Creative Versus Logical Thinking

I’m back! And I have so much to write! I have updated all of my pages (above) and even added a new, very important page, Mental Life. If you want to know what has been going on the last year and four months, read away.

This post today is about a surprisingly complex question I was asked a couple weeks ago.

As you might have already read, I am back in the dating scene and while playing the “getting to know you” game, a possible suitor asked me:

“Are you more of a creative or logical thinker?”

I am sure he did not mean to throw me for such a loop, but I was stumped. I had no god answer because I truly think I am equally both. I don’t mean to be pretentious, but look at the name of this blog? I base my life decisions on the fact that I need an equal balance of logic and creation in my life. I cannot happily live a life with one and not the other.

What I am about to describe in terms of creative and logical thinking applies to anything that has two opposing categories; Democratics and Republicans, Religion and Atheism, Optimistic and Pessimistic mentalities are just a few examples of what I mean. For the sake of readability I am going to use the Creative and Logical thinking as a template.

If you took a line and had people who are primarily creative types on the left side and logical types on the right you would get a sliding scale representing the fact that people can be different degrees of creative and logical.

It is completely irrational to think a person is just one or the other because our minds don’t work in black and white. Humans are human because we can think for ourselves and have moral conflict and personal experiences can actually change the way we live our lives. Everyone is different and there is no carbon copy of people so putting humans into two categories will stop any sort of progress we are making in understanding ourselves and become unique adults. This is part of what is so difficult for high school students, I believe, because this is the time where young adults begin to learn that they don’t always agree with their clique or don’t fit in with everyone the way they used to.

Anyway, I am getting side tracked. Back to the line. If you placed random points on this line, you are just as likely to place a point in the exact middle than you are to put one on each extreme pole. Hence, random placement, which is how humans are. Basically, every type of mindset is as rare as the next one. (This isn’t completely accurate because there are certain outside influences that affect humans as a whole and change the randomness ever so slightly. Environmental struggles, cultural differences and unities, things like that. However, there are 7 billion people to be accounted for so on a scale as large as that, my example is pretty accurate.)

That being said, when I initially panicked, thinking I am a crazy weirdo who thinks equally one way and the other, I was wrong to. There are just as many people who think like me as there are people who think completely on one end of the spectrum. Like someone who has nearly no logic, only creativity. Which seems crazy to me, but it must exist somewhere.

Humans are a colorful bunch; so much variety and beauty sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about it. In my lifetime I have seen so much progress towards accepting that uniqueness, and I am so young (early 20’s). I hope to continue to witness this blossoming into a world without categories. It will take a long time, probably much longer than my own lifetime because categories are very comforting. You can learn a lot faster if you categorize everything, but you miss out on very important details. Categories are an excuse to not get personal with facts. You can never understand something if you don’t investigate each working part. It’s like saying, “All Nazi’s are terrible people because they kill 11 million people.” Well, each Nazi did not kill 11 million people and many Nazi’s had no choice in their enlisting. So why tell them to rot in Hell if they were only protecting their families in terrible times?

The whole purpose of my writing this article was to point out why accepting everyone as individuals rather than clumping people in categories will send humanity in a direction of hope and happiness. As Neale Donald Walsch once said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Stop comparing people to other people and start learning how fascinating humanity can be.

I Cannot Take Much More of This.

Almost three years ago, I got my acceptance letter from Humboldt State University and jumped and screamed and cried in excitement. I was accepted to my dream college and I was going to get my degree in Environmental Science so I could do field research the rest of my life happily with my sexy Tarzan by my side.

School began on August 23rd, 2010. That year I made many amazing memories (good and bad). I made friends I will hold close for the rest of my life and found a wonderful man I plan to spend the rest of my life with (don’t panic, I understand things can change). I became ill my second semester, probably due to malnutrition and a number of other things, and failed most of my courses. At the end of the semester, I was sitting in my Introduction to Environmental Management and Protection course when our teacher brought up a school building somewhere in the mid-west that was powered completely by renewable energy (solar, wind, water, etc). Now, of course, this was not the first time I encountered something like this. As a matter of fact, in high school I took an environmental science course that spent a few weeks on passive and aggressive solar design. Solar design is referring to an architectural design style that uses the suns energy to reduce energy bills and dependence on coal and oil. However, learning about this the second time caused me to realize that was exactly what I was looking for. Sustainably designed commercial and residential buildings. I wanted to be an architect!

