Swamped. That’s how I feel right now. My first late blog post… I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this. Basically for the past two weeks I’ve been trying to climb out of a self-burying grave. Even as I type, I can’t stop thinking about my impending deadlines and how I’m going to tackle them; even as I sleep, I dream about my impending deadlines. It can be a morbid reality for some people (certainly is for me at times), but there’s something oddly enjoyable it. After all, there’s this blessed assurance that this semester will be my hardest semester of my four years here. Moreover, I’ll be living the life next year while most of my peers will be suffering through the software engineering class I’m taking now… when I put it that way, it really doesn’t sound so bad right?
More and more, I’ve been feeling like a workhorse machine. I forget to eat, forget to move, and even forget my own self at times; I become trapped in the enriching learning process (or destructive utter confusion for those of you cynical ones) and just plainly forget everything besides what I’m working on. For anyone who’s well read in the television of spongebob, I’m feeling the fine dining and breathing episode right now. Squilliams asked me for my name and I just went ham with a cheese grater in the realisation of my identity crisis.
Anyways… for any of you who are choosing the college route (or the college route chose you), college is what you make of it. There are hard courses, there are easy courses; there are promiscuous parties, there are bubbling-blowing weenie parties; there are easy majors……… and there is computer science. Note that the double ellipses was purely my creative license and the preceding statements were just that. Statements. Not meant to imply anything. Period.
Back on track. For those of you in college or who are going to college, make sure your choice is yours and own it. I made the choice to take four STEM classes for a challenging semester; every night I question myself for that choice, but every day I own it and truck through the workload. Think well and hard about what your priorities are and what they will be and stick to them. If you decide to change priorities and lose a few friends or drop a course, well who am I to judge; but do make sure it’s something you want to do and not just something that’s easier.
Some people think we’re powerless and are slaves to fate. Others think we can overcome anything we choose to. I do not think either. However I do think that I at least have the steering power of an adipose fin with the choices I make, which goes a long way over far distances, and I plan to travel far.
To be a student for a living (or an investment into one), I would argue, is one of the most life fulfilling experiences that exist, educationally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, and some other lly’s I won’t mention. Take it for granted if you must, but please choose to enjoy it. If you don’t, there are certainly billions of others who would gladly take your spot.