Christmasy time

It's almost the 2-month anniversary of my last post! You should probably buy me a present. And put a bow on it for the season.

November was busy. Lots of schoolwork. Lots. For the last week, I was aware that I had a lot of large papers due, but it wasn't until after the fact that I realize I was turning in a paper every few days. And then I would realize that each of these papers were 12-30 pages long. All of a sudden, I feel tired and lazy and want to sleep more.

November was also Thanksgiving, I guess? Not my favorite holiday. I'm not much for stuffing my face. I also can't appreciate beginning to prepare a meal at 8am, cooking for 7 hours, and then having it all ingested an hour later. I had to watch the nephew Torin again this year. Last year, his little brother was being born, and this year my brother has some serious jaw surgery, which required a trip to Shands in Gainesville. He started a blog about it, found here. He is recovering nicely.

December heralded the end of school for the semester. Good thing, too. I am in serious need of some no-responsibility time. Of course, when I submitted my final paper, it wasn't the end of the day before Laura wondered if I should get on putting up the lights. Nice?? Regardless, it has been nice to lose track of what day it is, and when I do forget, I remember that it doesn't matter. The only day I have to worry about is the 24Th, when I have to start hanging out with family, being merry, having a happy holidays, etc.

Of course, New Years usually follows Christmas by a week or two. We're heading to a condo for the weekend after Christmas, and coming back before the 1st. The famous Josh Simpkins will be in town, and we'll try to avoid burning anything down before work and school begins in the 4Th and 6Th. School will hopefully be much easier this spring semester. Two online courses and two face-to-face courses are scheduled. Luckily, I am anticipating that 3 of the 4 courses won't be a problem, so I can use my free time to avoid accomplishing stuff.

There! The recap from the last 2 months. Maybe there will be another posting before another 2 months go by, and may actually include something other than a step-by-step of what I've been up to.

Oh, I almost forgot. While working on my papers I discovered my new favorite font, Footlight MT Light! Yes, I have a favorite font now. I'm not sure if that goes under the "Nerd" category, or the "Geek" category, but I would take either. It's that great a font, truly.

OCTOBER! (and stuff)

So, it's October.

Yep. It's time for costumes and candy, what is perhaps the best holiday season of the year. I suppose most other people don't consider the holiday seasons starting until Thanksgiving or so, but I view Thanksgiving as just another holiday between Halloween and Christmas.

Halloween is definitely up there on my list of favorite holidays, even though calling it a holiday is similar to calling ping-pong a sport. It would definitely be #1 on my lists, except that, calendar-wise, it has a very short duration. Usually a day or two. Perhaps three, if you get lucky. Unlike Christmas which lasts from approximately Sept. 17th to January 12th, Halloween is limited to Oct. 31st, and any other weekend day nearby where people want to have costume parties. Either way, I also look forward to dressing up in costume and seeing what other people manage to put together. The time of days-long masquerade celebrations would have definitely been my cup of tea. Putting on a different persona (or at least the outfit) is something always look forward to. Of course, all of the ladies taking the opportunity to wear a costume that could be described as "costume idea + whore" is also a big plus.

It should go without saying that October is a great month because the fall season really starts to kick in, and the month also contains my birthday. Two great reasons (other than Halloween) to view October and the best month ever. Rumor has it that I'm turning 30 this year. Thirty years old! I don't really care about the number, but just what it means. I think I have to stop watching cartoons, and starting watching football games and the stock market. Also, because 30 is a big milestone, people have to get me greats gifts. That includes you, by the way!! You can't slack off just because, technically, we may have never met and I may not even know who you are. I can set up a PayPal account if necessary. Else, you could always arrange for a special surprise of some kind. Use your imagination.

Even if October wasn't special because it's the birth month of the great Chris, the weather itself gives October its own merit. The crisp air and cooler weather makes everything better. When I feel like sleeping or being lazy, wrapping up in a blanket or jacket and blobbing out is excellent. But, if I feel like actually being productive or going out-and-about, then the weather makes me feel energized. Unfortunately, in certain cases (usually while doing boring work or listening to a lecture) neither the sleepy nor energetic moods work out. Nothing like itching to just run out of work or class, or in the next moment, fighting off sleep like it's a giant, warm, woolen blanket intent on smother me with its soothing, restful presence.

