Here I am. Miss me?

The whole school ting is going fairly well still. My Bio grade isn't currently a 4.0, but I'm hoping I can yank it back up again before the end. I really really get genetics, I'm actually looking forward to our test on Friday. Psychology has become mind numbingly boring. I don't feel like I really have to put much effort into it in order to pull out a good grade. And english... I finally received my grades from the first paper. 96% if I remember correctly, it's somewhere in that area anyway. There are only a total of 3 papers for this class, so hopefully I can pull a nice grade.

With 3 weeks to go I'm just feeling a bit tired. Overly antsy I guess. I'm ready for new subject material. I've already had my advising appointment to figure out what classes I'm going to take for both summer and fall. If everything goes as planned I will be taking developmental psych, medical terminology and either statistics or CNA this summer. Fall will be A & P 1, chem 121 and either statistics of the CNA class, depending on which one I took over the summer.

After fall I will be done with all my pre reqs except for my sciences, so I will need to fill in with other classes to maintain my full time status. Right now I think I'm going to take medical terminology and medical transcription, and hopefully have a medical transcription degree by the time I'm applying for nursing school. It may give me something to do while I wait for nursing school to start. My adviser wanted me to take a typing class instead of medical terminology, but when I saw that it was recommended for students with a WPM of 15 I decided it would be too boring for me. Such a snob I am.

We got the scores from our second test in biology today.... I scored above the adjustment which means I came away with 103% brining my grade to a 97.6%... aka a 4.0! I'm the second highest in my class and it feels great! I am prepared for my percentage to drop a little next week due to my lab partner issues. I'm basking in the glow while it's available. Now, if someone in my life would actually congratulate me instead of going, "oh, well, keep in mind that you are only 4 weeks in." Gee thanks, you are right, it must just be a fluke.

I'm contemplating my options for nursing programs right now. I wish there was a clear "this is the right path" answer. My plan has been to do my pre-reqs and apply to the Pierce ADN program next spring, to start the program for winter 2010. Though this option gets me where I want to be, it is placing a lot of pressure and taking a big risk. Pierce requires slightly different pre-reqs than Highline, which is the other close ADN program. Tacoma Community College is also an option, though I haven't spent too much time looking at their requirements. Pierce only accepts 20 students a year and it is very competitive.

Another option I have been giving a lot of consideration is taking the LPN program at Green River. The college is slightly further away than Pierce, but closer than Highline. The positives of this option would be that I could have my pre-reqs for this program done in one quarter and would for sure be eligble for the program that starts fall 09, they accept on a first come first served. Plus, they are contracted with the huge medical group in this area and a lot of the graduating LPN's are hired on with the medical group which then pays them to complete their ADN. I could complete this program and be working as an LNP while completing my schooling, which pays better than working as a CNA. The downside is that none of the pre-reqs for the LPN program are pre-reqs for the ADN and I would still have to complete all the ADN requirements to be eligible for the LPN-RN bridge. I know I will not be happy staying with just a LPN so getting the RN would be a must for me. Ugh. I'm flip flopping back and forth on this and I really need to make a decision. If I do the LPN program I loose my Opportunity Grant, it is only available at Pierce, though there may be a similar program at GRCC that I don't know about yet. It is much easier to get into the LPN-Rn bridge at Pierce than accepted to the ADN program.... Total time to get my RN would be longer if I did the LPN....

And back and forth I go. I think I'll email the nursing adviser and ask if I can apply for my LPN license after the first year of the RN program at Pierce.

I'm 4 weeks into my classes now and I think I've definitely hit a slump. I spent all day yesterday doing nothing involving school. I still have to finish up my lab report for biology for tomorrow morning and print off a bunch of stuff for lab tomorrow. We had a test in bio on Wednesday, no class on Friday so I'm looking forward to finding out how I did tomorrow. I think I did pretty well, but everyone else was saying it was a really hard test so I wonder if I really bombed it and just didn't realize how badly I was doing.

Psychology still feels like just a ton of busy work. I don't feel like I've really learned anything I didn't know before. My grade is above 98% this week, and I got in my first online disagreement with a fresh out of high school know-it-all... that was kinda fun!

English.... I know in theory why they want us to take this class, however I really dislike it. I am really not big on writing essays just for the heck of it, and we are in week 4 and I have not gotten one bit of feedback from the instructor. I have not gotten grades from the first week of class. It's making me really nervous about going into yet another big project without knowing how I scored on the others. Writing is a lot about style, one instructor will really like what you have to say and it wont do anything for another. I would like to know how I'm doing while there is a chance to change something.

My only complaint with biology is lab partners... enough said.

So, the 4 week update is a bunch of pissy-ness.

