introspection pays off

I got a 100 on my paper. Granted, I suspect the grading standards aren't necessarily as high as they should be, but hey, I'm not complaining. I don't have any problems taking the 100. lol

Even better than the grade was the comment my professor made. She said something along the lines that I was an exceptional woman with a lot of strength. I tend not to view myself as exceptional, but it is very nice to be recognized for how strong I've had to be, in this life so far. 

okay, introspective paper is done

I may tweak it a little before I turn it in, but my term paper is done. Hopefully it's introspective enough for my professor. If it's not, oh well, such is life.

being introspective

I have to write a paper for one of my classes. It's supposed to be an honest, introspective look at myself, answering three questions  - who am I, where have I been, and where am I going?

It's actually going to be a fairly easy paper to write. I was able to do most of the rough draft in less than an hour. Of course, I have the advantage of having examined most of my life in minute detail over the past 2 1/2 years. So really, all it comes down to now is deciding what to include and what to leave out.

How much am I willing to share?

woot! exempt from another final

So all that's left for this semester is to take the final for my math class. WoofreakinHoo! It's been a really long semester, and I haven't enjoyed it that much. I'll be glad to have it done with.

Some of it was the courses themselves, some of it was the instructors. But I think a lot of it is my impatience to get on with my life. I want to jump to the next step in my plan but I'm not done with the school phase yet. I've got two, maybe three more semesters to go, depending on what courses are offered, when. Hopefully my original plan will work out, and I'll  have my degree at this time next year. I need to talk to the adviser again, and file my degree plan. But that can wait until January, because after I take this final, I'm done thinking about school for a while. Oh, except for selling back my books. That I'll do next week. lol

things are looking up

Yesterday I went to talk to the financial aid people yet again, and this time I got some results I can live with. The original grant still hasn't shown up, but they gave me another, one-time only grant for this semester which covered my tuition. So I was able to register for classes. Yay me!

I have to pay for my books out of pocket, and then get reimbursed when the original grant comes through, but at least I'm able to go to school this semester.

I've been taking lots of baby steps towards my new life. Now I feel like I'm taking a giant leap forward.
I'm so ready.

New life, here I come. :)

trying so hard not to whine

I am supposed to be getting a grant to cover my tuition and books so I can go back to school full-time this semester. Which starts tomorrow for online classes, Monday for on-campus classes. The financial aid still hasn't shown up in my student records account so that I can register for classes.

Talked to the fin. aid person yesterday. The aid should have shown up before now and she didn't know why it hadn't. Bumped the problem up to her supervisor, with vague assurances to check my student account last night or today, and it should be there.

Yeah, still not there.

<sigh> Why can't things just go the way they're supposed to?

I'm trying to think of this as just a small bump in the road but it's getting hard to not be discouraged. Maybe I just need to learn to not rely on anyone else to get to where I want to be in life.

still waiting....

Financial aid is a wonderful thing. It'd be much more wonderful if it'd show up so I can register for classes for the semester that starts this weekend. I've got a call in to the fin. aid office at the college but I think I'll be better off if I go talk to someone tomorrow. Well, that's the plan anyway. Whether it gets me anywhere remains to be seen.

may be getting some financial aid for school

I really hope so because it means I'll be able to take classes full time both semesters next year. If I can that will bring me all the more closer to my dreams of being gainfully employed and financially stable. Plus, it will free up some of my support money so I can hopefully pay down my debt some, and maybe do a little more traveling.

In other baby step news, I now have a savings account. Okay, so I opened it with only $25 but the online banking site I'm using automatically transfers money from my checking account into the savings. Right now it's a small amount that will be transferred every 2 weeks but I figure it's better than nothing.

The thing that I really like about the site I'm using for this savings account, SmartyPig, is that you can set up specific savings goals for a certain amount of time. So if you want to save for a trip, and Christmas shopping, and home repairs, you can set those all as goals, with specific dollar amounts and time frames to each goal. Then you can see the progress you're making towards each goal.

So I'll see how it goes and if it works out the way it's supposed to I'll set up new goals as I can afford to.