[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]that life is washing over you, and that you are lost in a current that you have no control over with no indication of its path? I don't want to sound all 'Matrix-y' here but I get that feeling a lot of late.

Given the frankly disturbing amount of information available on the internet alone I often think it's impossible to figure out a worthwhile topic to study, there are so many things that I'm interested in and to choose one creates the possibility that I may never find out about the others. Perhaps it's due to my want to know as much as possible, I often learn things that I simply marvel at, things which most people take for granted that are utterly breathtaking and so I try to learn more and more. I feel the need for knowledge is almost an addiction.

The crux of the question is 'what is worthwhile?' how do you guys pick your topics of study? I'm not even talking about formal education here I'm talking about everyday life.

Anyhow I don't know if there's potential for much of a discussion here but I thought I'd just air my thoughts and see what you all think.
[/color]

[an0n]

See, this is my only real problem in life. I excel at everything so I have no purpose or direction.

Infinite vagueness in infinite combinations.........

[Fineus]

Well said really, I did it by finding that I enjoyed using and working with computers (be it playing games, coding websites, modding, data entry or whatever - it's all good). That led me to elect Information Technology (BSc) as a degree course.

That said though - it seems that life can chuck you in a million directions no matter what you choose. I always think the lucky ones are the ones who know that they want to be a doctor. They study to be a doctor and then they become a doctor and that's all there is to it.

On the other hand I could be very bored with that, and realising as I have that I'm not 100pc sure of my direction - I try to take each new change as a suprise, an experience and a challenge. Make the best of what you have, go where you can and take what oppertunities come up. In the end you may have a more fullfilling life as a result.

[01010]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]that life is washing over you, and that you are lost in a current that you have no control over with no indication of its path? I don't want to sound all 'Matrix-y' here but I get that feeling a lot of late.

Given the frankly disturbing amount of information available on the internet alone I often think it's impossible to figure out a worthwhile topic to study, there are so many things that I'm interested in and to choose one creates the possibility that I may never find out about the others. Perhaps it's due to my want to know as much as possible, I often learn things that I simply marvel at, things which most people take for granted that are utterly breathtaking and so I try to learn more and more. I feel the need for knowledge is almost an addiction.

The crux of the question is 'what is worthwhile?' how do you guys pick your topics of study? I'm not even talking about formal education here I'm talking about everyday life.

Anyhow I don't know if there's potential for much of a discussion here but I thought I'd just air my thoughts and see what you all think.
[/color]

Go with what you have the strongest interest in and what could equate to something that would make you happy, lifes to short to excel in something that makes you miserable. I know exactly how you feel because I've reached the same kind of plateau in my own life where there's few potential paths that I can go down and I'm not sure what I really want to go with. I'd like to be a musician but it's a hand to mouth existence and I don't know if I could live like that, I also am looking at travelling this big blue ball called Earth because there is just too much that I want to see in it.

[magatsu1]

I'm pretty much in the same position. I wanna study now, or in the near future, 'cos I can and I know I'll regret it otherwise.
But can I decide what to go for ?
nope.

[Devils_Hitman]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]that life is washing over you, and that you are lost in a current that you have no control over with no indication of its path? I don't want to sound all 'Matrix-y' here but I get that feeling a lot of late.

Given the frankly disturbing amount of information available on the internet alone I often think it's impossible to figure out a worthwhile topic to study, there are so many things that I'm interested in and to choose one creates the possibility that I may never find out about the others. Perhaps it's due to my want to know as much as possible, I often learn things that I simply marvel at, things which most people take for granted that are utterly breathtaking and so I try to learn more and more. I feel the need for knowledge is almost an addiction.

The crux of the question is 'what is worthwhile?' how do you guys pick your topics of study? I'm not even talking about formal education here I'm talking about everyday life.

Anyhow I don't know if there's potential for much of a discussion here but I thought I'd just air my thoughts and see what you all think.
[/color]

How old are you?

And welcome to humanity my friend.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]24[/color]

[Devils_Hitman]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]24[/color]

whatever ur good at, pursue.

If ur not good at anything, pick something or go on welfare.

[kasperl]

i always feel oriented to pieces of information that don'tgo near my own situation somehow. Physics, Chem, but also History and Latin. but something like economics feels boring. usuially, i just see what the wind blows in my face, and when i have to choose, i try to choose widely, but go to a more exact part then most.
right now, i am trying to study what i have for school, because i am barely making VWO (approx A levels in Britain, i dunno in the states). but in my free time i go for physics and Roman history, but also Biochem, or just Chem. and i might be getting in to Quantumphysics soon, in some out-of-school activity.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Devils_Hitman


whatever ur good at, pursue.

If ur not good at anything, pick something or go on welfare.

[color=66ff00]Oh you don't understand, I'm studying biomedical engineering honours degree, something I'm very happy doing as I see it as worthwhile. It's all the other stuff (in my spare time) that I'm thinking about. (Hence I said that I wasn't just thinking formal education).

Anyhow welfare is out of the question, everyone has the capability to excel at something, welfare removes the motivation to try in a lot of cases, what may be easy money to you is economical vampirism to me, there is a small minority (relative to the population) that welfare was designed to help. The rest are victims of a demotivational mechanism, they believe or are forced to believe that welfare is their only option when it is far from the case.
[/color]

[Martinus]

Originally posted by kasperl
i always feel oriented to pieces of information that don'tgo near my own situation somehow. Physics, Chem, but also History and Latin. but something like economics feels boring. usuially, i just see what the wind blows in my face, and when i have to choose, i try to choose widely, but go to a more exact part then most.
right now, i am trying to study what i have for school, because i am barely making VWO (approx A levels in Britain, i dunno in the states). but in my free time i go for physics and Roman history, but also Biochem, or just Chem. and i might be getting in to Quantumphysics soon, in some out-of-school activity.