By the way. Candy pumpkins? Awesome. You disagree? Fight me!!

Procrastination, peanut butter, and the end of life.

I bet if you thought hard enough you could link procrastination, peanut butter, and the end of life without too much difficulty.

Everyone procrastinates. Everyone. It's a scientifically proven fact. Yeah, it's on of those "fact" things. However, not everyone procrastinates often, or so often that it affects their lives. Around 20% of people procrastinate badly enough for it to actually be noticed. The scientists have all sorts of reasons for the nature of procrastination they just came out with. (I'm pretty sure they would have been done years ago, but they kept getting distracted by positrons orneurkinetics or some other silly thing.) Anyway, they believe that our brains were wired back in the Cave Man Era (a little while before the 60's, I think?) to think short-term, because who knew if they were going to live long-term. Food spoiled in 3 days or less, and while trying to figure out the whole food-shelter-not dying thing, our ancestors' minds were trained to think "now!"

Of course, now we all suffer for those fools! If only they used their schedules and Blackberrysefficiently enough... Now, our mind wants us to accomplish short-term needs, such as eating and sleeping, instead of long-term needs, such as writing for school work instead of writing in a blog. There are some main factors that goes into this. The big ones are the need for instant gratification (including how much time will pass before rewards are given and how bad you want the reward), a person's expectancy for succeeding, the value of the tasks, and the person's impulsiveness. Needless to say, I probably fail on most of those accounts.

Regardless, the wise-guys actually came up with an equation to determine a person's tendency to procrastinate. That is: How likely one is to delay = (one's confidence x the importance/fun of the task) / (how bad you need the reward X how easily you are distracted)

If you'll do the math, you'll see that you probably want to do something else instead of figure out numbers to plug into a formula that won't actually give you real answers.

Also, I found this psychology magazine at the drug store, hence the three long paragraphs about something that I, personally, never researched.

Peanut butter? No idea. I thought I had something about peanut butter, but don't remember what I was going to say. So, as far as peanut butter goes, it's some good stuff, and it's hard to have too much of it. Pretty sure peanut butter makes everything better.

My grandfather hasn't been doing too well lately. A usual spattering of late-age symptoms, and recently was staying in a memory health place, where the patients have a tendency to forget a lot or want to wander off easily. Each door leading to the outside has a pass code, which you must punch before you can either enter or exit the building. A tad disconcerting, but it also has a neat inner courtyard, and at least it doesn't have that overall permeating hospital-like odor.

He wasn't expected to last much longer, as his body began to shut down, and certain functions (such as digesting) stopped, so eating and most drinking stopped along with it. Luckily, most of the closer family had already gotten into town, before Granddad passed this morning (Sat, 9/19). Plans are currently in the works for the memorial service, as he will be cremated and the ashes eventually spread in the ocean. Granddad was in the Navy in WWII, and the Navy guys will be there, at least with a trumpeter, if not with the rest of the pomp and circumstance. Ceremony will be held next weekend sometime, to give the extended family time to arrive. You would think that was already the case since there was 20-something people there today, but more are on the way.

So, now I'll sum it all up for you: Procrastination is good (at times), but don't delay because some kind of end may come sooner than you think. And before whatever that is arrives, be sure you have enough peanut butter to feel satisfied. Smooth or chunky, it's all good.

McDonald's Breakast: When you know it won't be a good day.

Breakfast is the most important part of the day.

Especially for me. I grew up eating cereal and milk every morning for pretty much my entire life. Sure, there were pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, etc., every now and then on a weekend, and the breakfast's out in various restaurants, but other than that, cereal all the way. This of course ingrained a strong sense of urgency in making sure that there was adequate milk and cereal of some kinda at all times. Nothing quite like waking up, getting ready, opening the 'fridge door, and then being surprised at how light the milk just was. So very sad.... Do you remember those "cute" commercials for paper towels where the kid leans over and dumps out a jump of milk on the floor? Those commercials make me angry. Such a waste of milk....

So, (in case you were slow) today there was no milk. Downside to having a roommate: He doesn't drink milk enough for me to judge when we'll be out. The moment I realize I do not have the two requisite items for the creation of breakfast cereal, I panic, staring at the 'fridge/cupboard, lost as to what I should do next. Make eggs or waffles? No time. Oatmeal? I get hungry an hour and half later. Fruit? I don't think so. Also, there is no fruit... This requires that I somehow force my mind to wrap around the concept that today's breakfast choice will require thought.

