Putting this out there:
I've been wanting to go back to college for a while, to get my Bachelors degree.
I was waiting to see how this whole "buy the house" thing came out, but when it fell through, and my hours got cut AGAIN (scheduled 2-6 today, which is ridic), I realized I have that much less holding me back. I'd be doing work a favor if I had specific hours I could be there, and maybe BossMan would do me a favor by scheduling me every possible hour I was available. I could still give lessons, and I could study during downtime (and believe me-you, there's plenty of downtime).
If I decide to take a quick course or seminar in June, that would help - Andy is deciding to take THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE OFF to burn off his paid vacation time. So if something happens, he won't have paid days off, the Big Stupidhead. And he'll be driving me nuts by sitting at the computer while I clean house around him before I head out the door. For nearly an entire month. *eyes cross* I could take a week off to attend class and not only get out of the house, but get him out of my hair. (And me out of his, I'm sure.) And since he insists that we can't afford even a long weekend out of town, even as close as OK City... I gotta do something.
But. I have obstacles. Some of them are surprising.
What I still have holding me back:
- Finances. Can't pay out of pocket for college. Can apply for the FAFSA, but there's no guarantee, especially if they want my SWOSU transcripts. (Long story short, even if I could get them they wouldn't want them.) Thinking my current degrees (two, by Harry! Don't care if they're 'just' Associates!) may suffice.
- Not entirely sure what I want to do. Pretty damned sure not business - Accounting I grayed my hair, Accounting II put me in RAEG mode, so I'm thinking any more accounting classes would make me positively catatonic.
Thinking teaching, but only if I can teach certain subjects (staying away from elementary unless it's music, music history would be ideal, English would be fun, maybe history, Earth science if I had to, higher math would be right out). Maybe history, so I can get into music instrument appraisal. Toyed with psychology, but it'd be "physician, heal thyself".
There is an "Adult Degree Program" that teaches something they call 'leadership skills', and I may look into that, although it'd be like the mostly dead mice the cats bring in the house. Good job, now what the hell am I supposed to do with it? (It might help with what I would love to do, which is help run the music store, but I don't know if and when that would happen.)
Would also love to write, but you don't need a degree to write. Sure, it helps, and I'd learn all sorts of skills, but it isn't necessary.
- Andy. Surprised? Every time I bring it up, he does his best to shoot it down: finances, the fact I'm not sure what to study, the 'fact' that some of the things I'm considering could be learned outside of the classroom (BULLSHIT). It's odd, because he was very gung-ho about my triumphant stint at NOC. What the hell. I'm almost sick of him, but I'm sitting on telling him anything that smacks of this because I think I'm still hormonal. Next week, though...
- Fall is our busy time at work. I'll probably go to class in the AM, get to work right after, work my tuckus off until close, come home to study/do homework, go to bed. It's not going to be easy. NOC wasn't easy, but I made it, simply because I had a job I was itching to leave and the classes were, for the most part, easy. Everybody I've talked to from my NOC graduating class (including Amanda the Human) tells me NWOSU is hard. Well, harder. Wonder if it depends on your major.
- I'm finally getting into a writing niche. Think once I find a beta reader for my NaNovel and polish off a story or two to send to Writer's Journal, I'm going to tackle my BFB (Big Friggin' Book) that I've been working on since I was 15 years old. And I have a really amazing book idea for this year's NaNoWriMo - I need a copy of Pride and Prejudice, and I'll need to do a fair bit of research, but it'll be fascinating if I can pull it off. If I've got a course schedule by the throat while bringing in some dough here and there, plus house/family/self duties, when am I going to find time to write? A day off here, a homework-free evening there... I'm going to multitask my way into failing some damn thing.
- And let's not even get into what it'll do to what little of a social life I have. Andy, Mickie, Amanda the Human and her Heathen-Angel, BFJeff and Co. will all become strangers to me. I may have to give up some things for a while. Like band. And, as I mentioned before, writing.
I just realized if I think too much about it, I'll talk myself out of it before I've even started to chip away at it. So I won't. I need to find that part of me that shut my mouth and moved my feet and Got Shit Done almost three years ago. The part of me responsible for the two degrees and Dean's Scholar certificates and Player of the Year Award on my wall right now.
I need to talk to somebody about it. Maybe Mom. Last time I jumped into college, she was cautiously optimistic and volunteered to help if/when needed.
Gonna go do some damn thing about it. Research, cry, pray (or talk out loud, which helps as well). But quit thinking. Thinking does nothing. Doing helps more.
