Saving!!!

For the first time in 3 months I have been able to put some of my paycheck into savings... I used to be able to save every paycheck, but with so many ASU expenses and bad spending habits, I haven't done it in a while. It feels really good to be a good steward of my money (actually never understood exactly what that meant, but I feel it).

Had to buy a new backpack... some genius at the Jansport decided to make a backpack more comfortable by putting a liquid gel in the straps... too bad the gel is red and it leaks ALL OVER my clothes when I wear it!!! so I bought a new backpack at Walmart today. I also went around town looking for "The Allegory of Love" by CS Lewis (I need it for a paper I'm writing for school) only to find that it is no longer in print... suck!!!
So I'm wondering if anyone owns it, and would be willing to let me borrow it? Let me know ASAP.

Also there is a leak in my bathroom sink, so everything under my sink this morning was covered with water... it's now 6 hours after calling apartment maintenance and NO ONE has even called me back. I really don't appreciate this apartment complex. I miss Glenwood Terrace.

At work this morning I found out my boss is resigning... (I will refrain from making a smiley face - but I think you all know how I feel).

Also had a meeting with the lady in charge of study programs in England... and everything is looking rather promising for me and the spring :) I will be turning in my application with my application fee, transcripts, and letters of recommendation from two of my professors in the next couple of weeks. The deadline is Oct. 1st and they said I would hear if I got in the next day... so cross your fingers and of course - pray :) I am trusting God in his plan, but I want to let you all know, I am way to excited about all this, so if I don't get in, I may cry for several weeks... and then apply again for the fall of '09.

I am now going to go clean my house... and if you're lucky you may get pictures of the apartment on here in the next couple of days :)

don't know what to eat...

Just biked home from school and I have about 45 minutes till I have to go to work until 11pm... ugh. I am completely famished seeming as on days where I'm at ASU I don't eat lunch... I actually rarely eat all day because although I wake up early enough to have breakfast, I have no time to actually eat with last minute homework to organize. I even stayed up till 2am last night doing homework and there was still more to be done this morning. So now, here I sit trying to figure out what to eat. Nothing is coming to mind that doesn't require me to spend money or spend time preparing. I understand the college student menu of mac n' cheese and PB & J. I fear I will be gaining the freshman fifteen at the age of 23 (almost 24) with all the processed or fast food.
I feel MUCH better about school. Over the weekend (with all the work I had to do) I made it a point to remind myself of why I went back to school. NOT appearing on the list are: 4.0 GPA, best in my class, impress my professors, etc, etc. So why am I FREAKING out about these measly beginning of the semester assignments. The reason I went back to school was because I loved learning and I really wanted a bachelor's degree. If I'm not enjoying the learning process than why am I doing it. After I talked myself through that, I also took time out of homework (ie. procrastinated) to spend time with God. I read my Bible, went to college group... I spent time with family and friends... had a really great conversation with a friend over ice cream, and during that time I made it a point to not think about the need to be getting my homework done... and do you know what happened? As I sat down to write both of my papers sunday afternoon, I had this flood of peace and completed both papers with no trouble. Then today in my History 101 class my professor cancelled the quiz and let us out early. This allowed me to finish my reading for my next class REL 494, which I would not have been able to do otherwise, and then I arrived at my next class and that quiz too was postponed. Sweet!! I am in for yet another busy weekend of homework... there is no rest for the scholastic.

Also realized that my bike isn't as pretty as the other bikes on campus... I want this bike... with a basket and streamers.

questions from a college student...

