Pretty good weekend; on a scale of one to ten I’d have to rate this one an 8½. It was one of those weekends where I wasn’t stressed, wasn’t frustrated, and for once wasn’t tired. Not to mention the weather was awesome to say the least, a little bit hot on Saturday but I’ll let it slide. I didn’t want the weekend to end, basically; it was too nice. On Friday afternoon, actually every Friday afternoon I take a physics quiz, this one was one of the easiest I have taken in a long time. I understood absolutely everything that was on it- which I admit is pretty rare- and it’s like after that I immediately felt like a million bucks. I casually handed in my paper, opened the doors to leave Robeson Hall, took in a few breathes and walked across campus back to my dorm like it ain’t no thang.
I dropped my bookbag on the ground, plopped down on my roommate’s hokie beanbag and watched some ESPN. “What should I do tonight,” I kept asking myself as ESPN went over the upcoming college football games. Then it hit me, “it’s parents weekend… shit.” It’s not that I don’t like my mom (my dad didn’t come), I love her, it’s just that, well a couple of things. One: the campus is gonna be packed full of parents, and that might, or actually will get annoying when I’m trying to buy my food. Two: I’m gonna have to get up somewhat early to greet my mom and let her in to my dorm. Three: I’m gonna have to walk around campus with her and my brother (who is a senior here at tech) when I could be sleeping or playing Mario-kart. Four: I probably wouldn’t be able to go out on Saturday night like I usually do. Five: I would have to push all of my homework and studying onto Sunday night, which I hated doing.
So there I sat, irritated, feeling more like ten bucks rather than a million, watching sports center. I was still thinking of what tonight might bring, though: “Well I could go to my brothers, cuz he’s always having something,” well it turns out he wasn’t. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that my options for Friday night shananigans were little to none. My good friend Chuck who goes here went back home along with his roommate, Chucks roommate’s friend’s were both sick, my roommate was out at sigma chi all night doin’ his thing, half of my hall mates either had parents already in town or went back home to chill, My Junior friend Mike was working, and my brother was downtown, bar-hopping. I had a few more options, but they were with people I hardly knew, and I didn’t have audacity to ask them.
I gave up, plugged in Golden-Eye to the N64, laid back down and accepted the truth: this weekend was going to suck. About three hours and 7 levels of James Bond in, I got up and depressingly walked down to 7-11 to get me some hot pockets and an energy drink. This cheered me up, when all else fails to make you happy, eat something. After the feast, my roommate invited me down to his room to play some Halo 3. This cheered me up a little bit more. I’m no good at Halo, in fact I suck real bad, it’s no fun when you play someone who’s not bad, so I got crushed but I still had fun and we all had good laughs. “Whatev” I said after being slaughtered several times. I shuffled back to my dorm room. I decided since I wasn’t going to have much time to study this weekend, I should finish my Aris chem homework. I got that out of the way then watched Thursday night’s episode of The Office on Hulu. I was feeling unexpectedly good after that and decided to get on Facebook. I don’t get on Facebook that often because I feel it’s tedious to write everybody; it just takes a lot of time. I got on and wouldn’t you know it, my best friend from home is on and we have long talks about how life’s rough these days. I finally got done writing everyone who wanted to know how college was and realized it was 1:30am. I snuck in another episode of The Office then called it a night.
The next two days- that I thought I would be dreading over- went pretty smoothly, for the most part. I ended up sleeping in till 2pm on Saturday, missing all 14 calls and 5 texts from my mom on my phone that I didn’t know was on silent. She brought a boatload of snacks which was awesome. We ended up not walking all around campus but instead walked straight to Mikes Grill around 3pm (surprisingly the place was empty), had some extra delicious pizza, then headed out to my brothers place in Pheasant Run where I was met with my dog that I hadn’t seen since before July. That might have been the best part of my weekend, seeing my dog. After this, we all decided to go to the VT soccer game against UNC, we lost 1-0 but still had a good time. After a windy 90 minutes of soccer-watching, it was time to eat dinner. I thought I was just gonna go back to Pritchard and cook up some Ramen noodles, but instead me and my bro were treated to Olive Garden. I stuffed myself to the rafters with bread sticks, salad, mozzarella sticks and chicken parmesan. I got back to the dorm around 11 and took an online quiz; got another thing out of the way. The next morning we all went to church, had communion then went out to IHOP for some blueberry pancakes and coffee- real coffee, not like that cheap junk at D2. My ma decided to stick around for a while and actually cook us dinner, which was nice. I then gave my dog a bear hug, kissed my mom goodbye, and said my farewells.
