A Final Summary
That is not one page
(Sorry)
Ravleen Kaur Sohal
***
A TABLE OF CONTENTS
—---- Prologue
—---- Parents, A Brother, A Favourite Colour, And A Faint Idea
—---- The Serendipity Of A Mundane Task
—---- A Path Of Ambition
—---- Calling
—---- What To Do With A Frail Branch
Prologue
This is not one page. Sorry.
I thought I’d provide a reason, though, because every story needs a reason to exist.
**A SMALL TRUTH:**
I’m always trying to find ways to go beyond, but the opportunity never
presents itself.
This time, it lunged. It sought me out, it was begging to be seized.
I’m not one to ignore creativity.
At the start of the semester, you talked about how you valued quality over
quantity. It’s a reasonable value, as being a teacher means possibly subjecting
yourself to things you only wished you were paid more to read. I too, can only wish
this doesn’t make you feel that way. After all, you also said you valued creativity,
and I think formatting a reflection as if Marcus Zusak and Roald Dahl collaborated
on a novel is just that: creativity.
You see, I view reflection of any kind as creating a story. Reflecting is a
process; a series of events, in a way.
In class, we discussed individual definitions of success. I defined it as being
able to create. Whether it’s relationships, or a memory, or experience, or anything
really; success is to create.
What better way to honour that definition than to create a story of
reflection, while honouring the pieces of literature that inspired said definition?
This story contains inspiration from the following:
- we were liars, E. Lockhart
- The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
- Matilda, Roald Dahl
- The Naturals, Jennifer Lynn Barnes
All of these are stories that shaped my worldview and influenced a multitude of
things in my life. For example, Marcus Zusak is possibly the only person to write
exactly the way I do. It was very relieving to find out I wasn’t the only one who
found immense joy in defying the English language and using the shortest
sentences I possibly could. I can extend the same sentiment to E. Lockhart, who
shares my passion for constantly making characters suffer tragedies. In my defense,
it is very fun to write tragedies.
In short, I like to create. I love to write, maybe a little too much. This
seemed like a fun way to go beyond expectations while also relating it back to the
main topic of this assignment: me, and my future.
Maybe you find reading this to be tedious, maybe you’re shaking your head.
Maybe you’ll enjoy this. I won’t know until it’s graded, of course.
I won’t be offended if you don’t.
Let’s start.
Parents, A Brother, A Favourite Colour, And
A Faint Idea
Everyone has parents, maybe a brother, maybe a favourite colour, and maybe
a faint idea of who they are.
**A CLARIFICATION:**
1. I only have one parent.
2. I do have a brother.
3. I lied about my favourite colour until the age of fourteen.
4. I do have a faint idea of who I am, but it always changes, for I am
growing, and the idea only gets fainter and fainter.
I will say, though, myBlueprint “Who Am I” surveys do help to solidify that
faint idea. In some ways.
There are already individual reflections made under each survey in the
portfolio, but I do want to give my two cents again. A lot of them described and
validated my perception of myself very well, I was rather elated. It always feels good
to have your perception of yourself confirmed as true, even if it’s coming from
myBlueprint. However, I will forever hold a grudge against the Personality Type
survey. As I already explained in the individual survey reflection, it is inaccurate.
I’ll have you know, myBlueprint, I am a very intuitive person.
That’s all I’ll say, though.
To my disappointment, some of the relatively accurate ones had little spots of
inaccuracy. Shame. I would love to over-praise myBlueprint, because their pens
really are amazing pens (my mother is very pleased with them, she constantly tells
me I should’ve taken more). For example, the motivations one described my top
motivation being relationships. This is true. I do love my brother. However, the
personality style survey claimed I would be the type of person to fancy the colour
green.
Naturally, this made me obligated to redo the survey. A number of times. I
hate green.
Overall, I think the surveys do provide good insight on you as a person and
help you to discover things about yourself you may have not known before. Despite
the spots of inaccuracies, it helped quite a bit in solidifying the faint idea of myself,
it made me more confident in how I perceive myself.