So, of course, I think of McDonald's. The great thing about a McDonald's breakfast is that I know one is on the way to anywhere I'm going, I know what to expect, and I know I can get it quick. The downside (in the event you haven't thought of a half dozen reasons already) is that you can actually feel part of your soul dying as you eat it. Ever see a movie where the demon/devil character touch a flower, and the flower shrivels and dies before your eyes? It's very similar to that. But of course the psuedo-deliciousness of it fools you into continuing your mistake, cruising along the road, getting rid of the hunger but feeling your soul slowly slip away into the McD hell.

Why, milk jug, why do you bring this upon me? Cereal box retains its honor and integrity, always being ready to provide grain-filled goodness that's packed with 11 vitamins and minerals. Yet, it is always you, milk, that is found lacking. Sure, you don't always turn up empty, but if you can't provide enough of what I need, then it isn't enough. You have failed me, and in doing so, led to my own failure in visiting the earthbound hell that is McDonald's breakfast. I shall never forgive you. NEVER. As soon as I return home, I am replacing you with a full jug of milk. It is my hope, my prayers, that this milk jug will not fail me as you have, and as so many jugs before you have failed.

Movie "9," Fall, NC, and TN

9/9/09

Interesting date. Although I am sure I can conduct the research necessary, a lot of people were getting married that day. Good luck? Tradition? I dunno. Maybe I'll have to get a bride soon so I can get married on 10/10/2010, which I think is a cooler date. Regardless, it does make it easier to remember in the future!

The animated movie "9" came out that same day. (Spoiler alert!! Skip this paragraph if you're planning on see the movie later.) It focuses around this post-apocalyptic world where the humans created great machines that eventually fight back, destroying all the humans. Usual post-apocalyptic stuff, don'cha know. I am a HUGE fan of post-apocalyptic worlds and story lines, so I had to see it, which I did that afternoon. Anyhow, in this war-torn world there are these small puppet-like critters, each having its own number. To shorten things up (and ruin the plot completely) a scientist found a way to split his life into segments and put them into these puppets, giving them life. They end up accidentally activating this giant war machine, and then destroy it. They eventually figure out how to put the soul-bits of the dead puppets into a device which rains life back on the earth. Weird stuff. Really reminds me of "The Secret of NIMH." Now THAT was a good flick! Very classic, and you must watch it if you didn't absolutely hate "9." Even if you didn't see "9" rent "Secret of NIMH." Do it.

Fall. Gosh-darnit, fall is coming! The briefest hint of a slight coolness was in the air. Fall is freakin' awesome. If it could be fall all year around, I would totally take that. Well, 8 months out of the year, with 2 months for full summer and 2 for full winter. The other night I got a whiff of something that reminded me of burning wood in cold weather, like a bonfire in winter. Both of those things reminds me of North Carolina, where I used to visit my grandparents during Christmas, and Tennessee, where my family has a cabin by a great state park (more on that later).

The feeling of cool fall weather puts in a dual-nature (much like everything does, it seems). I feel very energized. I love opening the windows and getting stuff done around the house, while also getting outside, enjoying the parks, or even just going shopping (weird...I know). Unfortunately, if I'm feeling energized in such a way, if I can't find the right activity then I get depressed somewhat. If you can relate, it is similar to a weekend day when you want to accomplish something, or a weekend evening when you just want to go out and have loads of fun, but you can't make it happen. It is like wanting to run but finding yourself on a treadmill. Bummer, indeed.

The other half is that that fall, much like winter (and Christmas for some) inserts a melancholy mood into life. The "death" of the world as summer transitions into winter is felt, and I'll feel just like curling up in some blankets, getting a big bag of candy corn (oh, yes!), and watching movies or playing games for the entire day. Not a bad thing, really. The serenity (woo!! gotta watch that movie again...). Sorry.... The serenity of the cool, breezy days as they pass to darkness seems to last forever. During fall, twilight seems to last forever. Much like the movie Twilight, which seems to never, ever end, except that's a bad thing in this instance.

