Tired... worth it?

Well, its that time again. The time of the school year that your sleep deficit catches up with you and your teachers decide that, since theirs has too, they'll make it easier on themselves by making you teach yourself... via homework. Luckily mine don't do that... too much. Instead, the program I'm in (run out of Britain if I'm correct, but a world wide program known as the International Baccalaureate, or IB) has decided that, my senior year, I should have a project in every class at once.
                   They call them "Internal Assessment", or IA for short. I call them Infernal (removed for content purposes) for giving it too us all at once. Basically its an in depth research paper. English has two: world literature papers. Math has one. (Seriously? A paper in math?) Psychology, which is my in-depth study subject, has one. The only class that doesn't (THANK GOD) is my language class. Ugh.
                              So now. Here is the question all of us Seniors ask ourselves constantly: is it really worth it to go through this much hell for what we think we'll get? I mean sure we'll get credit hours, but we'd prolly anyway. 13 points to out GPA is all well and good until you remember it's 20 points lower than it would be normally. (100 point system, btw) In depth, world-minded, intellectual education instead of bland factual stuff is all fine, but when am I really going to be hard-pressed to analyze to what extent Stalin's regime between world wars was totalitarian, citing evidence from social, political, and financial development and policies in the USSR at any point in my aspiring life as a physicist? or a writer? or a politician? (When will i actually have to think if i'm a politician? Isn't that like, against the rules of politics? Sure seems that way...)

                  So now here is the challenge I post to my readers: do this whole thought process for your position in life. Is what you fight through worth it? If not... why the hell are you there?

             Let me word that differently. If you don't like what you're doing, and you can't stand it, and its not worth what it gives you, what happened to you dream? When did it disappear, and why? Is it still pursueable? If so, why wouldn't you? What is stopping you, and are you willing to get rid of that roadblock? What will happen elsewhere in your life if you did? Is that worth the dream you have? If not, why is your dream not worth it? Do you have something you don't even dare to dream that is worth it? Make that your dream. Redo the process. It's an amazing thing, trust me.

Mine, if you so care to see:

My dream is to write. It isn't gone, its just slow to start up: a book takes a long time to write. I'm already finished with my first treatment. Maybe its good, maybe not. Either way, this highschool thing has made me such a better writer its worth every last minute. It also forced me to grow up. A lot. And made so much in my life happen. It was and is worth every minute. Now for college: not so much. Am I going? Yes. WHY: because without it, if my writing is slower than i think, I'm screwed. Instead, I work hard in college, and take physics. Why? I love physics. not as much as writing, but enough to live with it. What else could I do? Motivational Speaker. Why? Because I can speak, I love the stage, I have a knack with getting a message across, and god do I love that stage. So now, College: is it worth a backup plan? Maybe not going to MIT, but Georgia Tech? Montana University (Montana Tech campus)? California Tech? All hell yeses. and MIT isn't a definite no, but its hard as hell. Montana Tech is so much closer to Serena.... Not to mention: no on cares where you do your undergrad. So is it worth it? Yes. Is it what I want? No. But I'm doing it anyway, because afterwards, life is more exiting and possible. And life is more exiting in Montana. (State Slogan of Big Sky Country).


Thank you all for listening to my blahber. Now to language Homework, then Hamlet.

perseverence

Ah. Finally, the old internet is working again. I at last can blog in peace, tranquility, a blasting stereo playing Synthesia style music. And on time too!

Perseverence.

Perserverence.

Perseverance.

                         See that? What did I do when I got it wrong? I persevered until I got it right. That is an ironic but good example of perseverance. Perseverance is an interesting thing. I know I'm doing a lot on how people are and act right now, I don't know why. Well, I kind of do: 42. Thats the answer. Always is, always will be. Perseverance is a strange and elusive, and often rare, thing. The irony is just because you have it doesn't mean that in five seconds from now you still will, it can change in an instant. Perseverance is a powerful tool for good and a strangely useful one for those who do evil. Hmm. Perseverance.

