I always thought that I would always know what I needed or wanted do in my life but now I'm not so sure. As a child, I always used to say I loved dinosaurs. I said I wanted to be a paleontologist and dig up dinosaur bones. It sounded like the coolest and simplist job in the world back then. But once I got into high school, I decided that I liked something else: music. That job seemed like even more of a dream come true and in reality it probably would have to be for me to become a famous singer. And based on the way the economy is going, neither of those jobs is really economical for a career. When I started debating this I looked back at a song we did in show choir freshman year, "Show Me the Way" by Styx.
That song really adresses the feelings that I have and I'm sure others do to. The question is, who are you asking to show you the way? Some would say god because to most that seems like the most reasonable subject for the song or that is who they always turn to but I think that we can turn to something more tangable then that. The people who will really show us the way are the people who we love and who protect us. Our friends, our families, our teachers, and everyone else we respect and love teach us what we need to know so that, when the day comes, we will be ready to choose the right way and suceed in whatever we do. Maybe it won't be what we thought we wanted; maybe we will change our minds and go down a completely different path but no matter what we choose to do with our lives, those who helped you choose it will always support you and guide you even after you have made your choice.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Project
I am having serious doubts about long term projects right now. I used to love them because you could work on them a little at a time and not have to be time crunched but I am starting to wonder if that is always true.
If you receive a project at the beginning of the term then you would expect that it wouldn't be to hard to get it done by the end of the term. However you have to make some calculations that wouldn't normally be figured in. The class that project is for isn't the only class you will have during the term and it might not even be the only one giving you a long term project. And that doesn't even cover the normal homework that you will undoubtedly have form all of your classes on a daily basis. With all of these things plus sports, show choir, jobs, and some sort of social life you don't have time to worry about that project that seems such a long way off. That is, at least until it isn't such a long way off. when that day comes and you finally realize that you don't have time to put off the project it is too late. Suddenly you are pulling an all nighter the day before it is due, desperately trying to read the necessary materials and not die of a heart attack from fear and over exhaustion, not to mention the six cups of coffee that have made you so caffeine resistant they don't even do any good. And then you are done. you sit, read it, and then find that you didn't even write down what you were supposed to and you start the whole cycle again. Some would call this procrastination but I don't think that is correct. I view procrastination as a habit of putting off work in the short term sense and then doing it at the last minute. this is when you knew that you needed to do it but you had other priorities that never got finished until you just had to put them aside and work on this at the last minute. People who do this are smart people who are forced into massive amounts of very hard classes by the pressure to be the most intelligent they can be and are almost in over their head with the overwhelming difficulty.
If you receive a project at the beginning of the term then you would expect that it wouldn't be to hard to get it done by the end of the term. However you have to make some calculations that wouldn't normally be figured in. The class that project is for isn't the only class you will have during the term and it might not even be the only one giving you a long term project. And that doesn't even cover the normal homework that you will undoubtedly have form all of your classes on a daily basis. With all of these things plus sports, show choir, jobs, and some sort of social life you don't have time to worry about that project that seems such a long way off. That is, at least until it isn't such a long way off. when that day comes and you finally realize that you don't have time to put off the project it is too late. Suddenly you are pulling an all nighter the day before it is due, desperately trying to read the necessary materials and not die of a heart attack from fear and over exhaustion, not to mention the six cups of coffee that have made you so caffeine resistant they don't even do any good. And then you are done. you sit, read it, and then find that you didn't even write down what you were supposed to and you start the whole cycle again. Some would call this procrastination but I don't think that is correct. I view procrastination as a habit of putting off work in the short term sense and then doing it at the last minute. this is when you knew that you needed to do it but you had other priorities that never got finished until you just had to put them aside and work on this at the last minute. People who do this are smart people who are forced into massive amounts of very hard classes by the pressure to be the most intelligent they can be and are almost in over their head with the overwhelming difficulty.
The Halloween Change
As I went out trick or treating for possibly the last time last night, I thought about how Halloween has changed. Many of the houses in my neighborhood didn't even welcome trick or treaters and most didn't want to give anything even though I was taking my younger siblings out. I also noticed that there were almost no kids trick or treating. My dad was handing out candy and said he saw a max of ten kids which was even a large step back from last year. then a thought came to me about something one of my teachers said about Halloween.
When this teacher was asked if they were doing anything for Halloween they promptly replied no and said that they didn't like the holiday. Naturally we wanted to know why because we all love Halloween. They replied that Halloween used to be a kids holiday about trick or treating and dressing up in cute costumes and now, it has turned into an adult holiday about going to haunted houses, costume parties, and seeing how slutty you can dress. I didn't think I agreed with this until I saw the reduced number of kids getting candy, more costumes for older people, and the increased number of haunted houses. I was shopping in the mall with my family today and we stopped by the Halloween store to see what they had left because everything was half off. I bought a wig but that was it because the store was filled with two things: revealing outfits for women and gory masks. That was about it. I didn't want to believe it but maybe Halloween had really become an older holiday. But why would that happen? It could be that we are slowly becoming a more mature society but I think it is more likely that the holiday is growing with the generation before me. Maybe the Halloween we once knew was based on what the last generation thought of Halloween and now that they are adults the holiday is growing up to match them instead of staying young and supporting the children of today. Think of how kids would have to go out trick or treating: their parents would have to drive them. Who hands out candy at the door: The parents again. If the parents decide that they want something different for the holiday or don't want it at all, then the children have no choice but to forget about the holiday and some of them may never even learn about it. I hope that is never the truth but in this ever changing world we live in you never know what will happen next.
When this teacher was asked if they were doing anything for Halloween they promptly replied no and said that they didn't like the holiday. Naturally we wanted to know why because we all love Halloween. They replied that Halloween used to be a kids holiday about trick or treating and dressing up in cute costumes and now, it has turned into an adult holiday about going to haunted houses, costume parties, and seeing how slutty you can dress. I didn't think I agreed with this until I saw the reduced number of kids getting candy, more costumes for older people, and the increased number of haunted houses. I was shopping in the mall with my family today and we stopped by the Halloween store to see what they had left because everything was half off. I bought a wig but that was it because the store was filled with two things: revealing outfits for women and gory masks. That was about it. I didn't want to believe it but maybe Halloween had really become an older holiday. But why would that happen? It could be that we are slowly becoming a more mature society but I think it is more likely that the holiday is growing with the generation before me. Maybe the Halloween we once knew was based on what the last generation thought of Halloween and now that they are adults the holiday is growing up to match them instead of staying young and supporting the children of today. Think of how kids would have to go out trick or treating: their parents would have to drive them. Who hands out candy at the door: The parents again. If the parents decide that they want something different for the holiday or don't want it at all, then the children have no choice but to forget about the holiday and some of them may never even learn about it. I hope that is never the truth but in this ever changing world we live in you never know what will happen next.
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