge was beyond me.
What has given me the inspiration to start the challenge over again-- and yes, I'll be restarting the count at day 1-- is that I recently found that someone extremely close to me has also done positive affirmations. Unexpected camaraderie is very motivating.
OBSERVATIONS FROM THE 24-DAY RUN OF POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
I've found that positive affirmations no longer have been giving me the surges of joy they once did. It used to be that after a week or so, I'd slip into a pure positivity mode where my thoughts were ALWAYS positive, all through the day, and this was accompanied with a strong feeling of euphoria. I didn't feel that during the 24-day run. I wonder whether, doing affirmations as a 30-day challenge, maybe that takes some of the heart out of the affirmations. Like I'm just going through the motions, and it's not sincere?
It could be that I was rushing the affirmations because of my busy schedule. In the past when they were most effective, I did them in a kind of leisurely way.
I also did some experimenting for the first time (necessitated by logistics) with typing affirmations on my laptop instead of writing them on paper. I didn't notice much difference, but like I said, the effects either way have been much less dramatic during the 24-day run.
On the other hand, some of the things I've had on my list of affirmations for a long time (like, on a scale of years) have really been very firmly, deeply rooted in my subconscious, and they exist there now as rather solid beliefs. Not to mention that as far as objectively possible, they've been coming true, which is the test that really matters.
Here are some other articles I've written. May they positivize your life.
License To Change
Running On The Treadmill
Introduction To Toastmasters
Consciously Choosing Health
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Irregular Verbs in Japanese
European languages are famous for their irregular verbs. English is certainly no exception. Japanese, on the other hand, has very few irregular verbs. Which I guess is really good, since in many other ways the language is one of the toughest languages for a Westerner to learn.
Japanese verb irregularity can be described as follows. There are two highly irregular verbs, two somewhat irregular verbs, and a family of "pseudo-irregular" verbs which aren't actually irregular, they just make verb classification more annoying. Also, unlike in European languages, the two Japanese copula ("to be" words) are NOT verbs.
The two highly irregular verbs are する (suru) "to do", and くる (kuru) "to come". For these verbs, just about every conjugation must be specially memorized.
The two moderately irregular verbs are 行く (iku) "to go", and ある (aru) "to exist/to have (inanimate)". These are basically irregular in just one conjugation each, although it's hard to count conjugations since they're closely intertwined. In Japanese, conjugations can themselves be conjugated, and the results can be conjugated again, and so one irregularity can propagate into many obscure compound conjugations, but basically these verbs only have one irregular "base" conjugation each.
Next, there are some verbs which are "pseudo-irregular". They're not really irregular at all, it's just that their existence makes it more difficult to classify verbs. Besides the highly irregular する (suru) and くる (kuru) verbs, Japanese verbs are divided into two groups: group 1 (一段 "ichidan") and group 5 (五段 "godan"). Yeah, I know, that's a weird numbering system, it's because Old Japanese had more groups of verbs, but now they've coalesced into just groups 1 and 5. It's ALMOST very easy to see which verbs are which: the general rule is, if a verb ends in "iru" or "eru", then it's group 1, otherwise it's group 5. However, life's not that simple, and a small collection of verbs which end in "iru"/"eru" are in group 5. Not a big deal, and not an actual "irregularity", but still a little annoying when you're first starting the language.
Finally, the Japanese copula is much different than English. In English, the copula is "to be", and it can express either equality ("The animal IS a cat"), or existence ("There IS a cat", "I think, therefore I AM"). In Japanese, equality and existence are handled by different words. Existence is itself split into a verb for animate things which exist-- いる (iru)-- and a verb for inanimate things which exist-- ある (aru).
