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29 October 2010

#302 Learn something you are interested in

There’s constant talk about how youth unemployment is high, higher, highest. Politicians, agencies and economists are horrified over the numbers. We are not horrified at 365. We have different figures. We have: “Seven things you can do if you are unemployed”.

Saying that you learn things at school is like saying that anyone who goes to the Employment Service gets a job. There are a thousand ways to absorb knowledge, and as many reasons not to go to the Employment Service.

Some learn by getting the perfect score on the test or written exam. Others learn by practicing things. I have always learned by hitting my head against the wall and then thinking: Aha! It is a wall there.

To say that everyone learns the same way is like saying that everyone likes strawberries. Not all people like strawberries. There are those who hate strawberries so much that they turn off the TV if there’s an advertisement for strawberry-flavored candy. That’s why there are different flavors. And different ways to learn things.

I learned hundreds of Swedish words by reading comic books. I learned to write by imitating Karin Boye and Tomas Tranströmer. I learned to go walk by running after my grandmother when she was going to the bakers. I learned to swim to avoid drowning.

1. Find something you're interested in learning.

2. Think of at least five ways to learn it.

3. Try the different ways and choose which is best for YOU.

Bonus - www.webpianoteacher.com

Text: Navid Modiri

Required time: 
1 week or less
Cost: 
Free.
Cons: 
You may approach a subject with so much of your body and soul that you forget to water the pot-plants.
Pros: 
It's more fun and easier to learn something when you’re no forced to.
Taggar: seven things you can do as unemployed, piano, library, learn something, employment services, bach, 365 things
2 October 2010

#275 Test stuff for free in stores

If at a market, you could fill your stomach by asking for samples. Photo: Peter Hermeling

If at a market, you could fill your stomach by asking for samples. Photo: Peter Hermeling

You don’t have to go to Barcelona, Berlin or  Bombay to have fun. You can stay in your home town. You can also do it cheaply. To help along the way, you get " Seven free things you can do in your city".

I was ten years old and felt like having my own computer. At the time, you're not able to buy a laptop for 3000 bucks. Not that it had played any role. At that time I did not have 3000 bucks. So I did the only sensible thing. I sat in the city library in Gothenburg and surfed, played solitaire and Worms and was on their computers until they threw me out. Then I sat in the library of the Trolley and surfed, played Quake and drew in Paint on their computers until they threw me out. Then I was just an angry ten year old without a computer and without plan. Until I was in town with my dad and we went into a computer store to buy the 3.5-inch floppy disks that Dad needed for work. That's when I saw them. The test computers. About fifty computers were lined up. Ready to use. Or test. Hehe.

After that I stood for hours in various shops and 'tested' computers. If a salesman came up I began to question things about computers, their performance and price. Accessories and model year. While dealers were busy peddling an expensive camera to an unsuspecting retiree, I was installing games on computers or trying to connect them to the Internet.

I ended up being banned from all computer shops around Gothenburg. They had a picture of me behind the counter warning dealers not to let me in the shop. After that year, all computer stores throughout Sweden started to use passwords on their computers so that kids like me wouldn’t stand there and break their keyboards with drool and hide boogers in CD-ROM players. When I turned twelve, I bought a used computer. Then I became really dangerous.

Text: Navid Modiri

Required time: 
1 day or less
Cost: 
Free
Cons: 
Angry sales people.
Pros: 
You do not have to buy things unnecessarily. You can check your emails, print your resume and do all your computer chores in the store without spending a lot of money on a personal computer. You can also ask to test a hair dryer, an iron or a blender to mix it up a bit.
Taggar: try things in the shop, seven things you can do in your city, pliers, library, lender, hairdryer, computer store, 365 things you can do