School schmool.

Yeah, we all know I am a perpetual student. Scholastica in perpetuum.  I might have mentioned a few dozen times, the story about how terrifiecd I was of speaking a foreign language in front of anyone after the debacle that was High School Spanish.  The Spanish teacher at Annie Wright was... difficult.  Especially after having come from 9th grade Spanish at Holy Names Academy where our class literally ran the first teacher off then proceeded to drive our next instructor into a fugue state in which she crawled under her desk, rocking, and stayed there until they came for her.  Yes, somewhere in that class, that class in which some sophomores and juniors had been 'retained'(a politically correct term for FAIL), I developed a fear of Romance Languages.

When I got to the UW and found out that they had a language requirement, I was ready to go down to the commons, tie myself to a tree and slather myself in peanut butter and let the rabid squirrels(you know the ones that would suddenly dart across a campus road causing a four car pileup, then shoot directly toward you and before you could run and scream, there it was tying to crawl up your leg, sure that YOU had peanuts and lacking that it would settle for chewing your face off- you know, those squirrels) gnaw me to death.  Then one day I happened upon the Classics Department.  LATIN.  And NO, I wouldn't have to answer the teacher's question of "What color is your house?" with "My mother is a purple hooker in Las Vegas".  I would have to read, I can still remember, "Auricula Meretricula" which, get this, is about a hooker.  Written to go along with our Wheelocks Latin Grammar which I still have to this day because it is super handy to have a Latin reference on hand, especially when you are in Academia in perpetuum.  Seriously.  See?  Latin is COOL.  By the end of my many quarters of Latin to fulfill my language requirements, we were being tested by being asked to translate excerpts from Homer (no, not Simpson- stay with me here).

I did go on to learn German well enough to get through daily life living in a small suburb of a small suburb or Nurnberg.  And turns out, even though I did not have to answer questions in Latin or write goofy stuff, like letters to people or make a shopping list in Spanish for our camping trip, blah, blah, blah, I did end up having to recite my declensions in front of the class.  Terrifying.

What has this got to do with my life now?  Oh, right.  Nothing really, except I was going to mention that I signed up  for classes today.  Drum roll, please.  My plan is to finish up a degree down here with all requirements complete.  I'm thinking I may just go for the quick and easy Health Care Administration degree or hey, Health Sciences, or maybe even Poli Sci.  Doesn't matter.  The whole go-to-college-and-get-a-degree thing is a conspiracy anyway.  But I did sign up for classes over the summer- I'm taking a class on Governments in Central and Eastern Europe and a class on Gay and Lesbian Development.  In the fall I will be taking a refresher course on Microbiology, hopefully taking a test to pass out of first year Chem since I've already taken it, then I'm taking Community Health and finally, some class on healthcare in the United States.  Eventually, since I only need like 4 more credits to graduate, I will wrap up my degree and apply to the Nurse Practicioner program at UCSF.  They have a 3 year program in which you receive your qualifications to sit for the board exam in the first year.  The following two years are devoted to getting a Master's in nursing.  By then, I'm sure I will wish I was somewhere else, but for now that is my plan- cause I just have to have a plan- can't sit around waiting for life to happen- I'm going to happen to life.

Tonight was our soccer party for the Spring season for my U10 girls.  It was fantastic.  We ate pizza and I brought a giant bag of embroidery floss, scissors and masking tape and I sshowed all of them how to wield these weapons of terrible destruction. Er, or not... yeah, we made friendship bracelets.  The girls love them, were totally engrossed, and a number of them ended up trading with others.  I was so sad I almost bawled in front of my girls because a couple of them are leaving- girls that Dean and I have coach.  I always thought the point of being with a team was to work together and stick together.

Yeah.  Insert baleful look here.

Must go to bed.  But I wanted to share my excitement because it is strange how even simple things, like a curtain billowing back slightly from an open window, let the hope come in... and light up everything and everyone around us.

Can't wait to coach the girls that do come back and who knows maybe I'll get the older girls that moved up when we move up.  Long night and this is stretching out to be a long morning.  Mwah.

Comments

[melissa cole]

wow. NP school, huh. I went to NP school. I have a masters in nursing. If you want to compare notes or ask any ques. feel free. My email is melissa4184@sbcglobal.net I went to Sonoma State and went the clinician route as opposed to the admin route. what's the class on gay and lesbian development supposed to be like? I triple minored in psych, sociology and women's studies.

[Jessica]

I love nurse practitioners. I always prefer seeing them to the doctors in family practices. Good luck!