“Buy less, travel more.” ~ Queenie Chan
Being frugal is a rewarding lifestyle.
It can make you feel in control of your life. Harnessing the power to vanquish temptations when visiting an Apple Store or passing by a Starbucks is gratifying once you’ve realized how these savage cravings are often the reason why your piggy bank remains empty.
There’s something attractive about not being manipulated by the dark side of you that craves material possessions. Once the mind is in tune with the philosophy of thrift, the feeling of contentment easily outclasses the temporary pleasure gained from shelling out your savings for a new camera lens or a sexier car.
So it’s been almost 2 years since I left Japan. I can’t recall having used a pen for writing Japanese during these couples of years, except for the few times when I’ve sent postcards to Japan. And let me tell you that writing those postcards was not easy, as I had to look up nearly every kanji on my iPhone.
The less you write the more you forget. While the most fundamental characters (人, 日, 林, etc.) will probably remain in your cerebral database forever, it’s the more complex characters that need reactivation. Being able to read, or recognize, a character does not mean that you remember each stroke. Smartphones and computers having nearly replaced the quill, even natives often find it nerve-wracking to compose a letter without having access to their cellphone or electronic dictionary.
I’ve come across three websites that can be useful when learning hangul (chosongul in North Korea). Hangul is the writing system used in both Koreas, and it consists of 24 letters. Since there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, one could argue that it’s easier to learn hangul than the English alphabet.
What makes hangul different from our alphabet, though, is that the 24 letters are used to build blocks (think: syllables) that are composed of two or more letters. In Korean, we can’t use the letters individually as we would in English. Although it would make sense to simply arrange the letters in the order that they should be pronounced (e.g. 사ᄋ for ‘sang’ when s = ᄉ, a =ᅡ, ng = ᄋ), we actually have to group them to form complete, syllabic blocks (상 = sang). Simply put, one block contains one syllable.
I’m an information junkie, but I’ve noticed that unless I take action I end up forgetting everything in a matter of days. I’m also a pretty slow reader so if the information finally goes down the drain, it’s really nothing more than a waste of time. And if I’m simply wasting time, and not even amusing myself, then I’d probably be better off digging holes in a bog.
Unless you’re reading a teach-yourself book for mere entertainment (which I sometimes do), it helps to put the book aside for a moment and actually apply some of the tips and techniques…
As I mentioned in my last post on how to unclutter your desk, I’m addicted to workspaces. I can spend hours browsing through galleries (such as this) that display inspiring photos of office spaces. But this time I figured I could do something different, so I decided to set up a gallery myself.
The pictures aren’t ordered (i.e. ranked) in any particular way. They’re just there for your enjoyment!
Photo by Matthijs H
Self-Learner is a blog about self-education and self-improvement based lifestyle design. Goal? To become the best "version" of yourself, and feel excited to jump out of your bed every morning.