New Year in Holland

As a Dutch School Kid, I want to explain to you what New Year is like in Holland.
I'm working in a mall, so I had to work this morning, from 8 till 10. New Year in a mall is CRAZY. It is just FULL of people, and empty of products.
Hell.
Everybody's asking 'Don't you have any ..' 'I think we do ma'am, I will look for you.'

The day itself. We can shoot our own firework, so as a teenage boy, that is what I do during the day. Buy some firecrackers and fire them! That is fantastic. But also there are many people who bake their own OLIEBOLLEN. (I prefer to eat them :))

New Years Eve. We spend time with our family or friends, play bordgames, or have nice conversations. Test some firework maybe.
Then, half an hour before midnight, we turn the tv on and watch a new years show. A couple of minutes a clock comes in, and your father grabs the champagne, ready to open it. And then. 12 o' clock. HAPPY NEWYEAR!! (We say 'Gelukkig Nieuwjaar') and the champagne will be opened and everyone congratulate each other.

Then we go outside and shoot firework, and watch. The greatest things you will see.
And then I grab my bycicle and go to my girlfriend, have a drink over there, 'congratulations, happy new year'.

The day after, the first of januari. I, and a lot of others, go to do a 'newyearsdive' (nieuwjaarsduik). Everybody runs into the water! And then, run out and grab a towel, and go home to have a shower, cause it is really cold. But it is a really cool tradition!
After the shower, we go to family and have dinner there.

I love New Year. The end of a fantastic 2008, and I hope the beginning of an even more fantastic 2009.
Happy New Year all!

Quoting: Epicurus

The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it. - Epicurus

This are the quotes which really motivates me.

The difficulties where I run in to are most of the times related to school, homework, projects, choises. And that glory, yeah there is some glory when you have the highest mark in the class, but I prefer calling it 'personal glory'.

When I read this quote, I do think 'hmm.. if I make my homework now, I will overcome this difficulty, and personal glory waits for me.'

How important is personal glory? For me, it is a motivation to gain it, but when I have achieved it, it keeps me doing more to achieve it again.

Personal glory keeps me going. That is why I love those to-do lists. Everything I have done something, I feel good. Everytime I achieved some personal glory. I only have to look again on it 'I can do more, to achieve more, yeah, let's do something.'

Yes, personal glory is important to me. So when there are greater difficulties to overcome I will gain more glory, the motivation is bigger.

Well said Epicurus, well said.

Every monday I tell something around a quote, before: Seneca and Huxley. Subscribe to my reader to keep up-to-date!

iPod Studying #2

A couple of weeks ago I posted something about iPod Studying with the promise that I would test it.

Well, I did.

I found some pro's and cons.

Pro:

• You can relisten it whenever you want. Like me, I listen to it when I am on the bycicle.
• You check your notes again. When there is something which doesn't make sense, you see it immediatly, cause you have to record it. If you read it, you wouldn't notice.
• You practice speaking. I talk to fast some times, and don't articulate good enough. Now I hear it myself.

Con:

• I takes a lot of time. It does, if you are not normal to make summary's, that will take a lot of time (well, that is a good thing actually ;)). And recording take also much time.
• You can not rely on it. When you listen to it on the road, you can be distracted. So studying on your iPod is not enough.
• I am a visual learner. So I can't just listen to it. But because I already looked at it, understood it, it is more like a repeatition of what I already know.

Conclusion

Yes, it is a good way of studying. But you can not study just on your iPod. You have to see it first, and repeat everything you learned in your ears.

I would recommend it!

How are your experiences with studying with your iPod?

I will try it more, and come up with more problems, or ways to use it better! Stay tuned!