I am not loving the english class. It really feels like busy work that I wont really get a whole lot out of. Writing essays on topics I don't particularly care about... blah.

I have an idea that I've been kicking around for a while now. I would like to find a way to put up some of my papers, homework, projects. There has got to be a way to link documents to the blog....

After another week my psychology grade is now above 97%, still holding my own in english and biology has come up a little. There's another biology test this week and I'm really hoping to do quite well on it. Also coming up this week is an appointment with the nursing adviser to look over my planned classes for the next couple quarters. I want to be extra sure I'm getting all the right classes to be ready to apply next year.

I'm starting to get grades back on my first assignments, and the news is mixed.

In English 101 we have had a few assignments due already, though have only received grades for one.... and it was a small one at that. I received 10 out of 10. I have not heard any feedback on my first essay so far. Currently we are working on an essay worth 300 points. I wish this instructor gave a better idea of a class calendar. I have no idea how many or what kind of writing projects I am going to have in this class, this is frustrating since I would like to start being able to get ahead sometimes.

Psychology... doing well in this class. My overall grade is a 96% I believe. We have done 2 tests already and I just turned in my first project. This class is not overly challenging for me, but I feel like there is a lot of busy work.

And then there is Bio. Ugh! I so wish I was doing better in this class. I have a 86% after the first test, one lab and homework, in this class that is a 3.1 and I must have at least a 3.0 to qualify for nursing at this school. Good news is that the lowest test score before the midterm is dropped. Another hopeful bit of good news is that the first 2 weeks are supposed to be the hardest in this class. He claims to basically be forcing a full quarter of organic chemistry in the first 2 weeks. I am definitely having a much easier time with the homework in the second unit. Tomorrow is our 3rd lab and I am really looking forward to it. This is definitely my favorite class.

I survived the first week of classes, now the homework assignments are starting to roll in. Since I'm already getting a bit nervous about some of my to-do list I thought I'd plan it out here.

• Mon (today)- Bio 9am-noon, turn in lab 1. Take a nap in hopes of getting illness under control. Review Essay for Eng, due tues. Work on Psych test, due Wed at noon.
• Tues- Finish Psych test, submit. Finish discussion responses, due Wed. Finish Bio homework. Read lab 2. Eng start outline for essay, due thurs. Pick up financial aid check. Shopping for work outfit/shoes/retainer.
• Wed- bio 9am-noon, turn in homework. Work 2:30pm-11pm.
• Thurs- Study for Bio test on Fri. Finish outline for essay. Psych, work on week 2 reading, start discussion questions. Start week 2 psych project. Work 3pm-11pm.
• Fri- Bio 9am-10am test. Finish psych discussion questions, due Sun. Get some sleep. Work 11pm-7am
• Sat- Sleep. Start rough draft essay. Work 11pm-7am
• Sun- Sleep. Start psych discussion responses. Bio lab 2, due Mon.

And then it starts all over again. I'm keeping my head up, hopefully it will only be this crazy for the next 2 weeks. After that I'm going to be on a regular work schedule, and hopefully 3 days instead of 4. I should have gotten more school work done today, but the whole family is having a bit of an intestinal illness and fever so I decided a bit of rest may help me get well sooner.

My Bio class is down from 52 in lecture and 26 in lab to 30 ish in lecture and 15 in lab. Intense? Yeah it is. But not undo-able. I guess it's just a matter of who wants it most. I think all of the non-medical field people are gone, plus a few more.

Must go finish my work....

Classes have started! I made it to the biology class Monday morning, however the instructor didn't know if there was going to be room for me yet. His advice was to attend lab on Monday and lecture and lab again on Wednesday and go from there. Which meant I also had to attend the statistics class Monday night, since I didn't want to be behind in there if I didn't get the biology. It made for a very long day. This morning the professor let me know that I had a slot! Yippee! We had our first lab project today and I am loving it! Today we looked at Daphnia under the microscope. After counting their heartrate we switched the water with alcohol of increasing amounts. Again, we counted the heartrate. Next we removed the alcohol and added caffeine. I really enjoyed being behind the microscope and being back in class again.

Tonight I need to write the rough draft for my first english paper. I've already tried working on it, but erased everything I had written as I didn't like the way it turned out. I also plan to read 2 chapters in Psychology and get started on the assignment due on Sunday.

