Sweet Catastrophe

I think I’m experiencing my quarter-life crisis at the moment. I find myself questioning everything– mainly school and my job, and I just don’t know what I’m doing or what I want to be doing. I know something has to change, but I have no clue what, so I’m just looking at options all over the place, trying to find something that speaks to me, something that feels right. I’ve started looking into online degree programs to see if that’s a route I might like to take. Of course there’s a lot of them to weed through and you really have to dig to find the ones that are genuinely worth it.

I was recently pointed toward Western Governor’s University (WGU) which is a non-profit online university– this means tuition is low, and is a sure sign that it’s about the education and not about getting your money. So far I’m thinking it’s a perfect example of what I’m looking for.

WGU was founded by the governors of 19 U.S. States who sought to make an education available that was cost effective, easily accessible, and competency-based– meaning you’re earning a degree based on skills, knowledge and experience, not how much time you spent sitting in a classroom. This also means you can potentially finish a degree more quickly because you can take assessments as soon as you’re ready– similar to CLEP which is taking a test to earn credit for a course when you already know the material. And WGU is nationally, regionally, and NCATE accredited– the only exclusively online university that can make that claim.

Tuition is a flat rate per 6-month term, at rates easily comparable to the school I’m already attending, and much lower than most. And WGU is approved by the U.S. Department of Education to offer federal financial aid– which means Pell Grants, loans scholarships are available.

WGU believes in fitting an education into your life, not the other way around, so not only do you have the flexibility any online course would offer, but WGU 6-month terms can be started any month you choose.

I’m seriously looking at their College of Information Technology, but again, I’ve got to figure out what it is I, realistically, want to do….

I’ve been slacking on school work  lately. It’s just all been tedious work that I already know how to do and I just haven’t been motivated to actually do it, ya know? I can only ‘practice’ shading in a text box and editing character spacing so much. And right now one of my classes is going over the exact same step-by-step lessons in the same book as what we did in the intro course that’s required as a prerequisite to this one. I don’t understand that at all! If I didn’t clean off my jump drive every semester I’d have all these files already.

Anyway, so I had some work I was supposed to turn in by midnight last Thursday (Tues/Thurs class) and just couldn’t force myself to finish it, and some work I was supposed to turn in tonight that I decided not to do….just because lol. Overall there wouldn’t have been any truly negative impact to my grade. The homework assignments don’t count much for either class.

But what have I been doing for the last 3+ hours? I finished my homework for tonight and then did both of my missed assignments. Dunno why–I mean, I don’t even know if I can get credit for the late ones, but they’re done. *shrug*

This new productiveness needs to filter over into some other areas…

This morning I got up around 7, got ready slowly and walked a solid mile to class. There, I learned how to show/hide file extensions, how to copy/paste, and how to identify a file path (incorrectly). I don’t know how I’m going to stay awake in a class being taught things I can already do more efficiently than the method being taught.

After that I went to the bookstore to buy a book I already own somewhere, a book we’ll be using for only two class days, and a book I once used in another class and spent more time searching on the net because it didn’t make sense.

I ran some errands, dropped off some breakfast for a friend at work, and even did some homework, all before 11am. Everyone here was still asleep.

I really wish I had been able to get the schedule I wanted to begin with. I’d have been in class from 8am-11:15, but it would have been 3 classes out of the way and I’d have actually felt like I had a reason to crawl out of bed and walk to class. Instead, I now know I’m only walking into a room to be taught things I already know and perform tasks I could do one-handed, with a blindfold on.

It’ll be even more exciting when I start having to go to work right after class o_O

Normally, the calmed streets between semesters excites me. I love it when this town just sort of chills out for a few weeks, when I can actually get to work on time.

This year, though, it’s been a reminder of everyone who’s left in the last two weeks. Everyone I hang out with regularly is gone now. It’s odd, too, being neighbors it wasn’t just hanging out, they’re kind of a daily part of my life, ya know? Or were.

It’s going to be so weird to walk out my door and not run into any of them.

We had some damn good times in the last few days they were all here. Drunken Lego Star Wars certainly wins in my book.

I kidnapped some mementos from Apt 3. Andy Wood, I have your old wine glass– Jack Skellington belongs to me now :-P

Took some leftover junk too, tons of cleaning supplies, area rugs, chairs, JR’s old desktop, just random stuff. The Meeting St sign hangs over the door now… I don’t even know where that came from. And I forgot to ask about Ruben.

Another year down. Time for everything to change again.

Holy wow the economy sucks right now! I took this semester off so I could take more hours at work to take care of a chunk of my dental bills when I take care of this cavity and have my wisdom teeth removed…but I’ve been thinking about how many people might be missing out on a degree because they have to work enough just to keep their heads above water. I mean, with financial aid, you can generally find a way to actually pay for school, but that doesn’t solve the problem of having enough hours in the day to go to classes and go to work.

So I’ve been thinking about classes online and how much more sense they’re starting to make because now, more than ever, it’s so important to be able to get the education you want without it interfering with your ability to pay your bills.

