It feels like I haven’t been on
here in a year, even though it’s only been about a month. While home, I had a
ton of free time which I could have spend writing on this blog, but I figured I
would rather spend what limited time I had hanging out with my family instead.
But now that I’m back in Ohio, I can write about the time I had there. However,
a portion of this post will also be dedicated to an overall outlook of the
beginning of my last semester at Cedarville University, including an extended
critique of my major.
Christmas Break
Christmas
break was great. I stayed indoors most of the time, except when we went to the
movies or went to my uncle and aunt’s house. It was mostly great seeing my family
again. This break was the first time since last Christmas that we were all
together (except for that one random day during the summer right before school
started again).
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I tried to be as awkward as possible in this picture.
Yes, I'm the bearded reindeer with three antlers.
|
I
honestly don’t know what there is to say about it. I just love being home with
family. I love watching movies with them, playing games (sometimes), and in
general, just being with them. Over break my family watched all ten released
movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Iron
Man, Captain America, Thor, etc…). In theatres we saw Interstellar (the second time for me), Into the Woods, and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. We also watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special “Last Christmas,” which thankfully wasn’t
Clara’s last episode!
My
younger sisters were on my computer often, playing Minecraft and building some awesome things, like a castle in a
cloud. When they weren’t building houses or capturing pigs in that game, I was on
there either catching up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
browsing the internets, or writing. I made some progress on a review of Taylor
Swift’s new album 1989, but I don’t
know that I’ll be able to post it on here for a while.
I did a little reading, though not
as much as I would have liked. My youngest sister introduced me to Jane Eyre, which I have yet to finish,
but I fear I won’t have enough time this semester :(
My
siblings, my cousin and I also attempted to play instruments and sing together
like a real band. In the end, we ended up playing Rock Band (the video game).
We played many other games together as well, including “Forbidden Desert,” “Ticket
to Ride,” and “Pandemic.”
At
times, Christmas break seemed nice and long, but in the last week I started to
realize just how short it really was. The only bad part about Christmas break
is the ending; the part when Joseph and I have to leave home again and school
starts for everyone. I also detest flying, so I wasn’t looking forward to that.
Nearly every time I fly, something goes wrong. This time, I had a delayed
flight that got me stuck in Phoenix for almost six hours. Afterwards I got a
flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, then finally Dayton. By the time I arrived
I had missed my first two days of classes – not a great way to begin my final
semester here. I then had to catch up the best I could while still getting
adjusted to the new time and the arctic temperatures. I think I’m finally back
into routine at school now, but I’m ready to go back home.
The Consequences of
Being an English Major
Second
semester senior year is too late to change your major right? Don’t worry, I
won’t. But this certainly isn’t the first time I’ve considered that maybe I’m
not quite in the right major. I’ve been feeling lately like I don’t belong.
Sometimes in English classes I feel like I’m faking it (which is sometimes
because I haven’t done all the readings, but that isn’t always the reason).
People use big words like “transcendentalism” or “existentialism” when talking
about a text, and I’m just there nodding along like I know what they’re talking
about.
Aspects
of the English major I like:
1.
Reading great books and talking about them with
other people
2.
Writing personal essays and other creative
writing assignments (i.e. writing about things I like writing about)
Aspects of the English major I do
NOT like:
1.
Discussing books using terms I know nothing
about (and pretending to know what I’m talking about)
a.
But seriously, earlier today one of my teachers
used the word “antidisestablishmentarianism” in a sentence without even
flinching.
2.
Writing huge academic research papers
I’ll definitely finish what I’ve
started here at Cedarville, but it won’t be easy. As I’ve said in previous blog
posts, this will likely be the hardest semester I’ve had. On top of taking
English Seminar, the huge capstone English class that includes assignments like
a 50-minute lecture and a 30-page research paper, I’m also taking four
literature classes (American Literature from 1820-1865, American Women Writers,
Contemporary World Literature, and Survey of British Literature from 1800).
