Highmoon's Ponderings

Well, the Summer A “semester” (I have a hard time calling a 6-week term a semester) at FIU is now done and in the books. How did I fare? Pretty good actually.

• Intercultural Communications: A
• Human Growth & Development: B

I’m happy with my A; this was my first online course and I was a bit worried at first. I mean, I’m more than familiar with online tools, but it’s different when it’s for fun and for a grade. It wasn’t, actually. Moodle was an easy program to use, and in general functioned like an all-in-one package of a lot of tools I am used to from my wanderings around the net (polls, forums, tests, email, file archives – all together). It did demand that I put a lot more on my end, as with no set class times, I could do the readings whenever I wanted. Test and quizzes did have deadlines, so that acted as my time-keeping device. I think the professor did a good job of actually making the tests challenging, knowing full well that we had our books to reference during examination. All in all, I think I would take more online courses in the future (though someone will have to explain to me why online courses cost $200 more than a regular in-class course).

I’m ok with the B in Human Growth & Dev. I was shooting for an A, of course, but let’s face it, memorizing a 15-chapter textbook in 6 weeks is bound to take its toll. There was just a lot of material, which was only being covered only superficially in class. At times I felt as if I might as well have taken this as an online course as well; the only difference in the workload of these two classes was that I had to show up on campus twice a week. It was a good class, but like all introductory-level courses, we had around 60 people, so there was very little opportunity for good discussion. We also completely skipped the age group to which I belong, the 25-39 Emergent Adult group, so that left me deflated (I was really looking forward to exploring what the heck is going on with my age cohort). Given that the professor actively sought to make each test harder than the one prior (she said the class average was too high – ?!), I’m good with the B I got.

I have to say, it feels good ticking off these classes from my pre-requisites list. It puts me so much closer to my actual Nursing classes. I’m actually looking forward to Fall classes!

So now I’m on vacation until the Fall semester starts in late August, which is fantastic as I need it. My brain was starting to fizzle there towards the last weeks of class.

In a couple of weeks I’m off to North Carolina, then in early August it’s Gen Con.

My first semester back in university after 8 years out is now done, sealed and in my academic record. How did I do? I’ll let the grades speak for themselves:

• Foundations of Human Physiology – A
• Foundations of Human Physiology Lab – B+
• Introduction to Ethics – A
• Introduction to Psychology – A

Yeah, allow me a moment to feel a bit smug.

Overall, it was a fine semester, though after Spring Break I really felt the squeeze at times, especially because I then had to take time off for Passover and that set me behind on my classes. On all of them I was able to make it up, on all except Statistics, which you don’t see listed above. I was not able to drop it on time thanks to the Prof not giving us our grades before the drop deadline, and after Spring Break/Passover, I came back to find I had no idea what the material was right on a test date. Long story short, I deliberately took an F on that class, so I can repeat it in the Fall and replace that grade. I hate that it came to that, but there was no other way around it.

I’m glad to be back in school. I’m pleased with myself that I’ve been able to get back into the swing of things so well. I did very well in my classes, and after an 8-year break and a change in faculties, that’s something to be proud of.

I’ll throw in a mention about my commuting experience since February, as I also never updated beyond the first month. I spent all of Feb using the public bus as I was without a valid driver’s license during that time. In general I had no problem with it, except for the extra time it took to get to and from school. Yes, I’d use the time as best as possible, but sometimes it was just a chore, especially before the time change, when getting out at 6 PM from Statistics meant everything was pitch dark. I saved some money, yes, but then I used it up in paying the traffic ticket and the license renewal fees. By March I was using my car again and I kept doing so for the rest of the semester, minimizing the use of gas as much as possible, but still driving. I did eventually get a new bicycle, but I have not tried to do the bike-bus combo anymore.

Today I start my summer semester, 7 weeks of intense study in two classes, Human Growth & Development and Intercultural Communication (which I’m taking online). After that, summer break. And man, I cannot wait for it. I’ll talk more about my summer classes once I’ve gotten into the thick of things a bit.

I better get this written down before I blink and February is halfway gone!

So how did January go at school? Not bad, overall. My classes have progressed along just fine, and I’m doing just fine in all of them except for one.

In Human Physiology we’ve covered a lot of material. A lot. The test was actually today, but today is Feb so I’ll talk about this later on. But I’m getting it. I’m not having any problems with the material, and what’s even better, I’m recalling more and more whatever I had learned before and adding it to the new things I’m learning. It’s a bit of a mess in my head because some stuff is recalled in Spanish and other in English, but I can make sense of it just fine.

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My first week back at FIU (and University life in general) is over and I’ve quite a few people wanting to know how it went, so the easiest thing is to write this post.

