9. A minimum of a 75% average

Completed: April 29, 2010
I have a confession to make: I am a procrastinator.

I will procrastinate everything until the last possible moment. That is probably why I had such bad marks all through high school, everything was handed in late because I would underestimate the amount of time that it would take me to do an assignment. This is one of the reasons I am so glad I'm not in university right now. Here are some of the things I am good at as a student...

- Keeping track of all the assignments I have due: My parents would always ask me when I was in high school, "Julie, what projects do you need to do and when are they due?" I would be able to just list my to do list forever. Which leads to my downfall: nightly homework or readings. I can never keep track of those. Also, when I start thinking about all of the assignments I have due I will freak out and just do none of them. Why? I don't know. My brain will just freeze and I'll go into hibernation, this includes staring into the fridge for long periods of time, eating too much yogurt and sleeping ridiculous hours.

- Studying for exams: I make MEAN exam reviews. When the teacher says "I'm going to go through the exam with you guys today." That is probably the moment that the teacher has my most undivided attention. Why wouldn't I? It's an easy A+! Tests are always tricky, and most teachers will just say "Look over your notes for Unit 3." HA! I wasn't listening. Guaranteed 50% on that test. Once a teacher gave us an extensive exam review that my study notes were 17 pages. Typed. Did I mention that I found no answers for that review in my notes? It was all in my text book.

- Presentations: I am extremely comfortable standing in front of a group of people and offering them my opinions. Usually, with this comfort comes procrastination. I can whip together an A or B+ presentation in an hour. It's honestly one of my favourite talents as a student. I feel bad when people go up to do a presentation and you can tell they are nervous because they're shaking like a drug fiend who just quit, cold turkey. They are continuously look at their queue cards/power point and NEVER look at the audience.

I was this guy...

When I made this goal, my intention was for it to realize when I was in university (note: procrastinated). I knew that with the marks I had, and my general lack of student skills, that I would never be able to achieve this. Boy, was I wrong. In the second semester of grade 12, I knew that with the awful average of 65%, I would never get into the university of my dreams (The University of Western Ontario). So I needed to get good marks, the best I had ever had. I remember one night, I got home from school, did some reading for a class, went to work, got home at about midnight, did an assignment until 3am, went to sleep, woke up at 5am finished the assignment, went to seminary, got home from seminary, proofread the assignment, got ready for school, printed it off and went to class. I felt like my life was a constant never ending to do list.

My so-called life.

This is beyond accurate. Every time I look at it I think of how difficult it was, actually doing my school work in high school. I also had a lot of things on my plate outside of school, I was a leader in my youth group which required me to attend all the activities and occasionally help out with planning. I had a part time job at the movie theatre, I usually worked about 15 hours a week. I went to seminary (mostly) every morning from 6:30am - 7:30am... And somehow, for my midterm, I had an 80% average. Not only did I complete this goal, I surpassed the expectation I set for myself. And after that triumphant 80%, I slacked off and my average plummeted.

Regardless, I had never had an 80% average in high school before that moment and let me tell you, it was exhilarating... For the few months that I had it. I must admit, I much preferred slacking off and being well rested. I love sleep!