Coming up for air

I love school! I'm so pumped just being in class. I wish the class periods lasted a little bit longer. Especially my Mon/Wed/Fri classes, which only last an hour. Tues/Thurs I'm in class for 1.5 hours, and that's better. I feel more alive than I have in a long time.

...in some respects. In other respects, I'm dead. As in "dead tired." I may have mentioned that my iron levels are low. I'm taking an iron supplement, but it takes a while for that to make a difference. I haven't been sleeping as long as I should. I stay up late studying then get up at 5:30 to start the new day. All my classes are back-to-back, so I don't have a break between them, but once I get a break I'm done for the day. 

There is an awful lot of information coming at me really fast. I have always been a thinker, so the brain work isn't too different. I just haven't had to think this big and this fast in a while. Hopefully I'll get into the swing of it and it won't seem quite so, I dunno, intense. 

All but two of my classes are freshman level courses, and sure enough there are a lot of freshmen around. 18-19 year olds are stoopid, irritating, thoughtless, clueless, and really try my patience. I smile and shut up mostly. I met a woman who is in a situation similar to mine. She's in her 40s, has 4 kids (teens in high school and a couple of 20 somethings out of the house), is getting a degree in psych and minoring in business for a mid-life career change. We were both extremely happy to see each other in the two classes we share. 

I have yet to finish the first chapters in two of my textbooks. I start them, read about halfway through, then either fall asleep or get pulled away to something else. I've glanced over the rest, and looked over the power point slides for one of them. But I have tests and stuff next week. I plan to get through the chapters this weekend, to read and understand the whole thing. 

I am exploring the campus. I wandered all over the student center building the other day and discovered a secret hallway. Well, it's really not all that secret, but it isn't obvious. Many of the student support services have offices there. This is a stretch for me. I'm great at driving down different roads to see what's there. But to walk around and chance a personal encounter with another human being is more bravado than I usually muster. The biggie was going into the cafeteria. It is big and strange and full of people. There are social expectations, those unwritten codes of behavior that if violated make you look like a dweeb. 

It's a fancy modern cafeteria, with different stations for different types of food. There are no trays and no tray runways. It works a lot like a buffet restaurant, actually. Diners get a plate and use tongs to pick up various food stuffs. There are a few places where a cafeteria lady dishes out portions. I suspect they do that to keep the boys from scarfing all the more expensive food. There's a salad bar, an area with the main entree and side dishes du jour, a pizza station, a sandwich station, a deli type area. (I think that's what it is. I haven't been to that one yet. There is also a dessert station and an array of cereal dispensers. Cheerios, frosted mini wheats, raisin bran, chocolate rice crispies, sugar coated puffed wheat, and a few others. I think there are 8 different cereals. 

There are a couple of drink stations. It's a Pepsi campus! Pepsi is my favorite, and around here there are lots of Coke-only establishments. The drink stations offer soda and juice, healthy or flavored fizzy sugar water. And milk. Coffee too.  Of the cookies I've sampled I like the oatmeal raisin the best. Those cookies are fantastic dipped in the coffee! I saw a soft serve ice cream dispenser, but haven't had any of that yet. The food is excellent, the facility is comfortable and welcoming. If you are looking for a good school based on the quality of the dining facilities, I recommend Lander. 

The thing I miss the most is visiting your blogs. I haven't had time to post or read much of anything. I barely keep up with my email. Hopefully I'll establish a routine of study and home obligations that allows me to slip in a bit more blog time as well. 

That's all my brain will reveal right now. If I could post on the go I'd have shared all sorts of little snippets of insight or interesting tidbits that crossed my mind during the week. Unfortunately I didn't write them down and now can't remember much. 

Meanwhile, back in Javaland...

I couldn't resist the LOLcats. 

(the cat is the most interesting part of this whole post. the rest is rambling drivel with much boring detail about my activities of the last couple of days. I recommend you skip it.)

I have been doing stuff since my last post. I've been thinking of you, thinking about telling you stuff. Interesting things come to me as I'm going about my day, things I want to tell you, things I think you'll appreciate. Occasionally I can remember them once I sit here to write. 