It’s not limited to basic degrees either– for instance, I have friends getting ready to graduate who might be interested in Saint Xavier University’s MS nursing program. Over 3,500 graduates have found their way into key positions with the help of their online program, including a weekend of applied campus experience.

I honestly never considered the possibility of getting a Master’s through online courses. But how can you argue with the ability to get your degree on your time and still be able to pay all your bills?

Why, why, why can’t people on this campus seem to remember to keep right?! It’s just common courtesy people! If you keep right, you won’t run into folks!

Where were you in, oh I dunno– ALL of elementary school? I’m gonna start moving peoples’ apples and putting them in corners for almost running me over. I’m glad you’re in a hurry to get to your next class, but so are the rest of us! Running head-on into me is only going to slow you down– I promise!

Today, someone almost killed me by trying to speed past everyone coming down the stairs. Hey jackass, guess what everyone else on the staircase was walking to the right– because there were other people coming UP the stairs on the other side! Of course he wasn’t even looking where he was going and all but slammed into me after I stopped to wait for him to move over! The school’s gonna have to look into key man insurance to cover themselves when a professor gets knocked backwards down those stairs. We’ve got some pretty rough staircases around campus.

Please, please stay the eff to the right or at least watch where you’re going!

Uncharacteristically, my first teacher this morning let us out early. I think he was really thrown off when he got to class and realized he was thinking we were a week ahead of where we actually are. We’re not behind or anything, he was just thinking of what we’re supposed to be doing next Thursday, not today.

As great as that would normally be, today it’s a little lame. Now I’ve got all this time to kill before my next class….a class I’ve already done all the work for. I’m ahead in that one, so today I really just need to make an appearance and stick around until she finishes ‘teaching’ us how to do some of the documents I already did.

I’m ahead in two of my classes right now, which feels really good. In the other two, I’m really just right on target. I should probably jump into my reading a little more in Lit though. We’ve got a quiz Friday and there’s really no telling how that’ll go.

Dr. Davey keeps it as interesting as I think he possibly can, but we’re still sort of introducing and defining what “American” literature is so we’re in these older texts that aren’t all so easy to read or all so terribly interesting. Judging by the syllabus we should be on to more interesting things in about another week. Then we’ll be hitting things like Poe, and The Great Gatsby. I can hang with that a little easier.

Surprisingly, I’ve already sort of gotten into a groove for classes. It’ll probably take another week or so before it really feels natural, but at least I don’t feel completely spaced out.

I’ve still got to figure out how to work out breakfast on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s just hard to get up early enough. I already have to leave here 20 minutes before any other classes because of how far I have to walk. I need to find out how my first professor feels about munching in class. Now that I know it’s not in a computer lab I may be able to get away with breakfast bars or something. I need to locate the toilets in the Education Center as well. I’m there for almost 4 hours so that’s definitely gonna become a need pretty soon.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my longest days, but they work out okay because I get my bad class out of the way first thing. The rest are probably as enjoyable as a class can be.

MWF I only have one class so I can roll out of bed for that one and by the time I’m truly awake, class is over and it’s time to go home for lunch.

As long as work doesn’t get too rough, I think I’ll survive this semester well enough. We’ll see though. Half challenging classes and half brainless ones. Not exactly the ratio I’d prefer, but it’ll have to do.

So this semester I have ACED 4050– Office Management. ACED courses are my computer classes. Whereas this wasn’t a class on the ‘want’ list, it was on the list of classes I wouldn’t mind taking to fill credits.

I’ve also got English 3010– Writing For Business. This is just an overview of proper grammar as well as formats and etiquette in all forms of written business communication. I did everything I could to be moved into the online version of this course, knowing it would be easy, but boring and hard to sit through.

Oh how flipped I had things. It turns out this ACED course is actually a lecture course—and not a good one. It’s boring, and vague….I mean, we’ve already got a paper due on Tuesday with incredibly unclear instructions. I can tell this will be one of those classes that shouldn’t be hard, but will be because it’s hard to understand where the instructor is trying to go. Bring on the stress acne. Ugh and at 9:30 in the morning– in the building I have to walk a mile to get to.

The writing course, on the other hand, is in a computer lab. We had a quiz over the syllabus for bonus points. We sent out an email for our first grade and then we left….like 45 minutes early. He’s a great teacher who knows how basic the subject is and just gets through it, no overworking things.

I’ve heard that the online instructor is actually pretty tough and has already sent out something like 8 full assignments. I got really lucky there, it seems.

Today I uncovered my first lesson for the semester—It’s Hot.

It’s funny how quickly you can forget that you’re in the sweaty ass crack of Georgia. Just because it’s Fall semester, doesn’t mean we actually get the Fall season here.

We trudge along 4 miles to class because construction is screwing up all the bus routes/stops, escaping through our ipods (at least I am–it keeps me sane), reminding ourselves that there’s no point in getting up an hour early to shower because you’ll just need another one when you get back.

Of course, my Lit class on MWF just happens to be in one of the more cramped, humid rooms of West Hall. Thank God it’s one of my likable teachers lest I fall into some sort of heat coma.