That Time Again
Once again, summer is slowly fading into Autumn here in Lubbock. It's not a very noticeable change at first but it's one of those instances where you wake up one morning and realize that it hasn't hit ninety degrees in over a month, and won't again for many more months.
Life has been a peculiar mix of busy and lax. I had a really wonderful fall break at home, where I ate a lot of excellent food, caught up on my laying around with family and friends, got my hair cut and also managed to score myself some new vestments in the form of two new shirts and a pair of jeans. There were also Adventures In Victoria's Secret and Boo & Xan go to a night market! Wheeha!
Despite last week getting off to something of a bumpy start (see the entries about the ticket and completely failing to remember I had a midterm), it's been going pretty well. I've been thinking that maybe it's a good thing that I completely forgot about the midterm because now I have a great incentive to really bust my ass for the rest of this semester. Motivation.
Motivation is a tricky thing for me. I often have to find stupid ways to keep myself motivated for the short-term, although I have an excellent sense of what will and won't be important in the long term. It's one of the ways in which being out of school for a while has been both a blessing and a curse. It put my mindset firmly focused on the "big picture" scenario when sometimes I need to remind myself that the little things really are important from time to time. The devil is in the details, so they say.
I also had a revelation the other day that this is the longest period of time that I have ever consecutively spent in a university. I left Southwestern after three semesters, only did a summer and fall session at ACC and now I'm in my fourth semester at Tech. It explains why I've been feeling like I'm just slogging through an endless stream, stuck firmly in the middle. Too far from the beginning to turn back, but the end still seems a long ways away. I need to remind myself that I am well over halfway there. If all goes according to plan, I will be out of here next winter. Only two more semesters after this one (and the possibility of a summer session) and then that's it. And then God only knows what I'll do, but that is a bridge best crossed on its own time.
And hey, what was I just saying about needing to focus more on the short-term?
Life has been a peculiar mix of busy and lax. I had a really wonderful fall break at home, where I ate a lot of excellent food, caught up on my laying around with family and friends, got my hair cut and also managed to score myself some new vestments in the form of two new shirts and a pair of jeans. There were also Adventures In Victoria's Secret and Boo & Xan go to a night market! Wheeha!
Despite last week getting off to something of a bumpy start (see the entries about the ticket and completely failing to remember I had a midterm), it's been going pretty well. I've been thinking that maybe it's a good thing that I completely forgot about the midterm because now I have a great incentive to really bust my ass for the rest of this semester. Motivation.
Motivation is a tricky thing for me. I often have to find stupid ways to keep myself motivated for the short-term, although I have an excellent sense of what will and won't be important in the long term. It's one of the ways in which being out of school for a while has been both a blessing and a curse. It put my mindset firmly focused on the "big picture" scenario when sometimes I need to remind myself that the little things really are important from time to time. The devil is in the details, so they say.
I also had a revelation the other day that this is the longest period of time that I have ever consecutively spent in a university. I left Southwestern after three semesters, only did a summer and fall session at ACC and now I'm in my fourth semester at Tech. It explains why I've been feeling like I'm just slogging through an endless stream, stuck firmly in the middle. Too far from the beginning to turn back, but the end still seems a long ways away. I need to remind myself that I am well over halfway there. If all goes according to plan, I will be out of here next winter. Only two more semesters after this one (and the possibility of a summer session) and then that's it. And then God only knows what I'll do, but that is a bridge best crossed on its own time.
And hey, what was I just saying about needing to focus more on the short-term?