Things I Learned While Going Back to Grad School

Since I have been here in Kalamazoo, I have made some observations I thought I would share with you all.

1. I always either gravitate, or attract, people with my same sense of humor. I am so thankful I have met a few people up here who share my sense of sarcasm but who want to be good students at the same time. I laugh and say we are the slackers but that is really not true at all. I like to think we are the "cool kids".

2. There is such a thing as a stupid question! As a teacher, we are always saying there are no stupid questions and I really used to believe that....until I came back to school. I have heard the most stupid questions asked in some of my classes that I honestly don't know how some of these people made it this far. If the teachers says that something is going to be on the test immediately, there are at least 2-3 hands up in the air asking "Um, so are you saying that this will be on the test" followed by "what did you say is going to be on the test". When she explains again, inevitably, there are more hands asking more questions about what the professor just explained 2 times. Frustrating!

3. Not everyone knows the basics of how to use a computer. During the 2nd week of classes, someone asked what the "tab" key was for and I almost lost it. Seriously?

4. Some girls are the exact same as when they were in high school and seem to be proud of it. When you are 28 years old, you should not be getting trashed, screaming out the windows of a vehicle at strangers and yelling obscenities at people. I did not witness this but heard all about it. Come on... you are almost 30. Be a classy drinker!!

5. I STILL hate group projects. I hate them, hate them, hate them. Someone always is a slacker in the group and I end up having to pick up the slack. Why can't I be the slacker!?!? People, we are in graduate school. Step it up!!

6. Backstabbing still exists. Glad I'm not friends with this chick but I feel bad for the person she is stabbing in the back.

7. Some people like to pretend they are dumb. This one confuses me. Who wants to act like an airhead?

Enough of the rampage. Back to picking up the slack on the group project. Sarcasm is on full force!

Kiki's in Kalamazoo

Well, I made it to Michigan.  I had the route on my iphone GPS, I had the directions printed out sitting in the passenger seat AND I was following up another student from Lexington. As I passed into each state I held up my iPhone and took a video of the state sign for the boys.  I was super nervous as we were going around Cincy but we made it just fine.

The rooms up here are super sucky.  Seriously, the dorms I stayed in when I was a freshman at EKU were much better than this.  Old, kind of looks like a prison cell and no air conditioning.  I was tired from driving all day, hungry and HOT moving all my crap to the second floor so I was not in the best mood.  Things have started looking better though.  I will be in class until either 6 pm or 8 pm each day so by 8 it starts cooling off some.  As long as this fan doesn't break down in the middle of the night I should be good. 

Today is orientation all day.  Basically, they are reviewing things that they could have emailed out to us or things that they have ALREADY emailed out to us.  I hate being read to when they have already sent the info but it is fun to people watch. 

I am NOT the oldest one here.  There are quite a few people older than me so that makes me feel better. 

The funny thing about today is that we had to go around the room and introduce ourselves.  These people like to hear themselves talk.  I know way too much about these people.  Introductions took FOREVER.  Like close to 30 minutes when they only has 10 minutes on the schedule for it.  I was short and sweet... Krista, from Ky, in the TVI program.  Ok, not really that short.  I figured that since these people were droning on about everything they had ever done or thought I would too but I was still much faster than these other people.

I'm trying to figure out this one guy.  I have seen him for 3 days and he always wears tan.  Like, tan button down top, tan shorts, tan socks, tan shoes and yesterday he had a tan safari hat.  When I saw him I looked around to see if there were any elephants or if maybe I had accidentally ended up in Africa on safari.  No hat today but I can't wait to see if he wears tan every single day.  He is kind of goofy and walks like his shoes are too big.  He seems nice but just a little weird.  But I was digging the safari hat.  Might have to go get one of those.  OH, I know, he is a cross between safari and the crocodile guy except he tucks his shirt in (like WAY in, not a good look). 

Off to walk back to the classroom building for more orientation.  At least this time we are divided into groups based on our area so I will be with all the TVI students.  Hopefully they will go over all the stuff for classes so I can kind of be prepared for tomorrow.  And I have to figure out where one of my classes is at.  It is on the other side of campus (by the  way, this campus is HUGE.  The town is kind of like Richmond but this campus is spread out like UK.  It would take me 45 minutes or more to walk to the other side.).

Pass the Praxis..... like a boss!!