“Well that was pretty painless, I guess,” I said to myself as she drove away. I got back to the dorm studied some calc and geometry and got done all of my homework before 9 o’clock. I couldn’t believe I actually had free time. I cooked up some leftover Olive Garden and sat back for a while. All in all, I was satisfied with last weekend. Despite not going out Friday or Saturday night, I got done all of my work before 9 on Sunday, I got to see my dog, I didn’t have any hangovers, I saved some money on my meal plan, I ended up beating Golden-Eye, and I had a ton of food in a previously barren mini-fridge. I had a lot to look forward to as well; Halloween next weekend, only four more weeks until Thanksgiving break and only 3 more chemistry labs. Pretty good weekend.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Rhetorical Analysis
So, I missed the memo about doing a rhetorical analysis last week for our blog, sorry about that- here it is...
I decided to analyze Marlboro Cigarette advertisements. I figured it would be easier to analyze pictures rather than an essay or a speech, etc…. If you haven’t seen very many Marlboro ads, they’re usually represented by some kind of western front and cowboy snapshot; rough-edged, old and wise looking cowboys riding horses and looking off in to the distance, lassoing horses and bulls, branding cows, filling their canteen from a stream, leaning on a fence post pondering life… you get the point. These ads usually come with a catch phrase: “Come to where the flavor is. Marlboro country,” probably suggesting that America is more than just polluted, drug-fed and crime driven cities and suburbs that have lost or have no ‘flavor,’ but is also a land of unsophisticated, beautiful, rich, plentiful and immense wilderness full of cowboys, farms, and anything else beautiful that goes along with this kind of environment- including cigarettes.
To begin with, the main purpose of these advertisement is to persuade buyers (smoker and non) to buy their product over all other brands of cigarettes. 2: These ads persuade buyers that Marlboro’s are better than other cigarettes by implying they have more flavor; richness of flavor equal to that of the wild western front. 3: It persuades buyers that Marlboro’s are cool to smoke because rough and tough lookin’, hardworking cowboys smoke them on a regular basis while doing rough and tough cowboy like work.
The audience could be anyone who is old enough to buy cigarettes. I think the main audience would have to be men, from age 20 to 60. Men look for ways to look cool but not cocky, rugged but not ragged, tough but not a jerk, down-to-earth but not careless, strong but not sterodic, wise but not critical, and intense but not aggressive every day. What better way to portray these feelings than with a cowboy. If you’re a true man, you’re ultimate goal is to become an astronaut, a pro football player or a cowboy. These are the only three ways to attract attention, a lot of attention, a lot of attention from girls, hot girls. And who doesn’t want to be a cowboy? Who wakes up and says, I’d rather keep my 9-hour-a-day job inside of a cubicle than be a handsome and strapping cowboy who gets to explore the country and live in peace… queers, that’s who say it. The Marlboro company, obviously understanding that pro athletes don’t smoke for health reasons and knowing there is no oxygen in space to light up a cigarette, grab the American cowboy perception and slap a cigarette in his mouth.
Marlboro depicts the cowboy life as a kid would dream about: the cowboy is lean and cut, wears old rugged button down shirts with the cuffs rolled up just a bit. He wears his tan colored cowboy hat and work gloves along with the rawhide leather jacket, with or without sheep skin, and dirt and sweat stained chaps. The cowboy never smiles, he is always hard at work and he shows it with his stern serious and focused look, and if he’s not working then he’s looking off in to the distance taking in the cool mountain air breeze and thinking about how awesome his life is and how much cooler he is than all of them city-slickers with their fancy ties and white-collared shirts.
