My Motivation

While wandering around Adriance Memorial library yesterday, I encountered Jet, a friend of my uncle from Boston. Haven’t seen him for a while but he still remembered me. Great memory for an 80 years-old man, isn’t he? He told me about his road trip to trace back his ancestors. He was at the library searching for information on his great uncle’s wife who used to live in the area. He also told me that he is pursuing a master degree in History. Although he is taking one class at a time, he has completed 4/10 courses. Isn’t that amazing? 80 years old and still has the determination to learn. After about an hour, I let him go back to his work and headed to Barnes & Noble.

Upon arriving the bookstore, I ran into an elder gentleman who I had met many times at the bookstore and the library but never actually talked. I held the door to let him in as he asked me a few questions regarding of what I do for a living. So I told him that I am a web designer at Vassar College. He was quite interested in technology and asked me if I use Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Director, Adobe Photoshop and so on. After answering his questions, I asked him what he does for a living. He gave a whole spill on how society classifies him as a retard so he taught himself by reading books and following up with technologies. I have witnessed a number of people giving him that “retarded” stare at the library but when talking to this man, his mind is nowhere near retard. Although I haven’t seen his work, he had impressed me his knowledge on technology at the age of 60. I don’t think I will have that much knowledge by the time I hit 50.

After settling down and diving into Lynne Truss’s Shoots, Eats & Leaves, Andrew Meade, Assistant to the Dean of the College, dropped by to say “hi.” Andre is highly respected by the Vassar community and to me he is an extreme down to earth gentleman. It turns out that he is doing his dissertation for his PhD and using the bookstore as a resource. He spends time at the bookstore as much as I do and the only different is that he is doing his research and I am just drinking Caramel Frapuccino and wasting my time.

While these three gentlemen are extending their knowledge to the fullest, I am not doing much. Although I am currently doing fine, I still feel the urge to move forward. I have a wonderful job. I am doing what I always wanted to do. I stay on top of the web game. I hone my skills constantly. Now what? I desperately need challenge. Web design, no doubt, is always a challenge but I can deal with it both technically and creatively to solve the problem.

So what is my biggest problem? It’s still English. Although I have been in the United States for more than 12 years, my English is still something that I haven’t conquered. When I was in college, my concentration was mainly on design and technology. I thought that good design ruled but now I realized content is the king. So English courses were my worst nightmares even though I had a few professors who would go the extra miles to help me out. I just wanted to get it done and over with and now I am deeply regretting it.

After a night of awaking and thinking, I rushed to work this morning and went straight to the Dean of Studies Office to remind them of my application I applied last April 2003. It turned out that they had lost my application; therefore, they hadn’t contacted me. Even though I will have to go through the whole process again I am glad they lost my application because I was applying for Computer Science last year. So now I am gathering my transcript and letters of recommendation to get me back in school. Although I am applying for English major, I am just going to take a few courses to help my writing. However, I will continue if everything goes smoothly. I don’t have to drop a dime on my tuitions what do I have to loose.