I passed!!!  I passed!!  I don't know how but I really don't care!  I took the Praxis test for teacher certification for visual impairments early as a practice just to see what is on it so I would know what to study.  I don't have to worry about what to study because I PASSED the first time. 

I feel smart!!  :)

4.0 Baby!!!

I just completed 2 more classes towards my Master's in Teacher of the Visually Impaired.  Only 10 more to go to be completely finished.  I was nervous checking  my grades because I didn't participate in the chats/discussions like I should have.  I figured that I would get counted off in participation which would knock me down to a B in that class.  I was ready for a B.  I was expecting a B.  I was OK with a B.  Finally, I saw that our grades were posted.  I was not prepared for what I saw when I opened my grades.  TWO A'S!!!!  I am so excited.  So I keep my 4.0 GPA for now.  I'm just hoping that I can keep it after the summer classes I am taking.

10th Annual Bryan Station Defender Classic 5K Run/Walk

 The boys ran the 5K at Bryan Station this morning.  It was a cold and rainy day.  Here they are when they finished the race.  Samuel's face cracks me up!!

Harrison was the 1st place winner in his age group.

Samuel was the 2nd place winner in his age group.

 

It was a good day for the O Bro's. 

Happy tonight...dreading tomorrow

Happy - Harrison just ran a personal record at his track meet tonight.  He ran the 2 mile in 12 minutes 28 seconds.  He took 43 seconds off his time!!  That is awesome.  The coach was so happy with him.

Dreading  - The 5K is here and I am not ready. NOT READY!!!  Every time I ran my shin really hurt so I haven't done any running this week at all!  I am going to walk it tomorrow.  I'll start over with my app to build back up and not hurt my shin again.

Even though I am bummed about not running the 5K, I still have big dreams of becoming a runner.  I hate that Harrison says I can't do it.  Of course, I just want to wake up and be able to do it too.  This training and building up endurance it not too fun. Actually, it kind of sucks big time.  I am the "I want it and I want it NOW" kind of person.  Isn't there some sort of botox for running?  You know, give me a shot and I can run.  Wouldn't that be awesome?!?!

I always loved a good challenge!!!

So, here I am, 41 years old and trying to become a runner.  Have I ever run a day in my life?  NOPE!  Well, maybe when I see a spider or a snake and that is just running out of the room.  Even then, I am out of breath.  But my oldest son, who IS a runner said one little thing that changed my mind about trying to become a runner.  He ran up with the high school cross country team and has been on the track team for the past 2 years.  He is really a good runner if I do say so myself.  And that's not just my "mother's perspective" talking either.  He really is a good runner.  Anyway, One day I made some backhanded comment one day that maybe I would run a 5K one day.  He laughed at me and just said "Oh mom, you could never run a 5K".  Well, I do like a challenge and I DO NOT like to be told I can't do something.  So, here I am.  Trying to get my flabby, lazy, never run a day in my life self out there and run a 5K.

I downloaded the Ease Into 5K app on my iPhone.  I started off great the first week.  It wasn't too bad at all.  So the second week I thought, "shoot, I don't need this stinking app.  I can just go run".  And that is what I did.  The actual run wasn't too bad.  I ran/walked 2.2 miles.  Now, seriously, it was a lot of walking but I got in some good stretches of running.  I was so proud of myself.  At least, until my shins hurt like hell afterwards.  Yep, I gave myself shin splints.  So today is the first day I tried running again.  I had to stop just shy of a mile.  I was doing the app and backed back to the beginning.  My right shin still hurts but it isn't the bone.  It is the muscle to the left of the bone.  Maybe I pulled it.  I don't know.  I can walk fast but I just can't run on it or it burns like fire and really starts hurting....bad.

So, the 5K is in a week and I will probably be walking it.  I am going to walk everyday this week to get ready.  I am disappointed that I took on too much too soon but I am still motivated to eventually run a 5K.  I know I can do it.  I'm just going to keep on walking. 

I asked for it

Funny Samuel story.

Samuel and I were in the car when he started acting up. Here is our conversation.

Samuel: being a smart mouth...

Me: You need to change your behavior.

Samuel: I did change my behavior.

Me: How?

Samuel: I changed it from good to bad.

Me:

He was so serious. Like, super serious. He wasn't being smart when he said it. It was just matter of fact with those big, cute eyes opened up really wide.

I have to give it to him, he was telling the truth. But he straightened right up after this.

My Samuel is so funny.