I got started thinking today about what is left ahead of me in terms of school and where it may lead me. I'm not far off from finishing my AA at SPCC, and I took a moment to check out the website for UNCC and see if I could figure out what's next. UNCC seems the most logical choice. I've never even been there, but as far as state schools that are convenient to my location, it seems fairly certain that is where I'll end up.
Since I've never done this before, I don't have anything to draw from in terms of how many and what kinds of classes I'll need to finish this process. It turns out that the good news is that if I transfer with an official Associate's in Art degree, they won't pick it apart. In other words, I'm good to go for all my general courses, and I can move on to the required course for the baccalaureate degree. For the English program, that means I'll need 33 credits in English (about 11 classes), a public speaking course (I think), and 18 credits (about 6 classes) for a minor of my choice. So that's 17-18 classes total!! That is so doable I can almost taste the victory! I know, I know. I'm getting ahead of myself. But remember, I'm 35, almost 36, and I never thought I'd see this in my life. So it's pretty exciting.
As far as a minor goes, I was thinking about either Sociology or History. Sociology has been a new favorite of mine, and I think it would be something that would help in my future studies as well as in my writing. I'm not a huge fan of history, but I see that as something that could only add to my general knowledge and also help if I decide to pursue any fictional writing as well as some non-fiction. My other choice would be to pursue a teacher certificate instead of a minor. I would be eligible to teach HS English, which is not where I want to be for good but would be something I could do in the interim.
This leads to the next point, and it is that we have decided that we would like to move back close to where we came from, probably somewhere around Maryland or Delaware. North Carolina has served it's purpose, but I'm really ready to move on. It won't happen until I graduate, but I'm hoping it does happen shortly thereafter. My goal is to be able to afford to move because I'd like to work, maybe teaching, after I get my BA while working toward my MA.
So there's the plan! I'll elaborate more as we go about some of the other stuff, especially about how sick of NC I am. Sorry, NC! You've been good to us, but I think we've overstayed our welcome. Anyway, I had to blog about this and put it in writing because I'll be excited to look back on it periodically to see my progress and which goals were met and which were changed. By the time we get to day 180, or however many days we've got, I will hopefully be a new UNCC student and preparing to move to the next step in this crazy process.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Day 44 (eve)- Cool School and an Infection Injection
It's been a couple weeks since my last post so I'll start where I left off. The parent-teacher conference we had went great...not that I had any doubt. Veronica's teacher basically told us how wonderfully smart she is. She's not only way ahead of the class, but she's socially adept as well. Ms. Livesey said that she "gets it" right away whenever they are given a new assignment, and she helps the other kids that are having a hard time or struggling to understand. We were shown the levels in the different categories of learning they hope to accomplish by the end of the year, and Veronica has already mastered about 50-75% of it...2 months into the school year!! I'm so impressed with her abilities, and it's going to be exciting to watch her grow academically through the years.
My final class for the semester started a couple weeks ago. It seems like it shouldn't be too bad, so I'm hopeful about getting through the semester relatively well. My dreaded Biology class is going well, too. I've now taken 2 exams and done really well on both. On the other hand, I took my first World Civilizations exam and bombed. Well, my version of bombed, anyway. I got a 72% on it, and that's the worst test grade I've gotten since I started back to school. Thankfully, it didn't destroy my overall grade, but it certainly doesn't help. Hopefully I will fare better on the next one.
Evan seems to have found his groove at school. I've been getting good reports from the teachers, and he's been telling me about these two other boys in his class that apparently have taken over as the resident trouble makers. I'm just glad it's not him! I keep asking him how it feels that he's the good listener and has been getting popsicles at snack time while these other two don't. I'm hoping he understands how rewarding it is to be on the good side of things. Evan really impresses me in his own right, as well. I'm constantly amazed at the impressive train track configurations he puts together. He's always got this massive "town" running all over the toy room, and it even goes up and down from the couch to the floor. He figures this stuff out all by himself, and I'm convinced this type of thing is where he's going to excel. Move over, Marcus! There's another engineer in the making.
Last weekend Veronica started feeling sick and came down with a pretty high fever. She was looking really pathetic, and I started worrying about her. On Monday, it looked like she might get over it, so I cancelled the doctor's appointment I had made. By the next day, it became apparent that I was going to need to take her anyway. When I brought her in, the doctor said it sounded like she had pneumonia. They did a finger prick and determined her white blood cell count was really high, so he decided it would have to be treated aggressively. That meant that Veronica had to get a shot in the butt. It was horrible. I have never heard her scream so loud and violently. The nurse and I had to each take an end and physically drag her out of the corner and hold her down on the table. After almost 6 years of parenthood, this is the first time I lost it and started crying. I felt so bad for how sick she was in the first place, but to have to add insult to injury in the form of this shot just broke my heart. Anyway, we went across the street to have an x-ray taken that confirmed she did have full blown pneumonia. Luckily, the shot did it's thing, and we didn't have to go back for another. They started her on an antibiotic, but she still ended up missing school through Thursday. Friday morning was career day, and she was adamant about wanting to go to school. I checked her temperature when she got up that morning, and she was still a little elevated at 99.1 degrees. However, I just pumped her full of ibuprofen and figured she'd be okay for one day. Friday evening she started feeling bad again, obviously signaling that we weren't out of the woods yet. Saturday morning she woke up with a rash on her legs, so back to the doctor we went. It turns out she was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic, so they gave her a new one. We did get a little good news though when the doctor listened to her lungs and said they sounded better. Today, she seems MUCH better, so I'm crossing my fingers that the worst is over.
