Holiday Spirit

By: Meradeth Houston on 2:12 PM

With the smell of pumpkin cookies in the oven, I'm doing my best to get in the mood for the upcoming week. Aside from the 12 hour drive I'm facing this Wednesday, I'm doing pretty well. Most of my shopping is done, and I only have a mound of wrapping to do (once I manage to buy some tape--one of those details I somehow overlooked). Hubby, being the sweet man he is, also gave me my gift early--an iPod touch! Yay! It's very shiny, and does all sorts of awesome things, like surf the web and otherwise let me be connected. I love it!

Now, if I could just relax. Honestly, what is it with having a break from school and spending most of it stressed? It's not until the end of the break that I somehow get it together enough to sit down and chill. I think they make a pill for this, haha!

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Please...

By: Meradeth Houston on 2:19 AM

Don't say the year is almost over. Stop counting down. The best part of the year is yet to come! Honestly, the next few weeks are the only ones I really ever get to enjoy, so let's not rush them :) I need the few weeks of Christmas break to regain my sanity (or at least pray that I can, because I'm not sure there's any left lurking around in my brain).

So, let's have some fun in the last three weeks of December! I'll sit down and do my end of the year stuff after Christmas is over.

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The Finish Line

By: Meradeth Houston on 6:42 AM

I can see it. Really, it's two days away. Granted, the ending is always the worst part--hot, sweaty, exhausting, with piles of paperwork. Well, okay, not in a true, running race kind of finish line, but in the kind I'm facing, there are 55 exams waiting at the end that must seal their fate with my red pen. I'm looking forward to writing down that last score, I can assure you. It's been one helluva long road, and this quarter has kicked my trash. Teaching upper division is wonderful, and I loved it, but there's so much work that goes into it that trying to do so while also finishing my own research is something akin to insanity. Really, really akin :)

But, that line is in sight. I can see the ribbon stretched across the street and I have every intention of blasting through it, arms pumping in triumph. Once on the other side, I may just fall down dead, but I will have finished, damn it. Tomorrow is the review session (which is basically, 'let's pick Meradeth's brain until she wants to cry') and then the final is Friday night. Now, why they decided to have the test at night on the absolute last day of finals ticks me off, but it's not my doing.

Christmas break, you are I are going to have some fun times. I plan on bleaching the hell out of my ancient DNA lab, getting some research done, after I regain some of my sanity. Ahh, I just have to reach that line!

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10,000

By: Meradeth Houston on 1:17 AM

I'm about half-way through OUTLIERS and I've probably spent more time thinking about what Malcolm Gladwell wrote than actually reading. First off, my family has adored this book, and I must admit the writing is suburb. I've read a whole lotta non-fiction and this reads a trillion times better than most. The concept is very, very interesting, too, and goes right along with what I've been discussing with my students lately. (Actually, I kinda wish I'd read this book before last week's lecture, which might have made a difference...yeah.)

Despite all the good, I'm still not sure I buy in to what he says. I mean, I get that the environment plays a HUGE roll in how we turn out. I mean, duh. But, so far he's managed to pretty much discount much of any genetic influence. Now, I'm probably a little biased here due to my background, but I do see the genetic make-up of an individual playing a substantial roll in how the turn out, too. The two parts, nature and nurture, are very much intertwined, but still, genetics does play SOME part. I look at my husband's family and see this very clearly: there are six kids, and although a couple of them have some musical ability (and a few don't *ahem, my husband, ahem*), one of them managed to get the bulk of it. My brother-in-law is freaking amazing when it comes to music and blows the rest of them out of the water. Was this purely environmental? Nope, they were all given lessons, and his slightly older sister the exact same lessons as him, and the result is the same. She can play okay, and he rocks the piano. There's something there that made him better, and I'm positive it was genetic.

And now, my other issue. If the environment does play such a huge roll, and some people really just get lucky with that, it's a seriously depressing thought. The same goes for complete genetic predestination. Gladwell argues that there are really no "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" situations, and that there's a whole lot more at play. More stuff that's out of our control. Yeah, that's a bummer and a half. For those of us who haven't had all pieces come together, it basically means we're screwed. Pardon me, but I don't like to think like that.

Now, 10,000 hours. Apparently the "magical" number that leads to true mastery of a task/ability. Interesting. I'm still puzzling over how this then fits into the fact that so many external, environmental factors also play into success. If I write for 10,000 hours it certanly isn't going to mean I'll get a book deal. It may mean I'm a good writer, but not that the pieces are going to come together. Maybe this is explained in the rest of the book :)

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