differo [delay]

Welcome again to the realm of procrastination. Don't worry if you're reading this instead of doing homework or some other responsibility you ought to attend to...because that is exactly the circumstance under which it is written!

I'm not sure if I have justified my procrastination on here before, though.  It's definitely been mentioned before, but not necessarily justified...

So why not justify it now?

But first, a brief history of my relationship with procrastination:

The thing about procrastination is that it is just so natural.  It just happens, and I was therefore exposed to it at a very early age.  In fact, it's healthy for young kids to go out and play and not do homework day in and day out.  Back in the gradeschool days, putting homework and projects off in order to live a happy, healthy childhood is hardly seen as the vice of procrastination. Indeed there are many people advocating for more childhood play time like recess and minimizing the amounts of homework that young kids have to do. They promote these things under the guise of better well-being, mental and physical health, social and attention skills, and just general happiness. We should probably take these things more seriously.

Anyway, early on life was filled with petty procrastination that coagulated every now and again into late-night science fair projects and history presentations.  You know, the kind that you helped your parents procrastinate until the night before it's due, even though you've known about it for at least a month.

This foundation gave way to middle school, where procrastination became revered as an important skill.  I boasted my abilities as a self-proclaimed "pro-crastinator" (I did indeed crastinate professionally) and juggled my classes using many late nights and productivity diluted by social media and instant messaging.  It of course only got worse the more I got away with it. Good times.

In high school, I added the skill of more constant sleep deprivation to this aspect of life.  There was also more of a shift in these years as my responsibilities were put off, not in order to play outside or indulge in frivolities, but because of the sheer load of productive things I was requiring of myself.  This included normal responsible things like a ton of classes, as well as more fun activities like soccer, lacrosse, and choir.  I definitely don't regret any of it, but it meant that many nights I wouldn't get home until 9 or 10 pm, and then I could get started on homework.  I quickly learned how to spend nights cycling between naps and homework, how to cram productivity into the wee hours of the mornings, and how to maximize the use of down time traveling or at practices and rehearsals.

Things in college are, of course, much different.  I don't have such a varied load anymore, in terms of my extra-curriculars and all.  I've largely switched out the structured sports and music for an intense class load and involvement in a handful of related clubs.  I'm still in the category of procrastinating not for fun, but out of necessity to get more pressing assignments done first, even when that means putting off another important task.  But developments such as these have introduced a new justification for my procrastinations.

Mostly because my responsibilities are so focused on one aspect of life (engineering homework...and nothing else), my need for constructive breaks -- things like exercise, hobbies, and maybe even the occasional social encounter -- can much more often fall under the category of  'for sanity' rather than 'for fun'.  Not sure if this is an improvement.  It can be hard to do these things regularly, both due to the schedule and the fact that I get anxious sometimes if I'm not actively working on homework.  But it's still something that is important to me, to do as often as possible.

Because of that, when I find myself with a smidgen of free time (read: non-panicked time; time where I have more than I will need to accomplish the tasks that are due immediately), I have an important decision to make: I can either take advantage of this time and use it to get ahead on things so that they won't be so stressful later on, or I can actually do something fun, as if to treat it as actual free time.

Usually the level of my motivation is the deciding factor here.

But when the motivation doesn't automatically tell me what to do, I can justify it with some logical thinking.

I know that things like homework are going to get done.  There is no way that those things will get pushed off indefinitely and just never get done. They have deadlines and consequences imposed by outside forces.  So the question is not if they will get done, but when.

Now, in terms of using time, I could use two hours to my enjoyment through reading or exercise or something of the type, and then spend two hours doing homework.  I could do both of those activities in any order that I want, and at the end of the day, I will have spent two hours on each.  It's a pretty good deal.  So if they both get done, there's really not much importance as to which goes first.

Because I know that the homework will get done but my hobbies or other tasks of secondary priority don't have the same guarantee, it seems perfectly logical to do things like write or meet up with friends or kick a soccer ball around for a while when I know that there will be adequate time to do the homework later.

Mind you, this doesn't happen often, so I feel even more justified in justifying it.

Plus it gives me an opportunity to show myself that I am more than just a homeworking robot engineering student, which is an important feat.