But equality, is not expressed as a verb at all. When it's included in the sentence at all (it can be omitted if it's clear from context), it's done with either だ (da) or です (desu), depending on the level of formality. (Actually, there are two other copula, でございます (de gozaimasu) and である (de aru), the former is very formal and the latter is mostly only used in writing) Unlike in English, these existence copula are not verbs. It's difficult to even classify them, using the classifications we use for English. They share traits with verbs, but also with prepositions and even interjections. Basically, it's a mistake to try to understand them with the tools of English grammar.
UPDATE: In the comments, Thomas reminded me that some of the very formal Japanese language still uses older conjugations. To be precise, the verbs いらっしゃる ("irassharu") ("to come/go/be (rather formal)"), くださる ("kudasaru") ("to give" (rather formal)), ござる ("gozaru") ("to be" (rather formal)), なさる ("nasaru") ("to do" (rather formal)), and maybe some others. These verbs are seldom used in any except a few select conjugations (which are irregular). They're more like special fixed expressions, though. For example, most students learn the conjugation ください ("kudasai") as simply meaning "please", and don't realize it's a conjugated verb at all. Likewise with the others, for the most part.
This pretty much exhausts Japanese irregular verbs. There are a few other isolated irregularities scattered here and there involving some really obscure conjugations, but they basically never come up in practice. This is in comparison with languages like English, Spanish, or German, where there are almost more irregular verbs than there are regular verbs.
WHY ARE JAPANESE VERBS SO REGULAR?
This is pure conjecture, but I think the high regularity of Japanese verbs might have something to do with the extra structure which they have, thanks to the Chinese characters. Japanese verbs use both the Chinese characters, and a Japanese alphabet (actually a syllabary, but let's not be pedantic). The Chinese characters are called "kanji" and the syllabary is called "hiragana". Basically, by their very nature, Chinese characters can't be conjugated-- if they conjugated, you'd have to have a whole new character for "ran", different than the character for "run". So all the conjugation has to take place in the hiragana part of the verb. In English, a verb, in any conjugated form, is just a homogeneous soup of Roman letters. But in Japanese, verbs have so much more structure, thanks to the kanji-hiragana mingling.
If my theory is right, it shows that contrary to common belief, the Chinese characters don't strictly make a language harder. In many ways, they make the language easier, once you get past the initial intimidation factor of all those characters.
Here are some other articles I've written, inspired by my study of Japanese and more generally my quest to learn every language on Earth.
The Four Conditionals In Japanese
Ergative Verbs
Examples Of Japanese Onomatopoeia
Will The Languages Of The World Ever Merge?
Studying Foreign Language Proper Nouns
Japanese verb irregularity can be described as follows. There are two highly irregular verbs, two somewhat irregular verbs, and a family of "pseudo-irregular" verbs which aren't actually irregular, they just make verb classification more annoying. Also, unlike in European languages, the two Japanese copula ("to be" words) are NOT verbs.
The two highly irregular verbs are する (suru) "to do", and くる (kuru) "to come". For these verbs, just about every conjugation must be specially memorized.
The two moderately irregular verbs are 行く (iku) "to go", and ある (aru) "to exist/to have (inanimate)". These are basically irregular in just one conjugation each, although it's hard to count conjugations since they're closely intertwined. In Japanese, conjugations can themselves be conjugated, and the results can be conjugated again, and so one irregularity can propagate into many obscure compound conjugations, but basically these verbs only have one irregular "base" conjugation each.
Next, there are some verbs which are "pseudo-irregular". They're not really irregular at all, it's just that their existence makes it more difficult to classify verbs. Besides the highly irregular する (suru) and くる (kuru) verbs, Japanese verbs are divided into two groups: group 1 (一段 "ichidan") and group 5 (五段 "godan"). Yeah, I know, that's a weird numbering system, it's because Old Japanese had more groups of verbs, but now they've coalesced into just groups 1 and 5. It's ALMOST very easy to see which verbs are which: the general rule is, if a verb ends in "iru" or "eru", then it's group 1, otherwise it's group 5. However, life's not that simple, and a small collection of verbs which end in "iru"/"eru" are in group 5. Not a big deal, and not an actual "irregularity", but still a little annoying when you're first starting the language.