Let's start with yesterday. Friday. No, let's start with Thursday evening because that gives the background info for Friday. We'll do Thursday evening, then Friday, then go back to Thursday morning, 'cause that's the way I want to tell it. My blog, my rules. ;)

Thursday evening I went to college town to bring Light home for the weekend. Right now our vehicles are in a sad state of disrepair. Have I mentioned that the van (Big Bertha) has transmission issues? Ugh. We need to do a cost analysis to decide whether to fix her, trade her in as-is, drive her into the river, or begin living in her. Manny, my beloved F150 pick-up truck, has some issues. He always has issues. He's a very butch queen, really. Very high  maintenance. His battery has reached a state of exhaustion rendering him unable to get it up, so to speak. So there he sits, decorating our driveway. 

(Seems my ADD is running rampant today. You know, the ADD that my psychiatrist says I don't have. My brain is telling rambling stories worse than usual.) So, we are not comfortable taking either vehicle out of town. We rented a little Toyota something-or-other from our neighborhood Enterprise franchise. I picked it up around 4:00 Thursday afternoon and headed up to college town to get Light. I was so sleepy! It was tough to stay awake to make that drive. But I did, and rested a while in her dorm until she was ready to go. We got home safely, though I was still very tired. 

Light came home for the weekend to get her wisdom teeth removed. The closest oral surgeon who participates with our insurance is in Augusta, GA, an hour and a half south of here. That's the other reason we rented the little car, to drive down there and back again. We shot out of town Friday morning at 9:30-ish for her 11:15 appointment with the oral surgeon. Making good time, we got there with 15 minutes to spare. This is significant because the interstate that runs through Augusta is currently undergoing extensive renovation. Some days some exits are open, other days they are blocked. It's a crap shoot even for the folks who live around there. Augusta has never made much sense to me, navigationally. I'm usually pretty good with directions, can get around fairly well in new places. Augusta, GA, Athens, GA, and Charlotte NC are cities within a few hours driving distance that befuddle me. So I was quite proud of myself for getting to the surgeon's office in time. 

The waiting room was HOT. I survived anyway. Light is cold natured, while I am hot natured. The poor child's hands and feet are perpetually cold. I don't know how she does it. I sat in the waiting room for however long. Didn't really pay attention to the time. Eventually Light was finished, so we got in the car and came home. Poor kid was in a fog. She had her top two wisdom teeth removed. Thanksgiving of '07 she had the bottom wisdom teeth removed. Hopefully she's now finished having wisdom teeth removed. Rumor has it that she only had 4. I hope that is the case. 

And I was so sleepy on the way back to Greenwood! Did OK. Got back to town and had to take Light's prescriptions to the pharmacy. Also swung by (way out of the way) the family practice office to pick up Sproing's Ritalin prescription. He didn't have any Ritalin at school yesterday. His teacher is a saint. So I got the scripts to the pharmacy, topped off the gas tank (a Toyota Whatever-that-was has a MUCH smaller gas tank than our '00 Chevy 3500 passenger van.). Then I met Superman at the rental car place. I returned the car less than 24 hours after I picked it up, so incurred the one day rental charge instead of the two day. We planned it out carefully, and I'm so glad it went as planned. That's a good day. 

Came back home, crawled into my bed beside Light who was sleeping under a pile of quilts on her Daddy's side of the bed, and we both napped. I was so tired! She was so sore and sick! Poor kid had the upset stomach reaction to the knock-out juice they gave her. She also swallowed a lot of blood from the incisions in her gums. Blood typically doesn't sit well on the stomach. She had a fit of vomiting late last night. I felt so bad for her, but unfortunately there wasn't really anything I could do but sympathize. She went to bed around 1:00 and I think she slept through til morning. She feels much better today, though is taking her Percocet. Perhaps that's why she feels better.

Now, back to Thursday morning. That's when Lander scheduled the New and Transfer Student Orientation. I got the flyer, which said something about talking to your advisor (did that already), registering for classes (did that already), taking a tour of campus (did that already), and getting your parking pass and ID. I hadn't done the latter, but figured I'd do that while everyone else was in the orientation meeting so I would miss the long lines. I'm smart. I think I made a good choice skipping orientation. Indeed I was finally able to get my ID and parking pass. The bureaucratic requirements holding things up were fulfilled somehow. I think it was magic, or perhaps a fairy godmother. I did something, followed some vague directions sent to me in an email from some lady in financial aid. I didn't understand it exactly, though I think it had to do with officially accepting my financial aid package, which I know I already did. Perhaps something changed with the package. Seems they've given me even more money to work with. Not necessarily a good thing, as it's all student loan and I have to pay it back. Really I'd much rather have free money that I don't have to give back. Wouldn't you?