I was so engulfed in passion for architecture, I immediately changed my major. To Environmental Engineering of course. Yeah yeah, I know that makes no sense. Humboldt State University does not have an architecture program. ; Which really isn’t a problem because most architects should get their engineering degree at one point or another. I knew that with my engineering degree, I would be able to understand architecture just that much more and I would have some kind of back up plan (since architects are notoriously unemployed).

I spend a whole year in the engineering program with no problems. My GPA is still suffering because of my freshman year failures, but otherwise I am content working toward my goal. At the beginning of this semester, I had three years left before I had my bachelors degree. After that I was going to move to Oregon and work as an engineer while receiving my M.Arch and PhD in Sustainable Design.

Well if only it could be that wonderful. A week ago, a friend of mine (also in the engineering program) came to me with her new found knowledge. “You cannot get your civil engineering license from this degree.” Now, as obvious as it may be to you, it really wasn’t that clear until someone officially put it in a sentence. Environmental Engineering is for people who want to design waste water treatment plants and landfills. No people who want to design green homes. Most of our courses are exactly the same as the courses a civil engineer would take, however we cannot take the exam to officially receive our license mostly because of the label. There is no option to take a few extra physics and geology courses to qualify for the exam. You have to have the civil engineering major in order to take the exam.

So basically, the last two years (and thousands of dollars) are worth shit. I am lucky to have taken all my GE courses, because most of them will transfer. However no matter where I transfer, I will have at least 4 years of schooling, but more like 5 or 6 years just to get my bachelors degree. Too bad a bachelors degree wont get you shit in this world.

My plan was to transfer next year to the University of Oregon. I was holding it together and chugging forward. I have to wait a year because my GPA is still terrible and I have to fix it. I am too far into the semester to change my courses now and I conveniently signed a year lease for my apartment.

Too bad out of state tuition cannot be waived with the Western Institution Commission for Higher Education program. The University of Oregon does not accept that program. So I am left with these options:

1. Transfer to the University of Oregon, my dream school, and study my dream program (which would take about 3 years to receive a bachelors, 3 years for M.Arch, and 5 years for PhD). Totaling 11 years after this year (5 of which I will be working as an architect). Spending upwards of $30,000 A YEAR.

2. Transfer to a school in California/Arizona, get a bachelors in architecture (about 3 years), then attend U of O to get graduate degrees (about 8 years, 5 of which I will be working as an architect), therefore only spending $30,000 a year for 8 years, rather than the original 11 years. Totaling 11 years.

3. Transfer to a school in California/Arizona, get a bachelors in civil engineering (about 4 years if I’m lucky), ; then attend U of O while working as an engineer, offsetting my cost of tuition. Total 13 years, maybe.

4. Transfer to a school in California/Arizona, get a bachelors in civil engineering (about 4 years if I’m lucky), take a year off of school but live in Oregon working as an engineer, then attend U of O as a resident of Oregon (therefore paying about $10,000 a year) and finishing grad school. Total 14 years, maybe.

5. Take a year off and work a job that does not require a degree (Starbucks, hotel front desk) in Oregon and attend U of O as a resident to finish all degrees (bachelors, masters, PhD). Total 12 years.

I also left out the additional factor of my mental stability throughout those years, because that is up to me to decide on importance. What the fuck am I supposed to do? I don’t tell me to wait and see what happens because that kind of attitude put me here in the first place. It never works out that way.

Please help me, your opinion matters greatly.

EmilyTreat

Insanity Begins

I am not fat, yes I know.

I am just very much out of shape. I would love to be in shape and do the things I want to do, without having the worry about wheezing the rest of the day.

The solution?

Insanity 60 Day Workout and Diet Plan.

I am starting today and I will keep all of you updated on my progress. I have already taken my Day One picture and I plan to take the same picture every day for two months. Come November, I will be in shape and ready for some adventure!

Wish me luck!

EmilyTreat