Have you ever seen the movie Yes Man starring Jim Carrey? It’s fairly comical and leaves you thinking after the main character decides to answer every opportunity with, “Yes!” Well, here’s the thing:
I have a problem with saying Yes.
Ok, so the first step is admitting you have a problem, right? At Hope there are millions of things to do in addition to completing your school work, making sure you’re adaquately hydrated and fed, and of course the major problem most college students face: getting enough sleep.
For example, it’s Tuesday. Today happens to be the kick off of the Hope Basketball season, with two games at DeVos. There’s also an organ recital at the Dimnent that I wanted to check out (I have an obsession with organ music). I have still been meaning to check out Bruce McCombs watercolor exhibit at the De Pree Art Center, which ends Nov 18 (I better hurry!). Hip Hop club is at 9pm. My roommate is also in a Movie class to fulfill one of her Art requirements and I really want to go to a movie with her sometime. Her class happens to be Tuesday’s from 7pm-9pm.
But wait. Even if I attend each of them for a only a little while and make it to every single event, when will that leave time for me to read the 40 pages of religion articles for my Comparitive Christianity class, or study the new material for the chemistry lecture tomorrow morning when I’m assuming there will be a pop-quiz, or rewrite and organize my Religion notes for the Exam on Friday, or study for my latin exam on Monday, or write the two papers I have due on Tuesday about my phage, and the capa set due on Friday for Chem?
Did I mention that this weekend a couple of girls and I are going to Chicago for the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival and staying at my roommate’s house until Sunday morning?
What to do, what to do. I have to stop saying yes, and most importantly I need to understand my limits because I’m going to stretch myself too thin and then, instead of enjoying a few really awesome events, I’m going to see (or study for) 5 minutes and not enjoy or understand what I’m doing or completely fail my tests.
So…what decisions did I make? I’ll have to catch the exhibit some other time this week and maybe I’ll go to my roommate’s movie class next week with her. Hip Hop club will have to wait, because I have so much work to do. But I did get a chance to stop by the Hope Women’s basketball game, which was awesome I might add. The entire crowd was dressed in orange to cheer on Hope Athletics.
;)
Raúl Prieto Ramírez performed.
;)
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Holy man. He is AWESOME. He taught himself the organ when he was 11 and then proceeded to devote his life to his music. It clearly shows. For his encore he performed a piece by Bach (or maybe Bach’s son -it’s unknown) with only HIS FEET. Yes. Only his feet. I was completely mystified. Oh, did I mention the concert was free? It was funded by Donia Organ Fund at Hope, created by the family & friends of Tom Donia, a Hope alumnus who had a passion for music but passed away in 1990.
I couldn’t record at the performance, but check out another performance of one of my favorite pieces from the program:
Maybe saying yes all the time isn’t the end of the world (in moderation of course), because you really get to experience amazing things and share in great things with people of all types.
-A