The background to these advertisements is of course a wild western frontier; pine trees, mountains, horses, snow, rivers and streams. It’s what we, as Americans like to see; it’s what we’re proud of in a sense. It’s peaceful yet energetic, subtle yet forthright and adventurous, dirty yet beautiful. The cowboy is just the icing on the cake; the butter on the bread. It is an incredible scene, something you don’t see every day. The pure manliness and masculinity of the bronco wrangler catches our attention as that of a gorgeous and slim Top Model does to a young woman, and makes us look at him/her over and over again leaving us to question ourselves, “what can we do to look more like them, how can we be that frickin awesome?” for the men, the only way to look like a cowboy is to smoke Marlboros, for the girls to look like Top Models, its abstaining from eating.
It’s movie-like really; practical but at the same time seems unrealistic, it’s like seeing Kobe Bryant break through a line of defenders untouched before his one-handed dunk finale, as if there was nobody in front of him the- beautiful, even if you hate basketball, you know it’s beautiful and it makes you wish you were Kobe, or makes you actually want to watch NBA, maybe, probably not, but still.
SOURCE: http://marlborocigarettesblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/marlboro-cigarettes-ads.html
I decided to analyze Marlboro Cigarette advertisements. I figured it would be easier to analyze pictures rather than an essay or a speech, etc…. If you haven’t seen very many Marlboro ads, they’re usually represented by some kind of western front and cowboy snapshot; rough-edged, old and wise looking cowboys riding horses and looking off in to the distance, lassoing horses and bulls, branding cows, filling their canteen from a stream, leaning on a fence post pondering life… you get the point. These ads usually come with a catch phrase: “Come to where the flavor is. Marlboro country,” probably suggesting that America is more than just polluted, drug-fed and crime driven cities and suburbs that have lost or have no ‘flavor,’ but is also a land of unsophisticated, beautiful, rich, plentiful and immense wilderness full of cowboys, farms, and anything else beautiful that goes along with this kind of environment- including cigarettes.
To begin with, the main purpose of these advertisement is to persuade buyers (smoker and non) to buy their product over all other brands of cigarettes. 2: These ads persuade buyers that Marlboro’s are better than other cigarettes by implying they have more flavor; richness of flavor equal to that of the wild western front. 3: It persuades buyers that Marlboro’s are cool to smoke because rough and tough lookin’, hardworking cowboys smoke them on a regular basis while doing rough and tough cowboy like work.
The audience could be anyone who is old enough to buy cigarettes. I think the main audience would have to be men, from age 20 to 60. Men look for ways to look cool but not cocky, rugged but not ragged, tough but not a jerk, down-to-earth but not careless, strong but not sterodic, wise but not critical, and intense but not aggressive every day. What better way to portray these feelings than with a cowboy. If you’re a true man, you’re ultimate goal is to become an astronaut, a pro football player or a cowboy. These are the only three ways to attract attention, a lot of attention, a lot of attention from girls, hot girls. And who doesn’t want to be a cowboy? Who wakes up and says, I’d rather keep my 9-hour-a-day job inside of a cubicle than be a handsome and strapping cowboy who gets to explore the country and live in peace… queers, that’s who say it. The Marlboro company, obviously understanding that pro athletes don’t smoke for health reasons and knowing there is no oxygen in space to light up a cigarette, grab the American cowboy perception and slap a cigarette in his mouth.
Marlboro depicts the cowboy life as a kid would dream about: the cowboy is lean and cut, wears old rugged button down shirts with the cuffs rolled up just a bit. He wears his tan colored cowboy hat and work gloves along with the rawhide leather jacket, with or without sheep skin, and dirt and sweat stained chaps. The cowboy never smiles, he is always hard at work and he shows it with his stern serious and focused look, and if he’s not working then he’s looking off in to the distance taking in the cool mountain air breeze and thinking about how awesome his life is and how much cooler he is than all of them city-slickers with their fancy ties and white-collared shirts.
The background to these advertisements is of course a wild western frontier; pine trees, mountains, horses, snow, rivers and streams. It’s what we, as Americans like to see; it’s what we’re proud of in a sense. It’s peaceful yet energetic, subtle yet forthright and adventurous, dirty yet beautiful. The cowboy is just the icing on the cake; the butter on the bread. It is an incredible scene, something you don’t see every day. The pure manliness and masculinity of the bronco wrangler catches our attention as that of a gorgeous and slim Top Model does to a young woman, and makes us look at him/her over and over again leaving us to question ourselves, “what can we do to look more like them, how can we be that frickin awesome?” for the men, the only way to look like a cowboy is to smoke Marlboros, for the girls to look like Top Models, its abstaining from eating.
