major conflict-what do you do when...?

Post Reply New Topic

why is it that sometimes what you want to do and what you feel like you would probably be more successful and possibly even happier doing....don't match up.

I am having somewhat of a personal mini-crisis....and that's being a little over the top...but I can't think of what else to describe it as to truly match what I'm feeling.

I love to write...and I thought that I recently figured out that what I should do is write..and maybe this is still true. I mean...I used to write all the time...and in recent years it has dwindled tremendously. Now I have read that alot of AS people are happiest when persuing careers in their special interests...so

When I think about going to school, like I am currently, to study English/creative writing....I get kind of bored...(but other times very excited).. Don't get me wrong...like I said...I have high aspiration (and I think even potential) to become at least a moderately successful writer..

what my conflict is...is that when I truly feel most engrossed with something...is when I am studying some sort of animal...usually the octopus, often times birds. I would LOVE to have some sort of career that devotes large amounts of time to studying the behavior of octopuses...or even of insects for that matter. I love animals! and yeah...facts are the most intriguing to me no matter how much I still do love a ((good)) story and writer...and I really enjoy the satisfaction of a final draft of a story after toiling over an idea for so long (and it takes me a awhile..) i still just think I'd be happier in some sort of animal biology line of study.


another conflict is that I never did to wonderfully in science classes in high school....this could be because of a number of things though....either that i didn't attend the class as much as I should have...or just flat out didn't understand........like chemistry...did horribly, still somehow passed. biology-passed ok, thoroughly enjoyed but think I could have done better...didn't attend all the time..

sorry for typing so much....i've already declared my major as 'english/concentration; creative writing at the 2nd best school in the u.s. for that major(university of houston, next to iowa state).........but I only have 21 transfer credits which most will go toward some core stuff and extracurricular...so I can still change....just now I wish my major was undeclared.


blarg

if you made it this far into my rant/conflict/questions/nonsense



thanks for any advice.

i'm at work and the program i'm supposed to be working on needs rebooting so I have nothing better to do other than ruminate..

edit: i've also had this same conflict but the other way around with the majors..........maybe i could go for the science thing and just take writing workshops on the side....the biology could give me some great material to work with in sci-fi stories...

Last edited by stephaniecatherine on 13 Aug 2008, 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

Can you not combine these two options? Writing about octopi, for exmaple? What is it about octopi that fascinates you? I admit they are intriguing creatures to me as well

don't get me going on octopuses! they are fascinating! incredibly intelligent, humorous, mysterious. i could list facts, but I won't

i made an edit and actually mentioned what you said....combining the two....that'd be a crazy double major.

and what would i need to major in anyway, for animal type studies?

edit (again) and I realize i'm not using the term 'octopi' ...mainly because I don't speak latin, and octopuses just 'feels' better to me...and is more often used nowadays

I think octopi/octopuses are both accepted.
Octopodes might be the *correct* term if you take the linguistics into account...

Anyway, I love them as well. They have problem-solving abilities!

You would probably benefit from a major major in biology if you want to specialize in octopuses. And maybe, as was metnioned, do creative writing as a minor.

I wassimilar to you, school-wise. I never paid enough attention to the things that didn't interest me about biology/chemistry to pursue my passion for those things that did. I wound up studying anthropology, and succeeded because the grades were largely based on essays and term papers, the subject matter of which I had some control over...

If I had started college in my mid-20s, I would probably have a PhD by now. I started too young, and lacked discipline. I'm not saying delay it, but you might want to consider it as an option.

I'd start out with the basics: biology, zoology, mathematics, a language or two & see what else is involved.

I can appreciate your interest in octopi. I'm a marine biologist of sorts. My interest stemmed from the fact that I used to skin dive in my youth. Knowing how to behave around marine life was the difference between an enjoyable outing & a trip to the closest ER.

Right now, the thing that I'm interested in is shark research. They have a number of unique attributes, and a bad rep that they don't deserve.

