Oct 29, 2010

The Point of No Return

I truly believe that one of the most interesting phenomena involved in essay season is the point of no return. It hits people in different ways.

Some people get stressed, lock themselves in their rooms, and refuse to dress themselves or shower for days. For a shower becomes the reward for every correctly placed comma, period and citation.

Some avoid the work. They dance and laugh and scream about campus because life with friends is better than life with essays. The problem with that logic is that if life is exclusively with friends, the essays come back to haunt (failing grades included).

Some work weeks ahead of time in order to perfect every word, sentence and paragraph. They spend hours with books, dictionaries, thesauruses, headphones and library cards. They note-take, highlight, sticky note, and organize every bit of information they come across.

Or some, like me, procrastinate. They don't procrastinate in the name of friendships or fun, movies or entertainment. No, they procrastinate because it is what they have learned to do. Consequently, this procrastination stems into a flower of caffiene, late nights and excellent papers. Don't ask me how, but these people (myself included) get worse marks when they have done weeks of preparation, than when they have written the paper the night before it is due.

Further, I am the type of the person who reads and takes notes during the process. So, my procrastination, paired with the strict attention to detail, causes me to, well, look depressingly at my daunting stack of books.

Sometimes I get essay topics I like (example: current paper being written on the history of literary criticism regarding Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glasss by Lewis Carroll). They stem into sub-topics (Freudian interpretation, Feminist interpretation, theory of text interpreted as political/cultural allegory), or sub-sub-topics (cultural and historical surroundings of text and how they relate to previously mentioned sub-topics). Sometimes I get essay topics I do not like (an article review on something pertaining to the History of Africa), and everything that can go wrong, will (the missing 'Pocket Guide to Writing in History' which is necessary for the article review, since it outlines how the professor would like it written and cited). Other times, the essay topics cause conflict with normal class work (reading 76 pages of 'The Ode Less Travelled' by Stephen Fry, completing a '5 senses' poem, reading Midsommer Night's Dream, 3 chapters of African History). Still other times, surprise work comes (an email from a professor, informing me that, in order to remain enrolled in a 400 level creative writing course - I am the only 3rd year registered for it - I must have a 15 page portfolio handed in by Wednesday) and complicates an already disgusting life of work even further. Other times still, extra curriculars call, and offices need to be cleaned.

This is the point of no return for me. Normally, students will hit that point back at the second essay. I may have also hit that point at the second essay, but luckily for me, insanity is a very large part of my life, off-setting the realization that I'm in over my head.

I have 4 VERY solid days of homework coming up.

I also discovered that, in order to graduate with a double honours major and a minor, I will need to stay at Redeemer for an extra year, as I have 21 courses (and 4 semesters...5 courses a semester...yes, that's the right math) that I still need to take. It is a very good thing that I LOVE school.

Word of the Day: brain-dead

Quote of the Day: "England would be merely a free-floating political aggregate held together by nothing more glorious than money or self interest, devoid of its once cherished cultural and spiritual landmarks - a godless place not unlike the chaotic underground into which Alice falls i her first adventure, or the 'backwards' world she discovers just beyond the comforting bourgeios looking-glass." - Donald Rackin

Oct 23, 2010

Songs of Praise





May these songs be a blessing to you during this rainy autumn day.

Word of the Day: Christmas

Quote of the Day: "Everything's a declaration for you, isn't it." Ben Lootens

Oct 15, 2010

It's Out!

There are a few exciting things happening in my life. God is Good.

1) The Crown has published its second issue. It can be found here.

2) By God's Grace, I have been working on organizing a trip to Juarez, Mexico. For those of you who have followed by blog for a while, you may know that I love the city of Juarez. My experiences there, in a large part, have shaped me into who I have become. Last April, God put it on my heart to get a Redeemer team to go down and serve the people of Juarez. I would like to keep you, the readers, updated on how things progress. I ask for one thing: prayer. Please pray that God blesses the preparations and planning of the trip. Please also pray that God leads the right group of people to take part in this trip. If you have any questions, leave me a comment.

God Bless.

Word of the Day: intrinsic

Quote of the Day: "Good, now that everyone's here, I can take off my pants." -Amanda Fraleigh


Oct 6, 2010

A Prayer

One of the girls in my dorm have started a morning prayer group.

This morning at 7am several students gathered in the prayer room and spent an hour praying for the school. It was awesome.

In my first year, a group of RAs got together and started early morning prayer, but after they graduated last year, that group sort of died off. One of my girls realized that there is a strong need for prayer for Redeemer. She saw a need for active prayer. And she made it happen.

This morning was the first meeting. 7am, in the cold, when it was still dark, we went to the school. Six students gathered and we prayed. The hour went by so quickly, and seeing God's faithfulness throughout the day was incredible.

This morning, there was also Chapel, and we were asked to write down burdens on a peice of paper and leave them at the altar. This was a great idea, except that...I was so at peace from the morning prayer that I couldn't write anything down. My day was just held in the hands of my Saviour, and I could really feel it. Everything I did, I was just at peace. It was such a great feeling.

I pray that God will bless Redeemer. I pray that Redeemer will be a light to Hamilton. I pray that the students will see and feel God move. That the staff anf faculty will reflect a Christ attitude in all they do. And I pray for peace.

Word of the Day: thenst

Quote of the Day: "You know what I'm talking about. That love at first sight. You are at a party, and your eyes meet, and something goes BOING!" -Dr. Loney