An Unsubstantial Report...

It seems to me that the pressure never really disappears. Oh sure, you have momentary reprieves and the occasional feeling that you're really getting ahead of the game, but in the end, you always come back to the fact that there's always pressure.

What am I talking about? Oh, life in general, I suppose. I'm still working on the whole "what do you want to be when you grow up" thing. I started looking at grad school options tonight, and man, it's depressing. I really want to be able to do something beyond this BA, and preferrably soon. But there's this whole thing in life about actually being able to pay for it all, which seems to always throw a wrench in the plans.

This education thing sure is expensive. It'd be better if tuition was the only thing to worry about, but there's also this thing about being able to support a family and have a place to live and such. Minor details, I'm sure. So the upshot of everything is that I'm really no closer to, well, any kind of decision than I was a week, a month, a year ago. I just need life to get off pause and back into play. But I'm sure that'll come--it just seems a long way away right at this moment.

Let's pick something a little bit better and more upbeat to talk about, shall we? Hey, it's reading break! An extra two days to feel guilty about not doing enough school work! Super.

I had an in-class presentation today, which was a lot of fun. Well, okay, it actually kind of sucked. Not that the presentation was bad, it's just that the teacher's idea of what's practical was a little off. You see, our classes are 75 minutes long. We start this particular class with a reading from Scripture (which is appropriate, considering the setting) that usually takes 15 minutes. So we're left with 60 minutes of class time. For some reason, the teacher thinks that we can stuff two presentations into those 60 minutes, including some good class interaction. So, after the readjusting between presentations and all that stuff, you're left with about 20 minutes or less to complete a presentation that's worth 15% of your overall grade. Hmm.

Anyway, the guy before me had this really amazing presentation, even if it was a little bit of a broad topic: he wanted to discuss the practical implications of the postmodern worldview to ministry. Wow, that last sentence really made me sound like a college student. It was really engaging, and he brought up all sorts of amazing issues that I think we could've spent an entire class on. The problem was that when he was done, I only had 15 minutes. And the worst part is that I might never get to finish my presentation because there are other presentations scheduled for future classes. So basically, I got 15 minutes to do 1/3 of a presentation that was worth 15% of my grade. Sounds fair.

Oh well, at least I had a really good handout so that he'd know where I would have gone with it had I actually been able to do it properly. And it helped that when class was over, everyone in class also asked the teacher if I could finish up next class because they were really interested in what I was talking about. So at least I got people thinking, which was my intention the whole time.

Other than school, not much on the go. Used up all my photos yesterday, so I don't even have that to waste time with. And Lunar Jim's been done two days in a row now, so that's out, too (although, I have to say, today's episode was stellar--7:30 on Kids CBC, at least in the mountain time zone, just in case you're interested in watching). Shoveled the front porch area this morning, which is always a fun way to spend a morning. I didn't quite get to the sidewalk, but that doesn't really bother me much. Except for the fact that I seem to be the only guy who hasn't done his sidewalk. It's actually really funny--the sidewalk is nice and clear down the whole street, then outside our house, it's not clear, then right after our house it starts up again. Now all I need is a car up on blocks on the front lawn, and I'm good to go.

Caught another Grey's Anatomy episode, so my fix has been satiated. Which is good because I was starting to twitch and break out in a cold sweat. Nasty. I still contend that it's the best show on TV. You should really check it out.

Okay, well, for lack of more content and not wanting to just ramble on aimlessly (I could debrief my morning conversation about the benefits and downsides to ecumenicalism, but I'm pretty sure you have to go wash your hair, or something), I think that'll be it for the evening. I'm really looking forward to not having to go to school tomorrow (did I mention that?). Heck, I might even stay in my PJ's all day. So there. Lots of reading to do, though, which is appropriate for reading break. Aptly named, it is.

So anyway, have a pleasant evening, and we'll see you back here tomorrow.