Goodbye 2009

Dear 2009,


You almost got me. You beat me to my lowest point. You shook up the things I trusted most. You smirked at me when I was hurting. You spat on me when I fell down. You will not be missed and hopefully you'll be forgotten. You've seen my sophomore slump and my broken heart. You've seen me lose my temper and disregard logic. Oh boy, there will never be another one like you. You're a one of a kind 2009. I hate to say it though man, but your hurt and pain are on their way out. You lose your power in about 30 hours. 2010 is almost in, and he's here to save the day. And 2010 requires no looking back. It requires forgetting you. It demands new opportunities and many smiles. Oh how I can't wait for you 2010. It's a year for change and a year for growth. A year of immense challenges that will be conquered by my unseen determination. A year of many unknowns. But the future with you Mr. 2010 is looking bright. Thank you for kicking your ugly brother 2009 out of the way. Now let's get started with the new!


Today is the first day of the rest of my life!

Goodbye 2009 School year!

For some reason I can't find the motivation to bust out a good, witty, or clever blog post about how I finished the semester. Maybe because I'm too busy on my "break" working 40 hours a week trying to get some cash! But here's a quick summary. Let's just say, considering my circumstances and the outside obstacles I faced, I had an incredibly successful semester. I was only 0.25 points from retaining my 4.0 GPA. Yes you read that right, a quarter of a point. In my upper level management class that I risked taking as a sophomore, I scored an 89.75%. I assumed it would be rounded up. My professors response, "Stephen, is an 89.75% below or above a 90%?"

Point taken. Jerk...

Carpe diem

I know there aren't a thousand readers of my blog out there, but for the few that do read I'm curious of your opinion on this short movie. Me and some friends have watched it and cannot determine if the meaning is simply if you’re sitting around in sorrow that you might miss your "moment" or opportunity. Or maybe the meaning is that if your patient enough and never give up hope than your dream might be fulfilled. So what do you think? Cease the moment? Or don't tamper with our own life's courses and be rewarded by patience? Be amazed that this whole short film was produced in a competition where the film makers only had 24 hours to produce their entries. Quite impressive.

Finals

At some point in our lives we've all faced this dreaded dilemma called a "final". Whether it be in high school or college. We've all had the pressure of a single exam or paper determining our academic success for an entire year. Seems highly unfair. Attending class every day and taking extensive notes does not equate an A. Nope. Spend numerous hours studying all semester. Spend countless hours doing homework or reading an overpriced text book. But the only thing that counts is the hour you have to complete one exam. Just you, a number 2 pencil, and a 20 page test. Well it's this time of the semester at most universities in Oklahoma. This coming week is "dead" week, and then followed by the ultimatum: "Finals Week". It's time for students to start trying. There will be no campus events or clubs. Only the sound of sharp, bitter wind rustling the decomposing leaves and students flipping old, tattered pages all night at the Edmond Low Library. It's the only week of the semester that college holds true to its promise of being "more difficult" than say high school. But boy does it hit hard. Like a speeding freight train, it blows by and you either buckle up or you get left behind searching for your once decent GPA. So this is it, just a couple weeks until the glorious Christmas break. I can hear the train coming. All aboard?

Enough Said

Thanksgiving Already!

Is it already that time of the year? Thanksgiving is next week, followed by an ungodly amount of Christmas shopping. This year went entire too quick. At the same time it's induced many changes in my own personal life. Losing a best friend. Hitting a massive sophomore slump. Rediscovering God in a bright, exciting new way. Getting a direction of my future. Changing majors. I've hit an uncanny amount of adversity, but I'm still limping through the finish. The point is not that I might have a limp, but it's that I'm going to finish. Never going to give up. At first glance, I assumed this holiday season would be a downer. I'll be removed from an important family, who've been gracious enough to share their Thanksgiving and Christmas with me the last 3 years. I'll be missing my mistletoe kiss this year at Christmas. My Rhema Christmas light buddy. And everything else that the Holiday season brings. But there is no real reason to be negative. Through the enormous amount of pain and hurt I've been through, I've discovered the real value of family and friends. It's amazing the time and effort your real friends will go through to make sure you're alright. I've got a fair amount of humorous stories; as well as soft, emotional stories from my battle with love. But here's to rediscovering the real meaning in Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a time to be thankful for what you do have, not a time to miss what you don't. Although it might be a tough break in some aspects, I have no doubt that my family will be there to pick me up, let me rest, and provide encouragement through this much needed break. I've been stretched emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually to the point of extreme exhaustion. Now it's a time to rest. A much needed rest.

