Things I Learned From Tetris

(Day 477ish) A thesis is such a huge all-encompassing project, that it is often nice to sneak in non-thesis activities in order to keep the mind from going to mush. Sometimes this means reading a non-academic book before bed, enjoying an old movie once in awhile or, in the case of two people I know (myself being one of them), Tetris on the old school Nintendo system. Now some might see this as a complete waste of time, while others use this as an opportunity to see thesis-thoughts seeping into other aspects of their lives. I give you as an example: Things I learned about my thesis from Tetris.

Don't Panic: The first rule of Tetris, and thus thesising, is not to panic. In this case you are your own worst enemy. Doing a thesis gives you plenty of opportunity to panic. I don't have the right books, I can't get out of this writing slump, I hate my committee, and so on for a million other mini-meltdowns. But as in Tetris, if you make a mistake and panic, it only goes downhill, but quick. Throughout the whole process you have to keep your head on straight, it is after all just a stupid video-game/stack of your own writing.

Plan Ahead: When you are stacking odd shaped tetrominoes in a puzzle-like fashion, you have to plan ahead and not leave gaps that you can't fill. Consider what your next move is when making your current move. In thesising it is the same. You have to organize your work and plan what you are going to argue before arguing your next point. Thesising is all about organization. If, however, for whatever reason, you fail to plan ahead, see previous tip.

If You Screw It Up, Start Over: Ummm, this is probably not good advice.

If You Get Bored, Play a New Game: Well I guess this one brings us back to Tetris. Or if you are playing Tetris, back to the thesis.

Alright, so maybe there aren't many real lessons to be learned from Tetris, but I do still have one skill that is sharp: rationalization. If I can rationalize good reasons to play Tetris, what can't I do?

The tetrominous song of the day (and lesson not to be learned from Tetris): Square One - Tom Petty