So we give procrastination a bad rap.  It can very easily become a vice and rob you of time and opportunity, but I think that if it is used with control, it can become a tool of sorts to balance priorities and time management and personal well-being.  It is important to spend time productively, and to spend down time wisely, not vapidly.  You can probably judge whether your procrastination is justifiable by whether or not you make any personal gains from whatever you've done instead of working on that long to-do list we all have.

Whether you decide to tackle your tasks head on or procrastinate productively, don't ever stop living the most that you can.

After all, "time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time." 

-Marthe Troly-Curtin

extra

As you may suspect, this is a blog entry that I am writing rather than doing my homework.  I am so rebellious.   But I suppose it's a good opportunity to continue some thoughts about education.

This term, I am taking a sociology class. This class marks the first class outside of engineering that I have taken in over a year.  I've been getting further along in my major and I've been focusing solely on engineering for a while now.

This 'become absorbed in your major' deal is actually part of the program.  You start taking specialized classes (for example, an entire series of classes dedicated to the various manners in which temperatures can change.  I now know more than is comfortable about the subject) and you start thinking and speaking like (in my case) an engineer.

For example, I have replaced all words denoting 'a part of a whole' or 'a contributing piece of something' with the word "component".  I didn't actually take note of this until I was referring to a meal I had made and its various components.  Who even uses ingredients these days?

Figure 1. The sandwich and its components.

I didn't realize just how far down the engineering path I was, though, until I took this sociology class.

I've always been a pretty diverse student, in the sense that I find many topics interesting and do relatively well with them.  This was especially evident during high school, when I had as much opportunity as I wanted to be involved in as much advanced math and science, politics, history, foreign language, literature, and music as I wanted.  So naturally, I took as many classes as possible in all of those subjects, and things were great.  On occasion cross-curricular themes would develop and the whole place was a bit of an educational wonderland for me.

I just figured that things would stay that way.  And I didn't really notice that I had become so focused on engineering that I had begun to let go of some of those other subjects I like.

Part of this happens, of course, because you simply cannot find time to take all of the interesting classes and still graduate with an actual degree before you're 55 years old and under a mountain of student debt.

So thank goodness for generals.  They take a precious few classes from outside your major and make them required so you'll actually be able to take them. :)

I thought I had a decent sociological background such that this new venture would be enriching and fun, and nothing else. So far it has definitely been enriching and generally fun (provided it's not kept me up past midnight) but also surprisingly difficult.

Maybe it's difficult because I underestimated the complexity of the social sciences. Maybe it's difficult because it's an in-depth course on something that I now realize I have no basis for.  I realized for the first time that I should probably read Marx rather than just know about it.  Maybe it's difficult because I am still trying to wrap my brain into this new style of thinking. I can no longer quantify relationships with equations and theorems.... instead the answer to "are farmers influenced by economic motives or lifestyle and family motives?" is "yes."

But there are definitely some things that I love about it, that I just don't get as much in my engineering. There is a lot more discussion and reasoning things out as a class, rather than just running through formulas on a screen.  And in sociology, every case is incredibly unique; you will never evaluate a bunch of situations or outcomes that are the same over and over and over.

I have at times heard criticisms of the current graduation requirements that students take several in-depth general classes in things that are outside of their major or intended career. We live in an increasingly specialized world where the more I know about my chosen field of study, the better I am in it, and I can easily find someone else to do things for me that are outside of my expertise. (That is why we have doctors and accountants and teachers and why services make up a huge part of first-world economies.) Under this logic, it may seem less and less necessary to obtain a general education at the collegiate level.

I do not subscribe to these criticisms or beliefs; in fact, I wish that higher education better encouraged cross-curricular study and general education.  I intend to describe some of the perceived benefits of such an arrangement in later posts. For now, I'm still talking about this strange world of sociology that I've stepped into and how it rocked my little engineering world.

So, in this sociology class we have been focusing on sustainability in agriculture, with especial regard to all of its social elements.  I have read more material than I ever imagined anyone could even publish on trends in farming, political farm issues, use of pesticides, the organic industry, how farms are structured, and so on.  I cannot say that I have learned anything even closely relevant to my intended engineering career. But I still find this an invaluable part of my education.

