h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm sure I had some profundity to express here. I remember thinking of it last night and telling myself that "I must remember to post those thoughts in Hootoo; that would make a good conversation topic."

Of course I can't remember them now.

Perhaps I'll remember them when I get home. Of course, by then I'll be an hour away from a hootoo posting, but perhaps this time I'll have a pen handy. Probably not; Murphy's annoyingly reliable like that.

I really like Arisztid's entry on Bela Lugosi. I wish I had some depth of knowledge on, or could be bothered researching, something cool like that. I've half-started an entry on the seven wonders of the ancient world, but I probably should have waited until I have everything together first; at least until I'd finished the entry on Invader Zim, or perhaps I should have created the Smiley Zoo first.
Either way, it's currently just yet-another vehicle for procrastination. I don't even know if my essay's due in friday morning or friday afternoon, but I've still barely started it. I figure I've had a lifetime's practice at proctrastination; I might as well stick to what I'm good at.

The problem is that I'm not even a little bit motivated to do it. And the lack of motivation is caused by a lack of passion. And the lack of passion is caused by... not having anything to be pasisonate about.
The people I care about are all too far away to visit. The things I enjoy doing, I can't do. The things I hope for, will probably never happen.
Being an expert at procrastination goes hand-in-hand with being an expert at self-distraction, but there's only so many ways I can distract myself without there being anything I'm at all passionate about, which leaves me just twiddling my thumbs and feeling more and more frustrated at my own inability to do what needs doing.
At the moment I'm just telling myself that if I finish this assignment then I'm closer to finishing this paper... the closer I am to finishing this paper then the closer I am to finishing my degree... the closer I am to finishing my degree then the closer I am to... what?
Truth is, I have no idea what I want to be doing in ten, five, or even two years. In one year I'll still be studying, but I already know I'll be sick of it before then. I'm already tempted to take another six months off, but there's always the danger that I'll never make it back again.
There is a certain appeal in being the kind of non-conformist intellectual who drops out of university and goes on to create the coolest, most world-changing product in history or something, but I'm trying to tell myself that there's even more appeal in being the kind of non-conformist intellectual who pisses off people by knowing what I'm talking about, and then later to piss them off even more by letting slip that I have a bachelor's in computing and mathematical science, majoring in artificial intelligence. It's already an interesting anthropological excercise to watch people's faces when I tell them that's what I'm studying.

But my point is that there doesn't seem to be a point at all. Without passion of some kind, I'm really just wasting time until my own death. Which may come sooner for the depression that comes of abject failure and lack of enthusiasm.
So the question /really/ is: What have I got that I can be passionate about? Or, Where can I find something to be passionate about?
At least enough that I can get enough motivation out of it to cope, day by day.

I would've read the massive middle section but I wasn;t passionate enough.

Traveller in Time studying for the rest of his life
"Sure there is a point, once you have done it, it improved your value. Not only on paper but also for yourself.

Get a little mad at yourself, forget about htis wonderfull society and work the ** out of it!"

I do that from time to time but then I run out of energy and can't do anymore. It has to be something i feel interested or passionate about.

Traveller in Time doing a crash course in fastreading english to catch up with his backlog
"Perhaps I replyed to 'Jerms'."

I'm not fussed about improving my value; that implies that my value is defined by the views of others. I'd rather improve my worth, which may or may not involve me studying /without/ the help of university.
I'd certainly be less broke.
I got a statement of my student loan balance today; I've clocked up another $9,500.00 in debt since march. And that's with 7% per annum compound interest, calculated daily. Add that to the previous two years' loans; I could have bought a house by now.

cheer up!!
its not all that bad... ok, well maybe it is... i'm feeling awefully depressed about school... and everyone is telling me that gr.12 is like the most important year of my life... which is really stressing me out... and anyway i should really be reading by chem. i have 11 pages to read i have no idea how long i've been here but i'm only on the top of page 2, and page one had some pretty big doagrams...

but you can be pasionate about yourt friends... or about the music you listen to... thats what i'm doing right now... even though it means my pasions cant really be my priorities at the moment...

....and i have no idea what i want to do after high school.... i'd like to take a year off... by knowing me i'd never go back...

Hehee! Smoosh! That would make the best smiley!

"...gr.12 is like the most important year of my life..." They lie! Don't believe the heretics! Trey Parker (I think) said it best in 'Bowling for Columbine': schools put soo much pressure on students to do well that they're counterproductive. This year is /not/ the most important year of your life. Nor was last year, and nor will next year. School is just a place to learn. School is not everything. What /is/ important is how you live your life, NOT what mark you got in this exam or that one.
Don't stress, just do the best you can and if you can't do any better just think " it, I did my best."

I found out a couple of statistics from my councellor, which meant that next time I saw him I went back and said "Hang on, does that mean that over 85% of university students are suffering from some kind of long-term stress-related disorder?" He said yes.

