Endless Summer - Part II

Before I had a chance to recover from the nutrition-induced beating incurred over the last six weeks, I moved on to a condensed, six-week Physics 202 course. This is a four-credit laboratory science that, if anything like its chemistry and biology counterparts, would be a challenging class even in its 16 week format. What the hell was I thinking?

I know, I always say that. When I stack up a 14 credit semester with two lab sciences and a statistics course, I say that. When I insist that changing my major and taking on an extra class to catch up/stay on schedule won’t be a problem, I end up saying that. Sometimes I guess I just need the beatings to continue before I really get the message.

Now, it’s not bad enough that I decided to take a Physics "boot camp" style class. Nope. I decided to make it REALLY interesting and take the class that was scheduled in the MIDDLE of the work day. Seemed to me that it would all work out fine. My boss is really cool and approved it; the school is only 15minutes down the highway, so no big deal. Minimum time lost. Sweetness.

When we received the syllabus on the first day, I nearly passed out. This guy had ambitions of covering three chapters in the book per week and holding two lab experiments per week, in the same amount of time traditionally devoted to one lab experiment. Holy hell. Four days per week for six weeks. Bring it on.

In addition to having an out-of-control work load, I would have to make sure that I worked all my hours, got everything done for everyone at work, got all my homework done, take care of everything at home and, oh yeah, sleep.

Naturally, the sleep thing isn’t happening and it’s showing. I’m really grumpy a lot of the time. I seem to be in a permanent funk. My psyche has become uncharacteristically dark, too. I won’t go into details about that, but suffice it to say that I’m really looking forward to the return of my Bob Rossian-esque dreams about ponds, critters, and “happy little trees.” People are starting to notice at work, since now I just go straight to my office and don’t come out unless it’s to eat or take a restroom break. I feel really bad, but hey, I’m tired. Leave me alone. Oh, and did I mention that I hosted my poor family at my house during this class? They haven’t been down to see me in 4 or 6 years (there is a raging debate about that at the moment between me and my friend, “Stevis.”) and I’m running around all week trying to get to class and make sure they are having a good time. *Sigh* I just hope they had fun and come back to see us again! Sorry Mom and Dad! Thanks for being really good sports!!

Add to the frustration of an already difficult class, I share the class with a bunch of third graders. No, they’re not actually 3rd graders, they just freakin’ act like it. You see, typically the students in my classes are all like me – working and schooling, older, more respectful and responsible than your average college kid. Since I chose a class in the middle of the day, in the summer, I am surrounded by a bunch of kids that are on break from their REAL universities who are taking summer courses to knock out some classes. This, in itself, is a commendable decision on their parts. I can’t say, given the opportunity to go back and do school the RIGHT way (right after high school) that I would have done the same thing. My work ethic was really crappy 10 years ago. But I digress.

Their drive to finish their respective educations, however, does not constitute an excuse for the fact that they act like little bastards in the class. There’s a group of about eight of them who sit in the back of the classroom, throwing sarcasm at the professor (who is actually a really good professor), talking/texting on their phones in class, whatever. It makes it really hard for those of us who give a shit to concentrate. If I weren’t getting an A in the class so far, I would totally take the little cretins on. Seriously, I feel like I’m in a class of toddlers.

[Proof of grumpy weariness…in the last 8 paragraphs, I have cracked ZERO jokes and have sat here and keyboard-whined for the last 15 minutes. Dude, I hate whining and now I’m doing it. There I go again. Ugh.]

It doesn’t end there. [Yes, more whining]. Because I’m taking this class in the middle of the day, I miss work. I then need to make up those hours, putting me at work until 6 or 7 pm. Then, since every day in the condensed class equals one week of the regular session class, there’s homework to do – every night. Basically, my day looks like this:

- Get to work at 7 am
- Leave for class at 10 am
- Get back to work at 1:30 pm
- Stay at work until 6 or 7 pm
- Shove something small and quick (and healthy!) in my throat
- Do homework
- Go to bed at 1 am
- Lather, rinse, repeat.

OK, I’m done whining. I’m so tired, I don’t have the energy to whine anymore. Yeah, I’m SO done with this class. Only one week to go. Woo hoo!!

Oh yeah, did I mention that this was my last class needed for my Associate’s degree??

Next post – I bitch about how obtaining a Biology degree from George Mason University in a reasonable amount of time while working a traditional full time job is next to impossible.