The cabin in Tennessee reminds me of all of these, in some ways. It's in the middle of the woods, atop a small mountain. Perhaps you could call it a very large hill. Either way, there are excellent views all around. I can't recall the last time I was there in winter, with no leaves on the trees, opening up new vistas across the hillsides, and the wood burning stove burning away. Is it just me, or are you surprised that there are so little accidents involving those? My brother has one; it's 3 feet from a big-screen TV, and my nephew used to crawl around nearby. No injuries, though... Anyhoo, usually the visits to the cabin in Tennessee are during the summer days, when we can enjoy the state park nearby. Free entry, which is quite nice, to a good deal of hiking trails, cascades, waterfalls, and rivers filled with large rocks and boulders. Lots of claims to fame, but the only one I can recall is this: Did you ever see the live action "Jungle Book" movie? It came out like 10 years ago, or more, maybe. In one scene Mowgli jumps off of a waterfall into a lake below. That scene was filled at the park, as were a lot of other less exciting scenes in the movie. People actually still jump off of that waterfall, but with the relatively low water table in the SE US, they don't do it was much anymore. I'm looking forward to going back. Want to join me? (If you said, "yes," you're probably a stalker considering I don't think anyone really reads this.) (That may not be a bad thing).

Enjoy your weekend, reader. Unless it's Monday, in which just zone out until Wednesday or Thursday.

Transition: August to September

So, apparently it's September? September was always a weird month for me. In my head, the calendar sort of just went from August to October. It probably has something to do with streaming major events together, which this example being a jump from the start of school in August, to my birthday and (more importantly) Halloween. September doesn't have much in it for me right now, so it's always some kind of bizarre shock when I realize there's another month to go before I get to get presents and play dress up.

School progresses, as I predicted. My astounding soothsaying abilities have proven accurate in that time itself did not stop when the semester began. The overall schedules and occurances of class, walking, buses, eating, and workouts (with or without Bootcamp) are still influx, but that's half the fun of it. The moment I get adjusted and work out a relative schedule is the moment I'll get bored and wish I were doing something else. There is an instructional systems (my master's subject) in Louisville at the end of October. Rumor has it that Louisville is far away, but Google Maps verified it for me so that I now know that I will not be driving, and the cost for tickets and for a plane flight are prohibitive. $300 for the conference ticket, and $250 for a plane ticket from Jacksonville. I may have actually thought about driving up and making a road trip of sorts out of it, but there's so many things happening in October (as opposed to the oft-forgotten September) that driving would take too much time.

Speaking of October, you get to hear me think aloud via the format of typing the various October events: Sis-in-law Edna's birthday, my birthday (10/24), my brother's big Halloween party, and Halloween itself. Please note I turn 30 this year, so extremely special gifts are in order. (Take that phrase however it applies to you).

I visited FSU's Thagard Health Clinic for the first time this past Monday. I'm still alive, so it can't be that bad. It was one of the first health institutions I've been to that had a "Sick People" section separate from a "Well People" section. You would think this would be obvious any place sick people may congregate. I situated myself in the "Well People" section as they did not have a "Sick, but not Contagious People" section, and only had to wait a couple of minutes before being let in so that the poking, prodding, and probing could begin. Good times.

I received a call from a guy at Excel (my old work place) who wanted to go over some stuff that I handled, for which he was now responsible. I don't mind at all because he's a nice guy who tries to help out. The only problem I have is that both he and I brought this up to the manager the day after I turned in my resignation, which was 3-4 weeks before I actually stopped working. That was 3-4 weeks of potential training time, a lot of which I didn't have much to work on anyways. Le sigh. Yet another reason to remind me why I'm not working there anymore.

Hey, I think this was one of the first times I referenced someone's name. I suppose I could look back and check, but I count that as editing, which I don't go back and do once I've written in this blog (see blog #1 for that rule. maybe it was blog #2. whatever). Queries about names? Then ask.

Rest of the week

Eh. I'm bored. Let's get through the rest of the week, shall we?

Friday: Work until noon. No school! Time for a haircut. I got all of them cut this time.

... That about sums up Friday. I suppose I could mention that various cousins were in town, which is rare to happen at once. My mother has 3 brothers and 2 sisters, and at one point all of them lived in Tallahassee with their sons and daughters. Quite a large brood related to me in Tallahassee at that time, and even now. Grandfather isn't doing so well; at this point any day could be his last day, so there's lots of visiting going on.

