More posts from younger Jenna. This time it's College Jenna.
Welcome to College! Place your social lives on the left and enter here. (Sept. 2007)
Day 1; College Life Checklist
- Sign papers
- Read a couple pages from some book
- Call parents
- Think about your hopes for the year
- Sleep. Sleep is good.
3 Weeks Later; College Life Checklist
- Write a 12 page paper on the meaning of life
- Write a 32 page paper on Einstein’s theory of relativity
- Read 400 pages of Webster’s dictionary
- Memorize The Iliad and be able to recite from heart by tomorrow
- Saturate your brain with deep moral questions
- Read 87 pages in The Writer’s Journey
- Read 120 more pages of The Writer’s Journey
- Make flashcards of The Writer’s Journey
- Write a blog of EXACTLY 500 words for journalism
- Drown in homework and forget all social activities….
Maybe that is a slight exaggeration. Ok, it’s a gigantic exaggeration, but the purpose of an exaggeration is to emphasize aspects of the truth. My to-do list really has increased exponentially but of course the assignments are not so ridiculous as those are. I do get some pretty ridiculous assignments however. Thankfully, they are for a class that only runs for eight weeks and this coming week is week 7. And yes, I have been counting down the classes. I will admit though, the class was not altogether purposeless; it gave me time to respond to emails and work on my short stories while I researched material for my other assignments.
I think everyone has a class like that, at least, I hope everyone does. I don’t mean that I wish everyone had a pointless class they were forced to sit through day after day. What I do mean is that everyone deserves a class where you can take a mental break. "Why have class at all?" I hear you thinking. If you don’t have class then you are not getting credit for doing what you would be doing in the no-brainer class anyway. Besides, nothing makes mental naptime so sweet as the ‘need’ to pay attention.
My checklist got a minor makeover today. I got an insignificant amount of work done and checked those items off of my list and then mourned the arduous swamp of academia I have to wade through to succeed and earn good grades. I do not remember signing up for this kind of academic torture. It is kind of like the medieval Rack for your brain. Need I say more?
I came from a very academically competitive high school but nothing required so much of me. I can’t even throw myself a pity party because that is wasting time I need to get the (almost literal) mountains of homework done and done excellently. In high school your grades mattered, at least they kind of did. In college your grades matter even more, they are money, there are price tags hanging off of each grade and the more you work the more money you can receive. The pressure to perform is increased and while pressure may turn a lump of coal into a diamond I’m pretty sure it is just going to turn me into a nervous wacko.
I know that I brought some of this upon myself by putting off assignments and doing fun activities instead...like sleeping. Alright, I went and did fun things with friends too. If I had to pick the area I fall shortest in it would be Sloth/ Procrastination/ Laziness/ Lack of Self-discipline. I saw a poster that said, "Hard work may pay off in the long run but procrastination pays off today," and I found myself saying "YEAH!" Procrastination may pay off today but unless you are a gnat you do not have a 24 hour life span and you will eventually have to pay for all the stuff you put off. I seem to get myself in a lot of these cramming situations, but I can't cry out, "Oh woe is me!" because I know it's my fault.
Though I feel the world is falling down around me- and according to geology it actually is- I know that God is sovereign and He knows what He’s doing no matter what kind of holes I dig myself into. Bring on the work, I repent of my slothfulness and devote my time to God and the pursuit of Truth.
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