I want to go on record about this amazing stream of consciousness that was just birthed in my head.
Today's date is March 19. I'm not sure exactly what time it is because I set all my clocks 15-20 minutes fast so that I get to class on time. It's roughly 4:45 a.m. though.
I just had a dream about the Ohio State men's basketball team winning the national championship.
That's all. I just wanted to let the record show that I may have known that was coming all along.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Good Morning
There are more people walking about on the Oval at 4 a.m. than you'd probably think.
I found that out this morning while walking home from my good friend's apartment flat-style dorm room after five hours of studying for a final we'll be taking later today.
It was a pleasant walk. Not too cold, birds were chirping. The papers hadn't been delivered to the Lantern paper boxes around campus yet. I took stock of how many lighted windows appeared in the dormitories as I passed them on Woodruff. There were a good many lit windows.
They were probably lit for the same reason that I was walking down a deserted street at 4 a.m.
My friend and I, we didn't come close to making good use of the five hours of studying. To be fair, it should have been six hours of studying but all the coffee houses were full or closing (it was late) and we spent a good chunk of time meandering on High Street.
When we finally got to studying back at his place, we frequently digressed with conversations that had nothing to do with our work. It was fun though. Anything to distract from the anxiety of finals week.
Some day I will hold a degree in my hand and that will be a joyous moment in my life. But even on that day —and perhaps that day more than any other— you or any person will be hard-pressed to convince me of the logic and value of a traditional collegiate examination/final. So much emphasis is placed on a single two-hour period of your life and I don't get it. I realized the madness of finals week as my friend and I neared his dormitory and we stressed about how the result of today's final will impact the rest of our lives.
The thing is, regardless of how my friend and I do on our final later today, I think it should have very little to do with the rest of our lives.
True, tests and classes and quizzes and group projects — these are all ways of measuring a person's ability. Some companies won't ever consider a prospective employee who didn't attend a certain school, take certain classes, and achieve certain grades. And that is fine. Companies like that have probably achieved success in their field by using that hiring formula for many decades. I'm just not sold on how a single mark in a single class can have so much impact.
Maybe I'm being an apologist for me and people like me who may have not always tested well. But come now, think about all the stress you feel during finals week. Think about your roommate freshman year who was crying in the corner of your dorm room because of finals week. Think about how you drank to excess after finals week was over to free yourself from the stress. Think about the all-nighters you pulled to get the job done during finals week so that Mom and Dad would still pay for your books the next quarter.
Is that "real life?"Are those the experiences employers want their prospective employees to have coming out of college?
Maybe that is the expectation.
Either way, I guess we'll all have those experiences to speak of (or suppress deep in our minds) during job interviews. After all, finals week is here again. And here I am, studying whilst birds sing and the sun rises. And this will remain the norm during this and every other finals week from now until I'm clutching that diploma in my hand.
Let's all wish each other luck this week.
I found that out this morning while walking home from my good friend's apartment flat-style dorm room after five hours of studying for a final we'll be taking later today.
It was a pleasant walk. Not too cold, birds were chirping. The papers hadn't been delivered to the Lantern paper boxes around campus yet. I took stock of how many lighted windows appeared in the dormitories as I passed them on Woodruff. There were a good many lit windows.
They were probably lit for the same reason that I was walking down a deserted street at 4 a.m.
My friend and I, we didn't come close to making good use of the five hours of studying. To be fair, it should have been six hours of studying but all the coffee houses were full or closing (it was late) and we spent a good chunk of time meandering on High Street.
When we finally got to studying back at his place, we frequently digressed with conversations that had nothing to do with our work. It was fun though. Anything to distract from the anxiety of finals week.
Some day I will hold a degree in my hand and that will be a joyous moment in my life. But even on that day —and perhaps that day more than any other— you or any person will be hard-pressed to convince me of the logic and value of a traditional collegiate examination/final. So much emphasis is placed on a single two-hour period of your life and I don't get it. I realized the madness of finals week as my friend and I neared his dormitory and we stressed about how the result of today's final will impact the rest of our lives.
The thing is, regardless of how my friend and I do on our final later today, I think it should have very little to do with the rest of our lives.
True, tests and classes and quizzes and group projects — these are all ways of measuring a person's ability. Some companies won't ever consider a prospective employee who didn't attend a certain school, take certain classes, and achieve certain grades. And that is fine. Companies like that have probably achieved success in their field by using that hiring formula for many decades. I'm just not sold on how a single mark in a single class can have so much impact.
Maybe I'm being an apologist for me and people like me who may have not always tested well. But come now, think about all the stress you feel during finals week. Think about your roommate freshman year who was crying in the corner of your dorm room because of finals week. Think about how you drank to excess after finals week was over to free yourself from the stress. Think about the all-nighters you pulled to get the job done during finals week so that Mom and Dad would still pay for your books the next quarter.
