On the Go

Notes from the week

I've been re-imposing some semblance of order on my life since I'm no longer moving. With finals rapidly approaching, I've been getting the ducks in a row for next term.

As of today I am officially a student of the College of Mechanical Engineering here at USA. With the exception of an economics course next semester, my core courses are complete. No more liberal arts classes to consume my time; from here on out it's all mathematics, physics, and the engineering curriculum. I'm essentially going to be living under a desk in the Engineering Lab building with the glow of a laptop monitor to keep me company. It's nice to have a sense of direction again, instead of facing a host of bloody unknowns.

The financial aid I pulled the plug on to go to UAB has been reinstated already. I never thought that the school bureaucracy would move that quickly, but even broken clocks are right twice a day. Once I have a class schedule rattled down I'm going to start work in a VA work-study program. The pay blows but I'll have time to finish all my studying, which is not a luxury I had deep in the bowels of retail hell this time a year ago. I'm pissed because I missed the Oct. 31 cutoff for a GS-5 slot with the Army Corps of Engineers, a job that would have paid me a semi-decent rate in addition to covering my tuition (instead of bowing and scraping for Pell Grants.)

Additionally, my barber is now fired. after asking for a high fade the other day, the cut got bollixed up to the point where I had her take it up to a high and tight. I haven't had a H&T in 9 years! Even in the Marine Corps I drank the medium-reg Kool-Aid years ago. I look like a fucking boot PFC now. Damnit.