26/6 Day 26 - Practice speed reading

I've done a speed reading course before. I am still undecided on what I think of it. Sometimes I think I already naturally do a lot of what the experts say to do..and presume others do too. However, the tips do make a lot of sense too. Anyway, I thought I'd revisit speed reading as it has been awhile and I have never actually investigated it on the net- and that is what makes it new!

I read a fair bit on it from various sources and didn't find anything particularly enlightening or new...so um, maybe not so new!

I then did a tutorial. The idea was you tested your WPM, read some tips then tested your WPM again. It was pretty basic and I can definitely find faults with using this as a test. (The two passages had key differences that could affect your speed!) My initial speed was 549 WPM and after the super helpful tips (:P) my speed for the second passage was 770 WPM. There were definitely other factors at play...

-the second article had lists in it, the first did not
-the second article had bold bits
-the second article was on chemistry
etc etc etc.

Anyway it was good to remind myself to read fast when necessary!

The highlight of this new June was probably finding the image above! (In case you are wondering I didn't read whilst on a run...but maybe I should have...that would be a good new June. Unless of course I ran into something and ended up with a broken chin.)

24/6 Day 24- Visit a new exhibition

Today I went to the Ian Potter Museum at Melbourne Uni to see INNER WORLDS: PORTRAITS AND PSYCHOLOGY! Was pretty excited about this one. It was a small exhibition touring from the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

It was really interesting, particularly when a portrait had a good story behind it -either about the psychologist/artist or subject. Below is my favourite one which is by Albert Tucker. According to the plaque it is of a traumatised soldier and shows his suffering and pain post war. Even without this knowledge I thought it was powerful and my eyes were drawn to it. 

Enjoyed this one lots. Over and out!

17/6 Day 17 Play a video game made this century!

I haven't really played that many games outside of 'Draw Something' since the days of Doom, Commander Keen, Prince of Persia, Mario and Alex the Kid. Therefore I was startled to find out a 3D world which you can control now exists on the screen. Okay, bit over dramatic. but Uncharted 3 was a big leap for me! 

 

Apparently I was better than expected though I am not sure that says a lot! I had trouble with the fact I had to control my vision in more than 2D but did get better. It was lots of fun and I'd forgotten how involved you can get in something like this.

I could easily get addicted to Uncharted 3 and become a 24 hours gamer. I am in a dangerous zone! Mission complete (literally...we finished the first level!)

16/6 Day 16 - Learn something new on an SLR

Two of my friends were nice enough to teach me a couple of things in the land of photography today. I managed to stalk some cyclists, a runner, a puppy, some kids and a sugar dispenser in the process and have some fun! Here is one of the cyclists I spied near Collingwood Children's Farm. 

He was one of the only ones going fast enough for this effect to turn out. Here is a how-to but basically you just need to use a long exposure.

I also took one of my friend flying!

 

Hooray! I think I'd like to to learn more but a good start nonetheless.

9/6 Day 9: Watch a new TV show

Whilst camping I checked out a TV show I had never seen before: Firefly. Space isn't my favourite setting/theme so this was a good suggestion.
 

At first I found it fairly slow and not terribly engaging, however, it did grow on me. Where the plot is going to go next intrigues me. Despite this I am not exactly hanging out for the next episode; it hasn't drawn me in yet. I think I probably will watch episode 2 at some stage though.

So an easy one for the 9th but accomplished nonetheless!

7/6 Day 7 - Do "nothing" for 15 minutes

Okay, I am not sure whose bright idea this was (ahem) but this was clearly the biggest challenge of the whole month. Do "nothing"? How is that even possible? And for 15 minutes? Gah. This picture is what I felt like afterwards! It is impossible to "do nothing" as suspected:

Things I did whilst I did "nothing":
-tried to focus on breathing
-pretended there wasn't an itch on my back.. neck-foot-femur-alveoli.
-thought about my dream last night
-thought about tomorrow
-thought about thinking
-thought about rattle snake, rattle snake, munky munky underpants!
-tried to not think about the time/check the time (I am not going to lie-I caved with just over 5 minutes to go!)

6/6 Day 6 - Do a crash course in the history of a country

I chose the Maldives after seeing a play called Heretic last night and a good choice it was.

Quite an interesting history and, I suppose like the history of most countries, a lot of contentious happenings. Interesting things (perhaps not all facts!) that I read:

* The Maldives had an enormous quantities of cowry shells in the early ages when they were an international currency. The Maldives were therefore known as the ‘Money Isles’. The cowry is now the symbol of the Maldives Monetary Authority.

* The Maldives was granted independence on 26 July 1965 and later became a member of the UN.

* In 1998 a group of disaffected Maldivian businessmen attempted a coup taking 27 hostages and leaving 14 people left dead and 40 wounded. Apparently many tourists didn’t even know that a coup had been attempted.

* Maldivians have their own 'Black Friday' in which reformist and pro democracy campaigners gathered in the capital's main square under the apparent blessing of the Government only to be later cleared out with the arrest and beating of over a thousand people in the process.

* The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami was devastating for the Maldives with 21 islands devastated, 83 people confirmed dead, 25 feared dead and more than 11,000 made homeless. Many of the homeless continue today as internally displaced persons. (Imagine being an IDP.)

* In attempt to draw attention to climate change (there are claims that the Maldives is sinking due to rising sea levels) the Maldivian Government had an underwater cabinet meeting in 2009. There have also been Gov pledges to Maldives carbon-neutral within a decade. (Thought I read somewhere that they excluded air travel from this...)

Naturally all this led me off on a tangent looking up sea levels and global warming and the Maldives....and not coming up with a whole lot to answer my questions in the end. Still that wasn't the aim so overall: Day 6 goal achieved, and a good one at that! I can  imagine doing this every day for a month for different places each day.

Various places I visited on my journey: The Maldives, Lonely Planet, The Guardian, New York Times.

4/6 Day 4: Determine political compass

Today I determined my political compass. The results were somewhat surprising. I used two quizzes and I am not sure that either quiz is particularly accurate, especially the right one since it potentially measured my American political compass. An interesting exercise nonetheless and, in conclusion, I do have opinions!

2/6 Day 2: Disconnect Day

Yesterday I did not use my mobile, laptop or the Internet. I also didn't read newspapers or magazines. 

It was a lot harder than expected because:

a) For this particular day I had to write down a fair bit of calendar information (addresses, phone numbers etc) the night before.

b) My boyfriend kept trying to show me something in the newspaper or on his phone!! Plus I almost forgot a few times.

c) Melbourne (AFL footy) won for the first time this season and I couldn't SMS or ring my Mum or sister to celebrate! (Had to wait until midnight!)

So this one wasn't entirely new but it has been a long time. The last time I didn't do any of these things in a day would have been a hiking trip last year. If I excluded hiking/camping/travel times then the last time would have been when I was about 11 years old! Crazy town!

Day 2 was alarmingly hard but I made it!

 

1/6 Day 1: Learn to Braid Hair Day

Today I finally learnt to braid hair! The left hair model is sporting my 2nd try. (1st try was a bit...different!) The right hair model was my teacher. Thanks to all involved! :) Day 1- success!