Driving Me Crazy

Hi, I'm a 22 year old man without my driver's license. I know, I know. Shocking, right? What kind of man am I, what kind of human even, to not have gone through the essential rite of passage like the rest of the world? That seems to be the attitude in America at least. Throughout high-school I lived in Estonia so I couldn't really get an American license and it would have been a huge pain to get an Estonian one. For the first two years of college my parents still lived in Estonia so, despite being in America, what state would I get my license in? Plus, Houghton is in the middle of nowhere so it's not like I can just hitch a ride to the local DMV. But now I am months away from graduation and marriage and, unfortunately in my eyes, I must get my license. Jenny, my fiance, doesn't have her license either and one of us has to do the driving to get to the honeymoon.

All that to say I got my permit and I've been practicing. Ideally I'll be getting my license in April so I need to get used to driving now. It's not that I don't know how to drive, I just need the hours to make it second nature. The biggest problem facing me right now is that driving terrifies me. My heart races the second I go over 45 MPH or I see the headlights of another car coming towards me. I know that I am most likely pretty safe. I mean, I am a very cautious driver, and I assume the other drivers on the road don't want to die either. I just can't drive without a huge adrenaline rush. Yes, it's a thrill. I do enjoy the adrenaline rush. But it's also scary.

I think there's a reason why it's a good idea for people to get their license when they're 16. When you're a teenager you're rash and stupid and believe you're invincible. When you're 16 you're unafraid. Now I am 22 and I have a fiance and a lot of future to live for. Ugh. I guess I'm just a scared old man now. Oh well.

I would apologize again for not blogging consistently but I know if I do that every time I don't blog consistently I'll probably have a long, annoying apology every post. That said, sorry. I just blogged.

Back Again

Well, I haven't blogged since last Thursday. I'm doing pretty badly at this whole "every day" thing. My personal word count for the day is already nearly at 5000 just from homework and I still have to write an article for The Star, Houghton's student newspaper. Basically I've been too whiny and busy to write.

But that is no excuse! I really want to get back to writing on here. Ugh. I have things to blog about and I will get back to this.

Just to throw something out there I can tell you a little bit of what I've been busy with. I am a supervisor at Phonathon. The Houghton Phonathon is, aside from the best job ever, a job where students call alumni, family, and friends of Houghton to raise support for student scholarships. Not only is this clearly a cause I can believe in, but has also been my job here at Houghton since, according to my blog, September 3rd of my first semester. That's almost four years! This past year I have been working as both a caller and a shift supervisor which has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. I love working with the other callers and I love being a leader, at least in that setting. It's hard to explain, but I really enjoy my job. I'm good friends with my boss, Heather, and I like most of my coworkers. That's why I've been working extra lately. Phonathon just recruited nine new callers and they all need to be trained up and put to work. So I've been helping out with that. Other than classes  and homework regular work has been the big thing going on in my life lately.

So, lamest blog post ever. This reminds me why I stopped blogging in the first place. Life in college is so dreadfully mundane. It's a series of routines and boring school things. Ugh. I'll find something interesting to blog about for next time. But for now I must go. I have class at 6.

My Badass Memoir? If You've Got to Write, Write Cocky

 

And that is how you make your own pretentious book cover! I actually turned that in as the cover of a 40 page memoir piece that I wrote for my Extended Narrative class last spring. That piece was surprisingly received quite well and, more importantly than that, was one of the most exhilarating and enjoyable writing experiences of my life. I mean, come on. I'm writing about the most interesting person I know--Me!

Not only did I write that memoir piece along with this very precocious cover but I also got my start as a writer right here on my Blog. Clearly I just love writing about myself. It's where I have the most experience, the most material, and what interests me most. I guess the reason I most enjoy writing about myself is that I don't understand myself at all. I am the most interesting character to write about merely because I would like to get to know that character.

Due to this insatiable desire to write my own story I have set out upon an ambitious senior writing workshop project: a 200 page memoir that, in my loftiest dreams, I could begin the process of attempting to publish straight out of college. Now, 200 pages may sound a little excessive for one course in one undergraduate semester but, well, I've always cocky. Why stop now? Plus, I mapped it all out. I already have 40 pages (though they are in need of loving revision) and I just need to write 40 pages every 3 weeks and I'll have it done 2 weeks before the end of the semester, the last 2 weeks of which will be spent on revision and polish and saying "OH MY GOD I JUST WROTE A LOT!"

The thing I like about the senior writing workshop is that we're not really being taught anything. Basically we're being told, "we spent 3 and half years teaching you to write--now do it!" We barely talked all of the two hour class today, but I did write 4 pages!This is what I needed. Just a chance to write my own thing. I'm really excited about my results. Just think, you, my loyal reader (I'm sure someone is there, otherwise who am I talking to? Myself?) could someday say you were reading the writings of the famous Chris Clark before he was even famous!