What I have learned, that I believe will benefit me as a human who intends to live in the world and be an engineer there, is that there is (surprisingly) this whole other world outside of engineering.  Oh sure, I always figured it was there, but sometimes it loses its palpability as you hone in on heat transfer and machine design, and especially as you spend more and more hours in the engineering building, avoiding all social life as you try to churn out homework solutions fast enough.
Well, enough of that. I'm here to embrace a little bit more the social aspects of life that I've begun learning about.

I haven't learned anything helpful about dimensioning and tolerances, but I have begun to see myself as a contributor to a larger society than just the scientific community.  I may not be learning to design tractors, but I am gaining a new understanding and respect for the people who use them. I still don't understand Thevenin circuitry, but I have begun to be aware of patterns in the world that will affect how I act, how my contributions as an engineer might really effect people and their lives, and how those causes and effects are related even to my isolated life as an engineer.

So while this class is certainly not an easy ride and you would think that an engineering student would have enough on their plate already, its something that I think has added value to my education and something that is important to continue to experience throughout education on all levels.

I am learning many important things that engineering just doesn't have a way to teach.

ineptus

Get ready for a couple of posts all in a row about education.  That's what's on my mind right now because that's pretty much all I do!  When they say "full-time college student" they secretly meant "all-the-time college student". There is no 40-hour deal here.  And no paid overtime.

I've been playing this college game for a while now.  I am on the latter-half of things, now with fewer semesters between me and graduation than the semesters I have behind me.  I've been taking the real-deal classes now (no more prerequisites) and I started feeling like I really know what I'm doing here.  I know how to study and test and do homework and I am far enough into my program that I'm pretty familiar with whatever they will throw at me.

Or so I thought.

Turns out, this semester has been full of surprises.  And not the kinds of surprises I was even expecting. (...That's what makes them surprises.)

I cannot even count the number of times I have used the word "inept" or "ineptitude" to describe my new-found feelings for this term.

See, after thinking that I knew what to expect and I was far enough into things that everything would look like a more specialized extension of what I had studied last semester, I have been humbled exceedingly by the actual content of classes this term.

The first is from a course I am taking as part of my general education.  I like being well-rounded and well-read, so I like the idea of general education.  Narrowing choices down as to which upper-level psychology or philosophy or Spanish class I could take was a difficult choice.  This semester, I ended up in a sociology class, which I figured would be a welcome change from all the calculations and formulas I'm usually dealing with.  I had taken a demographic sociology course before and felt decent that I had retained the most important concepts, so this class couldn't be too surprising, while still allowing me to stretch my limits and expand a little into another subject.

Turns out there is no end to the number of sociological things that I do not know, or even have the slightest idea about.
So I get to read.

This phenomena of ineptitude could be expected when you take a class so unrelated to your chosen field of study.  But it has also started happening in my engineering classes.

Some of the concepts and material we learned as freshmen and then never spoke of again have miraculously resurfaced.  And they are in every single class.  After three or four years. Gaaahhhh.  The sudden realization that I in fact, do need to remember all of my past education is a little bit alarming because my brain has been trying not to be a pack rat and get rid of some of the unused stuff up there.
I really hope we kept it instead of donating it to Goodwill.

I thought I was so good at this.  I have never felt so inept at school before.

But this feeling of ineptitude, unqualification, and belittlement is not inherently a bad thing, albeit uncomfortable.  It's probably one of the biggest learning opportunities I'll have all year.  Not only to learn about the electronics I have forgotten and the ins and outs of sociology, but also to learn about myself and how to do things such as handle stress, read my eyes out, study way too many subjects at once, and hopefully figure out a more specific direction for what I am even planning to do with all of this.

Other aspects of myself that I hope to learn about include:

•  how I can actually make a difference in the world, 
• why specializing in something and knowing way too much about it (for example, the many failure modes of steel) is worthwhile, 
• what my priorities are, 
• what I can an cannot live without, and 
• how to simultaneously kick butt at school while not becoming a homework-doing robot, void of fun or emotion.

Something valuable happens when education belittles you and you realize just how big the world is.  Having your eyes opened to the vastness of how much you really don't know is a beautiful experience in a way.  The funny thing is that as we find more answers, those answers spark new questions.  As the expanse of knowledge we have--both as a collective community of humans, but also as individual minds--continues to grow, somehow the realm of what is beyond our knowledge, and therefore what is possible to be discovered and achieved, expands as well.

refoveo [refresh]

In case you've been wondering why the blog here has been silent for the past six weeks, it's school.  School happened, and suddenly all my hobbies were swept away.  Goodbye, my former life.

