Chopping Wood pt.1

Well, its that time of year again. The sweet aroma of newly sharpened pencils and freshly run-off copies fills the air...oh how sweet indeed...Not! (sorry Im trying to single handedly bring back the "not" phrase, hows it working?) Anyway, it's that time of year that ever young person hates and every Mother loves, except the young mothers, then it's heart breaking. Think back to your younger years, for some of you oldies I know its hard to remember even what you had for lunch, but try hard, but remember that the best day of the year was the day you got out of school and the worst day was the day you went back!
If you were to ask my Mother she would tell you that the worst time of her year was the week before I went back to school. oh not because she was sad by any means, it was because our conversations would go a little something like this everyday,
Me: "Mom, what do you say I stay home this year from school?"
Mom: "Gavin...do I dare ask why?"
Me: "Well, you see, if I'm gone everyday for 7 hours, who will make my bed?"
Mom: "you can do it before you leave."
Me:"Whoa, I dont think you know what your asking of me, I would have to get up like twice as early. you would deprive my poor growing body of the sleep it desperately needs?!"
Mom: "Go to bed earlier."
Me: "Yeah but then when would I get my Homework done, There's just not enought time in the day, but think about it this way, if I stay home from school, I can not only get my bed made EVERYDAY, but I can have the time to clean my room everyday too!"
Mom:"nice try Gavin, Go clean your room."

I was always a little bit of a con artist, it sounds like a bad Calvin and Hobbes comic strip doesnt it? This time of year has always been a hard time for me, i've never liked school. Junior High was definately no exception, High School was no exception, and College certainly is no exception either. Every semester brings with it a new set of challenges, a new set of classes, a new set of homework and a new set of classmates to get to know. None of the above things have ever been my strong suit. Since I have been home from my mission I have gone to school straight with no breaks. every day of my year was dedicated (dedicated is a loose term) to my school. There is one thing I have learned in Business school thus far (...only one!) and that is the law of diminshing returns. Diminishing returns is an interesting thing, the law of dimishing returns states (loosely!) that you eventually reach a point that the more and more you put into something, the less and less you get out of it. Either you have reached as much as you can do or something like that. For me, my brain, my spirit, my body was shot. I could put as much effort into my work as I possibly could and it would yield increasily worse results. It finally took me failing a very important accounting class to realize something needed to change. I took the semester off and went home. I found an internship, worked 50 hours a week, came home and watched TV. wasnt a bad life. but it was the break I needed from school to get my priorities straight. Well I came back to school a little older, seemingly a little wiser and married, but still scared to death upon return.
Therein lies the problem, Im back to the same feeling of being the 7 year old my walked to school, with an oversized back pack and a flat top, asking both my mother and my wife the same question, "What do you say I stay home from school this year, afterall, there will be no one to make the bed."