Happiness consists in activity. It is running steam, not a stagnant pool.

Sometimes I think our college system here is a shame. You've got all of these kids, struggling to work a job in order to afford school, where they continue to work their asses off so they can pay someone to grade and judge their hard work--all so they can get a piece of paper that says I paid for and completed these classes so they can be eligible for a decent job. The funny part is, most of the time they didn't really learn much in those 4+ years anyways. They end up learning what they need during some sort of actual, specific training.

But what bothers me more is when I see a professor who gets paid twice as much as any high school teacher, because they paid for and worked towards a doctorate, who wouldn't give two shits about you the second they've walked outside the classroom. You can be a fabulous lecturer, and for all a room of twenty-somethings know, a world class bullshitter, and still be a terrible teacher. You have to work with your students--they're paying you to. They give you blood, sweat, tears, and sleep so they can depend on you at the end of the day to sign off on a transcript that allows them to move on in life.

Burger King. Have it your way. If I pay to have my Whopper with pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard only, then I should probably get it. But better yet, if I hand a cashier the money and have to go cook the patty myself, I should probably get what I fucking asked for. Delivery pizza? I PAY YOU TO DELIVER, if I can't get it myself.

So if a student has to miss out on something, especially for good reason, but actually regardless of whether or not they have the country's best reason ever, and they're willing to work, and they've got no money back guaranteed, do your fucking job, asshole. I can't tell you how many professors get fed up if a box worker accidentally prints off the wrong ticket and they have to exchange it, because they couldn't "listen," because they couldn't just "do their job right." Part of your final review scores is your helpfulness. Making a student do a final group project by themselves just because they were at the doctor on an unplanned day to divide up into said unheard of group project, just because you can, is cruel. Let's not even talk about never allowing tests to be made up under any condition, especially one that would prepare you for your major and job.

I wonder if I can ask the dean of the department for a refund?

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That being lifted, I did learn at least one thing in said class, which I attend as much as I can, is that researchers have a tendency to study what they're really bad at. For instance, a psychologist who's been divorced six or seven times is highly likely to be into studying relationships. He might know everything about them, and be incredible at counseling couples. It's because we have different kinds of knowledge and memories. Like a fat coach who could never run the track himself, but has trained several olympians. They can teach, lecture, on exactly what to do, but aren't quite capable of doing it themselves.

So we obsess over the things we have suck at.

So I obsess over time, and it sure manages to always slip away from me.

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Here's something else to think about: you have fun when you let yourself have fun. Maybe even when you make yourself have fun. For instance, when you're at a school event or a "bad" concert, you let yourself be miserable. Geez, there's no such thing as a bad show. A beat's a beat, so unless your ears are actually bleeding, just dance around and enjoy yourself, act a fool. You don't have to analyze every instance of the world as if it were scheduled for you. A mandatory lock-in...we just hate the word "mandatory."

Life is what you make of it, and save one extreme exception, it's mandatory.

So make it into something you'd enjoy.

Did you know?

"The very act of smiling can make you feel happy, whether it's justified or not. Strack et al. (1988) had participants holding pens in their mouths either so that it activated the muscles responsible for smiling, or not. Those whose smiling muscles were activated rated cartoons as funnier than others whose smiling muscles weren't activated by the pen in their mouth. So, forcing a smile really does make us see the world in a better light."

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I've kind of loss my trail of thought with friends in the room, and I just took a quiz where I got the following result:

The life surfer

You surf on life, enjoying the best bits. You're curious and like to meet new people, as well as learning about the human mind. You search for new experiences and adventures and love to share them with friends. You're creative and approach challenges in a broad way. Spontaneity and diversity guide your actions, which makes it difficult for you to focus and commit.

So I've got some waves to go catch|you later.