This is gonna be a relatively short post for a couple reasons. First, I have class tomorrow (not until 2, but I'm trying to wake up at about the same time every school day. so far, that's 7:30. but I think I'll change my alarm for tomorrow, because I'd like to get more sleep, and I don't want to make it a habit again to wake up to my alarm, turn it off, and go back to bed. that lead to some risky situations). And second, I went climbing tonight. I really wasn't feeling it today, so I didn't climb a whole ton, but good gracious. I can feel the soreness already setting in-- especially in my left forearm. It's making it incredibly difficult to type right now. You'd all laugh if you could see how often I'm having to retype something because of terrible terrible typos. Or you'd also burst out if you could see how much concentration it's taking me to use my left hand at all while typing. Haha.
Anyway. I've been to all of my classes now, and they are fantastic. I love them all. I love my teachers. Arson and explosives is not going to be nearly as chemistry based as I was thinking it would be, and I haven't quite decided how I feel about that. It'll be a fun class though, and I'm way excited.
My first week back at school has been so incredibly hectic.
Last week I went out to visit mom and dad one more time before classes started up and I don't have the time to anymore. It was really nice, we just relaxed and went out to a delicious Mexican restaurant-- yes. Mexican. In New England. Delicious. That about sums up everything particularly exciting we did. Someday when I go visit, I'll actually do some site seeing. But that was not this time.
[[Edit: I had pretty much ever detail of my week so far written out, only to realize how incredibly boring that probably would be to read. There's a bunch of cool stories going along with each of my days, but for how quickly I'm trying to get through this post, they will be much better served being told later.]]
Haha, so to sum up the super giant paragraph I just did away with: I worked Sun, Mon, and Tues, and I'll work Thurs and Friday as well. On Tuesday, school started, and I go four days a week (Mon-Thurs). Tuesday and Wednesday were loooong days. And now I'm tired and sore from climbing, and the week isn't even quite over. But, as a bonus, I have the normal 2-day weekend without school or work on Fri/Sat this semester (so far with work, at least). This weekend is the only exception: I have a quick meeting for a couple hours on Fri, but it will be fun, so I'm excited to relax and do my homework, and relax even more. And climb. :) Yay.
Alrighty. It's sleepy time now. I'll tell my fun stories later when my arm is less suddenly and ridiculously sore from climbing haha. Also when it's less late.
Jan 23, 2014
Jan 20, 2014
What whaaat.
Muahahaha!
Check it out, let me know what you think. I think, personally, it's a lot rougher than Chapter 1 (which you might have to read through to remember the story), so please please please let me know what I can do to clean it up.
Muchas gracias!
Check it out, let me know what you think. I think, personally, it's a lot rougher than Chapter 1 (which you might have to read through to remember the story), so please please please let me know what I can do to clean it up.
Muchas gracias!
Dec 29, 2013
Ireland is a great country to die or be married in.
(I'm not dying or getting married, for the record. That's a quote by Elizabeth Bowen.)
Oh my gkdayoiehdlksi!
Ahem. Sorry. I'm just so excited!
This story starts a few days ago when I had my friend Ally over. I was telling her about how I really wish I had been accepted back into the program to go to China again as a head teacher. My biggest worry about going back was Jack, my dog. Or, he was my dog. I was worried if I went, he wouldn't remember me while I was gone or something pathetic like that. Turns out, it didn't matter that we lived in the same house. He still forgot who I was, and so now he is my mom's dog and currently living with them.
So since my biggest concern ended up being a moot point, I really wish I had been able to go back to China. It's been about two years since I came home. Which is really strange to me, now that I say that out loud. That's two full years I haven't left the country or traveled at all really, aside from going out to visit mom and dad (and as lovely as that is, it's not really traveling). I just miss it. If I ever had the opportunity to move to China again, I'd take it in a heartbeat. Really, it doesn't even have to be China. I'd move anywhere out of country if I were given the opportunity.
Alas, here I sit, going to school and working and climbing and doing good things with my life, but none of it is really something I'd consider all that adventurous.
