August 2009

The mature student orientation last night was pretty much painless, other than my initial anxiety about getting there on time (I was 40 minutes early) and whether I’d get lost on the way to the room it was in (big, huge, black arrows labeled “MATURE STUDENTS” prevented that) and whether I’d sit mutely, terrified at a table alone (sat in a group of 4, talked to everyone there!).

The mature student population has boomed – with the number of local layoffs, downsizings and companies closing and ejecting employees, there are a lot of adults looking to upgrade their skills or change careers altogether. There were over 175 people registered for last night’s ‘optional’ orientation. The government’s “Second Career” program is helping a lot of people.

For the most part, the evening was full of a lot of “you’re scared shitless and that’s okay” reassurances and some practical tips. There was a panel of mature students who talked about their experiences and gave some advice on succeeding in a world populated primarily by 19-25 year olds.

I was not the only one concerned about balancing my existing life – husband, house, kids, dogs, laundry – with school.

I was the only one with purple hair.

Unsurprisingly, I only ran into one other person from the Social Services program – given that there are only 44 of us, compared to the very large numbers in some of the other programs, I was impressed to meet even one in the crowd. We only had a quick second to say “hello” before being ushered back to our tables – I didn’t even catch her name!

By the time I got home I was exhausted but full of babbling-to-Coffee. I’m pretty sure I’m going to sleep like a rock for the entire first week of school – all this ‘socializing’ and ‘staying awake’ is rough work, let along studying.

Monday is the regular (mandatory) orientation for my program, and then I start full-time on Sept 8th. In the meantime, I think I need to get some stuff done around here.. EEEK!

1. I survived the “Mature Student Orientation” last night. I met a few nice people, too, but sadly they weren’t from my particular program.
2. Just when I thought the hilarity of the wiener dog had worn off, I got to watch one leaping and pouncing and playing and then I laughed ’til I cried. Bonus Good Thing: Coffee watched the traffic lights so I could watch the dog ’til the light turned green.
3. Making plans to make plans for a trip in May. I can’t plan-plan it, but I can daydream-plan it.
4. Various small conversations with friends in the past few days making me feel a bit lighter in spirit.
5. That Coffee let me ramble on and on and on when I got home last night. His eyes didn’t even glaze over (much)!

This is modified from the recipe for “Roasted Red Pepper Hummus” in the “Living the GI Diet” recipe book. We make double the recipe each time because it keeps just fine in the freezer and can be thawed in the fridge overnight to use the next day. Nom!

Red Pepper Hummus

1 can (540ml) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup (or more) roasted red peppers (we use jarred and WAY more than 1 cup)
1/4 cup tahini
1 tbs ground cumin (or more if you love it like we do)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce (or more!)
1 clove garlic, minced (I use about 5 – 8)

Directions:
1. In a food processor, pulse together chickpeas, peppers, tahini, cumin and salt. With food processor running, add oil and water until very smooth. Pulse in lemon juice and garlic.

1. Homemade red pepper hummus, on toast, for breakfast. *drool*
2. Getting all my errands done for the day before 10 am.
3. You. The person reading this. Thanks for being out there.
4. 13 days ’til school starts and I haven’t dropped out!
5. My hair is awesomely purple at the moment. Also, I forgot just how many children find my hair worthy of shrieking when it’s dyed. :)

1. I greatly enjoy sending things out into the world via Freecycle. It combines my love for purging crap from the house/garage and the knowledge that someone else is quite possibly excited to get the stuff!
2. I got all of the filing done yesterday. Awesome.
3. Watching Coffee bop his head to some Snoop on the drive to work this morning. Being even more amused when I noticed I was doing it along with him.
4. Seeing “Pogo” the wiener dog today. Yay for a good day!
5. My husband is my favourite person in the entire world. ENTIRE WORLD. This makes me very lucky, I think.

