Back to Basics

Apart from being the title of the albums of Alan Hull, Beenie Man, Billy Bragg and most notably Christina Aguilera, Back to Basics is also the title of this blog entry and an attitude that I hope to instill myself.

I love her new music videos - yes the old holly glam style may be trite and generic - but come on - so pretty!

Back to Basics means coming back to my roots in terms of why I made probably the most significant decision of myself - choosing a university.

Maybe the most significant decision is a slight overstatement - I mean, to begin with, I think the aggregation of every day decisions is by far the most important collection of decisions we make. However, given that I studied at the same school for twelve years (from first to twelfth grade) I didn't have to make any decisions academically, and given the limited amount of freedom, I was never able to make a decision as significant a decision as selecting a university. I mean, after all, it is a 200k+ investment (at least in the U.S.) as well as four years of your life.

Bora made a big decision. 

So naturally, I suppose somewhat subconsciously - I freaked out about making the right decision about my life.

In high school, I think I was a very idealistic kid that was not necessarily very grounded in his conception and expectations of his life present and future. I think looking back, it had to do with the fact that I had an enormously sheltered life. I can't remember when exactly - but it was only in primary school and when my dad was on the newspapers because of something when I realized our socioeconomic status. (I remember being excited about the prospect of being able to purchase a helicopter - I guess I wanted a helicopter - how fucking random?). But even within my life, I was cognizant of very few things.

So it wasn't quite as dramatic and Robert Pattinsonny but yeah. 

So being the sheltered and idealistic kid that I was - I think I was a bit imaginative about what my future would hold. I cared deeply about philosophy, psychology, spirituality and leading a fulfilling life. And while I think it is healthy to be concerned with these matters, to be overly concerned, and to not take into any of life's other dimensions was not a necessarily healthy decision. 

But then I think part of my freak out was due to the fact that I flipped completely and cared too much about the 'reality,' of life - such as the need to make a living, getting a job, and getting an education that would help me in my professional life.

So I suppose I completely changed my outlook - from being a completely idealistic and care-free to being perhaps too grounded. Essentially, the problem was arose that while choosing a university, I had a completely different mentality to the one I do now. Yes, perhaps choosing a school that had at least one of professional areas I'm interested in would have been wiser, but completely changing route based on possibilities is another mistake.

I like to think this figuratively represents me swinging from one end of the spectrum (idealism) to the other (realism).

So essentially, the institution in which I currently study was chosen by a person who had a different type of mentality to me. But I think the other source of the problem is myself: I am a quite multi-faceted person - or more specifically, a person with many, in this case, clashing interests.

If I wanted to study to disciplines of the liberal arts that would be fine, however, I am interested in professional fields like business, architecture and interior design. And the problem is choosing a school where business, architecture, interior design and psychology are offered, in addition to other considerations such as location, student body, size of the school etc is near to impossible. 

Impossible is nothing?

So I suppose my 'college dilemma,' was inevitable, given that I was unable to find a school that offered all the things I was able to study, if I chose to study something that isn't offered at my school - it's only natural that I freak out.

But Back to Basics entails that moment of decision, that moment of decisive decision taking that I decided to study the liberal arts in my undergraduate years. I was intellectually curios, I was interested in many things including - but not limited to - economics, psychology, political science, philosophy, international relations, french literature and so forth. And right now, given that I am in a well-established institution to study all those things, maybe I should appreciate that. 

For my 2010 Spring Semester I am planning to take the following courses: Introduction to Philosophy, French Literature, Introduction to International Relations, Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory and Social Psychology. All of these courses are interesting, I mean, heck, I have desperately tried to learn more and more about philosophy since 11th grade, and I'm finally in a place where I have an instructor and a group of people interested in the same thing to learn and discuss our findings! Why am I not seeing these types of things? 

Bora the Beautiful Blind.

Maybe I should change the way to look at things. By studying the liberal arts - I may not be an interior designer, a professional licensed architect, or attain a business degree but I will be able to get a broad based education - and in the worst case scenario, I can go on to graduate school. When I think about it, I think there are certain things about being an architect that doesn't appeal to me - I feel that it is too artistic a field, and while I think I am imaginative, I don't think manifesting my imagination into creativity would be something I appreciate. And being an interior designer may also be fun - but frankly I feel as though it would be too much work - and if I think that about a field, that may mean that I'm not interested enough to the extent where I'd be successful.

Frankly, I think I'm pretty social, and I like networking and meeting new people. I think being a politician would be a more rewarding job - talking and debating, negotiating meeting new people. In fact, committing to either architecture or interior design may be a worse idea because then i am specifically trained for one thing, at least with my current degree I may not be specifically trained for anything, but I'll have a broad base and by the time I graduate I will have more self-awareness and will be able to direct myself in the most appropriate way. That way, after I graduate, I can walk on a path that is healthiest for my own personal development and happiness.