So, re-living my frustration with Mr. Math reminded me of something that happened before I started my last semester. I meant to write about this over the holiday, but I was having too much fun being out of school AND work.
I went in for my initial advising appointment. The lady was great, incredibly supportive and got me going with my GI benefits as well as giving me a copy of the course book that I somehow wasn't supposed to have. I go back to the advising office and meet with a lady that was about as personable as a 2 x 4. I told her I was having a hard time deciding what classes to start with and I could use some help.
Lady: "When during the day would you like to take classes?"
Me: "Evenings, I work during the day."
Lady: "How many hours a week do you work?"
Me: "Full time. Forty hours."
Lady: "How many semester hours are you wanting to take?"
Me: "Full time. Twelve hours."
Lady: "It's not going to work. People who think they can do that wind up not doing well."
Me: "...Great. Can we sign me up for classes?"
Had I said what I wanted to at that very moment, it wouldn't have been very nice. I'm not your typical student at this school. I'm not eighteen trying to save a few bucks on tuition and working my way through school. I'm old enough to manage my time wisely and get through school. I'm not out partying, or anything like that. Pretty sure I'm a grown up. She should change careers because after meeting me for ten minutes and figuring out what I'm capable of and weather or not I'm going to succeed at this thing is an amazing talent. I feel like her time is being wasted in the advising office of this little college.
And on her remark about people can't do it? My dad, my wife, several coworkers, my cousin and many MANY other people I know have pulled off the working/school thing. In your face.
I mentioned this to the veteran's advisor on campus between semesters when I went to check out things for this semester. I brought it up and she looked on her computer to see who I spoke with. This lady is super cool:
"Well, I'm sorry this happened. She should not have made this assumption about you. That situation she described does happen a lot with our younger students, but my veterans have a great success rate with similar situations to what you're going through. I'll bring it up to her directly, and at our next meeting that we do not need to lump people in as a whole, and we do need to take people on a case by case basis to ensure that we can accommodate them. I'm just glad that you didn't take her advice, and that you proved her wrong with your grades this semester. Keep up the good work."
That made me feel much better about that whole situation. I haven't seen that particular adviser again. I hope I don't. I might not be very polite...
Showing posts with label Life Happens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life Happens. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Let's see what else I can have in one month..
So, it's been a while. Here's what's up.
It's the start of a new month and the semester is winding down. Naturally, that means I have EVERYTHING possible going on as far as school. Here's what I've got:
Today is Nov. 6.
Test in Geography- Nov. 12
Test in Government- Nov. 13
Major paper due on Hamlet in English- Nov. 14
Book report due in Geography- Nov. 19
Final concert report due in Music- Nov. 29
Yeah, that's what I've got going on. Next week with the two tests and the paper is going to be killer. I've got off tonight because it's election day and Dr. Government has decided to throw a party at his house instead of teaching class, so, I'll be studying and possibly writing that Hamlet paper.
On top of all that, I have a wedding to attend next weekend, company in town THIS weekend and well, work. I knew this was going to be like this for the next few years. I can handle it... I can handle it...
As far as dumb stuff happening in class, nothing really major has happened since I last posted, and I'm quite surprised. I guess all of the idiots have dropped. It's about that time where you can drop a class and not get penalized for it. I think it's this week, actually. Hopefully the herd thins out and the dumber ones get lost.
I'll be sure to post again when I can. I really didn't think it would get to the point where I would be this busy, but hey, this stuff happens!
It's the start of a new month and the semester is winding down. Naturally, that means I have EVERYTHING possible going on as far as school. Here's what I've got:
Today is Nov. 6.
Test in Geography- Nov. 12
Test in Government- Nov. 13
Major paper due on Hamlet in English- Nov. 14
Book report due in Geography- Nov. 19
Final concert report due in Music- Nov. 29
Yeah, that's what I've got going on. Next week with the two tests and the paper is going to be killer. I've got off tonight because it's election day and Dr. Government has decided to throw a party at his house instead of teaching class, so, I'll be studying and possibly writing that Hamlet paper.
On top of all that, I have a wedding to attend next weekend, company in town THIS weekend and well, work. I knew this was going to be like this for the next few years. I can handle it... I can handle it...
