Me: I Hate Math

my quick tips for working / studying from home

- get dressed and style your hair as if you’re going to school/work - even use the same perfume/ cologne as you normally do  (trick your mind into being motivated)

- plan things out - everything (plan out your week, day, meal, etc. you can make these as specific as you’d like. this will help you stay on top of your work as well as stay healthy, especially if you live alone.)

- make studying/ working the first thing you do each day - best if you can start in the morning (minimize the tendency to procrastinate)

- just start - don’t worry too much about perfecting or finishing anything yet (if you don’t start then there’s nothing for you to perfect or get done. and it will never get done)

- listen to old and simple (aka non-distracting) podcasts, Youtube videos, or café/ chattering white-noise, etc. simply leave them as background noise to create an illusion of being outside your room (bring the presence of people to you. my favorites lately have been slam poems from 2016, Mae Martin’s stages, and Awsten Knight’s crackhead podcasts)

- set timers, for both study sessions and breaks (so that you don’t overwork, burn out, or procrastinate. the Pomodoro technique works great here)

- take advantage of the comfort of your own home (light a candle, have crunchy snacks, play loud music, review notes out loud while pacing around, wrap yourself in a blanket burrito, study on your bed if you can focus there like me, etc. basically anything you can’t do in a classroom, office, or the library)

- if you miss your friends, call/ text/ facetime them, make a study group chat with them, etc. (that is what technology is for)

- choose recreational activities/ self-care for your breaks instead of going on social media (go on walks, make small art, play an instrument, stretch, take a nap, etc. I usually reach for my guitar, brainstorm writing ideas, or sketch very simple line art.)

- if you want to go on social media, do it during meal times - or the 15 minutes after your meals that you can’t work just yet (it also doesn’t make you feel like you’re wasting time)

- study in different rooms for a change of scenery (dining room, living room, the patio, etc. I have an armchair next to the window that I study in whenever I need some sunlight and don’t have to write anything down. however, if you need a designated place to focus on your work, you can also use these alternative spaces as designated “relax” or “creative” place for your breaks)

- use this as an opportunity to take care of yourself (get enough sleep, drink water, exercise, talk to your family, take your meds, be mindful of your mental health, etc.)

Feel free to add your tips. The current situation sure is unpleasant but it is unavoidable. All we can really do now is take care of ourselves, others, and try to make the best out of this.

Good luck to everyone and stay safe! My heart is with you all 💕

General Chemistry I Resources

Hi all! I haven’t been as active as i’d like the last few weeks! I’m glad to say that I’ve officially finished my 4-week rotation at Walgreens (and got an A!!).

I’m in the process of rummaging through old material and thought i’d start uploading some of my notes/Powerpoints/study guides, and the like. 

Below are General Chemistry I Powerpoints I made as a Teaching Assistant. Note the material starts at Mole Conversions (because I was too lazy to make a powerpoint for the first review session). 

Breakdown of layout:

Exposure to topic (sometimes)

Sample problem and step-by-step guide on how to solve it

Problems to try on your own

Explanation of problem

I will happily answer any questions you may have regarding this material and will see if I can find the Powerpoints for General Chemistry II as well!

Here are some stills on what the Powerpoints look like:

Powerpoint 1   |    Powerpoint 2   |    Powerpoint 3

The four skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Don’t be discouraged by slow progress!

Listening

Practice listening! Infants “listen” for more than a year before they can say anything close to “mom” or “dad”. 

Watch videos and listen to music in your language.

Try to recognize words, even sounds. 

Don’t bother trying to understand, just get used to the sound of the language.

When others in class speak, listen for what they say and mentally build images of their answers—in the language itself.

Speaking

Read aloud: think of it as training your mouth to make the new sounds.

Learn a short standard sentence, then substitute vocabulary/

Subject and verbs can change (I am going; you are going; etc.)

Objects can change (I buy a car; I buy a CD; etc.)

In class, if your “answer” does not come to mind, repeat the question in the language.

 Stay in the mind set of the language, giving your brain time to work in the new language.

Reading

Do not read word-by-word, or translate word-by-word.

Prepare yourself for a reading: 

study its vocabulary first; 

review the advance questions.

Then put aside everything and just read, even twice.

Do not look up vocabulary while reading.

Do not write in your text book - separately develop a vocabulary list

Go beyond your textbook!

Children’s books are illustrated and easy to read!

Websites are rich opportunities to explore your hobbies in other languages, 

Read/sing song lyrics of the language!

As you advance, read novels- but read for the story, not vocabulary.

Writing

Some languages have unfamiliar alphabets, so practice!

Write out sentences you have practiced orally.

