Thursday, August 21, 2008

-Phi*G is on the Move



So I've been slacking all day trying to enjoy my last moments of freedom before I'm swept away in the whirlwind of orientations and dinners with advisors and class starts. I should be studying for my placement test. I'm about to get right on that. I have a lot of stuff to consider soon. I've got to develop the course guide for my independent study. I'll have studying and note taking and agonizing over math equations to do. Hopefully it won't be as bad as all of that, but one never knows. It really helps that I know what I want to do with my life in order to keep me from minimizing any distractions. I just need to watch for that "rolling ball" tendency that I sometimes get that keeps me bouncing from activity to activity without focus. Like now I should be studying, but I've been blogging all morning. I haven't gotten the reading done that I wanted to and in the morning I'll be moving my things into the dorm. Right now the only people here are the international students, and I've been staying with the "fam" so I haven't' had time or rather made the time to explore or get to know anybody except for the few faculty members who have made the effort to try to get to know me.



Evidently I must've made some sort of impression on my brother and his wife because I was surprised at how many people here were interested in meeting me, even though I am like the polar opposite of who he is in terms of personality. It takes me a minute to warm up to people like that, but there seemed to be a little bit of buzz generated surrounding the type of work I'm looking to do and so now I'm just trying to keep names and programs and what not straight. I'm going to be running across a few of them again and there was even some discussion that came up of me eventually moving into this place called the SENS house where they reconvert fecal water into swim-able quality by filtering the waste through some sort hydroponic botanical system that uses plants to eat the nitrates and bacteria to eat some of the toxins out of it so that it can be reused within the facility. I know that sounds pretty nasty, but it could prove to be beneficial knowledge in what to ecologically consider with how human waste is dealt with along the roadsides of places like Kibera and Alexandria that are poor and have no indoor plumbing and are rife with disease.




I also talked briefly with an agronomist about soil quality and how it affected the ability to cultivate crops in underdeveloped regions.... yeah, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to fit in fine here. Who knows I may actually leave a "supa star".... Just discipline and focus are the two things I need to keep in mind and I should be fine. Oh did I mention that I learned what LEEDS certification was? Leaders in Energy and Environmental Sustainability? Berea College has actually done some incredibly impressive work with that, in terms of renovations and sustainable design. I know this sounds incredibly dorky, but I feel like a young Padawan learner here. The question here is who is going to emerge as my "yoda" or "Obi-wan" or even Craigon? That's crazy, yo to have a force inside you that everyone sees that you've been unsure how to channel and unleash. I guess it helps to have a path. Now I just need the training.



Oh yeah, per my little brother's recommendation, I'd like to add this youtube trailer. It kind of reminds me of where I'm coming from in life: You know, I started off as a Spartan at Michigan State. Technically I was like a Warrior, a Hurricane and a Wolverine first, but that was the last thing that I claimed. Now we're the "Mountaineers".....

I guess I could work with that. I now battle myself, where other people could never dare to dream. We can not contend with the mountain, but rather conquer our fears and develop our strength and focus by learning how to ascend our trials and strategize how to make it [you know, and live to tell about it. How do I best come about doing that. I think that when I discover that for myself I will have embarked upon the next phase of rebirth in my spiritual evolution... Enjoy!!!

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