I mentioned that I've been tired. Did I tell you I saw the doctor a couple of weeks ago? I asked him to check my hemoglobin. I suspect low iron. The doctor jumped on that suggestion and ordered a complete blood work up. Well this week I received the results of the blood tests. No, I'm not pregnant. (did I frighten you?) But my iron levels are indeed low. He has prescribed an iron supplement, once a day every day, and he wants to check my iron level again in 8 weeks. My cholesterol numbers are beautiful despite my diet and lifestyle. Good genes, you know. My blood sugar, however, is slightly elevated. He prescribes a weight loss diet and moderate exercise, of course. He prescribes that nearly every time I see him. I am taking the iron tablets, and I only had candy bars for a meal twice this week. *sigh*

Classes begin Monday. I have an 8:00 class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That was the only unit of that course still open when I registered. My first class on Tuesdays and Thursdays begins at 9:30. I wish I had bought my books this week, but I didn't have the chance. I can get a book voucher from financial aid to pay for my books. That will charge the books to my loan. The loan details didn't get cleared up until Thursday, and I had all the other business with Light and her teeth of wisdom to handle Thursday afternoon and Friday. I will investigate the matter of procuring my textbooks Monday afternoon when my classes are over.  

The college adventure begins: Prequel

I registered for classes Monday. I hoped to avoid the basic general education classes, but we determined that I really need English 102.  

Writing and Inquiry II: Students write in response to diverse texts, refining their abilities to analyze, interpret, synthesize, and evaluate ideas with an emphasis on research, and MLA style documentation.

I last took a composition/research writing course a quarter of a century ago. Things have changed a bit since then. I was never taught how to cite information from the internet, as it didn't exist for the general public way back then. (I think Al Gore was still beta testing it with the military)

On the advice of my therapist I am retaking Psychology 101. She suggested I should start with a refresher, and I'll see if they've come up with anything new since last time I was in college. I suspect they have.  I also registered for a couple of upper level psych courses. 

After registering for all that junque I still needed another 3 credit hour course. I was tired by then, so I chose Sociology 101. My first degree is in Sociology, and I'm still very much interested in the field. I'm going to see what they're teaching young sociologists these days. 

The other stuff I really want to take either has English 102 as a prerequisite or the classes are already full. Coming in as a new student, I got last priority in registration. Eh. 

I will need to take two semesters of a foreign language. That was recommended but not required when I got my first degree, and I passed on that opportunity. Now, however, it is required. Lander U offers French and Spanish. I can also take Spanish at the local tech college, the credits transfer beautifully. Or I can take one semester of Spanish and one semester of French, that way I can be confused in two more languages and still not know what the hell I'm doing. At any rate, my schedule is full for this term, so I don't have to make that decision quite yet. 

There is some red tape to cut through in order for my financial aid to apply. Something about a transcript review form. I filled one out and turned it in before Christmas, but alas, they have lost it. It goes from admissions to financial aid. Financial aid doesn't have it, and admissions doesn't know where it is, though they have done the review of my transcript. Financial aid can't process my loan money until they have that paper. I just filled out another one. Five simple lines of info, two of which were my name (signed and printed). Sheesh. But admissions must put their scribble on it and send it to financial aid before they'll admit that I can pay my tuition. For some odd reason the school won't give me my official identification badge until they know they'll get my tuition money. Go figure. 

Classes begin Monday. Tomorrow morning is the official transfer student orientation, though I've done almost everything that the orientation is designed to accomplish. I'll probably go. After all I do need to get my ID made and buy my parking pass. Tried to do that today, but [see previous paragraph]. I'm interested to see if there are any other non-traditional students such as myself coming into the school this semester. 

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures [sic] as Java returns to college to gain a little knowledge.

Gonna go to college to gain a little knowledge

I got an email message Friday from the assistant director of admissions at Lander University. In part it said

I’ve verified that we have received your Mercer University transcript, which indicates that you have earned a Bachelors Degree in Sociology.  Based on that alone, I was able to admit you this evening. 

In Saturday's mail I received an official letter informing me that I have been accepted for the Spring 2009 semester. There are a few loose ends to tie up, then I'll be able to pre-register for classes when pre-registration opens in a couple of weeks. 

