CampusIntel

Let’s discuss boredom for a second. Maybe gain a little perspective and insight on ourselves and others.

If you take a moment to consider boredom and reflect upon it, it’s fairly interesting. I mean, realistically, we spend (and are going to spend) a lot of our time ‘bored’ with what’s currently going on in our lives. Be it going to/from work/school (to say nothing about actually being in-class/at work), waiting for something or someone. We have a tendency (that marketers have capitalized upon in a big way) to fill the ‘down time’ in our lives with unnecessary distractions. Texting, games, music, magazines, (food) – you name it.

Speaking for myself here and (hopefully) others, I’ve noticed that we have a tendency to become bored and complacent when things are safe and predictable. Time, in all it’s subjective glory, slows to a crawl and begins a feedback loop – the more boredom you suffer from, the more you focus on the time and the slower it goes which reinforces the boredom and so on and so forth.

An awful (but interesting) scenario that tends to happen most commonly in the last hour or so of work.

It happens in a lot of situations, though. That time-slowing sense of anticipation that strolls hand-in-hand with boredom. Boredom doesn’t take command of your attention when you’re having a brew with friends and colleagues, loving life and laughing it up;  it becomes your main focus when your feet hurt, your back aches and when you’re tired of standing and moving and you want to sit down but there’s only about a hundred minutes left at work and you would like nothing more than to leave, but need to stay.

It happens in the classroom. The teacher is droning on about some subject that is sort of relevant to the field you’re pursuing (but not really) and you may find yourself getting a little sleepy. You may text a little. You’ll almost certainly give a big ol’ yawn.

I think the cause of the problem is as tragic as the solution is simple.

You’re too old.

Now, now, don’t take it the wrong way. Please stop crying! I didn’t mean it! It’s not you, it’s me!

Seriously, though. As we grow up, I think we have a tendency to lose our sense of childlike wonder at situations that seem commonplace and normal and (like that comforting sense of security I mentioned earlier) become complacent and take things for granted. Our imaginations wither and atrophy after years of tedious, structured classes during the most important formative years of our lives – except on those rare occasions when instructors actually gave you the opportunity to get just a little itty bitty teeny tiny creative and run with it (within structured borders, of course).

We (our brains) slack off because we make the decision, consciously or subconsciously, to do so. It’s a very “mind over matter” type of situation. You’re as bored, or as interested, as you (generally) choose to be.

But there’s a very easy way to combat most kinds of boredom. It involves letting your mind drift, just a little. Let it play out random, completely ridiculous scenarios as you engage in the most tedious of tasks. Granted, stocking shelves at the local Quick-E-Mart isn’t exactly a thrilling experience no matter how you present it – but, for example; what would you do if… BRAIN-EATING ZOMBIES BURST IN THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR AND ATTACKED! AHHHHHH! And not those wimpy slow motion George Romero zombies, either! The freaky fast sprinter zombies from Dawn of the Dead/28 Days Later! HOLY CRAP! AIIIIEE- What? Oh, sorry – yeah, soup’s in aisle six.

Take a minute to think about it. What skills would you need to develop and improve upon in order to combat the boredom you typically feel? Focus? Concentration? Mental relaxation? Meditative breathing? The ability to do something that doesn’t exactly satisfy the need for immediate gratification in order to accomplish a greater (future) good?

Pshh – when would you ever need any of those skills?!

Next time you find yourself bored and mentally slacking; turn off your Ipod, put away your phone, disconnect from the internet and take a few minutes to do some introspection. Why are you bored? What can you do about it?

After you do, get back to me – I’d love to hear about what you can come up with.

(These are in no particular order)

15. The bus is not a playground, so don’t let your kids act like it is one – Don’t you just hate those parents who let their kids run around like they’re in their own home or on the school’s playground? Why? It’s a MOVING vehicle!!! Come on now, somebody is going to get hurt!

14. Don’t yell ‘INDOOR VOICES’ at your kids (especially when they aren’t even being that loud) – Set an example for your child. By yelling indoor voices, you totally defeat the purpose of them using their indoor voices. If mommy can yell, so can we!

13. Don’t pay with 100 coins – Now I understand if you have a bunch of coins, I’m a student, I totally understand. But come on… Jamming up the coin taker? Pleaseee. Put them in a few at a time if you have 100 coins!

