Sticks and Mallets

And to think you thought I had stopped blogging!

Well, I last visited here, my life has changed drastically. I will soon enter my final year of undergraduate study; I moved into an apartment close to the university and far from home; and I got married. That last one is a biggie.

Many people – including myself at one point – have been concerned about the whole getting married right before my senior year of college thing. At first glance, it really does seem like a crazy idea. After all, I’m on the verge of my currently hazy and unforeseeable future, so do I really need to add even more stress by planning and having a wedding, then figuring out how to stay above the water financially?

Taking a closer look, though, it’s actually not crazy at all. Going through something as stressful as the final year of college with today’s job market to look forward to is what’s crazy, and not going through that all alone is the most comfort anyone in this situation could ask for. I know that, whatever happens, I will always have someone by my side to help me keep going. Not only will this be my toughest year of school so far, but once I finish I’ll be thrown at the mercy of the music education job economy (which really isn’t looking good in many places). Once I do get a job and start my career, I may have to move away. And yet, no matter where I go, no matter what I do there, my wife will be by my side. That’s not crazy at all in my book.

Speaking of preparing for a career, I’ve come back to Sticks and Mallets after reevaluating my intentions and the purpose of the blog. To start with, I will soon get back to work on a previously postponed series of posts, partly to help get myself back into the blogging mindset and partly for readers’ enjoyment as originally intended. In the meantime, this relatively short entry will have to do. Ciao!

It has recently come to my attention that in order to get any kind of reader base as a blogger, you usually have to be good at something. Furthermore, you also have to be good at keeping readers’ attention while you share with them the thing that you’re good at.

Well, one thing I’m clearly not good at is being consistent with my posting habits; the last public post before this one was in August. I have started quite a few drafts of posts since then, but I never finished any of them (yet). So what I need to work on is finishing what I start, or not trying to take on quite so big projects at once.

My solution, then, will be to post content that is clean, concise, and to the point. For now. Maybe I’ll throw in some bigger, deeper stuff every once in a while. Once I get into a habit of keeping up with this blog – whose domain name I am paying for, after all – I can then move on to my higher goals for it.

Here’s to posting more often. *toast*

I also have plans to soon start a series of posts on similar topics. More on that later. Additionally, I am working on some extra features, including a Tumblr to supplement this blog. I’ll be unveiling those soon enough as well.

Look out Internet, here I come for another go at this.

Now, to any readers I might have (which is probably just friends and family at this point): What would you like me to write about or share with you? Leave some suggestions in the comments below!

Since my very first week as a university student, I have had to deal with the, as I refer to them, “stereotypical” college students. This term I use refers to the alarmingly high number of college students that exemplify everything that I believe is wrong with our so-called college experience. The most notable characteristic of these students is that they are here for the wrong reason — because of the idea that college equals party. In general, most every student who has gone into higher education for the social experience and not the academic one falls into this category.

Image via Wikipedia

The academic university was established as an institution for learning. Originally, there was no intended place for carelessness and fun; you went to a university to learn. You paid for an education. Fast forward to today, and it’s a travesty. Movies and TV hold college partying on a pedestal, sports players get scholarships based solely on athletics (yet still have to pretend they care about learning), and people who came to college for the right reasons are the ones who are looked down upon.

When I began my time as a student here at Bowling Green State University, I knew that these “stereotypical” students were going to exist. It’s an inevitable part of life. But I didn’t care; my plan of action was to just ignore them, and put my lot in with my family of fellow students who understood the true value of higher education. However, what I didn’t count on was the sheer brazenness of the “stereotypicals.” I quickly accomplished the second part of that plan — establishing a close web of fellow students who share my views of education and its value, mostly within the community of music majors — but it just isn’t possible to completely ignore the general population when you have to live with them in residence halls and attend the same classes they take.

I have had the displeasure of having to live near some of the worst cases of stereotypicals. One can almost pity these poor people. They will likely never realize that they are wasting their time here, at least not until it’s too late. The problem is that, until they figure that out, they are going to continue to disrupt the lives of those of us who actually care about our education and general well-being. As an extreme example, without going into much detail, I was once assaulted by an athlete in my own dorm’s hallway for walking to my room after printing off a homework assignment late at night. That’s a story for another time, but let it suffice to say that being arrested and charged as a criminal is apparently what it takes before one of these people realizes they are behaving stupidly.

Image via Wikipedia

Now to get to my point. Today I was in the library, enjoying the quiet in which I could study, when I realized something. The loud delinquents on my floor, who were a main reason for my choice to study in the library instead of my own room, will probably never be found here in the library. This is my sure-fire getaway from them. Students who don’t care would never take time out of their busy partying schedules to sit in the library. And that’s when I recalled an idea that had come up last year, after the assault incident.

These people can do what they want, and think of me what they will (if they ever stop to think at all). They don’t seem to want to take a moment to consider what effect their actions and attitudes now will have on their future. The difference between students like that and students like me is that I think of the future and work to make it the best I can. Because of that, odds are that I will be much better prepared for real life when it gets here. They can hide under the shelter of rich, spoiling parents or athletic scholarships, but a day will come when they don’t have that protection anymore. Meanwhile, I will have a career doing what I love. The future professional football player may make more money than I ever will, but when it comes down to it, my life will have true meaning, and I will be happy. And that is why I can say, without worry, the phrase that I have coined; my motto, my slogan, my catchphrase — my Hakuna Matata, if you will.

They might say we’re nerdy, but we say we’re successful. We’ll see who’s laughing at who in ten years.

Image from QuickMeme.com

Facebook can be amusing sometimes. This conversation happened tonight while I was practicing, and I thought I would share it because it was just so amusing. Be warned: there are so many puns!