EPTI would first like to make a note on the music above. I have only recently discovered Sigur Ros, and my opinion on their music is still raw and without any proper basis, as I've only heard their album ( ). I first stumbled upon the band when I was browsing r/TIL, and I saw a post about how the lead singer forgot the lyrics to a song during a live concert in France, and just sang the sentence "I forgot the lyrics, but it's Icelandic and this is France, so nobody will know anyway." (or something to that effect), for the entire song. I thought that was pretty interesting and I headed to the comments section, where people were discussing the album ( ). You're apparently supposed to apply your own meaning to the songs and the album since there songs were all untitled. I proceeded to torrent it, and I really enjoyed Sigur Ros.
I guess I like more laid-back and relaxing music because I'm from Singapore. It feels as if everybody is constantly in a rush here. Nobody strolls, everybody walks quickly, taking quick steps and great strides. It all creates a pressure-cooker atmosphere of panic rather than a graceful one with seamless efficiency when I see people rushing without jostling while taking the bus. So that's why I like music that is calming, trance-like, and as some people would say, boring.
Exam nerves
My Mid Year examinations are coming very soon, and in fact, my first paper is tomorrow. I feel nervous and terrified of examinations because there's so much emphasis placed on major exams. I perform so much better outside of exams because the environment to do work is so much more conducive and so much less pressuring. I have a tendency to fumble during exams, where I forget how to write proper sentences and forget the terms, definitions, and formulas that I need to know. I really want to get over this mental hurdle, but it's hard. I don't know how I can do it.
I also have this feeling eating away at me constantly, and it's where I feel that I'll do absolutely terribly for my exams. I need to calm down and not let my nerves get the better of me during the examination and while studying for them.
Learning efficiently
It feels as if I've been spending more time thinking about how to learn as efficiently as possible rather than actually sitting in front of the material and try to learn. The reason for this is that I sometimes feel that when I force myself to "study", nothing gets in and it just ends up being a major waste of time and a drain of energy.
However, I think I've found a method of learning that works relatively well for me, and that is to learn as if I'm going to teach the topic. I've only done this for History, Social Studies, and Chemistry, but it works. My grades for these subjects have improved significantly. Tomorrow I'll be staying behind after my exams to teach a couple of friends Social Studies. I hope it goes well. I think it will definitely help me with getting a better grasp of the material and it'll be great to help friends that are weak in the subject and need my help.
Reading
I have not had the time to read. And I am fully aware that saying this is like committing a cardinal sin among the people whose lives revolves around enriching their slices of the universe with books, journals, essays, and so on, but that's how I feel things are for me. I spend too much time with assessment books, too much time trying to draw the perfect cosine graph, too much time memorising trigonometric identities, and too much time trying to understand biological concepts (knowledge that I frankly think I can do without).
Anyway, I am currently ambling through Ray Bradbury's "Farenheit 451", and I've come to enjoy how Bradbury writes. I guess enjoying reading is all that matters now, and I don't have to and shouldn't spend too much time trying to figure out what something in the text means or does not mean. I like how Bradbury paints scenes in the book. My favorite use of imagery in the book so far was when he wrote that a thunderstorm at night was like a pair of hands ripping a thousand miles of black linen at its seams while the sky screamed. Nothing like the punch of fresh imagery!
That's all for now. If you've read the whole thing, thanks! I hope you've enjoyed reading this thing.
