In Which I Struggle With HTML

In Which I Find Some Interior Decoration

In Which I Make a Most Important Discovery, and Share My Excitement

COUNTDOWN CLOCKS

COUNTDOWN CLOCKS

In Which I Live My Dream, If Only for One Post

My dream career is to be a middle or high school orchestra (or even band) director. That's all. I've decided that I would like to be a teacher more than anything else in the world even though it means that I will probably never drive a Ferrari or live in a mansion. To me, being able to share my passion for music and hopefully give a similar love to my students is so much better than being financially wealthy. I was convinced that I would never be a teacher for the longest time, mostly because both of my parents are teachers and they warned me of the hardships of the life of a teacher - a life that is uphill both ways in the freezing rain and driving snow. A life that is riddled with financial difficulties. A life that will leave you frustrated and exhausted. But they also inspired me with stories of a life filled with rewarding moments and poignant relationships with students that make all of the burdens so very unimportant. 

The decision to become a teacher came after much struggle and tears on my part. Yes, I am now ashamed to say that I kicked and screamed all the way up to the very first violin lesson I taught. My violin teacher had referred me to some of her students in the Suzuki class at school, whose mother had asked about extra help with violin during the week. She gave my name to this family, and when the girls' mom called me for the first time, I feigned excitement and secretly dreaded having to "deal with" two squirmy kids for a whole hour. I was already bogged down with loads of schoolwork, and I was stressed out over the million things that seem to take over a junior's life, and I was not eager to take on another big responsibility. Besides, I wanted to become a forensic psychologist, saving the day with my extraordinary powers of perception and busting criminals willy nilly. But, alas, I was committed and decided to tough it out. 

I went to that first lesson, and my life changed. I worked with both of the sisters for thirty minutes each and each of them made noticeable progress. Much to my surprise, I felt so proud of them and even of myself, even though I'd only known them for an hour. It felt good to know that I'd made a difference and showed the girls just how amazing playing the violin could be. At the end of the grading period, Mom showed me the girls' report cards, and they had each gone up two letter grades in violin performance. After that, all thoughts of criminology and microexpressions vanished from my mind, and were replaced with ideas for sticker charts and bribes and learning new songs. The more I taught and the more students I took on, the more I enjoyed teaching and even learning from my students. The best part of all was that, unlike the excitement I used to feel at the thought of even the possibility solving crime, my "teacher buzz" did not easily wear off. I decided that this was enough to last the rest of my life. 

So, that is how I came to want to teach. I realize that it is not the easiest of careers, and that I will have some financial juggling to do, and that my students may cause me more sleepless nights than not, but I am perfectly at peace with trudging uphill both ways in the freezing rain and driving snow, every day, for the rest of my life... 

And as for the geographic dreams thing, there's only one place that I want to be, and this will become more and more apparent the more you spend time with me...

(And, yes, I'm for real. Scotland. Is. My. Love.)

In Which My Favorite Tunes Get Their "Blogosphere" Debuts

My first song that I absolutely love and could not live without is Time for Three's cover of Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek." This song makes me so indescribably happy. It is so beautiful, and I love how this group arranged the song so that it is very close to the original. Truth be told, I actually prefer this cover to the original. Don't get me wrong; I am a huge fan of Imogen Heap, and I adore her version, but something about the way that the two violins sound against the bass is incredible. I listen to "Hide and Seek" when I'm happy, sad, stressed out or just in the mood for something amazing. 

(P.S. I think that everyone who breathes should check out Time for Three's stuff. All three of those guys went to Curtis and they are pretty fantastic. They played twice in Greensboro, and I have both of their CDs, so if anyone decides that they would like a new favorite, let me know. :D) 

Since the first step to recovery from addiction is admitting that you indeed have an addiction, I have some admitting to do. 

I confess. 

I am addicted to tango. 

More specifically, I am addicted to Astor Piazzolla. 

It all started last school year, when I had to do a project for my IB Spanish class about something related to a Spanish-speaking country. (Specific, no?) My teacher told us that this project was to be a part of our final exam, that it was to be at least five minutes long and that it was to be memorized. After my classmates and I scraped our lower jaws off of the floor, we went to the computer lab to do research for possible topics. I was getting absolutely nowhere for two days. Then I went to a concert, the concert. My violin teacher's daughter (and Ms. Johnson) were playing in a concert that featured Vivaldi's Four Seasons concertos as well as a piece called The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. This intrigued me because, conveniently enough, Buenos Aires is located in Argentina, a Spanish-speaking country. I decided that I would give this Piazzolla guy a chance and see what happened. I can't really put how I felt into words, but I can tell you that when I got home, I immediately emailed my Spanish teacher about my topic and then proceeded to drown myself in Piazzolla. And it is a glorious thing. I love how dark and mysterious tango music is, while also being sassy and playful at the same time. Thanks to Astor Piazzolla, tango experienced a revival, and it is fine with me. 

My quest for a musical, Spanish-speaking topic (along with my crazy friend) also led me to Shakira. Shakira is pretty much awesome. She can sing in English as well as Spanish and Arabic, she can dance (oh wow, can she dance) and her music always has a killer beat. All of this adds up to workout/cleaning/fun time/relaxing/anytime at all music. I'm not a great fan of her songs in English, because I personally think she sounds better in Spanish.

