Getting Ready for D-Day

Sorry for not posting this weekend. Not much happened in the way of my neuropsychological abilities. It was just a really crazy time. But anyway, it's over with now and I'm just going to forget about it. Other than the fact that I saw Andy Schleck. But that's not what this blog is about, so let's get back on topic. Thursday will be day 1. I'm starting to get nervous. Technology is like an addiction. I'm probably going to go through a withdrawl phase. I just don't know how bad it's going to be. I'm blessed with the powers of strong will, discipline, and self-control, so maybe I can make a smooth transition. I kinda sorta forgot to mention that someone pretty important to me will also be leaving on September 1st, so if my posts sound a little "off" for a while, that's why. He won't be back until after this whole thing is over. But I'm getting off topic again. In Nicholas Carr's book I'm currently learning about the history of writing and it's impact on our neurological development. Apparently, when writing first started there were no spaces in between the words. Though this seems impractical and confusing, it actually helped people use more of their brains. Ibetyou'regoingtohavetothinkalittlebitharderwhenyou'rereadingthissentence,aren'tyou? People had to decipher where words began and ended, and a lot was left up to interpretation. As interesting as it is, writing was becoming a universal communacation tool, so they had to simplify it. I also rediscovered that the order of letters in a word doesn't matter as long as the first and last letters are in the right place. Wried, ins't it? You can sltil raed tihs, bceuase yuor barin can rcgeoinze waht I'm tyrnig to say. This is because we've been trained to skim. Whole words seem unnecessary. So yeah. I'm messing with my words. But I'm going to get back to reading now. More tomorrow.

Isabella

An Update on My Reading and My Course of Action

Hi again. I'm now about one third of the way through Nicholas Carr's book. The more I read, the more interested I get. I'm starting to realize how difficult it's going to be to get away from Facebook. Once I log on, time seems to fly. I'll scan page after page and soon it will have been 20, then 30, then 40 minutes. I'm probably going to set a timer and hope that I can force myself away. I'll also document my diet, excercise, and brain activity patterns. I've decided that I'll pick out a few brain testing activities (Sudoku, memorization, etc.) and see how long it takes me to complete them on the first day. I'll complete the same exact tests at the end of the 3 months and see how much time I've dropped. This is like my own intense version of Brain Age. Remember that game for Nintendo DS? It was more relevant than most people thought. Those activities are very good ways of stimulating brain activity in the prefrontal cortex. But I'm going for more than that. I want to experiment with as many parts of the brain as I can. Plus, Nintendo DS falls under intellectual technologies, so I won't be using it. I'll start doing activities from the "Brain in the Bag" program along with Sudoku puzzles and juggling. I'll write with both hands to increase my ambedextrosity. Anything ideas I come across, I'm willing to try. Well, it's time to keep reading.

Wish me luck,
Isabella

A Brief Introduction

Well hello there, Blogger. Long time, no see. Anyway, for all of you readers of my first public blog: Hi. I'm Isabella. I'm currently a senior in high school. I have decided to embark on a neuropsychological journey. My goal is from September 1st to December 1st to become more aware of my consciousness and hopefully see what I can do to increase my brain's limits. When I was young, I was classified as a genius with an IQ of 148 and I took tests which revealed that I was extremely gifted. I feel like I've lost touch with my blessing of intelligence over time. Whether it be because of technology, what I've had in my diet, puberty, or just because I haven't been working my brain enough, I feel like I've become less aware of my capablilties. That's the point of this blog. I'm studying neuropsychology and neurophysiology books in search of information about what I can do to be "smarter" or "more aware." Currently I'm reading The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. One thing I'm going to do is limit my use of the internet. I will allow myself five minutes of social networking a day, time to write one blog post about my progress, and use for school as required. I'm going to limit how much I text, and will try to call people or talk in person as much as I can, especially if I need to have a real conversation. I have no clue if any of this stuff will make a difference, but if it does, you'll definitely hear about it in this blog. Well, that's all I have for today. I'll let you know how my reading's going in these next few days, and September 1st will be the day I start documenting everything.

Thanks for reading,

Isabella