I was waiting to see how this whole "buy the house" thing came out, but when it fell through, and my hours got cut AGAIN (scheduled 2-6 today, which is ridic), I realized I have that much less holding me back. I'd be doing work a favor if I had specific hours I could be there, and maybe BossMan would do me a favor by scheduling me every possible hour I was available. I could still give lessons, and I could study during downtime (and believe me-you, there's plenty of downtime).
If I decide to take a quick course or seminar in June, that would help - Andy is deciding to take THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE OFF to burn off his paid vacation time. So if something happens, he won't have paid days off, the Big Stupidhead. And he'll be driving me nuts by sitting at the computer while I clean house around him before I head out the door. For nearly an entire month. *eyes cross* I could take a week off to attend class and not only get out of the house, but get him out of my hair. (And me out of his, I'm sure.) And since he insists that we can't afford even a long weekend out of town, even as close as OK City... I gotta do something.
But. I have obstacles. Some of them are surprising.
What I still have holding me back:
- Finances. Can't pay out of pocket for college. Can apply for the FAFSA, but there's no guarantee, especially if they want my SWOSU transcripts. (Long story short, even if I could get them they wouldn't want them.) Thinking my current degrees (two, by Harry! Don't care if they're 'just' Associates!) may suffice.
- Not entirely sure what I want to do. Pretty damned sure not business - Accounting I grayed my hair, Accounting II put me in RAEG mode, so I'm thinking any more accounting classes would make me positively catatonic.
Thinking teaching, but only if I can teach certain subjects (staying away from elementary unless it's music, music history would be ideal, English would be fun, maybe history, Earth science if I had to, higher math would be right out). Maybe history, so I can get into music instrument appraisal. Toyed with psychology, but it'd be "physician, heal thyself".
There is an "Adult Degree Program" that teaches something they call 'leadership skills', and I may look into that, although it'd be like the mostly dead mice the cats bring in the house. Good job, now what the hell am I supposed to do with it? (It might help with what I would love to do, which is help run the music store, but I don't know if and when that would happen.)
Would also love to write, but you don't need a degree to write. Sure, it helps, and I'd learn all sorts of skills, but it isn't necessary.
- Andy. Surprised? Every time I bring it up, he does his best to shoot it down: finances, the fact I'm not sure what to study, the 'fact' that some of the things I'm considering could be learned outside of the classroom (BULLSHIT). It's odd, because he was very gung-ho about my triumphant stint at NOC. What the hell. I'm almost sick of him, but I'm sitting on telling him anything that smacks of this because I think I'm still hormonal. Next week, though...
- Fall is our busy time at work. I'll probably go to class in the AM, get to work right after, work my tuckus off until close, come home to study/do homework, go to bed. It's not going to be easy. NOC wasn't easy, but I made it, simply because I had a job I was itching to leave and the classes were, for the most part, easy. Everybody I've talked to from my NOC graduating class (including Amanda the Human) tells me NWOSU is hard. Well, harder. Wonder if it depends on your major.
- I'm finally getting into a writing niche. Think once I find a beta reader for my NaNovel and polish off a story or two to send to Writer's Journal, I'm going to tackle my BFB (Big Friggin' Book) that I've been working on since I was 15 years old. And I have a really amazing book idea for this year's NaNoWriMo - I need a copy of Pride and Prejudice, and I'll need to do a fair bit of research, but it'll be fascinating if I can pull it off. If I've got a course schedule by the throat while bringing in some dough here and there, plus house/family/self duties, when am I going to find time to write? A day off here, a homework-free evening there... I'm going to multitask my way into failing some damn thing.
- And let's not even get into what it'll do to what little of a social life I have. Andy, Mickie, Amanda the Human and her Heathen-Angel, BFJeff and Co. will all become strangers to me. I may have to give up some things for a while. Like band. And, as I mentioned before, writing.
I just realized if I think too much about it, I'll talk myself out of it before I've even started to chip away at it. So I won't. I need to find that part of me that shut my mouth and moved my feet and Got Shit Done almost three years ago. The part of me responsible for the two degrees and Dean's Scholar certificates and Player of the Year Award on my wall right now.
I need to talk to somebody about it. Maybe Mom. Last time I jumped into college, she was cautiously optimistic and volunteered to help if/when needed.
Gonna go do some damn thing about it. Research, cry, pray (or talk out loud, which helps as well). But quit thinking. Thinking does nothing. Doing helps more.