Weekly Update or I Don't Know?

Where to begin?

In psychology we study attention, memory and cognitive decision making. As psychologists, we have scientifically gained a huge amount of insight into how we think and what our mental limits are. Often times, as a demonstration of multi-tasking abilities, a psychology teacher, driving instructor or just a regular person, will have another student or person watch a certain video. In this video are a group of students who are simply bouncing basketballs to each other. People watching the video are then asked to count the number of times people pass each other the ball. This seems like a simple easy to do task. Right? The trick here lies within what is not being told. The real test of the situation is the recognition of a man merely walking through the scene; however, this man is not just walking normally. This man is, actually, wearing a huge black gorilla suit. One may be surprised that many people miss the gorilla. While this is certain not the only test of multi-tasking, it is of course a fun demonstration of human cognitive limitations.

The first time that I watched the video, I certain did see the gorilla. Junior year psychology class has perhaps changed an entire direction in my life. I am now a psychology major at a huge public university. A public university that throws everything at you at once. School, night life, late night life and therefore lack of sleep, research, people you like, people you associate with and people you privately despise are all found here. With everything blasting at you, one would think that multi-tasking people would settle well here. Perhaps? With a sample size of way too small, I find myself incapable of judging. I thought that being able to manage several things at once would be helpful, but everything has a priority. Right? So you set rules; what is first; what is second?

At the beginning of the school year, a close friend of mine told me in college you can have two of three things: Life, School and/or Sleep. What did or will you choose? I know my choice. At first, I thought I could have a balance. Life is for the living; this has been said so much. I will certainly, not try to oppose this, for I know too well what will happen. In the last month, I have finally had my moment. The moment that I wasn't sure if I could find here. The moment of realization is one that fills you so completely. That moment of realizing that you can safely fall down, fall backwards is so amazing, exciting and calming at the same time. What sacrifice does this take? What do you have to give up to become close to those around you? Does the end justify the mean? As possible answers float around in my head, I become confused and tired. I sit in front of my computer listening to the story of: the general who became a slave; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an emperor, I wonder, do I have to give up what was taken from him to have my safety net of friends?