Finally, the Japanese copula is much different than English. In English, the copula is "to be", and it can express either equality ("The animal IS a cat"), or existence ("There IS a cat", "I think, therefore I AM"). In Japanese, equality and existence are handled by different words. Existence is itself split into a verb for animate things which exist-- いる (iru)-- and a verb for inanimate things which exist-- ある (aru).
But equality, is not expressed as a verb at all. When it's included in the sentence at all (it can be omitted if it's clear from context), it's done with either だ (da) or です (desu), depending on the level of formality. (Actually, there are two other copula, でございます (de gozaimasu) and である (de aru), the former is very formal and the latter is mostly only used in writing) Unlike in English, these existence copula are not verbs. It's difficult to even classify them, using the classifications we use for English. They share traits with verbs, but also with prepositions and even interjections. Basically, it's a mistake to try to understand them with the tools of English grammar.
UPDATE: In the comments, Thomas reminded me that some of the very formal Japanese language still uses older conjugations. To be precise, the verbs いらっしゃる ("irassharu") ("to come/go/be (rather formal)"), くださる ("kudasaru") ("to give" (rather formal)), ござる ("gozaru") ("to be" (rather formal)), なさる ("nasaru") ("to do" (rather formal)), and maybe some others. These verbs are seldom used in any except a few select conjugations (which are irregular). They're more like special fixed expressions, though. For example, most students learn the conjugation ください ("kudasai") as simply meaning "please", and don't realize it's a conjugated verb at all. Likewise with the others, for the most part.
This pretty much exhausts Japanese irregular verbs. There are a few other isolated irregularities scattered here and there involving some really obscure conjugations, but they basically never come up in practice. This is in comparison with languages like English, Spanish, or German, where there are almost more irregular verbs than there are regular verbs.
WHY ARE JAPANESE VERBS SO REGULAR?
This is pure conjecture, but I think the high regularity of Japanese verbs might have something to do with the extra structure which they have, thanks to the Chinese characters. Japanese verbs use both the Chinese characters, and a Japanese alphabet (actually a syllabary, but let's not be pedantic). The Chinese characters are called "kanji" and the syllabary is called "hiragana". Basically, by their very nature, Chinese characters can't be conjugated-- if they conjugated, you'd have to have a whole new character for "ran", different than the character for "run". So all the conjugation has to take place in the hiragana part of the verb. In English, a verb, in any conjugated form, is just a homogeneous soup of Roman letters. But in Japanese, verbs have so much more structure, thanks to the kanji-hiragana mingling.
If my theory is right, it shows that contrary to common belief, the Chinese characters don't strictly make a language harder. In many ways, they make the language easier, once you get past the initial intimidation factor of all those characters.
Here are some other articles I've written, inspired by my study of Japanese and more generally my quest to learn every language on Earth.
The Four Conditionals In Japanese
Ergative Verbs
Examples Of Japanese Onomatopoeia
Will The Languages Of The World Ever Merge?
Studying Foreign Language Proper Nouns
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Some Things I'm Ashamed Of
A writer I respect a lot, Steve Pavlina, just wrote this article, Share Your Shame. He argues that we should share *everything*, and it really resonates with what I've been thinking and writing about as well. For example, I wrote here that I want to present my real, true self to the world. So, here are some things I'm "ashamed" of. Actually, I'm not really ashamed of any of them, in the sense that I feel no shame, certainly no guilt or anything like that. However, I resist revealing them because I'm afraid of how people will judge me on them. I accept them absolutely, I'm just afraid other people won't be so accepting. But, life is short and when the grim reaper steps up, what the hell you gonna do? So here we go!
DRIVING
I'm 24 years old, and I never learned to drive a car. I guess I'm pretty screwed when the Zombie Apocalypse comes. Somehow, I just don't care at all about it. I'd like to learn sometime just so I can explore and simplify the logistics of travel, but deep down inside, I just don't care.
