Dizzy Land

I went to Disneyland on Saturday with my friend. We've made a pact that we are going to go once a month in order to not waste our passes, and we're really keeping to it. Disneyland is a great place for people watching and eating unhealthy food without feeling guilty. It was just so dang hot...my fringe was plastered to my forehead and I now have spots like a teenager due to the heat. Two little girls on two separate rides mistook me for their mother and tried to hold my hand and snuggle up, only to look up confused because I clearly am not their mother.

I never watch the fireworks show any more, but we heard that Dumbo now flies over the castle, so we camped out and got a good seat and some ice cream and waited for the show to start. It was totally worth it.

But when do I sleep?

I was complaining to my co-worker today as we were on our way to buy coffee (from Not Starbucks) that I haven't been to the gym all week, and what if I get really, really fat this semester? Like, forklifts to take me out of my house after I expire from the weight of my own chest pushing down on me fat? The only time I could go to the gym is at 9:30 at night, or 5:30 in the morning. She gave me a really unsympathetic look and said, "Well, then that's what youv'e gotta do."

I think she was just jonesing for caffeine.

So, okay, I decided to go after class tonight, and I just checked the schedule. I don't get out tonight until 9:50, and that's just too late to go to the gym. It's too late to get home. But, at least next week I'll be prepared to go straight from class to the gym without stopping at home or collecting $200.00. Maybe I'll even go to the gym this weekend. On Saturday, I'm taking my geriatric guinea pigs to the vet for a check-up. You just haven't been glared at until you've been glared at by a guinea pig with a thermometer up its derrier.

So, how was it?

All one of you are probably riveted by what my first day of college this semester was like. Well, the good news is that I actually found my class pretty easily (it helps to remember that the numbering system is wonky and that there is no actual "front" to the building), and that I'm doing okay with math so far. I mean, it's only been one day, but yeah. I took notes and paid attention and did all that stuff that I never did in high school like taking notes and paying attention. It helps when you actually get diagnosed with ADD and get medicine for it, rather than being told that you're just a daydreamer who needs to buck up and apply herself. Thanks, California School System!

There were a couple of couples where one member of the couple had gotten into the class, and the other half was attempting to get in too. Clearly, being in the same class as your SO is the biggest requirement for college classes. At first I was snarking on them in my head, because seriously? And then one of the girls told me how cute my shoes are (and they are-purple ballet flats with little ruffles and a bow. Twee!), so I decided that she couldn't be that bad. She had a bird on her bag, too, so we might be kindred spirits.

There was some other chick standing next to me while we waited for the previous class to let out, and she was complaining to some other chick about how they see peeps from HS, but no one acknowledges them, and that just sucks. How hard is it to say hi? Naturally, Complainer didn't say hi to anyone, either, so maybe, just maybe they thought she was being unfriendly, too. But that's just a theory I have.

Today is my niece's birthday. She's five, and she's beautiful and she's smart and she keeps getting in trouble at school for talking too much. I love her to death and all I want to do is give her a big hug and kiss and a sparkley My Little Pony. Happy birthday, Baby Bear!

First Day of School, Last Day of Freedom (fair trade)

I used to dread the first day of school. This will come as a huge shock, I'm sure, but like most people on the interwebs, I was not incredibly popular. This was due in part to my own personality, I'm sure. When you're superior to the rest of the world, it really is difficult to get along, but I won't absolve my classmates, either.

Anyway, who cares about them? I'm sure they're all living happy lives now, but I'm...um...on an adventure! Yeah! Adventure. And stuff.

And let's face it; the first day of college is hella more fun than the first day of high school. For one thing, you know that 75% of the people in your class won't be there by the end of the semester, and out of that 75%, probably 85% of them are those complete hose bags that you hated in high school, so laugh at them as they ruin any chance of transferring to a reputable university. The other 15% probably had a horrible thing happen to them, like cut funding, illness, or death in the family.

The first day also gives you this mad confusion, as though you had never been on that campus, or any campus before (or maybe I'm just projecting onto you).

The first day is fun. Everyone wants to know if you're in their class. "Pre-calculus? Are you going to pre-calculus?" "What about pre-trig? Anyone?" We all want someone else to look for the classroom with. "Please tell me you're trying to find Chemistry 2!"

Misery loves company, and the maths building goes from 101-110 on one wall of classrooms, and then 135-145 on the next wall. Don't tell me the administrators dind't have fun with that design. If you're looking for 125, it's on the back wall, right after 146-150. I'll be three floors above you.

175 bucks. Dude.

I went to pick up my books tonight. I already had a rough day, I had to have a few growths removed at a dermatologist, and then one of my fillings was coming out, so I had to get it fixed, and then I picked up my books for 175 smackers. How many books do you get for 175 dollars? You get two. Two books.

Yeah, I know. It's all worth it, blah blah. Whatever. That's a lot of money. And you're only eligible for student aid if you're full-time, so it all came out of my pocket, and thank God I can afford it. Still, it hurt.

Oh well. My niece's birthday is next week. How's that for a jarring change of subject? Anyway, point being that I would drop five times that amount on her if she needed it, so I should be happy to spend it on myself.

Doubt

I had one of those moments last night, when I was discussing my classes with my mom. I saw the future ahead of me, and I wondered if I could really do it. If I could follow through and actually, you know, go to college at the age of thirty, competing against teenagers for the college that I want to go to, and then competing against younger people for the job that I want. It's scary. What if I have a degree and never do anything with it? What if it's all for nothing?

I haven't really gotten past that. I'd like to say that even if it's all for nothing, it's the fact that I'm doing it that counts. But that's not true. I have an idea of what I want my future to be. I want to make it to that!

I don't believe in time

Last year, I had two classes like I do this year. However, last year I went two mornings and one evening. I had to work extra hours to make up for the morning classes, and that was hard, but I've got to say that it was nice to have most evenings free. I had time to do homework, time to go to the gym and eat healthy, homemade dinners. I'm so worried that Christmas will find me ten pounds overweight, and so full of fat that my red blood cells will be apologizing to each other as they try to squeeze through my veins.

I honestly don't know how single parents, and parents in general manage to go to school and work with kids. There always seems to be a single mother in at least one of my classes. I really admire these people, but at the same time I'm sort of thankful that I don't have those burdens. I know that I suck for thinking that, but sheesh. Thank God I don't have kids. There's just no way I could do this. Kudos to you, single mothers.

Anyway, I'm picking up my books on Wednesday, and I'm going to check on where my classes are. I also really need a tutor for my math class. Know any single, straight, hot guys that know their way around a graphing calculator?

Yeah, I don't either. :-/

Why am I here?

Like many people, I have decided to start a blog. Just one voice, crying out amongst several million. I don't really expect to have any readers, but I'm hoping that if just one person decides to go to college after they have finished their 20's, that they'll see they're not the only one.

I'm not going "back" to college; I've never been to college in the first place. I am a humble civil servant who is fed up with their job and ready to move on to something else. That something else is a bachelor's degree in zoology. I'm currently attending a community college with hopes of transferring into a university. Now that I'm sort of too invested in my dream to give it all up, though, the economy has gone "Boom." However, I'm only taking two classes a semester, so hopefully by the time I can transfer to a university, the economy will be better. I guess it doesn't make much of a difference, but universities and colleges are the victims of massive cutbacks, and they're starting to get choosy about who they let in. I'm a straight "A" student at the moment, but what if the university of my choice doesn't want to take a chance on a 30-year-old?