The Family gathered at someone's house, and various good visiting occurred. We thoroughly enjoy the idea that if we wanted to started our own organized crime syndicate, it wouldn't be that hard as we've infiltrated so many venues of the world already. It would probably be a good idea to start getting on our good side and donating money as a down-payment for your protection. I'll put in a good word for you to Da Boss.

Saturday was busy. Nice. An ISSA BBQ at MP (Myer's Park. I wanted to thrown in another acronym). Lots of people showed up, including some instructors and various peoples' children. Luckily, no one saw me push any of them over. Suckers. A family-modified kickball game took place. Unfortunate Highlight: My water rockets were placed on dirt, so when they launched mud splashed up on shoes of Laura and I. The "highlight" part was that the water bounced of the ground and onto an instructor. His entire front was covered in remarkably nicely dispersed mud globules.

Movie that night: "Hitch."

Sunday: Visits with Laura's dad, helping my Mom move (in jeans and while raining...ugh), the homework. Yay stuff?

Next posting: Random school things, and maybe an original idea or two.

Thurday, Aug 27th, etc., etc.

Thursday: I will, over time, but cutting down severely on the blow-by-blow accounts of my courses, limiting my digital written reserves to somewhat interesting, humorous, or just plain different for whatever reason.

So..Thursday class. Megan's the assistant to the professor, so she went over the syllabus with the class. All 5 of us. I think there's 7 total. I am still not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Another big project in this course, and there was in the 3 classes I had Mon-Wed of this week. Luckily Megan missed lunch, so everything ran quick, which, of course, lead to Momo's after class. Most of life would be better if you could say it ended with, "So, of course, we then went to Momo's." Great. Now I'm hungry again. I hope you're happy, as I've sacrificed my non-hungry state for a hungry state so I could bring to you the fore-mentioned sentences.

Thursdays at 7 are now officially ISSA Bowling Nights at Crenshaw Lanes. I know that some of you (or maybe just "you" if you're the only reader, a distinct possibility) are not what we would called a "fan" of bowling. Indeed, you may have just skipped this paragraph after reading the first sentence, and are now trying to convince yourself that maybe I'm not as interesting or whatever as you previously thought. Trust me: I'm WAY MORE AWESOME THAN YOU REALIZE. This is evidenced by the fact that I wrote the previous state with the purpose of complimenting myself, in all caps, and using the phrase "way more awesome."

Where was I again? Yes, bowling. Thank you for the reminder, though you wanted to forget. We (the great leaders of the ISSA) realized that a weekly meeting of some sort would be an excellent way for IS students to have a standing-date so that whenever they got around to wanting to check things out, we would be ready. The games are cheap there (incredibly cheap compared to the others in town), but more importantly there's the opportunity to purchase adult beverages, play inexpensive games of billiards, and have tables ready for various board games for those that take enjoyment with such (as I do). Come on down. The invitation is open. I (probably) will prattle on less in person.

That's all for now... (I guess I could have left this paragraph out, but I felt it all needed some closing statements.)

Wed, Aug 26

Wednesday: Work is starting to fall into place. We'll see how my random skills and knack for shaking things up fits into this quiet and proper workplace. I'm thinking of instituting my own personal Hawaiian Shirt Friday, Hot Pants Wednesday, and Masquerade Mondays.

You know what's amazing? I was completely kidding about the dress days, but.... Masquerade Mondays? AWESOME IDEA.

School continues. Another class, many familiar faces, another nationally-known instructor who will probably be in history books. Awesome university to go to for this program, and it's one of the top 3 or so in the country. It's interesting learning about a theory that's integral to the field as a whole, and then your next class is with the guy who invented that theory. It's like having a psychology professor say, "Well, before he died Freud and I worked at FSU together. He was a crazy guy; he liked his tea without sugar."

ISSA meeting today. My program (in case you're slow, forgetful, or just a random visiting stranger) is Instructional Systems. I am also a newly appointed treasurer for the Instructional Systems Student Association. I figured that if I'm going to do this school thing full-time, being part of clubs and stuff is a great way to meet people and network.

