My 9th grade geography final was simple. We were given a blank map of the world and it was up to us to label every country. Our teacher felt it was crucial for us to know the world. I remember studying like crazy for that final. I did decently well but I cut myself a lot of slack, believing my teacher was unrealistic in his expectations.  These past few days, I've had this weird drive to know that map again, and even better than I did in 9th grade. 

Being graduated is a weird thing. Because I am happy (so happy) to be done with school, but I really want to keep the learning going. I've been reading David A. Bednar's book on learning and it has really driven me to want to know more. I have the time, the energy, and the mental capacity to keep learning and that, to me, should be motivation enough. On Thursday and Friday I memorized South & Central America and Asia (all the "stans" get tricky), and then got started on Europe. And it makes me really happy, to be learning (and re-learning).