Fast forward a couple hours, Ally was asking me about what my New Year's Resolutions are. I never used to make resolutions, until last year. It's not that I don't have any areas to improve in (ha. I've got a ways to go) but it's just that I never really made good goals, so I never cared to actually fulfill them, even from the beginning, which kind of makes it like I never set the goal in the first place, right?
Anyway, at the beginning of this year, I had one resolution, and that was to climb a 5.9 by the end of the year. Have I achieved this? No. But I've gotten way closer than I was when I started. And I still consider how far I've come a success. So this is just a goal to adjust and reset. This has given me 4 resolutions for 2014.
1- Lead climb by the end of the year. At my rec center, you have to be able to climb a 5.9 in order to take the lead climbing classes, so this definitely encompasses my past goal. But on top of climbing the 5.9, I also have to take the lead class, and then pass the assessment and actually climb. So it's more, but still along the same lines. And definitely attainable.
2- Do a CSI ride a long once a month. This will involve actually setting up the appointments to do ride alongs, and since cities have restrictions on how often you can do a ride along, I'll have to find probably 6 cities all around here that will let me ride along with their crime lab. Also probably very doable.
3- Fill my journal. Earlier this year I started a journal in a composition notebook, and it was the first journal I ever started that I don't anticipate my kids reading or someone finding and reading or really even going back through and reading myself. This is because it's not written in English. If Chaelomen or Berserk got a hold of it, they could read it, but I don't see that happening. And it wouldn't be the end of the world if they did. There's nothing terribly secret in there. It's just nice to not feel like I need it to have a clear and concise purpose, I can ramble and jump topics all I want. Anyway, I want to actually fill it this year, as well as a second notebook's worth. Since this one is almost a third used.
And this last goal I have is the reason I'm so excited right now :)
4- Get a stamp from the 6 populated continents in my passport. (Thanks to Sarah for the idea) Don't get me wrong-- I definitely want to go to Antarctica, but the only way I know to get there is going to take quite a bit of saving. And I doubt I can get a stamp going there. There's still going to be quite a bit of saving for visas to get to Australia and flights and blah blah blah. It actually might be more than I can conceivably save, so I might not make this one. But I already have North America and Asia both stamped in my current passport. So I just need 4 more. One trip every 3 months. I like that. It appeals to me. It makes me feel better about not having left the country since China.
4- Get a stamp from the 6 populated continents in my passport. (Thanks to Sarah for the idea) Don't get me wrong-- I definitely want to go to Antarctica, but the only way I know to get there is going to take quite a bit of saving. And I doubt I can get a stamp going there. There's still going to be quite a bit of saving for visas to get to Australia and flights and blah blah blah. It actually might be more than I can conceivably save, so I might not make this one. But I already have North America and Asia both stamped in my current passport. So I just need 4 more. One trip every 3 months. I like that. It appeals to me. It makes me feel better about not having left the country since China.
If I can't make enough money for all 4 trips that I want to (I'm thinking of going to Cairns, Madagascar, Chile and Ireland again) then I'll extend this resolution to 2015. It's tricky, because I need to get a visa for Cairns and for Madagascar (and if I were going anywhere besides Ireland or London, I'd need a visa for Europe, too. which is kinda sad, since those are the two countries I've already been to, but also not sad, which I'll get to), but the visa to Madagascar is free if you're staying for less than 30 days. And though you don't need a a technical visa for Chile, you do need to pay for a Chilean visa reciprocity fee. So that, plus the ETA (an electronic visa) for Cairns will be about 300 total. Which isn't terrible, I think I can handle that. So then it's just trying to find flights, which if United doesn't go there, I really just need to save up money to buy a ticket, and that's what might push this goal into 2015.
To start accomplishing this goal, I'm going to go back to Ireland for my spring break this semester! Whaaat. Yes. This is true. What can I say, I'm a badass, pending standby availability to fly out.
