All Souls Day...
zen does not teach, it points.
i awoke this morning with the plan of re-enrolling in school. i drove down to georgia state, a place i once viewed as prison, and found my way into the basement of kell hall. not much had changed from when i used to attend GSU, oh except for they took the floor out of kell hall, so now the place looks even more like some slumlord's lair. i made my way into the admissions office and pretty explicitly stated that i want to re-enroll. the clerk took down my info and attempted to pull up my student records..."hmmm, we have no record of you attending last fall..." REALLY? because im pretty sure i lived here for eight months last year. " well the deadline for re-enrollment was yesterday so ill go see what i can do." i'm relatively confused at this point, this last statement had nothing to do with her first, AND if the deadline yesterday why didnt she say so in the first place. so then she disappears for a while, i go sit at her desk so i can see what information they actually DO have on me when i see all over her computer screen my class schedule from last fall along with my student records, all of which are dated "fall semester 2004." cool. she eventually shows up again, and says that theres no way i can register today, after all the deadline was yesterday, so she tells me to call back every few days for the next week or two so that i may see if theyve extended the deadline. yes, they might decide to extend the deadline a week or two after it, but most definitely not the day after. she gives me an application for the university and says i can fill that out and they might or might not accept it later.
point#1 of GSU visit effectively blown. onto point #2.
so i make it down to the the student center to retrieve my housing refund. this goes smoothly enough except i have to fill out another application, which isnt so bad, just a hassle. the infinitely more helpful clerk at the housing office lets me know that itll be 2-3 weeks before i get my refund. cool.
i head out, unable to attend GSU next semester, probably for the better. as i left, however i was struck with an idea, if i cant go to school next semester( due shitty deadlines or procrastination on my part... i dont know), then i might as well hike the appalachian trail. ive wanted to do that for a while, but really havent had an opportune time frame open up. the best time to start the hike out is february, that way its not too cold in georgia when you leave, and not too cold in maine when you arrive about 7 months later. a spring semester would be the perfect time to due this hike.
on my way home i stop by kennesaw state to see when their application deadline for spring semester is (if im not going to GSU, KSU is the next logical step). their deadline turns out to be the 11th, so ive got nine days to apply. KSU, i can tell just from my brief experience there this afternoon, is a MUCH nicer and better organized institute than GSU, so i would be more than happy to go there. and its like 5 minutes from my house.
now i make my decision, do i seize this opportunity to hike my dream in what may be the last completely free spring of my life, or do i go back to college and dick around there for another semester. hmmm... complete major life goal, or be institutionalized some more... tough choice really.
my family and i agree that to not take this opportunity to hike the appalachian would be to pass up possibly the greatest experience of my life. february 19th is my 20th birthday, a great milestone for adventure. right now the plan is to start at the trail-head on my birthday and through hike this great motherfucker. this means ive got four months, roughly, to get all the plans put together and get into shape. ive had a lot of ideas, lots of plans for my future, but never has one seemed as right as this one. this is the right time, this is the right "next step" in my life experience. ive got a lot of training and preparation before im ready to do this, but ive never been more excited to start something, ive never been more motivated to get myself ready for something.
im going to hike the appalachian trail.
{LOVE}
i awoke this morning with the plan of re-enrolling in school. i drove down to georgia state, a place i once viewed as prison, and found my way into the basement of kell hall. not much had changed from when i used to attend GSU, oh except for they took the floor out of kell hall, so now the place looks even more like some slumlord's lair. i made my way into the admissions office and pretty explicitly stated that i want to re-enroll. the clerk took down my info and attempted to pull up my student records..."hmmm, we have no record of you attending last fall..." REALLY? because im pretty sure i lived here for eight months last year. " well the deadline for re-enrollment was yesterday so ill go see what i can do." i'm relatively confused at this point, this last statement had nothing to do with her first, AND if the deadline yesterday why didnt she say so in the first place. so then she disappears for a while, i go sit at her desk so i can see what information they actually DO have on me when i see all over her computer screen my class schedule from last fall along with my student records, all of which are dated "fall semester 2004." cool. she eventually shows up again, and says that theres no way i can register today, after all the deadline was yesterday, so she tells me to call back every few days for the next week or two so that i may see if theyve extended the deadline. yes, they might decide to extend the deadline a week or two after it, but most definitely not the day after. she gives me an application for the university and says i can fill that out and they might or might not accept it later.
point#1 of GSU visit effectively blown. onto point #2.
so i make it down to the the student center to retrieve my housing refund. this goes smoothly enough except i have to fill out another application, which isnt so bad, just a hassle. the infinitely more helpful clerk at the housing office lets me know that itll be 2-3 weeks before i get my refund. cool.
i head out, unable to attend GSU next semester, probably for the better. as i left, however i was struck with an idea, if i cant go to school next semester( due shitty deadlines or procrastination on my part... i dont know), then i might as well hike the appalachian trail. ive wanted to do that for a while, but really havent had an opportune time frame open up. the best time to start the hike out is february, that way its not too cold in georgia when you leave, and not too cold in maine when you arrive about 7 months later. a spring semester would be the perfect time to due this hike.
on my way home i stop by kennesaw state to see when their application deadline for spring semester is (if im not going to GSU, KSU is the next logical step). their deadline turns out to be the 11th, so ive got nine days to apply. KSU, i can tell just from my brief experience there this afternoon, is a MUCH nicer and better organized institute than GSU, so i would be more than happy to go there. and its like 5 minutes from my house.
now i make my decision, do i seize this opportunity to hike my dream in what may be the last completely free spring of my life, or do i go back to college and dick around there for another semester. hmmm... complete major life goal, or be institutionalized some more... tough choice really.
my family and i agree that to not take this opportunity to hike the appalachian would be to pass up possibly the greatest experience of my life. february 19th is my 20th birthday, a great milestone for adventure. right now the plan is to start at the trail-head on my birthday and through hike this great motherfucker. this means ive got four months, roughly, to get all the plans put together and get into shape. ive had a lot of ideas, lots of plans for my future, but never has one seemed as right as this one. this is the right time, this is the right "next step" in my life experience. ive got a lot of training and preparation before im ready to do this, but ive never been more excited to start something, ive never been more motivated to get myself ready for something.
im going to hike the appalachian trail.
{LOVE}