So it begins

Back on campus, classes start tomorrow. I guess this is the last post in the Summer ’11 category.

08-30-2011 @ 2324 (Summer '11, True Life)

Last day in Paris

Ten page paper. Check. Summer course. Check. Five weeks in Paris. Check.

Sadly, today was my last full day in Paris. Almost went to Versailles again, but since I’ve already seen the gardens and since the weather today was equally bad, I decided to stay in Paris and check as many remaining things off my list as possible:

  • Rue Montorgueil — L’Atelier du Chocolat and Eric Kayser
  • Palais Garnier
  • Lafayette department stores
  • Musée Rodin
  • The Louvre — Napoleon’s apartments and French paintings
  • Latin Quarter
  • Amorino gelato
  • Shakespeare and Company

Pretty successful solo day, if I say so myself. Now, doing a few last loads of laundry, cooking as much of my food as possible for dinner, and going out with my class one last time.

Tomorrow, I might try to get to the Centre Pompidou and Luxembourg Gardens if I have time. Packing in the morning, hopefully getting my key deposit back, then catching a 5 PM train to Saarbrücken. Spending the evening there, heading to Luxembourg on Saturday, and then Munich on Sunday, where I’ll spend the rest of the week. Tentatively arriving in Geneva on Friday night, in time for Geneva day on the 13th. Then chilling there until the 18th, when I finally fly back to the US! Spending a day or two in the city, and then heading back to campus (?!?!?!?!).

08-04-2011 @ 1346 (Summer '11, True Life)

The most compelling alternative

  • Listened to an old Radiolab podcast yesterday about limits. Not the calculus kind, but human limits.
  • Went to the library on Saturday, didn’t get wifi, was the most productive I’ve been in a while.
  • One day to write a ten-page paper. Unfortunately, that one day is also pretty much the last day I have to see things in Paris.
  • Keep staring at my inbox, realizing how many emails I need to reply to, but letting them pass neglected for yet another day.

Together, these observations/random thoughts prompted even more contemplation than usual about productivity, potential and achievement, constraints.

  • Any relevant limits are most likely mental and self-imposed.
  • It makes sense that the primitive, self-preserving part of my brain will always favor the path of least resistance.
  • Things only get done when working on them is the most compelling alternative. Ways to create this situation:
    • Have no alternatives (e.g., can’t go on Facebook when there’s no internet access!)
    • Want to work on it (e.g., I can always find time to practice mixing)
    • Become urgent (e.g., I will eventually have to write this paper)

How to get things done? Simply create a situation in which the task is the most compelling alternative. Preferably not by relying on urgency.

08-01-2011 @ 1759 (Summer '11, True Life)