Damn this thing! Usually around April I’d be starting to run completely dry and simply lose the balance and the “working mindset”, and in turn enter a self-catalysing state (which spontaneously stops). It starts with me not feeling like working. Too many stimuli and too little interest.It occured to me that unless I get a “proper” grade in my IB diploma (if I don’t fail and get a certificate instead), my chances of getting into a Danish university are actually fairly low.

This brings me to a couple of a interesting points.

1. So I got an IB diploma - and…?

Unlike my classmates, I’m not going straight to university. My future isn’t as certain as theirs. What if I don’t manage to get out of the army? In that case, there’s no point in applying to a university right now. And suppose I did have to apply, I’ll probably do it in Denmark, where the curriculum is probably going to be in Danish (unless I take the odd course in English or so), so in other words, I’ll have to learn Danish. I’ll take about two or three years just to get that to a good academic level. So, 2-6 years after graduation just until I can even think about applying.

So, suppose I waited 2-6 years, I might as well go do a shitty crash-course and graduate the untraditional way. I’ll go to that length, why shouldn’t I just keep going?

2. If I can hardly make it now - will I be able to make it through a (theoretically) more demanding course?

I’m struggling, torn between meds and mood swings, grades slipping. Why is it going to be any easier on me then than it is now?

3. Working as a waiter = more than enough to live. Working as an analyst = more than enough to live.

You guessed it, thanks to socialism, the minimum wage can actually sustain me. And you know what, waiters are overpaid anyway. So I can actually stay alive and buy me all the things I need. No problem.

4. Living on student subsidies isn’t that great, unless you have savings.

It occured to me that living on student subsidies probably isn’t much fun. I know people who live like that - either their parents support them or their partner. It’s livable, just a bit under the standards.

Conclusion

Please tell me I’m wrong.

Note: After receiving some feedback from - yes - a teacher, about this post I decided to put this little note here. I’m not going to remove this post, because I really did mean to post it, but please check out my disclaimer, “nothing here is true.” Additionally, I have ADD.

“Oh no, I have an essay tomorrow… and then I have my math homework… and then <something else>”. I hear that every now and then. No, sorry. All the time. People keep telling me just how “stressed” they are. They complain, whine, tell me how miserable they are. O NOEZ IM STRESSED.

Me, personally, I’m subjected to more or less the same amount of work. Am I stressed? Not really. How come? Easy:

I don’t let it disrupt other areas of my life.

If “stress” going to make me even more suicidal than now, maybe I should do less work. Yep, I do that.

I have hobbies, sure, and I don’t want to give up on them, and I don’t. On Xfire it says I played about 30 hours of World of Warcraft in the past 7 days. Note, I don’t feel stressed and I get about as much work as anyone else around here. How come I’m not feeling any stress, let’s see.

I’m naturally calm, I’d say. My cousin has this really awful dog, still does probably, and I remember how I was pretty much the only person around who’d get the damn thing to calm down. This anti-stress energy is just radiating from me. Yes, you could say I’m hypoactive. Note: Nowadays I try not to think about this dog, her hair is amazingly similar to that of an ex of mine (whom I had previously mentioned in the blog)

Tip 1: Skip the fucking readings

Nobody, nobody cares if you read the stuff you’re supposed to. Sure, it’s generally a good idea, but my social anthropology and English teachers talk about the material so much that there’s no real use in actually reading it. They’ll talk about it anyway, so you don’t have to read it.

Tip 2: Audiobooks

Me personally, I have a serious problem. Even if I did read something, I would very often not understand it, not be able to spit out raw facts from the text, not be able to process it, etc. It happens very often, don’t even know why. Audio seems to work much better with me. So what I do is pirate audiobooks and “read” those instead. And that works for me.

Tip 3: If it’s “good enough”, it really is, good enough

Don’t perfect everything! What are you, a Chinese sweatshop worker? Just do something rough that gets you an acceptable grade. Perfection is too much for anyone. No, don’t do a half assed job, just do something acceptable.

Tip 4: Ungraded homework = unimportant

Just in case you didn’t realize it yet, you are at university/school for one reason: a number (or letter in some places). Don’t do ungraded homework! What’s the point?

I hope this guide helps you accomplish the minimum possible. Have fun, take some ritalin, and just really, do the minimum. It’s better for your mental health, I guess.

Here I am sitting waiting for class to start. I’m sitting in the classroom, all the different parties are present, but the class, unfortunately, was yet to begin.

But wait, if I’m here, and the classroom is theoretically in “class mode”, but there’s no class going on. Why? The teacher’s busy checking homework.

Yes. Checking homework. I’m on my second year of IB, and my standard level biology teacher, believe it or not, gives and checks homework, ungraded homework. Being ungraded, they do not enter our records, they do not count for my internal assessment, the IBO does not know about them, the Vade Mecum does not mention them. In other words, by doing the homework, I’ll be pushing a rock up a mountain for no reason.

Isn’t the whole IB diploma supposed to make me an independant learner? Well, in that case, why am I being guided like an eight grader?

Instead of doing the usual lecture type presentation, with a few slides in the background and me writing notes and possibly asking questions, I’m stuck sitting in a room with a frustrated teacher treating a bunch of kids like they don’t know how to tie their own shoelaces and need guidance. They of course, refuse to be “guided” this way and instead end up not doing the homework. In turn, the teacher becomes frustrated, the students become frustrated with the teacher, and precious time is wasted.

How about that, my own learning should be in my hands. The teacher should provide me with information, which I will review at my own pace.

Oh, look, I’m 30 minutes into the lesson and no lecture, no presentation, only old questions! Great! No sign of it starting any time soon.

I really don’t get it. All I want is just to get this piece of paper, not work my ass off for no reason.