I had no doubt I'd be accepted. I've been kinda cool about the whole thing, though. I was pleased when I got the email Friday, and again very satisfied to get the official letter. But as the idea has been percolating over the weekend I am getting more excited. I'm going back to college! This has been a dream of mine for, well, over 20 years, since I graduated the first time back in '86.

I DID IT!

[Java],
Congratulations! Your application has been received and processed. We're excited about your interest in earning a second degree at Lander University. You are welcome to log back in and keep tabs on the status of your application anytime.

Please have your college transcripts from any and all previous colleges sent to Lander.

Randomness

Why isn't frightening spelled like lightning?

Giraffes are my favorite wild animal, elephants being a close second. I'm also rather fond of the large land tortoises.






Sometimes I think I'm too sensitive for my own good. When my friends grieve, I grieve.


We've had a couple of days of rain. The rest of the Fay system seems to be slowly passing over us. The rain is good, we desperately need it. Humidity is high, the days are damp and heavy. It feels very tropical. Temperatures are a good 10 degrees lower than they have been, with highs in the mid 80s and little or no sun. Except for the humidity, it would be almost comfortable.

But my indicator tells me summer is not over. The water coming from the cold water tap is still tepid, not cold. This is yet another thing I don't like about The South.

No, I still haven't applied to Lander U. for spring semester.



This evening I watched The Women for the first time. I can certainly understand why it is a gay classic! If ever you want a lesson on how to be a catty bitch, this movie will show you how.



Superman has another case of shingles. By that I don't mean he has a box of roofing material. Have I mentioned his shingles episodes before? The poor dear has been suffering shingles outbreaks for years now, usually when he is under stress and over tired. This time it is manifesting as pain along his right side from just above the knee to the armpit. It hurts to touch it. It hurts to not touch, it, too. He saw the doctor today and got a prescription for Valtrex. He gets so tired when he has a shingles episode. I think the pain wears him out.


I had another chance to feel old today. I was waiting at the pharmacy for a prescription to be filled. As I sat in their uncomfortable chair a fairly sexy bear came in to pick up his meds. He wore baggy cargo shorts and an unremarkable t-shirt. He didn't seem particularly tall, but wasn't short. He was packing a few extra pounds, not much, enough to make him snuggly. He had a scruffy beard that looked like the work of maybe 3 weeks growth, and it was shaped to cover much of his face. He had a small tat in the center of his left calf. I thought he might be in his early to mid 30s. When the pharmacy cashier pulled his meds, she asked him for his birthdate. He answered (number/number)1980.


1980 is the year I graduated high school. 1980 was two years before I met Superman. 1980 was 28 years ago, which seems like a long time. But in 1980 I was 18 years old, certainly old enough to procreate. This young man standing at the pharmacy counter was young enough to be my son. He looked way too old to be my son!


Yesterday would have been my Grandmama's 102nd birthday. She has been dead for about 11 or 12 years now. I miss the old girl.


That is all. Thank you.

A rant against the quality of education in South Carolina

I have begun the process of applying to our local university. The admissions office sent me an email encouraging me to activate my personal admissions information page. I followed along, clicked links, etc. At one point I was prompted to chose the category that best applied to my situation. There wasn't one specifically for tired old ladies who want to add intellectual challenge and a change of direction to their lives, so this one was the next best thing.
Read carefully.

Transfer Interest Page
You have been studying at another college/university (possibly multiple colleges/universities). You are now interested in pursuing a degree at Lander University. Note: You don't want to loose the time investment at your other institution(s), so don't forget to discuss your credit history with a counselor.

Notice the word I have emphasized. I could be at loose ends, I could loose the chains that bind me, I might even be loosely associated with organized crime. But I don't think I have the power to loose time.
I have been accused of being too picky, being a grammar snob on occasion. It's a family thing. We all do it. I will admit that my spelling isn't always accurate. I try not to be too picky about things like this where it really doesn't matter. But please. This is on the website of a university within the state-wide university system. I expect more from them, even if it is South Carolina. How are we going to improve our reputation if we don't set higher standards of accuracy and good grammar especially within our institutions of higher learning?

Right now my situation has me living here. I'd rather not live in this city, in this state, but for now it is what it is. I strongly desire to go back to school. Lander U is conveniently located. But if I had my druthers, I would rather not matriculate at Lander University.