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Monday, October 20, 2008
I feel... writery.
It's probably because I have an exam for which I could be studying right now, but suddenly I feel like composing a blog post. Or maybe it's the refreshing nap I just took. I'm not totally sure I actually slept -- I think I did, between phone calls -- but lying there thinking about what would happen if I died in my sleep (would the kids know T's work number? I'm absolutely certain they know to call 911, but who would let T know? And would his boss let him come home early from work?) was actually weirdly... relaxing. Don't tell me you never do this while you're trying to drift off to sleep. Oh. You don't? No, no, don't call the people in the white coats. I'm fine. Really. And you don't know my address anyway. Right?
Um. OK. Moving on.
I haven't been talking much about school lately. (Well, honestly, I haven't been talking about much here lately, period. Not even the books I read in September. SHUT UP. OK, I'll do it: Marian Keyes' latest: Don't buy it.) I complained a lot about my two classes this semester, early on, and I thought that I should update and say that they're not that bad. Well, one of them isn't. It's actually pretty interesting once you get past that first chapter that's all about the different theories of human development. I'm not even annoyed (much) by the application of those theories to the way children grow, not that I'm going to run and change my major to psychology or anything, being more of a hands-on kind of gal than the type to sit around analyzing why people think the way they do for eight hours a day. But that class is nice. Communications, on the other hand, has me counting down the days to the end of the semester. It's kind of this perfect storm of subject matter (they call it "communications" but what they really mean most of the time is "sensitivity training", and oh my GOSH the navel-gazing that's required in this class is heaped up in INSANE quantities), a rawther disorganized teacher who probably does much better in an in-person class than an online one, and subject matter that can only be graded subjectively, which was kind of worrisome for a couple of weeks there, after I had a calm, quiet disagreement with the instructor about something that's neither here nor there as regards the course, and suddenly all my perfect scores and glowing praise turned into Bs and Cs presented with surly silence. That appears to have turned around now, though, for whatever reason, and I'm just working my tail off to do the best I can to earn an A from her even if she doesn't want to give it to me. Next year by hook or by crook I WILL take an algebra class. I was going to take College Algebra With Trigonometry, but the class is at an impossible time for me, so I'm going to have even more fun taking the two classes separately and streeeetching them out all luxurious-like. After eighteen weeks of psychology stuff, I am looking forward to some hard and fast indisputable facts where either you know the stuff or you don't. Anyway, no matter what I'm taking, I'm loving being in school just as much as I thought I would during that looong stretch of time between high school and college. (Isn't taking a year's break all the rage? I just took that to extremes.) Just being on campus -- and while it's a nice, green-treed, pretty enough 1970's campus, it's not exactly a bricks-and-ivy university or anything -- is soothing and nice. Worth the wait, definitely.
So that's my school. The kids' school is going along quietly and fine. LT has not taken to algebra like I dreamed he might, not because he doesn't get it which he does, but because he dislikes it. I would wonder how I could give birth to such a child except that I do happen to know his father pretty well; he wanted to be an engineer but decided not to because that career would involve too much time spent studying mathematics. Anyway. It's going fine even so, and we actually have a pretty good time at it. I'm actually -- sit down -- applying some of the stuff I'm learning in PSYC-09 (the human dev class) to my teaching. And it's working. Maybe thar's sumpin in that p-sy-chology stuff after all.
Today I looked down our hill and saw that our three huge black oaks down by the creek (and the black oaks by the creek that aren't ours are charitably joining in) are turning yellow. Black oaks are pretty much the only native trees around here that put on any kind of a color show, and this was such a lovely thing to look out of my yard and see. I don't talk about it much anymore but I'm still feeling the blessing every day of having this house. It was a year ago now that we were in that terrible escrow period when I'm sure the stress took at least six months off my life and I wasn't sure I'd ever get to be here, in a place that's ours to do with as we like. (It was also a year ago that we were staying with my parents, which was so awesomely much fun that LT and C refer to it as a "three-month vacation" -- and not because they took pretty much the entire month of December off school while we were over here working on making this place livable. Maybe we'll start taking our annual vacations at Mom and Dad's. It would be much cheaper than driving to the beach.)
I had more to say but I have to change my clothes VERY fast and get ready to go to chorus rehearsal. You're off the hook THIS time (I hear your relieved sigh), but I'll be back tomorrow. Or in ten days. Whenever.
Comments
If there's nothing to psychology then my whole life has been a waste of time. I could use a little of that sensitivity training right now.
Posted by: Jennifer at October 20, 2008 07:40 PM
Honestly, I would make sure the kids have T's work number even if you don't die. ;) Because what if you fall down the stairs and break your leg or something?
Posted by: Kat with a K at October 21, 2008 04:31 AM
are you taking CA history?
Posted by: debi at October 21, 2008 06:53 PM