It’s movie-like really; practical but at the same time seems unrealistic, it’s like seeing Kobe Bryant break through a line of defenders untouched before his one-handed dunk finale, as if there was nobody in front of him the- beautiful, even if you hate basketball, you know it’s beautiful and it makes you wish you were Kobe, or makes you actually want to watch NBA, maybe, probably not, but still.
SOURCE: http://marlborocigarettesblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/marlboro-cigarettes-ads.html
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
October
October is here at last… the never ending heat is finally showing some sign of departure and the long awaited cold front is finally beginning to accommodate itself in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Blacksburg, Virginia. As of now, I can say we are half way through the fall-semester (FINALLY), and of course three quarters of the way through the year. October is awesome, it is undoubtedly (to me), the best month of the year. So many good memories and familiarities pop in to my mind when I think about beautiful October, in fact, no kind of bad memories or thoughts come to mind when I reminisce this month- except having my wisdom teeth pulled last year.
It is likely that some, or probably most of you wouldn’t agree, and attest that some month like July is the best month of the year because of it being in the middle of summer, and that is when the “livin’s easy;” some of you might even go ahead and confirm December to be the best month of the year because of its long winter break, or even just Christmas day. I deny these undeveloped theories, these fifth-grader-like statements and attempt to persuade people otherwise, even against these theories by trying to bring to light the sheer attractiveness of what October means and brings to the world. I look past the thought of more school work, the thought of more studying to come; the ending of beach volleyball and shirtless grill-outs with Frisbee and Cornhole on the side. October is the best- I don’t care what nuhna yall say.
The summer months…
Okay, I’ll have to admit, summer is pretty sweet- anyone can agree to that. Although, this is only to an extent; what I mean by this is that summer can be awesome, amazing, spectacular but at the same time crappy/boring/same old and/or a drag (for some people at least). Think about it… It’s May 31st, the last day of school for the year, the 3:30 bell rings and of course, the indescribable joy and happiness skyrockets. This feeling proceeds for the next couple of days, and then it’s practically gone. You’re in the real summer now; you’re working full time at Rita’s or Burger King, trying to make some dough and saving every penny of it before heading off to college. After getting off work, you go straight home to escape the desert heat of July then nose-dive into the living room couch in front of the TV. You take a nap, watch day-time summer TV then consider your limited options for the night ahead: “should I go out to that farm party, get a few drinks and pong games in like I do every night? Should I stay here and play Halo live by myself for 7 hours straight? Should I stalk my friends on Facebook to see what they’re up to? Or, should I just call it a night since I have to work again at 10 tomorrow morning.” And so, this routine continues throughout your summer- or at least until you go on vacation (if you go on vacation), and even then a quick relaxed week of playing in the sand goes by like a New York minute and then it’s back to the lab again. You’re sleeping in till 3:30 on weekends, waking up and sitting around all day, maybe even going to the pool for a few hours only to find out its swarmed with bratty little kids half your age… another week starts, another week ends, and in conclusion by the end of summer you’re left with a slight tan and memories of excessive relaxation and insignificant nothingness.
The winter months…
The winter months are pretty cool as well. College kids, of course have a month long break and there is certainly enough ugly sweater/Christmas and New Years parties to keep one busy. The family usually comes together at this time, which is nice, and most kids don’t have to worry about work when coming home from college. Those are all pluses, but what about the negative sides? The weather… it’s below freezing at all times, and the wind makes your face feel like it’s gonna fall off. There is no going outside to run or shoot hoops so you can abandon that idea right off the bat. You have to scrape the ice off of your car every day before going anywhere and the roads might be slippery so you have to drive slowly, which is never fun. And the atmosphere is by no means pretty- unless you get a heavy white and beautiful snowfall (even then, what it comes down to is a lot of backbreaking shoveling)- it’s usually cloudy and murky, there’s no one outside walking walking around, the grass has lost its luminous green color, the trees are bare, and roads are dried up with salt and have ugly brown and charcoal colored slush lines in fixed patterns following an array of tire marks.
