of motivation (of the lack thereof)

For all the gripes that i have regarding nie, it's definitely not all bad, although up till say this week any views i had on the institution as a whole (as opposed to the people) were almost purely negative. Thankfully, this week saw the start of some classes which i feel are definitely more relevant to what we are going to be doing. Finally, for the first time since i've gotten there, during class i'm able to say to myself "hey, this stuff actually is of use!" instead of "oh no not more of this crap!" This does not, however, take away from the fact that the majority of what we are doing there is, imho, thus far quite a waste of time and other resources. But nevertheless, i guess it's a step in the right direction eh (even if it means that there's that much more work to do =p)?

And speaking of schoolwork, i've to say that in spite of that though, i've come to realize that for the first time in my recent memory i no longer have a motivation to work hard, as i find it hard to see a point in aiming for anything more than a pass. Last time, even if there were classes i didn't like, i'd at least try and put in some effort in order to get a reasonable grade. Now however, i dunno if it's fatigue or the environment or just the sheer blah nature of the class content and teaching methods, but i can't see myself doing much more than achieving the minimum expectations (if even those are met)... It's especially ironic that one of the edu psych (which btw is just terrible) assignments that we are to do is on motivation of learners. Hah!

Am trying at the same time to figure out what to do with myself during the december hols. Or rather, where to go during the december hols. I dunno what it is that compels me to take regular and frequent trips out of here (and preferably to as far away from here as possible), but the prospect of a future career that may severely curtail opportunities to get out of here to take a good long break has made me really value the month off from nie, as i dunno when the next one may be. So even though there's lots of work to be done, i've probably spent as much time researching on possible places to go - in fact, the first three books i've borrowed from the nat'l library in almost two decades (am not exaggerating here) are for that very purpose. Anyone got suggestions/ want to come? Heh think not but hey it's worth a shot eh...

Anyways, as a follow-up to my current bone to pick, i read about this site online and immediately went to sign it. It was the least i could do...