                           This week has been hectic so far for me and Serena, but (I think) especially for me. Monday, I had no school (GO COLUMBUS! You didn't discover America, despite our schools and national holidays' claims, you found the Bahamas. Its called the Americas because Americo found it. Americo Vaspucci. A while before you sailed the ocean blue, Colum-boy-o. But anyway, you get me out of school, so meh.) And Tuesday I had a LOT to do. My Extended Essay (a long and arduous assignment that took summer and until now) is due tomorrow or Friday, and today I had a bunch of College preparations to do. And I still have more. College is a funny thing: they want you to come so badly they'll pay your way through,  but they're vindictive: you have to spend hours upon hours figuring out how to get there. For those of you (nonexistant) readers who are still working on college, a great place is Cappex.com. They help a LOT. You still need a lot of information, like your GPA in a 4.0 scale and sometimes a 100 point scale, you have to have your rank, financial stuff, etc., your preferences for colleges, but it streamlines it and tells you what you need. Cappex.com.

                               This is what comes of procrastination. BTW, is it a disease? I haven't gotten much reply on that from you numerous (imaginary) readers.

Procrastination (Against Argument)

Resolved:  Procrastination is a form of sickness, not of the body but of the mind.

If you recall, last time I constructed the argument on the posotive or for side of this debate. Many great logicians have said that arguing both sides of an argument, especially one you don't agree with, is a powerful tool for increasing your potency with the double-edged sword that is logic. In addition, it ensures a well rounded opinion. A radical logician (gasp!) once claimed that a marraige could be kept much more intact by occasionally switching sides of an argument in the middle of heated debate, making you see the other's point of view. Don't remember who. Ironic if they weren't married, no? But they did have a point. In addition, check this: arguing for and against an abstract generality that is usually not intended for deep logical scrutiny ("God, he's as fat as a Panda!" for example, or th phrase "bear hug") also stretches the logical muscles (and admittedly sometimes leaves them sore) in a new and stimulating way. It's like fitting a gay guy with a lesbian. Or a square peg in a round hole. It doesn't work. Just doesn't. unless the peg's diagonal (corner to corner) is smaller than or equal to the diameter of the round hole. (See what I mean? Falls apart at first sign of actual logic) Anyway, now that I've rambled, (no, not Rambo'd, ladies, I'm still beshirted and non-lethal. Well, at least beshirted... so don't get to exited) on to the argument.


         My opponent attempts to make a case for the definition of Procrastination as a sickness by corralating small aspects of it to definitions, he neglects other neccesities for classification of an illness. The easiest of these to make is, of course, the idea that a sickness, in the infectious sense, is something BIOLOGICAL, in other words an organism. As far as modern medicine can discern, (and it can discern a lot) there is no such infectious agent. In addition, while my opponent cites that procrastination is a very infectious thing, he fails to cite that the infection, if it can even be so called, is something of an intellectual nature: procrastination begins and ends inthe psyche. My opponent cites procrastination as a psychological illness in the majority of his argument, however fails to keep this definition throught: if he had been reffering to only a psychological illness, he would have had no basis to make the point of infectioius properties: psychological illnesses are not infectious because their nature is in the psyche, not a biological agent foreign to the body.

          My opponent correctly corralates procrastination to the definition for a psychological illness, but fails to carry forward this argument: psychological illnesses are also caused, in part, by a chemical or physical alteration in the patient according to many psychologists, citing the imbalance of hormones, adrenaline, dopanine, estrogen/testosterone, and other mood/altering chemicals that are produced naturally as the source of illness. Also, all psychological illnesses are constant in their occruance: either they are literally constant, as with some schitsophrenics and many obsessive compulsive patients, or they are instead consistant within thier trigger: they are always or almost always turned on by a position that fits an event archetype, or a general style. Examples are shcitsophrenics who hear voices in crowded or noisy rooms (both a dance and a meeting fit the archetype of noisy crowded room), all phobics (whenever the object of phobia, whether abstract or physical, is near them they become deleriously afraid), or sufferers of strange diseases such a Koro*. All of these are very specific in the generality of their causes, but procrastination is not. It can have many causes, and in some cases the same thing doesn't cause it twice in a lifetime. This retracts greatly from its definition as a mental illness, as well as the important fact that it is, as of yet, not a mental illness even in a time when worry over healthy eating is considered one^. Thus my opponent's arguments, though a valiant attempt, are not valid.