I don't feel like I'm expressing myself very well, here, but basically school isn't worth stressing about. Just question the intent of anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. Remember teachers aren't impartial, and neither are your parents.
Doesn't mean you shouldn't work hard at school, just that you shouldn't stress about it.


"...no idea what I want to do after high school.... I'd like to take a year off... but knowing me I'd never go back..." Why would you want to go back after you've finished?
Lol, I know what you mean though, and I reckon taking a year off is a great idea. It gives you perspective in ways that school has stifled. Trust yourself, dear heart.

You're right, I /can/ be passionate about my friends, but as I say I have no way of seeing them. Some of them I've never met.
Which leaves me being passionate about music... which kinda works, but it doesn't really lead to any kind of self-fulfillment, in my case. So I'm trying to find something else I can have, here, and now, to be passionate about. Still not able to think of anything.

thanks so much. you always have such good advise for me

i just got in trupoble for only being on page 7... and my dad is telling me its time for bed... i do have to get up early..

oh well...

by the way that whole forgetting i do all the time... i think oh! i should tell jerms! or wouldnt taht make a good journal entry... but then i forget... i'm i'm afraid no one will care....

Be strong babe. I'm just hoping my advise will help you to cope...

I'd care. You can tell me anything you want...


I'm trying to remember to carry a pen with me, so that I don't forget so much... ironically the essay I'm supposed to be writing at the moment is on memory training techniques!

"I'm just hoping my advise will help you to cope..."
it does all the time.

"I'd care. You can tell me anything you want..."
yay! you care! ...good now i can tell someone stuff...well actually i already do tell you stuff... i just sometimes worry that no one really cares...

...memeory training tecniques? that sounds very very useful...if you learn any good ones let me know, i could certainly use it for school...

Can I have some advice? It's about some girls. Two as a matter of fact. And I'm going out with one of them. Ask for the situation before you judge me. Lol.

Hello my little Jermy friend

If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly what you mean...I get sudden flashes of motivation, which last about a day...then they won't happen again for *ages*

And let me be an example of what not to do...I went to uni for a year, deferred for a year, and never went back...

If I stuck with it, I could be a lawyer by now...so I suppose it all worked out for the best

In order, same as usual:
Arisztid: The best memory training techniques depend on the type of information you want to remember. If it's some kind of list, for example, the best ways involve a rhyme or story as triggers to the information. Try learning the basic rhyme "One is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree, four is a door, five is a hive, six is sticks... etc." And then link the items on your list to each of the objects in the rhyme in turn. Hint; the more bizzare the connection is, the better you'll remember it.
In general study, it's always true that the more different ways you represent information, the more likely you are to be able to recall it. You've probably already heard people say that you're more likely to remember something if you write it down AND say it AND hear somebody else say it, and if possible do something hands-on with the information as well.
Rhythmisation helps, which is why I recommend rhymes.
Associating new information with old is really good; all you have to remember is the link between the old and the new, that way. This is how metaphors work.
If you have some linear information (like a list) then you'll remember the first stuff better than any of the rest, and the last stuff second best.
Your concentration suffers after about ten minutes, so if you're studying do it in ten-minute blocks, and take about a two-minute break to distract yourself.
If all else fails there's the three 'r's: repetition, repetition, and repetition.

Job: Sure dude. My advice is free, if not always accurate. And I have no intention of judging you before I know the situation 'coz I've probably not only been there and done that, but bought the t-shirt as well. You might prefer another thread to talk about it. Maybe.

Tanzen: I figure if I'm passionate about something then those flashes of motivation will last longer and happen more often... thus why I'm trying to find something to be passionate about. But you probably already figured that... I guess I just wanted to dribble on a bit about stuff you already know, while I think of something smarter to say?
The question is whether you did the right thing by /not/ being a lawyer... in your case it's fine 'coz you're not a lawyer and so I don't have to kill you. I'm also trying to work out whether I'm better off learning /at/ uni, or away from it.

Thanks for all your help, guys!

I think I did the right thing...

I mean, I wanted to be one of those "save the world" types...but being in classes with these egomanical adolescent s really made me reconsider my calling in life...sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision...but I think it's better to be unsure and unattached than get halfway through something and change your mind......

...besides, it's much less embarassing saying I'm an Office B!tch than saying I'm a law student...well, that is until people ask me where I work

Where /do/ you work?

Don't ask

Damn.

yeah, it was worth a shot though

Maybe its just a teenage thing. Has anyone ever liked a girl then thought that you didn't like her as much then gone out with a different girl who you also like and realise you did like the first one? BUT you get on with the first girl but might not have a definate chance with her and you don't want to upset the second girl AND like her at the same time and could end up without either of them. Or am I just a problem child?