I've changed.
A week prior to the first day of school in the fall of 2002, you would have found me amassing supplies in preparation for my maiden semester at the Y. My impressive arsenal included several notebooks of college-ruled, perforated paper (each of a distinct color corresponding to a class), new folders branded with the class name of the papers they would soon hold, my schedule printed on a 3x5 card, a new box of pens, and a pocket-sized planner.
I also had my first experience exchanging appendages for books at the bookstore. For some reason, though -- and I've never found out why it happened – they had all my books waiting for me in a cardboard box! They gave me the one with my name on it, I payed, then hefted it home – buying books is easy!
One thing more made my preparations complete: my map. But not just a map... a color-coded, hand-highlighted map. Each building was highlighted, as were each of the paths I would be traveling between classes. I clutched the thing vigorously that first week.
Yes... I was ready for school.
Now I'm a week and a half into my ninth semester here. And I'm mapless. But not just mapless... I only have one notebook so far – it's a light blue 70-pager leftover from my hardware design class... and my technical writing class... and part of my Spanish phonetics class... and the first week of a CS class I didn't end up taking. It's also got the scoreboard from a game of Greed – Ashley had 6200 points when the game ended. The final pages contain token notes from each of my current classes – notes with headings like: REL 3something Day 2. I've got three old folders sitting empty in my backpack. My CS textbook finally arrived yesterday – so I'll either diligently catch up on the reading I missed, or I'll absorb what I need from the lecture I didn't attend today and make it through.
I'm writing this in the CAEDM lab on the fourth floor of the Clyde Building. I've just finished a lab for one of my classes and don't really want to start any of the other homework I have. I'll be walking home shortly, then go to Thirsty Thursdays.
So. I've changed. I wouldn't say (though some will) that I've become more lazy, though I've definitely relaxed a lot since the first semester. I aim for good grades, but don't stress over them.
And in April, I will graduate with a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering. Supposedly, that means that I will be able to engineer electrons. And though I can make them dance in certain ways, I am by no means an expert – nor do I consider myself all that competent in many of the dance moves.
What I do know, however, is that voltage is directly proportional to current and resistance, AND that I will keep changing. I suppose I'm not much different from everyone else: I like most of the changes I see in myself, but dislike some of the others. It seems that those I like have come out of either conscious effort, or through struggling against a challenge, while those I disdain have just happened out of living lazily from day to day.
Anyway...
I wonder what the next 6 years will bring.
/musings
Here's a flower whose picture I took:
