In the weeks prior to school I spent a good amount of time talking to different people about the challenges of College. The expectations, the Community Struggles, the Commitment of Time and Energy. In all the advice and encouragement I did receive, there was but one thing that made me stop and question... It was a comment made by my SM on the danger of self-help books and study habit tips. As I understood it, there was a tremendous chance that I would not succeed at planning deadlines and fixing events. And now, I know he was right! The first few assignments for classes were but childes play, but what I found was because they were so simple I could not keep them in track.

Twice, Yesterday and Today, I have been furiously writing and sketching over my dinner because my class was in 15 minutes! Simple things too! Like writing a letter to ones self or copying definitions from the book! It was with anger and guilt that I walked into class, knowing I was late because of a simple yet aggravating assignment!!! (AHH... DEEP BREATH, Let it out...)

I walked back from class with Jimmy, a transfer student, and we talked about this issue I have. He didn't have much to say but he assured me it was just something people get over...

I got home and though about something I read from Cec Chafin last week; "Plan everything, time slot your study hours, schedule in for activities..." At the time it seemed extreme but after today I am beginning to realize that College is something way more then the Human Mind can handle. We can get by when our teachers tell us to do this now, that later, but what happens when you add Friends, Family, Work, Relationships both present and past, Clubs, Activities, Basic house hold duties, Dumpster diving, Bible studies, Community Elections, and all sorts of crazy everyday living nessesities! I had no idea life could be so complicated and circus like...

Here is what I'd like you to take away from this post:

0)Plan out every detail to the minute! "Life offers so much opportunity, its up to us to remember where to find it."

1) "I've come a long way since being SPL in scouts and worrying about Friday meetings..."

2) Technology today increases productivity and success ten folds then with out! Learn to Use it! Dont let it use you!*

3) "Dont Work Hard, Work Smart" -R G Leoturneo (This means, study when your awake! And always give feedback when actively reading. Dont be a muffin head)

4) Practice Makes Perfect; You can read all you want about ProE but until you spend the next quarter millieleum down in the Lab..."*

“When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win”

*Ive seen so many kids playing iPhone games during class that I wonder why the teachers even allow phones!?

This is Monday morning at the cool and hot city of San Luis Obispo! I had four classes today and really enjoy them all! Good information and fair amount of HomeWork. Looking forward to this week!

Sunday in the Sand

Two weeks ago, Johnathan Kilmer told me the best part of his weekend was VolleyBall at the Beach. I had such an opportunity, today, to do so and enjoyed it with complete satisfaction! After a Multi-generational church service, complete with choir and benedictions, the college group carpooled down to Pismo Beach where we played volleyball, went swimming and attempted to skim board! (My bloody knee is such a testament! Totally knarly!) I must warn my family and friends at home, the water is no longer at bathing temperature but instead a mind numbing 55! I came in shivering and had to hop-scotch jelly fish, crabs, and the occasional BLUE WHALE! (Sorry, that was poor sarcasm.)

All in all it was a relaxing day and I am ready for classes. I know next week will be alot harder but at least Im comfortable with the community! Sadly, some people are not so lucky. My room mate, for example, spent the entire day doing home work... Agreed he is taking biology, physics, and Calc 2, not to mention, english 134, which is not native language! Let us pray our Chinese american friends don't decide to leave the US and work in China. Its is a future no of us wish to consider...

Brain Over Load > computerworld.com/article/

Solve the Equation:

2x(Days+1) + (Classes)^4 = (y)(Distracted Thoughts)

Given: x < x="">

Hmm, yes well, that looks like a polynomial equation, you might say, but how many solutions are there? Well, without taking into consideration the type of food one eats you can estimate at about 4 solutions.

A) a. y= Square root of "I love college homework!"

b. y=mx+ "How did I forget the Sin and Cosine Function!"

c. (x)(Classes) = (x)(Proportion of Brain Trauma)

d. y=y~x=z Given: y=person a; x=person b; z=person c; all of who look alike!

So in all honesty, I have been doing fine with the work, as it is mostly review which I haven't used in a FULL year. Although the most un-assuring aspect, is the memory loss I've experienced today. Everyone I meet seemed to recognize me and I couldn't place there face, name or major in any past memory! Then, at 6pm I walked into the wrong class and insisted that I was where I was supposed to be! The professor patiently explained to me that I was in his earlier lab section and yet I couldn't recall what he was talking about! Really scary!

But if you want the facts; I had 4 classes back to back starting around 3-9pm Insane!~! I am sure this brain fizz is the effects of my first 3 days back after 365 days off and I'll feel better after the first week or so... Still, I need to push through these mental blocks I've built so if my wonderful blog readers could give me any thoughts and tips it would be appreciated! I look forward to your replies and will take some time this weekend to review study skills.

