First Day Jitters

Today was the first day of fall quarter at Clark. I had been waiting all summer since I reapplied in May. It felt like it would never come. I was excited and I couldn't wait. Even after buying my books I felt like I had to wait.

Finally after waiting and waiting, the day has come. It felt a little different than a normal first day of school. Having spent my entire life living my life around school, my body had a schedule according to being in school. After spending a few years away, it crept up on me and I was thrust back into the environment. It may be a little too early to tell how this quarter is going to go, but it should be fun.

First to start off the day, I had to deal with parking. Clark is notorious for their awful parking, but I left this morning and put my head down, determined to find a spot. "Someone HAS to be leaving by the time I get there, right?" Wrong. I tried one lot. Then another. Then I gave up and drove to a not too far away neighborhood. As much as I hate to do it, I parked in front of someone's house on the street probably halfway between where I live and campus. I should get a bike. Or a Vespa or something. I made it to my first class, english, only a few minutes late. After english is french. I've been nervous about that class for some time. It's been two years since I've taken a class or even thought about french. I spent all summer telling myself to look through my notes even just a little bit to brush up, but I never did. Today was not so bad since we pretty much just read the syllabus in english for the hour, but it may be a challenge. I'm sure it'll come back to me, I'll just have to work a little bit harder.

Those were the only classes I had today. Very painless. Afterwards I went to pick up my financial aid check. I was a little surprised they had mine. I just recently got my award letter emailed to me maybe a week or so ago and some people ahead of me didn't have theirs yet. I went to deposit the check, and now here I am, ready for a nap. I have a little reading to do for my classes and a quick introduction activity for french, but I'll probably save that for after dinner. Tomorrow morning I open at work, have a little break, then english and french again, another long break and then my first physics class, which I recently learned I have with a buddy from work, so that's pretty exciting. That may help offset the fact that it's a 4:30pm - 6:20pm lecture.

It's good to be back. It feels right being a student again. Here's to a good year!

Mr. Positivity

I usually am a pretty positive person. Sure I'll bitch and moan, but I'm usually in a pretty good mood. Even when I have a less than enjoyable day at work or something. My philosophy about it is why waste my energy being negative? What am I going to accomplish by being in a bad mood? So I just don't let silly things bother me or keep me down for long. Part of it I chalk up to having a really great network of friends and family.

Except lately I've been having some trouble keeping myself up. I've mostly been having trouble at work. I've had a hard time having patience for our customers lately, but I'm not sure why. I enjoy being there with my partners, but sometimes it's a little difficult to take it seriously. I feel like I might be getting a little stagnant in my position. I need some perspective. This could all change after school starts and I start having other things to do, but I could also seeing it get worse.

Until I know for sure, I'll just have to buck up.

Slim-whatnow?

Last night at Fred Meyer with my sister, we were walking through the produce section and I notice this gem (emerald?).

This thing is GIANT. When I first saw it I thought "Why are the mangos next to the avocados?" And then I took a closer look. I had to know what the deal was so I bought one. It was a little firm so I took it home a put it in a bag overnight.

I had forgotten about it until I came home after work this morning.

After cutting it open, it looks enough like a normal avocado.

Time to dig in.

No me gusta. 35% FEWER CALORIES. 50% LESS FAT. 100% LESS FLAVOR.

It wasn't bad. It just wasn't good. It didn't really taste like anything. I wasn't sure if that was it's deal or if it's because of the congestion I've been dealing with for the past couple of days.

I did a little research to see what the world knows about this freak-show. Turns out they're a normal avocado. Not genetically modified like I was worried about a little bit. They're grown in Florida where it's considerably more wet than where the normal avocados you would find in a grocery store are grown (typically California), which explains a lot. Watery vs. oily. Big vs. small. Smooth skin vs. rough skin. So go ahead and try it if you feel so inclined.

As for me, I'll stick with a good ol' California Hass.