It'll be nice. I'm staying at a hostel (Jacob's Hostel, specifically) which is a 20 min bus ride from the airport. I'll be right in the heart of Dublin, and the entire week I'm staying in Dublin, I'll only have spent about $150 on the hostel. Including breakfast. I love hostelworld.com, btw. I'm excited. I've already been to Ireland before, I'll be returning almost to the date 7 years later (which is also really weird to think about), and though I kinda wish I could go somewhere I haven't been yet, I wasn't really in Dublin for all that long. And that was 7 years ago. It's not on my current passport. But I did get to travel all around Ireland and do the really cool things-- kiss the Blarney Stone, tour castles, eat in a castle while watching a play, do the St. Patrick's Day Parade, see a bunch of the country-- so I won't feel bad that I won't be doing all that stuff this time around.
Also last time, I went the the marching band, but my best friend at the time couldn't come, so I was kinda just hanging out with people I was sorta friends with, but not really.
This time it's currently just me going. It's like I'm an adult or something. I'll just be hanging out around Dublin and the hostel, maybe seeing if they've got a cheap tour I can take. Make friends with a local, maybe. I've gotta hit up a pub! I'm way excited. Gonna use my passport again! What. I mean, come on Berserk and Mom. What is holding you guys up? ;)
Dec 10, 2013
And for this, I will travel in darkness for what seems like days.
Goodness. I feel like I haven't blogged in forever. And not even for a good reason. I've just been busy with school and so obviously, instead of actually doing my school work, I've instead been wasting my life away on facebook and iwastesomuchtime and all those good old sites. And this post isn't even all that exciting, it's just one really really long confession. Probably not the first of its kind, either.
I think the biggest mistake I've made this semester (and actually it's probably the biggest mistake I've made in years, if not longer) was thinking, "Wait, since I'm still a chem major, none of these classes are actually important for graduation." I did just stop at thinking that. I believed it with my entire heart. If I'm only taking linguistics classes this semester, it doesn't really matter how I do in them. And I find the subject interesting, but I don't care about how my grades look, I just want to learn the material. And I understand the material fine, so what do I care if I don't do the homework. I'm getting 100% or more on all my tests, so skipping the busywork is really really ok with me. Yeah... Maybe if the homework was only work 5% of my overall grade, that would have been an acceptable thought process but alas, homework is worth quite a lot of my grade in all of my classes.
So that leads me to the end of this semester, thinking about what kind of a GPA I'm looking at this semester, thinking about how much effort I've put into my classes, and for the first time in my life, I'm actually really disappointed in myself. My grades have slipped terribly this semester. In fact, they've been slipping since college started, but it's been drastic this semester. And why? Because I didn't feel like doing homework because it would take up some of my time. Time that I wasn't spending on doing important things. I have actually chosen to not do homework so I could instead listen to music and play sudoku on my phone. And I'm really sickened to think of the consequences this has and will bring to me.
Recently, I've been thinking back to high school. There were plenty of things that I did in high school that I didn't actually enjoy, but I did them anyway. I did my homework well before it was due until senior year, when I started to slip just a little because I had a ton of cop out classes. I stuck with marching band for all 4 years, even though I wasn't enjoying it anymore after the first year. I spent 3 years working on my EMR even though I hated being an emergency responder. I woke up for early morning seminary almost everyday for 4 years but I liked seminary. Just not the sleep deprivation that went with it, despite being really incredibly ridiculously sleep deprived all the time.
I am amazed at all of the self discipline I had. I don't know that it was healthy to spend so much time doing so many things that I really didn't enjoy (I mean, at least 85% of my memories from those 4 years are during seminary, school, band, or doing EMR things), but I do think it was good character. And this last semester? It's embarrassing and shameful to the point that I actually don't want to discuss what kinds of things I did wrong, just because in the moment, I didn't really feel like it.