ONLINE GAMES
I wasted many years of my youth playing online games. For some time, I was playing from waking til sleeping. It was irresponsible of my parents to let me get away with it, but the blame is ultimately my own. My social life was pathetic, I had no girlfriend, and I was scrawny and had poor hygiene. Nonetheless, I have no regrets. I have no idea how my life would have turned out if my formative high school years were spent more "traditionally". Together with the next item, I've wandered an extremely unusual path through life, but it's leading to great things now. If I'd lived a more traditional life, would I be resigned to a lifetime of mediocrity?
I wrote a little about these games in my article, Intelligent Design And Intelligent Video Games.
HOMESCHOOLING
With the exception of 6th, 7th, and 9th grade (I skipped 8th grade), I was home-schooled. For 10th-12th grade, that basically consisted of the above item (playing online games all day), though it was supplemented with some classes at a junior college, which the State of California payed for since I was officially a high school student. Of course, I'm doing fine academically now. I graduated Summa Cum Laude in mathematics from the University of Arizona, and now I'm working on a math PhD. My social skills were absolutely terrible for most of my life, but when I was 23 I made a conscious decision to fix them. It's been a very rough almost-two-years, but I think in the final analysis, I've come out ahead of where I'd have been if I'd always had "good enough" social skills and never decided to work on them.
HOMELESSNESS BY CHOICE
For my senior year of undergrad, I was homeless by choice. I slept mostly in an undergraduate lounge in the physics building, which my physics buddy gave me the door combination to get in. Since I was an undergrad with no keys, getting in the building often involved breaking and entering, which I became ridiculously skilled at. Other times, I slept at the library or the computer science tower.
I'm actually pretty damn proud of the experience, which I think of as an adventure. Certainly I've saved many thousands of dollars on rent. And it's awesome getting up nice and well-rested, five minutes before class starts, and walking to class without even leaving the building where you slept.
When I went to Japan, I had thirty days between arriving and going home, but I only booked four nights in the youth hostels in advance. I wanted to put my skills to use and have some real adventure, beyond what any tourist normally experiences. Although I ended up using youth hostels legitimately for most of the final week, most of my time in Japan I was a youth hostel stow-away. In Yokohama, the youth hostel had pretty tight security and I infiltrated it like James Bond. In Osaka, I slept on the rooftops of the tall, surreal skyscrapers.
Now, for the past few months, I've been back at it again. My contract with my previous apartments expired, and I just didn't care. I moved into my office, using it as an excuse to get rid of almost all my unnecessary junk. It's shorter term, this time. In January, my girlfriend and I are planning on moving into a nice two-bedroom apartment together, and already I sleep at her dorm more often than in my office. I think of myself like Great Teacher Onizuka, the (fictional) former yakuza boss who decided to become the greatest high school teacher in Japan, and part of the conditions of his school were that he had to sleep in the attic.
Well, it's interesting to publish these things here for all to read. I usually don't outright hide these things from people, but neither do I bring them up, for obvious reasons. Of course, there are still some things I've not yet gotten the courage to reveal. *Glowing Face Man throws on his mysterious cloak, shrouded in secrecy like the night itself* As I grow in courage, I'll probably grow the balls to publish even more astonishing facts about my crazy, adventurous, remarkable life.
Here are some other articles I wrote. Generally, the later the article's publish date, the more open and sincere.
Never Cover Your Ass
Fighting Perfectionism: Shorter Articles
Review: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development For Smart People
My Trip To The Fujitaisekiji Buddhist Cult
DRIVING
I'm 24 years old, and I never learned to drive a car. I guess I'm pretty screwed when the Zombie Apocalypse comes. Somehow, I just don't care at all about it. I'd like to learn sometime just so I can explore and simplify the logistics of travel, but deep down inside, I just don't care.
