Here's what I did tonight--babysat! We mostly watched movies in our pajamas, but we also threw a football into a laundry basked for a very long time. It was fun, as evidenced by the smiley picture of me and my nephew. Not so fun? He has stitches. I am eternally grateful it didn't happen at my house, but he jumped off of the couch at his house and hit his eye on the corner of a coffee table. You can kind of see the stitches way on the right side of the photo. Ouch!

Hmm...

Yesterday was not a great day. It wasn't horrible compared with cancer, famine, etc., but compared to the other days this week, it wasn't great.

I had it planned to drive down to Vermillion to observe an evaluation for central auditory processing disorder. It's something I encountered a little bit as a teacher, and I was really excited to learn more about it. But I got there, and it was cancelled. So I drove 2 hours on a day I didn't have class for nothing.

When I came home, I started working on the dinner I was preparing for friends who were coming over that night. It was baked potato soup, and I thought that by peeling the potatoes before baking them, I would save myself some time. Now I'll stop here to say that I'm good at improving in some settings...public speaking, on tests, etc. Home and garden? Not so much. The peeled potatoes turned into rocks, and I had to go get more.

I also baked a cake. Lately I've been praised prodigiously for my cakes. And since the metal 9X13 was dirty, I used the glass pan. Oops. It took way too long to get the middle cooked, and the sides were chewy, and generally not so good.

But, the best was yet to come...as the soup was coming to a simmer, I went to use the bathroom. And there was a horrible stench coming from the bathroom...kind of like someone getting a perm, but grosser. And there was food coming out of the shower drain, covering the shower floor. And guests were coming in like 15 minutes...and this was my only shower...

Let's just say having friends over was the saving grace. We had a lovely dinner, a field trip to the hardware store for stuff to pour down the drain, and some just okay cake. And today I called my new friend, Mr. Roto Rooter, and then went out and bought a trap to catch hair before it goes down the drain, and I vowed not to put any more potato peelings down the garbage disposal.

Random

I was messing around with PhotoBooth tonight, and realized after taking a few photos that the T-shirt I'm wearing is the dorm t-shirt from my freshman year at Dordt--East Hall 97-98. I'm not sure why I bought the t-shirt, as I spent very little time there, and moved after 1 semester, but I have to say that it's one fine t-shirt to have lasted 11-12 years.

I thought it was just the diaphram, a pair of lungs, and an air tube!

So I believe this is probably going to turn into a school blog. You know, just like it turns into a baby blog when you have kids. So if you're cool with that, stick around. If not, well, you can request a topic and we'll see...

Tonight I started reading my textbook for next week's speech science classes--basically anatomy and physiology. And after about a half hour or 45 minutes I decided to peak at where the end of the chapter was, and it kept going and going...it's 84 pages. Seriously, I knew there were a few parts, but I was thinking probably 5-10 parts. Whoops. But in most ways I do like the challenge. I like having something concrete to learn because at the end I can say that I know all the ribs, all the types of vertebrae, parts of the lungs, and a bunch of stuff I haven't read about yet. It's easier to define than say, reading a great novel and saying what you've learned. Though I still love to read...

But yeah, being back in school brings up a bunch of anxieties that always happen at the beginning of a semester. Like the speech science class I'm reading for--last week the professor put up an outline for the previous chapter. That's the material we went through in class, and it was in less detail and breadth than what is in the textbook. So I'm thinking that we'll be tested on what she went over in class, or will we? But I really don't want to ask her either, for fear of looking like I'm trying to get out of work or being lazy.

Speaking of which...I forgot to mention in my last post that I am shocked at the behavior of some of the other students in my classes. For example, in my speech science class we were doing a partner activity, and being the old lady, I didn't have a partner. I turned around to see if there was anyone else partner-less, and there was a girl behind me who had her headphones on...during class. Seriously? This isn't a general ed. requirement...what was she doing there?

