It's best to get my pissing and moaning out of the way.
To reiterate: holy crap. Four years out of my last stint of formal education and—especially now, after reading The World is Flat—I feel the fear that a dinosaur with ESP would have felt before the meteor hit. (what?)
I've always felt a little bad about my drawn-out career as a student—five years for bachelor's degree, two for graduate. I had come to the conclusion that I must have intentionally prolonged it out of insecurity—fear of entering the real world. I was a good and curious and diligent and thoughtful student, but would I do well in the great, mass-interactive experiment of life with the other janes and joes?
Now I’m in the real world and I’m finding myself feeling frustrated and stuck again and again. I’ve realized what I liked so much about being in school: feeding my brain and feeling up to date. As dorky as it may sound, I love learning. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been so incredibly lucky. Really. I work and have worked with some phenomenal humans; insightful people with an eye for the unseen and the heart and passion and creativity to innovate and motivate others to join them. At the same time, though, I miss the great minds and learning and the connection on a college campus.
And by connection I mean both the intellectual and the technological plug-ins. No more ready access to computer labs with speedy computers stocked with the latest software. No more classes on how to use these tools and—more importantly—to provide interaction with professors and students who push you to think creatively and look at the use and implications of technology from new perspectives. I went to decent schools, took wildly varied and interesting courses, and had some amazing teachers. Student life was stimulating and varied and fortifying. Stressful, sure, but at least some sort of intellectual progress was the result.
And back to the technology—here’s where the whining escalates to a fever pitch—I’m getting left behind with my Dell desktop computer, my the three-foot deep, 100 lb monitor, and a dial up Internet connection! I don’t have the friggin’ money to keep pace with the machines and gadgets and software and training! I know that there’s more to life than technology, but I’m beginning to feel so square. So 1.0.
To reiterate: holy crap. Four years out of my last stint of formal education and—especially now, after reading The World is Flat—I feel the fear that a dinosaur with ESP would have felt before the meteor hit. (what?)
I've always felt a little bad about my drawn-out career as a student—five years for bachelor's degree, two for graduate. I had come to the conclusion that I must have intentionally prolonged it out of insecurity—fear of entering the real world. I was a good and curious and diligent and thoughtful student, but would I do well in the great, mass-interactive experiment of life with the other janes and joes?
Now I’m in the real world and I’m finding myself feeling frustrated and stuck again and again. I’ve realized what I liked so much about being in school: feeding my brain and feeling up to date. As dorky as it may sound, I love learning. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been so incredibly lucky. Really. I work and have worked with some phenomenal humans; insightful people with an eye for the unseen and the heart and passion and creativity to innovate and motivate others to join them. At the same time, though, I miss the great minds and learning and the connection on a college campus.
And by connection I mean both the intellectual and the technological plug-ins. No more ready access to computer labs with speedy computers stocked with the latest software. No more classes on how to use these tools and—more importantly—to provide interaction with professors and students who push you to think creatively and look at the use and implications of technology from new perspectives. I went to decent schools, took wildly varied and interesting courses, and had some amazing teachers. Student life was stimulating and varied and fortifying. Stressful, sure, but at least some sort of intellectual progress was the result.
And back to the technology—here’s where the whining escalates to a fever pitch—I’m getting left behind with my Dell desktop computer, my the three-foot deep, 100 lb monitor, and a dial up Internet connection! I don’t have the friggin’ money to keep pace with the machines and gadgets and software and training! I know that there’s more to life than technology, but I’m beginning to feel so square. So 1.0.
It’s time for me to get a wiggle on. I need to bow to my innate tendencies and…you guessed it:
ride the boogie.
ride the boogie.
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