LEARNING FROM THE BAMBOO TREE

A BREAKDOWN MOMENT

I think I had a little breakdown moment today. :( First, I woke up late. I intended to wake up at 6:00 a.m., but instead I woke up at 8:15 a.m. My first class is at 8:30 a.m., and it takes me at least 30 minutes to drive to school, apart from showering and getting ready for the day. I completely missed my class, and this week is the last week before our Summer Vacation. Needless to say, I was very, very bummed and very, very mad at myself! :( Instead of going to school, I went to my local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf intending to study. But before I could get out my steno machine, I checked Facebook quickly to see what my friends were up to. I haven't been on Facebook for several weeks now. I just don't have the time to keep up with everyone there! Anyway, when I browsed through all the status updates, photo uploads, and what have you, I got so sad all of a sudden! I realized that I miss my friends... terribly! I miss the days when I would literally be going out at least 3x a week with different groups of friends to meet up for dinner, coffee, birthday parties, or any kind of get-togethers. I was one of the people who initiated the movie dates, the girls nights, the luncheons on Sundays after church. Hmm... but this was when I placed school and responsibilities way, way back in my list of priorities. :P Well, that was about 3 years ago. Now, I'm 28-years-old, and I can't be fooling around any longer. It's no longer "cute." All that socializing without prioritizing on school has definitely caught up with me today, and I'm for sure paying the price. I wish I were already done with school, but my choices of yesterday has brought me to where I am now -- - Part-time work at a law office, including a full day every Saturday! - Full-time school at Tri-Community, plus studying every chance I can get! If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would have buckled down early with school to get it out of the way, so today I would have my career, no debt whatsoever, and planning more tangibly my future with my boyfriend. But I can't change the past. I am grateful, however, that I've learned my lesson. You really reap what you sow. So now I'm diligently sowing into my future, so I can reap the rewards when I'm finally licensed: - I'll finally have a career I love, not just a job to pay the bills! - I'll finally have money, so no more debt! No more living paycheck to paycheck! - I'll finally have a flexible schedule! (I want to freelance, do closed captioning, or CART reporting.) I get to go on vacations or visit family/friends or just take a little breather whenever I want to. Sorry if this post was a bit discouraging. That wasn't really my intent. The purpose for this post is to give tough love to myself (and I needed to vent)... and to you, if you need it. If you're a court reporting student who is just starting or who needs a bolt of encouragement, please heed these words (and I'm definitely talking to myself, too): Let's pay the price of going through school now! Let's work our butts off! Let's be the best shorthand reporters we can possibly be! Let's continue to put in our 150% effort day in and day out! For we WILL reap the rewards if we don't give up! NEVER GIVE UP!

STICKING TO IT

I just graded my Jury Charge (AKA Jury Instruction) test at 160 WPM. I marked 9 wrong. The error limit to pass is 12. Hopefully, my teacher doesn't catch any more mistakes, and this is a real, legitimate pass! If so, I would then be 1 of 3. Thus, my next two tests to kill would be Testimony (AKA Q&A) and Literary (AKA Straight Matter). Keep your fingers crossed for me!!! :D I've been consistently transcribing my tests, even though I know the majority of them couldn't possibly be passes. It doesn't matter. I faithfully type my steno notes onto my Dell laptop, so I can see my errors firsthand: I see where I shadow, I see where I overlap, I see how I stroke words, etc. It's very useful!!! From what I know, court reporting teachers always encourage their students to transcribe. They say, though, that the ratio between writing on your steno machine and transcribing (which is also working on your dictionary), looks something like this:

• Steno Machine - 80%
• Transcribing (Dictionary Building) - 20%

Some days I get really close to passing, like I'll only be 3 or 2 errors shy of the error limit. This gives me great hope because I see that I'm close! And then there are other days, because I'll drop whole phrases, or misidentify speakers, or mess up on little words, or because I rush through my test, that I'll grade a test at 100 errors! I know, sounds sooo horrible, right?! BUT I try to not let that three-digit error limit depress me. Instead I try to remind myself that I AM getting better, I'm learning from my mistakes, and I just gotta keep going, going, going! One day I'll pass ALL my tests... all the way right up to 225 WPM! I just can't give up! EVER!!! How about you? How do you keep yourself from getting discouraged every time you get a "failed" test? Would love to know your thoughts on stick-to-it-ive-ness... In court reporting school, we definitely have to get used to "rejection" before we get a pass! (And all the court reporting students say, "So true!!!") The court reporting program is sooo different from traditional schools where you have a mid-term, a final, pop quizzes, homework, and everything else that's "normal." Not in court reporting! To do stenography, you have to be NEAR PERFECT... ALL THE TIME!!! So school really kicks your butt because they're preparing you for the real world. That's why there's a huge dropout rate in court reporting schools no matter which school you go to! Not many can stick with it...

BUT for those who CAN STICK TO IT because they CHOOSE TO STICK TO IT, we will reap the rewards of one day becoming professional, licensed SHORTHAND REPORTERS!!! (And all the court reporting students say, "So true!!!")