Goodbye Excuses, Hello Life

As of last week (November 1), I am no longer a teenager. As many fret about turning 30, 40, or even the official over the hill age of 50, I too am reluctant of letting go of my teenage years. Many of my friends embrace it with open arms, mainly because they are one year away from the legal age of 21. But not me. As strange as it may sound, I haven't exactly wrapped my mind around this 20 year old thing. 20 just seems so much older than 19. Ah, how I miss saying TEEN. Oh well, I guess there isn't much I can do about it. And I should be thankful I'm entering into and not leaving the twenties. Thank you Stephanie for making room : ) Maybe it's the fact that I'm being forced to grow up, when necessarily I'm not ready! Or that I really don't have much of excuse for immaturity anymore. "Stephen! You're twenty. Act like it."

On a better note, for my birthday, I received a glorious Iphone. Do they live up to the hype? Exceedingly so. Although, I've seen classroom attention span and sleeping hours decrease indirectly related to my Iphone usage. There is definitely no 'I-regret' associated with this phone though. Now I must get off here and start working on my paper. Time to start acting like I'm twenty, right?

Camp Gundyville- Tornadic Chaos.

Angry. Infuriated. Stressed. Frost bitten. Hatred. These words could easily sum up my emotions in the last couple days concerning Columbia's malproduced item they claim is a "tent". As most of you know I'm a die-hard OSU Cowboy fan; therefore, me and 9 buddies "camp out" by the football stadium in order to get front row seats to all the home games. I've come to the realization, with help from my over logical brother, that maybe just spending extra cash for assigned season tickets would be worth it considering the pain and time commitment necessary for this so called "privilege". Probably so. But I’m a college student, which means I must make irrational decisions on a daily basis, right? Back to the point of this post.

Sure, this tent looks great. The nice colors and unique design trick us consumers into thinking this product would be worth having on a camping trip. Well ladies and gentlemen, stay away from this tent. Stay far, far away. I'm not sure how to explain this in text, but similar to most tents, this tent has the meshy/breathable material on the inside so campers won’t die of CO2 poisoning or heat exhaustion. But unlike a majority of well made tents, whose meshy substance is on the ceiling, this entire tent is made of this mesh. Yes, Close to 90% of the material is mesh, thus the rain cover covers such a large surface area of the tent. Seems great. Seems nice. Nice work engineer team. Not. Imagine 60 mph wind ripping along side of a massive structure such as Boone Pickens Stadium. So strong, that no old man or tiny toddler could safely walk 10 meters. So strong, it can tear tent poles and plastic hooks. Accompanying this skin ripping wind from God Almighty is rain pouring as if the flood gates of heaven were opened. In a literal since. Not a good combination for a meshified tent. My buddies and I awoke to this tornadic (Yes in fact there was a tornado watch) nightmare in a daze. We thought the world was ending. Maybe this was how the rapture happened. With thousands of thoughts flowing through our head, our first instinct was, "Grab the plasma TV and xbox360"! Easily, the most valued possessions of any college student. With everything soaked, we sprinted our way towards the cars while the 35 degree breath of God ripped our tiny pores apart in waves of overbearing gusts. Horrible, horrible night. After awakening in the cars with stiff necks and sore backs, we observed the catastrophe. Memories of the Oklahoma City tornado came to mind as tent poles were cracked and thrown 100 yards away. Pathetic rain covers were nowhere to be found. People squeezing out their water-logged pillows, shivering from the cold devastation. All I have to say is that OSU better beat Texas. And better beat them bad to make it up to me. I've sacrificed sleep, comfort, and possibly sanity for this football team. They finally owe me something.

P.S. Dear Columbia, take your stupid tents back. Keep to making your oh-so-popular fleece jackets.