Although I'm pretty great with numbers (yep, pretty great, indeed), I have yet to see any financial information or files. No complaints from me. I just enjoy being on the board, since I can use my overpowering intellect and undying enthusiasm to bring about vast changes to the political and educational environment that makes up the instructional systems department. (Please be aware of some slight exaggeration in the previous statement). Either way, we're planning an ISSA BBQ for this Saturday at Myer's Park. Previous ISSA incarnations were not terribly active, but one resolution I've made for myself is, if I'm going to be involved in something, it's not going to suck. We'll see how that little venture turns out.

Tuesday, Aug 2

Tuesday: Work? Same, thanks goodness. However, upon returning from class I was told that one of the other graduate students that is also working with my project wouldn't be back for a bit, which was inconvenient because she was the one that was supposed to be showing me various things around the office. The reason for her delayed arrival was that her parents were in a pretty bad car accident in Washington state. She had to fly up there immediately the previous weekend.

Even though she has 5 siblings, they can only take a small amount of time to visit before having to return to their regular lives. My coworker, therefore, is going solo in the responsibility of being the family representative. She's been given power of attorney, sits with her parents during the day, and even takes part in feeding them. A pretty rough requirement for anyone. Here's hoping things improve soon.

While waiting for my 2nd bus (stadium to classroom route), a different route bus arrived. After a quick glance I noticed this bus, too, passed by my building so I hopped aboard. Despair set in when the bus continued its travels further and further away from my building. It was then I realized the route direction for this bus was counter-clockwise around campus, while I had thought it as clock-wise. The result of this was that instead of my stop being the, say, 4th stop, it was the 4th stop from the very end of the loop.

A lovely addition was traffic, since the bus passed in front of Ruby Diamond Auditorium, and the 4-way stops around there are ideal breeding grounds for traffic snarls, yielding a beastly delay and animal-like driving behavior (too many animal-term usage in that last sentence, if you ask me). Luckily, I have swift feet and long legs, and managed to get to class less than 10 minutes late. A good way for the first day of that class to begin. I appeased the professor by challenging the largest male in the class to a death match, and besting him in the blood-thirsty Paperclip Impalement Ritual. Good times.

Classmates and subject matter are getting a little muddled at this point. So much of my course material overlaps into other courses, and anywhere from 50-75% of the students in one class are also in other classes. Once everything settles down I can take full advantage of both of these situations.

Tuesdays are, apparently, trivia night at Bird's Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack. Megan from school invited us, so we went. I've only been to Bird's once before, for a Sarah Mac Band show, but in my opinion this was more entertaining. Every seat is usually taken, and participation in the trivia is free, and lively. The questions are certainly challenging, which reminds me that whenever I want my ego dropped a couple of notches down, I should attend a trivia night somewhere. Nothing like trivia night to remind me of my lacking knowledge in sports, pop knowledge, television, and geographic comparative facts between US states.

Not a bad Tuesday, I suppose. The week seems increasingly long already, and I am referring to events that happened on Monday as if I've been performing them for weeks, as it feels like I have. All part of the changing lifestyle, I suppose. Let's keep it going for now, shall we?

Day 1b: Monday, Aug. 24th

Class starts at 12:35. Buses are between me and class. Time to get hiking at 11:30 to make sure I get this bus thing down. It arrives soon, and takes me to the stadium, as planned. Good. The campus loop bus took me near my intended building, then a little further away before I realized it was not going to pull a u-turn for my benefit, so I hopped off and took a little walk. Class was as expected, with a teacher, some new classmates, and some familiar ones. Class time itself, as I've found out since then, it usually the least stressful part of my courses.

I dropped by my department's offices for a second, left, and got on the same campus loop bus. Now, here's where my logical took an obvious fault: If there's, say, 30 stops on a loop, and my building is around the 5th stop, logic dictates that the same bus on the same route will have about 25 stops to go before arriving at its termination point. So, I had a nice 20 minute ride, wondering about which bus I should take next time.

Riding the bus gives me a good chance to observe the natives of the university. A good example (though is was not a bus phenomenon) I thoroughly enjoyed hearing a one-way conversation from a guy talking on his cell phone. While he was shopping for an overly-expensive FSU hoodie, he was chatting about how his mom won't buy him a new controller. That in itself is humorous to me. Of course, this are many other instances I personally don't know about, but I'll go ahead and presume this guy also was not living at home, complains about not having money, but in the next breath complains that he won't be able to go out drinking a particular night. I do presume, but these thoughts are a compilation of various conversations I've heard.

