Wrestlemania

Last week, I completed my theology assignment for the current semester.

It was a wrestle, I can tell you. Not because I struggled with the subject, but because I was so into the subject - there was so much I wanted to say - that I had to: 1) work out a way to coherently order the material in order to properly articulate myself; and 2) work out a way to cram everything I wanted to say into the limited space available.

I know those of you who have struggled with assignments are going to want to hit me, but 2,000 words just isn't nearly enough. Not for me, at any rate. Being naturally verbose (that is, when I put fingers to keyboard) I at least have no difficulties filling up the space. It's just that I have more words than available storage room. As the deadline approaches, I generally find myself tearing out my hair trying to reduce what I've written to something approximating the word limit, and which yet retains its internal coherence.

Now, I'm not bragging, you understand. I appreciate how fortunate I am in having a natural aptitude for writing. But that doesn't mean assignments come any easier; indeed, the process for me is just as frustrating - dare I suggest more so? - as it is for the less lexicographically inclined. And just to prove how difficult, let me tell you now that I re-wrote this particular assignment three times! I'd get about half way through and realise either that I wasn't going to be able incorporate everything I wanted to say in the limited space available, or that my attempts at doing so were preventing me from properly articulating my ideas. So I'd tear up what I'd written (read: select the whole document and press "delete") and start again. And never mind that I'm studying theology: the process was accompanied by many a purple expression that would have scandalised the pious theologian about whom I was writing!

Of course, I realise that things could have been worse. I could, for example, be studying full-time, and face the prospect of having to hand in multiple assignments around the same date. I am accutely conscious of the luxury I have in being able to focus all my time and attention on this one subject. I'm just saying it didn't make this one particular assignment any easier. In fact, it was a struggle: a rip-roaring, knock-'em-down, drag-'em-out, arm-wrestle of an experience. And at the end, I still wasn't happy with what I'd produced; frankly, I reckon I'll be lucky to get a credit for this effort - actually, I'm expecting to merely receive a bare passing grade.

Oh well, at least I finished. Just the exams left for this semester, and then I can not worry about study for about a fortnight (until it comes time to select my subjects for next year). Seven months of agony for two weeks of paradise; it seems a fair deal, especially if it gets me to where I want to go.

Talk to you soon,

BB

Quote for the Day: No-one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his mistakes deserves to be called a scholar. (Anon.)