Too Much
8 years ago…
After reading numerous studies about the learning process of the brain and how learning things at younger ages is easier, I endeavored to spread myself as thin as possible and learn as many things as possible before I hit that theoretical wall of the learning curve. This led me to take on over 10 extra curricular activities while at the same time trying to balance the course load of the pre-International Baccalaureate Program (read more about the program at Wikipedia). Some of these activities included:
- Ballet lessons
- Jazz (dancing) lessons
- Guitar lessons
- Piano lessons
- Voice lessons (for singing)
- Musical theatre (I was in the Wekiva Riverplayers Anything Goes production)
- President of the Physics Club (despite my dismal grades in the subject)
- Varisty Lacrosse
And let us not forget my work (many jobs held simultaneously)
- Working at Old Navy on weekdays
- Working at Disney on Saturdays and Sundays
- Working at Field’s BMW on Saturday shortly after I went to seasonal status at Disney
Even going through this blog, I can see numerous instances where I overcommitted. For a history major, it seems like I have yet to learn from my mistakes… Read the rest of this entry »
Left to My Thoughts and Squirrels
Believe it or not, I actually enjoy taking classes in Gainesville over the summer. Although it may seem heretical, it’s kind of nice to get a few classes out of the way over the summer while still having fun in Gainesville. One of the attributes (or downsides depending on how you look at it) of summer at UF is that the campus is almost completely empty.
The Power of Music
On Sunday, the power of music once again became apparent to me. There are numerous posts on my website about the power of music over my emotions, feelings, and actions, yet I often forget just how important music and sounds are to my daily life. Read on to find out the full story.
A Great Beginning and the Looming End
For once, it seems a semester is starting amazingly well. I’ve established what seems to be a good schedule at work, my class schedule looks promising, and I’m actually ahead in most of my classes. So far this semester, I’ve been doing schoolwork at almost every available opportunity and I’ve also been able to do it at work, since I now work mornings and mornings typically have lighter traffic (I’m actually writing this entry at work). There have been some instances where I’ve dallied in video games for a couple of hours on one day or another, but in the other free time I’ve been diligent with doing homework and it has paid off. Yesterday, after playing 3 hours of Civ3, I felt like I needed to do something productive. I looked at all of my school books and suddenly realized that I had no impending homework to do. It looks to be a great start to what will hopefully be an amazing semester (it’d be awesome if I got straight A’s, it’d be the first time since 5th grade).
Efficiency and Focus
Two things have come to my attention recently that I think could greatly improve my life: The first is focus, and the latter is efficiency.
Focus: If I had one direct focus in my life which everything went towards, I could be a rocket scientist by now. I mean, think about it, how much time do I spend doing irrelevant, needless things? If I knew where I was supposed to be going I could take classes that would further me in that direction, read informative books, and take the necessary steps to head in that direction. As of right now I’m more like a sphere in my abilities, which does not bode well in a specialized society.
Efficiency: How many milliseconds do I waste each day? If every second was used, what would my day look like? I’d like to work on this: keeping myself accountable to the smallest increment of time possible. If I spent all my “wasted” minutes doing homework or reading a book, how much would I get accomplished? When I was in middle school I used to read a book a week; I’d read the book on the bus to and from school, I’d read the book before and after class, and I’d read the book during lunch. Sometimes, if I had homework, I’d do that instead, and before school was over I’d have all my homework done. Now, I have no idea what I do before or after class or during lunch, and I don’t have to ride a bus anymore to school, but I still have these spare moments and I’d like to see how much I could do with them, maybe even getting all my homework done before I leave school for the day.
Thank God
I said it would be a miracle if it happened, and it has: I got a C on my accounting test, a D in macro (so far), and I finished my CGS assignments. This was the 46 from before. I didn’t do all 46 hours, but I can still pass with B’s in all my classes. It is a miracle, thank God.
Worst Test Ever?
I was thinking about how my upcoming tests on Monday and Wednesday are probably going to be my worst testing experiences thus far in college, then I remembered this, and suddenly, I didn’t feel any better.
Time Wasted
After coming out of about 4 hours of so of no internet usage, I have realized just how much my life revolves around the internet. In my plans for the day, I had intended to do some serious homework (see the last post), but, without the internet, my homework ability was effectively limited. I could no longer do any of the monstrous CGS2351 homework which I had, and I could also not work on macroeconomics, as they are online lectures. So, I took my losses and did my intro to financial accounting homework, right? Or did I waste two hours of my life on the phone with Cox trying to fix the cable? Sadly, my time went to Cox, and here I am, hours later, with the number 46 still ringing in my head.
Oh, between the time I started typing this, and now, the internet has once again cut in and out multiple times.
46
I did the math in class today, and the results are in: I have approximately 46 hours of homework to get done before Monday, wish me luck.
CGS2531
I can not stress this enough, if you are ever in CGS2531 at UF, do not wait until the night before any assignment, no matter how small, is due, you will regret it.
