...to get a small high off learning. Whenever I encounter something I'm new to, and attempt to learn it, I get a tingly feeling in my brain. Some people hate this feeling. The uncenteredness, the slight feeling of chaos, I love it. But then I start to understand and it's over, and I want more, but I've gotten used to the method... so I move on...

Do any of you experience something like this or am I just weird?

No, lots of us enjoy learning. However, we have to take so much boring crap in school, that it sort of trains us to hate learning.

Everybody loves to learn. That's why TV works so well. TV is a constant input of useless information.

mentat_kgs Wrote:Everybody loves to learn. That's why TV works so well. TV is a constant input of useless information.

Even with the "useless" qualifier I think you're being too generous. Is there any information useless or otherwise transmitted during your average reality tv show? (Other than "there is no hope for humanity")

I've been putting in over fifty sentences from UBJG these past few days. Not because I'm trying, but because I can't stop. It's so easy when they're right there in anki ready to be learned (mass import method). The ability to mix in cards just makes it easier.

kazelee Wrote:The uncenteredness, the slight feeling of chaos, I love it.

Yeah but I can only handle so much before I black myself out... The way you're putting it, studying is in a way masochistic, but in this sense you spend all day scarring your brain, not your body.

I get easily bored without my daily "scarring".

Jarvik7 Wrote:

mentat_kgs Wrote:Everybody loves to learn. That's why TV works so well. TV is a constant input of useless information.

Even with the "useless" qualifier I think you're being too generous. Is there any information useless or otherwise transmitted during your average reality tv show? (Other than "there is no hope for humanity")

Yes?
Information is information and taking it in is learning. You may just be learning about fake over acted lives of jerk-asses, but you're still learning something. So, the worthless qualifier was just fine. No need for your attitude.

Okay, you two, be nice.

Quote:Yeah but I can only handle so much before I black myself out... The way you're putting it, studying is in a way masochistic, but in this sense you spend all day scarring your brain, not your body.

See, that's the thing. It's actually a good feeling. Just some people find it very uncomfortable. I welcome it, much like how I welcome sore muscles after a good workout. They feel all nice a warm (except in the arms, that's annoying).

revenantkioku Wrote:Information is information and taking it in is learning. You may just be learning about fake over acted lives of jerk-asses, but you're still learning something. So, the worthless qualifier was just fine. No need for your attitude.

Attitude? Damn some people here are sensitive.

I read someone once who talked about a sense of wonder felt when you first grasp a piece of knowledge, and I've felt that a lot as I learn things, which keeps me wanting to learn things. It feels like where you were was a stuffy room, and when that bit of information finally clicks, it's like you opened a window. The next time you learn something, the feeling hits again. If you go for too long without learning, the room just gets stuffy again.

The time I learned something is the time I got bored of it.

[ファブリス]

Midway through RtK I got a high, you could say, of the increased mindfulness and concentration that came with the daily 1hour+ mental image construction.

I think you can get a high from being just in the moment, which happen eventually when you actively put your attention to something.

revenantkioku Wrote:You may just be learning about fake over acted lives of jerk-asses, but you're still learning something

Are you sure about that? I think it is a long stretch to assume that you are learning something when you are passively doing something. TV for the most part takes your attention away from yourself; and pulls at your emotional triggers while you are being passive. We learn by repetition, but I think there's always a moment when you need to try harder, to challenge yourself and ask questions "why does it work like this and not like that?".

Precisely, ファブリス, TV teaches you not to try harder, not to chalenge yourself and not to ask questions. People learn it well.

You've obviously never watched and episode of House.

JK

Quote:The next time you learn something, the feeling hits again. If you go for too long without learning, the room just gets stuffy again.

So I am not alone.

ファブリス Wrote:I think you can get a high from being just in the moment, which happen eventually when you actively put your attention to something.[

I think so too. And the 'something' on which we're concentrating seems to matter less than the simple act of concentration. On this point is an interesting book "Flow: The Pyschology of Optimal Experience" by Csikszentmihalyi. The NY Times Book Review offered this blurb: "Flow is important...The way to happiness lies not in mindless hedonism, but in mindful challenge." Added bonus if the activity, unlike crossword puzzles, has a social benefit.

