I’ve taken classes before, 14 credits I have. I started with a Small Business Series in the Fall of 1999 and started my company Alexander Enterprises, LLC the same year as a d.b.a. in Jackson County, Michigan. Then Intro to Wall Street I & II and ENG 131 Writing Experience in the Winter of 2001. In the Fall of 2010, I signed up for HPF-110 Golf, MAT-131 Intermediate Algebra, and Intro to Psychology, somehow I can’t remember what came up, yet I dropped all three classes.
By the Spring of 2013, I was determined and signed up for PHL-232 Logic, ENG 132 Writing Experience, MAT-131 Intermediate Algebra, and CIS-143 HTML. I was a bit overwhelmed the first week or two, and did drop the second writing class yet I had top marks in logic and math and only a three in HTML. Halfway through that class, I decided I’d never be able to sit through the dull drum pace other people took to learn basic computer concepts to earn a degree.
Fall of 2013 I tried again signing up for PSY-140 Intro to Psychology again and ACC-130 Quickbooks Pro and dropped both. Finally, I signed up again in the Fall of 2021 (though, it doesn’t even appear on my transcript,) and I signed up again for Intro to Psychology and Intro to Statistics, I think. Now two years after my last class, ten years after my first intent to earn a degree, and twenty-four years after I’d signed up for my first class at the then Jackson Community College.
I won’t blame them for dropping a third of their name, as of the fifteen classes I’ve signed up for, I have only completed seven with an overall GPA of 2.7778 (or a 3.5 if I didn’t have three 0’s in there from classes I didn’t drop in time.) Overall, this is probably not the best student transcript they’ve ever seen, probably not the worse either.
What I wonder, is what I will add to this transcript next. I intend to signup for three classes, maybe a fourth cake class, hmm maybe golf again, or something else PT related. As it appears my math credit no longer counts (it is over ten years old,) and that is a mental function that I feel has been affected in the last twenty months. I noticed it immediately with the drop in my sudoku scores and enjoyment of the game and similar puzzles and tasks. I plan on taking a math class, however, I may need to retake the placement test first to know which one.
I see there are two math classes required for the pathway I plan (as of now,) to take, MAT-130 and MAT-141, Intro to Probability and Statistics, I enjoyed the first two weeks of that class. I likely may need to take both and would take the second next semester. I will need Biology, the first of nine classes in my psychology focus. Then for my third class, Intro to Psychology, again for the third time. I truly hope I don’t need to buy a third book, I still have the first two. Hm, now that I think about it, I think I will take a fourth PT-related class.
This will be the second time I’ve signed up as “full-time”. The first time was all online, this time will be all in person. Depending on my physical progress and my ability to survive a Michigan winter, I may stay for the Spring semester, or travel and take classes online. At the least, I would have a month off for winter break and could easily get down to Texas – I would love to run into Kent and Erin again, though making myself drive back to Michigan might be difficult- online may be the way to go. Then I could wander around while doing my college work, then be back in time for the summer semester.
I may even need another semester after that, I suppose I’ll know that after my meeting Monday morning. Next week may be busy, or I might be able to get it all done Monday. I went for a walk at the plaza today, two of the three loops at least. Parked at the intersection and walked down and back to Sears (or hobby lobby now, whenever it opens,) and Target. I really considered Best Buy, yet I was already happy I had made it this far without a significant limp and didn’t want to test it. Monday though…
I think I’m going to need to get a handicapped parking tag. That will at least save a few hundred feet in the parking lot, then in to find my student navigator, maybe find the student success center, maybe find the book store (MS Office for Mac,) and maybe… Interesting to me now, I wonder how many e-scooters and e-bikes are in use at Jackson College. If it would ‘blend in’, that really might be something I may purchase, especially if I would be allowed to drive inside with it! I would be able to get a handicapped parking tag, would that cover a scooter next to my desk?
Also, the obvious thought, it is possible that every person, except the teacher, would be half my age or less. Perhaps a few outliers. Maybe that is something I could take note of and track statistically. Not too much interesting happened today, no shopping. I did go across the street for a few boxes of cereal and in the evening I went out to eat at Wendy’s before my walk at the plaza. I few goals to accomplish before school starts. 1) a one-year budget. 2) publish the next two books. 3) drastically reduce or eliminate cannabis.
I can think of a few more things I would put on that list, however, sometimes it is better to keep some things in my mind until I am ready to write them, yet some topics, need to come soon lest they be forgotten. If summer is over, then I need to finish writing the summer story. Hm, is this a bookend approaching? It could be, I’d have to check the word count since the end of the third book. This one might come out a little shorter, yet the fourth is the first book beyond the “Original Trilogy” (as certainly, my future fan club will proclaim them.) It it’s a transitional piece I guess, the story of how I moved on. Maybe it will end Sunday night, my first school night.
Then, people would have to buy the fifth book just to find out if I stayed in school or dropped out again.
Writing to a friend last week, she had shared with me that her father is an author and I shared with her my difficulty in planning the next chapters of my books. Actually, it’s not the planning I have issues with- it seems to be the execution. Here today I’ve outlined my next year- that could be the next three books beyond the fourth we’re just ending now. A year from now, what story will I be telling? The tale of my experience earning my Associate of Arts with a Behavior Sciences Certificate with a focus in Psychology? Or maybe a year from now, I’ve sold my house and I move into the dorms at MSU to transfer into their four-year program?
Maybe I’ll be Mayor, or involved with the city council in another way. Maybe I’ll be flush with cash from an insurance settlement? Or rich from a jury-decided amount awarded? Who knows, at this point, I’m just glad I’ve been accepted. Again.
Time to rest.