Actually, all that school means is that I just have to relearn (once again--I swear this happens every semester) how to have a life.  School will do a great job taking over your life, you know.  Especially if it's Engineering school.  And especially especially if you let it.

So this is me saying, "Hold on, school.  You are not the single most important thing about my life.  You do not have a monopoly on what defines me."  If I don't look out for my hobbies and explore things that interest me here and there, this education thing will obscure my mind.

And yes, right now I have a few more pages to read in my textbook, and a quiz to study for, and several engineering problems to work out before the morning comes again and brings new assignments as effortlessly as refreshing a webpage.  I put all this stress and effort into this long list of assignments, and every morning someone pushes a big F5 and everything I had checked off of my to-do list the night before is suddenly there again, box unchecked.  I turn in one assignment only to receive a new one. The world is mocking me. Evidence can be seen below.

Behold, evidence.

Anyone who has completed tasks such as laundry or doing the dishes will recognize the feeling of always having more work to do and never truly being done.  It's like running on a treadmill; you can crank that sucker up and run as fast and as hard as you can.  You can pace yourself and run for hours.  You run until you can't see straight and your skin is soggy with sweat.  And when you get off, you're still in exactly the same place you were when you started the process.

Behold, the treadmill of engineering.

But there has to be some value to the process of running in circles, because otherwise treadmills would be known only as torture devices, and engineering school (or any study or discipline or employment, really) would be a hilarious trap for otherwise clever people.  I think the students would have figured it out by now though, and if it weren't worth something at the end of running all those circles, we'd be smart enough to avoid all the pain and effort in the first place. 

Evidently, this is why I subject myself to a never-ending list of tasks to be completed.  And it's hard to keep up with life because life keeps updating itself.  Thanks, life.

Because my education-imposed list of tasks can often make it seem like so little is actually getting done, the small victories in doing something on my personal, "want-to-do list" bring a much greater sense of accomplishment.  Even though that list refreshes just as often.  But it's more refreshing when it does.

For example, look at that.  I made this blog post just now.  Aww yeee.  It feels refreshing just having accomplished it.

Of course, you have to work on both of these lists during your life--your to-do list and your want-to-do list.  The to-do list is important because it's normally relieving when a task is completed. And the want-to-do list is for when you need to be refreshed yourself in order to keep up with your ever-refreshing life.

dimensio

I've been somewhat inundated with thoughts lately and don't even know where to begin.

I suppose it all started when I realized just how much school had taken over my life, to the extent that I didn't have time anymore to do 'normal human' things.  Read: I didn't have time to do the things I love.
Granted, I had realized this stuff for a while or so before I ended up doing anything to fix the problem.  I've since been much better at writing a little bit every day, playing soccer when I can, and even having friends. :D
It helps, of course, that the homework is over.  And that I would go insane from studying for finals if I didn't take those breaks.

But one of the things that I have noticed in this shift in my life is just how different a person I am based on the things I'm doing in and with my life.

A quick Venn diagram, if you will:



Gotta love those Venn diagrams.

So basically, when I allow school to consume me and fail to make time for other people...I feel like a robot that does homework all day, rather than a human being.  And it takes a huge toll.
I will not deny that a large part of the paucity of posts lately is due to this robot's failure to have ideas worth writing and expanding and sharing.

So I was talking with the Dean of my college recently and one of the things she said about the intent of our education is for us to become three-dimensional people.  Colleges are really good at spitting out one-dimensional people, who know their stuff and can do a great job at engineering or math or teaching literature or singing...whatever it is that they've been studying now for years.  But a large part of our education should be to enhance that dimension of ourselves with other dimensions.  To learn how to communicate across other disciplines and to see how our area of focus can help other areas or can be developed by other areas.  To have experience in differing fields, and that even though you've dedicated all you are to this one great discipline (in my case, engineering), you should still be able to say that you make time for hobbies and you like to find new interests.  You have a grab-bag of skill sets because of all the volunteer projects you've helped with, and you're able to understand more of the world because you've taken the time to see it from more than just one angle or dimension.

