Nothing like a 10 hour day in a 2nd grade classroom to get you in the mood for writing a 10 page final paper.
As I am sitting in a coffee shop overflowing with rustic dark wood, indy seattle music playing, way too many flannels and Christmas décor I realized that I have come to a whole new realization of the term “low point”. I thought that I understood the term when I was studying Kinesiology in my undergrad at Westmont college and had to study for my Anatomy final and know every muscle, ligament, bone, tendon and how they all connect together in order to pass the class. Turns out that was like eating cupcakes on a summer day while sitting in a field with rainbows compared to what it feels like to go through finals week at the UW grad school TEP program. So, in case you are curious what this “low point” entails I have made a short list for you.
You know you’ve reached a low point when…
You drink multiple (5) cups of coffee and green tea within one hour. You eat a cookie the size of your face due to stress. You do jumping jacks in public to keep yourself awake. The thought of running a marathon sounds better than finishing your paper. You move seats in the coffee shop multiple times hoping to find a table that gives you “good vibes”. Your eyes are so blood shot people are convinced you’re stoned. All of your pretty nail polish is gone because you’ve picked it off out of stress. That ever present “light” at the end of your tunnel is black… no light, no light at all. You twist in your chair and your back cracks 10+ times making you realize that you have been sitting aggressively hunched over with your shoulders shrugged around your ears. Pandora has asked you 3 times if “you’re still listening” because they can’t believe that anyone in their right mind would really sit at their computer for such an absurd amount of time. You start writing a blog post instead of writing your paper because that’s how bad you don’t want to write about the “implicit curriculum that is fostered from the community norms found in the educational system”. You enviously glare at the woman ordering decaf because clearly her life isn’t as stressful as mine if she can afford to be non-caffeinated. You find yourself googling things like where can you receive a caffeine injection. You don’t remember the last time you woke up and said, “wow, I feel refreshed and ready to conquer today”. You don’t remember the last time you watched a movie and actually stayed awake through the whole thing. You have to set 3 alarms just to make sure your body gets out of bed in the morning. A good friend lets you know that you have baby powder in your ear (which not only means that there was extra baby powder applied in order to soak up the extra grease in your hair due to lack of showering but also that the application was not as flawless as usual due to lack of sleep which leads to lack of fine-motor skills.) You look down at your “professional attire” and realize that you can fully see your pink wool socks peaking out through your boots… super classy. Blinking is no longer an involuntary activity like my human phys. teacher taught me, oh no, it is a little war to re-open them after every blink. You have absolutely zero recollection of the last time you said you were “bored”, oh the things I would give to be bored.
The silver lining: I’m learning how to effectively educate and shape the young minds that will one day run this world. Ok, who are we kidding… there is no silver lining.
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Two weeks ago before the chaos of finals. Note: nails painted, smiling, freshly showered.
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