My question of the day:
How much coding ability qualifies as knowing how to code?
I was reading through some posts on what MD/PhD programs look for, and a lot of people suggested learning to code. I would not be doing that to look good for admissions, though, I’m not about that life, but rather because if it saves me the trouble later when I would actually need to use that skill, it would be worth it. I feel like there are a lot of different languages to program in, so how would you know for sure which will be needed? What I learned in AP Computer Science in high school gave me a pretty good introduction, but I don’t feel like I completely mastered Java or anything. It has, though, helped me mess with the html in Weebly and helped me find errors in the program my PI wrote when I did research in a cochlear implant lab. That program, though, was in Matlab, which looked similar to Java but most definitely was not the same. Since I will most likely do my later studies in STEM or linguistics (or both???), I looked up common languages.

They were:
-R Tool
-Python
-Matlab

Java was not on that list, darn. But also, Java felt like a pretty tedious language even for a beginner, so if these can clean things up, I don’t blame them for switching. My brain just thought, “oh we should get a book on these,” and I must respond with a, “Brain, you will definitely will learn better from YouTube tutorials and messing about with code from the internet, why must you immediately want a book you know you won’t use???” 
Minimalism (except for an outrageous book collection) is a mood.
Also on the topic of minimalism, personal opinion, but that is so much easier for wealthier people, or at least people with more stable lives. If you do end up needing something, you can just buy it. If you don’t have the money to buy something again, you feel the need to store it for later, creating more clutter. I guess this isn’t considering the many ways minimalism can manifest itself, but here is an example:
You ride your bike to work. If that bike breaks, you fix it or buy a new one. If you have less money, you may be inclined to have a spare bike, maybe one that is a little too small from years ago, or one a relative handed down to you, in the case of this instance. If you have more money, the bike breaking is not a big issue because you can afford to fix or buy a new one.
One of the tips you will often see on minimalist lifestyle blogs/books is to buy higher quality items that last longer. Another instance of this. Yeah, I would totally like to have like one pair of super nice winter books, the kind you get repaired when they get worn, or heck just last forever, but I cannot afford that. Thrift stores have been a nice alternative with clothes, both for cost reasons and not supporting fast fashion, but I am still obtaining clothes and not really living minimalistically.

Happy reading,
-Beppa

*This is a republished post due to a domain change.*