As far as dumb stuff happening in class, nothing really major has happened since I last posted, and I'm quite surprised. I guess all of the idiots have dropped. It's about that time where you can drop a class and not get penalized for it. I think it's this week, actually. Hopefully the herd thins out and the dumber ones get lost.
I'll be sure to post again when I can. I really didn't think it would get to the point where I would be this busy, but hey, this stuff happens!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Da Bomb
So, everything is pretty much status quo. Nothing out of the ordinary over the past week and a half or so since I've been on here. Dr. Government is still crazy. All the damn kids in my classes are still damn kids. I haven't had any grades come back since that last Geography test that I totally kicked in the balls. I did have that Hamlet paper to turn in, but it didn't quite get ALL THE WAY turned in... and here's what this blog post is about...
So, Mr. English has this thing, where he sends a text message to a someone, and then his whole class gets a text from him. I guess that's for his own liability purposes or something, so that people can't say he's texting them directly or something like that... anyway.
Usually his texts consist of something like "Expect a quiz on your reading tomorrow." or "Don't forget to turn in your papers online." Yesterday, I received a message saying "Bomb threat at campus. Please stay away from school until further notice. Class is cancelled unless you hear otherwise from me."
Wow, really? Who calls in a bomb threat to a community college in this freaking part of town? What's more disturbing is that there have been a rash of these going on in Texas for some reason. UT, A&M, TSU, Sam Houston State, and now my little college. What the hell, man? I mean, it was probably an empty threat, but at the same time, we cannot afford to take this lightly. Because even if it's bullshit 90% of the time, there's still that 10% where people get hurt. Gnomesayin?
My thoughts on that are this: Someone had a test, or an assignment due that they weren't ready for and had to buy themselves some time. So, what's a student to do? Stay up late? Not watch TV or play video games? Not go hang out with your idiot friends? Of course not, I'll just call in a bomb threat! Brilliant!
Look, I mean I'm not one to say I wasn't there at one point in time. My first attempt at a post high school education, I blew it big time. I probably had a similar mindset as a lot of these other people, but dammit... DO YOUR WORK. I stayed up late the night before this paper was due and got my stuff handled. It sucked and I was tired the next day, but hey, it's worth it. And you aren't just screwing over the people in your class, but the WHOLE CAMPUS.
So, my paper is turned in online to the anti-plagiarism website, and I need to bring a hard copy with me next week when I go to class. It really irritates me that this happened, we have a test that he was supposed to prepare us for, and I'm wondering how that's going to play out now. I'll just have to start studying all of Hamlet. Balls.
On the plus side, I did get to stay home, relax and spend time with my family last night. It was kinda nice. It reminded me of, well, not being in school. It'll be nice when this is all over with and I don't have to spend twelve hours away from them almost every day.
So, Mr. English has this thing, where he sends a text message to a someone, and then his whole class gets a text from him. I guess that's for his own liability purposes or something, so that people can't say he's texting them directly or something like that... anyway.
Usually his texts consist of something like "Expect a quiz on your reading tomorrow." or "Don't forget to turn in your papers online." Yesterday, I received a message saying "Bomb threat at campus. Please stay away from school until further notice. Class is cancelled unless you hear otherwise from me."
Wow, really? Who calls in a bomb threat to a community college in this freaking part of town? What's more disturbing is that there have been a rash of these going on in Texas for some reason. UT, A&M, TSU, Sam Houston State, and now my little college. What the hell, man? I mean, it was probably an empty threat, but at the same time, we cannot afford to take this lightly. Because even if it's bullshit 90% of the time, there's still that 10% where people get hurt. Gnomesayin?
My thoughts on that are this: Someone had a test, or an assignment due that they weren't ready for and had to buy themselves some time. So, what's a student to do? Stay up late? Not watch TV or play video games? Not go hang out with your idiot friends? Of course not, I'll just call in a bomb threat! Brilliant!
Look, I mean I'm not one to say I wasn't there at one point in time. My first attempt at a post high school education, I blew it big time. I probably had a similar mindset as a lot of these other people, but dammit... DO YOUR WORK. I stayed up late the night before this paper was due and got my stuff handled. It sucked and I was tired the next day, but hey, it's worth it. And you aren't just screwing over the people in your class, but the WHOLE CAMPUS.
