Learn to Read Palms

Palmistry is an ancient, ancient practice of fortunetelling. One would hope that it's more accurate then astrology because it's so individualized. Just like no two people's finger prints match, no two palms are alike (plus they change over time). But frankly, why do people believe that your date of birth influences your personality? I have higher hopes for palmistry.

To get a general overview of how to read palms, I decided to answer a palmistry questionnaire myself. After studying my hands and answering numerous multiple choice questions (a little easier than the SATs, I promise), I was ultimately rewarded with a free palm reading. I ended up doing this twice because the first palm reading wanted money for the results (ugh).

From answering the questions I got a good feel of what to look for when reading palms. First you look at the shape of the palm, hand, fingers, thumb: widths and lengths. Next you study the most important lines in order which are: Life (vitality not longevity), head (beliefs and philosophy), and heart (emotions and love events). You look to see how long or short the lines are, if they're straight or curved, whether they touch other lines or not, how deep they are, if there any breaks, if there are lines intersecting them, if there are circles in them (I have no idea what this means), if they fan or fork, where they begin and end...etc.

So I finished and here are my results.

I'll break down my "character".

You have a Fire hand Cool, fire!. This is known as the instinctive hand. You are creative and imaginative sure. You surround yourself with people Yeah, more comfortable in groups than alone not sure about that. You are generally unafraid to take risks Fine. You launch yourself enthusiastically into all your endeavors Uh, ok, driven by your passionate nature huh?.

You have a very unadaptable nature What?? I'm leaving for Albania next month.... Your inflexibility has left you with few life path options it has?. You have to work harder than most to adjust to new situations I do?. You have difficulty dealing with change, and you are fairly set in your ways Yikes.

You relish luxury, enjoying the finer things life has to offer Who doesn't?. You are highly sensual and social fine. You must be careful as you may be prone to addiction and overindulgence Spot on.

You are intense and full of vitality at times. When you make your mind up to do something, you commit fully to that objective and never settle for halfway ok.

You can be unpredictable sometimes I try. Most of the time, you are methodically minded, but occasionally you will make decisions based solely upon emotion and passion maybe.

You are a fairly straight forward person Yup. You don't typically worry too much that's for sure, though you may occasionally be prone to bouts of stress news to me and need to be careful not to keep things bottled up, only to explode later Explode?!.

 It goes on...

By now I'm completely turned off by palmistry. I will continue no more with this hocus-pocus, mumble-jumble. Here's what I learned: If you're ever reading someone's palm, just make it up.

Sources: http://onlinepalmreadings.com/
http://www.ofesite.com/spirit/palm/lines.htm

Learn a Language

You might have heard of Tim Ferris' bestseller, 4 Hour Workweek or his new book 4 Hour Body. I still haven't made up my mind as to whether he's the real deal or a sly dog scam artist (he's probably somewhere in the middle). In his first book/blog he gives some good tips about learning languages in 3 months (which is just about the same amount of time I'll be training in Albania).

I think his very best tip of both his books and blogs is to use a list of the most frequently used words in English and then translating them into the target language. He ends up giving you two 100 words lists: most used written and most used spoken.

Guess what I'll be doing during downtime at work.

Write a Haiku

Powder trickling
Ominous sky unleashes
blanketing the field

powder slowly pours
from the looming sky before
blanketing the turf

powder slowly pours
forth the ominous sky ere
blanketing the turf

Any help or suggestions?

Card Throwing

After 1 ruined deck of cards, 1 fatigued forearm, and 1 hour of my life I'll never see again; I present to you:

Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMoc7tHMQOg

Boogie doing the Electric Slide ►  

Card Trick

From card tricks to Card Throwing ►

Learn some ASL - Part 2

A special thanks to Matt for helping me put this together. I put everything I've got into this video. Enjoy

Sources: http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainValor This guy is amazing. Check him out.

http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi

Complete a Sudoku ►

Memorize a Poem

This is the first poem I've memorized since one the about star-crossed lovers. During my search for a poem, I read about some guy who "doesn't need an Ipod" because he would rather memorize poems...I'm still looking for something other than an Ipod as well.