October…
My impression of October: the leaves are changing to the alluring colors or yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown which soon start to fall and create a beautiful murals on the ground. The sweaters, sweatpants, long sleeves and jackets that have been suffocating and collecting dust in the attic are being withdrawn from cardboard boxes to embrace our bodies with snugness and warmth. Fall decorations such as scarecrows, pumpkins, and Halloween ornaments flood the foyers and front porches of every American home. The day of oppressive heat and humidity is spent; I can now go outside and enjoy the crisp coolness of an autumn breeze on a still sunny day, play a game of basketball, backyard football, or soccer, all without breaking a sweat.
I love October because it is a time for hay-rides, pumpkin carving, pumpkin pie, apple cider and sweet potatoes; a time for making bonfires to actually keep you warm and not just to keep the bugs away like in the summer. I can’t help but think that there is a nostalgic sensation of country-side calmness, beauty and balance in October that is hard to come by in all of the other months; it generates a down-to-earth state of mind that not only hinders stress but invokes peace, tranquility and harmony in everyone’s heart and soul.
It is likely that some, or probably most of you wouldn’t agree, and attest that some month like July is the best month of the year because of it being in the middle of summer, and that is when the “livin’s easy;” some of you might even go ahead and confirm December to be the best month of the year because of its long winter break, or even just Christmas day. I deny these undeveloped theories, these fifth-grader-like statements and attempt to persuade people otherwise, even against these theories by trying to bring to light the sheer attractiveness of what October means and brings to the world. I look past the thought of more school work, the thought of more studying to come; the ending of beach volleyball and shirtless grill-outs with Frisbee and Cornhole on the side. October is the best- I don’t care what nuhna yall say.
The summer months…
Okay, I’ll have to admit, summer is pretty sweet- anyone can agree to that. Although, this is only to an extent; what I mean by this is that summer can be awesome, amazing, spectacular but at the same time crappy/boring/same old and/or a drag (for some people at least). Think about it… It’s May 31st, the last day of school for the year, the 3:30 bell rings and of course, the indescribable joy and happiness skyrockets. This feeling proceeds for the next couple of days, and then it’s practically gone. You’re in the real summer now; you’re working full time at Rita’s or Burger King, trying to make some dough and saving every penny of it before heading off to college. After getting off work, you go straight home to escape the desert heat of July then nose-dive into the living room couch in front of the TV. You take a nap, watch day-time summer TV then consider your limited options for the night ahead: “should I go out to that farm party, get a few drinks and pong games in like I do every night? Should I stay here and play Halo live by myself for 7 hours straight? Should I stalk my friends on Facebook to see what they’re up to? Or, should I just call it a night since I have to work again at 10 tomorrow morning.” And so, this routine continues throughout your summer- or at least until you go on vacation (if you go on vacation), and even then a quick relaxed week of playing in the sand goes by like a New York minute and then it’s back to the lab again. You’re sleeping in till 3:30 on weekends, waking up and sitting around all day, maybe even going to the pool for a few hours only to find out its swarmed with bratty little kids half your age… another week starts, another week ends, and in conclusion by the end of summer you’re left with a slight tan and memories of excessive relaxation and insignificant nothingness.
The winter months…
The winter months are pretty cool as well. College kids, of course have a month long break and there is certainly enough ugly sweater/Christmas and New Years parties to keep one busy. The family usually comes together at this time, which is nice, and most kids don’t have to worry about work when coming home from college. Those are all pluses, but what about the negative sides? The weather… it’s below freezing at all times, and the wind makes your face feel like it’s gonna fall off. There is no going outside to run or shoot hoops so you can abandon that idea right off the bat. You have to scrape the ice off of your car every day before going anywhere and the roads might be slippery so you have to drive slowly, which is never fun. And the atmosphere is by no means pretty- unless you get a heavy white and beautiful snowfall (even then, what it comes down to is a lot of backbreaking shoveling)- it’s usually cloudy and murky, there’s no one outside walking walking around, the grass has lost its luminous green color, the trees are bare, and roads are dried up with salt and have ugly brown and charcoal colored slush lines in fixed patterns following an array of tire marks.
