Very few things captivate my nerdy heart the same way that school supply shopping does. There is just something about being amongst aisle upon colorful aisle full of brand new binders, folders, and pens that makes me itch to get back into the classroom- if only just to use my new toys. Seeing notebooks without bent edges is much like having a clean slate to work on… and that is exactly what I imagine beginning school at ICO will be like.
I won’t bore you with the long list of school supplies that I bought (but just so you know, they are awesome.) I do, however, want to highlight one particular purchase that got me really excited: my brand new MacBook Pro!
I haven’t gotten a new laptop in SEVEN years. To you give you some perspective, seven years ago is when Tina Fey did an amazing Sarah Palin impersonation on Saturday Night Live, and before Instagram became an unhealthy obsession in my life. It’s also when my older brother bought me an HP Pavilion that I somehow made last way longer than I ever should have.
To reward myself for getting into optometry school (and for keeping a piece of technology alive for so long,) I decided to splurge and get a Mac. The only question that remained was, which one? After speaking with friends and grilling several Best Buy employees, I had it narrowed down to either the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro. While both seemed like essentially the same computer, my wallet and brain leaned towards the Air while my heart wanted the Pro.
I wanted to think about it before doing anything rash. So, I walked out and slept on the decision for a week. During that time, I couldn’t help but to make a whimsical list of reasons justifying why the Pro would be worth the extra money:
1. The extra weight will help keep my muscles strong. 2. Sephora will probably steal my leftover money anyway (it’s not possible to have enough lipstick.) 3. If I had my HP for seven years, I’ll keep my Macbook for ten!
After a lot of obsessing, I finally went in and bought it. Speaking as a person who doesn’t regularly drop big bucks on just a single item, I felt kinda like how the grimacing face emoji looks. I’m justifying this purchase by reminding myself that this is the computer that I will be relying on for some important stuff-like learning how to become an eye doctor.
My older brother never owned a laptop during his eight year journey to become a dentist. This is something that he reminds me of all the time. While I outwardly roll my eyes at him, internally I feel overwhelmingly lucky to have the opportunity to pursue my dream at my top choice school. Everything else that comes into play (like a new laptop) is just cherries on top of the sundae.
Not everyone gets the opportunity to chase their passion, or receives the tools that they need to accomplish what they seek after. I am sure that my fellow classmates are making preparations of their own for the start of the school year. A lot of our prep may be very similar or different, but one thing is for sure- we are all in a pretty amazing spot regardless of where we are coming from or what we are bringing with us.
Being a PC user my whole life, getting used to the Mac is turning out to be a slight challenge. While it is definitely annoying taking twice as long to do things that I could so quickly do on a PC, I’m confident that I will get the hang of it soon. My goal is to be reasonably competent and efficient by the time school starts- and there is not too much time left! My Macbook and I are about to be put to the test.
…Maybe I should buy my baby a protective case, too.