The exhilaration of playing with ideas ... and the potential benefits. In a chapter on Flow of thought, he discusses how people who have an internalized symbol system (math, poetry, music, RTK? etc) can be, in a sense, independent of external stimulation. Such mental playgrounds have even been a means of survival in cases of extreme deprivation (eg. concentration camps, isolation). He suggests also that people without it can be too easily captives of the media. The idea is that we are in control of creating order out of what would otherwise be mental randomness (or an externally imposed order).

Taken to extremes, however, I suppose becoming too absorbed in anything can be another form of pleasurable reward and distraction from reality not unlike other forms of addiction. Balance.

[corrected author]

Thora Wrote:Taken to extremes, however, I suppose becoming too absorbed in anything can be another form of pleasurable reward and distraction from reality not unlike other forms of addiction. Balance.

Too late... for me... Save... yourself...

*rabidly consumes more info to the point of foaming at the mouth*

mentat_kgs Wrote:The time I learned something is the time I got bored of it.

That's deep, and so true. I love it.

As for the original question... No, it's not 'weird'. Everyone loves to learn something, especially when it makes them feel smart for having learned it.

Japanese is hard. Every step is an accomplishment. Heck, learning -any- second language is hard. Japanese just has more steps than some other languages.

I get that 'high' when I use the knowledge, rather than when I'm studying, though. (There's an 'aftershock' the next time I study, though.) When I'm watching an anime and suddenly can read a sign in the background that I never could before, I get a jolt of energy. The next time I'm studying, some of that energy comes back and helps me study a bit harder, or longer.

I love learning Japanese.

It is a good feeling. I have jokingly said, "When some people get depressed, they drink, smoke, or do drugs to feel better. Me, I go and learn something."

I wish I felt this way in High School, but I only get high when I learn something I like. This Kanji thing has me giddy. I almost to feel bad that in the next 3 months, I would have learned all of the them.

Well, not to bad since there is RTK 2 and 3. That will buy me sometime until I need another "fix". Mabey I will learn Mandarin next.

Wisher Wrote:It is a good feeling. I have jokingly said, "When some people get depressed, they drink, smoke, or do drugs to feel better. Me, I go and learn something."

I wish I felt this way in High School, but I only get high when I learn something I like. This Kanji thing has me giddy. I almost to feel bad that in the next 3 months, I would have learned all of the them.

Well, not to bad since there is RTK 2 and 3. That will buy me sometime until I need another "fix". Mabey I will learn Mandarin next.

Learning to recognize the kanji is only a small percentile on your way to learning japanese, so I wouldn't worry about finishing Heisig... if you're going to use the sentence method to learn japanese, you can have years of awesome learning ahead of you

That doesn't stop you from starting Mandarin as well though! ^^

keep finding other things to drive your passion.

If you think this is difficult try doing a PhD or some sort of thesis at university and try keep yourself entertained for a year (or 3) while working one the ONE SAME PROJECT.

Bombard yourself with different things so your mind is never set astray to useless things like TV ^_^.

What i do with my thesis? i read other papers in the same field (or different fields) and see what else is going on around the world to see if i can apply some of that to some of mine.

So in this context --> What am i saying? While you're learning kanji learn some etymology?
While you're learning words, find them in a book or a context?

Life has far too many variables to get bored of. You just have to walk down the corridor and sneak in other rooms not simply stop at room 101.

I agree with liosama. If you like learning that much, come to grad school. We get paid to learn (at least in the sciences)! I.e., we're professional learners and we create our own brand new knowledge. Very rewarding, but it's probably the hardest learning challenge of your life ;-)

liosama Wrote:Life has far too many variables to get bored of. You just have to walk down the corridor and sneak in other rooms not simply stop at room 101.

I've been guilty of this one a couple of times. Especially classes with a large numbers of students.