It's Almost Official

The finals are over, I'm through--at least with my two year degree. I was so thrilled when I finished the test that I wanted to talk to someone. I called Dave, he said--can I call you back without hearing my news. I called Jonathan, it just rang, however, he did call me back and I got to share with him. I had already assumed that Bruce was in meetings, but when it was possible I called to thank him. As you know it was his idea, and of course his earnings that allowed me to do so. He congratulated me saying it was our money. I can't tell you how glad I am to be done. The first year was exciting, and different--the second when I got sick has been a real chore. My work life was always tightly scheduled; I had a full slate of patients each day and that was that. On occasion there were follow up issues, but for the most part I worked from 7-3:30 everyday. The only thing I brought home were stories.

These last two years have been so different for me; even when you don't have assignments you know you will. The weird hours that classes are scheduled and the deadlines took some real getting used to. I now feel like a big weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I've gotten four B's--two in four hour science classes, one in Comp 2--don't get me started and finally one in Algebra. I don't count that one because my health was precarious at best. That said even if I get four A's I'll not be able to raise my grade point average above it's current status. And you know what? I don't care. I did at the outset and I'm sure I amused some folks with that but now if I have a 3.7 or so I'm happy.

Tomorrow I will ride down to Key West with Jane--we're staying downtown which should prove very interesting. She'll be driving, I'll probably be talking.

Here's my windowsill in the kitchen with my darling snow globe in the sun. You probably didn't know how I love snow globes. That's the closest I've been to snow.

What Will I Find To Write About After Next Week?

As most of you know the end is drawing near. I will have my AA by this time next week, give or take a day. I have decided to discontinue volunteering,(wait a second, they called me an intern) at the museum as well. I've learned that sitting in the gallery by myself is not the job for me. Yesterday I had three visitors, all came in the last 15 minutes of my shift. Karen hung the new exhibit on Sunday night called Chapeaux Rouge. Remember when I photographed both Michelle and Emily in the red hat? Well at the time there were few entries and she hinted she might include photography. I think she should have--some of the paintings have little to do with a red hat. On the other hand, some of them are super cool. I particularly liked the mixed media ones. Mr. Polasek had a big presence in Winter Park,thus you see his huge grave marker. I actually stopped to photograph an angel for someone I know that loves angels and I stumbled upon this. He never married until he was in his 70's, his wife died 18 months later and he ended up remarrying--proving, I guess, that it is never too late!

I've spent the day writing and listening. I wrote a response to a question posed on the website for film class about Memento. As well I wrote a paper on Taxi Driver
, and completed my listening exercise for Music Appreciation. That is a very hard assignment. There are six pieces of music that you listen to and identify all sorts of features. I kept listening to my CDs and then comparing the two. I wish I could say that I was confident about my answers but I'm not. The class was successful though because I now appreciate classical music more than I did even if I can't identify the era, composer, or place it would be performed. I nearly forgot another essay I wrote today--my speech class final detailing why I should get an A in the class--three pages. I have film class tonight and I don't want to go as I'm already tired.

I'll be photographing family in the next few days. Lisa and Emily are doing a 5K run on Saturday morning--I'll be there at the finish line. Michelle needs some head shots for a job opportunity. Now, as you all know, I'm hardly proficient at this stuff, but I'm certainly going to give it my best shot.

Bruce is flying home tonight from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The snow was coming down hard when he called. His remark was--this is the kind of weather that convinces people to move to Florida. I took a short break, eating my lunch outside under crystal blue skies and mild temperatures. Chicago is full of snow also. Jonathan posted some pictures on flickr of their first snowman. Alissa took one of him making a snow angel which thrilled them both. I'm hoping their enthusiasm does not wane during the coming months.

Tomorrow I'll be going to Vero Beach with Bruce. It is about 90 miles south of here, obviously on the coast. I figured I may as well enjoy my new freedom--don't you agree? At some point we need to remember that Christmas is coming.....

It's Friday

Here's a shot of the living room. The truth is I hardly ever sit on these couches, however, they did come in handy when I was terribly sick. I never turn the TV on but I did then because I could do little else. At the time Maureen told me about a television station called Ovation. It's a great channel with arts programming. That said, they have gazillions of commercials for The Cancer Treatment Center of America or something like that. As you know, we were told that is what I had, so that was not so much fun. People give these testimonials about how great the place is, and how it was their last chance etc. I tuned those ads out. Hurray, the doctors were wrong.

I did watch Florida State lose to Wake Forest last night, something unthinkable when Matt was at FSU. WF used to be the dregs of the ACC but no longer.

Today I woke up puny gaining strength as the morning wore on. No clue about yesterday--whatever.

I finally heard from my speech professor that class was canceled for today. I was happy about that, but it now means that the mid-term, and historical speech are both next Friday. As well, I have to write a paper for film class,and take the mid-term on Wednesday. Normally I would have a start on the paper by now, but that class is so miserable that I'm not as motivated. I just completed my writing quiz on Vertigo.

Bruce got home last night and was kind enough to do the framing on the pictures for the gallery. Delivery is tomorrow.

My friend Dean, the newspaper columnist extraordinaire, gave me a little shout-out in the paper today, stating that he visited the art show and my excellent photography--whoa! He is on the board of the Maitland Art Center and bought a photograph from their gardens--an unexpected occurrence on both accounts.

New term for the weekend--"chillaxing."