Not to mention that three-dimensional people just stand out. ;)

So I've been having greater success at that lately, and it's true; it makes you feel more real.

satis [enough]

Hello, faithful groupies, and passerby who happen upon this blog--

Once again I fear I must begin my post with an apology for the hiatus in posting anything.  My goal has been to post twice a month, and March has certainly not gone as planned in that respect.
But there's still time! :D

Anyway, the past week was a bit of a doozy, with a lot of tests and homework and regular work...any by all that, I mean, moreso than usual.  If you can really fathom that.
Ah, the glorious life of the engineer.  Yes, all my friends (the four of them) were wondering where I was all week and if anything had happened to me.

In the great effort that was this past week, though, I learned a thing or two from it all.  And not just all the material science that I was cramming.  I saw just how deep I can really reach into myself and keep going.  The amounts of effort and energy and time that I thought I had seemed to be more than I previously thought I had.  Perhaps my capacity has been expanding over the past months--and isn't that the aim of life?  As noted by e.e. cummings, daffodils know that the goal of living is to grow.

The concept that I hadn't originally planned to share, but that I've ended up getting at is this:
When you give of something, it implies that you have enough.

The other part of that concept is that, by continually implying that you have enough by giving of what you have (which is, of course, a finite amount) you arrive at one, or a mixture of two results:

a) you redefine what "enough" means
b) your capacity is increased in order to give and still have enough.

Obviously, you have to find that balance in your life and learn when it is time to say "no" to some of the many petitions for your involvement.  You have to pick your priorities and choose your battles.  But when you choose what is important to you and try to live your life out of love, I believe that you will find that you do have enough time and effort and strength and grit to give and have enough.

So don't be afraid to give more than you expected.  And if you live out of love, you can trust that you will always find you have enough.

communico

So, in case you're not already getting the vibe, I'll be posting less frequently than I formerly was here.
But hey, relative to the last 18 months, its a huge improvement!

Today we get a rare weekday post because I just finished a week full of tests and therefore have no homework due tomorrow. :D  Ah, the engineering life...

So in my momentary fit of freedom, I attended an event with the English department.

...
I guess we can all accept that I have English tendencies, seeing as I keep this blog (which was originally about writing) but I still felt like I had entered a whole different world.  I didn't really feel at home like I do in the engineering building, or in the shop.

It's probably just been a long time since I've embraced the side of me that wants to write things and break the rules.  Since there is far more rule-breaking done by English majors than by engineers.  And that is why your world operates safely.

Anyway, on my way home,  I decided to take the opportunity to reflect on my eye-opening experiences with the word nerds via some poetry.  Aww yeee.
Since I was walking at the time, it came out very raw, with no writing to interrupt or help its structure.
It came out a lot more honest that way, perhaps.
I liked it.  It reminded me of when I used to think in poetry, to some extent.

Here's a bit of a combo of what I didn't write on the way home, and what I did write a couple hours later.  Less raw, more polished, and....not quite as good.
I guess I should have recorded myself.
Ah well. Here it is.  First poem in a long while:


Communications


So, I came in late
which didn't quite help
to participate
or really get what was going on.

I took a seat at the back,
looked around at the pack
of strangers--
pens and paper at the ready,
scribbles across the pages,
and they were all prepared.

I really had nothing.
Woops.

But one by one
each had their turn
to rise to the front,
and open their mouth
--their world--
to the audience.

We began to communicate--
in a one-direction way--
as I sat and received
what began to illuminate
my rusty old mind.

It still isn't clear
but now that I'm here
don't y'all find it queer
to be here;
so many of you,
and just one engineer.

So I sit, look around
at this new world, new ground,
and wonder what makes you all think
in that way that is paper
and ink.

For me, it's all numbers,
diagrams, forces.
The bottom line is whether it works.

My head's made all different
and though I might share,
I don't think my math
will resonate
so you could appreciate
just how I communicate.

But be it in words or numbers,
diagrams, paintings, or graphs,
there's got to be some grand idea
that, no matter the head that you have,
gets those cogs turning.


