Tomorrow

Man, I'm a real goof. I start my class tomorrow. I'm really excited. I have to admit that my excitement and happiness is tempered by a bit of unusual work related stress, but one way or another that will be over with by the time I step foot into the classroom.

Okay, ripping these Textbook related CDs into iTunes, then my phone. A bit of work to get a headstart on my day, then off to sleep.

This venture starts for real tomorrow. Good night!

Holy Syllabus, Batman

I think I mentioned that I'd been in contact with my teacher last week. Holy crap...school starts one week from tomorrow! In my email encounter with my teacher, he mentioned a syllabus would be forthcoming in email. It arrived at my Oakton "in box". this morning. I looked at it kinda stunned. Not that there was anything wrong with it. It's now very real. Two months of planning and the final decision to go back to school is now a reality.

The syllabus: The learning objectives all seem great.
A. To develop a greater understanding of and respect for non-Western cultures through studying their music.
B. To achieve an understanding of music concepts such as melody, rhythm, and organization that can be applied to the study of each musical style.
C. To provide experiences that will enable the learners to gain knowledge and the ability to recognize the principal characteristics of each cultural style.
D. To provide experiences that will enable the learners to function independently as music listeners throughout their lives.

This sounds great. Looks like I'll have a listening exam every other week. I'll have an 8-10 page final paper to write too. Plus...ta da.. and oral report. Given the fact that I'm hardly shy and am used to crowds, this is gonna fun. I don't expect this to be easy by any means, but this could be a lot of fun if I continue in this very positive mindset.

My first class starts one week from tomorrow. I'm as excited as ever.

Hey Teacher....wait, how much does that cost?

My excitement for school keeps growing. Over the weekend, I emailed my professor to introduce myself...I'm all wrapped up in being an old fart coming back to school. Well, he responded and was thrilled. My friends all told me that it would likely be that way. I asked him about the textbook for class. Turns out I need a book and a CD set for class.

This text book runs 100 dollars NEW and the CD set is 80 new. Wow! Yeah, I'm very out of touch here. At any rate, I checked out www.half.com for books and found both in like new condition for for about the price of just the book at the campus bookstore. It kinda blew my mind that the books could have cost about half of my tuition. Waiting patiently for them to arrive.

Tonight is my official orientation. Is it silly for me to be THIS excited?

Testing Day

Today was the first chance I had to take the required Math and English placement exams at Oakton. I was really excited about it and a bit concerned too. I haven't been feeling well lately and I spent most of Sunday in pajamas and sleeping. I wondered if I wouldn't be up to this. I wanted to do well and didn't want anything to interfere.

Long story short, I made it through the workday pretty well and got more excited as the day went on. Yes, I really am drinking the Kool Aid! I even bought an Oakton hoodie in the book shop!

Okay.... so I get to the testing center for the Math portion of the test. After I've been properly screened by giving my new student number, showing ID and signing several documents promising not to cheat, I begin. This test is on a computer, but I get scrap paper to document anything I need. I have access to the calculator on the computer, but not my own. These questions are HARD! It's all algebra and geometry, and I'm reminded of high school algebra with Mr Camardella at Loyola Academy. I'm not proud to say that I had no clue about algebra in Freshman year, and wound up taking it in summer school where I finally passed.

So, I encountered the uncomfortable feeling that everyone gets at test time. It appeared that I finished first among everyone who was in the room. I was very self conscious as people's heads popped up watching me walk to the back of the room to turn in my pencil, scrap paper, and my no cheating affidavit. I felt a small lump of insecurity in my throat as I wondered about finishing so quickly. Did I mess everything up? Gee, the algebra turned out to be easier than the geometry. Something was wrong... Wait, the test instructions said not to be concerned with answers, but.........

I will have to call the Math Department to get the formal interpretation of what my scores mean. This can't be too dissimilar to interpreting a foreign language that only you know, but we'll see what happens.

Essentially my geometry score was I did better with the geometry portion of the test, or at least the results of my exam said that. It's interesting how that mirrored my high school experience. My geometry score seemed to be high enough that I didn't have to take a non credit prerequisite course before the first Math requirement for my Degree, but the algebra score may have contradicted that. I don't know. The gurus of the Math Department will sort this out for me.

So, I had an hour to kill before the start of the English exam. After discovering where the test was being given ....in the same place I took the Skokie Police Exam two years prior... I sat down, posted what was happening on Facebook and played Uno on the iPhone. You may never hear me say this in person, but I like my iPhone now that I have most of it figured out. It was nice to read everyone's well wishes on Facebook.

After an hour of the iPhone kicking my butt in Uno (hopefully my daughter isn't reading this, because she kicks my butt at Uno too), I was screened again for the English test. I believe this screening might be in use by TSA now, but...I digress.

The reading test was interesting. It was an hour long journey through reading paragraphs and picking a word missing from the text. I 'think' I aced this. The essay portion was significantly more involved. We were given a choice of two topics. We were asked to take a position on one of them and write an essay to convince a reader to agree with my position. After freaking out about how to properly structure an essay, I got an outline together and started writing. I was so relieved that at least some of it came back to me. Well, we'll see how much of it came back to me.

I get the English test results some time after Thursday. Next week I have an orientation, then classes start on the 25th.

This journey is getting more interesting and exciting, and I haven't even started classes yet.

I guess I'll go make some more Kool Aid.

Welcome to my world.....or part of it anyway

I've always enjoyed reading blogs, but I never saw myself doing one. Sometimes I wonder if it's a bit narcissistic of me to blog. Would anything I blog about be all THAT interesting?

We'll soon find out.

The purpose of this blog is to document and share my experiences in returning to college. I'll be 45 two weeks after my first class starts, and it's been 22 years since I was in a college classroom. It's really interesting, exciting, and a bit weird.

So, I can ramble on and on, but on January 25th, I start college...again. Yes, it's a junior college, and I'm only after an Associate's Degree, but the journey to that point will be interesting. I'll try to keep my entries related to these experiences, but who knows. I'm a bit of a blabber and I can be narcissistic.

My two kids are really excited that their dad is in school just like them. My 5 year old son asked if I was going to get a Bakugan lunch box just like him. I think Kindergarten and college might have more in common than I thought.

On January 4th, I take Math and English placement exams, but hey...I paid my tuition deposit today and classes start in just about a month, so I'm officially "in".

If you're interested in how this old man does headed back to college, stick around. I'm really excited.