This time of year really makes your head spin. You feel like you should be doing more and working harder than at any other time in your life. My argument, however, is that the best way to manage the final weeks of year twelve is to do so by the motto ‘slow and steady wins the race’. It’s just a simple, age old expression but I am only now really appreciating the gravity and usefulness of it. Thank you Mr Tortoise and Mr Hare.
Trying to do everything RIGHT here, RIGHT now leads to a freakish, neurotic exhaustion. This may seem obvious but when you see three SACs in a week rearing their hideous claws at you, you sometimes need reminding. Every weekend this term except for last weekend, I’ve pretty much said to myself ‘Right, I’m going to get on top of all my homework for all my subjects and do every bit of it to perfection’. At the end of the weekend I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, I didn’t work hard enough.’ But now I’ve seen the light: I was biting off more than I could chew.
It’s hard to explain what I mean by ‘slow and steady wins the race’ in regard to VCE. I certainly don’t intend to drop my level of application and dedication to my subjects. Rather I mean to just make it more sustained. Instead of having a graph of application levels that looks like this /\/~\/~\_// I want one that looks more like this ——-. Not just flat-lined, but much more even than the current one (I couldn’t be as precise as I wanted to using the computer keyboard).
This epiphany came last weekend when I went skiing on Sunday and, instead of feeling anxious about missing out on working for a day, I came back feeling refreshed and rejuvenated to keep plodding, not rushing, through my year 12 workload.
On the desk beside me sits a book. Its cover is decrepit, its spine worn, its pages yellowing. But despite its dilapidated appearance, this book is a New York Times #1 Bestseller and ranked ‘among the great adventure books of all time’ by the Wall Street Journal. This book is an epic of mountainous proportions. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I’m talking about Into Thin Air.
Unfortunately, my copy of John Krakauer’s novel is causing me some problems. I happen to have a different edition to every other student and teacher using the text at my school. Hence, I must ‘relocate’ any references denoted with page numbers. Then of course, there’s the absence of full colour photographs in the middle. Not to mention the lack of illustrated ‘woodcuttings’ that are supposedly pertinent to all manner of important themes in the text.
Don’t get the wrong impression – I don’t think my book is in any way inferior to other editions. If you ask me, the page numbers are arbitrary, the woodcuttings largely superfluous, and despite their monochromatic nature, there are some lovely and worthwhile illustrations in the centre of my book which are notably omitted from the other edition.
Nonetheless, I find myself increasingly inclined towards the notion of investing in a new copy of this, my final English text. It would admittedly make me life a bit easier, and I wouldn’t cringe every time my teacher uses a page reference. I may love my tattered old copy, but sometimes standing out isn’t worth the inconvenience.
With one more SAC to go for English, it’s clear we are on the final stretch, the last push and 10 weeks to go until the exam. All these signs lead to one thing…
Practice Exam Season is upon us. As Year 11s and 12s begin their exam preparation, school printers are constantly running out of ink and paper, staff photocopiers are being used when nobody is looking, staplers are doing their best to join thick stacks of paper and plastic pockets are bursting at the seams.
I have started printing off exams; it is a great time waster for a free where I am not feeling much desire to do too much work. I have started making a schedule for when I will be doing all these exams in accordance with the rest of my school work. I just need to make sure that I stick to this schedule otherwise I know I will lose motivation.
I am a little bit scared; it’s all coming to an end. I’m thinking incredibly serious about the order of my preferences. Results will determine my overall plans for next year. But I wrote at the start of the year that I was really nervous. I’m not that nervous anymore.
I should stop writing like this because there is still over a month of school left, and I’ll start winding down when I need to be going full speed.
Enjoy all the exam prep!
Today I got up in front of my entire school and sang the ‘oompa loompa’ song. And yes, I bopped.
A few years ago this thought would have made me severely nauseated. What sort of masochistic person does that? But despite all that, it was actually a thoroughly enjoyable experience. And it’s all to do with debating.
I love debating. Any sort of debating will do really, even if it’s as simple as having my say in a ‘heated’ conversation. However, proper debating can be even more fun. I can think of few things as validating as having an argument where you have six minutes to say whatever you like, there’s a nice big crowd to laugh at your jokes, and at the end of it all there’s the possibility of having your opinions officially vindicated. Perhaps there’s a political future ahead of me yet…
So today, as I got up as the final speaker in our annual staff vs. student debate, I was both nervous and excited. But as usual, the whole thing gave me a fantastic high – probably the closest thing I’ve ever had to an adrenalin rush. Ending with some words of wisdom from Willy Wonka’s fine orange friends seemed like a fantastic way to top off such an event, and with my teammates behind me, I left my audience with a debating finale they are unlikely to forget. Oompa loompa doompadee doo!
Since our intrepid bloggers are reading all about climbing Mount Everest, I thought I’d find a few links about climbing this amazing mountain. Why do people do it? How do they prepare? Do you have to be a little bit crazy to even consider it?
Earlier this year, two teenagers fought for the honour of being the youngest person to scale the mountain. Jordan Romero claimed the title, aged only 13. Read about his climb thanks to the ABC.
In 2006, Paul and Fi Adler climbed Mount Everest and posted live updates as well as their training regime. It’s a fascinating read and really takes you into the mind of a climber. Read about their training here.
But if you’d prefer something to watch, check out this tribute video to Rex Pemberton, the Australian 21 year old who climbed Mount Everest in 2006. This shows him training and climbing. It’s truly a tough regime.
Those are my links for the day – let me know if you have anything you think we should be sharing!