Category: Educate Me

I am really glad that the semester has started. I’m enjoying all of my classes so far. I had a moment of panic yesterday at the beginning of my Chem II class, as she talked about how it will be harder than Chem I was – I started to wonder what on earth I was doing. Who am I kidding, thinking I’m smart enough to do this? I’ve got a ton of science classes ahead of me, am I really that smart?

Then she started the lecture, and I was the only person answering the questions she was asking. I’m sure other people knew the material – for example, my lab partner from last semester. I’m sure she knew it. (She is taking the class with me, which is great because she rocks and we work well together.) But I was the one answering the stuff. And I was one of only two students selected to take the class as an Honors class. Because I am smart. I can do this. I may be 18+ years older than a lot of them, but you know what? That is ok. I’m smart, and that is what matters.

(I had to write all that so when I have that same panic attack feeling again I can remind myself that I can do it.)

But let me let you in on a secret. This stuff is EXHAUSTING. The first week is especially hard, after having a five week break. I’m so tired, I just want to curl up and go to sleep for a day or two! But I have a chapter to read in my photography book, a chapter to read in my Chemistry book, and a chapter to read in my Biology book. (And hopefully I can finally get my copy of my Trig book.) Thank goodness I have the whole weekend to do it! Tonight, I’m taking a bit of a knitting break!

The photograph at the top of this post is the Lady Eleanor shawl (stole?) from the Scarf Style book. It is being knit in Noro Silk Garden color #39, and I had to use size 6 needles to get the gauge that I liked. Not too holey, not too tight. I was afraid it would be too narrow, so I added an extra block to the first tier to make it a little wider. I need to hurry and finish this, all of my classrooms are freezing cold! First I must finish Jenn’s long overdue baby blanket – the end is in sight! I have also started on my Jaywalker socks, but they are my tote-along project for right now. It is handy to have something small that I can knit during the short 10-15 minute breaks I sometimes get between classes.

Whew! I survived the first day. After being out of school for 5 weeks, it was rough to start off with a 6.5 hour day (not counting drive time), especially after not getting much sleep last night. I’m so exhausted tonight, and I already have homework waiting for me! Fortunately, my class doesn’t start until 11 tomorrow, so I am going to take advantage of the morning time – when I am not so loopy! – and get my reading done then.

So here are the first impressions:
– Photography I – I liked the teacher right away. I got a very good vibe off of himand that is always a good sign. I was not the oldest person in the class, matter of fact there were several people close to my age, and at least one that is definitely older than I am. It is definitely an entry level class, more than I originally expected it to be. I know I will learn some new techniques here and there, and the opportunity to get back into the darkroom after 19 years is a very good thing. Many of the things on the syllabus are things that I already know. I had to stiffle a laugh when I saw that our first “photograph” will be a photogram. I did two science fair papers in the early 80s on photograms – I wonder if I can just turn some of those in? (Just kidding!)

We are only required to shoot 8 rolls of film. That is roughly 200 photos. Hello? I can shoot 200 photos in a day. I’m going to have to pace myself. Also, when I took photography in high school we got a list of either 10-15 pictures to take, or a “project” to take, and turned in portfolios of 20 images every 6 weeks or so – 60 images a semester. In my current class, we will only be turning in 20 photographs. I expected it to be more.

The important thing for me though is that the class is going to be FUN. I can tell that already. I will get to stretch my creative legs, and get a grade for it. This is very important when your other classes are science and math classes. I will push myself to get outside of my photography box, challenge myself to work on taking photographs of things I wouldn’t normally photograph.

Plus it meets my art requirement, and Photography I is going to be a lot more interesting for me than art appreciation. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate art, but I would rather take pictures.

My other class today was Biology II. It helps that it is in the afternoon, that my teacher speaks English clearly, that we have good outlines and – most importantly – she doesn’t drone. It doesn’t help that Biology still puts me to sleep. King Phillip blah blah blah – we are Homo sapiens, cool. Do I have to memorize all this other stuff? From what I have seen so far, this will be a lot better than last semester, and I believe I can get another A this time around. And as an added bonus, we get to dissect stuff!

(Is it amusing that I have a lot more to say about my photography class than I do about Biology?)

I also logged into the eCampus tonight for my distance learning Trig class. I was so out of it I decided I should read it in the morning when things will start to sink in. I have to write my introduction for the message board and figure out when a good time for me to participate in our online chats will be. Tough call, since part of why I opted to take it online is so that I could do it whenever. I can’t go too far until I get the textbook; I need to call the bookstore in the morning and see if they have it in stock now.

The switch for me this semester is that I am going to have projects in every class. Papers of some sort for each class – even Trig. On top of that, I’m taking the Honors option for my Chemistry class, so that involves research time and writing a 15 minute speech. I’m just glad I know about all of them up front and have all the due dates now – I’ll take the time between now and Friday to get the all on the calendar.

In knitting news, I caught up with all of my “Knitcast” podcasts while I drove to school this morning and while eating lunch. I need to set up a few more podcasts to download that she mentioned in the latest episode of the Knitcast show. Also, since it was the first day of class our Photography teacher let us out early, and I got a little knitting done before I went to meet with my Chemistry teacher. I discovered last night that my Jawoll socks that I was working on (just basic stockinette stitch) were strange and bulky/loose around the ankle, so I pulled the needles right out of them and cast on my Trekking XXL 108 (purples and blues) for the Jaywalker socks. I was going to go with a Cherry Tree Hill yarn, but I was so inspired when I saw them done in Trekking XXL that I had to go for it. I joined the Jaywalker Knitalong the other day, so now I’m all set. Ready to knit.

For those of you viewing my site in IE, I made a change to the code and the sidebar should not disappear anymore down to the bottom of the page. If it is still doing it, please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!