October…
My impression of October: the leaves are changing to the alluring colors or yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown which soon start to fall and create a beautiful murals on the ground. The sweaters, sweatpants, long sleeves and jackets that have been suffocating and collecting dust in the attic are being withdrawn from cardboard boxes to embrace our bodies with snugness and warmth. Fall decorations such as scarecrows, pumpkins, and Halloween ornaments flood the foyers and front porches of every American home. The day of oppressive heat and humidity is spent; I can now go outside and enjoy the crisp coolness of an autumn breeze on a still sunny day, play a game of basketball, backyard football, or soccer, all without breaking a sweat.
I love October because it is a time for hay-rides, pumpkin carving, pumpkin pie, apple cider and sweet potatoes; a time for making bonfires to actually keep you warm and not just to keep the bugs away like in the summer. I can’t help but think that there is a nostalgic sensation of country-side calmness, beauty and balance in October that is hard to come by in all of the other months; it generates a down-to-earth state of mind that not only hinders stress but invokes peace, tranquility and harmony in everyone’s heart and soul.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
8 a.m's
I don’t know about you guys, but I think 8 a.m. classes suck- suck real bad, in fact. Now, I don’t complain often but when I do, it’s usually about 8 a.m’s. I never thought I would have to get up at 7 a.m. or earlier ever again after leaving high school. I thought, “I’m gonna be sleepin in till 9, 10 or even noon when I’m at college just to go to two or three classes every day.” Not so much; for this semester I have an 8 a.m. class every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And not only do I have four 8 a.m. classes, but I have 17 credit hours as well including two labs. Going to sleep around two a.m. and waking up at about 7 a.m. on four out of the five school days (8:30 a.m. on Tuesday) and getting about an hour’s nap in somewhere between was not my ideal of a college experience. I would have never thought college would be so harsh. Then again it is freshman year; my brother, who also goes here, told me that that is basically how freshman year is for everybody and that I should just keep pushing on. “Alright,” I said, “I can do this, and I’ll manage to tough it out this semester.”
So I’m sure some of you, or probably all of you have an 8 a.m. wedged in your weekly planner somewhere, and if you’re anything like me your daily routine looks somewhat like this: alarm goes off at 6:50 a.m., still 90% asleep I hit the snooze button and in two seconds I’m 100% back asleep. 7:00 a.m., the buzzer goes off again and I once again slam its snooze, then, halfheartedly make an attempt to rise up with the warmth of my mattress and comforter pulling back down on me. Finally making it off of my loft I scramble around and quietly (while trying not waking my roommate) try to collect my things for the shower. I open the door and am immediately hit in the face by the hall lights, my eyes clinch shut and I duck and shuffle to bathroom only to find out that I have somehow or another forgotten my towel. The shower does a decent job of waking me up or at least making me a bit less pissed. After a quick wash down, I briskly walk down to D2 for a normal breakfast of pancakes, old re-heated bacon, scrambled eggs, Lucky Charms and a small cup of coffee and then I’m off to Calculus 1206 class followed by Physics 2305.
I cannot wait till this kind of day ends, when I can sleep in on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and not worry about falling asleep in class. It’s gonna be great; I’m already beginning to fantasize what it must be like waking up after 8 or 9 or 10 with time to spare before making it across the drill field to the first class of the day. My roommate is a business major and his schedule is about half of what mine is so he gets to sleep in late, take his time getting up, and then attend his geology and psychology classes etc…. I’m in University studies right now but am fixing to be a Mechanical Engineer someday, this entails a lot more work than one would expect so I’m trying to get all of the preliminary classes out of the way as soon as I can, which include Physics, Calculus, vector geometry, English and my least favorite, Chemistry. Having all of these classes in the same time frame is what really blows; I have little to no time to get everything done and I’m almost always studying something or other. What freshman year really comes down to is a lot of busy work and basic understanding. There is always homework to be done: book problems, lab reports and pre-lab questions, weekly blog posts, online quizzes- and always concepts to be memorized. It’s overwhelming at times and sometimes I even start to freak out but I never completely break down, and It’s at this point in time when I wish I would’ve taken AP physics and chemistry in high school; even if I didn’t get credit at least I’d understand it more and have more time to sleep and chill. I would not recommend taking all of these core credits all in the same semester, to any 2010 freshmen.
