Wednesday, December 22, 2004
'Tis the season...
Why are the holidays so hard? And why did we talk about how hard they were going to be for the last two weeks of school, even though we knew it wouldn't change how hard they were going to be? Just to rub it in?
Thanksgiving was a total waste of time:
I went home and sat on my parents' couch and watched MTv, getting fatter and hating every minute of it. I didn't study for the tests that were looming on the edge of the semester; I didn't hang out with my dear friends from home; I didn't even read my Bible:
Thanksgiving was a total waste of time.
So, I made some goals for this longer, more dangerous winter vacation:
--stay clean (+)
--see Laura, Charles & Adrian, Marissa, and the Crestview peeps (-/-/-/+)
--play guitar (+)
--write an article for Chi Alpha (at Josh's request) (-)
--fill up a new journal (+ in progress)
--blog & write emails (- until today)
--exercise thrice a week (+ish)
--read from:
---Isaiah (-)
---Nehemiah (+)
---You May All Prophesy (+)
---Boy Meets Girl (-)
--watch some good movies (+)
(So far: Amelie, Dirty Pretty Things, the Royal Tennenbaums)
One dissatisfying thing I've noticed about myself is that I often fail to complete the things I should. Worse still, I'm even less likely to complete a difficult task once I vow to do so. Whether the vow be to God, a friend, myself or my cat, I seem to be better off leaving my "yes" my yes and my "no" my no. This is a Biblical principle we don't pay much attention to in this country, but for some reason, God has really been hammering it into my head this year.
Why, then, did I make this list, even reading it to Josh in our last one-on-one, you ask? Why, you wonder, would I flaunt my resolutions (my goals, as we're so fond of calling them, because that sounds better than promises to myself) in the face of my spiritual leader, and now all my friends, knowing full well that I wouldn't hold to half of them? You demand: why did I not simply say, as I should, "Yes, if the Lord allows it, I'll be productive this Christmas, for that is what is right."
Because I'm an idiot
Because I'm human.
Oh, come now, I speak as though the break were ending tomorrow.
I haven' t done that bad for myself, in all. My mind has been rather busy:
Most of my time has been spent in sleep. I'm working off an exhuasting semester. I'm afraid I'll have to ask Santa for a new pillow.
I've been trying to come up with a good reason for my third consecutive semester with a gpa of 3.3. Some of you might be saying, "Oh, David, a 3.3 is a wonderful average!!! I'm so proud of you." This generic you would not include my parents. They've chosen to focus on the issues of my scholarship and my medical school applications, rather than the difficulty of my classload and my additional time-commitments that steal from my studies but lend generously to my general sense of accomplishment. Valid concerns, I suppose, if you want to be a worry-wart. I'll do better next semester...
When I'm not contemplating my latest academic "failure," I'm pondering the condition of the university system in the modern world. Something seems very wrong with the whole thing. I certainly can't offer you a better system, but if ever again I pull the calculator out the week of finals to calculate the least amount of effort required of me to maintain a 79.5, I'm moving back to Prattville. There's something incredibly backwards about the attitude most of us hold towards this whole degree-seeking deal, and I'd almost rather drop out and work hard for a living than fake my way through a lot of hoop-jumping and ass-kissing to get something more "respectable".
This issue deserves its own post in the future: I can feel it brewing.
I've had some good family time, even with my cousins, who have been drifting apart since they've all married. The Christmas party at my Granny's house has been the highlight of the break thus far. I haven't sat on the floor of that great big den to play with my cousins since I was seven, and for some reason even the 30-somethings were on their knees in a circle playing Catchphrase like we'd never left home.
I have, it is true, watched a fair amount of television, but I am proud to say that the box of death has not consumed the majority of my waking life. And what I have surrendered of myself has been given primarily to Food Network and Animal Planet, rather than MTv and similar empty anesthetics. We'll give the boob tube, oh, 10% of the pie chart of time.
