Week 4

Well, it's been another week, this one with some mixed success.

Socially, I've done a lot better. My husband and I have met a few other couples that live nearby, and we've had a couple dinner dates this week. I get to hang out with one of my best girl friends for an hour or so each day. And I changed my work schedule so it's more compatible with my classes, so I also get to work with more of my friends; it's much less stressful than last week.

Scholastically, let's see...

Audiology 1: Keeping up so far! Everything has been turned in, and thus far, I have a 96% in the class.

Audiology 2: We have a t---

About 2 hours ago, I realized that the audiology I test was about to write about was being handed out in approximately 30 minutes. And I hadn't studied a single thing. I crammed through the class study guide and finished just before the test was handed out. I'm a fast test-taker, partly because if I don't know the answer, that's not going to change no matter how long I stare at the question, and I just move on; I think I was the first person to hand the test in today. I felt remarkably good about this test though, especially considering how long I studied for it.

In other words, Audiology 2 isn't doing too badly.

Family History: Sometimes it feels like our class time just crawls by because I want to "get to the good stuff," which I think we'll get to on Monday. I haven't done any research this week, so maybe that could be a goal for the weekend. On Saturday we're going to drive to meet a distant relative of my husband's who has been working on his genealogy, so that's not part of my classwork, but it contributes to the big picture. We would also like to drive up to my grandparents' house sometime to spend time with them and hopefully scan some original documents while we're there.

Speech: After I missed the last assignment, I wanted to make sure I was on the ball for the third one, so I submitted it right after class. Score for not procrastinating! I still haven't watched any of the online lectures since the first week of class; I need to just sit down and do it sometime. I just looked at the class calendar, and it looks like we have another reading quiz next week and our first midterm the week after that.

Speaking of checking the calendar, I looked at the calendar for the Audiology 1 class, and it appears as though I need to complete a lab this weekend. Also good to know.

Writing: I'm definitely not caught up yet in this class. This week we submitted our portfolios for the project that I was only in class for the latter half of; that's almost behind me now. After submitting my portfolio, I emailed my professor and apologized for being late to class every day and bringing sub-par work, and expressed to her that I really do respect her as a teacher and appreciate the things she's teaching us, and that I'm resolving my conflict with class and work schedules and trying to do better. I really don't want to make a bad impression in the first 2 weeks of her class. She responded and said not to worry. Then various things happened that prevented me from being prepared for class on Thursday, so I just didn't go because I was embarrassed to bring a blank piece of paper to another peer review. Thanks to my friend in class, I did get the preparatory reading done for Thursday though. It appears as though another writing assignment is due next class, so I'll need to find out what it is.

I went through the Independent Study catalog this week and marked classes which I thought were interesting. Last week, I talked to the people in "Continuing Education" to discuss options, and at the moment, it looks like evening classes may be my best bet while we live close to campus. I don't know yet; we'll see. After marking up the catalog, most of the classes I want to pursue are writing and family history classes, so *hopefully, hopefully, hopefully* whatever direction my life takes after graduation, I'll somehow be able to keep learning, working, and progressing in those areas.

In quick reflection, I realized that this blog is actually, really helping me to keep better track of deadlines. I only review a past week at a time, and I've been really lucky that my friends have helped remind me of immediate deadlines in between, but I'm looking ahead more often and slowly making progress. What still looks like clods of dirt to everyone else is proving to be obscure and dingy but valuable ore for me. Someday it might be special.