[color=66ff00]This is my problem too, I'm quite good at an array of things, I often feel overwhelmed by the number of options open to me and I don't think choosing at random is the best approach. Deciding which subjects will be the most useful (to me the ones that will increase my, and the people associated with me's quality of life (great grammar there ) ).
[/color]

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
how do you guys pick your topics of study? I'm not even talking about formal education here I'm talking about everyday life.

I started studying programming to support one of my dreams. My wife suggested I formalise the study so I could get credits for it, which would help out my job prospects.

I kinda fell into this stuff. When I left high school and started college, I didn't do so well with classes and I had no discipline. When I dropped out and joined the Navy, I ended up doing playing with computers and I have been ever since. Its not really a job. Its just something I do that I happen to (not always) get paid for.

If I were to pick a job for myself, I'd leave computers as a hobby and become a bricklayer.

I guess you could say I did things kinda backwards. Did the job, then did the study.

[01010]

Originally posted by Maeglamor

[color=66ff00]Oh you don't understand, I'm studying biomedical engineering honours degree, something I'm very happy doing as I see it as worthwhile. It's all the other stuff (in my spare time) that I'm thinking about. (Hence I said that I wasn't just thinking formal education).

Anyhow welfare is out of the question, everyone has the capability to excel at something, welfare removes the motivation to try in a lot of cases, what may be easy money to you is economical vampirism to me, there is a small minority (relative to the population) that welfare was designed to help. The rest are victims of a demotivational mechanism, they believe or are forced to believe that welfare is their only option when it is far from the case.
[/color]

I will admit that I have been on welfare, though it was while i was between jobs and no way demotivated me. In fact, having to hang around in the Job centre with all the scummy wankers I abhor made me look harder.

Like I say though, find something you enjoy doing and find ways to get more into it, like for example, I am incredibly passionate about music, so I picked up a guitar and learned how to play.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by 01010


I will admit that I have been on welfare, though it was while i was between jobs and no way demotivated me. In fact, having to hang around in the Job centre with all the scummy wankers I abhor made me look harder.

Like I say though, find something you enjoy doing and find ways to get more into it, like for example, I am incredibly passionate about music, so I picked up a guitar and learned how to play.

[color=66ff00]Yes, at that point you required welfare. I have seen far too many people drop out of school and go on welfare as they think it's their only option.
As Mark Twain said: Never let school get in the way of your education.

I used to play guitar reasonably well but I have far too little time of late.
[/color]

[Odyssey]

I used to use my computer for gaming, chat rooms, the like. These days I only really use it for the internet as a research and study source (and HLP etc.). As for the things I research, it's entirely random, often based on crazy ideas of mine and their feasibility.
Such as air-duct airships, flying-wing solar aircraft, growing plants under LEDs, etc... I think the latest thing is resarching fish, tanks, the like, inspired by Kazan's betta site.
So, the things I study in my spare time is governed by my ideas, which I then try to find out if they are possible by using a great variety of sources.

[Black Wolf]

Interestingly enough, I've never had this problem, mainly, I think, because I'll read and learn about almost anything. Sure, it's not always worthwhile, and it doesn't always grab you, but you pretty quickly pick up whether you're doing something because you want to be doing it, or because you feel the need to force yourself through it.

If you want my advice, learn about art or literature. Learn to find the nuances and extract meaning out of an author or artists work. I think it's easier with literature (read a few critical commentaries and suchlike, learn about the author, and reread the book a few times) but that's because I never really put much time towards art. The good thing about literature is that it croses all fields, dabbles in everything, and can send you off on tangents of discovery about things you would never have thought of before reading the book.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
If you want my advice, learn about art or literature. Learn to find the nuances and extract meaning out of an author or artists work. I think it's easier with literature (read a few critical commentaries and suchlike, learn about the author, and reread the book a few times) but that's because I never really put much time towards art. The good thing about literature is that it croses all fields, dabbles in everything, and can send you off on tangents of discovery about things you would never have thought of before reading the book.

[color=66ff00]That's rather interesting, I have to admit that I know very little about art and literature (realtively speaking) I restrict myself to reading scifi on the whole which I like but know is limiting. As for art I'm one of those people who 'knows what they like' but I'd look at some of the more abstract works and think 'that's a bit dumb', more from lack of understanding I'm sure.
[/color]

[Flipside]

This is true, I suppose the trick is don't try to learn everything! A single person cannot do it. It's like computer graphics, some people specialise in Spaceships, some people specialise in animals etc because a massive amount of different knowledge is required for either.

Being 31, my learning curve always seems to depend on what I want to actually do, e.g. when I decided to start playing with Videos, I bought Premiere, I can only really use it enough to convert my 3D Renders to DivX and to dub sound and add the very very occasional effect. Some would say I am underusing Premiere, I say I am using it to do exactly what I want it to do, so I am not.
The Internet is the same, don't use it to find something to learn, find something to learn and then use it to get as many viewpoints as possible

My own advice is  make your own conclusion, the Internet has a nasty habit of being a more available version of 'The guy down the pub'

Edit : And with the art thing, I always look at pictures, not signiatures, so I have absolutely no idea which artists I like either

[Gloriano]

[GLOW=silver]well i am very happy with my life everything is just perfect in my life (wife,kid,good work)[/GLOW]

[Flipside]

B*stard




j/k!

I'm very happy with my life too, I'm still in it, for a start