Well, it’s that time of year again, folks. Back to school! I’m officially a college sophomore. Go, me!
(Yeah…I realize 25 is a bit old for sophomore, but hey, better to have a late start than no start!)
This semester I opted to bulk all my classes into really, really long days. My first class is at 9 am and an my last class gets out at 8:45 pm. I’m only taking 4 classes this semester (long story, but the school I’m looking to transfer on me changed requirements, so I had to get another pre-req out of the way), so there is a bunch of down time in between that I plan on using for homework or studying so that home time can be…well, home time.
This semester I am taking:
- Biology of Human Disease,
- General, Organic and Biochemistry II,
- Introduction to Visual Art, and
- Nutrition for Optimum Living
So, obviously, the Visual Art class is finishing out my GenEd requirements. I’m not an overly artsy girl. Crafty, yes. Artistically talented, definitely not.
Nutrition is actually the first of my official nursing courses, so that’s pretty exciting!
I have to say, though, after a few weeks of insomnia and getting up super early this morning, I am exhausted as all hell. I’m hoping to get into some kind of rhythm, but I think it’s far, far more likely that I’ll just have to incorporate coffee into my daily routine. Who knows?
Since I obviously don’t have any homework to take up my time right now, I have been fooling around on Pinterest. I have an addiction. It is pretty sad, really. But anywho, I have been looking up my two favorite topics right now: Toddler Activities and Homesteading.
The Geekling is to the point now that he is really starting to learn. Not just the normal, itty-bitty baby kind of learning, I mean the actual pre-academic skills learning. So I’ve been looking into all of these awesome things like busy bags, discovery bottles, activity trays and random educational (but fun!) things we can do together. I’m really very stoked about it, and I know that the little dude is going to love them. Between Pinterest, checking out classroom suppliers and random Google searches, I have found hundreds of really awesome ideas! This is especially exciting for me because of how worried I was about his speech delay. It turned out to be one of those “Boys will be boys” things (that all the moms except my own–she’s a bit dramatic–told me to begin with) and now he’s a regular chatterbox. I swear I hear the ABC song upwards of 50 times a day. Not to mention how quickly he took over my iPad. He’s a mad genius with that thing.
As far as Homesteading/Survivalism goes, it’s just a really broad topic and my obsessive and idealistic tendencies are just so easily fed into it. A lot of the abilities that I consider to be a part of it are just really good life skills to have. I’ve already got several down, like cooking and baking. I’ve kind of cautiously started in with gardening. (I have some little bell peppers, tomatoes and strawberries growing—if the dang squirrel will stop stealing them!) But a lot of it is stuff that I have planned on learning for a long, long while: sewing, knitting, canning. And then, as time went on, I started to be more and more anxious about things like natural disasters. It isn’t that I really buy into the whole “ZOMG, 2012, the world is ENDING!” theories (though Mr. Guild Master would tell you I do), but some of the concepts bother me. If I had to live without the internet, without electricity, grocery stores or cars, could I do it? Right now, that answer is a resounding no. I feel, strongly, that 100 years ago, the average person had a better chance of surviving a large-scale disaster of some kind. Again, I’m not saying that the Zombie Apocalypse is nigh, just that maybe learning to make some cheese, grow some cucumbers and chop wood might not be a bad idea. There is much, much more to it than that, but I’m very into it right now. It’s fascinating, if you think about it, how these scenarios could wipe out much of the human race just based on sheer laziness or disinterest. It’s even more fascinating when you think of all the genuinely awesome and imaginative ways we can wander off the beaten path and how much self-satisfaction we can create for ourselves by doing this.
I think the most surprising thing about my research here is (after you weed through the actual crazies) how many normal, average families have taken up homesteading as not only a survival strategy, but also as a way to live healthier for less money. Very cool!
Anyway, I’m going to go play some New Super Mario Brothers 2 before my last class of the day starts up. I’m enjoying the crazy, crazy goldfarming!
new achievement unlocked 