Yingna

How do I motivate myself to do work?

With the thought “I’m screwed” or “I will be screwed.”

I haven’t been procrastinating at all recently. The above is the reason. I still have to modify my schedule so that I am spending 10 hours on research per week.

I also still have two hours of extracurriculars to schedule in per week and another two hours bi-weekly.

Plus, I have two dance performances that I must rehearse extra for.

This is a prime moment in my life to exclaim, “I’m screwed.”

Buying books at college

At this moment in time, I am searching for the cheapest methods in buying college textbooks. At my college, there is a special bookstore that carries all the textbooks, workbooks, coursepacks, etc. for every single class. Since it’s only a maximum fifteen minute walk from my dormitory, buying a book there is incredibly convenient. But, it’s expensive. There may be other sources which would sell the same book for $40 or more cheaper.

Thus, I usually buy my books online or from other students, since they are drastically cheaper. Also, I always try to resell my books to other students later so that I can hopefully get all my money if not some of my money back. Sometimes, I also try to resell my textbook for a profit, but with new editions coming out every year, this can be tricky.

Although Ebay is a good way to buy textbooks for cheap at times, I like to search through all other book companies before going to Ebay, mainly because of convenience and efficiency. Ebay uses an auction style, so I sometimes have to wait a few days to see if I won a book, and winning a book is not a guarantee. I would rather just click “buy” on another website, input my billing information, and then know that the book would arrive within a week.

I primarily use book finder search engines instead to scour the web for the cheapest options. This includes a website I recently found called Bookfinder. I am also fine with buying the international edition of books, which are usually exactly the same as the US edition except for a big “International Edition” label across the cover. These versions are sometimes half the price of the US edition. Textbookrus seems to stock plenty of international edition books.

The only hole in all these online searches is when there is a customized coursepack or sourcebook that a class requires. These texts are usually made by the college and sold only at the college with a non-refundable policy. In cases like these, I am trying to find if I can borrow such a book and just scan in all the pages.

Winter break is over! Back at college now with goals.

Winter break is unfortunately over now. Tomorrow is the first day of spring classes. I am both excited and worried; excited for my psychology and social science class, but worried for organic chemistry and physics. But before I start thinking about tomorrow, I have to finish with running errands today and start my spring semester off on the right foot.

This semester, I have decided (actually more like forced) to be on top of my work. That means no wasting time and hardly any partying. Unlike last semester, when I was on top of my work for the first few weeks and then slowly stopped reading the textbook (big mistake for physics), I should continue reading and understanding everything I can. I also need to be more proactive in clubs. I realize that may be one of the reasons I was passed up on being chosen for a director position. I need to show people I am willing to work, even if I do not have the position yet, rather than working hard after I get the position. I guess I am more motivated to do so because I am actually more focused now. I know what I want out of my clubs and which clubs. Last semester, I was still very wishy-washy on what I wanted and cared about.

Besides academics, I also need to exercise and eat better. I realized I have gained fat; not necessarily weight, but this may be because I’m losing muscle while I’m gaining fat. This has caused my circulation to go down hill. My hands and feet are perpetually cold, which could either mean I have a disease or that my circulation is poor. I like to go with the latter, since that is correctable. In regards to that, I am hoping to run at least thirty minutes a day and keep to this diet:

Breakfast: Cereal (Special K or Total) with milk, self-made yogurt parfait with plain yogurt and sliced up fresh fruit, a glass of milk or water, vitamin tablet.

Lunch: Sandwich (made during breakfast; melted cheese on top of two slices of turkey and salad lettuce with whole wheat bread), a bag of pretzels, orange or banana (and maybe the occasional apple), and a bottle of water. I have to make due with what I have, and if it means getting in my veggies by putting it on top of my sandwich, that’s what I will do. I realized that I hate eating salads, and I guess I should not force myself to eat something if I do not like it in the least bit.

Dinner: A bowl or rice with cooked mixed vegetables, grilled chicken or other meats depending on how healthy the meat selection is, one or two cups of water, orange or apple.

Brain break/snack after dinner: A bag of pretzels and/or an orange, water

Let’s see how far I get. I hope I still have the same self-control I had when I went on a diet a few years ago.

How to read a scientific paper

A couple of days ago, when I started to try to read a scientific paper, I spent one hour frequently putting my head in my hands while trying to digest the myriad of science terms that were littered throughout the descriptions. In the end, I gave up on that paper. I was so utterly confused with all the words that reading slowed down to a sentence per thirty seconds, if not a minute or more.

Yesterday, I attempted to read another paper, but as soon as I saw the unfamiliar names and terms popping up, I decided to seek out advice on how to actually understand the paper. After all, there was no point spending an inordinate amount of time doing something if there was a more efficient and effective way to perform the same task.

In the end, after searching online for tips and asking my sister and my dad, I found my dad to be the most helpful. Fortunately for me, my dad had worked in the research field for a number of years, so reading papers should be much easier for him. I sat down with my dad and went through one paper. After that session, I finally knew how to read a paper easily.

1. Read the abstract. This part is pretty obvious, since the abstract is a summary of the paper to come. It helps you understand what you will be reading about so you have an idea of what to look out for.
2. Read the introduction. Get an idea of why the paper is written.
3. Read the methods. This part may be hard, especially if you have not worked in a lab before and know the protocols used, but this helps you understand what was actually done. Plus, this part is usually short; a paragraph to a page at the most.
4. Look at the graphs and legends. Instead of reading through the results, which are basically descriptions, just look at the graphs and legends. These are the actual results. If you understand these, you understand what was discovered. Only if you don’t actually understand the graphs, then look at the description.
5. Read the discussion. Finish the paper and look at what the implications of the results mean (the author’s interpretation) and what else can be done in the future.
6. If you do not understand the paper, read a review. If you cannot understand the paper at all, read a review paper that goes over the topic first. This will help you build up enough knowledge in order to understand what was being performed and discovered in the actual scientific paper.

This may seem pretty straightforward and obvious, but in the beginning, I just read a paper straight through. I did not look at the graphs to really understand the actual data, since I thought the description should be enough. This was a bad idea. Even if I understood the paper, the failure to look at the graphs allowed me to forget the results much faster. I realized that since people took the trouble of organizing their data in order to help other scientists to understand, the results should be easier to remember in that format as well.

I have to read a couple more papers today, so I will be testing this new found method of mine.

I hate self-doubt

I just lapsed into self-doubt for a while there. I realized that in order to be even a little bit competitive in the medical schools that I wanted to apply to, I had to get As from here on out. An A in every single subject; no exception. I have already messed up my GPA so much that I am pressured to not falter at all.

My bad habit came back as soon as I felt the fear of potentially failing. I started to blame other people for my failure last semester. I blamed my dad for pressuring me to take a physics course when I did not want to. I blamed that decision for my demise. I blamed my parents’ influence on changing my original plan from taking biology to taking physics. But I didn’t blame myself.

My dad took what I had to say and let me go as I stormed out of the room, angry at myself and angry at the difficulty of how all these processes were. When I was finally calm enough, he shared a poem with me.

You Can If You Think You Can!

If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But soon or late the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.

~ C. W. Longenecker ~

I guess I feel better now. I at least know that I have the possibility of succeeding. Rather than focusing on where I could fail, I’ll concentrate more on where I can succeed.