ONLINE GAMES
I wasted many years of my youth playing online games. For some time, I was playing from waking til sleeping. It was irresponsible of my parents to let me get away with it, but the blame is ultimately my own. My social life was pathetic, I had no girlfriend, and I was scrawny and had poor hygiene. Nonetheless, I have no regrets. I have no idea how my life would have turned out if my formative high school years were spent more "traditionally". Together with the next item, I've wandered an extremely unusual path through life, but it's leading to great things now. If I'd lived a more traditional life, would I be resigned to a lifetime of mediocrity?
I wrote a little about these games in my article, Intelligent Design And Intelligent Video Games.
HOMESCHOOLING
With the exception of 6th, 7th, and 9th grade (I skipped 8th grade), I was home-schooled. For 10th-12th grade, that basically consisted of the above item (playing online games all day), though it was supplemented with some classes at a junior college, which the State of California payed for since I was officially a high school student. Of course, I'm doing fine academically now. I graduated Summa Cum Laude in mathematics from the University of Arizona, and now I'm working on a math PhD. My social skills were absolutely terrible for most of my life, but when I was 23 I made a conscious decision to fix them. It's been a very rough almost-two-years, but I think in the final analysis, I've come out ahead of where I'd have been if I'd always had "good enough" social skills and never decided to work on them.
HOMELESSNESS BY CHOICE
For my senior year of undergrad, I was homeless by choice. I slept mostly in an undergraduate lounge in the physics building, which my physics buddy gave me the door combination to get in. Since I was an undergrad with no keys, getting in the building often involved breaking and entering, which I became ridiculously skilled at. Other times, I slept at the library or the computer science tower.
I'm actually pretty damn proud of the experience, which I think of as an adventure. Certainly I've saved many thousands of dollars on rent. And it's awesome getting up nice and well-rested, five minutes before class starts, and walking to class without even leaving the building where you slept.
When I went to Japan, I had thirty days between arriving and going home, but I only booked four nights in the youth hostels in advance. I wanted to put my skills to use and have some real adventure, beyond what any tourist normally experiences. Although I ended up using youth hostels legitimately for most of the final week, most of my time in Japan I was a youth hostel stow-away. In Yokohama, the youth hostel had pretty tight security and I infiltrated it like James Bond. In Osaka, I slept on the rooftops of the tall, surreal skyscrapers.
Now, for the past few months, I've been back at it again. My contract with my previous apartments expired, and I just didn't care. I moved into my office, using it as an excuse to get rid of almost all my unnecessary junk. It's shorter term, this time. In January, my girlfriend and I are planning on moving into a nice two-bedroom apartment together, and already I sleep at her dorm more often than in my office. I think of myself like Great Teacher Onizuka, the (fictional) former yakuza boss who decided to become the greatest high school teacher in Japan, and part of the conditions of his school were that he had to sleep in the attic.
Well, it's interesting to publish these things here for all to read. I usually don't outright hide these things from people, but neither do I bring them up, for obvious reasons. Of course, there are still some things I've not yet gotten the courage to reveal. *Glowing Face Man throws on his mysterious cloak, shrouded in secrecy like the night itself* As I grow in courage, I'll probably grow the balls to publish even more astonishing facts about my crazy, adventurous, remarkable life.
Here are some other articles I wrote. Generally, the later the article's publish date, the more open and sincere.
Never Cover Your Ass
Fighting Perfectionism: Shorter Articles
Review: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development For Smart People
My Trip To The Fujitaisekiji Buddhist Cult
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Never Cover Your Ass
We have a limited time on this tiny clod of dirt called Earth, and we have to do what we can to make our lives count. You could die tomorrow, so each moment today is precious. One way to make better use of your time, is to Never Cover Your Ass™.
What does it mean to Cover Your Ass? It's an English idiom, and it means doing something not because it's worth doing on its own, but just because it gives you an excuse so you're not to blame if something else goes wrong.
