How To: Survive a Class When You Don't Understand Anything

We all could relate to this. 

You walk into the classroom, not knowing what's about to crash on your shoulders. You lay down your heavy bags and swiftly occupy the seat. The teacher rushes into the classroom and glances at all the innocent faces. We smile till the moment your teacher begins to rap. One thing is certain - you absolutely do not understand nor understood anything.

Earlier today, I had a Chemistry class in my school. I went into the lab like a braveheart and came out in despair like a Batman with a broken back. Such was the pain of trying to survive a class in which you do not understand anything. Deep from my heart, this sucks! Because ninety percent of the time, every teacher expects her students to know and understand contexts of her teaching before she even teaches.

What teachers do not understand is that the difference in definitions between the word knowing and understanding is huge. You can know a lot of things and in contrast, you might understand nothing at all. It exceptionally synonymous to memorising the topic's title and brief details rather than understanding it. However, fear nothing my dear Earthlings. Why? Because here's your guide to How to Survive a Class When You Don't Understand Anything,

• Never Sleep on It

Sleeping. Easy, yes. Dangerous, definitely yes. Sleeping could possibly be the worst idea in trying to survive such class. Not understanding the bone of contentions, you could be feel migraines and headaches hitting hard. Avoid sleeping or risk getting caught.

• Read it Yourself

If you don't understand anything your teacher is saying - or worse, it makes you fall asleep - read the books, handouts or notes by yourself. Best thing that could happen is that you might actually understand what's happening. 

• Sit beside people who understand

Sitting in a group of people who are plainly giggling or sleeping and trying hard to understand the words that your teacher is uttering - it may sound like Pitbul's rap but trust me, it's the lesson - is simply subtracting one from one - zero. Sitting beside people who actually understand your teachers' raps can help you understand better.

• Ask your teacher

Last resort perhaps. If all else fails, ask your teacher. Don't be afraid. Certain teachers might degrade you for asking. I always sum up all necessary questions till the end of lesson or breaks in between. Never interrupt a teacher's lesson in between.

• Revise after such horrid class

The most important step to avoid another horrid class is just to revise.

PS. - This only works if you are actually willing to care for the subject you are learning. If you don't understand any shit because you hate or dislike the subject, cancel the subject. It's simple. Say no, lol.

TJ.

Saying No

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other who have nothing to say but keep on saying it." 
Robert Frost.

The latter half of Frost's saying isn't the gravity of the topic. It's the first half that matters. Why? Because everyone of us suffer from not being able to express how we feel.

Sometimes, we all feel the immense and ponderous pressure on our shoulder from all kind of things that we never wanted to do. From the moment you agreed to complete your best friend's Mathematics homework or agreeing to follow your Mum to her friends' tea party to the point where all this burden ends, the size of help you offered never matters. Because regardless the size, these helps you offered are always burdens.

To ease them? Simple. Say no. Two letter word. One syllable. Because if you choose to agree to say yes to every one of your friends' wishes, you are wasting your time and life. True, bitch you ain't Jim Carrey from Yes Man! My Chemistry teacher likes to say-often too many times-that "Time and tide waits for no man."

I once decided to try saying no to things I never wanted to do and I could say two things-I was happy and people labelled me rude. Ever since, I've decided that I should adopt such lifestyle. I avoided any sort imaginary goals to reach a perfectionist's social lifestyle, I told people who were taking advantage of my intellectuality no. 

Of course, I didn't say no to everyone who approached me to help them. If it was a big project, I would take my time. Everyone god-dammit vital decision deserves a twenty four hour long time to be discussed about. So take your time. Compare it to your happy-to-burden ratio. Think about it.

So, why should you say no?

• You'll end up doing things you've always want to. 
• Now that you have time your yourself, people around you will thank you since you're spending more time with them.
• You'll be less stressed.
• Happier times will rise in the horizon. (Poetic bullshit, I know.)
• You get to "filter" out people who are just plainly taking advantage over you.

Then, when to say no?

• When your mum tells you what to wear
• When a friend want to copy your essays for the 237th time
• When your boss gives your too many directions and orders
• When things aren't in the beautiful side on your righteous scale 
• When your friends persistently pressures you to come over for a basketball game and you're dead tired.
• To your homeworks when you're sleepy
• When your friends asks (threatens) you to surrender your food to them

TJ.

Ten Habits That Could Kill Us

"I don't have any bad habits. They might be bad habits for other people , but they're all right for me."
- Eubie Blake.

