Tuesday, August 21, 2007

"School's In!"

I still can't believe it's already August and I'm already back in school. Yesterday was technically my first day. But I consider today to be my first day as well. My class schedule changed yesterday so, when I go back to my M/W classes tomorrow it'll be like first day all over again. Today was really just meant to meet the teachers. My Algebra teacher was the only one that did a lesson for the day. Everyone else didn't.

Well, I'm so close to receiving my Assosciate in Arts degree. I met with my counselor (which just happens to be the Dean of Student Affairs and I know him personally. He goes to my church. My hardest job is remembering when I see him at school, I'm suppose to refer to him as Dean Heindl (pronounced h-eye-n-dul) and not Michael, which is his first name. But I'm learning. But we sat down yesterday and had about an hour meeting looking at the classes that I would need. He managed to work around a whole bunch of red tape and made it easier on me. He had a layout of exactly how many more hours I need in order to graduate. Basically, I have to take 14 hours this semester, 12 hours next semester, and 12 hours in the next semester. Which means I'll be walking in the December graduate line. My parents are really pushing me to be the best I can be. Both them and I were hoping that I would be able to graduate in the spring but it is virtually impossible to handle that. So, that's what that is. The idea came up for me to take summer courses but one, it's too crammed, two, I won't get to walk, and three, I have a full time job during the summer. So, that was scratched out real quick. But my parents were generous enough to accept my idea to take yet another semester off when I graduate from Hinds. But because I want an apartment down in Hattiesburg and not a dorm, I have to come up with the money for a security deposit and also for month to month rent. I have a steady paycheck coming from the church because I work full time there. But what I will do is while I'm off that semester, I'm gonna look for a job and not spend any money on indulgences. It will be used for gas for my car, and my cell phone bill.

Michael also set my schedule in stone. He dropped me from Art Appreciation and added American Lit and Intro to Computer Concepts. My parents joke at me about the computer class. In fact, I was standing outside with my mom and dad and they were like "You better get an A in that class." My dad's a computer engineer. I'm hoping I will be pleasantly surprised going into the class. I'm excited. After tomorrow, I will have gone to every one of my classes.

Okay, I'm sleepy now. Bedtime!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

"A Summer's Reflection"

Every year about this time, I do a blog about my summer. Well, I say blog but it's a journal. A written journal. But I figured since I got this thing yet I never post on it that I would do it on here. I usually do my reflection on events that have happened, either good or bad. So, shall we start? Yes, let's. We'll go by months, starting with May.

May 07 - Well, I finished school. I have to take College Algebra again (don't ask). I got a call from one of my good friends to watch her child who is six. I accepted, of course. Well, after that, I got a call from my neighbor. She has two little girls that she wanted me to watch. Of course, I accepted that. For the month of may, I was getting a weekly paycheck of about 200 dollars. Not bad, right? The kids stay with me from 7am-4pm. Pretty awesome. Things are going smoothly.

June 07 - The first part of the month was good. The paychecks were wonderful. Notice I said "were". I got a call from my neighbor. She explained that her husband is having issues with his shoulder and is not working until further notice. So, she said that the girls would stay with their father. I got a 125 dollar check from her. Now, I was only left with the paycheck I get from the little boy I watch. Which isn't bad. It's 60 dollars a week. It ain't anything to be sad about. Well, things got better. I started talking to this great guy named Keith. He is the sweetest guy ever. I never ever thought we would connect the way we did but we have. And he agrees. Him and I are fastly becoming best friends. He lives in Arkansas but he lived down here in Jackson for a while. He's such a great guy. I am attracted to him but I'm old fashioned. I'm waiting for him to make the first move. We'll see where this goes. Well, June wasn't all bad. I found out from the nursery worker at my church that I would be coming on as a full time paid worker. That check is a monthly check. Though it's monthly, the check itself is great. Roughly about 275 a month is where that stands.

July 07 - July's here already. I can't believe it. Just one more month and school starts. I've been concentrating on working. Jordan's a great little boy. I've found that since I've been saving a certain amount from my paychecks that I have a lot more money to splurge. I bought a couple of games that I've wanted for ages. I don't like asking my parents for money anymore since I get my own paycheck but there are times that I just have to. I.E. when my gas tank is touching the red and my car is sputtering. Splurging is fun and all but I need to learn to conserve enough money to maintain the gas in my car. I've found myself asking for gas money and it's no one's fault but my own. Plus it doesn't help the fact that I only have a 14 gallon tank. AND the ECG valve went out on it which sucks the gas right out of it. But it's been good for now. I'm working on it. In July, I found an old Super Nintendo system along with three classic games. All work great. I'm all excited. Not only that but according to Paul (my drum instructor) I'm doing great and he wants me to practice at church. The only problem is I'm shy when it comes to playing. So, I always put it off being too scared to do anything. I'll play the drum set in the choir room all day long but I won't play the one in the sanctuary. Not because I think I suck but I'm so scared to play it, thinking that everyone will come in and think that I suck. I've only been playing since November and I want to get better. So, I've been shy about that. My nephew came down to spend a week with us. His mom just had her second child and Will was to stay down here with me. That was good. He's so adorable. The last time he was down here, his hair was strawberry blonde. Now, it's blonde. Or, sandy blonde. But still just so adorable. He slept mostly in my room but not without me questioning why. That led to the first really big fight with my mother. Not fun. We made up but still.

August 07 - Not that much has happened yet. August 20 is when I start my classes. I'm excited to see Mary again. We have speech together. But again, I have to take college algebra again. Not fun. But Michael is the new Dean. I'm so excited. He's awesome. But August didn't come without problems. My mother and I got into another fight. And it was a stupid one too. I had an obligated family thing I had to go to. On my mom's dad's side of the family, we got some rich relatives. And my mother and I were invited to a wedding shower. I didn't mind but I had to dress up and deal with the stares from the relatives who know that I am not the richest of the family. Not only that but the person who planned the shower is a person that both my mother and I abhor. Seriously. She ain't a nice person. All throughout the shower, she was steadily edging up to get into the conversations that I was carrying on with my great Aunt Ann and my cousin Misty. When my mom came over to join our convo, the person planning the wedding saw that as an invitation and got as close as she could and started snapping pictures. I felt like a movie star because she was just like the paparazzi. So annoying! But no worries, my mother put her in her place and we continued our conversation about my grandmother, who was on the beach at the time of the shower. On the way home from the shower, we stopped by my brother Scott's house. I finally showed him how I played the drums. He had been bugging me to show off what I know or he'd know that I can't play. Well, I showed him that I could indeed play the drums. Well, once my impromtu play came and went, I was introduced to Jazzie, Scott's exgirlfriend's cat. She has caramel covered fur with some blonde in it. We found that she was fixed, house trained, and sweet natured. Mom caved and we adopted her. She lives with us now. We introduced her to the dog and the dog was scared of her. Quite amusing, actually. Jazzie went up to the door and hissed and growled at Dakota all the while, she is attempted to slice him through the plexiglass. Still in all, it's funny.

That's the summer as of this day, August 8. I bid you all farewell. MUWAH!