Jamaipanese goes to College – First Day

Yesterday I opened yet another new chapter in my life, a chapter that for the next four years will be filled with stories, experiences and lessons related to my life as a University student. Year after year since leaving High School I aimed to get myself enrolled in college to further my education, but a lack of money and being ever the procrastinator I dallied and tried to do other shorter bite sized courses that all remained incomplete as I grew bored after the first couple weeks. So I took a step back, used some of the lessons learned from planning for and executing “Operation Visit Japan” and evaluated my interests, the colleges available and what I enjoy doing. Being the geek I am Information Technology unsurprisingly floated to the top with Law a close second.

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University of Technology Jamaica (UTECH) Emblem

Lost my social life after jumping through hoops

After jumping through many hoops; doing various tests, paying various fees, medicals, workshops, orientation, student loan applications, interviews I FINALLY started school officially, albeit with a few hoops still left to jump through before I am officially in the clear. I will be pursuing Bachelor of Science in Computing and my new schedule will be a monster – there goes most of if not all my gaming, anime, movie, idle time and any semblance of social life I have now as I work my regular 9-5 job while attending school every weekday evening after work and all day on Saturdays. I’ll always be blogging though, even if I have to it while sitting on the loo.

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Always the geek but never the programmer

I’ve always been that geek with a wealth of self-taught knowledge that I have picked up over the years as my interest in technology floated all over the place. I could build websites, do graphic design, build a computer from scratch, purge that nasty virus you picked up or make your old computer run like new again among other things . I stayed clear of all things programming or math related though, as these are the kryptonite to my geek powers but alas if I want to do well at UTECH I will need to slay the programming/math dragon – and believe it or not my first class on the first officially day of school was a 3 hour romantic escapade with… programming, then guess what first class is on today the second day will be? College Mathematics… nice try universe, but I will not be defeated.

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Programming and Math are on the attack

College Category

I will be posting updates from time to time related my tenure at UTECH, as the first person in my family to attend University it seems all eyes are on me to do well. There is a shiny new category on Jamaipanese.com aptly name “College” that I will be posting school related stuff in from now on, I trust my readers will help me get through and provide assistance where necessary Thank you all in advance.

[angel]

16 thoughts on “Jamaipanese goes to College – First Day

  1. Kudos to you Kirk! My own little bit of humble advice in regards to tough college classes is something I would have never suggested as a freshman…due to pride. That advice is to become friendly with the smart kids in the class. I’m not talking about using them to cheat; but rather to study with them and even have them tutor you. Many times they can explain things much better and simpler than the professor of the course. Yes, in my early days of college, I was adamant about struggling and getting through on my own. Now, I don’t think twice when it comes to studying with others who know the material much better than I do.

    Again I’m so happy for you and best of luck on this new chapter in your life!

  2. Congratulations my friend! This is great news.

    I can’t imagine what college mathematics is like, but I’ve become quite fond of the mathematics involved in programming, it’s not really anything like normal math^^

  3. I myself need to start along that same path and soon. I have the same demons to fight as well and so i wish you good luck soldier [anime]

  4. good luck on your journey jamaipanese…
    cot damn t, i had i good programming book too!!!, if i do find it
    i will find a way to send it to you….

    stay focus and don’t be deterred. Games, movies, and friends will
    all be around, even after college. Only difference is, you’ll
    be able to enjoy them all even more

  5. Hey there Kirk,

    Congrats on your new life changing endeavor. The first year is always tough, and it can become very frustrating and quite challenging. However, my advise to you is that you must clearly understand why you are there in the first place. Many college students really don’t have a clear reason for being there other than the fact that they don’t know what else to do yet. They inherit goals from their family members as well as their peers, which in many cases aren’t their own personal goals or aspirations. LOL, believe it or not, that’s how I started college.

    I started college when I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be there. In high school I was a straight-A honors student, President of the math club, and captain of the Academic Decathlon team. It was that momentum that carried me forward, and without really ever deciding if it was what I wanted at the time, I found myself with four more years of school ahead of me. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but my heart just wasn’t in it. Consequently, I sabotaged myself in a big way. I blew off my classes and got an education in parties, alcohol and women. Apparently some administrator were very biased against students whose GPA started with a decimal point as opposed to a number, so I was soon expelled. Unlike most people today, I’m just keeping it real.

    That experience sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I became very depressed and in a major funk for about six months, mostly just playing video games. Finally in an attempt to re-ground myself, I got a retail sales job and tried to stay under the radar while taking some time to “find myself.” That was the time I began developing an interest in personal development, and boy did it pay off. A year later I was ready to go back to college, and I started over as a freshman. But this time I knew exactly why I was there. I wanted to be a programmer, and I wanted to truly earn my Computer Science degree (I later added the Math degree). But it was more than that. I knew I was capable of a lot more, and I wanted to push myself to the limit. I wanted to create the richest learning experience I could. For me that meant making sacrifices, and having a really dense schedule.

    Kirk, your goals for college will likely be much different than mine. What are they? Why are you there? If you’re not 100%, absolutely certain — then you have NO valid focal point for your college experience. You may as well not even be there. What is it about your experience that resonates as true for you? What are you there to learn? What do you want to experience? And what do you hope to gain as a direct result of your college experience? The answers to those questions should have been established from day one. If not, then you know exactly what you have to focus on.

    Good luck!!!

  6. Thank you all for your words of encouragement. i look forward to sharing my experiences over the next 4 years and to publish the good news of my graduation when it is all over

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