Update
Just added a friend on here and realized I've been lazy about updating again. Probably because my life has settled back into its general pattern of working, eating, sleeping, and such.
I'm adding schoolwork back into the mix because I have to, or I'll get kicked out of the program. That's a bit stressful, because I don't have any money to pay for the remainder of my classes once I complete this course. (Thanks again, AMIL, for screwing me and your son over. Witch.) Waiting to get my assignments back, corrected, and then I'll actually go through and review them properly - listen to the dictation while I read through the corrections to see if I can hear them - unlike the last batch I did. These should be a bit better just because I'm transcribing verbatim this time. Last time, I thought I had to do massive editing to make the reports super-professional and grammatically correct. Totally wrong on my part.
Sweetie and I are also trying to work exercise into the mix, since I'm just barely maintaining my weight and he's still slowly gaining. :( In an effort to make it a little more fun, and ease us into it instead of doing his killer routing, we got a Wii Fit. So freaking fun!! I kick the yoga, he kicks the other balance stuff, he's got the edge in aerobics and strength training from all his running in high school, but I'm holding my own I think.
On a slightly more depressing note, we broke down our hours in a day. 9 hours at work, 8 hours sleeping, 2 hours for eating/showering/etc per day, plus 3-4 hours commuting. Yeah, 3-4 hours every freaking day just driving to and from work. That's 22-23 hours right there. We have, on average, only 1.5 hours per day for anything else. Laundry, cleaning, car repairs, most of the stuff we end up pushing to the weekend. In my case, that 1-2 hours per evening is going into school work. Oh, and cooking at home eats into that free time given the prep, extra cleanup, leftovers, etc.
The disturbing part of things is that this is standard for America. If it's not a long commute like us, it's working a second job to afford the better location, or juggling kids, or both. If you don't get your education before you start working full-time, you probably won't...money totally taken out of the equation. That's bothers me, especially since America is in a position where it needs more skilled labor than ever, not less.
Even worse, money is generally the limiting factor for most of those people who do have the time to go to school, even with loans and aid available. I mean, who wants to spend the rest of their life paying off their education? And that is the time frame most people are looking at. They'll be nearly retired before their student loans and credit cards from college are paid off...and then they probably haven't managed to save for said retirement because of the bills, and work until the day they die (probably on the job, given how much time you spend there every day).
I know I'm not the first to say this, but our system is fucked. Here's hoping all that change Obama's been preaching actually manages to topple the system.
I'm adding schoolwork back into the mix because I have to, or I'll get kicked out of the program. That's a bit stressful, because I don't have any money to pay for the remainder of my classes once I complete this course. (Thanks again, AMIL, for screwing me and your son over. Witch.) Waiting to get my assignments back, corrected, and then I'll actually go through and review them properly - listen to the dictation while I read through the corrections to see if I can hear them - unlike the last batch I did. These should be a bit better just because I'm transcribing verbatim this time. Last time, I thought I had to do massive editing to make the reports super-professional and grammatically correct. Totally wrong on my part.
Sweetie and I are also trying to work exercise into the mix, since I'm just barely maintaining my weight and he's still slowly gaining. :( In an effort to make it a little more fun, and ease us into it instead of doing his killer routing, we got a Wii Fit. So freaking fun!! I kick the yoga, he kicks the other balance stuff, he's got the edge in aerobics and strength training from all his running in high school, but I'm holding my own I think.
On a slightly more depressing note, we broke down our hours in a day. 9 hours at work, 8 hours sleeping, 2 hours for eating/showering/etc per day, plus 3-4 hours commuting. Yeah, 3-4 hours every freaking day just driving to and from work. That's 22-23 hours right there. We have, on average, only 1.5 hours per day for anything else. Laundry, cleaning, car repairs, most of the stuff we end up pushing to the weekend. In my case, that 1-2 hours per evening is going into school work. Oh, and cooking at home eats into that free time given the prep, extra cleanup, leftovers, etc.
The disturbing part of things is that this is standard for America. If it's not a long commute like us, it's working a second job to afford the better location, or juggling kids, or both. If you don't get your education before you start working full-time, you probably won't...money totally taken out of the equation. That's bothers me, especially since America is in a position where it needs more skilled labor than ever, not less.
Even worse, money is generally the limiting factor for most of those people who do have the time to go to school, even with loans and aid available. I mean, who wants to spend the rest of their life paying off their education? And that is the time frame most people are looking at. They'll be nearly retired before their student loans and credit cards from college are paid off...and then they probably haven't managed to save for said retirement because of the bills, and work until the day they die (probably on the job, given how much time you spend there every day).
I know I'm not the first to say this, but our system is fucked. Here's hoping all that change Obama's been preaching actually manages to topple the system.