Modern-day Commentary
Okay, here’s another hard-to-believe high-horse memorandabum. First off, there may in fact have been an earnest effort in 1989 to stave off my worrying tendencies, but I’m here to tell you it didn’t take. Next up, I’m happy to see a definitive point when I began to take sleep seriously. In college, I was most proud of the fact that, unless I had a concert or rehearsal to attend , I would usually try to get into bed by 8:30. 9:00 was seriously pushing it, and I’d always get up at 6:10 regardless of the morning’s needs. That’s over nine hours of sleep a night, and boy did I notice. I was sharp as a tack, and always full of energy. But, I had believed that this behavior developed only in college. Interesting to see that I was beginning to keep an eye on things back in 7th grade. I think it is a bit of a lie to say that if need be I’d have gone to bed at 8:15, but still, fun to see the effort was there.
If you’ve ever seen my little boy bedroom, you’ll know how laughable it is to propose that there were separate “special areas” for multiple activities. I could lie on my floor nowadays and touch any three walls of my room at a time. I make it out to be a palace. Kind of touching.
So, while I think that November 1989 wasn’t exactly a successful turning point in my many foibles, I’m delighted to see that my lifelong passion for continual self-improvement has much earlier roots than I’ve believed.
But that “beautiful blue carpet”? It was actually well-worn, stained, and continually moist.
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Rick Seaholm
English
November 8, 1989
Mr. Luzi
One year can certainly change the life of a person.
Last year at this time, I was a tired sicky worry-wart. Many things have influenced a change in this situation.
For instance, physically I have matured by keeping a watchful eye on the amount of sleep I receive in a night. I used to not care about how much sleep I got, but now I force myself to get nine or more hours of rest during a night. This has also lowered my sickness rate. Last year alone I was absent from school twenty-six times, thirty-two the year before. Now, any bug that gets a hold of me I can easily shake off, even if it means going to bed at 8:15.
Mentally and emotionally, I have cut down considerably on worrying about problems. I seriously used to worry about everything from the smallest to the largest. But now I have cooled down in my old age and have left worrying as only a part time job.
I have a constant schedule which keeps me up-to-date on what’s happening during any day.
During summer vacation I thoroughly cleaned my room and what used to be four feet straight to the back has turned into a well organized place with special areas for study, sleep, my TV, my radio, my synthesiser, and video games.
I even discovered that I own a beautiful blue carpet!!