This is actually something that has taken a really serious toll on my self esteem, and I can name exactly why, thanks to an awesome church leader who gave me The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens when I turned 12. I currently still have that book packed from the move, so I can't remember the habit that addresses this specifically, but it compared your self worth to a bank account, and the "money" that you put in or take out is promises. If you keep a promise to yourself, that's a deposit and you increase your self worth. If you break a promise to yourself that's a withdrawal and it decreases your self worth. The bigger the promise, the more it effects you, but little promises add up quickly one way or the other.
I think a semester at school creates a lot of different promises that can affect this if you choose to let it (and I would hypothesize that most of us default to accept these promises). Each homework assignment would be a promise. Each test would as well. Study sessions, getting good grades, attending lecture, taking notes. All of this is important. Maybe not everyone thinks like this, actually, but I know I do. Some of these things are little promises-- lecture, notes, homework-- and some are bigger-- tests, projects, grades.
And this semester, breaking so many many promises has really killed my self worth, to say the least. But I think it's been good, in a really backwards way. My first semester at school I got straight A's. The next semester I had A A A B B C. That summer I had A B B. I took the fall off. I don't remember what my grades have been since, but I trust you can see a pattern. I've actually checked it in my transcripts and my grades have been dropping slowly but steadily since I started. The thing was that I never cared. They were always good enough for me.
I would call this semester, especially in terms of GPA, rock bottom. I don't have my final grades yet (I haven't even finished finals) but I do know that I'm not looking at something pleasant. And for once, whatever I get won't be good enough because I know I can do better. I'm better than D's and C's. I'm better than B's. As humbly as it can be said, I'm pretty smart. My biggest problem with chemistry is actually having to study a little and do some of the homework problems before I really understand it and can do really well on tests. It actually wasn't until I was talking to Chaelomen and he pointed out to me that most students have to study like crazy to understand these concepts and pull good grades that I realized I was so gifted here. I could have been a straight A student for all of my college career.
For probably the first time since I was a junior in high school, I actually feel like I'm gaining some self discipline back. I'm looking at my GPA and I know I can raise it to be a 3.5 or so, and I'm thankful that I haven't completely screwed myself over, but I wish I had known when I started college that I was better than this.
I guess with this change of heart, it's now about finding the silver linings. I've already royally messed up this semester, and with not hitting this point until finals week, there really isn't anything I can do to fix that. But I'm pretty sure that I at least haven't completely screwed up my financial aid, so I can still do classes next semester. Though this was the thinking that got me in so deep, at least I'm not failing anything I need for my degree (and there's even a vague vague possibility I won't fail anything). The classes I've done worst in during my college life are ones that I can take again to replace the grade. I'm not only excited for my classes and to learn, but I'm excited to do well in them and spend my time studying for them and doing the homework and really improving my GPA.
Right now, I'm really just grateful that I haven't messed up my future completely. But I've come dangerously close. I think part of the problem is that I keep forgetting why I'm going to college. Lately I've just sorta been viewing it as this thing I unjustly have to do because "a bachelor's degree is the new high school diploma" and I've really lost the desire to do well so I can have a career. To help combat that, I think I'm going to make it a point to go on more ridealongs. I've been on the one, and it was one of the best nights of my life, so I want to make it a point to go those as often as I can, even looking into other cities. That should help me get through the times where school seems like a long and daunting process.
I've also found the coolest of websites (more cool to me than superherostuff.com or great-salsa.com) that lists all of the crime scene investigation jobs currently open in the US. Just finding that and seeing the applications makes my dreams seem a little more real. And then I might also couple that with checking the salary it pays and looking at apartments in the local area I'd be able to afford on rent.com. Over preparation? Probably, considering I don't have my BA yet. But it's also some very real motivation.
Mm. Yes. To my core, I'm trying to become a better person. Someone with more integrity and intrinsic motivation. And I might be ready for this ride.
