Royal Run Around

Education is an absolutely wonderful thing. Don't get me wrong - I believe everyone needs to continue their education long beyond the end of High School. I also believe you don't really have a choice - if you don't learn from life alone, you aren't LIVING life. However, colleges, while absolutely wonderful institutions of higher learning, are a bit wrapped up in red tape and hoops. Here's the fun issue I've been dealing with the last few weeks and why I've been so quiet lately.

I'm two classes away from my Anthropology AA, according to the RSCCD (Rancho Santiago Community College District) standards. Those classes are Anthropology 103: Archaeology, and Anthropology 104: Language & Culture. If I could, I'd take them both, in one Semester, and be done. Here's the issue - in the last 3 years, the colleges haven't OFFERED these two classes. Due to financial aid rules, I can't attend any more classes except the ones required for my degree, and still get financial aid. And I need the financial aid in order to afford the books for the classes, therefore I haven't been able to attend any classes for the last two semesters. This isn't a problem except for the fact that they marked me as a "non-attending/abandoned student", even though I was in contact with my advisor more than once throughout the last few semesters. Therefore I was unable to register for the class this semester when it was finally offered. I had to reapply to the college system, wait for that approval. By the time they let me back into the system, the class was full. There was no waitlist. So I figured, fine. I'm not letting them stop me. I'll leap through this hoop, and go in on the first day of class and talk to the teacher and petition to enter the class.

This morning was the very first class. I got up early, and Lona drove me up there so I could talk to the teacher before everything started. We got there an hour before the class started, and I went to find the classroom. I was shocked to find it full of people. I managed to get to the teacher, and was told that roll had already been taken and all 45 people who'd signed up for the class were present, and as I knew, there was no waitlist. I explained to the teacher my situation, and after some thought, I was sent to Admissions to ask if they had any suggestions, because there was no way the teacher could allow me into the class. Apologetic or not, it still meant I had no class.

I went to admissions. What it comes down to is that because the inability for me to get into the class on time was their fault, and that the school hasn't offered the classes in so long, I have a chance to petition or challenge the school to just GIVE me my A.A., without actually taking those last two classes. The catch? I have to wait until next semester to do it because in order for the challenge to go through, the school can't currently be offering the classes I need. If they ARE offering, I have a chance to get in again.

Another catch? This is all assuming I still live here by next semester. See, Lona and I have finally decided on an area. We're moving up to Washington, the Seattle area to be specific. So when I got home today, I emailed the South Seattle Community College to see what they could do to help me if we move up there before the next semester (that's more of a when than an if at this point, though). I got a response that they were very encouraging. It looked like, according to my unofficial transcript, I've already satisfied their requirements for an A.S. of Anthropology. She couldn't tell me anything officially without me applying to and being accepted to the college and providing them with an OFFICIAL transcript from RSCCD, but what it looks like is that we move up there, I apply, I get accepted, they take my transcript, and I get a letter in a month that says "Hey, you've already fulfilled our requirements for an Associate's degree." Basically, I'll end up graduating from a college that I never actually physically attended. So while this is an amusing outcome, the hoops I've had to jump through to get to this precipice are very frustrating - and I still have to jump off the ledge and hope I can fly.

So that's why I've been so quiet lately, and now you know what's going on in my school life. :P Yes. Hoop jumping abounds. So I maintain, college and education are wonderful things. But sometimes I just get really tired of this royal run around.

Blog Fail

I need to be actually writing blogs more. It's not that I have no idea what to blog about - it's the opposite, actually. I keep having great ideas, not being in a place where I can start blogging about them right that instant, and when I get home I've either forgotten entirely or the meat of the post idea is just gone.  This has resulted in me only doing little stupid link blogs in the last month, and I feel horrible about it. So here's my attempt to throw an update blog with some actual meat to it.

So, let's go into some personal updates! For the first time in several years, I have short hair! I need to take some new pics for Facebook and stuff. It isn't overly-short. Just a little less than shoulder length in back, and I have my bangs again. Lona and I went and got our haircuts at the same time, so that was nice. I've gotten back into going to the library and picking out regular books rather than just doing the ebook thing through the digital library because, well, let's face it - unless something drastic changes soon, the e-libraries will never have the full selection of the physical ones. And sometimes it is nice to just hold a real book in your hands.

I've been trying to find time to work on my own books again. So far I've been only moderately successful, as my writing muse is a fickle thing and at the moment we seem to be having a lover's spat. Much like my talent for blog writing, it seems to only be showing up when I'm actually incapable of acting on it - utterly frustrating.  My artwork is the same, though I'm having a bit more luck with that and getting old owed commissions out. I am open for commissions again, as well as having my <a title="SALE! $5 Therian Icons!" href="http://www.tygerwolfe.com/?page_id=863">$5 Therian Icon Sale</a> still going on.

In gaming news, the release for World Of Warcraft: Mists Of Pandaria is a month and a week away as of today. I'm excited, and also looking forward to the patch next week, even though it'll completely change the talent system, the glyph system, and quite a few stats as well. I haven't been playing much with the exception of doing Argent Tournament dailies on Kalitri and earning more mounts, looking forward to when they go account wide, and sometimes bumming around on Ionaria, my troll druid. I've been playing a bit more of Zynga games, mostly on their site, though I play on Facebook from time to time as well. And I've gotten into an Android game on my phone called Dark Summoner that's a bit like a cross between Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. I'm enjoying that.

Lona and I are currently car-less, having sold the Jeep when costs of keeping it running outweighed it's usefulness in a massive way. I was very sad to see it go, but it really was for the best. We're still looking into moving, though now our sights are set a bit higher than the around-the-corner apartments we'd been looking at. I hesitate to say more for risk of accidentally putting a universal kibosh on it, so just send us good thoughts and we'll be on our way eventually.

I think that's about it as far as personal updates go for now. No, this wasn't a particularly massive update, and it did draw my attention to the fact that I need to trim my fingernails, as my fingers keep typing the key above the key I want to type. So I'm going to do that soon.