Online Bucket List

On one of my many daily perusals of huffingtonpost.com I came across an interesting new concept. A Towson student has created what is essentially an online bucket list for college students called "Before I Graduate College." Its tagline prompts users, "What do you want to do?"

Users can post their college to do-lists and others can chime in if they're willing to help complete the list, or if they merely want to check off the same item on their own bucket list. I've read a few to-dos and they range from seriously silly to sentimentally serious.

More than one student has written of a desire to go to Disney World (do it!!). A few seniors beg for one last go at a wild spring break. One girl hopes to establish "a good marriage that is Christ-centered," while another merely wants to "move in with [her] boyfriend." All of these dreams hopefully accomplished before graduating college.

I think that the Towson senior that developed this website is on to something good. If used properly, I believe the "Before I Graduate" website has the potential to unite a student body.

So many of my friends (seniors, especially) have created their own bucket lists, things they feel the need to do before the dreaded "G" word. I imagine a "Before I Graduate" website geared specifically for St. Mike's students and know it would be a success. Given the service-based community we have here, I can imagine students willing, if not genuinely excited, to help others complete a goal or fulfill a wish.

Just think of the possibilities: a flash mob in Alliot? Possibly to Maroon 5's "Misery"? Epic. Attend a sporting event for every single team on campus? Let's do it. Reach out to refugee families in the area? Absolutely. The website even has an option you can click that lets others know that you can help them out. I see this online list being a motivator to get students involved with each other and the greater community.

Facebook has proven that there really is no better way to reach students than an online social networking site. It is THE way to connect people; but, we all know you can "friend" someone you've never even talked to. "Before I Graduate" is initially an online connection but it's designed to result in a face-to-face meeting in which participants work together to achieve something.

So, next time you want to "friend" your Alliot crush, you should log into "Before I Graduate." Who knows? Maybe you've both always wanted to run the Burlington Marathon. Maybe you and your crush both aspire to seeing the inside of the President's house. Or maybe, just maybe, you both want to fall in love before you graduate. SMCers, the possibilities are endless!

Dear Abby

I thought this post might be most appropriate written in the style of a "Dear Abby" letter. I thought it's only appropriate since my name is Abby and the answers I seek can really only come from myself. :) Enjoy!

_________________________________________________________________

Dear Abby,

You may or may not be familiar with the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was a former king that was punished by feeling compelled to roll a giant boulder up a mountain, only to watch it roll down again, and repeat this cycle for all eternity.

Lately, I feel like Sisyphus. I don't know if it's the winter blues kicking in or if it's being a second semester senior but I can't shake the feeling that every theoretical boulder I push up, just rolls back down again. My four years at SMC have been spent pushing a boulder labelled "FUTURE." I'm finally getting to get the top of the hill (the hill being my college career) and I feel as if I just watched the boulder roll all the way back down.

Suddenly I'm wondering why I did what I've done with my time at St. Mike's. I'd like to think that I held leadership positions because I wanted give back to the community. I worked hard to get good grades because it made me happy to do well. I studied abroad because I wanted to see the world. These things are all true but, I can't deny that a large part of the reason I did all this was because I wanted a strong resume. I wanted the paper me to look as good as possible to future employers.

But now, as I'm revamping my resume, all these things that I've done look so small and insignificant in black and white. How can it be that all of who I am and what I've done in four full years can be watered down to a page or two? I feel like as I got nearer to the top, my boulder came tumbling down.

For those of you that know me, this blog may sound uncharacteristically gloomy and frankly, it is. I'm just very scared that the rest of my life will be spent pushing a boulder up only to watch it tumble down again. I need to know that what I do has meaning to it--that I'm not just doing everything for a title or a diploma or a paycheck.

Trust me when I say that I don't always feel this way. I hope that if anything, this last semester in college brings some clarity. I realize clarity may take awhile but I have to trust that it will come. Clarity doesn't always mean knowing what will happen but may it's more trusting that everything will work out ok.

For now, I'll keep pushing because pushing is all I know how to do. I just have to trust that when I reach the top the work was worth it, whatever "it" may be.

Sincerely,

Stuck-like-Sisyphus

The Prime Meridian

Last year while abroad I had the opportunity to stand on the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, London. Fun fact: At the Greenwich Royal Observatory, one has the opportunity to straddle a metal line running through the courtyard that marks the place where east meets west: 0° Longitude. As I stood over the line, I briefly thought how cool it was to be in two places at once, both the eastern and western hemispheres.

It's been over a year since I straddled the Prime Meridian and yet recently, I feel like I'm in two places at once. Welcome to the life of a second semester senior. I'm straddling the line of life with one foot in the college hemisphere and the other in the "real world." Unlike my experience a year ago, being in two places at once isn't so cool anymore.

I feel like I'm in limbo and because of that I'm having a hard time focusing on school work this semester. I need to do well in school because I am still a student but at the same time I've got one foot out the door. I'm ready to look for jobs. I'm ready for a pay check. I'm ready for a new kind of challenge. In the midst of trying to set up a new life for myself I still have homework to worry about and I just can't seem to figure out how to balance on this line without completely toppling over.

This semester I'm interning in the Office of Admissions at St. Michael's College and each day I'm supposed to go in, I wake up excited. It's something different than class. I get to learn what it's like to work in the "real world." I'm passionate about what it is they do and I want to learn skills that may be applicable to my career. I want to jump in and start job searching immediately but I can't because I've got obligations as a student and my time is limited.

I'm sad to see my time in college disappear but at the same time I'm ready for change. In the midst of winter and my senior year, I feel stuck at 0°.

As I sat in my room brooding about how sick I am of homework, I suddenly remembered another interesting fact about the Prime Meridian. 0° Longitude is the center of world time and the official starting point for a new millennium. Every minute starts at 0°. It occurred to me that maybe straddling that line isn't such a bad thing.

There will be days when I feel like I'm in limbo. There will be times when my energy is spent and I'm ready to quit. There will be times I want this limbo phase to be over. When that happens, I must remember that I'm actually standing at a starting place. The starting place for all time. I think that's a much brighter way of looking at my situation. 0° isn't the end of anything. In fact, it's just the beginning.