So, my paper is turned in online to the anti-plagiarism website, and I need to bring a hard copy with me next week when I go to class. It really irritates me that this happened, we have a test that he was supposed to prepare us for, and I'm wondering how that's going to play out now. I'll just have to start studying all of Hamlet. Balls.
On the plus side, I did get to stay home, relax and spend time with my family last night. It was kinda nice. It reminded me of, well, not being in school. It'll be nice when this is all over with and I don't have to spend twelve hours away from them almost every day.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The New Normal
So, life is crazy sometimes. For me, right now at least, that's ALL the time. Last week and weekend was hectic so I got a bit behind. Had some crazyness at work, Saturday I had the little one all day by myself (totally don't mind, she's awesome) and I was up way early... and by that I mean I didn't really go to bed Saturday night because I was smoking a brisket for my birthday bbq. So, here's what I need to catch up on.
Read some Hamlet in class on Wednesday in English. I really hate... HATE reading Shakespeare. I understand the man was brilliant, and there is a reason we are still studying his work today. I get it. Reading his work however, is incredibly hard for me. I just can't seem to wrap my brain around what is going on. Even with the study guide and the online help that Mr. English turned the class onto, it's hard for me to really "get it". I've got a paper due on Hamlet two weeks after this class took place, so we'll see how that goes. We wound up watching what would be the first act of the play on the Mel Gibson movie version of Hamlet in class that night.
Thursday's music class was boring once again. I think we had like five people including myself? I don't know how we are still having class every week. I have a concert report due AND my "listening" journal due on the following Thursday and I need to play catch up, bigtime! Hopefully I can get this all done by this week's class. Looks like some late nights for me.
Had my test in my Geography class last night in... Geography class. We took the test, and watched a movie about Australia while he graded the test. The movie is called "Rabbit Proof Fence" if you're interested in watching the MOST DEPRESSING MOVIE EVER. Got my test back and got a 94. Same grade as last time... waiting to find out if there is a curve for this test or not. So, I'm still kicking ass in that class. That rhymed. Unintentional.
Government is tonight. I'm getting increasingly annoyed with that class, so we'll see how it goes.
Read some Hamlet in class on Wednesday in English. I really hate... HATE reading Shakespeare. I understand the man was brilliant, and there is a reason we are still studying his work today. I get it. Reading his work however, is incredibly hard for me. I just can't seem to wrap my brain around what is going on. Even with the study guide and the online help that Mr. English turned the class onto, it's hard for me to really "get it". I've got a paper due on Hamlet two weeks after this class took place, so we'll see how that goes. We wound up watching what would be the first act of the play on the Mel Gibson movie version of Hamlet in class that night.
Thursday's music class was boring once again. I think we had like five people including myself? I don't know how we are still having class every week. I have a concert report due AND my "listening" journal due on the following Thursday and I need to play catch up, bigtime! Hopefully I can get this all done by this week's class. Looks like some late nights for me.
Had my test in my Geography class last night in... Geography class. We took the test, and watched a movie about Australia while he graded the test. The movie is called "Rabbit Proof Fence" if you're interested in watching the MOST DEPRESSING MOVIE EVER. Got my test back and got a 94. Same grade as last time... waiting to find out if there is a curve for this test or not. So, I'm still kicking ass in that class. That rhymed. Unintentional.
Government is tonight. I'm getting increasingly annoyed with that class, so we'll see how it goes.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Playing Catch Up
To my dear reader (s?)
Sorry I've been lacking in posts, so here's what's been going on. When I left off, I had a paper due the following week, and two tests on the two nights before that. No big deal right, I can handle that. The plan was, to study for a few hours Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, and to write the paper a few hours each of those days. It's only a 3-5 page paper, no problem, right?
The best laid plans of mice and men....
Friday evenings I usually take the night off. After working all week and going to school for four nights previous, leaves one tired old dude at the end of the week. So, I usually take it easy. Maybe cook dinner, watch a movie with my wife, play with the baby... whatever's clever.
