Well, I got my grades, but have been reluctant to post them. I suppose it's time to 'fess up: I got an A- in Sociology, an A- in Writing 122, a B+ in Core & Cardio, a B in Biology 101, and a B in Math 93. My new and unimproved GPA went from a 4.0 to a 3.74. Next term, I'll be taking Bio 102, Math 94, Core & Cardio, Writing 227 (Technical Report Writing), & Sociology 230 (Intro to Gerontology) online for a total of 16 credits. But that's enough about school!!! (At least for another couple of weeks...)

I didn't get around to Christmas cards or baking this year. Ty will be at his dad's for Christmas Eve & morning. Other than doing transcription, the only other thing I've done is to sign up for a free 2-week trial to a tennis club with my friend from school. That way we can work out indoors while I don't have P.E. class. Tyson starts his 2-week break tomorrow. He had a basketball tournament all weekend, so that's what we did. I'm just totally drained & can't really get motivated to start any of the projects I told myself I'd do during break. Bah humbug!!

Well, school's out for the next few weeks, thank goodness! I was on extreme burnout there for a while. I think, overall though, I did well on all my finals. I'll post when I get my grades back to let y'all know how I did in the end.

My big plan for the break is to clean everything in sight - my house, yard, & jeep. I never have the time when I'm in school. I'm also planning to get caught up on the current season of Grey's Anatomy & maybe even Private Practice, the Grey's spinoff. This weekend, I'll be doing photography with Lisa's step-daughter & am supposed to go bowling with Lisa & Becky. I'm hoping that the break will allow me the time to catch up with some friend time that I've been neglecting & also some Tyson time. We've played a little Rock Band 2 (early Christmas present to us!) last night, but I didn't have time before because of finals. So, I'm looking forward to playing that some more & also being able to go to his last two school games. The AAU season has begun & it sounds like it's going to be 9 months long!

In the midst of finals, would you believe it - I'm having a fabulous day! I got an A on that stupid math test that I was bawling over & I still have a chance at an A- overall in math. I spoke w/ my bio prof after he corrected his grading & I have a high B, so I could possibly end up with an A there, too. Now I just have the research paper to worry about, but that's not due until Thursday. I took my soc final today & feel pretty confident that I'll get an A in that class.

Also, Tyson decided that he wanted to make his own $ for Christmas this year & has been selling items on ebay. (I finally created an account under my name for him.) In one week, he made over $100!! Some of that had to be paid out for shipping, but that still left him with an $80 profit. What an amazing & enterprising kid I have! Life is good...

Here is the link to my new article: http://clubs.roguecc.edu/Byline/

Must. Focus. On. Finals...

Well, the show must go on, as they say...and so must I. Even though I'm up to my eyeballs, I just wanted to reassure everyone that I'm back on track, at least for now. I'm not going to give up or withdraw from any classes. I'm going to get the bets grades I can & work as hard as possible to do so. And I'm going to have to settle for less than perfect. But, as with most things that haven't gone my way in the past, I will turn the mistakes into learning experiences & hopefully do better the next go-round.

This weekend will be a busy one. Today, I've been working on my Soc final. Tonight, I agreed to go to a womens' social at Becky's g'ma, Greenie's church in Shady Cove. Lisa & I will meet Becky in Shady Cove & we'll all drive out together. Tomorrow, Tyson has an AAU tournament that he needs to be at by 10 am & I think his last game is at 3:45. I'm planning to bring homework along or head home in between games if there's enough time. I won't miss his games, though. It really bothered me that I had to miss so many school games this term, but they always had them during Bio. I guess Sunday's tourney schedule will depend on Saturday's games. I also have a research paper to write this weekend & I haven't even started, although it's worth 40% of my grade!! So, yeah, still freaking out a little bit, but trying to be proactive about it. Anyway, I could go on, but won't bore you with the details. The important thing is that I'll drop off the map for the next week or so to try to get everything done in time, but didn't want to leave you hanging on the depressive note of my last post.

One positive & exciting thing: the Byline editor asked me to do an article on one of the college's new clubs & I was able to pull of the pic, interview, and article by deadline (all done yesterday in between classes)! Vince, my writing instructor & Byline advisor, was editing it last night & said it was a good article & that I had good interviewing skills. The article is supposed to be on the front page. I'll be sure to post a link when it's published. I really had a great time doing it & think it turned out pretty well, too.

I am in a serious funk & don't know what to do about it. I've always prided myself on being tough, smart, independent - a fighter. I don't know if I believe any of those things anymore. I am struggling in school & I look around & see all these other people doing just fine. I just want to give up, go back to the real world where it was easy to just do my time & get a paycheck, pay my bills, take care of my kid, and make everyone proud. When I made the decision to go to college, I was doing just fine, so I thought I could do even better. This is the last week to withdraw from classes without getting a bad grade. I'm looking at having to do this in Math & Bio, but it means that I paid for 8 credits that I won't get and that I have to redo a whole term of each, all over again. I literally walked out of my math class in tears today & I was so embarassed because I almost lost it in the hall when a girl from class asked me how I did on the test. Anyway, sorry for the depressing post, but I just needed to get it out there. Now I need to do a Bio lab for tonight's class before I have to pick up transcription.