In talking about the weekend I do have a semi planned schedule:

Friday: No Classes; finish homework; Work Out in Gym Class; 4pm-Study group meet; 5pm- Go hiking; Visit neighbors; Inter varsity Weekly Worship.

Saturday: 8am-Roller Hockey; 9am-Sailing Club; 11am-Ultimate Frisbee; 12pm-Shooting w/Alex Emes; 5pm-Take Bus to Morro Bay, Surf till sunset!

Sunday: 9am-Church; 12pm-Lunch and visit with Trevor Jones

Anyway, that was alot of useless information the you just download to your central cortex which you might never use... just know that I am busy. Maybe too busy? Could this article have a point? His solutions of Itemizing, Planning, and Down Times are simple, but do we really give thought to these in our daily living? "You reach a point in the performance/anxiety curve where school starts to deteriorate. When you're operating on fumes, you go into fear/survival mode and you lose those qualities of success."

Classy Schedule

YIPPE! I did get into the Pro E Modeling Class and I am thankful that its a small one too! 12 students! Although it will be a lot of fun I am sure the Work will be tremendous and I have no doubt it will be a growing experience for my study skills. (Notice how I refer to myself but instead to a skill? That is dual personality that comes up whenever I start talking about stress.)

Anyway, back to Today. I found all my classes and its was great getting to know the professors and students alike as we usually ended early and sat around talking. In fact the best part is I am meeting mostly Sophomore and Jrs. IME 144 and Engl 134 are courses, which I'm finding, most students put off until later... Thanks to insider, family advise I was able to get an edge in classes... although now I'm wanting to learn Auto CAD which is something totally different! Oh, if only I could live forever!

Anyway, The only class I am finding challenging is Math 118; PRECALC! Oh NO! Its scary how much Ive forgotten about simple things like absolute value and inequalities...

So yep, thats about all from the Store front, which, by the way, reminds me that I spent 450 Bucks on Books today! Crazy and Weird. I recently talked with Doctor Cornell Morton, a family friend from Michigan, and the statistics he pushed about the enrollment, the fiscal deficit, and staff furloughs... its really shocking the deep hole we Californians are in. (Not considering the rest of the world)

Let us hope a better time will come or better yet, let us learn from the past and present to make a future to be proud of.

“God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them.”

Dear Managment

A sweet smell of misty air wafts through the air as the sun begins its climb up and over the globe-like sky... I open my senses and test the air with a short breath. ICY, and BRITTLE! I dive beneath the covers and breath the warm musty air... Its comfort, a soft touch in the still of the morning before a new beginning. What type of beginning? Is it a return to a life, wrought with challenges and bureaucracy? One filled with last minute prep, skipping on homework, and finding all the answers in other people. If this be the case, I question where HAS all the self-sufficiancy gone?

...Or will this life be one of peaceful learning; where discussions on materials and processes are debated like civilized scholars... Where one prepares questions before class, and then schedules every deadline to a micrometer.

That is were I stand now. (Or sit if you must be literal!)

Home alone, the first night of classes... Trying to put together a resonable schedule of homework duedates... Tap Tap Tap)

As my fingers grow weary from typeing note after note into the ïPhone", I think back on what it must have been like before this machine, "this modern work of genius."

It is not pity I think back with at my father and my fathers father... but jealousy! For in place of building time managment skills, I am given NO excuse to be late!

"They are coming, drums...

Drums in the deep, They are coming...

So let us hope iCal and OneNote keep them at bay!"

Oh, my! There I go again, on one of my tangents! I must have dual personalities... That can't be good!

In conclusion, (though there is no good way to end this blog)

Let us pray the nearly, 7 Billion humans on earth will one day have to tools and reasorces to educate many, many more! Its is with deepest desire that I cast a call out to those in need that belief is one peice of lifes joys.

Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.
Saint Thomas Acquinas

The CalPoly Report

An education abroad. Not far in physical distance but quite a ways from the emotional and lifestyle I had at home. It's a big world out there, but when I reminisce of experiences I get the feeling that challenges and obstacles we face daily aren't all that brutal. I am grateful for being alive... breathing, awake! I have the stregth to help people in need and the skills to teach people how to produce food! This body can take tremendous stress and my mind is a gigantic mystery waiting to be unlocked! I have no delusions that this first week of school will be hard but I know there are greater men and women who have gone before me and achieved pinnacles of wisdom no one could see coming! It is with tears of joy and pleasure that I consider the precious gift of oppertunity which has been laid out before me... Let my family know I love them. This is my deepest wish. I hope I can make you proud! Indeed, let us all try our best to appreciate each other more then ever.

“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.”