This music is some of my favorite music in the world. I love classical music to death, but sometimes I just need a little something different. There's so much more that I listen to, but I had to get this post up in a somewhat timely manner, so I limited myself to just three. Hope everyone else can enjoy my tunes! :)

(P.P.S. Okay, okay, I couldn't resist... I'm a huge fan of Muse, and I would just like to say that I liked them before Twilight played baseball.) 

vs. 

(I think the better choice is crystal clear...)

In Which I Bestow (Hopefully) Helpful Advice onto Future Friends

Dear Class of 2017,

I can’t believe that I was standing—more like sitting—where you are two short years ago. You know what how the old saying goes: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Unfortunately, time also flies when you’re in college and you have to manage your own time, on top of managing your social life, and that’s my first piece of advice:

1.    This campus practically eats time. 

You should invest in a good one of these. One that's on the wall, in your face, not in your pocket being forgettable. 

It’s true. There were so many times when I would be sitting in my room, minding my own business, just me, myself and Netflix, when I glanced at the clock and realized that my next class was in ten minutes. Uh-oh. I’ve been able to recover from such lapses in responsibility, but if you were careful with your time in high school, you’ve got to be like an over-protective parent in college, which is a not-so graceful segue into my next nugget of wisdom:

2.    Check your Converse email constantly.

You see this screen? It's your new homepage. And that's an order. 

 Your Converse email not only serves as your primary form of communication on campus, it can be good practice for the “real world,” where your future bosses aren’t going to check your latest status update to find out why you didn’t show up to work. Funny thing is, your professors won’t either. Even you get along swimmingly with your English Composition professor, he or she isn’t your instant BFFAE. (That’s best friend forever and ever for those wondering...) Use your school email; it will change your life!

3.    If you find yourself stressed, freaking out or just generally losing control, talk to someone about it!

Find time to de-stress, or this will be you...

Anyone. It can be your roommate, your best friend, one of your CAs, one of your PEAS, even one of your professors. It simply isn’t worth the anxiety and emotional turmoil to just bottle everything up inside and let it all build up until you break down. Trust me on this one. It’s important. I really let my workload get to me, and one day I found myself unable to talk to anyone or even laugh with my friends because I was so worried about how I was doing in class. When I finally broke down, it took my best friend, half a box of Kleenex (no joke!) and ice cream at Gee to get me back to some semblance of normal. Heck, if you don’t feel like talking face-to-face with someone, practice using your Converse email. (It’s better than nothing!)

4.    Find your best schedule, and stick to it.

Okay, so it's not your schedule, but you get the point. 

Pithy advice about surviving college doesn’t get any shorter or sweeter than this, kids. As soon as you get your classes straight, you’re in all the courses you wanted (or almost wanted), and you’ve figured out where they all are, make friends with Microsoft Excel and make a handy dandy schedule chart. I don’t care if you color-code it, write it in Braille or jot it down during class, just do it. It will help you more than you know.  Getting on a stable, efficient routine will help you in so many ways.

If you have any questions, or want to talk more, just email me (using your Converse email) or come and find me.

Love,

Grace Egan 

In Which I Wish Time Travel Were Real, and Try to Make Do In the Meantime

Life is my biggest time management issue.

I am not trying to be facetious or funny, but in all seriousness, I find myself stressing out over my life and its busyness. School is really my biggest challenge, as it requires me to juggle both long and short-term assignments for multiple classes, as well as extracurricular activities. Ironically, high school was the first time that I had problems with time management, and it got so bad, my parents took me to get psychological testing and—surprise, surprise! —I was diagnosed with ADHD. Being on medication and counseling have helped me a lot with my management but it’s been very hard to learn skills that I have been expected to have but have only pretended. My mother and I have engaged in many a shouting match over my inability to pick up my administrative skills magically after being medicated, but we’ve since concluded that there is no magical remedy for a Type B personality, and so our expectations have been revised.

I am also a chronic “avoider.” When I have so much to do, that the mere thought of the sheer magnitude of my workload reduces me to a sobbing mess, I begin to stress over where I have to start working and how I am going to finish on time. By the time I devise an effective strategy, my assignments are inevitably due the next day and I am forced to pull yet another all-nighter. My dad used to call me a “passive procrastinator” and I have to admit I agree. (Just look at the time stamp of this entry...)

            My greatest time management tool is my giant whiteboard calendar. This little beauty helps me map out due dates and dates of important and not-so-important events as well as serving as an outlet for my artistic whims. My avoidance has become more avoidable (I couldn’t resist) and I am getting better at gauging what is due and when and what I must do to complete it in a timely manner. My stress levels are still quite high as I still have to settle into a routine and accustom myself to life on my own, but I have been successful in my attempts to be better organized thus far.

            Honestly, I do not think that I am at all qualified to give advice concerning time management. I am still learning and have felt the pressure of feeling like I needed to perform as well as my peers even though I was trying to build eighteen years’ worth of administrative skills from scratch. But I will gladly tell anyone that even though life can be stressful, it is very important that one takes time to sit down and realize that the world is not going to end just because one hasn’t finished one’s homework. Yes, it is vital that students complete assignments on time, but stressing out over what is not a dire task doesn’t help get anything done either.