The Serendipity Of A Mundane Task
One of my most controversial opinions is that picking your highschool
courses is one of the most exciting things you can do in your youth.
I’m probably the only one to hold that sentiment. Shame.
I picked my grade twelve courses at the same time as my eleventh grade ones,
and the process of it made me very, very excited for the future. For once in my life.
I find the selection of courses is a relatively good one. For a school that’s
kind of all over the place in terms of “main subjects” (e.g. Cawthra Park being a
primarily arts school), it has a variety of subjects to suit a lot of niches. I found the
choices to be kind of overwhelming, actually, because there was so much I wanted
to do, and not enough course slots to do it. That being said, I do plan on dropping
one of my grade twelve courses. Is it a crime to want to experience having a spare?
It doesn’t matter though, for it isn’t set in stone, but the opportunity to
plan them out beforehand is very reassuring, and I appreciate it being there.
Overall, Port Credit Secondary School has a good selection of courses, and I
am thoroughly satisfied. Huzzah!
A Path Of Ambition
To tell the truth, I’m not quite sure how university works in its entirety yet.
That’s okay though, I’ll learn. I’m always learning.
Naturally, I know what I want to learn in the future.
From the selection of post-secondary education programs available on
myBlueprint, I found a few I know for sure I want to do and I meet the
requirements for (but that can change, of course). I have an immense interest in
Criminology, Cognitive Science, and Music. myBlueprint does a relatively good
job at suggesting programs based on your results in the “Who Am I” surveys.
Coincidentally, all the programs are at York University. I don’t really have a
preference for any universities, and I used to live in North York. My mother also
says York is a good choice, so it’s the familiar, safe option. Of course, this is subject
to change, but I can believe.
Calling
People often describe their chosen career paths as their calling. I am going to
be one of those people. At least, I’d like to think I will be.
**A SMALL TRUTH ABOUT LIFE, AS TOLD BY MY
FATHER:**
Change is to be expected. Expect it, even when you don’t want to, for it
happens for a reason.
I chose a total of four different myBlueprint suggested occupations/career
options: Musician, Composer, Criminologist, and Anthropologist.
In all honesty, I’m not sure why I included anthropologists. It’s a rather
tedious path, no? I don’t judge, though, because Wild Kratts made it seem very
entertaining. In all seriousness, however, it did seem like a potential path if
anything else I want doesn’t work out.
My desired career path is criminal profiling. However, that’s too niche for
myBlueprint, so I settled for criminologist. They’re about the same. Composing
and being a musician is more like a dream I allow myself to have, because dreams
are valuable, too. You never know if one day, they’ll come true. They can be
fulfilling, too. Plus, I want to join an orchestra regardless of my main career.
Overall, the careers I chose were ones myBlueprint specifically suggested for
me, and I think they did a fantastic job with them. However, I do not appreciate
being suggested the occupation “Funeral Attendant".” The pay isn’t even that
good. Good grief.
What To Do With A Frail Branch
I always have problems with setting and completing goals. They’re like frail
branches I try climbing on anyways: they’re there only to fall. This year, however,
I’ve managed to learn how to set and maintain goals.
I only just added the goals I did to myBlueprint, but they’re goals I like to
think I’ve had for a while. myBlueprint offers a nice and neat layout to organize
them and plan them, and I appreciate that. It’s probably one of the only side
features I plan on using even after this assignment.
So, to answer the question, “what to do with a frail branch”: you tread
lightly. With patience and small amounts of progress at a time, you’ll make it to
the end of the branch where you envision yourself sitting on and overlooking the
view under you. You’ll make it to the end goal.
**A SMALL HOPE, A QUICK ENDING, AND A FINAL
THOUGHT:**
I can only hope you’ve read up until this point.
That’s all I’ll say, though.
Overall, this assignment and these tasks provided by myBlueprint have
given me reassurance for the future, a clearer understanding of who I
am, a purpose to keep creating, and a really fun final reflection idea.
Thank you.