Saturday, July 20, 2019

A Dream On Practice

I dreamed last night my high school French teacher taught Calculus III college course. Today was a test. The class was located inside an arcade at the back room on a hill in the south side of San Jose, CA. The classroom consisted of long tables stretched horizontally parallel to the black colored chalkboard. The questions were on a 5X8 index card with various colors. Each color index card included different questions. All formulas were written on the chalkboard. One formula I partially remembered was = A + ___ + Be___e

One student said goodbye to the entire classroom before the test. He dropped out. He couldn't handle the commute driving on the Bay Bridge on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He moved back home to Taiwan.

The teacher passed out the test index cards. I blanked out waiting for my card. Why did I blank out? I didn't over-study. There was no information overload. The answer was I studied too little. The more accurate reason was I practiced too little. It was like I played professional sports. Too little practice. Too few repetitions or reps.

It took me too many adult years to realize studying was practicing. Practicing might be a better verb than studying. I have been practicing five days a week job training. I learn by repetition. I make mistakes. I make corrections. I discover the "oh, I get it now." Practicing. Training. Studying. Schooling. Educating. These words are synonyms. Today's blog all of the words is practicing.

Side note: There was a scene in my dream actor Jackie Chan did stunts with Oreo cookies and the carpool sign at the Highway 85-17 junction. He was on the ramp from Northbound 85 to Northbound 17.

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