Examples of Covering Your Ass:
What does it mean to Cover Your Ass? It's an English idiom, and it means doing something not because it's worth doing on its own, but just because it gives you an excuse so you're not to blame if something else goes wrong.
Examples of Covering Your Ass:
- A teacher who slogs through some required curriculum even if it becomes clear the entire class is left behind, just so the students can't say "uhh, we didn't learn that yet" to their next teacher. I wrote about this example in my previous article, Teach Steadily, Not Quickly. The teacher who goes through the motions even when it's clear the students are too behind to follow, is just Covering Her Ass so she can pin the blame on the students, rather than on herself for not being a good teacher.
- A jet mechanic who just goes through a checklist mindlessly, half-assing everything in some Standard-Operating-Procedure manual so if the jet crashes, it's not his ass on the line.
- A telephone operator who just reads a script like a robot.
- When I was in the Air Force as a weather forecaster, there was a lot of Ass-Covering in that career field. We had specific "amendment critera" which specify when a weather forecast is so inaccurate that it absolutely must be amended. Airmen started just following the criteria like robots, and neglecting to use their common sense. Sometimes, some forecasts were pretty hilariously wrong, but somehow technically still "in category" and so no amendment was technically required.
- A soldier who follows unethical orders, just to avoid "getting in trouble".
If your line of work involves Covering Your Ass, then rest assured you're not making the world a better place. One question to ask, if you're not sure whether you're Just Covering Your Ass, is: could a robot be programmed to do your job for you? Assume the programmer is really freakin good, so so any sort of Standard Operating Procedures, Mission Statement, checklists, regulations, rules, and bylaws can be programmed into the robot.
Noone will ever go down in history books for Covering Their Ass, except possibly in infamy. If you want to leave a positive mark on the world, never Cover Your Ass. Let's go through those examples and see what some alternatives would be to Ass-Covering:
- A teacher who sees the whole class has been left behind, should immediately slow down, or possibly even move backward, until the class has, at least mostly, caught back up. Otherwise, the teacher is just talking to air, and everyone's time is wasted. If the class contains lots of required material for a later course, and slowing down will prevent all that material from being covered, then either do what it takes (extra review sessions, office hours...) or else man up and hand out some F's. The whole reason for degree inflation is that students get passing marks in classes where the whole class was left behind, because the teacher rushed through to Cover His Ass, and then graded on a curve so he wouldn't have to fail everyone.
- A jet mechanic should certainly follow the checklist, but never half-ass it. If there isn't enough time, then let the flight be delayed. If some supervisor gets angry because of the delay, that's their problem.
- A telephone operator reading a script robotically is just a loophole to get around laws which prevent companies from using actual robots outright. Interject some humanity into the conversation. Ask people about how their day was, etc. If this is forbidden, then the company is a sleazy company hell-bent on pestering people with unwanted calls, and such a company doesn't deserve your labor.
- In the Air Force, I was as guilty as anyone at Covering My Ass. I'd even adjust the forecasts when I sent them out, so that they had the most possible "bending room" before I'd have to amend them-- even if this meant deliberately forecasting weather I didn't believe would really happen! I think this had a lot to do with the great agony I had in that career field. It was only when I grew past this immature, Ass-Covering behavior, that events unfolded to let me escape my time in that purgatory.
- A soldier should never follow orders which are unethical. The "Nuremburg Defense" is named after the Nuremburg Trials, where German war criminals pled, "I was only following orders!" In other words, they were Covering Their Asses from Hitler. Of course the cover didn't work so well on the Allied Forces.
Try to look at famous people and see who among them was Just Covering Their Ass. You'll have a long, hard look, because I don't think there are many. Do work which requires your unique skills as a thinking, feeling human being, or else your job will eventually be outsourced to a robot.
Here are some other articles I wrote. None of these articles were written by a robot.
Teach Steadily, Not Quickly
The Solution To The Money Game
Activism Goes Away After Graduation
Examples Of Japanese Onomatopoeia
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