Then later in the day in my Intro. to DCOM (Comm. Disorders) class there was a girl behind me snapping her gum. Loudly. The whole time. As any of my students can attest to, I'm very distracted by sounds. I can hear a phone vibrating in someone's backpack across the room. So I was annoyed. And again we had to "talk to a partner" about the reasons we use speech. She was the only one left, and so I smiled and looked at her and said asked her what she thought. She gave me the look of death and said "I don't know." Come on! This is basically a question with a billion right answers. So I offered something, I think I said to get needs met, like when babies cry. Or to ask a question. She sort of said "yeah," and looked at the floor.

It was a pet peeve of mine when I was in college that there were people who didn't want to be there, and I find it all the more annoying now that I'm older. But I'm trying to be graceful, thinking about what else might be going on in their lives right now. I don't remember the exact reference, or much about where I heard it, but once I heard or saw a quote that said be kind to those you meet, for all are in the midst of a great crisis. Maybe these girls were, who knows. Or maybe they were just being bitchy on purpose. Who knows.

So yeah, I'm loving school, but as always trying not to show it too much. I'll save that for the MA program.

Day 2

It is day 2 of once again being a student. And what a day it has been. Good, mostly.

My professors are all pretty cool, and I think (think) my feeling of imminent demise due to my hearing science may have been premature. The professor doesn't seem too disturbed that I haven't taken the prerequisite, and when I asked if there was anything more I could do to be prepared, she said I should come and see her often. That's pretty cool...she seems very into helping students.

In my speech science class we played with play-dough to practice orientation and planes of the body. That was pretty fun, and it meant that I got to talk to a few people. I am definitely still an outlier though, as I was the only person without a partner for the play dough activity. I ended up working with 1/3 of a threesome, and it worked out well.

It turns out all of my classes have 40-50 students in them, which surprised me. Some of the other students said this is abnormal, but who knows.

I'm still trying to master the campus...finding my way without a map is not my strong suit. And, there is a vast shortage of microwaves on campus for commuter students. So far I've found only 1, on the opposite end of campus from all of my classes. It may have to be sandwiches and cold items for lunch from now on.

Oh, and apparently I can also not read my schedule. I found the room for my hearing science class, and sat down in the front row. I was the first one there, but people trickled in. Something didn't feel right though. For one thing, there were too many guys. DCOM (Comm. Disorders) is almost all women, and while I sat there waiting, 3 guys came in. Then, a girl sat down next to me and pulled out a political science booklet. We figured out I was an hour early for my class. Oh well, better early than late. I think I'll have it down by Monday.

And as much as being at class an hour away by 8 am sucks, the parking was great.

Frustrated

I'm frustrated right now. I just found out that student health doesn't cover birth control. Sorry if that's TMI for anyone, but seriously...a student health insurance plan doesn't cover birth control pills? Is there another group of people who need to consider contraception more strongly?

Oh, and it also doesn't cover well woman exams. I guess preventative medicine is just too expensive. Or women are too expensive, one or the other...

And why is it that the less money you make, the more you have to pay for things? I understand that my employer was kicking in for my health insurance, but still...I'm getting quite shitty coverage as a student, and still paying probably 1/3 to 1/2 of what it cost for the kick-ass plan I had that covered medical, dental, and vision.

Just a little rant...on health insurance. Exciting, no?

There was an old lady who...

So I just finished my first day of class. It was great, and fun, and weird. I sort of forgot that I needed a binder and paper until last night, so I made the trek out into the subzero to OfficeMax, and stumped the 19 year old working there when I asked for loose leaf paper. He looked at me, said "loose leaf paper?" as if I had just asked him where they kept the helper monkeys, and then mumbled into his walkie talkie "Do we have, um, loose leaf paper or something?" Of course they did...but then I found it for half-price at Target.

I got my binder together, and was deciding on what bag to make my school bag. Not really a big deal, but I do love all the accoutrements that go with school. I couldn't decide between a messenger bag, or a backpack. A messenger seems more my age, and professional, but in the end the backpack won because all of my books will fit into it, and the messenger will likely remain stuffed with work stuff since I'm still doing that part-time.