So there you have it. I'll have a busy week next week, buzzing all over the south, seeing a lot of y'all who are reading this. :)
Hope you're getting your money's worth from your vacation...if you get one at all!
Thanksgiving was a total waste of time:
I went home and sat on my parents' couch and watched MTv, getting fatter and hating every minute of it. I didn't study for the tests that were looming on the edge of the semester; I didn't hang out with my dear friends from home; I didn't even read my Bible:
Thanksgiving was a total waste of time.
So, I made some goals for this longer, more dangerous winter vacation:
--stay clean (+)
--see Laura, Charles & Adrian, Marissa, and the Crestview peeps (-/-/-/+)
--play guitar (+)
--write an article for Chi Alpha (at Josh's request) (-)
--fill up a new journal (+ in progress)
--blog & write emails (- until today)
--exercise thrice a week (+ish)
--read from:
---Isaiah (-)
---Nehemiah (+)
---You May All Prophesy (+)
---Boy Meets Girl (-)
--watch some good movies (+)
(So far: Amelie, Dirty Pretty Things, the Royal Tennenbaums)
One dissatisfying thing I've noticed about myself is that I often fail to complete the things I should. Worse still, I'm even less likely to complete a difficult task once I vow to do so. Whether the vow be to God, a friend, myself or my cat, I seem to be better off leaving my "yes" my yes and my "no" my no. This is a Biblical principle we don't pay much attention to in this country, but for some reason, God has really been hammering it into my head this year.
Why, then, did I make this list, even reading it to Josh in our last one-on-one, you ask? Why, you wonder, would I flaunt my resolutions (my goals, as we're so fond of calling them, because that sounds better than promises to myself) in the face of my spiritual leader, and now all my friends, knowing full well that I wouldn't hold to half of them? You demand: why did I not simply say, as I should, "Yes, if the Lord allows it, I'll be productive this Christmas, for that is what is right."
Because I'm an idiot
Because I'm human.
Oh, come now, I speak as though the break were ending tomorrow.
I haven' t done that bad for myself, in all. My mind has been rather busy:
Most of my time has been spent in sleep. I'm working off an exhuasting semester. I'm afraid I'll have to ask Santa for a new pillow.
I've been trying to come up with a good reason for my third consecutive semester with a gpa of 3.3. Some of you might be saying, "Oh, David, a 3.3 is a wonderful average!!! I'm so proud of you." This generic you would not include my parents. They've chosen to focus on the issues of my scholarship and my medical school applications, rather than the difficulty of my classload and my additional time-commitments that steal from my studies but lend generously to my general sense of accomplishment. Valid concerns, I suppose, if you want to be a worry-wart. I'll do better next semester...
When I'm not contemplating my latest academic "failure," I'm pondering the condition of the university system in the modern world. Something seems very wrong with the whole thing. I certainly can't offer you a better system, but if ever again I pull the calculator out the week of finals to calculate the least amount of effort required of me to maintain a 79.5, I'm moving back to Prattville. There's something incredibly backwards about the attitude most of us hold towards this whole degree-seeking deal, and I'd almost rather drop out and work hard for a living than fake my way through a lot of hoop-jumping and ass-kissing to get something more "respectable".
This issue deserves its own post in the future: I can feel it brewing.
I've had some good family time, even with my cousins, who have been drifting apart since they've all married. The Christmas party at my Granny's house has been the highlight of the break thus far. I haven't sat on the floor of that great big den to play with my cousins since I was seven, and for some reason even the 30-somethings were on their knees in a circle playing Catchphrase like we'd never left home.
I have, it is true, watched a fair amount of television, but I am proud to say that the box of death has not consumed the majority of my waking life. And what I have surrendered of myself has been given primarily to Food Network and Animal Planet, rather than MTv and similar empty anesthetics. We'll give the boob tube, oh, 10% of the pie chart of time.
So there you have it. I'll have a busy week next week, buzzing all over the south, seeing a lot of y'all who are reading this. :)
Hope you're getting your money's worth from your vacation...if you get one at all!