Today I have spent a good chunk of time filing papers in my office. Miscellaneous vet bills, children’s artwork, health card information.. It’s been about as much fun as you think, though I confess that I love the smell of my Sharpies and the whir of my label maker and the brilliant orange hue of my file-folders. I guess it’s not all bad.

Once I’m finished with the paper and the filing, I’m moving on to getting my own school supplies prepared – filling my pencil case and putting loose-leaf paper onto my clipboard and then arranging everything in my backpack. Then taking it all out and rearranging it. Then considering if it would be inappropriate to use a suitcase instead of a backpack. Then wondering if I really need the 80,001 items I’ve packed. Then crying a little.

After that, I’m going to attempt to clear off a large section of the desk in the office – currently occupied by an old monitor and a bunch of papers – so I’ll have a dedicated studying area away from my computer. That’s right – I’m admitting my online addiction and I am admitting that I am powerless in the face of it and, so, yeah. Going to carve out that spot ASAP so I don’t waste my tuition on trying to kick your ass at Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. (Not that I’m going to give up kicking your ass, just that I’m going to do some studying too.)

On Wednesday night I’m attending my college’s “mature student orientation” and I already feel somewhat icky about the “mature” part of it. Coffee assures me that I won’t be the oldest person there and that makes me feel a bit better – but he also says that “mature” probably doesn’t mean they’ll serve alcohol. Of course, the invitation promises that it will be “informal and fun” which also terrifies me because, fun is really relative, no? (As a “mature” student, I assure you: FUN IS ABSOLUTELY RELATIVE AND SUBJECTIVE.)

If there’s one thing I’m dreading most – the very most – about college it’s the “get to know you” shit. I am dreading those horrible games where you have to memorize factoids about your classmates or do something borderline humiliating. So, I am thinking about creating a little folder of my blog posts and some half-naked photos and handing them out in lieu of participating in any stupid games. YOU’VE SEEN MY BOOBIES AND KNOW MY KIDS NAMES: NOW YOU KNOW ME!

Then I can sit down and sip from my flask of vodka and enjoy everyone else’s humiliation.

(Dear god, please let me avoid the stupid games.)

Okay, now I’m getting all worked up again. I’m going back to filing.

1. Strawberry-banana yogurt. (This shit is bananas! B-a-n-a-n-a-s!)
2. Kitten’s gleeful observation of the squirrels eating breakfast on the front porch every morning. Her tail twitching is.. enthusiastic!
3. Some of the Bloodhound Gang songs make me grin.
4. Making some health-related decisions and feeling good about them.
5. Our king sized bed is.. well, it’s flat-out awesome.

To choose the winners of the straws from Glass Dharma, I plunked everyone’s name into a spreadsheet – in order of their comment – and then I eliminated Sylvain’s non-entry comments and The Blog Fodder’s comment (by his request).

Then I went to Random.org and asked for 4 random numbers between 1 and 31.

And the winners are…

#1 – Igster
#30 – Kitty
#13 – Alison
#17 – Lucy

Winners, please contact me (nospamthanks at gmail dot com) ASAP with your mailing information. I’ll pass it along to Glass Dharma and they’ll send you your straw! If I don’t hear from you by Friday, I’ll use the random number generator to select another winner.

For those of you who didn’t win, I recommend purchasing your own glass straw – especially for those of you with environmental concerns. I’m still very happy with mine and have been gleefully using them for all of my beverages since they arrived!

You have until midnight EST tonight (Sunday) to leave a comment (on this post) to win a glass straw of your very own!

1. Our to-do list is about 400 miles long, right now, but if we get even half done it’ll feel LOVELY!
2. Cooler weather. Sweeeeet! (I am unapologetic about my feelings toward hot weather!)
3. Listening to Coffee on the phone with his boss – very sexy geeky talk. RAWR.
4. The sound of the aquarium bubbling behind me right now.
5. This morning I ‘shed’ a hair while talking to Coffee. Then I giggled like a lunatic. Yeah.