Linking with Love

Study Journal

5 October 2012

It is nearing the end of the semester and the examinations loom forebodingly. Of course I, in my usual style, have procrastinated leaving the truly important stuff until the last minute.

English is one of my modules for this year. Two actually, but I cancelled the one module because of the extreme stress it created. That something as familiar and loved as an English writing course should fill me with such anxiety is a bit of a mystery to me.  I do know that I have a fear of failure, and perhaps this fear is magnified because it is a subject I enjoy and the possibility of not doing well would be mortifying.

Anyway, to the task at hand:

Exercise 1.15

1. If you were to take a trip down memory lane, for the purposes of writing about your life, what details from your high school years might you select?

Ooh, this is a difficult one, every moment of my teenage years seem to be filled with details that are worthy of mention.  Does one write about the first year of high school? A new school, new friends, new subjects, new experiences both scholarly and socially. Then there is the second year, one filled with life- changing experiences; the year my social life started and seemingly ended because of the turn my family life took. The third year also holds promise; it was a year of choices, one that would affect my academic career, letting go of childish dreams and setting sight on future endeavours. What about the penultimate year? A year of rebellion and betrayal. Yes rather dramatic, but that is the way it seemed to a 15/16 year old seeking answers and rejecting help. And of course, the final year should be added into the equation, but one that was not quite noteworthy. A long slog for sure, and one that would determine whether the choices made in the third year were good ones, academically speaking. So many choices.

I have re-read the exercise and wonder why I thought the writing needed to be chronological? What do these English lecturers mean by 'details'? It precisely that type of question that complicates my life, if this was an oral rendition I would be sighing in frustration.  I will now spend the next few hours debating with myself about what needs to be written and it is this type of attitude that procrastination delights in - three weeks to the exams and a myriad of exercises to complete.