Much to Rick's chagrin. Sorry to disappoint Ricky T but it was never literal.
To say that I tend to stay calm under pressure would be like saying that Obama "kinda likes" being on TV. Does he have his own cable channel yet? Just curious.
I've tried to think of a good descriptor for my general attitude. Carefree? Sounds too playful. Careless? Sounds to reckless. Cold? Well, my nickname was Iceman. Apathetic? Probably close but sounds like I don't care about anything at all.
"Everything will work out for the best. Always does." My mantra. No matter what's happening. There is nothing negative in the world. Nothing positive either for that matter. Everything is what we make of it.
Peaceful? Maybe peaceful. Knowing that everything is as it should be.
I say all of this because someone chucked a rock in my pond of tranquility this week.
Some quick background for people who are new to the blog (why haven't you been reading this blog for years, may I ask?). I have been working as a cop and in the casino for the last 17 years. It was all fine until my son was born. He was my do-over chance that I missed with my daughters, without realizing it. Anyway, everything has been fine because of his lack of outside commitments. This year he started school so now I find myself desperately needing to change jobs to something that matches his schedule. I've decided on being a school teacher because, well, how close of a match is that going to be?
So, I'm going to be jamming through school. 15 - 17 credits per semester.
I called my adviser, got a schedule put together, registered for the classes, ordered the books (which still aren't here - more on that later), and tried to get psyched up for the next 3 months (the first of 3 years).
I live 120 miles from anywhere. East, west, and south, 120 miles to the next city. North? Forgedaboudit. Hence, three of the classes were going to be taught by interactive video, one by LiveNet, and a couple by Internets. I rearranged my work schedule to allow me to go to the interactive video classes.
Everything was set. Still trying to get psyched up.
I showed up to the first interactive video class, except that I'm the only one there. I call the local guy but he doesn't answer. I call the number on the wall for the guy at the college. He doesn't answer. I leave my name and number and then turn on the computer in the room to see if they have Freecell. I haven't played in years but I win a couple of games before the college guy calls back. He says that the class that I have supposedly showed up for is not taught at the time I was told. It's taught at a time I can't attend. Mmm,kay. ("Instead of saying fuck, say mmm,kay." - South Park Movie).
He happens to have the schedule for all the interactive video classes because he's the IAV guy. How cool is that? Yeah, not really. So while I had him on the line, I checked on my other two classes. They aren't even taught through IAV this semester.
Mmm,kay.
So, here's where my little brain starts to unravel.
This is incredibly important to me and I'm going to be taking 5 classes while:
- working a full-time job that has me on call 24/7
- teaching my morning exercise class
- teaching my evening martial arts class
- being on the City Council
- substitute teaching (a story for a different post)
- trying to still find a smidge of time in there for my family
I think I'm up to the task but I was a little freaked about starting off behind. I don't know if there's going to be enough time to play catch up on this kind of schedule.
I called my adviser and got some ideas and then rearranged my schedule so that I had 15 credits again. I didn't bother to order the books. Instead I'm going to make the 120 mile trip tomorrow to pick them up in person. I'm going to take back the ones I don't need if they arrive today.
The whole time, it was my wife's job to keep me from going completely whacko over the situation. She assured me that most instructors plan the first week as a waste anyway because everyone is still juggling schedules and trying to get their books.
She's right. In fact, one of my instructors even has the first chapter of the book scanned in so we can read it online as we wait for our books to arrive.
I'm back to being as calm as a president playing golf at Martha's vineyard while the country continues to hurtle toward destruction.
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Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small. Insanity has been released so go check it out.
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