Is that "real life?"Are those the experiences employers want their prospective employees to have coming out of college?
Maybe that is the expectation.
Either way, I guess we'll all have those experiences to speak of (or suppress deep in our minds) during job interviews. After all, finals week is here again. And here I am, studying whilst birds sing and the sun rises. And this will remain the norm during this and every other finals week from now until I'm clutching that diploma in my hand.
Let's all wish each other luck this week.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
The Day I met Jantel Lavender
Sports writing, and writing for The Lantern in general, has become more systematic for me lately. I have much work and improving still to accomplish, I think I always need to say that. But I think the first step in my journey to "improving" has come in the last two weeks as I've been writing greater quantities of articles with less and less stress. That's a good feeling.
It isn't up to me to decide if the content I produce is "good" or not but my personal feeling about some work I did on Wednesday was that it was a clutch performance in terms of collecting quotes. Even better, I got my work done early and was able to enjoy some free time today.
You do not appreciate life's precious gifts, like free time, until they are violently ripped from your unsuspecting hands. Work from my three classes has been overwhelming at times. You might say I've been flooded with work in the same way that water floods yours lungs when you're drowning in the middle of the ocean and sinking to the sea floor.
Not to exaggerate or anything.
Aside from a lack of free time this quarter, something else we ripped from my hand today – my hand itself.
So I was at Women's basketball interviews today. It was a joyous thing because there was a lot of buzz because they're starting their postseason. I had the privilege of talking to senior center Jantel Lavender.
By the time I got to talk to Jantel, practice must have been over for roughly 30 minutes. So there wasn't even a hint of competitive basketball taking place in the gym or anything... but I think she thought she was scrimmaging me during the interview because she swatted my recording device.
Thats right — in a display of super-human strength, Jantel Lavender swatted my recorder out of my hand.
I went back to listen to the interview later and the impact of her paw on my recorder could most closely be compared to the sound of a meteorite striking the face of the Earth.
It was an awkward moment, for sure. We kind of stared at each other and I just said it was fine and we continued on. I decided not to bend down and pick up my arm, which had been detached from my body as a result of the force of her blow, until after the interview. And that was fine, she helped me out to my car and stuff.
We threw my arm in my hatchback.
Jantel is a very animated person though, seriously. Do read my Q&A with her, Brittany Johnson and Sarah Schulze in today's paper. Women's Big Ten Tournament begins this weekend. I'll be in Indy reporting.
Wish me safe travels as I'm almost certain my license has been suspended due to a passed-due speeding ticket
The original moving violation dates back to November was received while covering men's soccer for The Lantern. Pat Brennan is the author or zero books and one horrendous blog.
It isn't up to me to decide if the content I produce is "good" or not but my personal feeling about some work I did on Wednesday was that it was a clutch performance in terms of collecting quotes. Even better, I got my work done early and was able to enjoy some free time today.
You do not appreciate life's precious gifts, like free time, until they are violently ripped from your unsuspecting hands. Work from my three classes has been overwhelming at times. You might say I've been flooded with work in the same way that water floods yours lungs when you're drowning in the middle of the ocean and sinking to the sea floor.
Not to exaggerate or anything.
Aside from a lack of free time this quarter, something else we ripped from my hand today – my hand itself.
So I was at Women's basketball interviews today. It was a joyous thing because there was a lot of buzz because they're starting their postseason. I had the privilege of talking to senior center Jantel Lavender.
By the time I got to talk to Jantel, practice must have been over for roughly 30 minutes. So there wasn't even a hint of competitive basketball taking place in the gym or anything... but I think she thought she was scrimmaging me during the interview because she swatted my recording device.
Thats right — in a display of super-human strength, Jantel Lavender swatted my recorder out of my hand.
I went back to listen to the interview later and the impact of her paw on my recorder could most closely be compared to the sound of a meteorite striking the face of the Earth.
It was an awkward moment, for sure. We kind of stared at each other and I just said it was fine and we continued on. I decided not to bend down and pick up my arm, which had been detached from my body as a result of the force of her blow, until after the interview. And that was fine, she helped me out to my car and stuff.
We threw my arm in my hatchback.
Jantel is a very animated person though, seriously. Do read my Q&A with her, Brittany Johnson and Sarah Schulze in today's paper. Women's Big Ten Tournament begins this weekend. I'll be in Indy reporting.
Wish me safe travels as I'm almost certain my license has been suspended due to a passed-due speeding ticket
The original moving violation dates back to November was received while covering men's soccer for The Lantern. Pat Brennan is the author or zero books and one horrendous blog.
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