Jon and I got to go on a much needed date the other night. We got our neighbor to watch the kids for free, and we went out to dinner for a belated anniversary celebration. It was simple but very enjoyable and relaxing. Also, we've started dedicating a couple nights a week to watching the series LOST. Yes, I just finished it myself, but I thought it was something that Jon would like and a chance for us to have some inexpensive quality time together. This past week we got through the first 4 episodes, and Jon loves it! We actually would have watched more but the disc we had only has those 4 on it. We go through Netflix, so we're waiting for the next one to arrive on Monday. Now that we realize there are only 4 episodes per disc, we'll probably just watch all four at once, and then get the next disc. Jon and I like some of the same movies and shows but not many. So I'm obviously thrilled that we are enjoying this together.
Tomorrow is back to the grind. Unfortunately, I missed my whole week of school last week because of Veronica's illness, so I'm hoping to be able to jump back in easily enough. Thursday I'm having a Pampered Chef party and hoping it turns out well. Then Friday the kids are leaving for another two week visit with their grandparents. It's Veronica's first long break in the school year, and Jan jumped at the opportunity for another visit. I'm excited to have some time to potentially knock out the majority of my major assignments for the semester. Also, this week it looks like we finally make it out of the 90's for the outside temp. I guess we've officially made it the whole summer without fixing our broken A/C. Yea!! I'm just waiting for the heater to go next. Damn! Why did I say that?!?
My final class for the semester started a couple weeks ago. It seems like it shouldn't be too bad, so I'm hopeful about getting through the semester relatively well. My dreaded Biology class is going well, too. I've now taken 2 exams and done really well on both. On the other hand, I took my first World Civilizations exam and bombed. Well, my version of bombed, anyway. I got a 72% on it, and that's the worst test grade I've gotten since I started back to school. Thankfully, it didn't destroy my overall grade, but it certainly doesn't help. Hopefully I will fare better on the next one.
Evan seems to have found his groove at school. I've been getting good reports from the teachers, and he's been telling me about these two other boys in his class that apparently have taken over as the resident trouble makers. I'm just glad it's not him! I keep asking him how it feels that he's the good listener and has been getting popsicles at snack time while these other two don't. I'm hoping he understands how rewarding it is to be on the good side of things. Evan really impresses me in his own right, as well. I'm constantly amazed at the impressive train track configurations he puts together. He's always got this massive "town" running all over the toy room, and it even goes up and down from the couch to the floor. He figures this stuff out all by himself, and I'm convinced this type of thing is where he's going to excel. Move over, Marcus! There's another engineer in the making.
Last weekend Veronica started feeling sick and came down with a pretty high fever. She was looking really pathetic, and I started worrying about her. On Monday, it looked like she might get over it, so I cancelled the doctor's appointment I had made. By the next day, it became apparent that I was going to need to take her anyway. When I brought her in, the doctor said it sounded like she had pneumonia. They did a finger prick and determined her white blood cell count was really high, so he decided it would have to be treated aggressively. That meant that Veronica had to get a shot in the butt. It was horrible. I have never heard her scream so loud and violently. The nurse and I had to each take an end and physically drag her out of the corner and hold her down on the table. After almost 6 years of parenthood, this is the first time I lost it and started crying. I felt so bad for how sick she was in the first place, but to have to add insult to injury in the form of this shot just broke my heart. Anyway, we went across the street to have an x-ray taken that confirmed she did have full blown pneumonia. Luckily, the shot did it's thing, and we didn't have to go back for another. They started her on an antibiotic, but she still ended up missing school through Thursday. Friday morning was career day, and she was adamant about wanting to go to school. I checked her temperature when she got up that morning, and she was still a little elevated at 99.1 degrees. However, I just pumped her full of ibuprofen and figured she'd be okay for one day. Friday evening she started feeling bad again, obviously signaling that we weren't out of the woods yet. Saturday morning she woke up with a rash on her legs, so back to the doctor we went. It turns out she was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic, so they gave her a new one. We did get a little good news though when the doctor listened to her lungs and said they sounded better. Today, she seems MUCH better, so I'm crossing my fingers that the worst is over.
Jon and I got to go on a much needed date the other night. We got our neighbor to watch the kids for free, and we went out to dinner for a belated anniversary celebration. It was simple but very enjoyable and relaxing. Also, we've started dedicating a couple nights a week to watching the series LOST. Yes, I just finished it myself, but I thought it was something that Jon would like and a chance for us to have some inexpensive quality time together. This past week we got through the first 4 episodes, and Jon loves it! We actually would have watched more but the disc we had only has those 4 on it. We go through Netflix, so we're waiting for the next one to arrive on Monday. Now that we realize there are only 4 episodes per disc, we'll probably just watch all four at once, and then get the next disc. Jon and I like some of the same movies and shows but not many. So I'm obviously thrilled that we are enjoying this together.
Tomorrow is back to the grind. Unfortunately, I missed my whole week of school last week because of Veronica's illness, so I'm hoping to be able to jump back in easily enough. Thursday I'm having a Pampered Chef party and hoping it turns out well. Then Friday the kids are leaving for another two week visit with their grandparents. It's Veronica's first long break in the school year, and Jan jumped at the opportunity for another visit. I'm excited to have some time to potentially knock out the majority of my major assignments for the semester. Also, this week it looks like we finally make it out of the 90's for the outside temp. I guess we've officially made it the whole summer without fixing our broken A/C. Yea!! I'm just waiting for the heater to go next. Damn! Why did I say that?!?
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