...And other tales from the school term. The new semester has started and it's been more than enough time to have gotten back into the swing of things. The air is nice at Shimer right now; the community seems refreshed and rejuvenated. Classes quickly jumped into full swing and the reading on my plate is more than substantial for one person's portion. The more immersed I find myself in my education the more of a need I feel to consciously and rigidly budget my time. This is when I think of a little quip my high school chemistry teacher told me: "Bad habits are easy to make and hard to keep, good habits are hard to establish but very simple to maintain." It's something I find myself thinking about often, specifically when I catch myself in the act of a bad habit; more specifically procrastinating. The most effective way I've found so far in combating procrastination is filling my schedule to the brim. The less "free time" I allow myself, the less time I'm likely to spend procrastinating. And it sounds like I'm taking leisure time out of my life but in actuality the activities I replace procrastinating with are the things I'd otherwise be saying I'd rather be or should be doing. So it all works out. In fact, when it comes down to it, I might be able to argue that one of the causes in my periods of inactivity is a fear of having nothing to do; once I put my best foot forward I quickly find that the work I thought would take up too much time takes up hardly any at all--which isn't to mean I didn't do much "work", it just means that the reading and work I complain about is actually enjoyable.
Having attended a few colleges prior to Shimer I came here with a certain expectation of what college is like, what any college or university is essentially like, and the idea that the majority of what one does in school is some kind of busy-work that isn't realistically applicable to or relevant to the future said student is attempting to pursue. That's why it's so odd looking forward to class and being happy with what's considered homework. Once the childhood notion that homework is icky and the enjoyment in rebelling against academic authority through inactivity as if something more useful would be gained in leisure time is set aside, or rather set to rest, it's easy to find more enjoyment than thought possible in reading about the origin of symbols of mathematical operation (I hate math). I'm the only person pulling my leg to be here.
The other piece of advice I'll leave you with today is this: If you attend a school and live on campus, when you leave for winter break make sure your room is spotless. I can't stress this enough. A clean room is a happy room. A clean room also avoids monetary roadblocks. Since everybody likes a list in a blog so I'll jump on.
How to not get charged for the state of your room:
1, Do not write on the walls. Under any circumstance, for any reason. This goes for doing anything to the walls. No paint. No markers. No drawings. No mustard. No chalk. Nothing. It's tempting but it isn't worth it. It's funny but it isn't worth it. It's worth it...but, really, it isn't worth it. It makes you look bad and you become someone that needs to have an eye kept on them. Get a dry erase board. Hell, get dry erase wall paper. Just don't give them a reason to re-paint and tile your entire room.
2. Do not let the condition of your room become such an issue as to require faculty intervention. This is another point I cannot stress enough. If you don't want to basically get charged the going rate for a cleaning service don't let your room become a place that the schools faculty feels it necessary and appropriate to take the responsibility of cleaning from your hands. If you've been deemed unfit to clean your room, if it's been decided that you are not of the capacity to handle the upkeep of a personal domicile then you can also expect to be charged for your shortcomings.
That's it for now,
and as always this is Justin Lockwood signing out. Oh, and you stay classy, readers.
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