Monday, February 7, 2011

Sleep, Leaps, and Feminism. (And Dystopia Binge)

I am so sleepy. In retrospect, I feel like I always require more and more sleep as
life continues.

During my senior year of high school, a typical day looked like this:
Wake up around 5am
Work from 5:30am-noon
Stop at home for some lunch
Go to Algebra class at PSU York from 1-1:50pm
Babysit from 2-5pm
Run home for some dinner
Go to class at HACC York from 6:30-9:35pm
Go home and do some homework before going to bed
Wake up around 5am
Work from 5:30am-...
And so on and so forth.

How did I not die? AND how did I get all my work done?

During my first semester here at Bridgewater, roomie and I would stay up until
about 1am, on average. Usually a little later; sometimes much earlier.

During my second semester here at Bridgewater, I stayed up until about 2am, on
average. Sometimes a little later; sometimes a little earlier.

Last semester, roomie and I were tired around 11pm and exhausted by midnight.

This semester, I'm sleepy NOW. I could go to bed right now and be totally okay
with that. (It's currently 7:30pm. I don't know why the timestamp on this says
4:13pm.)

When did I get so old?



And it's not like I didn't sleep last night. I was in bed at midnight and set my
alarm at 12:15am. I don't recall waking up until 8am. Theoretically, I got enough
sleep. I can't say whether or not I slept well, but I should have slept enough.



I was planning on taking a nap today, but didn't have time. I didn't have much to
do today, as far as actual work; but only had 3.5 hours of genuine free time.
Genuine free time meaning no scheduled classes or meetings or work that can be
filled by leisure activities, eating, sleeping, or homework.



The point of all this is that I am ridiculously sleepy. I'm not even particularly
tired or exhausted; just sleepy.







On a side note, I seem to have taken to the style of attaching an end-thought with
a semi-colon, rather than making it a sentence fragment.

That was pointless.







In other news, I've still been thinking about leaps. I'm currently at the library,
working my shift from 7-9pm, and the girl that I relieved is a Freshman. She is
a Freshman. Sorry, feminists. I met her last semester through a friend who is now
an RA and I think one of my suitemates had a class with her. Anyway. She is a
Freshman and, immediately after I thought of that, my mind reminded me that, last
year, I was a Freshman. That makes me feel really weird. Granted, I am in a complex
position... being a second-year student, but also a Junior who will graduate in
fifteen months. Sheesh. That makes me feel weird, too.

I was a Freshman last year, but I don't feel like I was a Freshman last year.

Leap.

Although it does make sense... technically, I was a first-year college student when
I was a Junior in high school. Almost. I'd frame it more in the sense that I was a
first-year college student during my Junior and Senior years of high school. So,
following this train, I was more of a Sophomore during my first year at Bridgewater.
In some terms, I was a Freshman; but I wasn't and I didn't feel like it. But I also
didn't feel like a first-year.

Anomaly.

I probably wrote about this somewhere last year. It mostly feels weird to say "last
year." It feels like longer than that.

Perception.

I probably wrote about this somewhere last year. The complexity of being a first-
year, non-transfer, homeschooled, Sophomore college student.

Yup, anomaly. (what a strange-looking word)







I'd like to write about feminism, but I'd want to do some legitimate research in
order to actually be able to know what I'm talking about, primarily in regards to
the first-, second-, and third-waves of feminism. Maybe when I meet with another
Sociology professor to discuss grad school advice, I'll ask her to tell me about it.
I'm certain that she would be thrilled to share with me. Anyway. I'd like to write
about feminism, but I don't want to do the research right now and Wikipedia was
entirely not helpful (for once).







In regards to being sleepy, I wonder if it has something to do with how little
work I have to do as of yet. Sure I have work to do and I have been doing work, but
I mentally-prepared myself for the most difficult and time-consuming semester of my
entire college career. So far, it's let me down. But that's perfectly fine.

And shhhhh, don't tell Bridgewater, lest a hurricane of assignments arrive in my lap.

Anyway. This hypothesis was more fleshed out in my mind, but it bores me now.







That's really all I wanted to write about, but I'll go ahead and talk about my
dystopia binge. I've been reading for pleasure so much, as of late. It all started
when a student in my Interterm class mentioned A Brave New World. I immediately
checked it out from the library and read it. Next, I read A Clockwork Orange.
Next on the list was 1984, but I first watched the movie version of A Clockwork
Orange
. While I am the type of person to generally prefer books over movies*, the
movie was very well-done and the last scene made a much greater impression visually,
as opposed to the book.

*Although I mostly do agree with the argument that books and movies are very, very
different media and cannot be compared very well and usually should not be compared.

Next was 1984. After that, I read a borrowed copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower,
which, while a deviation from my dystopia binge, was highly recommended and extremely
worth my time.

Right now, I am reading The Catcher in the Rye. While it is technically a coming-of-
age novel, it's very good so far and may end up relating to Perks. I'm not sure yet,
as I'm only at page 88 out of 214, and I didn't know any of the plot before reading
it. But anyway, it's been on my list to read for quite some time.

While I was reading Clockwork, I began to realize that I was on a dystopia binge
and compiled a list of dystopia novels, according to a few internet sources. Next
on the list is Lord of the Flies.

Speaking of dystopia stories, I also enjoy a few apocalyptic stories, although I am
nowhere near as obsessed with them as old mister Nathan was. However, if you'd like
a good, heart-wrenching short story to read, look up "Song Before Sunset" by David
Grigg. It's ridiculous because you figure out what's coming before it does and it
is a strange feeling to know what is going to happen and be able to see it unfold
before you. Premonition does not lessen the emotion of watching that event.

I'm not sure if I'll be in the mood to read Lord of the Flies. If not, I'll move it
down a few spots on my list and read Neuromancer by Willam Gibson.







I think I may have just overheard a student say that "efficacy" and "efficiency" are
the same thing. Oh dear, dear, dear.











Upcoming Topics:
Morals and Ethics: Word Study
Motivation: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic

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