the 10,000 rule.

Its time to get red hot again, haha. yeah, after having not having anything meaningful to write for about the last two weeks (i mean, who could top owl city?, anything? yeah, I thought so. haha).

Anyway...so I think I've figured out the reason why I suck at a lot of things, and a jack of all trades (medium skills) at a lot of things. Psychologists have come up with this magic number of hours that it takes to become a master at something. Bill Gates and Bill Joy both logged in 10,000 hours of computer programming time by the time they hit college and Berkeley respectively. Even Mozard had ten years of experience before he composed his first considered classic. Consider the Beatles... they had already performed live 1200 times in Hamburg when they started having success in 1964, often playing eight hours a day, seven days a week. I mean, how many bands can say they've performed live 1200 times...ever? In the studies, psychologists divided violinists according to talent and ability. There were 3 groups, "future world-class stars", "good", and "future public education teachers". The difference between the three groups was time practiced since they first picked up a violin (the students were at Berlin's Academy of Music at this time).

Group A = avg. 10,000 hours

Group B = avg. 8,000 hours

Group C = avg. 4,000 hours.

They did the same with pianists. Same result. They concluded that once peopled reached a certain level of skill, the only thing that further distinguishes them is hours practiced. So...talent is good, and there does seem to be innate talent for some people, but work trumps talent and I've been getting by on talent cuz I'm lazy.

So I did a rough estimate of my hours practiced in a particular thing...and here are my results. (note: very rough estimates)

Gaming = 5100 hours (haha)

Piano = 1560 hours (started at 8)

Basketball = 1613 hours (started at 14 and this is probably underestimated)

Preaching the Gospel = 5376 hours

Dancing = 288 hours (started sept. 2008, at 21)

studying = 768 (in the last two years.... not a whole lot if you think about it)

So what does this mean? Hmmm....well.

1. I spent too much time on gaming. So I'm not bad. :)

2. I need to take up some new hobbies and spend less time doing distractions and time wasters.

3. Face it, since I'm not going to be a professional gamer, NBA player, pianist, or back-up dancer to BoA none of this actually translates to real-life application except the Gospel. So its time to start doing something "real".

4. I need to put talent to work...or God will take it away....

5. I wonder if this applies to dating...?

6. I'm extremely good at facebook

PR, L, OWL City

What can I say. It was a fun concert. We left right after the Chinese final, ran into traffic on the way there, and had to drive through a downpour. Thought the show started at 6, but that's only when the doors opened. The show actually started at 6:30. Mike and his gang got there way early, but still missed the meet and greet with Lights, though they saw a guy with a lights shirt.... lol. not lights.

drive up was fun, but once we got there, it was raining hard. We got there just as Paper Route finished their last two songs so the crowd was already pretty packed. We thought about squeezing our way through the crowd to find Mike, whom I thought was somewhere near front. They were...but just squashed in the middle of the crowd. We made several efforts, all failed cause the crowd was packed tight and more and more people kept coming in. Finally, I decided to get us VIP view (I knew this might happen, so I was prepared). there were only two VIP tickets left (though maybe the guy was just saying that).

Anyway, got up to some good seats just as Paper Route finished. We waited for about 20 minutes before Lights came on. Shalise started talking to the girl next to her, Lauren, who was an executive boss or something like that. She seemed kinda weird at first, acted weird (I thought she was slow). The first thing she said to Shalise after Shalise asked her a question was something like, "Basically, my boss tells me to jump and I say 'how f****** high'". Shalise turned to me and said, "she's crazy!" hahaha.

Anyway, Lights came on, and she was awesome, as she always is. Mike said she's really good live. Told his FHE sisters that Lights was a nerd. They asked him if she was pretty and he said yeah, to which they said, "no way she's a nerd". But the second song Lights did, she introed it by saying, "this next song is dedicated to multiplayer-on-line gaming. more specifically this is a song about world of warcraft". HAHAHA. well...that's Lights.

Owl City came on....and let me just say. It was a little different than we expected. First, he sounded way different live. He sounded like a girl at times. Secondly, he danced interestingly....almost like he was drunk at points. And then he did this weird dance with the bouquet of flowers they threw on stage (someone also threw a bra). Thirdly, his mannerisms were very...feminine? Shalise said it quite bluntly, "he was like a *looks around* flamer!"". lol. Anyway, we still enjoyed it even though we only knew like three songs. But they were great. Interestingly, they had a celloist and violist on stage, which I thought was really kewl. They had an encore...planned of course. I wonder what would happen if the crowd didn't shout "encore" and just left the stage. We also thought about finding out where Owl City was staying for the night and stalking them. Shalise asked Lauren, and she said something like "I don't know, and even if I did know I wouldn't tell you." HAHAHA. The crowd was great. Lights even tweeted afterwards how awesome Salt Lake City was...twice!! But they were packed in there tight, and people were constantly having to be pulled out...crazy. Poor younger kids and parents.

We were in the VIP area with the owner and his nieces and nephews or something... and Shalise heard them talking about something preparing for David Archuleta. I found out later afterwards, that David Archuleta was at that concert, and is a mild fan of Lights. lol.

