Post-Grad Existence: Recap of Week One

Part I: Surprise!
Life in my new Post-Graduation world is full of surprises. I recall one time reading a FoxTrot comic strip about New Years Day (it was either 1999 or 2000, I don’t recall the year) in which Roger Fox turns to his wife, Andy, and says something to the effect of: “So, this is the future, huh? I would’ve thought we’d have flying cars by now… shouldn’t Martin Landau be on the Moon of something…”

Well, this is the future. No, there are no flying cars, and unless the news has been very quiet about it, I don’t think Martin Landau is on the Moon. Abe Vigoda is still alive though.

And I’ve been a graduate for a full week. What have I been doing for the last week, you might ask. Work. That, and battling allergies that are threatening to take me out of this life before I even take the GRE. Seriously, I have some much sinus pressure built up that I feel like one of those stress-reliever dolls that’s eyes bulge out when you squeeze it.

But life throws surprises at you all the time. Whether you surprise those around you by suddenly deciding to go on to grad school. Or whether you surprise yourself by suddenly deciding to go on to grad school.



Part II: The Right Call
As crazy as it sounds, I’m actually looking at the world in a different light. I realized the other day as I talked to some of the teenagers at my church that my decision to teach was the right one. They go to public schools, and, even with all that is going on in the news, they had no idea about the governmental changes in Russia. Not one of them knew about the staggering death toll in Myanmar. One of them even said that we should just nuke the terrorists and take the oil for ourselves.

I don’t fault these kids for their ignorance. They haven’t been taught to dig deeper. They’re trained to memorize information for a brief time, and then, after taking the test, dispose of it, clean out their memory banks, and prepare for a new batch of information. They have no concept of taking previously learned information and building a greater understanding by combining it with new knowledge. That’s the problem with teaching to the test, not teaching to the knowledge. And even then, you can’t truly blame the teachers. The education system is built on test scores and memorization, not understanding. If you know that Hitler was a mass-murdering jerk who died, why bother understanding the motivating factors behind his political ideals and aspirations?

Part III: Politics
This should come out of left field, but I think at some point in my life I’m going to run for office. Not because I have any particular political ambition, but because someone needs to go to Washington and make some noise. I always hear about politicos not rocking the boat. I really think that the boat needs to be capsized, sunk, and then salvaged and rebuilt. I also think that it’s never too late to effect great change. Throughout the years, generation after generation has had its struggles, and each one effected change in some form or another.

Part IV: Books
This will be my summer of reading. I’m in the middle of Stephen King’s Dark Tower Series, and it is fantastic beyond telling. I’m also looking forward to the release of the final book in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series.

Part V: Movies
There are way too many movies coming out this year that I want to see. Some, of course, are already out:
Iron Man
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Dark Knight
Just to name a few.

Part VI: What to do...
Lots. Oh, and I still have to start that doctoral thesis at some point...