12. Don’t stare at others – This one goes for ALL the time, not just on the bus. But seriously, it is so uncomfortable when you are sitting on the bus and you can feel the person across the isle just staring you down. So you look over at them and then they look away…. two seconds later they’re at it again!!

11. You can listen to your music, but the rest of us DO NOT want to hear it – It’s been a long day at school or work, you have a headache and you’re getting on the bus to go home. You sit down and at the next stop this guy (or girl) gets on the bus and sits behind you, 3 seats back. S/he has headphones on, but might as well have speakers, because everyone on the bus can hear the words perfectly!! I don’t mind if people listen to music, I do it myself sometimes, but I don’t want to listen to YOUR music!

10. Don’t sing aloud to your music – There is a time and a place for everything. You may think a bus is a great place to display your musical talents (or lack there of) but it’s not. Just that plain and simple, if we wanted to hear you sing, we would ask you.

9. Move to the back of the bus – When the bus is getting full and you are standing up, don’t stay at the front of the bus, move to the back! The people in the back don’t bite! I was on the bus the other day (luckily I had snagged a seat) but I noticed these people who were standing right before the step up to the back of the bus and they just wouldn’t go to the VERY back. More people were getting on and it was getting extremely squished near the front. The back of the bus had all that space! Just be courteous and move back! It’s not that difficult.

8. Give up your seat for the elderly – Shouldn’t this one be obvious? Yeah, you may be tired, but when an older lady or man get on the bus everyone should start to get up to give him/her a seat. It’s just not right to have an elderly person standing. I was on a bus one day (standing) and this older man got on the bus and NO ONE got up to give him a seat at first. I was mortified. There were all these people in their 20’s sitting and no one offered him a seat.

7. Talk to your friends not at them – I don’t want to hear your conversation about the crazy party you went to last night or the hotttttt dudee you almost had and I don’t think anyone else does either, so don’t talk to your friend who is on the opposite end of the bus. Enough said.

6. Wear deodorant please – Deodorant or soap, it’s not too expensive. If you can afford to ride the bus, you can afford to cleanse. I was on the bust one day and this guy about my age got on. He was standing near the back door, and I was sitting near it. He lifted his arm to hold onto the bar and I almost puked. I think the person next to me was feeling a bit queasy too! I hope he didn’t think that raunchy smell was me!

5. When you cough, cover your mouth – We learn this in primary! Don’t spread germs, we’re already too close to each other. If you have to cough just be polite and cover your mouth!

4. If the bus is full, don’t take up two seats – It’s just that simple! Put your bag on your lap or on the floor. Not so hard to do.

3. Talking on cell phones – I could go on for a while about this one. It’s okay to talk on your cell, we all do it. But no one wants to hear your conversation about the guy you slept with last night or how you just found out you can fit your entire fist (including most of your wrist) in your mouth.

2. If there are a lot of empty seats, don’t sit by a random person - There are empty seats everywhere but you get on the bus and just have to sit by me! Why????

1. If I’m listening to music, I don’t want to talk to you – I have my earphones in for a reason. A) I want to listen to my music. B) I am tired and had a long day. C) To avoid weird people who like to make small talk with me on the bus.

If you follow these rules I think everyone would enjoy their bus ride just a little bit more! I know I would. As students we’re often forced to take the bus because no one can afford to buy their own car let alone pay for the gas to make it drive! If we just all follow these simple 15 rules then everyone will be happier!

Everybody who’s anybody has been in this position before; it’s been written about and talked about and now it will be discussed again, by me. So, let’s get to it. When a relationship comes to an end, a relationship of significant value and time, that is, it is very difficult to move on. I know I am not the first person to be in a position of mourning over a lost love, and I know I will not be the last. In fact, I’m sure millions of couples are breaking up all over the place as I write this, as sad as that may be. The point of it all, however; is what do you do when it happens to you? The natural instinct (at least my natural instinct) is to cry and beg for an ulterior solution and hope that the one who has forsaken you has terribly mistaken their feelings and truly does want to be with you. Weeks will go by and eventually you realize that you are getting nowhere and they might actually want this. Now you’re faced with a real problem – he actually doesn’t want to be with you and here’s the kicker, you go to the same school.