So here I am with 7 or 8 weeks left in the semester and I seem to be doing alright- besides the extreme lack of sleep and social activity. I attend all of my classes every day, do all of my homework and study what I can until past midnight and later, taking a break every now and then for lunch and dinner, and of course to see how Tim Tebow is recovering from his concussion that happened last week. Keeping focused is the main thing, I think; keeping an eye on my dream and future is what keeps me and probably everyone motivated. Without a dream I wouldn’t be here, no one would be here; come to think of it 8 a.m’s don’t seem so bad, I know it’ll be worth it in 10 years. So I guess I’ll just have to tough it out, all of these 8 a.m’s and busywork; man up and do work towards my… pursuit of happiness? Something like that, all I know is that I’m never taking another 8 a.m. for as long as I live.
So I’m sure some of you, or probably all of you have an 8 a.m. wedged in your weekly planner somewhere, and if you’re anything like me your daily routine looks somewhat like this: alarm goes off at 6:50 a.m., still 90% asleep I hit the snooze button and in two seconds I’m 100% back asleep. 7:00 a.m., the buzzer goes off again and I once again slam its snooze, then, halfheartedly make an attempt to rise up with the warmth of my mattress and comforter pulling back down on me. Finally making it off of my loft I scramble around and quietly (while trying not waking my roommate) try to collect my things for the shower. I open the door and am immediately hit in the face by the hall lights, my eyes clinch shut and I duck and shuffle to bathroom only to find out that I have somehow or another forgotten my towel. The shower does a decent job of waking me up or at least making me a bit less pissed. After a quick wash down, I briskly walk down to D2 for a normal breakfast of pancakes, old re-heated bacon, scrambled eggs, Lucky Charms and a small cup of coffee and then I’m off to Calculus 1206 class followed by Physics 2305.
I cannot wait till this kind of day ends, when I can sleep in on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and not worry about falling asleep in class. It’s gonna be great; I’m already beginning to fantasize what it must be like waking up after 8 or 9 or 10 with time to spare before making it across the drill field to the first class of the day. My roommate is a business major and his schedule is about half of what mine is so he gets to sleep in late, take his time getting up, and then attend his geology and psychology classes etc…. I’m in University studies right now but am fixing to be a Mechanical Engineer someday, this entails a lot more work than one would expect so I’m trying to get all of the preliminary classes out of the way as soon as I can, which include Physics, Calculus, vector geometry, English and my least favorite, Chemistry. Having all of these classes in the same time frame is what really blows; I have little to no time to get everything done and I’m almost always studying something or other. What freshman year really comes down to is a lot of busy work and basic understanding. There is always homework to be done: book problems, lab reports and pre-lab questions, weekly blog posts, online quizzes- and always concepts to be memorized. It’s overwhelming at times and sometimes I even start to freak out but I never completely break down, and It’s at this point in time when I wish I would’ve taken AP physics and chemistry in high school; even if I didn’t get credit at least I’d understand it more and have more time to sleep and chill. I would not recommend taking all of these core credits all in the same semester, to any 2010 freshmen.
So here I am with 7 or 8 weeks left in the semester and I seem to be doing alright- besides the extreme lack of sleep and social activity. I attend all of my classes every day, do all of my homework and study what I can until past midnight and later, taking a break every now and then for lunch and dinner, and of course to see how Tim Tebow is recovering from his concussion that happened last week. Keeping focused is the main thing, I think; keeping an eye on my dream and future is what keeps me and probably everyone motivated. Without a dream I wouldn’t be here, no one would be here; come to think of it 8 a.m’s don’t seem so bad, I know it’ll be worth it in 10 years. So I guess I’ll just have to tough it out, all of these 8 a.m’s and busywork; man up and do work towards my… pursuit of happiness? Something like that, all I know is that I’m never taking another 8 a.m. for as long as I live.
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