It's a structural mess, I know (definitely not a structural engineer's ideal)...originally it was more rhythmically driven than anything else.  I think putting it on paper kindof botched it in a way.
But...if you liked any of it, say so.
If not, just go back to your regularly-scheduled life.  Wait for the next post, it will be better.

esse

Scenario: you're in this awkward social experiment called "life", and you need to organize things before you go crazy.  How do you attempt to deal with everything going on, everything that you have to do, everything that you want to do, and the rest of the chaos around you?

A common practice that test subjects have (oh goodness, I'm beginning to sound like GLaDOS) is to organize things into to-do lists. I sometimes do this when I have a lot to do in a day.  Here is an example:

Thursday:

• Statics homework
• Calculus homework
• finish reading The Chosen
• catch up on writing
• clean out some fridge food
• watch a  talk

This is all good stuff, but...what is it leading to?  As soon as I finish my homework, new assignments replace those.  As soon as I catch up writing, there's more to be written.  The instant I finish washing all the dishes, the sink is filled anew.

What's the point of doing things?

Well ultimately, I believe that doing things will lead to being things.  If I continually do math homework, I will eventually become adept at mathematics.  If I persist at washing dishes, I will eventually...be...the only one in the house that washes dishes?

Anyway, I have constructed a to-be list, for several reasons.  Aside from giving long-term goals and an end in mind, I think this is sometimes more constructive than a to-do list.  Instead of just getting my statics homework done to get a grade, I can also focus on getting it done to become an engineer.

It can also combine several trivial tasks into something more meaningful.  It adds depth to what I'm trying to accomplish here.  And simplicity.  Instead of having a list of things to do like "make eye contact" "say thank-you" "open the door for people" "say 'excuse me'", et cetera, you can condense it into one task: be polite.  Then you only have one thing to remember and one question to ask, rather than a whole slew of things to remember to do.

So.  Here is a to-be list that I have constructed for the next couple weeks.  That is not to imply that come several weeks I will have become each of these things, but that these are the things that I want to particularly focus on and progress in for the next while.

To Be:

• Kind
• Serving
• Hard-working
• Grateful
• Eager to learn
• Respectful

There.  Six things, just like on the to-do list.  But there's a lot more to be done here.  Don't let that overwhelm you, though.  You don't have to suddenly become everything all at once, just like you don't have to do everything all at once.

It requires a little bit of a different way of thinking and maybe some different effort, but I think it's worthwhile to have a to-be list.  If anything, it might just be refreshing to get away from the to-do lists for a bit. :)

saponem arca archa

In following with my previous post, I've decided to share another mind-blossom with you. That's right, some people have mind palaces, I have mind-blossoms...
Besides, it's nice to give flowers to people.

A couple weeks ago, I was going to classes (imagine that!) and in several of them, the teacher got somewhat distracted at some point in the lesson and diverged to some other topic that wasn't going to be on the next test.

This isn't an unusual occasion, especially for some of my classes, but it was unusual in the quality of the diversions.  Instead of talking about a time that a colleague said something funny, or being coerced into doing a solo polka demonstration (true story.  According to my physics professor, "the polka is the only dance that makes any sense," which is why you might make a polka analogy when explaining circuit analysis...) These diversions were more...well, I don't really have a word for them right now.

In choir, we stopped rehearsal (any performer knows that you do this at great cost) to hear and hopefully understand something about the 60's and 70's. How young people were being forced to fight in a war they didn't start, they didn't believe in, and they couldn't support.  But their country and their parents and anything else they had put their trust in was suddenly betraying them, so they reacted in the only way a rising generation can: cultural revolution.

In graphics, we basically bagged the lesson and the quiz and listened to a lecture about the wonders of technology and engineering.  We looked at picture after picture of cool ideas and models and projects, like this chair:

 

In physics, we stopped drawing diagrams on the board and forgot about all the theories and equations to hear stories about young scientists like Michael Faraday who had little education but eager, brilliant minds and the right opportunities to make discoveries that changed the world.

It seemed like I was experiencing a soap box day, where instructor after instructor decided it was a good day to forget about books and tests and just get on the soap box for a bit (or...the majority of the class) and teach us things about life and the world they've lived in and the experiences they've had.

