trials and tribulations

Well then, since I have acquired a source of income and have spent nearly all the money I received from the school, I think it is time to settle down and start making plans for the rest of my life. Or the beginning of the rest of my life. Something along those lines.

My new year's resolutions have been difficult to keep up. I've been making a genuine effort, but all the stress has been sabotaging my attempts to eat more healthy, which has been immensely frustrating for me. I feel like I need help, but I'm unsure where to turn. Clearly my own efforts are falling short of where I want to be, and contrary to the life view that a friend of mine has, I don't think that chiding myself for being unable to do things on my own is going to get me anywhere. I don't believe that man is an island completely able to survive on its own. I believe that we need people, and that just setting your mind to numb isn't the best way to get where you want to go. (Quite frankly, I find his views more depressing than helpful, and it has been a source of a lot of tension between said friend and I, but that is for another blog) As I've said though, I'm unsure where I should turn for help, and being unsure has resulted in additional stress that isn't helping me through this time. I am still making the effort, and I need to continue to make the effort.

I'm trying to stay on top of work at the moment, but concentration is increasinly hard to come by. I think it has something to do with my class schedule, which, while awesome, only has me exercising intellectual ability twice a week. Hopefully working twice a week will give me some structure in my life, so that I'm better able to focus. Working will also give me some income, an opportunity to save for the post-graduate life I have to ease in to.

Another friend gave me some good advice the other day--keep taking classes at a community college while you're taking time off between your undergrad at graduate schooling--it will help you keep your mind sharp and give you the opportunity to continue to learn new things. I already know what I would take if I could--something technology related to give me some skills that will be useful in a professional sense, and then a language. Probably Korean right now, since that's my next language on the list of ones that I want to learn, but after that there is also Chinese, Italian, and Arabic. Though, truth be told, taking more Japanese classes would probably be a good idea as well, since after I graduate there will be no way to keep up with everything I've learned over the past four years. Another something to look into in a couple months. Right now I should be focused on the book report I have to do by Tuesday and the midterm exams I have coming up in a week.