Folks, as we approach week 8 of the project, I have been dealing with some emotions lately. I feel just a little bit scared about my future. Not just scared about what the future of this project will turn out to be, but also my future in general. I am scared that the whole theater program thing won’t work out and I’ll go through life completely unsuccessful. I know it is a big jump from plans not working out to destruction of one’s life. But my mind tends to exaggerate things a lot and goes to the worst case scenario. Of course, I know I should not let one thing have me crash and burn but even then, my mind still can’t help but wander to, “What if?” That is something that I feel like a lot of people think about, but usually never say.
That just seems to be one of the many things about being a person on this big wide Earth. For whatever reason, if one is to show even the slightest bit of even the most reasonable panic or worry, they are brushed off as nothing but a drama queen, that has been the issue my case, at least. I feel like that nobody really understands the mind of yours truly. (My dad just confirmed that)! There are times when maybe I DO exaggerate the situation but I really do feel like people never truly understand me or my problems or the things I worry about. Whenever I try to express my feelings, I feel like I just get brushed off. That is basically a summary of how I feel to give you guys a better understanding of where I am coming from and how it has been affecting me throughout the process of this project thus far. It has not ruined the entire project but it’s certainly kept me on edge. Sometimes, the stress is not necessarily something that is good or bad. Sometimes it is just something that helps keep me on my toes. What is important is that I am keeping it together.
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We are over the halfway mark and things are shaking up, folks! It seems like it was just yesterday that we started to hear about the Genius Hour project for the very first time. Something I have noticed is the amount of progress I have made in the project. There are still things to be done though. For example, my spreadsheet is still available for updating (come to me if you want to see a certain college or university researched and put on the list)! Then, I still need to get my options narrowed down. I need to face the facts that as much as I envisioned myself going out-of-state for college, the top two factors are this right now - 1) Can I get in? 2) Can I afford it?
It can be quite nerve-racking, not knowing if you will get into a college or university that you have applied to. From the way I see it, sending in applications for schools and scholarships is like the universe leaving the choice to a complicated coin toss, with heads being acceptance and tails being rejection. The coin is tossed many times because the universe can never get it to land on the side it wants it to land on. Sometimes it wants it to land on heads because the person seems qualified but then again there are so many good applicants and they can’t accept them all so then they hope for tails. Sometimes the universe decides not to hope for a side so it can be neutral and not have to flip it again. Then they land on a side, decide it’s not the right side, causing the process to start all over again. That is to say, I do not at all think the administrative boards at colleges and universities leave things all down to coin tosses, I just wanted to use a metaphorical approach to show how I think the simple process of saying “Yes” or “No” can get very complicated very quickly. Something that I can focus on though, is that I can find a place that is right for me and affordable. As Jon Bon Jovi and and my english teacher, Mr. Barker put it, “We’re halfway there! Woah-oh, livin’ on a prayer!” It is week six everybody and yes, I am most certainly living on a prayer. I feel quite nervous as we are approaching the halfway mark on the Genius Hour project. Fear not, though! Yours truly is not just using prayers to get by, but by also using something else, productivity. My spreadsheet has made productivity much easier. I am very thankful that I properly paced myself and have not waited till the last second to write, research or update. While I have posted blog updates on the due date, I have never been hunched over my laptop, frantically writing at 4:55PM on a Sunday.
That is just the thing about productivity. It is commonly thought that productive people are always working and on the go, 24/7. This is not really the case. Productivity, at least in my case, is doing the work little by little to get the job done rather than letting the work pile up over time, which is not good for anyone. Of course, I am not at all saying that I am completely on top of all my work all of the time. I am human. For example, I take five minute breaks that turn into ten minute breaks. I’ve found though, that with the correct time management and organization methods (that vary though depending on the person), one can find plenty of time to get everything fall into place. Another thing to know about being productive is accepting the fact that not every little thing is going to work out perfectly all the time. Hiccups might happen, plans might get sidetracked, and sometimes people overwork themselves. What is important though, is using the right tools (like a spreadsheet for the Genius Hour project in the case of yours truly) to make sure the work is correctly organized and achievable to help one achieve one’s goals and finish one’s projects. Honestly, without the right methods, I would not be able to get these blog posts done on time! Okay everyone, it is already week five! Right now, the top contenders for me are Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina and Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. There are, of course, a few reasons why I gravitated towards these colleges. For starters, as I said in my last blog post, I always imagined myself going out-of-state for college and these are both a fairly long way from home (sorry Mom and Dad). Then, there is the fact that neither Converse College nor Wagner College are on Princeton Review's top 20 list for college/university theater programs. In all honesty, that is completely fine with me. While it would be cool to attend one of the colleges or universities listed as a top 20 school for theater, it might put more pressure on the students to succeed. While pressure might be what some students need in order to achieve their full potential, that is not really how I, as people put it, “roll.” Nobody said that choosing a place for your higher education was easy, with this blog and my spreadsheet though, I feel like I am moving in the right direction.
I am organizing factors that people think about when trying to choose a college or university. I am keeping people consistently updated through this blog about theater and college and choosing (subjects that fit perfectly into my blog’s name). Honestly, I would be lying if I did not change my top picks for colleges...a ton. The thing is, I think the reasons for my constantly changing preferences include both my natural sense of complete indecisiveness (cynical, but true) and the fact that it feels like I am constantly trying to figure out what definite factors matter to me the most. That is something that I thought I knew completely from the start, however, the Genius Hour project has since completely proved me wrong. I know a few definite factors that you can see at the beginning of this blog post, like location and if they are on the top 20 list. I am working on it though, so expect definite answers soon! |
AuthorI'm a high school student researching theater programs for college. Archives
December 2019
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