It is the end of my second week as a college student. They say that there are several things that once learned can never be forgotten... like riding a bike. I have proven this fact literally because after my long absence from bike riding, I have again become comfortable on such a mode of transportation. I am actually enjoying my rides to and from campus, of course after the initial 5 minutes where my legs still ache a little bit (note: I need to stretch in the mornings)... but other things that I learned long ago, have not come back so easily.
One such skill is time management... okay let's face it, this skill has never existed in my bag of tricks... I am TERRIBLE at time management!!! I always have been, it is not my forte. I struggle with it at my job and now with school. It of course doesn't help that I have been without homework for almost 3 years, and so getting back into the groove of coming home and NOT being free to sit and watch a movie or read a book of my choosing, or my particular favorite - just go to bed. I now come home and have endless amounts of information still needing to be retained. I have papers to write and novels to read and history books to pour through, and spanish verb tenses to memorize... UGH!!!
Speaking of Spanish - yet another skill once learned and now lost. Granted it's coming back, but I am having to look up even the easy words to refresh myself... for example the word "easy" (for your information it's "facil"). I deal with this though... I keep my head down in class and avoid eye contact and only speak up when the answer only requires one spanish word and not entire sentence construction. This way La Profesora remembers I participated and yet I avoid her calling on me at random. brilliant, I know. I should write a book.
Aside from skill retraining, I am also learning things for the first time. I often pose questions to myself as I wander around campus on my bike... like, "can ASU students walk in a straight line?" This is a very important question, because no matter how proficient a cyclist I am, I cannot avoid random students who weave around imaginary barriers and jump out in front of my bike. It's not that they needed to move in order to avoid anything in their way... they just do, they will just randomly start walking diagonal right in my way. I mean they veer back and forth like field mice. It's very frustrating... because then I have to come to a screeching halt behind them and hope I don't just run them over (however tempting that may be), or I have to escape onto the adjacent lawn or swerve and pray no one is in my path.
Another question is, "do sorority girls get special training to squeal as loud as they can?" It is greek week and ever sorority is out in force to recruit. They set up a fair of sorts on the north part of campus and all the way from the MU I could hear the crowd at a decibel level that can not be natural. Now, I actually did have a moment where I wanted to wander over and try to be wooed by a sorority... maybe if I'd have gone to college and lived on campus I would have gotten involved in a sorority... wait... HAHAHA who am I kidding, I would have rather had spiders lay eggs in my ears. I do sometimes however want to stop and tour the booths for different clubs still littered around campus... but I seriously have no time to commit to any such clubs...
Which brings me to my final thought provoking question, "Can a returning college student and massage therapy instructor go to school 6 hrs a day on tuesday and thursdays and be assigned at least another 8+ hours of homework per week, and still work at her 32 hour a week job (nights no less)?" The answer... a resounding NO. I have been told by my managers that they are trying to hire someone to replace me next quarter and therefore I'll be relegated to adjunct faculty (meaning I'll work around 8 - 15 hours a week). They have spoken about it like it was a possibility and that nothing was definite and that I still could be kept on at full time, and yesterday I told them that I had decided for them that I was to be adjunct. I feel really good about this as far as my position at the massage school and my ASU school load and my sanity. So now I am researching other part-time jobs. I would love if I could work somewhere on ASU's campus. But I'm also looking into nannying and possibly a library job... something low-key where I can be quiet and possibly sneak in some homework time. It'll only be until December hopefully, so I'm actually up for anything. With that said, if you hear of any jobs opening up around october that fit that description, let me know :)
Aside from the stress of life that is accompanying my ASU experience, I am really kind of... well... freaked out about the whole college thing. I am not counting this necessarily as a bad thing... maybe it's a well needed dose of excitement in my life... but I am just incredibly daunted by everything I am experiencing and expected to do. I have so much on my plate, and I have no idea how I'm gonna do it all, but at the same time I am hoping that I will develop some type of groove... and that it is only the 2nd week and it will hopefully get better. I am also restful in the fact that I don't need to be perfect and that it is often true that my mediocre is better than I give it credit for. So here's to my new academic freedom from perfection. And remembering that I went back to school to learn, and NOT be a straight A student.

That's all for now... I have to go read the Romance of Tristan

P.S. I will try to get pictures posted on here soon... I know no one enjoys posts unless they have pictures.