April 19, 2002
I am officially going crazy. I'm into my second term, and I'm taking sixteen credits. If I don't write for a while it's probably nothing serious, just my head exploding.
On the less insane but more weird side, being a second term student is really bizarre. There are all these people running around asking the first-termer questions, and I'm not one of them. That was my job! I'm supposed to not know that there's no skyway to building 7, or that building 6 is easy to tell from the rest because it's nicer because it's donated. I definitely shouldn't be an old hand at the salad bar.
Probably the weirdest thing is that in class, I don't get laughed out of the room for having something to say. Questions aren't treated like a hassle here. Weird.
If there's a problem, it's that they all think they're the only professor. I had a speech and an essay today – fortunately I knew about both a couple weeks ago; unfortunately, it's my first of both, and on the same day.
I've heard that freshman year is when they try to break you. Well, I don't break. If I can get through being creamy filling in a car wreck sandwich (which is what I did the speech about) I can get through some classes. I'm lucky I started early, though, because this way I get out of taking 18 credits every term for two years. Anyway, as the theme song for the new Star Trek says, no one's gonna bend or break me.
Bring it on, life. I can take it.

May 18, 2003
I always swore I'd never do that....
It's been a year and almost a month since I last updated the allegedly "current" page, which is (presumably) supposed to represent my life to the world.  There's been a summer in there, so I can't even blame new TV.
Well, the great update.  I've moved out from my parents' place (last September) to an apartment that's about 30 bus minutes from Chemeketa.  That's about 15 if I had a car....  Anyway, my share of rent is $250 a month, and there's cable TV and a phone jack in my room, so I'm happy.  (Yes, I still use that old-fashioned dial up connection.  Why?  'Cause it works, genius.)  Also, I couldn't take some of the stuff (third-choice word) at home, some of which I probably caused, but some of which I couldn't do a darn (fifth-choice word) thing about.  (Gotta keep the site family-friendly....)
I've been inducted into Phi Theta Kappa (this March), I've got a 3.77 or 3.78, I know it's one of the two, on my transcript, with 68 credits, and I'm really annoyed at my GPA for not getting back above 3.8 where it's supposed to be.  A C in Writing 122, from last summer when I was still home and stressed, is involved; before that summer, I had a cumulative 4.0 - as you can imagine, I have well-laid plans to torpedo the C into Kingdom Come.  That's why there's a summer session.
Also, at this time next year, I will be sweating over the soonness (new word!) of my first set of finals at Western Oregon University.  I'm transferring for next spring term - admissions has already said yes, because I applied early to beat out people who are going in this fall.
And, the Saturday morning after finals, I'll be in Portland, taking my first official standardized test (all right, the letters won't make it any scarier, so I'll just say it: CBEST) toward my teaching credential; it's also considered in whether Western Oregon actually admits me to the College of Education.  (All right, I'm a shoe-in eventually, but I still have to jump through the hoops.)
On my own - honor society - going to a college I have to be admitted to - selective programs and professional licensure requirements - in short, things I've wanted so much all my life, and now I'm actually there, or so close.
And, of course, all the serious stuff. FAFSA's, student loans (subsidized, at least) which I try to think of as a scholarship from my future self, and yes, applications, tests and their fees.

It's official: I'm the new secretary for the Alpha Kappa Omicron chapter (Chemeketa) of Phi Theta Kappa.  I hadn't really planned to - I sort of got thrown into running, unopposed, by a friend of mine who's a new inductee as of yesterday - but I think this is going to turn out all right.  I have all these cool new "superpowers," like possibly writing reference letters, making people listen to me, and (among other official things) handling some club PR-types of things.  I wasn't totally sure about it when we were talking about officers in the general meeting, because I was only inducted this March, but it seems like half the officers are inductees from last night, so at least I won't look any more "new-kid" than they will.
I'll also have to find out what the minutes from a meeting are supposed to look like.  Anyone who knows a good site, please e-mail me!

June 1, 2003
I've been looking at things lately.  My GPA, cumulative, is a 3.77, which I know is more than most people ever aspire to - but until that disastrous summer term last year, when I was so stressed and pretty much bombed Writing 122, I had a 4.0 in 22 credits, a lot of it solid coursework.  Since then, I've been working on getting it back up where it belongs, but that one C is pulling me down so hard, and Western Oregon's requirement for Summa Cum Laude is only 3.8.  So close!  I think the closeness is what really drives me crazy - and seeing one thing pulling me down.
Admittedly, I'm already squarely on track for Magna Cum, but I haven't had a term below 3.8 since my crappy 3.3 last summer.  It's the evil sore thumb on my otherwise not bad (mostly A's, 3 B's, one C) transcript.  I'm retaking WR 122 this summer, not with Stephens (read about her on ratemyprofessors.com), and I know I'll do better than a C.  I'm just taking a half-time load and a workshop, so since I pretty much know the material (it was a C because of group work - 1: I lost points to the other slackers and 2: I got just a little behind, mostly because of the group work, and she docked points for half an hour late) I bet I'll get an A.  I'll have my decent transcript back - just with the C gone, I'd have a 3.8 already, and with another good term weighing it upwards and an A instead of the C, it'll be good to have stuff back where it belongs.
And, maybe I'll eventually find time to retake some of the B's, so I could possibly get my perfect transcript back.  (Can you tell I grew up as a functional firstborn, or "half-oldest"? - which is really a whole entry on its own.)
Now, if I could meet a guy . . . by some means short of taking out a personal ad . . . .