I come home Friday, crack open a cold beer and relax. I sit on the floor and I'm having a grand old time with the baby playing with her on her blanket. I turn to say something to my wife and turn back around and the baby is throwing up, a lot. I've never seen a baby throw up this much. She starts crying and I hand her to my wife and she gets her cleaned up and comforted while I clean up in the living room. That was sure weird.
A little while goes by, I fix some dinner and then she throws up again. And again.. and then the diarrhea starts. We have one sick baby here.
She threw up a few more times overnight, but in the morning she seemed fine. I managed to get some studying done and she was her normal happy self. Then... she started throwing up and vomiting again. After a call to the pediatrician, we were off to the ER. Turns out there had been an outbreak of Rota virus at the daycare the little one goes to. It's at the church my wife works at, and it's cleaned very well every day, but a few kids and some of the workers got really sick around the same time.
So after our fantastic trip to the ER, we come home, my wife goes to bed early and I start to clean up around the house, thinking I'm going to sit down and write some of my paper afterward. I start cleaning some dishes and then... **grumble**. Oh hell no. I've got it.
So, I spent most of my Sunday on the couch, or on the toilet (I'll spare further details) and feeling just God-awful. I called in sick the next day and studied my ASS OFF for this Geography and Government test. I got home both nights and wrote my paper, putting the final touches and turning it in online before class on Wednesday.
THE RESULTS:
96 on my Geography test.
86 on my Government test (which I thought I had failed, go me!)
C on my paper (once again I thought I had bombed) but he is allowing us to correct formatting issues (not content, just formatting) with a chance to bump up a letter grade.
Not bad, I think. I'm pleased with myself thus far. I have an A in my music class as it stands right now, so things are going quite well. I really hope I can keep up this momentum, it'll give me the confidence I need to start tackling the more difficult classes I have to take in the future.
Sorry I've been lacking in posts, so here's what's been going on. When I left off, I had a paper due the following week, and two tests on the two nights before that. No big deal right, I can handle that. The plan was, to study for a few hours Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, and to write the paper a few hours each of those days. It's only a 3-5 page paper, no problem, right?
The best laid plans of mice and men....
Friday evenings I usually take the night off. After working all week and going to school for four nights previous, leaves one tired old dude at the end of the week. So, I usually take it easy. Maybe cook dinner, watch a movie with my wife, play with the baby... whatever's clever.
I come home Friday, crack open a cold beer and relax. I sit on the floor and I'm having a grand old time with the baby playing with her on her blanket. I turn to say something to my wife and turn back around and the baby is throwing up, a lot. I've never seen a baby throw up this much. She starts crying and I hand her to my wife and she gets her cleaned up and comforted while I clean up in the living room. That was sure weird.
A little while goes by, I fix some dinner and then she throws up again. And again.. and then the diarrhea starts. We have one sick baby here.
She threw up a few more times overnight, but in the morning she seemed fine. I managed to get some studying done and she was her normal happy self. Then... she started throwing up and vomiting again. After a call to the pediatrician, we were off to the ER. Turns out there had been an outbreak of Rota virus at the daycare the little one goes to. It's at the church my wife works at, and it's cleaned very well every day, but a few kids and some of the workers got really sick around the same time.
So after our fantastic trip to the ER, we come home, my wife goes to bed early and I start to clean up around the house, thinking I'm going to sit down and write some of my paper afterward. I start cleaning some dishes and then... **grumble**. Oh hell no. I've got it.
So, I spent most of my Sunday on the couch, or on the toilet (I'll spare further details) and feeling just God-awful. I called in sick the next day and studied my ASS OFF for this Geography and Government test. I got home both nights and wrote my paper, putting the final touches and turning it in online before class on Wednesday.
THE RESULTS:
96 on my Geography test.
86 on my Government test (which I thought I had failed, go me!)
C on my paper (once again I thought I had bombed) but he is allowing us to correct formatting issues (not content, just formatting) with a chance to bump up a letter grade.
Not bad, I think. I'm pleased with myself thus far. I have an A in my music class as it stands right now, so things are going quite well. I really hope I can keep up this momentum, it'll give me the confidence I need to start tackling the more difficult classes I have to take in the future.
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