Free Cell

April 4, 2010

The last two semesters were…exhausting to say the least. Most of the time I can hardly remember what I did 24 hours prior. My world right now consists of 4 things (represented in order by most time consuming to least): Work, homework, sleeping, and eating. Most days I feel like I am a walking zombie as I desperately search of the energy to make it through to the end of the semester.

So much information is being jammed into my brain that I am working hard to keep my head from exploding. Of course, times like this make me enter into a state of reflection as I am forced to learn something about myself and the environment I am in.

The latest discovery: My brain is like the game Free Cell.

Information is laid out like the cards. I have limits to the number of empty spaces I can use to move around the information. I shift things around trying to establish order and patterns so that all of the information is filed away in a logical manner making the information easily retrievable for later reference.

Like in the game, one move can cause many cards to be moved automatically to their appropriate pile complete with the swift sound. My brain too has the ability to do this. A deck of information can be dealt out. Depending on the familiarity of the information, in a matter of time the information can be moved around and swiftly filed into place. The key phrase here being “in a matter of time”.

Lately, it seems that so much information is being dealt to me that the decks are stacking up and I haven’t the time to sit and move them around to win the game. Because even though the amount of information is doubling, the amount of free spaces I have to use remains the same. Soon an overwhelming feeling creeps in as each day is loaded with more and more information that I WANT to remember. Much of the information I will need to regurgitate at some point, but will I be able to find it when it is needed?

As the days tick by, I long for the day when I don’t have to cram anything else in my brain. When I can sit and learn something at my own pace; when I don’t have to try and prove that I am learning something. Until that day comes, here are a few pictures from some of the things I am learning and experiencing.

Rope Tech I: The art of rigging lines with rope, pulleys, and other equipment that allow someone to cross over a waterfall and be lowered. Great skill/technical knowledge for rigging and rescues on less than agreeable terrain.

Sand Rock, AL: A rock climbing extravaganza for all the students in beginning rock climbing and advanced rock. An “all hands on deck” operation for the GAs.