…or “Why I Never Hung out with You.”
While going through some stuff from college, I ran across and old notebook. Most semesters, I had a place to keep notes for each class and a random spiral notebook where I’d make lists, schedules, notes for papers, and other such odds and ends. This particular notebook was from spring semester of my junior year. I’m not sure I remember all the classes I was in, but I know I was in American Renaissance, British Romanticism, Literary Criticism, and Creative Non-Fiction Writing. Oh. The other one was Medieval Europe. Yeah, that’s all of them. What follows is, no joke, taken directly from a schedule I made myself for a particularly busy day, though I admit that there are no notes as to how rigorously this schedule was followed. My comments are in italics.
5:00-5:15 Wake up This means for the day, folks… not from a nice afternoon nap.
5:15-6:00 Go to Wal-Mart I can’t remember why I was going to Wal-Mart at this ungodly hour, but I vaguely remember being angry that this day existed.
6:00-7:30 Read Moby Dick I am quite certain I am the only one who finished Moby Dick for Vic’s class this semester.
7:30-8:00 Breakfast I do schedule meals, but no shower... there's no time for that foolishness!
8:00-10:00 British Romanticism paper
10:00-11:00 Read Shelley
11:00-12:00 Lunch/read Moby-Dick
12:00-1:00 Workout I worked out every day this semester. While taking all these classes. WTF?
1:00-2:00 Lunch/plan meeting Who knows why I scheduled lunch twice… I assure you, I ate only one lunch this day.
2:00-3:00 Westminster Round meeting This was right at the end of junior year, meaning I had just been handed the reins as Westminster Round President forcing me to plan last minute barbeques and the like.
3:00-4:00 British Romanticism paper again…
4:00-5:00 Read Stuart Hall
5:00-6:00 Stuart Hall presentation/dinner
6:00-7:30 Read Foucolt For anyone who hasn’t read Foucolt, this is not good bedtime reading.
7:30-9:00 Read Kristeva This is even worse bedtime reading.
That is absolutely ridiculous. I have another almost-as-depressing schedule a few pages later. This one, though, starts at 5:30am and ends at 8:00pm, so it’s a little tame in comparison. One sad side note, though, is that next to a two hour chunk of time set aside for the British Romanticism paper is the word “FAIL.” written after I apparently failed to perform to the standards I set for myself. Oddly, I remember this semester as less stressful than the semester after where I was a TA for two classes and basically sat around doing nothing all the time. It’s always been an odd feature of mine that when I am insanely busy (taking Chaucer, Core 350, Russian Lit, Eastern European Lit, and generic-easy-night-class at the same time) I end up managing my time with near perfection and am subsequently less stressed than when I am sitting at home on Monday because I only have a part time job and a grad school application hanging over my head because it gives me the option of procrastinating. And it’s hard to relax when you know there are a million other things you should be doing. Like cleaning your car where you found that blasted notebook in the first place.
So THAT'S how you did it! You know I was always curious? And a little jealous, mind you. But now that I know at what ungodly hours you arose, I can content myself with my Magna Cum Laude and go on living. Where are you thinking of going to grad school, anyway?
ReplyDeleteDue to geographical limitations (in other words, there's no way I'm leaving Brian again!), I'm only applying to Boise State for next year. They seem to actually have a pretty good program with a good TA program if I can get in. If I don't, I'll figure I'm too good for them and apply elsewhere next year (when Brian will be done with school). :)
ReplyDeleteYou are right about your need to be insanely busy to be focused. Even as a fifth grader, you had to be doing something with your hands while you learned. Usually it was making a mountain, and I mean a mountain, of small pieces of paper that you had torn while we were reading or discussing. It drove Mrs. K. crazy, and she wanted me to stop you from doing that. But I knew you were listening because you could answer any question I asked you.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was making the bomber out of my cylindrical eraser holder. I taped wings onto it, gave it a paper clip propeller, and filled it with little rolls of tin foil that I then proceeded to drop on the unsuspecting papers on my desk.
ReplyDeleteYo crazy.
ReplyDelete