Light the Lamp, Not the Rat!

This week’s blog title might sound a little bit like nonsense to you- although anyone familiar with The Muppet Christmas Carol, one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, will surely get the reference- but this is one of many silly pieces of advice I’ve decided to take to heart this finals season.

 

This year has been hard. Impossible, actually, and yet we’re at the end of it; we’ve made it through! To paraphrase my American Politics professor from today’s class: you’ve made it this far into 2020, so clearly you’re made of some tough stuff. I mean really; think about all you’ve accomplished this year. I know looking back it doesn’t feel like much, but consider this: the entire world has been on fire all year. Do you know how absolutely insane it is that you accomplished anything? The odds were all against you, and yet you persevered! That’s amazing, and you should be proud of yourself.

 

That’s where the quote comes in. This is my own way too deep interpretation of a very literal silly quote, but here it is: this year has been hard for everyone, and the mistakes you’ve made, the inevitable failures and missteps, they’re all a part of living through what has been- for most of us- the hardest year of our lives. Put the blame where the blame is due! Don’t punish yourself or dwell over what you did wrong, because the answer is probably nothing or very little. Light the lamp, not the rat; blame 2020, don’t blame yourself!

 

Speaking of rats, I have recently become just the tiniest bit obsessed with knitting them. At this current point in time, I’ve knitted and distributed somewhere between 25 and 30 tiny stuffed rats, and I’m planning to keep going until I can’t find anyone to take them anymore! I’ve found that it’s a very good stress reliever for me; I get to knit, which is something I love to do, I get to finish a project very quickly, which gives me a much needed sense of accomplishment, and I get to give something to someone else, and making other people happy always makes me feel very happy.  It’s pretty much a win-win-win situation (except for my homework; the amount of procrastination the rat-knitting has allowed is probably not a win). 

 

 

In other news, we’re headed from midterm season right into finals next week and I’m feeling much more confident in my classes. I’ve learned that I’m not actually as bad at calculus as I initially thought, and I’m actually much more inclined to political science than I felt the first week. I let myself be so intimidated by all of the ambition and expert-level outside knowledge that I completely forgot that I was taking a class, not attending a meeting; the point isn’t to know everything beforehand, but to learn, and I’ve always been pretty good at that. I might not be approaching the class from the same place as the other students, but I’m doing well and enjoying it just as much, so I think there’s something to be said for that. It really wouldn’t surprise me if a year or so from now I was writing to let you all know that I’ve declared a major in Political Science! 

 

I’ve also started to plan out my spring course schedule; I’ll be eligible to take classes both in-person and online, and what I’m hoping for right now is a healthy mix of the two. I’m really excited about Understanding and Improving Schools, a class in the Education Studies department! I think my dad- a high school principal- was a little worried that if I started taking classes this one I’d come home and start criticizing everything about my alma mater, but I’ll try to keep all of my comments to myself. Being from a family of teachers, I spent the entirety of my childhood completely rejecting the idea of becoming a teacher, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that it’s probably where the path I’m on is leading, and I’m much more excited about it than I ever thought I’d be. Education Studies is another very big frontrunner for a possible major- I really love the idea of being able to have a dual focus on education policy and in-classroom teaching. 

 

This morning was my last study time by the lake for this semester- it was so cold that I really only stayed out there for about half an hour, but I got most of my reading memo done for poli sci and saw many a swan, so I call that a win!

 

 

This Sunday is the Guild of Carillonneurs Holiday Open Tower; tune into the Wellesley College Youtube Channel to hear me play Comfort, Comfort, Joseph Lieber, and Bring a Torch Jeannette, Isabella, and some other holiday favorites from the rest of the guild. We’re running a dress rehearsal the day before, so hopefully everything will go pretty smoothly!

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post full of everything and nothing for the week. I just watched You’ve Got Mail last weekend, and I really everything about it so I’ll leave you this week with a quote that last sentence reminds me of that I hope you like: “The odd thing about this form of communication is you’re more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many… somethings. So, thanks.”

 

Sending you joy,

 

A