Slow Going, and What is Consciousness?

I'm having trouble with my World Literature Survey. I've established the problem, and it is not doing the reading or the homework itself. In fact, some of the assignments and lectures have been quite enjoyable. The problem is finding everything I need: the reading material itself, a lecture, and a study guide/study questions. It is quite time consuming, and if I continue going at the rate I'm going now, it will take me almost 7 more months to finish this literature class! (My goal is to finish by January)

So I have an idea... 

I could just blaze through these assignments, and not get as much out of them. But I don't want to compromise on the depth of the material I'm covering. I learned so much from reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, even though I probably could have finished the assignment faster if I skipped the lecture, read only excerpts, and wrote a half-assed summary based loosely on some sparknotes. But I genuinely enjoyed challenging myself, and getting the most out of that material. 

So my idea is- let myself take the six or seven more months to complete the work! There is no time limit. 

However, I'm not satisfied doing ONLY this course during that time period. I would like to add another course to my load, while I continue to trudge through the lit class at my slow but deliberate pace. Since the main issue is finding materials to "build my own course," I'm not going to do that with future classes unless absolutely necessary. Since beginning this journey, I've learned that there are many amazing (free!) online courses available that have everything already organized for me, I just have to do the assignments. So I will begin one of the MIT "OpenCourseWare" classes soon. I still have to decide which course I'm going to take. 

(To see the options I'm considering, visit this post: Vote on My Next Course!) 

So that's that. I'll keep on keepin' on with the lit class, studying each reading to my heart's content, not trying to rush through everything. But in the mean time, I'll add one more course to my load. 

My personal life is fine, nothing interesting or new to report. Matty and I enjoyed going to a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game this weekend with our friends the Moyers- that was certainly an experience! More fun than a baseball game. But I was also shocked at how... unsportsmanlike?... our fans can be. Part of the Philadelphia charm I suppose.  

I was musing about the idea of consciousness though. I made a little graphic to display my thoughts. I'm sure that probably in some basic Philosophy 101 course they cover this. But until I educate myself more formally, you'll just have to put up with my crude theories. 

Just a thought.