June 4, 2003
Unbe-freakin'-lievable
Last night, I stayed out at the farm; this morning, my mom gave me a ride to class.  Fine.
There's a school bus stop on Lancaster, just south of Chemeketa - and because there was music my mom likes in the CD player, there had been a case of leadfoot disease and we were early.  Which is where (IMHO) the real irony has its roots.  Read on.
There was a bus at the stop, with its stop sign and lights out - and since we were going north on Lancaster and the bus was southbound, Mom decided the left turn lane made Lancaster a divided highway (!) and, since we were in the front of a line, blew on past.
We then got into a legal debate - those could be my future students!  Mom said it was OK, and proceeded to whip out the current driver's manual, which said I was right; she thought one of the pictures showed something that looked like Lancaster as a divided highway, but it had a concrete barrier in the middle.  (Duh.  If you can get head-on'd without the other guy hopping concrete, crossing dirt, or going through a tree, it's not divided.  Takes a Ph.D. in international law to figure that out.)  And - good for her! - she admitted to me that it hadn't been the right thing to do.  As she would say if I tried to get out of anything with that, whoop-de-doo!
Ac erbyn hin (and by this time) we were at Chemeketa - actually, we got there, then she got out the manual.  I also showed her the front part, where it says the driver's manual is a general guide, not a lawbook.  She said she wasn't planning to use it in court - jeez, the law's the law, and even the simplified version wouldn't defend her.
As I said, we were early, even for my 8:30 class.  She said something, thinking out loud like she always does, and said something about having a lot of time before she had to be anywhere, so she'd stay out in the car and work on her math.  I said something smart-alecky, pretty close to "Then I guess it's a good thing we weren't stuck behind a bus."
She flipped.
My mother, who has a CDL and really should know better, broke a state law that's designed to keep kids alive, and I get chewed on for "snotty digs."
The irony was deafening.  I just walked away.

Winter break: chaotic, and not enough money because John keeps screwing up his funding sources and borrowing from people who borrow from other people … makes Christmas complicated.

Winter term: I’ll tell you when I get there.  I went to one class during my whole first week, unless you count my online class, because 1) I only had Spanish on Monday, 2) the campus was closed Tuesday through Thursday for the tons of ***SNOW*** and 3) I didn’t have any classes on Friday.

I’ve done a lot more writing since that writing class went away.

1-26-04
Hmmm … 15 days apart.  Better than I used to be, I guess.  ‘Course, Teresa does one every night, but we all hate people like that.  Not as people, but as “people like that.”
Auburn finally told me they just can’t use me anywhere, but Lamb, up near Chemeketa, is highly enthusiastic.
And so, it unfolds as it should.  I guess I can’t complain.
I did some writing today, during the downtime at my tutoring job.  It’s pretty sad that that’s probably the closest I’ll ever be to a real writing job.

3-8-04
So much for the theory that my entry frequency is improving.
Okay, the quick catch up: I’ve been volunteering at Lamb for the last month and a half or so, and I’ve got the first reference letter giftwrapped.  I got my driver’s license on Saturday.  And this morning, on a technicality (it was barely after midnight) I finished “Skystar,” which is the fourth one in my “Craftmage” series.  I’m not really happy with the last scene, and I’m sure there’s a lot of line-editing and that kind of thing left to do.  I’m also going to go back through all the “Craftmage” stories and do scene analyses, plot diagrams, all that stuff.  I feel like there might be a few places they need tightened up.
Of course, that’ll be when I have time.

3-10-04 (but barely after midnight)
SP 218 is basically done; I have a couple of quickie little homework assignments left to do, most likely tomorrow after Spanish.  I’ll also print my paper for that class then.
And I need to do my cleanup work on “Craftmage” and maybe “King’s Keep,” and send them out to find a home.  Depending on the publisher, they could be two books or one thick one, and I’d almost rather one thick one because that attracts the readers that want something to chew on and would more likely like them.
Sounds like a Spring Break project to me.