Monday, November 29, 2010

Why I'm a Georgia Tech fan

Before you click away and vow to never read my blog again, please hear me out.

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Some people think I am a Tech fan because my dad is a Georgia fan. In my family, with a lot of a my friends, and at church, it would a heck of a lot easier to be a die-hard Georgia fan.

Some people would call me a fake Tech fan. Why? I don't absolutely despise Georgia... unless they're playing Tech. I enjoy SEC football a little more than some ACC match-ups. Don't get me wrong; there are some ACC match-ups that do rival SEC. I'm also not saying that SEC is the end-all of college football. Have you seen the way the SEC East is playing this year?

Anyhoo. Back to the point of the post.

I am a Tech fan because Georgia Tech was in the running for colleges when I was a junior and senior in high school. I wanted to be an engineer. That's right, folks. I love math and mathy sciences like Physics. As dorky as it seems, they excite and fascinate me, and I hate that I didn't push harder when I was a senior when they refused to put me in AP Calculus. (As it turns out, I took two other awesome math classes my senior year. See, nerd.) Another top contender was the Coast Guard Academy.

You people don't really know or understand how much I hated my English classes in high school. There was one I loved-- 11th grade Mr. DeLeslie. He taught on another level. There are two or three people from high school you can ask whom can vouch for the day I said, "I will never NEVER be an English major in college. Never. Ever." That was uttered around AP English test time. I still shudder... ew.

So there you have it. I am a math nerd stuck in an English major's body. Don't get me wrong, though. I love writing, editing, grammar, and I laugh at lit jokes that only English (and English Ed) majors get. I liken grammar to word math. I like formulas which is funny because my life looks nothing like I worked it out to be.

Maybe that's why things are so crazy in my life-- or in yours (not because of me, but because of...) pushing against what you're made to do so you can do something that everyone else thinks is best. I gave into a weird kind of pressure when I became an English major. I did it because it was what I thought people would think would be best for me-- a general degree. When I went specific when I was a psych major, I freaked out because I thought there'd be nothing for me.

Even though I've only officially changed my major once, there was a running joke for some reason with some people in my family that I can't decide on a major so I change it all the time. While it is true that I can't seem to land on one thing, something else is becoming more and more clear. It's a verse that is used a lot and misused as a result:
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

For years, I was delighting myself in myself and in what others thought. I know that playing the what-if game is dangerous. I know that what-if's are stupid because if it was supposed to happen, it would have happened, but humor me. What-if, instead of pushing hard against math and science, I went to Georgia Tech or Southern Poly? What-if I became an engineer (probably civil or mechanical or something where I could take things apart to figure out how they work) and was *gasp* happy? Joyful, even? What-if I realized that I could reach a ton of people with this joy and started building things for people who didn't have anyone to build for them?

I'm no idiot. I realize that joy does not come from circumstances; it comes from the Lord. But what if math and science are those desires answered? Or something technically minded. Some subject I can study that has a rhythm and a pattern or that requires me to use a part of my brain that isn't all Englishy.

What if I hadn't delighted in myself? What if I had delighted in Him?

What if?
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

No regrets.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

That, my friends, is why I am a Tech fan.

1 comment:

Day said...

You definitely know that the SEC is the only conference in the NCAA to me :) but love this post. I've often thought about writing one on why I am NOT a MSU fan even though I went to school there. Maybe the next time someone asks will be my push to finally do it. miss you!