Another favorite is the girl on the the phone trying to get her e-mail changed in some account she has. Changing it from "Chik234@hotmail.com" to "Pink2343@hotmail.com" is something I find very interesting and love to hear about. Apparently the customer service representative was unfamiliar with the word "pink" and had to have it explained to her. This got annoying, but then recalled that everyone around me paid a lot of money for the opportunity to better themselves and their minds, which will hopefully lead to a decrease of e-mail addresses that include the word "pink," and will hopefully also lead to a decreased in the amount of people who are unfamiliar with such a bizarre concept such as "pink." ("A color!" the girl of the phone exclaimed.)

An easy bus back to the Learning Systems Institute (LSI from now on, mostly), and after goofing off a bit (by which I mean "working" if someone asks) it's a drive home. No worries so far. Tomorrow should be the same schedule, but of course things never turn out that way.

Day 1a: Monday, Aug. 24th

So...first day of school. (Get used to dealing with the "Dear Diary" crap at the beginning of these. It's how I sum up and get warmed up, writing-wise.) I'm getting ahead a bit, though. Back to the information gleamed from orientation: Originally I was signed up for 4 classes, 12 credit hours. I'm told by some that this is a heavy load, and the reactions from some students and instructors leads me to believe that this is so. Two of the courses are known to have a lot of deliverables (read as: assignments and projects) which in itself could lead to problems. I chose this particular path of self-torture so that I could be considered a full-time student, leading to more financial aid money and to have the option of earning an assistanceship (mini job with some pay). It was at orientation that I heard you may only have to have 9 credit hours, 3 classes. This potentially true fact lends itself to more investigation.

After asking around (a lot), I found that, yes, indeed, it is true that if you have an assistanceship THEN you can have only 9 hours and be considered full-time. Luckily (another flashback) I arranged for an assistanceship with a teacher. She had a position that paid a few bucks and hour, and it was to last half the semester, and requiring 20 hours of work a week. Not a bad deal considering some students never find a paid position of this sort, and considering that I wanted to sign on due to the experience I would get. Plus, I get paid some.

Now, apparently I've done something right in the universe because I ALSO got an opportunity to have a similar "job" at the Learning Systems Institute, where I would not only get paid more per hour, but I would also get a tuition waver for 9 of my credit hours, which equals out to roughly $3000 a semester. Nice. I bowed out of my first assistanceship, interviewed for the second, and I started today, Monday, at the LSI, the same week I begin my further school full-time.

So, it's Monday, the first day of school. I arrived at "work" and begin shuffling papers and organizing pens. This is partly because no one else had arrived, and partly because I'm neurotic about such things. A complete surprise, right? Please stand up and leave the room if you didn't see that coming. Seriously. Have you not been paying attention anytime you've spoken or been around me? Probably not. The rest of us don't really like you, to tell the truth. Please leave.

Well, now that the readers who don't pay attention are gone, I finished organizing my desk a few hours later (...yes, I exaggerate a bit). I work in a large office, where maybe 1/10th of the people are somehow related to what I do. The rest are also part of the LSI, but are involved with different projects that simultaneously invoke curiosity and a sense of being very unimportant (one of the titles includes the term "national security.") My specific co-workers are older, teacher-type of women who all work on the same project, the very project I have been summoned here to assist with.

Project Description Begin:

Florida has standards for K-12th grade education, called Standards. These are modified some for students with cognitive disabilities (like ESE students, for example). However, some students have severe cognitive disability, so they require even more modification to the required standards so that they can handle it. These are Access Points created by my office's project. They create and compile the new Access Points (which are specific modifications to the traditional Standards) and create training modules for teachers around the state so they (the teachers) know what Access Points are and how to use them.

Project Description End.

It's an okay gig. Pretty slow, but the moment I get caught up is the moment I get bored, especially since I work and think are a pretty good pace. My coworkers are of course intelligent, but simply work at a more meticulous pace. It is not stressful, with the hardest thing being that I have to be here 20 hours for all the rules and regulations to work out, and I'd rather be doing homework. I would actually rather be doing other things (insert imagination here), but if I had to choose, I'd rather accomplish school work so I don't feel so far behind.

