UN100

I'm back in the "Rat Race." That thought struck me the other day. I was out feeding my chickens, picking veggies from my garden and splitting some wood for my wood stove. The contrast of my rural existance, with what is expected of me at college was well.. striking. I like the rural way better.
Like every other adult in the U.S. I am driven to provide a good life for my family. This I want to do. But at what cost? My initial obsvervation of college life was, busy, busy, busy, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, deadlines here, and deadlines there. Now dont get me wrong, there are deadlines and busyness with rural life, they are just not man made or artificial, and the pace is slower. I think I know why the bible speaks of mens hearts failing in the latter days, the pace of life is too damned fast. I split wood because winter is coming not because a professor tells me to, and has made an arbitrary time that it must be done by.
My classes are a little harder than I thought they would be. Thats O.K. though. I think that part of it may be that my heart isnt really in what I'm doing. By nature I'm an entreprenuer, not a radiograghic tech. If I had the capital I wouldnt be here I would be opening my restaurant. Thats the business I know and love.
I think alot of the other students here are going to school because that is what is expected. There are some very bright kids in my classes. It saddens me that for alot of them, their parents were trained, as were they to work for somebody else. Thats my one knock against the whole educational system, its goal is to make you marketable to others. To collect a paycheck. Maybe thats just my own bias showing through, I dont know.
My instructors all seem very professional and knowledgable in their fields. A couple of them actually seem to care about their students. I really wasnt expecting that.
I believe my biggest challenge this semester is going to be an inward struggle to keep plugging away at this when my heart isnt in to it. I'm working my butt off for something that I really dont want to do, and I dont know if I will be financially able to "stay the course" and finish school.
There has been some interesting things learned though. I learned about different planes of view, like the transverse plane, or the sagittal plane. I learned a little medical nomiclature also.
It was a pleasant change of gears to go to my UN100 class and actually spend some time outside in the courtyard. After not having a real summer this year it was a bummer for the weather to finally warm up only to trapped in school.
I am very good at memorization. That is a strong point for me in my chemistry and anatomy classes. I believe that trait will serve me well. Inversely a bad habit I have is putting things off that I dont like doing. I can only hope to rectify that bad habit by hitting things I dont like head on.
When I take notes I write down an awful lot of things. But what I consider really important are the straight up facts, not all the other fluff. So I write an awful lot.
I find for me that active learning sticks with me better. I would consider reading the text of a book passive learning, or listening to a lecture just passive learning, but taking notes I would call active learning. Taking those notes home and using them to search through the text book and then writing down what you find is active learning.
To quotes that speak to me are, Carpe Diem, sieze the day. Ive tried to live that way. Life is short. make the most of it. The other quote is like unto it "grind it out." That is the story of my life... or maybe thats "Gut it out."
My goal for next week is to damn sure carve out some time for my wife and kids. I will not let my family life be pushed aside by my professors demands.