It's hard to believe that sharks are not aggressive.

actually I have delayed going to college. I waited about 3 1/2 -4 years after graduating before persuing a college degree. I know what you mean about discipline...if I had started right out of high school I would be doing horrible....but I've done very well in my 21 credit hours not that I'm the master of discipline...but I have far more control over that then even just 1 year ago.

my university doesn't have a zoology major option...just biology and a couple concentrations under that...one is ecology&evolution...i forgot the other two. I just emailed one of the Biology major advisors...waiting to hear what they have to say.

i'm not huge into saying 'octopodes' either...I don't know why. for the longest time I said 'octopi' ...then I started saying octopuses

i think it's really cool that there seems to be a lot of octopus fans on these boards!

i would love to specialize in octopuses/octopi/octopodes......definately..just got to figure out my course of action I guess..

Please do list those facts, they're interesting!



Indeed it's "octopuses", not "octopi".
You probably did choose the right major. I was studying biology and had to quit, because they made everything about people. Even a class on animal behavior they managed to link to people as much as possible, e.g. when talking about dragonflies it was mentioned how "we" could "benefit" from studying the way male dragonflies locate females by modelling homing devices on missiles after it. I got sick of it.
Later when doing actual research you'd have to define some or other "human benefit" for it, i.e. you'll only find funding for octopus research if you can show how it'll help cure some human disease, explain something about human brains, or give human militaries more effective ways of killing each other.
The understanding-for-the-sake-of-understanding that we Aspies tend to value highly does not seem to be valued at all by society at large.

Bees, snakes & lightning kill more people in 1 year, than sharks kill in 100

Truth is stranger than fiction

Whatever, but I'm still gonna stay away from sharks if I can help it. I doubt they make very good pets.

Good for you. It took me 10 years to finish my 4 year degree.

i'll stay away with you. ....but it is true that sharks are given a bad rep! was just telling my dad about that the other day.

my dad used to be a surfer in australia and has even swam alongside tiger sharks. still! i wouldn't tempt a shark....and I don't think tiger sharks are terribly huge.
i watched this one thing during those 'shark week shows ( ) about some guy that the main charactor in the movie JAWS was loosely based after ...some shark researchers took him out and educated him about sharks nstuff.....he was a legend for killing sharks...many many sharks.

there are tiny sharks-like the red-tailed shark- that are very commonly kept as pets in aquariums. had one myself.


on another note. shark tastes pretty good in a soup.

thank you. at the rate I'm going I just may take awhile too though ...I don't know if I could make as good grades if I were taking more than I have been per semester

there is another universsity in the same state as me...unfortunately not the same city...that offers zoology as a major....i'm going a bit mad over it...wish I could teleport there everyday....it's in Denton Texas (texas women's university) and I'm in Houston...going to U. of H. ....and an all female school kind of scares me more than the huge school that U. of H. is with both males and females.....but it may be less stressful since guys generally tend to stare down a couple of regions of my body (not being conceited..it just makes me feel weird) ...annnyway....enough going off on tangents for me and sidetracking from work.....

time to go home

i am laughing right now because i started off trying to focus on stephaniecatherine's crisis, and then my brain went, "hey! octopi!! !" and i got totally distracted about what the original question was, and then i scroll down and see that i am not the only one who was distracted by the interesting-ness of octopodes, octopi, octopuses....

this board is so nifty like that

one time at a restaurant, getting lunch, i drew a big octopus on the back of the paper menu and wrote out everything i could think of about the lovlies and declared it octopus awareness day ..

here's a short part of that list of facts, since it was somewhat requested

-octopuses have three hearts (two to pump blood through their gills, one to pump blood throughout their bodies)
-they can taste what they touch
-the male detaches his third right tentacle to impregnate the female
-the octopus is the only aquatic animal kept in aquariums that require enrichment activity to spare them from getting bored and restless
-octopodes have a sense of humor
-they can squeeze through ity bity holes and tightly shut aquarium tanks....quite the escape artist
-problem solving skills
....utterly intelligent


ok, pretty basic facts i guess....anyone feel free to add to the list!