Diversity

Just a quick little post.


As I walked to class this morning I thought about the multitude of diversity there is on a college campus, especially a large state campus. I'm not talking about the regular diversity we see every day by living as far south as we do. I mean in every aspect of the word, is there a more diverse place than a university? As far as ethnicity, just on my way to class this morning I saw Asians, Latinos, Indians, Arabians, whites, blacks. It's amazing to think they all live in the 3 square mile campus of Oklahoma State University. Where else can you see Bio-Chem nerds and music majors eating lunch together? Or aerospace engineers and elementary school teachers walking to the library together? In fact, there is a Japanese culture dinner at the Union tonight for anyone willing to eat obscure, mysterious food. It just blows my mind, the amount of diversity there is in a couple square blocks of land. I'll never be in an environment like this one again. I hope I never take it for granted.

5 Steps to Dominate a Week in College

The past two weeks have been 'living hell' for me as I strive to do my best in my school work. Let me concisely recap for my audience the pain and misery Stephen Cliff was forced to limp though. Last week: Four exams all worth a third of my overall grade. Unfortunately, two of them on the same day! This past week: one paper and one project. Not just an ordinary 'project' either, I'm talking a 27 page project. I can remember the days when I'd sit in my room and tell myself that nothing could ever compare to the stress and pain of High School calculus or biology. I was greatly mistaken. 24 hours is not enough time in a day. Every college student or working individual has come to this conclusion at one point in their life. From the opinion of an experienced pro, let me inform you of 5 easy steps to succeed under highly stressful situations.



1) Plan ahead. This might be the most overlooked tip, but it never ceases to amaze me at the lack of this ability. I'm not talking about the typical college student version of planning ahead, "hey bro, I got a Chem 2 exam at 3 this afternoon. I'm going to study one chapter an hour and I'll be golden." For the first time in my life I started studying for these exams one week ahead. Scores for the 3 exams I studied in advance for: 91, 91, a 92. For the one test I let get pushed back: 76.

2) Avoid specific websites that humanity has created souly for the purpose of numbing the mind and distracting college aged students all across the globe. Such as: Stumbleupon.com, Face book applications, or blogs : ).

3) Texting. It's funny how when I have so much to do, the random things and random people all of a sudden become a vital part of my social life. I say to myself, "Oh this is so important I must text this person this question. There is no way I'll be able to study if I don't know the answer." The mind seems to work in humorous ways sometimes!

4) Not study groups. This commonly used term, in actuality, means to gather with friends or unknowns and talk about the latest news: "Is Dez Bryant coming back?", "This professor is so selfish and stupid.", or my personal favorite "If we had a good professor than I probably wouldn't fail this exam tomorrow." For some reason college solicits these study groups because they try to avoid thousands of people sitting alone in their dorms. But be serious, shut the door, turn on music, put your phone on silent, and WORK if you'd like to make a good grade or be productive.

5) Toss down 5-6 Coffees, or Redbulls. Whatever may be your preference.

"Slice of American Pie"

Generation Y kids, including myself, have gotten the privilege of growing up in one of the most unique cultures ever known to man. The innovations of the television, cell phone, computers, and all things technologically advanced have drastically transformed American entertainment culture that we know today. "Family Time" in America today can be defined as eating dinner on TV trays and watching the latest episode of The Office or Monday Night Football. Although I can remember when my father received his first cell phone and we bought a desktop for the house, I still never got to grow up in this pre-tech era. Sometimes I hear songs like "Slice" by Five for Fighting and my mind wonders to a time that once existed. It always seems like people were happier then. Am I the only one who wishes they could live a month back when there weren’t computers, cell phones, or TVs? Back when apple pie was for desert, families ate dinner together, and baseball occupied our free time. Back when music was first exploding on the entertainment stage. People checked yes or no to "Date Me?" instead of "Infected?" and God was the center of families. I sure read the stories and hear the songs and I just wish I could go back and experience life then. Sometimes I get bogged down in our microwaved society of "more, more more, faster, faster, faster" production based lives. I'm not a hippie by any means, but I think it would be nice to experience life then...