Make It Real

Tonight is a night of honest reflections.
I can finally tell myself that i've shifted to 2nd gear.
This is with regards to studies.
Been catching up on the long-overdued readings and whatnotz.
Somehow, this renewed state of academic pursuit reminds me of my zealousness and enthusiasm upon my virgin step into Uni.
But as a good self-fulfilling prophercy should be, i quickly dismissed this state of mind as an anomaly.
That i would fizzle out before the sem is over.
True to my predictions, i didnt really make an adequate effort towards the crucial exam period.
Leaving me on a trail littered with disappointments and lousy grades.
However, it is quite the reverse this sem.
I only got into 1st gear during mid-sem.
And there's only around one more mth till exams.
But currently i'm buzzing.
Buzzing with a feeling of unparallelled satisfaction.
Why?
Coz my renewed efforts paid off with pretty decent dividends.
Got a grade in Ger that mirrored the time spent studying the bloody vocabs.
Also, a gd grade for my Drama review.
True, they might not amount to much come end of term.
But as a spur for my continued academic diligence, they more than suffice.
This leads me to ponder: If purely to attain decent grades, which strategy is better?
A) To pursue academic excellence throughout the sem, and risk missing out a big portion of social interaction?(read: partying, hanging out with babes, gambling, u get the drift...).
Or
B) To try and reconcile the two agendas of any self-professed and self-loving students?
i.e Play(75%) & Study(25%) for 1st half of sem, and Play(25%) & Study(75%) for the 2nd half of the sem,
thus achieving a balance of some sort.
Hmmmm......
Muggers would tell me to make it a consistent effort and that mugging is the best way to get gd grades.
Closet muggers would tell me to have fun while out with people, but ultimately to find excuses to go home and mug while maintaining that "i dont study".
Slackers would tell me to chill out, bum around and "carpe diem".
Friends would see through my defence on this topic and deride me for spending too much time pondering the abstract & idealistic instead of acting out the concrete in reality.
Acquaintances would say "Jia You!!!" followed by an inquisition/enquiry "So, what did you get for your last test/essay?"
Close friends would encourage me in forms they see fit.
So which category do you belong to?
At the end of it all, i would say: Talk is cheap, YZ! No amount of verbal and intellectual reflections would sufficiently substitute for actual practice.
To all those who can identify with this struggle to find motivation, juz remember that we all have a choice. Priorities and agendas grow and fade in importance with the ebbing of Time. We've been studying since we came of age. However, we're only students once. And academic education is only but a small percentage compared to the future years of work and toil. So sieze the day.

P.S. Liuw, there's sth wrong with both our tagboards.