Back to School (Again)

As it might surprise you to know, I dropped out of college after a car accident. I broke my ankle, and there was no way I could navigate the stairs and carry my backpack with my leg in a cast up to my thigh (don't ask me why it was so high, when the broken bone was way down on the other end of the leg), and so I withdrew from all my classes and pretty much dropped out.



I went to work full-time, at the coercion of my then-boss, and it was a decision that I have very much come to regret. I quit that job eight years later, when I'd gone as far as I could go, and I never found work after that. Turned out to be a good thing, because when Dad got sick, I was able to throw myself into taking care of him full time.

But when he passed away in January of 2011, I suddenly found myself adrift. The last few years I'd had something to take up almost every moment of my time, and then it was gone. That huge feeling of GOTTA DO SOMETHING is what triggered it; I went back to school.

My family had been trying to get me to go back to school for years. Up until now, I'd turned it down for a myriad of reasons, including time, cost, class location, and did I mention cost?

But Mom suggested I apply for a Pell Grant--and I got it. The whole shebang, full amount, over five thousand dollars. I didn't have any excuses after that; I registered at my local community college, and prepared to take the tests. Only I didn't have to take any tests; my transcripts from my previous college were all As and Bs; I placed out of their tests and went straight to counseling.

I'd thought about medical transcripting, because that was something I could do at home, and home work was really a big consideration because we're a one-car family. But after talking to me for awhile, finding out what I was good at and what I enjoyed, the counselor--whom I will forever love for this--pointed me towards an Associate in Applied Science. That means, that's their one-year or two-year programs geared towards getting students a diploma and a job, in that order.

Hence I'm enrolled in the Associate of Applied Science, Web Technology. First semester is Introduction to Programming and Logic (C++), Web Markup and Scripting, Introduction to Computers (including Office 2010, which I despise), and Fundamentals of the Internet. If you'd think those classes are easy, you'd be right. Except for Programming and Logic. Because I am not a logical thinker. (Gee, go fig.) And that class is chapping my ass like you wouldn't believe.

Otherwise? Hooray for school!