<p>so I have been contemplating recently. i have realized that i know certain people who have such strong interests and passions that those activities literally consume their lives. for example, those USAMO winners..and those national orchestra members. how do they do it, why do they enjoy doing it? was it just some revelation they had, some epiphany, some thing that just told them, YES i want this!!!!111! why do they want to excel in such activities? share your thoughts</p>
<p>They have Asian parents.</p>
<p>^haha. and caucasian parents who want their kids to be sport prodigies.
OK. while i wholeheartedly agree that a kid has to be smart to qualify for USAMO or something and take calc in 6th grade, there's gotta be a lot of parental involvement. So, i think its rarely "I can do this!"
Sad, isn't it? Luckily, i go to a school w/o too many academic prodigies. :)</p>
<p>hmm.dam. parental involvement? my parents dont care, they dont even know anything. gahh. and plus, im pretty sure its not ALL parental involvement. like, im talking about the prodigies. i doubt some of them have parents who even know what they are doing. </p>
<p>gah, wish i was one of them. i just dont have the inner drive</p>
<p>You'll find your calling eventually.</p>
<p>And if you're like me, you'll reject it in favor of something more financially practical.</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>[/:(]</p>
<p>I don't think it's parental involvement as much as parental expectations that matter. Unless the person is taught at a young age that education is important, I think they'd have trouble being OTT successful</p>
<p>well, where you live matters, too. i mean, i see WAYYY more prodigies in Bay Area than anywhere else in California, and alot of them in NY...goes to show you that parents there are resourceful, and from an early age encourage their kids to "succeed"
darn, my parents didn't know anything either.</p>
<p>As a resident of the Bay Area, I can ensure you that the concept of genius is slightly skewed when you describe our region. The "genius" factor of the smartest kids in our high schools are here because their parents are very well educated and encourage their children to work hard. The jobs around here are mostly computer/engineering related, and, as a result, parents are well educated as I said above. I definently think genius is part education as well, Leonardi da Vinci would never have discovered his genius in architecture if he didnt work at the workshop that he did.</p>
<p>Genii ;]</p>
<p>uugh. just read the us physics team bios. those braniacs make me feel like a complete academic failure. :(
and i thought i was a genius for my 2400...oh well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and i thought i was a genius for my 2400...oh well.
[/quote]
I LOL'd hard.</p>
<p>Epic fail.</p>
<p>dashboard...you're not a genius...just pretentious..</p>
<p>I honestly think I would be ten times more ahead if I had had supporitve parents. </p>
<p>My mom has an attitude of "do it on your own". ****es me off. You're the mother you should have some commitment. When my Latin teacher has come to more of my band concerts than you have in the last year, something is seriously wrong.</p>
<p>You fall in love with something. And love is ineffable, so I really can't tell you how it happens, but it does, and it's fantastic.</p>
<p>^ my dad hates HATES picking me up from soccer but he never says 'hey sweetie, you know that baldie is too hard on you, don't sweat it' or 'how'd the game go?' not once.</p>
<p>music, atleast you have a good college recommendation. ME, i'm going to a rough phase right now, i'm no longer the girl that laughs and smiles and says stupid things to make someone else feel better, she's gone and i miss her terribly.</p>
<p>EDIT: wow, precious droplets are coming out of my eyes</p>
<p>Ya. My mom is insane.
(insert huge rant here)</p>
<p>My mom makes me mad, because she doesn't really support me, but when I tell her something I accomplished, like I made it into the local honor band as a sophomore which is rare, she just looks at me and says in this really stupid voice, "Is that good?" She doesn't even know which instrument I play in marching band. Then she rubs in the fact that my grades aren't up to par with what I wanted so I get *<strong><em>ed off at her and she pretends not to know why and gets *</em></strong>ed off in return.</p>
<p>parents push me a lot, then tell me not to stress out...major contradiction there. but im driven by myself and by competition with my 1600 perfect score brother who says, "oh quantum relativistic physics is easy. why are you struggling with BC calc? its sooooo easy" then i want to slap him, esp when ppl tell me that he is the smartest person they know and completely ignore anything i do.
ok rant over:)</p>
<p>^ my dad doesn't **** me off that much as my mom. My dad makes me laugh at times by doing stupid things to cheer me up. Trust me if you knew what i was going through you would feel A LOT better about your situation.. trust me</p>
<p>EDIT: maybe i'll keep it a secret..lool</p>
<p>I'm coping from a past crappy experience(s). </p>
<p>Now it's all coming out.
One of the freshmen English teachers turned to me Thursday..."Do you have a mental illness or something?!" </p>
<p>She wasn't kidding.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>wow .</p>
<p>the person that made me laugh and turned my day into a smiley one is here but far away (that probably doesn't make sense)</p>