My Life In Focus

Hives… it’s been a part of my life for 4 weeks now.  That’s right, 4 weeks.  During these four weeks I have: been to the doctor’s twice… been to urgent care once… taken Benadryl… taken Claritin… was given a Benadryl shot… restricted my diet (no fish, shellfish, or nuts of any kind)… spent a total of $200+ on the treatment… and it still has not gone away.

The doctor is going to try to treat it for one more week and if that doesn’t work, I get to do some blood work to see what is really going on with me.  It’s funny how all these people are speculating what really is going with me and no one knows.  I honestly think that it was brought on by all the bug bites I got from fishing, but other people seem to think it’s something I ate (might I add that I have never been allergic to anything in my life), and a few people think it may be stress induced.  Whatever the situation is… I want it out of my life because it’s interfering with too much already as it is.

Aside from the labwork that will be done on my blood… the doctor is considering steriods as a final method of treating this.  That sounds sort of extreme to me, but at this point, if that’s what it’s going to take, I might just have to go with it.  All I can say is, I hate hives and I hope that no one else has to live with it.

Although school officially started yesterday, today was my actual first day of instruction at SJSU. In perparation for today and to lessen the first day jitters I actually got a personal tour of the campus on Friday to get a general idea of where all my classes will be and where I should park and where I can find back up parking should I not be able to find a space, etc.  I think it helped because I knew exactly how to get from point A to point B with relative ease. Thank goodness for that!

I started with a 7:30AM class… I figured the class would be easy going since not many students are willing to get up that early to go to class, but boy was I wrong.  By the time I got there, the class was literally filled to the brim with maybe about 4 seats left.  The rest was standing room.  I looked around the class… most of the students seem to live on campus or somewhere close by because they had no problems getting to class early compared to my being on time.  Now I know I need to leave the house a little sooner… and here I thought I had the luxury of getting to my morning class without too many hitches because I live not too far from the school.  Class ended and it was time to walk over to my next class — clear across the other side of the campus.

I made it to my second class with more than enough time and I actually felt more at home in that class since I am familiar with most of the learning objectives that will be covered in that class.  The major requirements actually has me taking the same course again at San Jose State but it covers some additional topics that were not covered at Ohlone College.  After that class ended, it was a mad dash to get into my car and then home so that I can make my 11AM conference call.

All in all, not too bad for a first day.  The only other observation that I made is that I am going to school with a lot of incoming first time freshmen.  A part of me feels so weirded out and out of place because of that… I’m 10 years past that prime, but another part of me feels fortunate to “relive” some of that because not everyone gets to.  I guess the other part that makes it a little less unnerving is that I actually blend in quite well between good genetics and the clothes that I generally throw on to go to school (jeans, teeshirt, sneakers, and a sweatshirt).  The only other thing that is missing is familiar faces… but I will get that once Ohlone College starts up again for the last of my ECS courses there.  Here’s to the start of a fresh semester!

I woke up this morning with $$$ on my mind… but it wasn’t the typical kind of spending that most people my age would dream of doing.  I paid for my tuition this morning… It’s true I am going to a state university - so the cost of tuition could be MUCH worse, but it doesn’t make it less painful having to bite that bullet… $1898 is the sticker cost per semester at San Jose State University these days for just the tuition… the parking sticker and books are seperate and they are the next immediate thing on my list to take care of.

I guess you can say all of this is sort of surreal… not just the cost of going to school, but actually being back in school at a 4 year university.  It’s been a long while and a lot of sacrifice and determination to get here, but I am here — and I am actually kind of looking forward to it.  Most people would cringe at the thought of being back in school again, but I actually kind of enjoy the hectic balance between work and school.  I’ve learned to have a greater appreciation for it as well.  I hope this feeling stays with me because I sure do have a long ways to go before obtaining the BA and then the MA to follow after that.

So now the countdown begins.  I have only one official week of summer left before SJSU instruction begins. I have two official weeks of summer left before Ohlone College instruction begins.  That’s right - I’m dual enrolled as well — that’s how much I am loving school these days!  haha - The truth is I have 1 unit to finish my AA degree for obtaining my licensing for Child Care and 1 class to finish off a specialization to put on my degree in Administration, Mentoring, and Supervision on my degree.  After that, I’ll be a full time SJSU student come Spring Semester.  So… with that said… lets enjoy the final days of summer before school once again, consumes my life. 

For all the Chinese folks out there - today is a big day so go and buy your lottery ticket… you may just get lucky… make sure your ticket is filled with 8’s! 

Tonight is the start of the long anticipated Summer Olympics hosted in none other than Beijing, China - how’s that for good luck and good feng shui?  I’ve been waiting for this all year long and it will mark the first time that the Olympics will be aired with extensive HD coverage.  I can’t wait to see all the swimming heats on my nice big flat screen in HD, it’s going to be awesome. 

The best part in all the Olympic excitment is that all that I will be seeing on televsion in the next 2 weeks that is being aired in Beijing, I will get to see at the end of this year — except that it may all be covered in snow.  Beijing is the first leg of the Adventures in Asia saga and our time there will be very limited because we will be a part of an actual tour group, so I want to be sure to take note of all the sites and be very selective about what it is that I want to see when I get there and have the time to go roaming around outside of the designated tour times. 

135 days left until my adventures begin!