General

It’s been eight years since I graduated with my BA in English, and seven since I went back (and quickly dropped out of) my Masters, so it’s been a while since I’ve been in a classroom for formal schooling and lecturing. It’s been even longer since my last Science or Math class, and that’s pretty much all I have in front of me now, which makes it even more daunting. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but thankfully, it has been not bad at all.

Since I’m taking general Science pre-requisites I need for the Nursing program, it means I am with mostly freshmen in class, which means my professors are, for the most part, taking the first few class sessions fairly easy. This isn’t the Fall semester, when the freshmen would’ve been right out of high school, so we’ve started digging into our classes proper by the second session, but even so, we’re going at a nice, easy pace. This has been wonderful for me, because it allowed me to get my bearings as well, and ease into University-mind once more.

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Though I received my acceptance letter from FIU a couple of weeks back, the process of getting everything set up in their system was a little slower. Add to that the move and some amount of lethargy on my part, and it results in me not having registered yet for the Spring 2010 semester, starting January 4 (ack!).

No more; I sat down yesterday at my computer with my mooched wifi connection and navigated the murky waters of the greater FIU website, filling out every single form I still needed to (FAFSA, I’m looking at you), applying for Financial Aid, and finally going through the process of registration (and I’m exagerating a bit – the new website is so much better than what was in place when I graduated in 2002!). A couple of hours later I was done and registered for my first semester of pre-Nursing, en route to my BSN.

As is Law, the first semester’s schedule–whether for freshmen or returning students–always sucks, and mine is no exception. Check this out:

• PCB 2099 Fundamentals of Physiology – Mo/We/Fr 9:00AM – 9:50AM
• PCB 2099L Fundamentals of Physiology Lab – Fr 10:00AM – 12:45PM
• PHI 2600 Intro to Ethics – Mo/We/Fr 2:00PM – 2:50PM
• PSY 2012 Intro to Psychology – Tu/Th 11:00AM – 12:15PM
• STA 2122 Intro to Statistics I – Tu/Th 5:00PM – 6:15PM

On Mondays and Wednesday I have a 4 hour gap in the middle, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a 5 hour gap, which just couldn’t be helped in order to keep all my classes in the same campus. Time to study, I guess.

I am scared shitless, but excited as hell at the same time. In a couple of weeks, it’ll all start.

Damn, I need to get the books now.

Today I turn 35 years old. It’s a bit of a scary number, I have to admit. If 70 years is the general life expectancy (and the psalm kinda reinforces that), it means I’m squarely at my mid-life point. I’m not going to go out and buy a convertible or leave my wife for a 20-year old bimbo (though I did get a new bike, see below), but it does make me think about what’s gone on and what’s to come.

The most important event of my past year simply was the illness, convalescence and death of my mother; it simply dominated 2009 for me, having me spend a combined 4 months in Puerto Rico spread out from February to August. This has also affected me deeply, making this day a bittersweet affair. I spent all of last week in a really bad funk (though I tried not to, unsuccessfully) because of the simple realization that today would come and go and I would not get a call from Mom. I’m better now than I was last month, but I still feel it from time to time, and last week it was overwhelming. But I know she would not like it all to see me in this despair, so I move along.

This year, however, I opted not to have a birthday party of any kind. It helps that 99% of my friends are all people I interact with online and do not live in Miami, so it makes putting a party together a bit harder. Besides, it just did not feel right.

As I look forward, I see my desire and plans to enter the School of Nursing at FIU, and simply cannot wait to get that started. I hope to have all the admissions stuff ironed out by the end of this week, next one tops, so I can get on with the rest of the paperwork needed. I want to start in the Spring, period.

This move into Nursing actually matches a general shift in my mood and personality of late: I want to do things that are greater than myself. Even when writing about bikes in Slow Bike Miami, I am hoping to turn that into a way to help out the general bicycling community, to help the City of Miami/Miami Beach, to reach out beyond my own experience into connecting with others. I am tired of worrying only about myself and my immediate surroundings; I long to affect an area greater than me. I’m still figuring out how to do that, but that’s where my inner compass is taking me. I know Mom would be proud.

So, we’ll see what 35 brings. I’m ready to face it and make the most of it.

On a lighter note, I can talk about two birthday gifts I have gotten so far, both of which are amazing.

The first one is a book given to me by my wife. I actually got this about a month ago as an early present, and it still astounds me.

Gray’s Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice, Expert Consult – Online and Print

This is a massive book. Huge. Gargantuan,even! Here it is compared to the 575-pages Pathfinder RPG and the 630-page Starblazer Adventures RPG, the other two massive books I own.

All that medical awesomeness AND it comes with an online version as well. It’s an awesome gift, and I thank my wife so much for it. With this, my Nursing Library has now officially been started.

The second one is the new Electra Amsterdam bike I bought for myself. You can read all about that gift over at Slow Bike Miami.