Now not only do you have to deal with the stress of graduating and becoming a successful and praiseworthy adult, but you have to do it with a broken heart and the very good chance of running into the person who broke it. I wish this was an article on how to avoid accidently meeting the evil-spawn that caused your pain (‘cause I could use some tips), but it’s not, it’s an article about preventing you from making that happen. When you’re alone and upset it is natural to want to be with the person you love, the problem now is that they don’t want to be with you. Whatever you do, do not force them to see you. Do not pretend you have moved on and that you only want friendship. No, if you cannot have them in your life romantically it is not better to have them as friends. Who cares about everybody else and how awkward they feel around you because of it – for once you have to think about yourself. Becoming friends with your ex is a terrible idea and seeing them when the pain is fresh, is even worse.

How do you fight the urge? God, I wish I knew. You have to keep in mind that you’re going to want to see them no matter what but that doing so is self-destructive. There is a choice you have to make and like many choices in life, it won’t be easy. You will come to a point where you will have to choose whether or not you want to move on or waste your time fighting for a lost cause. The lost cause path will be the most appealing but I’m warning you not to take it, this is the kind of path that Robert Frost once wrote about, the easy path that leads to nowhere good. You need to make contact impossible and when you feel like contacting them, call your mother, your friends, or an automated telephone service – if it helps – contact anybody you can, except for them.  If it breaks your heart to think you will never see them again, take solace in the fact that you will inevitably run into them on campus, but hopefully by this point you won’t want to and you’ll be able to walk on by. The point is, the less you seem of them, the better it is for you (whether you agree or not, deep down you know it’s true). Now, if you are going to take anything from this article, take this: at desperate times friendship may seem welcoming, but trust me when I tell you not to board the ship – it’s destined to sink.

So keeping with my recent “back to school” trend, I wanted to discuss presentations. Personally, my feelings towards class presentations have always been the same. Since I can remember I have always hated presentations. Now, I don’t hate them because I’m shy or nervous or because I can’t be bothered to put in a perfectionist’s amount of work (although those are all true), I hate them because I hate to have to listen. If I have 52 people enrolled in my Shakespeare analysis class that means there are 52 presentations I have to sit through. Each presentation will be in the realm of 8 minutes long, now I’m English student so I won’t bother with the math, but that is a lot of student presenting time that I am devoting to this class. Maybe I shouldn’t be making such a big deal out of it, but I will tell you the three main reasons why this bothers me: I don’t know what I should remember, I pay to hear an educated professor speak, and (no offence) students are DULL presenters.

Let’s tackle my first issue, is what they are presenting important? I don’t know. That is the problem, I don’t know if I should be taking notes on these presentations. I don’t know if anything from these presentations will later show up on an exam or test of some sort. I know the simple answer is to ask the professor, but how do I know what she finds relevant in a presentation is going to be the same thing that I find relevant? It’s simple, I don’t know.  So I can sit there all class scribbling notes on what my fellow classmates have to say pertaining to Shakespeare’s incredibly fascinating life or I can sit there and doodle. Let me tell you, I am definitely more inclined to doodle and that is what I have done thus far in the semester. Still, I can’t help but wonder if I am foolishly setting myself up for failure in the near future. Let’s move on.

Another thing that annoys me when it comes to class presentations is the fact that I pay to be there. Post secondary education is not free (as you all know), and as far as costs go, university is pretty pricey. I can’t remember the numbers exactly but one of my math-oriented friends from first year once told me how much it costs to skip a class. Like I said, I don’t remember the number exactly, but I do remember that it made me think twice about ditching (which says a lot, if you know me). So if half of my class is taken up with student presentations then half of the money I spend on each class, to be educated by a professor, goes right down the drain. I could understand if I was a business student or a student in a program that demanded presentation and listening skills – but I am not and I do not want to be spending my money or my time listening to what my classmates have to say, no matter what it is they are talking about.

