Kris Jordan

October, October, October… interesting month. Fun level: high. School work level: high. Work, work level: low. By design. I was getting burnt out with New Media. Internal discongruity. Everyone is at a point where they see themselves headed in different directions. So I took a few steps back.

Stepping back isn’t always easy. It’s easy to get caught up in the mix of things and lose sight of the big picture. It’s also easy to feel really good about mediocracy when surrounded by people who are masterful at framing failures with a glorious light. So the big picture? For me it revolves around a few simple axes: pursuing passion, happiness, and integrity.

Pursuing passion is something I gave up on mid-May when my small world got turned a bit upside down. My passion is computer science. Software. Near term implications? Getting serious about grad school applications. GREs. Senior Honors Thesis. OpenScaffold. & of course… the Next Big Thing. It’s high time I made time time for myself to sit down and write some code.

Happiness is something that shouldn’t need working towards. But when its absent, something needs to change. For me it has been removing myself from New Media Campaigns. It has been freeing up more time to enjoy senior year. It has been making sure *nothing* gets in the way of Wednesday night dinners with Miss Harris and Miss Fuchs. It has been celebrating friends’ birthday’s. Mostly its been doing what I feel like I should be doing. Hopefully soon it means programming. Something I haven’t done on my own accord in far too long. Programming.

Integrity & discipline. This is an internal and external thing. Internally it means doing what I need to be doing for myself. Doing what I know or at least feel strongly is the right thing to do. On a ’small stuff’ picture it means waking up like a normal person. This week I’ve committed to getting up before 7 every morning and eating breakfast. One goal per week sounds sustainable. Next week: exercise. On an external level it means staying in touch with people. Fulfilling promises. Being a good person.

Time to get to it. Here’s to being back on track…