School begins; everything else ends

So! First week of school! Actually, the first week of the usual full school week schedule. I had hoped I would have more time available this semester, but after reviewing the work for my two online courses, I do not foresee that coming true.

Online classes, so far at least, involve more work with fewer results. The endless reading and writing in the online discussion boards take up so much time, and I retain very little of the information. I find that in face-to-face courses I ask more questions, get more relevant answers, and somewhat enjoy the material. Online courses... ugh. It's a matter of completing work so I can get a grade. Hopefully I will get more out of my 2 current online courses because both involve working in groups. Luckily, my group members are other students in town, so we can actually get together to complete projects, which is an activity that helps me greatly in keeping all that book learnin' in my skull.

Those two online courses are complemented by two face-to-face courses. One I am not looking forward to, and the other will be an easy (though possibly time-consuming) computer courseware class. Either way, it's a semester more full than I wanted. Fitness has taken a back seat to the cold (even I won't go out there when it's literally freezing), and my hopes of attending the gym may fall to the wayside (wherever that is). My current hope is that I am overestimating the workload for my courses, and I will find time for my various ventures. Changes that may be coming soon could also result in more time available, although it comes at a significant cost.

So, it's cold. I know every person, newspaper, and news show is talking about it, but it's still cold. Each morning I scrap off my windshield with an old credit card, and each morning I wish I had bundled up the shavings, made a snowball, and stored it in the freezer. Then, sometime later in this season, I could hit people with them. It is a dream! And a dream that may come true if I have time to save those Snowy Shavings of Entertainment!

Also, I have a Twitter account now I'm apparently using? Weird... I get and understand Twitter, just not to the level that the rest of the world has.