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley; 1849-1903

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

Learn to Draw Stewie ►

Touch Typing Part 2

I have to explain myself for last night's post. After dinner I was so jazzed up to learn to touch type (which I am doing right now), I headed downstairs to the barely used family desktop to get my own private typing lesson from none other than Mavis Beacon. Actresses aside, she is probably the third most recognizable black woman behind Oprah and Michelle Obama.

In high school, typing class was mandatory. Of course being a pimply teenager, I thought I knew better and just stuck with my own way of typing. I understand the usefulness of touch typing although I have to gripe about the Qwerty keyboard. What's the deal with putting the semi-colon key on the home row? 'J' on the right index finger--dumb. 'P' is in a pretty bad position as well. I could keep going...

After blazing through beginner and intermediate lessons, I decide to take the typing test. Little did I know, it took a grueling 17 minutes to complete the exam. I could feel Mavis breathing down my neck and hear her chortle every time I missed a letter but continued typing, which led to a string of missed letters. It was awful. Lastly, I learned that carpal tunnel is not reserved for graying receptionists. We're all potential sitting ducks so remember to stretch and take breaks.

Sources: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_11_19/ai_110809218/

Let's Make a Yummy Dessert ►

Learn to Touch Type

Typed on Mavis Beacon for 2 hours straight. 40 wpm - adjusted to 37 wpm accounting for mistakes. Carpal tunnel...oww

Continue to Part 2 ►

Write to an Author

I apologize for not posting yesterday. Anyone who has maintained a blog knows how difficult it is to post consistently (see my neglected blogs: http://alexleechina.blogspot.com/, http://alexsalzburg.blogspot.com/).

Anyhow, I'm reading a book called Only Bees Die by Robert Keller, MBA, in preparation for my service in Albania (Keller did Peace Corps in Albania). His book is a great read and my only problem with it is that it keeps me up too late. I ordered the paperback online (very, very unusual of me) and then remembered that I only want to bring ebooks with me. So I figured I'd look up Mr. Keller and make a request. Like they say: Ask and you shall receive.

After about 40 minutes on Google, I think I found his email. The email I sent him still hasn't bounced back so I'm guessing it's okay. Here's what I wrote:

Dear Mr. Keller,

Through the recommendations of the Peace Corps network and my future G14 "brothers and sisters" I ordered your book, Only Bees Die. It arrived on my doorstep a few days ago and I've been tearing through it. You definitely did a great job making me laugh and alleviating some of the fears that have crossed my mind.

Halfway through the book, I realized that this is without a doubt a book I'd like to bring during my service. Originally I was hoping to only bring ebooks with me but I absentmindedly purchased the paperback version. I'm hoping you'd be willing to send me the ebook version.

One last thing. I noticed you didn't copyright your material. Why did you choose to do that?

Sincerely,

Alex

P.S. You are somewhat difficult to track down online. I'm assuming you choose to be. Is that so?

I really hope he responds.

I've never written to an author before. Share your experiences in the comments section.

Go Learn to Touch Type ►

Welcome - Mirë se vini

I just completed Lesson 1 Pimsleuer - Albanian and it's safe to say that I remember nothing. This is truly a foreign language to me. Throughout high school I took Spanish classes and struggled with it but we all had a few buzz words under our belt, you know: quesadilla, burrito, torilla, taco, salsa, gordita, chalupa...the list goes on. At Fairfield I took several semesters of Mandarin but with a background in Cantonese, it wasn't so hard for me. I'm just beginning to realize how brave my classmates were.

I won't complain too much because Shqip uses the Roman alphabet. There's only a couple letters that are different from English and the pronunciation is slightly different as well.

So I was supposed to learn how to say "thank you" but that's too difficult (Faleminderit). Instead I've memorized two words.

Just don't ask me how to pronounce either.

Let's Write to an Author ►