April 19th marked the end of my first year back at Eastern. Both semesters, I got A's, B's, and a C, and in another school, I'd have a 3.0 average. Because of my "freshman" year, I'm working with a 1.72. That sucks, but I'm convinced it won't/can't stay low forever. Each semester, I've retaken one class from when I was 18, so those new grades are replacing the old ones, and I'm gonna do that for as long as that's feasible. What's feasible, though, has changed.
My transcripts from OCC don't affect my GPA at Eastern. All 20 credits are just passing, essentially empty credit hours. It means I've passed whatever classes are equivalent between OCC and EMU, but that's it. That has hampered my retaking of failed credits a bit. They were all low level Gen Eds, and I did almost all of them at OCC. What's left to redo is minimal, unless I take certain classes a third time, which I won't do.
There's an upside, though. Because I have two minors, I have about 20 more credit hours than I would have had if I only declared one minor. More time sounds crappy to other people, but I like being in school, and besides that, the extra time means more classes I'll do well in, and a higher cumulative GPA. I have every confidence I'll graduate with something respectable.
More upside. Now that my stupid transcripts from OCC have finally gone through, I'm a couple of credits away from being a "junior", so I finally meet the requirements to take a 200-level course... like Intro to Linguistics. FINALLY, to be able to do something directly related to my major! My first semester back was all odds and ends. Although my Anthropology class had some stuff about linguistics, it wasn't the point of the course. Second semester, I did Intro to Programming, which was for my Computer Science minor, so I got a little closer to the point, but that was the only degree-related thing I've taken at Eastern so far. My Psych classes from OCC will count toward my Psych minor, though, so good new on that.
Intro to Linguistics is the only thing I've registered for right now, because of another upside. I got a job. I'm a security officer for William Davis Security. I've trained for about 8 hours already, and will do another shift tomorrow. I do rounds, which means I walk around for about 15 minutes, and go to different checkpoints in the building I'm at. It's closed off, not a public place. Automotive stuff, lots of computers and machinery around, hardly any people. When I'm not walking around, I sit at my station, redirect calls, sign for packages, or read. Mostly, it's been reading, but I think that's because there isn't enough work for two guys on the same shift (which will end when my training does). But the reason I haven't lined up more classes is because I wanna see if this position is as stable as I've been told it is. If I keep the schedule they've given me, I can work and go to school full time. I'd work Saturdays and Sundays, 8am-4pm, and then Mondays and Tuesdays, 4pm-midnight. The only conflict between that and going to school that I can see is sleeping. I'd probably have a wonky sleep schedule, but... honestly, it seems worthwhile. I don't want to end up graduating in 8 more years, or something comparable.
I need the money, too. I need to move out. I'll have the means, I just need to find a suitable place. After some odds and ends care for my computer, all of my money is going to be saved, because I'm good at that. In terms of cash priority, there's nothing I want to buy more than I want to get my own place.
I've thought this out, too. Even at a sizable tax rate (let's say 30%), and a potential retarded purchase (let's say $500), I'd have enough money by the last paycheck in August to pay for three months of rent and whatnot at Adam and Courtney's building across the street from campus. And that's only figuring in paychecks from June to August, because I'm not counting the money I may or may not spend on my computer (although it certainly wouldn't be all the money I'd earn in a month). And I don't have fly out for random vacations, so... >_> That's good.
I'd say things feel like they're happening, something that hasn't really occurred for a while. Good times.
Sean
WAY cool that things are happening! And thank you for posting. I find not only your life interesting, but your prose is always fun to read. And way to go on keeping your grades up - I know the despair of having one bad year whomping your GPA - but it is recoverable. Good luck and keep up the posting when you can.
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