Lastly, I hate to say it, but it’s true: students are dull. Most of the time the person presenting would rather not be presenting, thus the excitement factor diminishes.  Often times the person presenting is simply relaying information that I already know or could easily read in a book. Almost every time the person presenting is meant to pose a thoughtful question, that no one wants to answer, and we are meant to sit there until someone gets so sick of the silence and decides to give the most basic and boring answer they can muster up. Now if that description alone doesn’t make you drift into lala land, I don’t know what will. These presentations are boring and painful for both the presenter and the audience and I believe it is time that our misery is put to an end – no more presentations, please! I may be cynical and I may be bitter but at least I know what I want: an education free of student lessons that put me to sleep, and if that cannot be arranged, I will be spending my time in bed.

Well, I’m embarrassed to admit it, but that’s me in the picture. There I am, so excited and thrilled to finally get my diploma. I thought my life would be different once I could finally put two capital letters next to my name and finally have that degree that I worked so hard for (and evidently, spent SOOO much money on).

I still remember the moment I heard my name being called, I walked across the stage, firmly shook the president’s hand, heard my friends and family clap for me, and then, before I knew it, reached my chair, and thought: “Well that’s done… now what?!”

I truthfully thought that the moment I received my diploma would indicate the end to all of those stressful days and nights….but I was wrong.

Sure, I no longer had to worry about completing that 15-page paper, or ensuring that I remembered everything printed in a 500-page textbook, but now I had to agonize about how I would pay off my student loan, how I would stay in touch with my new friends and more importantly, how I would find a good job.

So, faced with these obstacles, I did the only thing that entered my mind – I went back to what I saw as, ‘safe’ and found myself enrolled in another degree.

Do I think that is the road that many should choose? Absolutely not! For that reason, I’ve outlined a few things to consider when debating what path you should head on next.

The Debate between School and Work

• I know you don’t want to hear this, but no matter what I say, your parents say, or what you’re imaginary friends say, this is a decision that you will need to make. Of course, deciding between further education or going into the workforce will depend on a variety of factors. One of the biggest ones will be what type of degree you have and how lucky you will be able to find (and enjoy) an occupation in that field.

Why I believe One Should Choose Work:

• Let’s face it; our present economy is not helping us out with job opportunities. For that reason, if you are handed a job that is full of potential upon graduation, I would definitely accept it. Another obvious thing to analyze is whether it is something you want to do. The job you get does not have to be directly related to the field you have spent the last few years studying, but if it is, it will definitely give you an advantage. I’d also accept a job that appears to have lots of room for promotions or raises. Everyone dreams about having that ideal job and making their way to the top (or close to the top), so if that interests you and that appears to be offered, sign on the dotted line and get ready to enter the work force!
• If you can’t find your ideal job, but feel that more schooling is not the path for you, don’t get disheartened. True, it may take awhile for the economy to get back on its’ feet, but it will, and so will you. Also, I know it will be overwhelming at first, but soon you will be surprised at the many opportunities that will come your way. However, what will be most unexpected is that you’ll notice that many of your skills will be transferable. More specifically, if you have gained any research, analytical or writing skills you will soon recognize that they will help you out in almost any job that you apply for!

Why I believe one should choose school:

• You spent the first twenty years of your life in school so why not a few more, right? With today’s economy, it has been indicated that the best place to be is… you guessed it…. in school. So, if you are not being offered your dream job but feel like you deserve it, don’t get discouraged. Instead, give yourself more confidence and more qualifications by enrolling in another degree. Plus, if you go from one degree to another, you will still be in the scholastic mode and you’ll know what to expect! (Because seriously, no wants to endure those freshmen 15 pounds again or have to relive the pain of not knowing what to anticipate with those final exams!)
• The main advantage about doing a second degree is being able to gain additional experience in something you want to do. I enrolled in my first degree because I felt it was the right step to take – I hadn’t even researched it to find out if it would be something that I would want to do later on in life. On the other hand, for my second degree, I gave it much more thought and chose it because I believed it was related to what I wanted to do for my career and I felt it offered me more job opportunities. These two elements are essential to think about when debating whether or not to indulge in more schooling. Therefore, if you can say yes to either, or both, of these questions, be prepared to spend many more nights cramming for an exam, too many hours working on that term paper, and alas, walking across the stage another time to receive another piece of paper.

I hope my advice helps you answer the question: “I got the degree… now what?”  But more importantly, I hope you also understand that no matter which road you choose, whether it is an additional degree or joining the workforce, I hope you realize that your educational and professional skills will soon have opportunity knockin’…. and you at the other side of the door!