I think the biggest mistake I've made this semester (and actually it's probably the biggest mistake I've made in years, if not longer) was thinking, "Wait, since I'm still a chem major, none of these classes are actually important for graduation." I did just stop at thinking that. I believed it with my entire heart. If I'm only taking linguistics classes this semester, it doesn't really matter how I do in them. And I find the subject interesting, but I don't care about how my grades look, I just want to learn the material. And I understand the material fine, so what do I care if I don't do the homework. I'm getting 100% or more on all my tests, so skipping the busywork is really really ok with me. Yeah... Maybe if the homework was only work 5% of my overall grade, that would have been an acceptable thought process but alas, homework is worth quite a lot of my grade in all of my classes.
So that leads me to the end of this semester, thinking about what kind of a GPA I'm looking at this semester, thinking about how much effort I've put into my classes, and for the first time in my life, I'm actually really disappointed in myself. My grades have slipped terribly this semester. In fact, they've been slipping since college started, but it's been drastic this semester. And why? Because I didn't feel like doing homework because it would take up some of my time. Time that I wasn't spending on doing important things. I have actually chosen to not do homework so I could instead listen to music and play sudoku on my phone. And I'm really sickened to think of the consequences this has and will bring to me.
Recently, I've been thinking back to high school. There were plenty of things that I did in high school that I didn't actually enjoy, but I did them anyway. I did my homework well before it was due until senior year, when I started to slip just a little because I had a ton of cop out classes. I stuck with marching band for all 4 years, even though I wasn't enjoying it anymore after the first year. I spent 3 years working on my EMR even though I hated being an emergency responder. I woke up for early morning seminary almost everyday for 4 years but I liked seminary. Just not the sleep deprivation that went with it, despite being really incredibly ridiculously sleep deprived all the time.
I am amazed at all of the self discipline I had. I don't know that it was healthy to spend so much time doing so many things that I really didn't enjoy (I mean, at least 85% of my memories from those 4 years are during seminary, school, band, or doing EMR things), but I do think it was good character. And this last semester? It's embarrassing and shameful to the point that I actually don't want to discuss what kinds of things I did wrong, just because in the moment, I didn't really feel like it.
This is actually something that has taken a really serious toll on my self esteem, and I can name exactly why, thanks to an awesome church leader who gave me The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens when I turned 12. I currently still have that book packed from the move, so I can't remember the habit that addresses this specifically, but it compared your self worth to a bank account, and the "money" that you put in or take out is promises. If you keep a promise to yourself, that's a deposit and you increase your self worth. If you break a promise to yourself that's a withdrawal and it decreases your self worth. The bigger the promise, the more it effects you, but little promises add up quickly one way or the other.
I think a semester at school creates a lot of different promises that can affect this if you choose to let it (and I would hypothesize that most of us default to accept these promises). Each homework assignment would be a promise. Each test would as well. Study sessions, getting good grades, attending lecture, taking notes. All of this is important. Maybe not everyone thinks like this, actually, but I know I do. Some of these things are little promises-- lecture, notes, homework-- and some are bigger-- tests, projects, grades.
And this semester, breaking so many many promises has really killed my self worth, to say the least. But I think it's been good, in a really backwards way. My first semester at school I got straight A's. The next semester I had A A A B B C. That summer I had A B B. I took the fall off. I don't remember what my grades have been since, but I trust you can see a pattern. I've actually checked it in my transcripts and my grades have been dropping slowly but steadily since I started. The thing was that I never cared. They were always good enough for me.
I would call this semester, especially in terms of GPA, rock bottom. I don't have my final grades yet (I haven't even finished finals) but I do know that I'm not looking at something pleasant. And for once, whatever I get won't be good enough because I know I can do better. I'm better than D's and C's. I'm better than B's. As humbly as it can be said, I'm pretty smart. My biggest problem with chemistry is actually having to study a little and do some of the homework problems before I really understand it and can do really well on tests. It actually wasn't until I was talking to Chaelomen and he pointed out to me that most students have to study like crazy to understand these concepts and pull good grades that I realized I was so gifted here. I could have been a straight A student for all of my college career.
For probably the first time since I was a junior in high school, I actually feel like I'm gaining some self discipline back. I'm looking at my GPA and I know I can raise it to be a 3.5 or so, and I'm thankful that I haven't completely screwed myself over, but I wish I had known when I started college that I was better than this.
