Self proclaimed nerd.

Elise from the Attic is a weekly blog post from my sister Elise who is currently kicking up her heels and studying her ass off in Kentucky.  She is a fashionista and a lunatic, but we love her.  Mostly.  OK, sometimes.  Here is this week's edition of:

I am a self proclaimed nerd.

For example, I hoped and prayed that I would need braces and glasses when I was younger... until that day actually arrived. I'm that girl in class that gets a little too feisty when a professor decides to share stories of his weekend with the class, stalling the beginning of lecture. So bear with my nerdiness, because I am going to have to share with you my current college disappointment: Students come to class for all of ten minutes until attendance is taken, and then they retreat to their dungeons to sleep, Facebook, partake in mindnumbing activities, etc. After my sociology professor addressed the problem in class I started to think about how awful it is that education doesn't seem to be valued as much as it has been in the past.

I will admit that when I was a young, naive kindergardener who had not quite grown into the complete geek that I am today, my mother would ask me what I learned that day. I would give an annoyed groan, roll my eyes and maybe manage a vague answer. But, after seeing a quote that was something along the lines of "go to school, kids in China would love to have your job" years later, I realized what a complete ass I was for praying for snow/fog/torndados/water heater incidents, etc. every night before I went to sleep (after putting my pajamas on backwards and a spoon under my pillow). I realized that I was beyond lucky to be able to go to school. And although my mom hasn't asked me in years what I learned in school that day, I have since tried to make a conscious effort to ask myself.

I realize you're probably thinking why the hell should I take advice from someone who was arrested in an attic, but I encourage you to try to learn something new daily. It doesn't matter if you're learning a new recipe (this is just an example... NOT something I plan to actually take part in), one word from a different language, or how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop.

Ya know that saying that humans only use a portion of our brain? I was going to mention something about this, but out of curiosity I looked it up and we actually use 100% of our brains so there you go, your newly learned tidbit for today!

Until next week,

Elise, From The Attic