And I found myself learning like never before. I was engaged and interested.  Sleep didn't even tug at my eyelids.  I didn't consider pulling out a book to read or a note to pass (see how well I normally pay attention?)  I went to school and received so much more than I usually got.

Here's the thing.  I can learn physics on my own.  I can read the book and look up experiments and diagrams.  I can even learn skills on my own.  I can teach myself music or how to use computer software.  It's not always as easy, but I can do it on my own.

What I can't get on my own is this life-wisdom that other people have accumulated. I can't understand what it's like to live in a time when people weren't regarded (for the most part) equally.  I can't imagine living in a time of war and having that affect the lives of my friends and family.  I can't create my own inspiration.  I can't learn the value of respect without having someone show it to me.  I can't learn to love without anyone to give it meaning.

People seem to regard the activity of getting on one's soap box as a bad thing.  I think it's one of the most worthwhile endeavors you can make.

Have more soap box days.

imaginatio

Today, as I was spending another day at the ASCE Conference surrounded by fellow engineers, I found myself wondering why more people aren't engineers. 

I mean seriously.

When I have that wonderful everyday conversation with other people where we ask each other what we're studying, and I tell my conversee that I'm an engineer, they always make some silly remark about "Oh, you must be really smart," or "That's cool, I'm not smart enough for that."

I don't think this is the correct approach.

Many people seem to believe that engineers are born, not made.  They have a "knack".

This may be true, but I feel like I could take any number of career paths by making myself whatever I want to become.  A quantum physicist or a soccer player or a researching mathematician or a dinosaur or a writer or a musician or a painter or a historian...

Some of those things, like a painter, would take a lot more effort for me to do.  I have previously held little interest in painting and therefore have developed little talent with it.  Maths and physics, however, I have already had great interest in and therefore I've developed quite a bit of experience in those fields.  But I wasn't born with any of that...I learned it over time, because that's what I wanted.

I believe that it is the same for engineering.  Sure, there are a few of those with "the knack", but there are natural pianists and doctors and lacrosse players and chemists, too.  It's not like every single engineer was born with some supernatural gift and destiny.  Most of them are just normal people with interests and science.

So if you're not sure what you want to do with your life yet, I suggest you consider being an engineer.  See, here's the best thing about engineering: you can do whatever you want with it.  The other day, my friend who is an engineering major asked me what it is that engineers actually do.  This is a difficult question to pin down because there are a lot of different fields within engineering.  At first I responded that engineers make life better.  But really, people in general try to do that, via all sorts of careers.  My next answer was this:

Engineers make the imagination tangible.

How cool is that job?  Imagine whatever you want, and then make it real.  Ahhhh, coolness just radiates from you.  Impress all the ladies.

But seriously, engineering is an art.  It requires a lot more than just math and science and graphs.  It requires craft and creativity. And it produces beautiful things.

So.  If you like things, you should be an engineer.  Because no matter what you like, engineering has something to do with it.  Just through my first year of my engineering studies, I've already used engineering in canoeing, music, soccer and other sports, home improvement, construction, legos...
allll sorts of things.  Engineering opens all the doors.  If you're not sure what to do, be an engineer and eventually it will lead you to something incredible.

corpus liberum schematum

This weekend is conference weekend.  :D  And for anyone apt to jump to conclusions, it's actually an engineering conference that my university is hosting.  We built a canoe to race against other schools in the area.  And...we built it out of concrete.

Aw. Yeah.  Engineering for the win.

My college life, which is usually filled with fellow engineers, is now flooded with them from other states and universities.  It's a party.

If you're friends with me on facebook, you will already know that being surrounded by engineers is sometimes not ideal.  Here are a few posts I made recently, for those who didn't see them:

"Engineers are a wonderful bunch. They ask you for your number, you know, for "homework purposes". Then they only call or text for homework purposes. -.- Why so clear-cut and logical?"

And

I got a text the other day from a lab partner who had gotten my number, you know, for "homework purposes".

Him: "You going to be around this weekend? :)"
Me: "More or less. Why?"
Him: "Sweet. I wanted to see if I could borrow your book tonight or tomorrow."

*facepalm*

Engineers, as you may imagine, are not the greatest when it comes to dating.