I guess with this change of heart, it's now about finding the silver linings. I've already royally messed up this semester, and with not hitting this point until finals week, there really isn't anything I can do to fix that. But I'm pretty sure that I at least haven't completely screwed up my financial aid, so I can still do classes next semester. Though this was the thinking that got me in so deep, at least I'm not failing anything I need for my degree (and there's even a vague vague possibility I won't fail anything). The classes I've done worst in during my college life are ones that I can take again to replace the grade. I'm not only excited for my classes and to learn, but I'm excited to do well in them and spend my time studying for them and doing the homework and really improving my GPA.
Right now, I'm really just grateful that I haven't messed up my future completely. But I've come dangerously close. I think part of the problem is that I keep forgetting why I'm going to college. Lately I've just sorta been viewing it as this thing I unjustly have to do because "a bachelor's degree is the new high school diploma" and I've really lost the desire to do well so I can have a career. To help combat that, I think I'm going to make it a point to go on more ridealongs. I've been on the one, and it was one of the best nights of my life, so I want to make it a point to go those as often as I can, even looking into other cities. That should help me get through the times where school seems like a long and daunting process.
I've also found the coolest of websites (more cool to me than superherostuff.com or great-salsa.com) that lists all of the crime scene investigation jobs currently open in the US. Just finding that and seeing the applications makes my dreams seem a little more real. And then I might also couple that with checking the salary it pays and looking at apartments in the local area I'd be able to afford on rent.com. Over preparation? Probably, considering I don't have my BA yet. But it's also some very real motivation.
Mm. Yes. To my core, I'm trying to become a better person. Someone with more integrity and intrinsic motivation. And I might be ready for this ride.
Oct 25, 2013
Life tastes sweeter when it's wrapped in debauchery.
Yes. Yes, Rocky Reads. Tonight, after the dance. I even have the review partially done and saved as a draft right now! This is totally happening.
But first!
Last night I remembered that the schedule for classes next semester came out this week, so I spent a couple hours looking through that, deciding what to take. I was planning on doing calc, analytical chem, arson and explosives, and field testing of drugs. Turns out, for no apparent reason and even though it's kinda like the lab for arson and explosives, they aren't offering field testing of drugs this spring. Which is kinda unfortunate, but doesn't throw me off too much, and I'll take it next spring instead (it's only offered in the spring).
So I was looking at what times all the classes and such are offered, and who teaches what, and checking out ratemyprofessors and all that jazz, and the schedule I'm going to try to end up with is not the most ideal. I was hoping to have Farmer for analytical both lecture and lab, but the time he teaches lecture is super late on TR, which completely messes with my work schedule now. I suppose I can change my work schedule; ask to work Mondays instead of Tues/Thurs, but I really don't want to do that, actually. I probably won't be working Tuesdays anyway next year (probably not come December, even), but I would really like to keep working Thursdays if possible. We'll see; if the lecture I'm currently hoping for fills up, then I'll go with Farmer. He's awesome.
Moving past analytical, there's only one arson and explosives class offered, and I'm excited for it, but it is so inconveniently offered at the same time as any of the calc classes being offered by professors I'm willing to take. Fortunately, I don't actually need to take calc right now. I've already taken it, and I got a D, which is not good enough to graduate on, but it is good enough to use as a prereq, so I can put off taking that until it lines up nicer with my schedule.
Unfortunately, not taking calc or field testing of drugs puts me down under 12 credits, and I'm kinda hoping to be a FT student. I mean, I only work part time. If I also only go to school part time, what will I do with all the rest of the time I have. :) Too overwhelming of a possibility.
So I started looking through some other classes, and assuming nothing fills up before I register for classes, I'll take analytical chem with Hill (who is also the criminalistics department chair) on MW, analytical lab with Farmer on W, arson and explosives on T, and then a couple random for-the-fun-of-it classes: drugs in the criminal justice system with London (who was also my intro criminal justice professor, and he's awesome) on TR and a rock climbing training class for the first half of the semester on T with a few additional Saturday classes/climbing outings.