My online classes, psych and english, started on Friday. Psych is cool, I took it in high school and also during my brief stint in college straight out of high school. Easy A's both times and I don't anticipate having much trouble this time either. All my work for week 1 was done within 2 hours of the classroom being open. English is another story. i have never enjoyed english. Never. Writing an essay does not fill me with happy thoughts. In high school I did ok, was in the honors classes and held my own.... but never enjoyed it. And truthfully, I don't understand why I got decent grades, I never put much effort in. The only difference between my rough drafts and final drafts was a run through spell check, and everything was done the night before the paper was due. I would really rather not follow that line of procrastination with this english class. So, I've dutifully signed on to the blackboard, read the syllabus, read the first weeks assignments... and kind of stalled out. Today I forced myself to pick up the text and start reading the first chapter as the instructor wants. Now I'm half way through and have totally lost interest. Instead I'm fighting the urge to go do next weeks psych homework, or maybe preread another bio chapter.

I went to the PICC on thursday and had an interview. It went well, I think. The lady that interviewed me took me back to meet the director of the clinic and gave me a tour of the faucilities. And.... oh the babies!! The sweet sweet, fuzzy headed babies! All so tiny and squishy and wonderful! The pay is garbage, lets just say I came home and had to look up the minimum wage rate for WA cause I thought it was higher! This will not work for my work as few hours as possible while bringing home some money plan, but my heart is pulling me there. Anyway, they said they would be calling my references on friday and getting back to me early next week.

I finally received a response from the Biology instructor today! He can't overload the class for me, but he told me to print out his e-mail and attend the first day of class and probably someone would drop and I could have their seat. So now the big question... which text should I buy? In a perfect world I would be able to buy both, but I don't have enough of $ in my book account to do that. I'd rather not buy the bio text late... I don't want to get behind right at the beginning.

Wahoo! At least it's a chance!

I didn't get into the biology class I needed. I'm so frustrated, I thought about crying, but quite frankly I'm just a bit burnt out on the whole thing. Here is my screwed up way of thinking... There is a nursing shortage. There are a ton of people trying to get into nursing school. Wouldn't you think the schools would make an effort to have a more apropiate number of the pre-req classes available? There just seems to be this bottleneck built into the system. So what are my options now? I can take 2 classes instead of 3, kissing a portion of my financial aid goodbye and pushing the oportunity to apply to nursing school back at least a year. I can take one of my other prereqs, pulling it from later in my academic plan and still pushing nursing school back a year. Anyone else have any bright ideas?

I've signed up for my statistics class in place of the biology so I can still take a full load of classes, but the plan is to continue to try to find a way into the biology class. I've already sent an email off to the instructor asking if he would consider overloading the class. I'm sure he probably wont, but it's at least worth the effort of trying. I'm also refreshing the add/drop a class section of the web site in hopes that someone will drop their spot and I can snatch it up. I really really don't want to take the math class this quarter. Please don't make me.

There is a slim chance that biology may be offered for summer quarter, but it wasn't last year. If I don't get in this quarter summer quarter would be the only way to be able to apply to nursing in the spring of 2009.

I met with my guidance counselor/Opportunity Grant person today. For some reason I thought I signed up for my classes with her today... sadly not. I can't register for classes until tomorrow, so even though we sat there typing different classes in to the computer to see what was available and planning out my schedule, there is the chance that one or more of my classes will have filled today and tomorrow I'll be back at square one. Considering there was one seat available in the biology class I NEED to take this quarter, I'm a bit stressed about it all.

If all goes well I will be taking English 101, Psychology 110 and Biology 101. Even getting my best case classes I'm going to be putting myself in a bind. The biology class that has one seat available starts at 9 am. My kids get dropped off at school at 8:55, they can not be there earlier than 8:45 and their school is about 20 minutes away from mine. Monday's it wont be a problem since that is one of Mikes days off, but every other Wednesday and every Friday he will be at work. So... got to figure out some way to get them to school on those days, plus I need to figure out what I'm going to do with Cam during those times. I went to the daycare on campus to check it out today and even with grants I'm looking at $78 a week. Too much. Trying not to panic. I'm getting quite a bit of pressure to not take a on campus class this quarter, but dang it... I'm pushing myself back a full year if I don't get this science done this quarter and I'm being selfish. Maybe I'll hit a stroke of luck and one of the slightly later biology's will have a seat open when I go in for registration tomorrow.

Since I was at the college anyway I decided to stop by the bookstore to see what my books would cost me this quarter. Well, not really me, the opportunity grant opens up an account for me at the bookstore. I can't wait to go pick up my biology text and lab book! Maybe I can get a jump start on reading! My account with the bookstore doesn't open up until the 15th.....

Totally not bragging, but the opportunity grant lady needed to look over my COMPASS test scores. She was quite literally gushing about my math scores. Yeah, math and science seem to come to me naturally. Honestly, yeah I did well, but I guess I'm used to it so I wasn't feeling overly giddy.