meanwhile,
here's something funny.
I was bloghopping yesterday when I found this survey at Jamie's blog. It says that she, an IE major, should be taking up Journalism, because she was meant to be a journalist (92%), and not an engineer (33%) -- to her utter disdain, of course. Maybe two whole years of working with Sir Manaog got to her a bit too much. Hehe. I've heard enough horror stories from Neil and Reinzi, two of his best EngJourn 1 and 2 students. Actually Jamie's a very good writer herself, and I think she'll do great in a press room as much as in a chemical plant.
But I digress.
When the thought of taking it myself flicked past my head -- "Don't even think about it, Jef, it's just another useless and pathetic gimmick that would take up 10 precious minutes of your time," I snapped back. And besides, I reasoned, mrafziuq, the quiz's creator, could be just about anyone -- a high school student, or even a bum-- and wouldn't know better than our guidance counselor back in high school, or the people who designed the Career Advisement Test I took before applying to UP.
But itching with curiosity and bored to death, I tried it. So here is what I got:
You scored as English. You should be an English major! |
English | 100% | ||
Philosophy | 100% | ||
Chemistry | 92% | ||
Theater | 83% | ||
Mathematics | 83% | ||
Linguistics | 83% | ||
Journalism | 83% | ||
Engineering | 83% | ||
Sociology | 83% | ||
Psychology | 75% | ||
Anthropology | 75% | ||
Biology | 75% | ||
Art | 42% | ||
Dance | 8% |
What is your Perfect Major? (RATE ME TOO!!)
created with QuizFarm.com
I was surprised. I was expecting the quiz to brand me as a Chem major, knowing myself that I find chemistry easier than any other subject. But voila! After assessing how I answered 42 not-very-discerning questions, the quiz concluded I should be majoring in English or Philosophy (and most certainly not in Dance. I'll spare you the torture of watching me do a clumsy otso-otso. I don't dance.)
It must be because I emphatically agreed with statements such as "I read extensively" and "I am passionate about expressing myself freely", among others, that the quiz pronounced "You should be an English major!"
But I'll tell you a secret. The truth is, I am no writer. No matter how much I want to express my ideas, I always have a hard time articulating myself. I spend painstaking hours raking the thesaurus for the appropriate word as I keep in mind what Samuel Clemens once said, "the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
Okay, maybe I overdo it -- excessive self-criticism is another serious writing pain I have to deal with. Often, I get too critical of my articles that I abandon my writing projects once I feel too uncomfortable with my sentences.
("Now, stop ranting, Jef," I tell myself)
Despite these difficulties, despite the devastating drought of ideas that's ravaging me, I realize that I should not be discouraged. Who knows, maybe it's His will that I be a writer someday, to follow in John Piper's footsteps. I do not and cannot know for sure right now.
But He does. Even before the whole world banged into existence, my fate, the plans He has for me, He already laid clear and complete before His eyes. He will do what He pleases, and no one, no one can thwart His hand.
And because of that, I trust Him with all my life. Oh, how blessed it is to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty, to be carried in His wings, to be caressed by His firm but tender hand!
3 comments:
This is for all of Jef's readers (a huge chunk of the world population, I suppose): he does not immediately write what comes to mind but first checks his ideas one hundred times, then carefully and slowly chooses the right word--the best ones--to translate these ideas into readable words, whereupon, he types them out in staccatto motion, checks his unpublished entry yet again, and when he isn't quite satisfied, rewrites the whole entry.
No wonder his posts are impeccable.
there are people who shift courses to the Arts and pursue their purposes there, like me. there are people who shift courses to the Sciences to pursue their purposes there, like lance. [hi lance =)]
i don't know how you define being a "writer," jef, but you're definitely one. believe me, i'm in the business of making books. =)
i once thought i was a science guy myself, but that was before i discovered the degree "Creative Writing." for the record, i like Chem, too, especially "balancing equations." =P
k.butch
p.s.
i scored English, too. tied with Linguistics. =)
You got that right, Lance. Hehe. :-) Well, almost.
Remember that time when I was tasked to deliver the opening speech for Basement Idol? I was still frantically flipping the pages of my thesaurus five minutes before the program started. Hehe.
But nooo, my posts aren't flawless, mind you. Even though I constantly sift my sentences for grammatical errors, few still manage to escape my attention. It horribly embarrasses me when someone else's keen eye notices them. I remember a previous post of yours.. you wrote about this, didn't you? Hehe.
Anyway. Kuya Butch, thanks for saying that. I am mistaken when I picture a writer as someone who sits down in front of his computer, cracks his knuckles, stretches his arms, and types perfect lines of prose as fast as his fingers can.
I should have always remembered what Manong Ralph told me once -- that writing is a complicated process which requires careful thought and preparation. I shouldn't have been too discouraged when I had a hard time scraping up words.
Anyway. So now, I'm a writer! Though plagued with frequent bouts of writer's block, still a writer. Yey! Praise God for His grace! ^_^
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