Time Management

I knew that I would have to grow up a lot and be much more responsible when I came here to TLU. But I did not realize how much I would have to work on managing my time better. I have a really bad habit of procrastinating with everything I do. When I was in high school I could usually get away with waiting until the last minute to get things done. If I had an assignment due in two weeks I would wait until about the day before to get it done. Even in high school it would sometimes impact my grades. But I could get away with it much easier. Now that I'm in college, if I wait to the last minute to get things done I will fail every class. It took some time, but I am finaly getting used to starting my assignments and getting my stuff done earlier. I am slowly learning that I have to get my priorities in order. Before, if my friends wanted to hangout and go do something fun I wouldn't be able to resist and I would end up hanging out with them. Now if someone asks me to do something with them and I have school work that needs to get done, I don't give in and I tell them that I have to get my work done before I do anything else. It is sometimes hard to say no but I have realized that if I procrastinate on my assignments I won't be able to get by in college. I have also discovered that the work that I turn in when I don't wait until the last minute is much better and I get much better grades. When I wait too long to do my work, I end up having to throw something together at the last minute and it is never my best work and it shows when I get my grades back. I am definantly not saying that I am perfect now and get all of my stuff done immediately. But I have improved by a long shot. I hope that by the end of the year I don't even have to think about it. I hope I will not even consider procrastinating and getting my stuff done on time will become a habit.

Living away from home

It is very different living away from home. I have lived in the same community my entire life and have gotten very used to it. I have made a lot of friends there. Some have been my best friends since the sixth grade. I obviously miss them very much but I have also made a lot of new friends since living on the TLU campus. It is still very hard to not see them anymore when I used to be with them everyday. Since this week I went back home and got to hangout with them for the thanksgiving break, it really made me realize how much i missed hanging out with them. I still keep in touch with them. We all text or call each other every now and then but it isn't the same as it used to be. I also miss sleeping in my own bed at home. I have a really big bed at home so I have plenty of room to get comfortable. In my dorm room I have a really small bed that is not very comfortable at all. It is also really quiet at my house which makes it easier to fall asleep. At the dorm there is a bunch of guys running around in the halls, yelling and being loud at all times of the night which makes it tough to go to sleep. I don't get nearly enough sleep anymore. I am always having to do homework or go to baseball. I go to sleep way too late at night and have to wake up really early in the morning to either go to class or go to a baseball workout. I also realized how much I miss the food at home. I had a great Thanksgiving meal during the break. Here at TLU I never get to eat a great meal like that. I mainly have to eat whatever I happen to have in the dorm room. Most of the time it has to be something quick to eat because I have to leave the room shortly after. The one thing that I do like about living in a dorm is the freedom. I like living on my own without parents even though I also miss them very much.

College Major

I can’t believe how much people talk about picking a major.  I thought it was just my parents who were so interested in majors.  But since I have been at TLU I hear a lot about it here too.  Before I came to college my parents talked to me about what I wanted to do with my life and what I wanted to concentrate on in college.  I had no idea what to tell them.  My whole life has pretty much revolved around sports and that is about all I thought about.  I started playing sports when I was only six years old and it has been years of baseball, basketball and football since then.  Until I had my accident I think everyone just assumed that I would be a professional athlete.  I don’t think I thought about it as much as my parents.  So much of our family life has been going to games and tournaments and traveling to events and tournaments that I guess I never gave much thought to anything after sports.  Now that I am at college I am forced to think about it often.  Everyone says don’t worry about picking a major until you have spent some time in college and have a better idea of what classes are like and what is involved.  But before I even came here my parents talked to me about it and at the time the best option seemed to be Business.  I guess it is because if I couldn’t decide on my own what I wanted to do I suppose they thought I could follow in my dad’s footsteps and do something in sales or marketing and so Business seemed logical.  But because of all my time spent in sports and fitness I am thinking that Kinesiology is better for me.  I have heard some guys talk about it too and I think I have more interest in that than in Business.  I am already taking one class in Kinesiology and I like it so far.  The problem is that my folks said they are not sure what kind of job you get with a Kinesiology major but I am sure I can figure it out.  And since everyone has told me not to even worry about what to pick unless you have wanted to be something all your life like a doctor or lawyer or something I guess I can always just change it again.  I keep thinking about my older brother who almost his whole life he wanted to be an attorney and in middle school and high school he was really into debate and stuff and so ended up going to law school and now he isn’t a lawyer and doesn’t even want to be.  It proves that it probably isn’t a big deal to try to make up your mind too soon because even if you always knew what you wanted to be you may still change your mind.

Small Town Life

           I am really starting to realize how different it is to live in a small town.  I was born in Houston and have lived in Kingwood for most of my life.  Living in Kingwood which is a community in the suburb of Houston is very different from living in Seguin.  My high school was as big as TLU.  When you live in a large town you pretty much have access to whatever you want whenever you want it.  Any show or concert or movie you want to see you are able to see.  Most any restaurant you want is within driving distance.