A little before noon, and it's time for class.

Day 0: Orientation

So, I'm starting this blog. A few days late, yes, but you never reminded to get started. So it is all your fault, slacker. I'm not even sure if I want a slacker reading my blog. You should probably think about your life and your priorities before judging me...

Where was I? Ah, yes... blaming you. But even before that, my Starting School Full Time Blog.

I quit work 3 weeks ago from my decent paying job that had decent perks and benefits. However, it was a dead-end position and I was literally be going nowhere until one of the owners died or they sold the business to a third party. My last official day was this past Friday, August 21^st. Let the poverty and worries begin!

Orientation was the day before, for which I took a day off of work (why not? It’s not like I had anything better to do there…) There were the usual hodge-podge of other programs, instructors, and speakers. A veteran student did a Q&A after the staff left, which was actually pretty good. Onto the small group session, where I was marked as a Veteran Student there to just listen in. Good thing, because it 1) made the ego boost a bit and 2) gave me more standing. The orientation was over after that. A quick 3 hours or so.

One of the big reasons (as I may have mentioned in a previous post) for starting school full-time is to get integrated into the school and courses better. I want to actually get networked and socialized, meeting fellow students and getting to know instructors. This in itself is useful, as it is quite difficult to meet friends (although I do have friends and they are awesome, though I’m sure they owe me money). However, I need to break out of the shell.

An additional reasoning is so that I can become The Guy in the program. You know The Guy: He’s the one the teachers know, the one everyone (except maybe new students) knows and will asks questions to. Not necessarily the Big Man on Campus, but someone that is known for knowing stuff and who can be relied on, etc. Thisisn’t (completely) for my ego, but mostly so that when it comes time for a job, my name will be on the lips of instructors when good jobs offers come through.

I have never really been “networked,” so it’s a difficult thing. I get along with people well enough, but not so much that I maintain ties with them. Lots of acquaintances that are left by the wayside, so the speak, and I wanted to get networked for both personal and professional reasons. Getting networked will help the career too, of course, and I’m relying on my super awesomeness to have such an effect on the instructors that they can’t wait to find me the Best Job in the World (which includes all-you-can-eat Whoopers and various dancing girls)(edit: I meant Whoppers, but I'd take a bunch of Whoopers, too, probably).

I did pick up more information during Orientation, in conversations there, and the day or so after that. I will summarize those in the next posting. These blog postings, as I have said, will remain informal, so suck it if you have any issue with my syntaxes or sentence structures. Also, if you are reading this than you have a reason to, even if it’s just because you’re bored out of your skull. With that said, if something written here causes you to think or question, feel free to let me know. I do take requests, and pander to them.

A final note: I rarely proofread my postings. This isn't work, after all, and it's often humorous to leave mistakes as-is. Problem with that? I doubt it; if you read this far them you probably don't care. ;) Until next time, my loyal reader(s)

-cpk

Starting school full-time...

Well, I have finally come upon the best way to complete the following list:

1) Become more poor
2) Increase my stress level
3) Open myself to increased ridicule in a face-to-face format, instead of bearing it in my standard digital format.

My genius plan to finish my list is to resign from work and being school on campus at FSU in the fall.

Being my extremely loyal readers and fans, I'm sure you are aware that I (along with being very humble) began officially at FSU in the spring, taking courses part time in the Instructional Systems Master's program, and also working towards the Human Performance Technology certification.

It is my intention to blog about my efforts, and the subsequent successes. If you find this completely uninteresting, feel free to stop following this blog's feed or drop me as a friend on your list. I won't be insulted at all.
Don't worry, though, as I'm sure there will be plenty more failures which I'm sure will be more entertaining. Perhaps I will also post pictures of myself, distraught and defeated, head lowered, ashamed at my failure. If you look forward to that, you are a twisted individual, but also have an odd sense of humor that may appreciate my future writing.
If you have any requests or want additional specifics for this little journal, feel free to let me know. That just means less unique thoughts I have to conjure up on my own out of this dark, bubbling cauldron that is my mind.
Enjoy the future! I hope to have a pre-semester blog before orientation on the 20th, but the first may be about orientation.