This makes my schedule incredibly odd. Haha. But I kinda like that, just a little. I'll have class on:
Monday
10:00-11:15
Tuesday
11:00-1:50
2:00-3:15
6:30-9:15 (for the first 8 weeks)
Wednesday
10:00-11:15
1:00-4:50
Thursday
2:00-3:15
Saturday
8:00-5:00 (but there's only 4 of those, also during the first 8 weeks)
I'm a little concerned about how sparse everything is. Only one class on Monday and Thursday? Such a long break between several of my classes? In the past, this has not been a good indication of attendance. But I think knowing that going in will help. There's nothing like being caught off guard about something, and I know that it might be a little bit of a struggle to get there, but I'm going to try to be a better student (something that I've been working on this semester, too). Plus it's helpful that I live so close to the bus stop. There's a ton of stuff to do on campus, I can study for any of my classes, do my homework, etc etc. If I don't really feel like being productive, I can run to the 16th Street Mall for a couple hours, or go hang out in the Boiler Room like I did my first semester and watch TV in there. I know a bunch of people on campus, so I can meet up with them. Another nice bonus is that the classes where I've got particularly big gaps, I'm kinda really excited for.
I might have a 3 hour gap between drugs in CJ system and rock climbing, but I know I'll be willing to stick around for rock climbing. It also helps that that class goes for 3 hours, so we'll be doing a lot of stuff in that one and if I miss it, I'll miss out on a ton of information/practice.
I might have an hour and 45 min break between analytical chem and lab, but that will be time well spent doing my write ups and pre lab and post lab.
I might only be coming in for analytical on Monday, but I need that class and it's not ridiculously early, and it's not ridiculously late.
I might only be coming in for drugs in CJ system on Thursday, but I love that professor and I still think drugs are super interesting, and I love the CJC field.
There might be a lot of things going against me, but I've also got a lot going for me, so I think I can make the semester work out well.
Ooh, and this is what I think is coolest. Analytical+lab is 5 credits. Arson and explosives is 3. Drugs in CJ is 3. All of that is 11 credits, and I was kinda hoping to only have to take 12 credits, but adding another class meant likely having to take 14, maybe only 13 credits if I took a dance class (which I still might do if my one lecture fills up and I have to rearrange things, therefore making it so I can't do the rock climbing class). But, this rock climbing training is a 1-3 credit class, so if I get there and I only want the 1 credit, I don't want to do extra outside-of-class work or whatever, I can only have 12 credits. If I love it though and want to dedicate more time it, I can totally take 14 credits total. It will be nice, because rock climbing is one of my hobbies, and now I'm going to get college credit to do it. And another nice thing is that it's only for the first half of the semester, so about the time I start to get burned out on classes and I want to drop one, I'll be done with it and my schedule gets lighter.
Man. I hope this works out. If it doesn't, I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever classes I end up with, but this would just be the coolest ever.
But first!
Last night I remembered that the schedule for classes next semester came out this week, so I spent a couple hours looking through that, deciding what to take. I was planning on doing calc, analytical chem, arson and explosives, and field testing of drugs. Turns out, for no apparent reason and even though it's kinda like the lab for arson and explosives, they aren't offering field testing of drugs this spring. Which is kinda unfortunate, but doesn't throw me off too much, and I'll take it next spring instead (it's only offered in the spring).
So I was looking at what times all the classes and such are offered, and who teaches what, and checking out ratemyprofessors and all that jazz, and the schedule I'm going to try to end up with is not the most ideal. I was hoping to have Farmer for analytical both lecture and lab, but the time he teaches lecture is super late on TR, which completely messes with my work schedule now. I suppose I can change my work schedule; ask to work Mondays instead of Tues/Thurs, but I really don't want to do that, actually. I probably won't be working Tuesdays anyway next year (probably not come December, even), but I would really like to keep working Thursdays if possible. We'll see; if the lecture I'm currently hoping for fills up, then I'll go with Farmer. He's awesome.
