Learning just to learn

[aarono]

Hey guys.

Yesterday I thought about what I do everyday and I begun to realize how many hours a day I waste doing absolutely nothing. Be it video games, surfing web, reading junk material, etc. I lit a fire under my butt and went to the local used book store and picked up some goods.

The things I want to study the hell out of:

-Tagalog (Language of Phillipines. My aunt is a mail order so I'd like to be able to talk to her/her friends that got shipped over).

-Creative Writing (I want to be able to write so others can enjoy reading it)

-Criminal Defense Law.

Law seems like it will be the least useful and the hardest to study. I purchased a 1,500 page book on criminal defense cases, definitions, etc. and while I was excited to dig into it and still am I'm a bit worried if it will be wasted effort as I'm currently not in law school. Perhaps some older members can shed some light on things that are just plain good knowledge to have/knowledge you can let the experts have and pay for.

In the end I just do not want to put a ton of effort into something I'll most likely have to hire an attorney for down the road if needed.

_______________

The others I'll hopefully update on progress and perhaps this will inspire some members to thirst for more knowledge.

[stratovani]

Learning just to learn can be fun. I do it all the time, whether I'm surfing the Web, watching TV, or reading a book, I try to take the attitude that I'm trying to learn something. One good thing is that I can kick butt on Jeopardy!

[iamlowsound]

I like to read philosophy for fun. My motto is that if you went through the day without learning something, you have wasted the day.

lowsound

[scorpionldr]

my latest kick has been picking up "Computer Music" magazine. each issue comes with a 7.9 gig disk consisting of approximately 2000 samples, a whole ****load of VST effects and VSTi (virtual instruments), recording software, tutorials, and so on. The magazine itself accompanies with interviews, reviews, and tutorial guides (for people who need things explained step by step). Hell, there's even a column where they write commentary on tracks that readers send in for review. There's so much to learn in terms of how to make a good line, how to accompany it, how to make a good mix, all tastefully in a virtual (which most of that mag's readers prefer to do) environment.

Then there's reading about the business of music itself.

And then there's my political dosage of perspective in Hunter S. Thompson Gonzo essays.

[XtreO]

Criminal defense law may be fun, but I'd rather use my time to read the laws of consumer protection and rights in your country. That will come in handy, criminal defense will not. Unless you intend to rob a bank and be your own attorney.

[hrodbert696]

The funny thing is, none of this is learning JUST to learn -- you've got something you want to DO with all the things you're interested in learning, whether talking to your aunt, writing something people can enjoy, or... or whatever you're planning to do with the law thing. I mean, learning ancient Akkadian or memorizing Pi to the seventieth decimal or something, that's learning JUST to learn...

My fervent belief is that all learning is useful even when there's not an immediate obvious application for it. The world is a better place when inhabited by people who are alert and inquisitive about what's going on around them, no matter what it is that's catching their attention at the moment.

I am not interested in living in a society where nobody thinks it's worthwhile to learn anything that won't make them money.

[Joe Nerve]

Originally Posted by aarono

Hey guys.

Yesterday I thought about what I do everyday and I begun to realize how many hours a day I waste doing absolutely nothing. Be it video games, surfing web, reading junk material, etc.

Good for you. The vast majority of people are addicted to some type of electronic crap, and the saddest part IMO is that most of them don't have the slightest clue that they are. At least I know damn well I should be working on songs I need to know for next wednesday, cleaning my apt., and doing a whole bunch of other things... but not before I write this first... and play a video game for a little while... I mean, it's saturday.

[MakiSupaStar]

I'd like to learn more about your mail order aunt from the Phillipines.

[COOL AND DEADLY]

Education for it's own sake. I think John Neumann wrote about that. i think it's great. I'm reading a book about quantum mechanics. I have zero use for this knowledge, but I think it's really cool.

[TallLankyBastyd]

I'd like to have some time to learn how to properly learn...

Other than Maki's two cent threads... so much of the information we have to digest is total frigging crap that is biased in some way.

Gone are the days when what I read in "Boys Life" could be taken as God's honest truth...

but then I found that there is no Gawd...

and ever since... the information superhighway has turned into nothing but an endless highspeed broadband roundabout at best.

[Bongolation]

Originally Posted by aarono

The things I want to study the hell out of:

-Tagalog (Language of Phillipines. My aunt is a mail order so I'd like to be able to talk to her/her friends that got shipped over).

-Criminal Defense Law.

Could this combination have anything to do with Philippines not having an extradition treaty with the US?

-Creative Writing (I want to be able to write so others can enjoy reading it)

This is the biggest waste of time of the three, absolutely, about on par with video games.

A few hundred thousand people write superbly. They will never be published.

Others therefore can't enjoy reading it.

Learning "creative writing" (which explicitly means writing fiction) is even a bigger dead end than becoming a bedroom musician. If you're in a lousy garage band, more people will probably hear and enjoy your music than will ever read your superb fiction. Yes, it's that bad. The better you write the less chance you have of being published in the US.