Anyway, we got stuck leaving the parking lot for about 20 minutes, and just listened to Lights (whom Shalise was really impressed by and became a fan of)..and studied for the second part of the Chinese final. Eventually we got out, and went home.

So.... all in all...an interesting and fun night. Great concert. Good view. Didn't deal with the crowds, nice and crazy people. Crazy weather. Awesome performances. yep. :D

April 11th

should be a holiday. the forums are alive with present giving. twitter is streaming massive amounts of tweets to make a trending topic. and facebook fans are resetting their status to reflect their craziness. haha



Happy Birthday Lights.

and it is only fitting that the last month of the regular school year, I've surpassed 3000 texts for just the second time since getting my new phone. In fact, I broke the record set last June of 3100 when Lauren was texting me crazily. AND. The bill cycle isn't even done yet. I still have two days left and I'm at 3134...

The Looming Last Week of School

As the final week of the school descends on us, and as finals loom its nice to preview what nastiness is ahead of me...

I've already finished two finals and two classes with A- (luck), and a B (ugh, could have done better, but the final saved my butt). I've raised my dismal chinese grade, slowly and painfully, from a D+ to a respectable 85%. I think I'm actually within distance to nail an A-. For missing the first unit test, THAT's CRAZY (not really, I've had to hit almost 100% on all assignments and quizzes). I'm just so mad at myself for missing that test.

My next two finals should be easy (hopefully) after getting a 92% and a 96% on the last two midterms in those two classes. Hopefully, and let me not get prideful, I can repeat. After that I don't know what's happening to me. lol.

So. I was studying the scriptures and came across some interesting thoughts (and that's what they are, not doctrine or anything). But

modern revelations tell us that "the glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" (Doctrine and Covenants: 93:36). So what is light and truth? The same section in the Doctrine and Covenants says, "truth is knowledge of things as they are and as they were, and as they are to come" and continues, "truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also" (Doctrine and Covenants 93:24, 30). In this sense then, I think, part of the glory of God is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come. It also mentions "He that keepeth his commandments receieveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things" (Doctrine and Covenants: 93:28, italics added).The scripture makes sense with what we've read before. Light seems to be the effect of gaining truth.

Back in section 93, verse 29 of the Doctrine and Covenants it says, “Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made” (italics added). The following scripture makes sense then, God says, “And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, said the Lord of Hosts (Doctrine and Covenants 1:33)”. Sounds like rejecting truth means diminishing light. Makes sense also that as we increase in knowledge of truth that we come closer to God. Some scriptures take on interesting new concepts when viewed in this light. For example, Jesus preaches in the Sermon on the Mount, “the light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (St. Matthew 6:22). The Joseph Smith Translation clarifies the teaching saying, “if therefore thine eye be single to the glory of God”.Makes sense again.

Understanding that light and truth corresponds, at least somewhat, to glory a scripture like the following is rendered understandable. Speaking about those who will live with God again, the prophet Joseph Smith says in a vision, “these are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as typical” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:70. Here glory is used again. Remembering that glory means intelligence, and that intelligence means truth and light, it can be understood that those whose bodies are celestial are those who have an eye single to the glory of God.

again, all my own thoughts, but it makes sense to me, and it really isn't anything new when you look at it.

Pet Peeves

OK. I have several. I don't know where they come from, and its a weakness in my character.

i realize I HATE not progressing in life. I hate plateauing. I feel like I could always improve. I can always do better, be more perfect. This might stem from a slight feeling of inadequacy and weakness in self-confidence in spite of everything I do. Sometimes, I just feel like I'm not good enough for anything or for anyone. I think its more of a feminine characteristic, but whatever it is, whether creativity, basketball, sports, writing, a talk, anything, I feel I can always be better, do better. So I take note of what I did bad the first time and try to improve. I hate feeling a ceiling on my abilities. But at the same time, a feeling of caring and love prevents me from pulverizing opponents into the dust or playing with their heads and hearts.

Which leads me to my second pet peeve. I HATE, and, interestingly enough, cynically love, when people tell me I can't do or be something. I feel like I have to prove them wrong. And the method I go about that is not always the greatest, as I can get prideful in the process or even change who I am, and then, ironically, it only serves to backfire on myself. I have a bad habit of hating the person who tells me what I can't do, even if they happen to be close friends (which always dissipates because I can't really hold a grudge). I'm not so foolish though to kill myself over it. Like if someone tells me I can't jump out of a window, I am NOT going to prove myself by jumping out of a window. For me, these things are a good motivator in my otherwise, demotivated life. I guess its cause most of my life people have, maybe not directly, but subversively hinted at things that I'm not strong enough, fast enough, big enough, smart enough, mature enough, or creative enough to do. For those people, I hate them, and then I got and secretly try and prove them wrong. In the end, its not about proving them wrong, but proving to myself who I am and what I can do. Its really for myself. And I don't really hate anyone over it, because I realize they help me to be a better person.