End of Year 2

Another year gone. When I started this whole college thing, I wasn’t too excited about it. Because, really, my options were: get a job, or go to school. Because I hated my last job, I opted for higher education. My thinking: part time school, a couple classes a week, how bad could it be?
My answer: it was pretty okay. Deferring my practicum the first semester wasn’t exactly my brightest choice, but if I hadn’t, then I wouldn't have gotten the chance to do a practicum at Tiny Treasures in the spring. That was fun. that was the semester that I finally started to love school again.
Don’t get my wrong, I’m not one of those people who hates school, doesn’t see the point in it, and never did well in school. I used to love school. When I was a kid, I was almost always the first one to catch on to reading, writing, and math. I loved it - I would always win when we played “Around the World Math” in grade 3. I wrote my first story in grade 1, and absolutely fell in love with writing. Then we moved, and my marks dropped from almost-honor-roll, down to 30s. Innisfail was not a happy place for me. Four months later, we moved again, and they went back up to 60s and 70s. That was okay for me. I didn’t put a whole lot of effort into school after that - maybe because I was resigned to having to pack up and move again at the drop of a hat, maybe because from my last experience, the teachers weren’t too interested in teaching. I mean, my high school math teacher - while entertaining in her own right - cared more about shopping online for shoes and vintage Fraggles than actually teaching me the specifics of domain and range. I stopped putting an effort into math, and the other courses that weren’t as fun, and put all my energy into the classes that I did love: English, Psychology, Social, and Band. Those were my best classes in high school. My English teacher was and still is my favorite teacher. Psychology was easily my best class, even though my teacher didn’t have a clue. Social was fun, because I love learning about history, and in Band, I got to jam out with my friends.
Then we graduated, and went our separate ways, and life just sort of went on. I got heavy into writing, and quit my less-than-stellar job because I was getting sick too much. After far too much time spent vegging on the couch, watching TV and reading/writing fanfics, it was finally time to make that life-altering choice: job, or school.
School it was. That was only one half of the choice, though. Okay, going to school - but what will I take in school. My first choice was Psychology. I want a degree in Criminal Psychology. The catch? I need Pure Math 30, because there’s a statistics course in the degree course. Of course there is. Remember that impressive math teacher I had in school? Sigh … okay, Psychology was out for a while. Next, was Social Work. Well, I’d had way too much experience with the inner working of social services and foster care, so I wasn’t too eager to become one of “them”.
After some more perusing of the available courses at RDC, I came across Early Learning and Child Care. It wasn’t what I’d imagined myself doing, but I thought I’d give it a try. It was only a two-year course, so I thought I’d give it a try. End result: I’m now a Level 2 Child Care Provider, and I’m loving every minute of it.
Tomorrow I’ll write my last 2 exams of the semester, and so will end my second year of college. I’m finished with my third practicum, and have already made plans to go back and volunteer once my exams are over.
This has been a busy year for me. When I wasn’t in school, I was in practicum, and when I wasn’t in practicum, I was finishing assignments and preparing activities for practicum. I’ve missed over half of my shows this year, my puppy has spent more time with my mother than he has with me, my hours of sleep have been next to non-existent, and it’s a debate every morning whether I really want to put the effort in shaving my legs, or just throw on pants instead of shorts. I chopped off all my hair because I was sick of the winter frizz-ball it becomes, and have fallen madly in love with our foster children. I got to reconnect with my friends from high school, dealt with my youngest brother’s issues and saying goodbye to him, spend oodles of time with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece, and finished writing my first novel. I’ve bounced back and forth from Red Deer, to Sylvan, to Edmonton, and back, spending maybe 1/3 of the time in my own bed.
So, 2 exams tomorrow and then I’m officially done for the year. What am I going to do? SLEEP! SLEEP! And then? … SLEEP! Spend time with my dog, have movie/TV show marathons with my sister-in-law, hang out with my niece, and … oh, yeah: SLEEP!