Before we step into the spotlight, I would like to wish a prosperous Happy Chinese New Year to my readers and thank you for your attention towards my newbie blog. Continuing.

You have it. I have it. We all do. Sometimes a little bad habit is good for your charms. However, what if the bad traits become worse? What if it leads to unseen forthcoming dangers and harms. To break those habits, one first has to understand and sort them out first. Therefore, here's Ten Habits That Could Kill Us. (not literally)

• Abusing Caffeine 

Probably the most not-obvious trait present in the modern world, lingered with Starbucks franchise stores and Nescafé's ever expanding flavours. Caffeines are in abundance in coffee drinks. The funny thing is Caffeines are extremely synonymous to drugs. When a regular coffee drinker or a caffeine-in taker doesn't dose himself with caffeine, he suffers from headaches, extreme sleepiness and feeling as if he cannot function. Over dosing Caffeines could result in irregular heartbeats, panic attacks and also deprivation of sleep.

• Procrastination

Ah, this one has no age limits. I once caught my mum in the middle of her procrastination daydreams
while I was talking to her. Either I was too boring or the process of procrastination is effortless. If you are in your class or office - in the middle of procrastination - you might be caught off guard either by your teacher or ever worse, your boss. Procrastination is indeed a habit that could kill you because if your boss catches your daydreaming too often in the middle of office chaos, this might result in you being fired.

• Selfishness

Albert Camus once cited, "To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others."  Selfishness summed up in one quote, but I have to admit, Mr. Camus has a very good point. A little selfishness provokes the ultimate heartbeat of every action in oneself, the desire to win. That's good, however bundles of selfishness in oneself will lead himself to be isolated by peers and often judged horribly.

• Low Self-Esteem

People with low self confidence in themselves are those who always say, "Damn, that's too hard. I don't think I can do it." Of course you can't, you never even tried bitch! Being humble and having low self esteem has a thick line of between them. Try. If you fail try harder. I used to have a Taek-Won-Do coach who banned me from saying "I don't know, Sir." and "I can't, Sir." Trust yourself.

• Arrogance

I've been constantly told that I present an arrogant image in public. Honestly, I never even know. So when people told me, I never quite took it seriously. Remember, people hate arrogant ones. Being arrogant would not lead you to cheap alcohols, bitches nor a cool image in public. It leads you to be isolated and misjudged - all the time.

• Becoming an Owl during the night

This habit is abnormally common amongst students. Students tend to become an owl during the night. Reason? Simple, exams pressure narrows their minds to believe that studying at night whilst burning the midnight oil is an effective solution to cope with the exams pressure. Wrong! Remember, if you have homework or any sort of stuff that needs you to sacrifice sleep, tell NO to it. Never sacrifice your sleep for anything.

• Couch Potato-ing

It ain't a verb, I know. I have to admit, but I love to slack off on the couch after not just tiring but any day. And it kills me to know that I have loads of stuff to be completed yet I'm still there, on the couch, slacking off. Slacking off is synonymous to wasting time. As the saying goes, time is gold. You don't waste gold.

• Tardiness

This is one of the most frustrating habit out there. This is the ultimate symbol of a Malaysian. My friends are often left frustrated because of this habit. Tardiness is defined as "arriving after a scheduled time." Arriving after an expected time leads to rescheduling which erupts conflict among many others who prefers to be on time. So, let's try to be on time, shall we?

• Hot headed and Easily Provoked

This is a common habit or a personality trait of a sportsman. Remember, nobody likes seeing a person shouting around at everyone in rage. This doesn't only damage your image but it also causes people to fear rather than respect you. Besides, if you are paired or working with a group, it is most likely that your partner(s) would feeling uncomfortable with your presence.

• The Lone Wolf Syndrome

Once or twice, you would come across a person who would obey this principle; I want to do this myself. I will not obey others' guide. I prefer working alone. Never ever be that person. People suffering such syndrome would avoid working with group and often try to offend others who try to assist them. Working in group helps to ease the burden on the bare shoulders. Forget about receiving credits. 

Assuming each habit gathers 10 points each, try counting how many points you accumulate of out 100 points.

20 points <     "You are an angel."

30-50 points    "With a little change, you will be respected."

60-80 points    "Dude, change for the sake of yourself."

90 points >     "How is your boss still not firing you?!"

Thanks for reading.

TJ.