My mom tried to explain to me what it would be like to live in a small town.  She was born in Seguin so she should know.  Even though her family moved to Houston when she was a little girl she still has a lot of relatives that live here and so she would visit pretty often.  Her grandmother, my great-grandmother still lives on a farm in New Berlin a few miles from here.  We used to go to visit some time and when I was younger it was a lot of fun to go to the farm.  It was so different from home so it was interesting to go.  My mom told me stories about when she was a little girl every summer her and her brothers and sisters would go to spend a week or two with her grandparents on the farm. She said they did things like go fishing or play bingo which seems boring to me.  She said every year they would go to a 4^th of July parade.  That is really different than the things I grew up doing in Kingwood.  I haven’t really learned too much about Seguin yet but I am starting to learn my way around better.  I guess the good thing is that I am lucky to have a lot of friends who go to schools around here like in Austin and San Marcos so on weekends sometimes I go to meet up with them and hang out there.  Austin is not as big as Houston but there are still a lot more things to do and see there.  My older brother graduated from the University of Texas so he knows all about Austin and he loves it.  I guess Austin would be considered somewhere between Seguin and Houston in size.  I think that by the time I graduate I will know all about Seguin and living in a small town.  The good thing is that I still get all the benefits of a big city every time I go home.

Jasper

            I’m sure my parents wouldn’t be happy to hear this but the thing I miss most about being away from home is my dog, Jasper.  My sister is in San Marcos so I get to see her pretty often but since I don’t get to go home much I really miss seeing Jasper.  He is a great dog and when I lived at home he slept with me and if I was at home he was always around me.  He is a really smart dog and knows some tricks but he is really funny too.  My family has a lot of stories about things he has done that make us all laugh.  My friends all pretty much think he is the coolest dog ever.  He even has his own Facebook page.

I remember when we first got him a few years ago.  It was right before Christmas and it was the day of the big snow or at least it was a big snow for Houston.  He was a rescue dog that my sister and her friend found and they brought him home to try to talk my mom into letting us keep him.  She is not really a dog person and she sure didn’t ever want dogs in the house but somehow my sister and I were able to convince her to let us keep him.  I think it was because he was a really cute puppy.  He was only a few weeks old and he was black with these floppy ears.  My sister had put a red ribbon around his neck and he looked like a Christmas present so I guess my mom couldn’t resist.  Now she loves him and I know she is glad that she gave in.  But I really miss getting to see him all the time.  I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break so that I will be able to visit and see him.  Being home for Christmas for a whole month will be even better but I am sure that will make me miss him even more after getting to spend time with him.  He always is so happy when he sees me after I have been gone.  He jumps all over me and gets all worked up and excited.  I wonder what he thinks when I am not there and I wonder if he thinks I  am never coming back.  I know that he misses me as much as I miss him.  Too  bad we can’t have dogs in the dorm. 

Responsibility

       I think I am starting to get more adjusted to being on my own.  I know that part of being away from home means being responsible and learning to take care of things for yourself.  My parents always made a big deal about how I was the least responsible kid in my family.  They said it was because I am the youngest and so I always had someone else to take care of things for me.  Now that I am away at school I am learning that maybe I had it easier at home than I thought.  I had never had to do laundry when I lived at home and my mom explained to me what to do before I left but it was still a new experience.  At first I just waited and took my dirty clothes with me when I went back home but because of my schedule I didn’t  get to go home as much as I thought so I was forced to do it myself.  I’m pretty sure my mom is shocked that I am actually functioning on my own or at least trying to.  But doing laundry is only the start of learning to be on your own.  You have to keep track of everything that needs to be taken care of and remember what needs to be done when.  I know that I need to find a better way to remember stuff or a way to keep track of everything.  My roommate and I have a whiteboard calendar in our room but we haven’t used it yet.  I remember when we were moving in and all our family was there and they made a big deal about how we could make notes on it and keep track of our schedules by using different colored markers but we never did.  My mom also told me to use my phone to set reminders of things that need to be done and I know that I should probably be doing that.  I guess figuring all this out is part of learning to be on your own and be an adult.  There are so many things that you don’t even think about until you realize that if you don’t do it, no one will.  Like now my roommate and I go shopping on our own whenever we need stuff for our dorm room.  We are regular customers at Walmart. 

Now if only the magic cleaning fairies would come visit our dorm room.  That is my least favorite responsibility.

Baseball

           We just finished our intersquad World Series in baseball.  It was really competitive and went the full seven games.  It made me excited to get to the real season early next year.  Now that fall ball is over we have started our heavy workout schedule.  We had been doing more conditioning  and flexibility with light  lifting but now it is more intense lifting.  I like that because it is closer to the type of workout schedule that I used to do at home during high school before I came to TLU.  The only difference is that when I worked out at home and high school I didn’t have to do it first thing in the morning.  I could go work out and lift after school or at night and weekends but here you have to do it on the coaches schedule.  I hate getting up at 5:30am but I know it will be good for us when the season starts.

Being a part of the baseball team has been great so far.  I like all my coaches and my teammates are all cool.  We work hard but we have a lot of fun too.  Its fun getting to know all the traditions and customs that have been a part of previous years and teams.  They do some pretty funny stuff and everyone seems to get along with each other.  Being included makes you feel like you a part of something.  That’s what being a teammate is but it seems even more important and special in college than in high school.  I know I made the right decision to come here and play baseball.  I had some other choices of places to go but this just seemed like a good fit for me.  When I think that I could be in Missouri or somewhere else right now it makes me know that I am in the right place, especially after getting to know the guys on my team and also getting familiar with the program.  I hope that I am able to be a part of the team for the whole time I am at TLU.  My dad says that playing college ball will be something that I will talk about my whole life.  He says that I can tell my kids about it and I will have a lot of stories about everything we did when I get older.  I am sure he is probably right but for now I am just enjoying the experience and having fun getting to know all the guys.