That’s why I have such a huge stack of books:
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| So many books, and this isn't even all of them |
I guess the reason I stuck with the
English major rather than doing the English education program is because I
didn’t want to take education classes, I wanted to take English classes.
However, I think what I want to do with this in the future may not be what this
major is intended for. I like to think I’m a creative person, but it seems that
in many of my classes I can’t put my creative energy to use.
The problem I’m faced with this
semester is the fact that I’m taking five English classes, and there’s nothing
I can do about it. While at College of the Sequoias, I mainly took general
education classes (gen. ed.s) because I still had no idea what I wanted to do. So
when I transferred here, I mainly just had to take English classes (and Bible
classes for the required Bible minor). Normally it is suggested that students
spread out their gen. ed.s over their four years, but my college career is not
normal. Now I’m at the end, taking five classes that are completely necessary
for graduation, meaning I can’t take any other classes. (I mean I could, but I would just make it harder
on myself).
Were I given the opportunity, I
would have taken more artistic classes in addition to my English classes. I
would have loved to have taken a drawing class or two, or maybe an acting
class. I can’t even fit in any more creative writing classes (because they’re
outside the major, and a creative writing minor was out of the question for me,
time-wise). I found out that apparently there is a storytelling class here that
I had no idea about. I would have loved to take that class, but now I can’t. I’m
also not sure why a grammar class is not required for the major. I’d like to
take one, because I feel like that would clear up some issues (like, should we
say “Doctor Who” or “Doctor Whom”?).
The
other thing I’ve had to take into consideration is my age. Dorm rules at
Cedarville state that if you are 23 or older you can no longer live on campus
in the dorms. I’m turning 23 on April 30th this year – two days
before I graduate (and one day before Avengers:
Age of Ultron hits theatres!). If I wanted to stay longer I would have to
move off-campus, as well as take out another huge student loan, both of which
are not really favorable. I’m also very much looking forward to life after
school.
So what
will I do with my life after graduation?
Still
working on that; though I have a couple ideas…
One
dream of mine is something I’ve had for at least ten years now. In a letter I wrote to myself ten years ago I specifically
mentioned that in the future “I want to be someone who works with movies, or an
actor.” I still believe that would be a ton of fun. Last week I attended a
meeting for Filmgate, Cedarville’s film org that I was a part of last semester
when I was cast as Lucius Malfoy in their Harry Potter video. Since I’m
technically a part of the group now, I can attend meetings and have a say in
what goes on.
So last week we had a meeting where
we were tasked with brainstorming and coming up with the concept of a TV Pilot
they’re planning to make. I can’t go into more detail than that because of privacy
or security or something, but sitting down discussing story ideas with other
people was a ton of fun. It reminded me of the brainstorming sessions I used to
have with my brother when we wrote our “Kim Possible” comics together. In the
end, my main story pitch was chosen, which was super excited about. We had
another meeting just a couple days ago where we continued brainstorming this
plot, hammering out characters and backstory kind of things. Eventually we will
be drawing out storyboards of scenes, something else I greatly enjoy. In short,
I realized at these meetings that I LOVE doing this kind of work.
I also realized at these meetings
that I was significantly more outgoing than in any English class I’ve taken
here. Where in literature classes I sit quietly, listening to people talk about
the deep themes found in ancient texts, here I was on the edge of my seat
throwing out ideas with my friends, coming up with our own stories, our own
world. While in those meetings, I felt like I could be myself.
This is what I want to do as a job.
The Near Future
I’ve
just barely found enough free time to finish up this post, but I don’t foresee
me having much additional free time in the future. I will be posting an update
either during or after the New York missions trip, as well as a post which
includes the text of my support letter (which I reeeaallly need to send out as
soon as I can).
So for now, in
place of future posts, I’ve made this map, showing a glimpse of what the rest
of the semester looks like for me.
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