differentdrummersoundtrack

11 Rahmat 168 B.E. (Baha’i Calendar)
Soundtrack in my head:  Public Image Ltd., “Public Image”

An astute observe (stalker?) of this website might have noticed that a second post from 7 June just now appeared out of nowhere, perhaps making them wonder if I somehow slipped this in just now and then pretended that I wrote it for 7 June.  

Well, yes, sort of.  I really did begin writing it on 7 June, the same day I made that other post, but I posted it yesterday.  So there.  Live with it.  You should be lucky that I don’t pick random calendar dates like the local newspaper in the novel “Dhalgren.”  (If I did that, this blog’s readership would probably drop from three to two.)

I’ve actually now completed my Statistics class mid-term, and I think I did pretty well–maybe even quite well. As I was studying, my old studying tricks came back to me, and there were only one or two questions on the exam (out of roughly 35) where I found myself thinking, “Ooh, I should have tried harder to memorize that part of the notes.”

It is rather interesting going to school in 2011 after not having done so since 1989.  Email wasn’t used when I was an undergraduate–at least not those of us in the Liberal Arts and Sciences ghetto.  Microsoft Word had been invented by that point, but when I was an undergraduate, it was still WordPerfect’s bastard stepchild. Microsoft Power Point had not been invented at all. WordStar was considered to be a legitimate word-processing program.

Now I have my own campus email address. (Unfortunately I couldn’t pick the name–they auto-assigned it to avoid duplication and to avoid email addresses like uberthorlazergeekgodandruleroftheuniverse@wisc.edu.)  I can actually email my homework and download my syllabus. My instructor actually uses Power Point and we get Power Point printouts of the lectures, making it necessary only to add notes to the notes already there.

Before class started, I remember wondering what I should bring to class with me. A spiral notebook? A three ring binder? A Trapper Keeper? I agonized over whether I should bring my laptop to class and whether I could simultaneously take notes and check Facebook at the same time like any good Gen-Y’er. Turns out there was no need in this case–with all the handouts the three-ring binder ended up being what I needed.

But in a scenario that is very 2011, I was doing my homework in a coffee shop one afternoon when I realized that the built-in calculator on my Android phone didn’t have a square-root function. So I went onto Android Market, found a scientific calculator app, downloaded it to my phone and continued working on the statistic problem I’d started a few minutes before.

It’s tricky balancing school, work and life, and is definitely something I’m still getting used to…

13 Nur 168 B.E. (Baha’i Calendar)
Soundtrack in my head:  Western Roots, “Rockers Galore”

The other posting I was going to post but never got around to was the posting about school.  School is one of the reasons I have difficulty posting to this blog on a timely basis. But I’m experimenting with writing out my posts on my Android phone, which hopefully will result in more frequent and shorter posts.

Just as most students in Madison were celebrating being out of school for the summer, I entered school for the first time in 22 years at the University of Wisconsin.  I am actually not a graduate student yet–I am taking a statistics course as a prerequisite for my graduate program that starts in the fall.  So I am considered a “special student” this summer and a graduate student this fall–that is, if I get a C or better in the class.  

And that distinction is apparently throwing a curve ball at the computer system involved in processing my financial aid/student loan application.  The UW isn’t that much bigger than the University of Illinois where I got my bachelor’s degree, but somehow it feels more intimidating. Either that or I just didn’t worry as much the first time around.  In any case I feel like a freshman at 43 and need one of those kind-hearted guides in the red Wisconsin t-shirts to guide this scared little puppy through the system.  (“It’s okay, young man.  Maybe a serving of Babcock Ice Cream will make you feel better.”)

I discovered, however, that there’s a few perks to being a student.  Even a three-credit class like mine entitles me to many perks that full-time students receive, starting with the ASM Bus Pass.  Apparently my student fees entitle me to a free bus pass each semester, which can be used anywhere on the Madison Metro system. So rather than pay $55 a month for a monthly Metro pass,  it appears that the university will provide me with one–theoretically until September 2015.

The first day of class felt quite strange.  The instructor eased us into class by having us interview and get to know the person next to us, and then introduce them to the class, which is has about twelve people.  Then he started talking about statistics.  As I sat in the class, I found myself thinking, “All rite, how does this lurning thing werk?  How much of this of this lekture am I suppozed to memurize?  How duz this all end up in my brane?”  But by the second class I felt more at ease.

Mercifully, the statistics class is geared toward social workers (meaning right-brained people like me) and is part of the Social Work department.  This is good because my brain definitely needs help in grasping these abstract concepts that are more challenging that “A train leaves Kansas City going eastbound at 75 mph and another train leaves Cleveland going westbound at 65 mph.  What is the conductor’s name?”

My classmates are an interesting mix of people–like me most are going back to school.  Several are married with children.  So I don’t feel like I’m sitting in chairs entirely too small for me in my old kindergarten class–even though most UW students weren’t yet born when I graduated from college.  Grad school means you don’t have to apologize for being older.