Moving past analytical, there's only one arson and explosives class offered, and I'm excited for it, but it is so inconveniently offered at the same time as any of the calc classes being offered by professors I'm willing to take. Fortunately, I don't actually need to take calc right now. I've already taken it, and I got a D, which is not good enough to graduate on, but it is good enough to use as a prereq, so I can put off taking that until it lines up nicer with my schedule.
Unfortunately, not taking calc or field testing of drugs puts me down under 12 credits, and I'm kinda hoping to be a FT student. I mean, I only work part time. If I also only go to school part time, what will I do with all the rest of the time I have. :) Too overwhelming of a possibility.
So I started looking through some other classes, and assuming nothing fills up before I register for classes, I'll take analytical chem with Hill (who is also the criminalistics department chair) on MW, analytical lab with Farmer on W, arson and explosives on T, and then a couple random for-the-fun-of-it classes: drugs in the criminal justice system with London (who was also my intro criminal justice professor, and he's awesome) on TR and a rock climbing training class for the first half of the semester on T with a few additional Saturday classes/climbing outings.
This makes my schedule incredibly odd. Haha. But I kinda like that, just a little. I'll have class on:
Monday
10:00-11:15
Tuesday
11:00-1:50
2:00-3:15
6:30-9:15 (for the first 8 weeks)
Wednesday
10:00-11:15
1:00-4:50
Thursday
2:00-3:15
Saturday
8:00-5:00 (but there's only 4 of those, also during the first 8 weeks)
I'm a little concerned about how sparse everything is. Only one class on Monday and Thursday? Such a long break between several of my classes? In the past, this has not been a good indication of attendance. But I think knowing that going in will help. There's nothing like being caught off guard about something, and I know that it might be a little bit of a struggle to get there, but I'm going to try to be a better student (something that I've been working on this semester, too). Plus it's helpful that I live so close to the bus stop. There's a ton of stuff to do on campus, I can study for any of my classes, do my homework, etc etc. If I don't really feel like being productive, I can run to the 16th Street Mall for a couple hours, or go hang out in the Boiler Room like I did my first semester and watch TV in there. I know a bunch of people on campus, so I can meet up with them. Another nice bonus is that the classes where I've got particularly big gaps, I'm kinda really excited for.
I might have a 3 hour gap between drugs in CJ system and rock climbing, but I know I'll be willing to stick around for rock climbing. It also helps that that class goes for 3 hours, so we'll be doing a lot of stuff in that one and if I miss it, I'll miss out on a ton of information/practice.
I might have an hour and 45 min break between analytical chem and lab, but that will be time well spent doing my write ups and pre lab and post lab.
I might only be coming in for analytical on Monday, but I need that class and it's not ridiculously early, and it's not ridiculously late.
I might only be coming in for drugs in CJ system on Thursday, but I love that professor and I still think drugs are super interesting, and I love the CJC field.
There might be a lot of things going against me, but I've also got a lot going for me, so I think I can make the semester work out well.
Ooh, and this is what I think is coolest. Analytical+lab is 5 credits. Arson and explosives is 3. Drugs in CJ is 3. All of that is 11 credits, and I was kinda hoping to only have to take 12 credits, but adding another class meant likely having to take 14, maybe only 13 credits if I took a dance class (which I still might do if my one lecture fills up and I have to rearrange things, therefore making it so I can't do the rock climbing class). But, this rock climbing training is a 1-3 credit class, so if I get there and I only want the 1 credit, I don't want to do extra outside-of-class work or whatever, I can only have 12 credits. If I love it though and want to dedicate more time it, I can totally take 14 credits total. It will be nice, because rock climbing is one of my hobbies, and now I'm going to get college credit to do it. And another nice thing is that it's only for the first half of the semester, so about the time I start to get burned out on classes and I want to drop one, I'll be done with it and my schedule gets lighter.
Man. I hope this works out. If it doesn't, I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever classes I end up with, but this would just be the coolest ever.
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