Arriving early, I searched for a parking spot. I had a moment of joy earlier this week when I got my shiny new parking pass in the mail...like I said, it's all about the accoutrements. I easily found a spot, and had a few minutes to explore...so I found my new favorite place on campus--the library. It's three floors! And they're divided up into group work, quiet, and silent. How cool is that? But walking into the library was weird...somehow the camel-colored wool pea coat I was wearing felt out of place with a backpack, and I was sure everyone was staring and thinking I didn't belong there.

And for sure when I got to the classroom. I knew I would be older than most people there...but I didn't think I would feel that old. I did. And some of the other students were really, genuinely staring at me. I first thought I was being paranoid, but no, as soon as I would look around I saw eyes averting their gaze. Weird! Seriously, I'm not that old. I was also shocked when someone's phone vibrated during class, and instead of turning it off, the girl checked who was calling. WHAT? Seriously...

So I felt more of an affinity with the professor, and tried to keep my eyes on her. It was weird, I felt more empathy about it being her first day of class in front of all these students than I did empathy for my classmates. I laughed at her jokes and had an almost irrepresible urge to help her pass out papers. I did restrain myself, you'll be happy to note.

It was the standard go over the syllabus first class, and the class itself looks very interesting. We'll be observing SLPs and audiologists, which looks cool. And she'll drop the lowest quiz and test score, so I'm hoping this will be a high grade without a ton of effort, since my other classes will require everything I have. The weirdest part of class though was at the end. She must have made a vague reference to class being almost over (I didn't catch it), and while she was still talking, mid-sentence, students starting (loudly) putting on their coats, putting their pens and books, etc. away. I was really quite shocked! My college kids didn't do that...is that a result of a public school upbringing? (Kidding)

So school is awesome. The only dilemma I have now is this...is it cool, or strange, to friend your professors on Facebook, and does the answer change depending on your age?

Better Than A Staycation

Sitting here in sub-zero temperatures and ever-present darkness, it's hard to believe I was on a tropical island last week. But I was, and it was great. This year we went to Turks and Caicos, and for the first time, rented a house for our family vacation.

It was a sweet house.

The island itself was a bit strange...it's not very touristy yet, although there is a lot of building/developing going on. It also has many extremely wealthy people, stars' homes, etc., but it doesn't really feel like a wealthy island. I guess maybe that's the appeal. Apparently Haiti and Jamaica are big influences on the island, which may explain the ever present mosquitoes, and why we lost electricity for 24 hours, right after we had bought groceries for the week. It was kind of funny to see my family's reaction, but it's hard to understand why things like that happen if it's never happened to you before.

My family isn't big into sightseeing or really doing much of anything on vacation, so we spent lots of time hanging out by the pool and the beach. I did get my brothers to come to a reef to go snorkeling with me once, and we saw an awesome stingray, swimming and then nestling himself into the sand.


This is obviously not the stingray. My camera doesn't do underwater. But, if you look closely you can see the plethora of conch shells--both on the wall, and on the pier thingy jutting out into the ocean. They were everywhere! Not being the sentimental type, I let them stay in their resting place. Others took them home to display in jars and vases.

Just pretty.

Me enjoying the beach. (And the only picture of me in my bathing suit I will ever post here)

Oops...got some water and sand on my borrowed camera lens. It was worth it.

Some neighborhood animals also wanted to join our party. This dog looks a lot like my mom's Pomeranian, so that really confused the little ones. They weren't quite sure how the dog got all the way to Turks and Caicos. The cat kept his distance, but slept on our drying out towels during the night.

Here, kitty, kitty...

My nephew also got a little nervous that the dog would drink all the water out of the baby pool.

They are also generally adorable, my nephews that is. And photogenic...or maybe it's the fact I took about 6000 pictures of them during the week.

They both swim like fish, and make funny faces for the camera.

B has also taken to using his middle finger to point at things. I love it. It's the aunt's job to encourage inappropriate behavior, right?

And perhaps a few photos just to prove I was there too...

Me and T, and my brother's pearly whites

Dinner

Me and the other nephew. Self-portraits have become our thing.

Here's where I've been, and why I haven't been writing...more to come.