On Graduating

Bring it on. Still...

1. Not ready because a) enjoy learning in classroom setting; b) comfortable in school niche; c) still too stupid to face real world; and d) enjoy learning in classroom setting.
2. "Alumna"? Me?! So we can no longer have 4-day weekends, wear mismatched outfits to class, dress up as runway models for library sessions, and snicker @ people who spend 1+ hours "studying" on FB (only to then log on ourselves after they leave)? Gah.
3. My predictions are always grossly wrong. Thought I would fail out of ILR 4 years ago. I'm still here. Didn't do too poorly either. I did endure food poisoning and one biting encounter with a midget in Beijing, China. Both felt interesting in different ways.
4. To what extent do I have to play the "responsible adult" facade now?
5. Long term plans: Who am I, now that LS isn't in the works? (RECS, GMAT, etc.)
6. Finances
7. Finances
8. Finances
9. Finances
10. Not ready to graduate.

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And this may likely be the last psycho-analytical post. But remember #3--my predictions are "always grossly wrong."

A little Obsession goes a long way

Obsession is passion in its best-distilled form. Prob is, what if you're 2 scared or lazy to get up and restart the process?



To be the best is to sacrifice other seemingly meaningful pursuits. 20-something year olds, often college graduates, falter when it comes time to bid farewell to the proverbial sacrificial lamb. My lambs continue to wonder why my knife has been frozen midair for the last 8 months.

Maybe that's why role models like Bruce Lee particularly fascinate me. Lee's Spartan lifestyle and extreme dedication to filmmaking led his wife to quip, often, that she wished she had married a more "well-rounded" individual. (Seth Godin says in The Dip that the worst thing school taught us was to be well-rounded; this strategy flops in life). Bruce would agree; his typical week consisted of 6 days of training; four hours per day. Nevermind the concurrent movie shooting and production.

Results? The fruits of his efforts still resonate even decades after he has left us. Fans, imitators and critics will agree that:

Bruce Lee > Jackie Chan
Bruce Lee > Jet Li
Bruce Lee > Chuck Norris

That Chan, Li and Norris are still alive and kicking remains insufficient reason for people to assert that Lee would still "kick their asses." A tombstone in the way? No problem.

Lee's advice to us? "Become the water." Minimize the importance of remaining well-rounded; meaning comes easier not with "life balance" but with "light-the-world-on-fire" "gee-how-the-heck-did-you-do-that" grit and savvy. On very few things. Preferably one.

Like H2O, we must first dare to obsess.