Carefully construct patterns and then write out the sentences with substitute words–multiple times. 

If you have spell check and the “autocorrect” grammar feature in your word processing, use it!

When you get corrections, re-write them.

Correct what you got wrong, even repeating in order to embed it in your mind.

To help move away from summary and toward ANALYSIS, it’s important to incorporate strong verbs into your writing when discussing the writer’s rhetorical choices. Below is a list of verbs that are considered weak (imply summary) and a list of verbs that are considered strong (imply analysis). Strive to use the stronger verbs in your essays to help push yourself away from summary and toward analysis: ex “The writer flatters…” NOT “The writer says…”

Weak Verbs (Summary):

says 

explains

relates 

states 

goes on to say 

shows 

tells 

this quote shows

Strong Verbs (Analysis):

Argues, admonishes, analyzes, compares, contrasts, defines, demonizes, denigrates, describes, dismisses, enumerate, expounds, emphasizes, establishes, flatters, implies, lionizes, lists, minimizes, narrates, praises, processes, qualifies, questions, ridicules, suggests, supports, trivializes, vilifies, warns       

Powerful and Meaningful Verbs to Use in an Analysis (Alternatives to Show): 

Acknowledge, Address, Analyze, Apply, Argue, Assert, Augment

Broaden

Calculate, Capitalize, Characterize, Claim, Clarify,Compare, Complicate, Confine, Connect, Consider, Construct, Contradict, Correct, Create, Convince, Critique

Declare, Deduce, Defend, Demonstrate, Deny, Describe, Determine, Differentiate, Disagree, Discard, Discover, Discuss, Dismiss, Distinguish, Duplicate

Elaborate, Emphasize, Employ, Enable, Engage, Enhance, Establish, Evaluate, Exacerbate, Examine, Exclude, Exhibit, Expand, Explain, Exploit, Express, Extend

Facilitate, Feature, Forecast, Formulate, Fracture

Generalize, Group, Guide

Hamper, Hypothesize

Identify, Illuminate, Illustrate, Impair, Implement, Implicate, Imply, Improve, Include, Incorporate, Indicate, Induce, Initiate, Inquire, Instigate, Integrate, Interpret, Intervene, Invert, Isolate

Justify

Locate, Loosen

Maintain, Manifest, Manipulate, Measure, Merge, Minimize, Modify, Monitor

Necessitate, Negate, Nullify

Obscure, Observe, Obtain, Offer, Omit, Optimize, Organize, Outline, Overstate

Persist, Point out, Possess, Predict, Present, Probe, Produce, Promote, Propose, Prove, Provide

Qualify, Quantify, Question

Realize, Recommend, Reconstruct, Redefine, Reduce, Refer, Reference, Refine, Reflect, Refute, Regard, Reject, Relate, Rely, Remove, Repair, Report, Represent, Resolve, Retrieve, Reveal, Revise

Separate, Shape, Signify, Simulate, Solve, Specify, Structure, Suggest, Summarize, Support, Suspend, Sustain

Tailor, Terminate, Testify, Theorize, Translate

Undermine, Understand, Unify, Utilize

Validate, Vary, View, Vindicate

Yield  

I wanna drink tea with you and have warm, sweet kisses pressed to my lips. Hold me close baby.

I mean, yes, a lot of horror media boils down to “wouldn’t it be fucked up?”, but let’s not be reductive – there are several distinct subgenres of “wouldn’t it be fucked up?”, including but not limited to:

Proposing a very improbable situation, then gesturing toward it and asking “man, wouldn’t this be fucked up?”  

Wildly exaggerating an everyday state of affairs in order to demonstrate that it was, in fact, always fucked up.  

Taking a thing that it’s broadly agreed is fucked up and making it a different kind of fucked up.  

Inventing a new type of guy, then pointing at the guy and going “this guy is fucked up.”  

Grabbing the audience by the shoulders like, no, man, the fucked up thing is, like, a metaphor. For a different thing. That is also fucked up.  

Taking a genuinely innocuous situation and through some unlikely contrivance rendering it fucked up.  

Making a thing that self-referentially gestures at itself and asks “isn’t it fucked up that this is so fucked up?”  

Framing a fantastical scenario and asking “is this fucked up? why is it fucked up? what does it mean to be fucked up? what is ‘fucked’? what is ‘up’?”

i really love when ancient natural historians try to explain something when they have no idea what the fuck is going on with it. like aristotle noticed that garden warblers disappear at the same time of year that blackcaps appear and instead of being like 'hm, maybe they migrate at that time!' he instead decided that they transform into each other

What field(s) of mathematics am I?

“who hurt you?” bro all these assignments

Further new discoveries have been made on my theory.