Here, in this most private of public places, I'm going to share a secret with you, my nonexistent reader. Writing is hard. This is perhaps the most Earth shattering of revelations to reach, but it's true: there is nothing easy about good prose. I have friends who revile prose, friends who adore it. And then, I have friends with all manners of attitudes towards the process by which prose is improved: writing. Some people hate to write, but love to learn, whilst others love to write and hate to learn. I fall into the middle, with a good many further different people: I both love to learn, and love to write.
With that said, writing is STILL very hard -- no matter how much you do it. But the work pays off, and the end result is usually something that makes me feel warm and tingly [I almost said you, but I shan't put words in your mouth]. EVEN understanding this relationship with writing [to be clear: that it's work with a marked dividend]...I still find that my last post was more than 2 weeks ago. In fact, much more. And this is what led me to that revalation about writing: that I was in some small way avoiding it because it is difficult, and that's no reason at all. The hard thing about maintaining a blog is that events in one's life do not occur in some regular pattern. We don't step outside and say 'Oh, today is Monday, something life changing is going to happen at 2.' It's just not the way it works. Which means that during the periods of in between, it's easy to fall into a rut, and not bother to post. And then, the exception becomes habit, and habit evolves into rule. End blog.
I'd prefer for that not to happen, so I'm once more returning unto the fray, where I shall remain! After all -- these posts seem to mirror my stress: the more stressed I am, the more likely I am to post [that probably speaks for my blogging at MIT -- I'd blog just about every week. :P ]
In any event, the past few weeks have been exhilarating, and terrifying, all at the same time. My new existence as a college-critter at UMass Lowell is becoming a reality, as I purchase such ordinary things as a laptop-compatible backpack and binders and so on and so forth for my college classes. I am the proud owner of a UMass student ID [which I would post here, but for the problem of identity protection], and I'm preparing to apply decals to my car to permit me to park on campus. In the meantime, I have my new phone [the HTC Incredible]. It's not quite as incredible as it's hyped up to be, and simultaneously much more than you hear. I haven't given it heavy use in the app department, and I find the keyboard restrictive. But the voice-to-text feature is absolutely amazing, and the integration with Google makes me drool. I have found myself doubly glad for the Navigate app, and frequently consider the phone my safety blanket: I can't get lost or disconnected from the world. It's an illusion, but oh-so-comforting, and I love it. Unfortunately, the battery was definitely sub-par [it came with a 1300 mAh battery, which is much too small], so I went ahead and purchased [today!] a 3500 mAh extended batter [which *UGH* made me get an extended case too, since it makes the phone fatter in back]. I'm excited by my tech [and also the camera...did I mention that? I'll post some pics that I've taken some time in the not-too-distant-future], and currently flying headlong towards A) a family vacation somewhere on the East coast, B) my first year at college, and C) my college applications.
I've gathered my requirements, and figure myself to be pretty well satisfied with my decisions on which 10 or so colleges I'll be applying to, and so all that remains is filling out the Common App [again], and MIT's app in late September. That, and taking the Physics SAT + retaking the Math II for an 800.
D:<
What fun. In any event, you've now been filled with that knowledge I have to offer for the day...so I'll off to bed, and you can off to ponder. Or whatever you do when not reading my posts. Whoever you may be. So...good night!