In addition, I am much better looking than my opponent and can sing better too! (had to add humor somewhere...)


Thank you for listening to my awesomely unfollowed blog. (Total visits in the past week: 3! Total visits from me and Serena, 3!!! VWOOT!!!)

Which argument is the better? Email me! Have a better one? Email me, I'll post it. Do you actually read this? Follow me, or bookmark it, and come back! I love readers. No I don't make money, but contact me about donation, and I'll gladly accept. Soon I hope to have a donations page up. Thanks all!

            *Koro is a Japanese disease of the mind specific to only Japan, in which a man gains an irrational feeling that his penis is retracting steadily into his body, and for some reasons is convinced that once it does he shall die. Koro is known to cause patients to take various, often... extreme (god thats painful) measures to prevent this, from weights tied around it, tieing it to the leg, stapling it to the leg (GOD OUCH!!) hooking (yes hooking) weights to it, connecting it by tie or tied hook to the foot, routinely using something tied or hooked to it (what the hell is with all the hooks?!?!?!) and attempting extension in the same manner one might pull out a tooth, (eg. slamming a door, dropping a heavy object tied to it, etc.) with alarming regularity. It is a strange and elusive disease, and Koro patients often claim a cold or other sensation in the penis that they attribute to the "Lethal Retraction." (Sorry, couldn't stop myself from that particular movie-title-pun.)\

^ A recent release from the NPA (National Psychological Association) announced a new psychological disease defined as "worry over the health of food one is consuming" or something very similar.

Return of the Blogger: Debate of Procrastination (For argument)

I know I didn't blog all last week. Last week was busy to say the least. God. But it did provide a few good topics for this week. Firstly: Procrastination.

       Very few of us are immune to procrastination, its a powerful force and a powerful lack thereof.
Resolved: Procrastination is a form of sickness, not of the body but of the mind.

For: Procrastination is a wide topic, ranging from putting of homework until tomorrow to leaving a bill to pass without your signature... Mr. President. The idea that procrastination is a form of sickness is a very difficult point to either prove or disprove, for a few important reasons. However, proof positive is possible providing there is a careful look at the definitions of a mental illness, an illness in general, and the effects of procrastination.

Mental illness is commonly defined as a deviation from logical or productive paths of thought or action in a manner that harms everyday life. Under this definition, its true, some schitsophrenics aren't mentally ill, but thats perfectly fine so long as they don't do anything about those voices. In fact, many writers claim that they can not only hear their characters talking to them in their minds as they write, but can converse with them and eventually have them as constant companions even when a series is finished, and yet they are not considered schitsophrenic by everyday society or many psychologists. Why? Becasue these voices, though similar to a schitsophrenic, are not hindering, and in fact the author can claim are helping, the author's every day life. Illness is something that deviates the body from its standard operation and causes negative effects. Often illness is infective, but not always.

             Procrastination is a state of mind or decision that causes work load to increase later for a modicum, sometimes a quantum, of solace on the knowledge that "at least I got to have some fun first." It can not only increase work load and prevent the acheivement of awards and goals on a day to day or week to week basis, but can even do so on a life-altering scale. Examples to support this include: college or job applications, proposal to a significant other, confessing feelings to another, or completeing a graduate thesis paper. In addition, procrastination can cause other negative actions, such as smoking, rule-breaking, or excessive playing of videogames, as well as atrophy of the brain and/or body. In addition, procrastination can lead both directly and indirectly to the procrastination of others: invitation to join in procrastination direclty affects and effectively spreads procrastination, and those who view procrastnation may be destracted, as well as lose interest in doing the right thing and begin to procrastinate themselves. Thus, procrastination is infective, as some illnesses, and, as a mental illness specifically, is a negative factor in everyday life and standard functioning on a daily, weekly, and even life-long basis.

next time, the against argument. And following: more posts from last week. I hope to get back to the M/W/F schedule this week, and soon enough to gain the ability to post every day. Here's to hoping, Eh?