Reconnecting #9: Knowledge is power

I’m not saying this to get compliments by any stretch, but I’m not smart. Yes I have a degree in Journalism, please look at this lovely picture of me at my graduation below. But I’m not academically smart.

At school although I was good at creative subjects, I really struggled with Science and Maths and ended up getting 2 D’s at Science and an E at Maths in GCSE. I work hard don’t get me wrong (both my parents were/are teachers so education was very important growing up), but with all the hard work it didn’t get me the results I wanted. When I was younger my sisters would repeatedly tell me that their lowest GCSE results was my highest, and even though I excelled at double Media A Level, getting 2 A’s, to some its seen as a ‘mickey mouse’ subject.

And add that recently my flatmate said I’d been washing my clothes the wrong way, and I hadn’t even noticed, I knew it was time to start doing things to become smarter, but what?

Stylist magazine, one of my favourites have started a campaign about reclaiming your lunch hour back. It gives you lots of ideas of things to do in your lunch break, other than have lunch and quite often continue working. Two things from the ideas they gave caught my interest. The first is free online courses. I doubt they actually give you an actual qualification, but the fact that my brain will start the process of learning is something. I’ll be starting my first one of these soon.

The other thing is there is a series of podcasts I’ve started to listen to called Stuff You Should Know, and it has 2 guys called Josh and Chuck discussing a topic at length for half an hour or so. There’s a huge variety of things they discuss. There are nearly 300 podcasts, and I’ve downloaded 70 of these to get me started! Topics range from how black holes work, to if we can live without a refrigerator. I listen to these to and from work and already have learnt all about myths about the brain and how jet lag works. The most interesting ones I’ve listened to so far is how ice cream works, why men have nipples and how Jim Henson worked.

So here are some fun facts on the above; ice cream was first sold to the public in Paris in 1606, and ice cream sundaes were made in rebellion. This is because ice cream floats were first sold and religious groups were offended when they were sold on Sundays. So the shops took out the drink element, and changed the spelling of Sunday as a result. In the first couple of weeks some baby boys can lactate but this soon wears off; a bit like how some babies can automatically swim straight away. And Fraggle Rock was HBO’s first hit, way before Sex and the City and Entourage. Who know’s what I’ll learn next?!