Why I Shouldn't Be Taking a Philosophy Class
I think too much.
If only I could apply this thought to schoolwork, I would be an engineer already. Instead, I'm wondering vaguely about the nature of life and how it should be lived.
Mostly that consists of listening to Twenty One Pilot's album Blurryface on repeat for hours.
My ethics professor asked us this morning why we were at UAH. Most of us said we wanted a degree, so that we could get a job, so that we could make some money and live reasonably ok lives. Personally, I'm majoring in electrical engineering because I think I'd be okay at it, despite knowing next to nothing about what electrical engineers typically do. Mostly, I'm in it because it pays good money.
If you had asked me last month why that mattered, I would have said that I believed a good-paying engineering job would allow me to live fairly well and devote a good portion of my time, talent, and money to serving God. If you asked me today, I'd say to go back and ask the old me why I was here, because I couldn't remember.
Today I added to my Dream List - which currently looks like this:
- Take a class at the Culinary Institute of America
- Teach high school algebra
- Work at a restaurant in Big Sky, MT for a season
- Go to Auburn or UVa for a semester
- Or two semesters. Hell, maybe get a degree
- Work with horses
I think a good list to look at is What's Holding Me Back:
- A week of class at the CIA, with travel and lodging, would be about $4000 and I don't have a week to spare
- For some reason they think you need a college degree to teach high school algebra
- There is frighteningly little holding me back from this - just that I've somewhat committed myself to school and a track team that means I need to be in Alabama this winter
- Attempting to transfer credits is a pain. Also see track team commitment
- There's actually not anything holding me back from getting a degree except my own lack of self-motivation which wants me to fail differential equations this semester
- I can't work any hours that would be good for working with horses, I don't have any prior experience, I don't even know where I would look for a job like this
Some of the things on my Dream List seem like just that - dreams. But at the same time they all seem so doable to me. Sometimes, the plan to get one of them to work just embellishes it - for instance, to make enough money to take a class at the CIA, I would have to work full-time for a semester. If I did it in food service, I would knock out the CIA's requirement that degree-seekers need to have experience in food service - and most students getting a degree at the CIA are receiving financial aid. Why not try it out?
And then the question surfaces - do I really want to be an engineer? What's holding me back from something else? A good part of me is itching (so unwisely) to start life, to go work a job and try living on my own. Should probably stop thinking, right about now.
If only I could apply this thought to schoolwork, I would be an engineer already. Instead, I'm wondering vaguely about the nature of life and how it should be lived.
Mostly that consists of listening to Twenty One Pilot's album Blurryface on repeat for hours.
My ethics professor asked us this morning why we were at UAH. Most of us said we wanted a degree, so that we could get a job, so that we could make some money and live reasonably ok lives. Personally, I'm majoring in electrical engineering because I think I'd be okay at it, despite knowing next to nothing about what electrical engineers typically do. Mostly, I'm in it because it pays good money.
If you had asked me last month why that mattered, I would have said that I believed a good-paying engineering job would allow me to live fairly well and devote a good portion of my time, talent, and money to serving God. If you asked me today, I'd say to go back and ask the old me why I was here, because I couldn't remember.
Today I added to my Dream List - which currently looks like this:
- Take a class at the Culinary Institute of America
- Teach high school algebra
- Work at a restaurant in Big Sky, MT for a season
- Go to Auburn or UVa for a semester
- Or two semesters. Hell, maybe get a degree
- Work with horses
I think a good list to look at is What's Holding Me Back:
- A week of class at the CIA, with travel and lodging, would be about $4000 and I don't have a week to spare
- For some reason they think you need a college degree to teach high school algebra
- There is frighteningly little holding me back from this - just that I've somewhat committed myself to school and a track team that means I need to be in Alabama this winter
- Attempting to transfer credits is a pain. Also see track team commitment
- There's actually not anything holding me back from getting a degree except my own lack of self-motivation which wants me to fail differential equations this semester
- I can't work any hours that would be good for working with horses, I don't have any prior experience, I don't even know where I would look for a job like this
Some of the things on my Dream List seem like just that - dreams. But at the same time they all seem so doable to me. Sometimes, the plan to get one of them to work just embellishes it - for instance, to make enough money to take a class at the CIA, I would have to work full-time for a semester. If I did it in food service, I would knock out the CIA's requirement that degree-seekers need to have experience in food service - and most students getting a degree at the CIA are receiving financial aid. Why not try it out?
And then the question surfaces - do I really want to be an engineer? What's holding me back from something else? A good part of me is itching (so unwisely) to start life, to go work a job and try living on my own. Should probably stop thinking, right about now.
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