So, here is a handy list to help you realize that even though they may only want to do homework on friday nights, engineers are actually dateable:

TOP 5 REASONS TO DATE AN ENGINEER

1) Free body diagrams

2) No other couple could enjoy a better moment

3) We know how to handle stress and strain in any relationship

4) The world does revolve around us; we chose the coordinate system

5) According to Newton, if two bodies interact, their forces are equal and opposite


Another reason (not in the top five, but there are so many more reasons...) that I particularly like:

Significant figures.

anomalia

I met a guy on campus the other day, at a political event.  When he asked what I was studying, I told him I was going into Engineering.  His response was this:

"You're an anomaly.  You're interested in politics, you're going into engineering, and you're a girl."

Yes.  Yes I am. Thank you, thank you.

My roommate heard of this exchange and she agreed with the boy, because on top of being politically interested and adept at maths and science, I also like fine literature and working out.  

Hopefully none of this is coming as a surprise to you, o blog readership.  I feel like I have mentioned many of these aspects of my life here on the blag-o-blag.

What makes me wonder, though, is this:
If there was a guy who was politically interested and an engineer...would he be an anomaly?
I mean, there were about as few women at the political event as there are in my engineering classes...in fact, after the event a few of us hung around to keep talking to the speaker, and of those twenty of so, I was the only one sans Y chromosome.

So am I an anomaly in the sense that I do a lot of different things, or am I an anomaly in the sense that I do things and I am a girl?

I prefer to think that perhaps anyone who is interested in engineering and politics and literature and soccer could be considered an anomaly, regardless of their gender or race.  

Of course, I would prefer to think that anyone who is interested in a vast array of differing subjects is not an anomaly.  Why do people assume that if you are good at one thing, you must be inept at others?  People see math and English as an either/or skill set; you can't possibly succeed at both.

Society...

It's not that I don't like being so different. I love being an anomaly, really.  The problem here is not that I am an anomaly, but that society can be so narrow-minded sometimes.  

Please don't be so surprised that an engineering major reads books.  Don't think it weird that a girl takes apart motors to see how they work.  Don't think that somebody who likes playing soccer in the mud and isn't afraid to get messy cannot also read fine poetry and sing classical music.

And even moreso, please don't limit yourself to your own paradigms and fallacies.

problemata

Lately I have been aware of a lot of problems here in life that don't really have answers.

"Why does it have to be so hard all the time?"

"My roommate drives me crazy."      

"Is there something wrong with me?"

"My best friend is too busy to talk to me anymore."

"I hate it when class gets out late."    

"I'm always so angry at my parents."

             "I feel like I'm just a burden to my friends."
I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.

What are you supposed to do? All of these problems are so complex and each situation is so personal and unique that there really aren't answers.  There's no one-size-fits-all solution.  If there was, I would hope that humanity would have found it after so many millenia of existence...But we have to face our problems and our lives on our own. We can't rely on the past, and there aren't any answers in the back of the book.  Alas.  This isn't math.

But there has to be some way to fix stuff like this, otherwise the world would be a terribly oppressive and miserable place. And I've found that for the most part, it isn't...so what's the answer we're missing?

Well, amid all the suggestions from religion, philosophy, science, politics, and so many other views or schools of thought, I've realized that the way I must answer the question is the way an engineer would.

Problem: half the volume of a glass contains water.
Optimist's solution: "yes! I have half a cup of water!"
Pessimist's solution: "curses.  I don't have half a cup of water."
Engineer's solution: "This cup has twice the necessary volume."

(hopefully this is not the first time you have heard that lame joke...XP)

Anyway, the lame joke was demonstrating an engineering approach, which I will now apply to the life problems.
Rather than fixing the problem, sometimes you just need to view the problem differently and redefine it.
So instead of wondering what to do and where to go and why things suck...realize that none of these things are problems.
Your problem is this:

YOU HAVE PROBLEMS.

So in order to fix this, just stop having problems.

"Gee thanks", you say.

No really.  If you can change your perspective and thoughts on life such that you no longer perceive these things as tragedies and problems, then it doesn't matter who your roommate is or how busy your best friend is or how hard life is right now, because you don't think it's a problem anymore.

Your problems don't have to have answers to go away.

It's a hard thing to do.  I am certainly not telling you that this is easy. I'm still not there all the way.  But maybe it's something to consider trying.

Best of luck. :)