Silliness

My gmail account is not working right now--bummer. I've composed an e-mail to a department chair at Valencia asking for help finding a graphics arts student to design a website for me. Unfortunately it has just sat there for about two hours. I suspected it was some other computer problem on my end, but I discovered it was Google's issue. Thank goodness, a reprieve from calling Apple yet again. Speaking of which I wrote to an Apple representative regarding my poor customer service the other night and they have yet to respond.

I was getting very comfortable not feeling so poorly, but lo and behold, this morning I've been struck with violent retching again. The pain in my side has intensified much to my chagrin. I need to be doing homework.

I spotted this bit of silliness yesterday on my way home from a campus visit. I had originally hoped I could get away without the book for my music appreciation class, but alas, he tests on the content. It was $120 which includes five CDs for listening exercises. We watched Vertigo last night -- I'll have to write some stupid response about the psychological implications, blah, blah, blah. I anticipated that this class might be about some of the history of film, the innovations, the mechanics...anything but what it is. I suppose because he is an English professor I should have known that he would analyze them to death. It's entertainment already.

That's all for now folks.

Off to School

Remember I told you last week I went to the Maitland Art Center--this is one of the pictures which I've put the sepia treatment on. My friend Amaya was on a sepia kick for a bit--I hope she likes this one.

I read this in the paper regarding huge portions at restaurants: "It's better to waste it than waist it" You know that quote comes from a woman don't you?

I'm heading over to school shortly but my first stop is the museum which is a few blocks away. I will be starting my internship there soon. Unfortunately the curator knows I've not been well and I'm thinking she is going to go easy on me. It's kind of her, but wasting one of her internship spots on me is not productive so I'm going to do my best to fulfill my obligations. Here's a link about Albin Polasek.Albin Polasek

It was two years ago almost to the day that I went to sign up at Valencia. Not knowing what I was getting myself into turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. I had to take the College Placement Test for which I was unprepared. Matt suggested I go ahead and take it that day so that's what I did. Hmmm...The language portions couldn't have gone better, no so much the math. I got a 27 on the algebra portion of the test proving that it is unnecessary for a successful life! Seriously when you never use something you definitely lose it. I was a good math student when young if you can believe it. That test doomed me to two math prep classes. I would probably be done by now except for that. One of the classes was four hours and I received NO credit. All joking aside I've come to realize that they teach a lot of worthless information and I think the curriculum should be updated. They've taught the same stuff for years which 95% of the school population never uses. Instead of algebra they should teach practical math applications. A computer class should be mandatory. That way people like me would be forced to take it and I would be better for it. As it is I prefer the humanities.

Elena asked what I'm studying. Well Miss I am getting an AA at the moment. Sorry for those who know this story but the deal is that when I was young my dad did not think girls needed to go to college. Thus, I went to x-ray school. Once our four sons had degrees Bruce thought I might want to go. I quit work and here I am two years later with ten hours to go. My graduation hopefully will coincide with Matt's Christmas visit. Because I go primarily in the daytime my classmates are all younger than my sons which is a tad weird but I'm used to it by now. I'm puzzling about my next step--keep going or not.

Naturally all that depends on my health. One of the questions I will have for the good Dr. Everett is how is it possible for me to still have bites from one month ago. I swear the itching is maddening! Bruce's were gone in one week but yours truly still looks like she has chickenpox on her legs. I totally dread the next round of tests.

Today is Goethe's birthday; I learned that from the radio today. The classical station played pieces inspired by Faust. I read that last spring in my World Lit class. When I got the assignment I thought I would never make it through but what helped was reading it aloud. You should have seen me in the pool with my big fat lit book on the edge reciting Faust. I ended up loving it.

Older Adult Student

One thing I can tell you is, that it is challenging being an older adult student, not merely because the subject matter is sometimes difficult, but one must be very self disciplined to keep it up. I am at an age where I can do pretty much anything I want with my days. To get a degree one must take subjects one does not care about and at the moment, I am taking two such classes--algebra and historical geology. Fortunately, the end of this nonsense is in sight; my remaining classes are electives aside from speech. I just finished reading my lab for tomorrow on geologic time, rock units, lithofacies, biofacies--well, you get my drift. Tonight is my favorite though--humanities.

The weather is spectacular again--we will be crying for this weather in August.

I have been trying to get a picture to go up on the macro interesting photos page that flickr has for each type of camera used--today I had success. I have been experimenting like crazy; I'm not sure if my hands get shaky or I try and get to close with the zoom but I have taken many that have had to be deleted. This has made me happy to finally get one to work.
One other thing--the views on the shoe is up to 179--I can't believe how silly that is.
Last, but not least, here is photo of our project--we are thinking positive, however, I cannot seem to get the manager of the farmer's mkt. to return my calls. Hmmm..wonder what that signals?

Thursday, Thank God

For most people Thursday is just another obstacle on the way to the weekend. For me, however, Thursday is the end of my school week and that is a good deal. Today I had my first algebra test of the term and it was a challenge. It took me the entire time allotted; although I tried not to panic, I was afraid I wouldn't complete it. That would be a first for me. This is my fourth math class since beginning college and I am mighty tired of it. Yesterday afternoon I took our Yorkie, Baxter for a walk to the lake that is at the end of our street. I wanted to try and get this big bird that had been hanging out in an old tree. Much to my surprise, there were three and here they are: