Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Wow, I'm a Student Again

I’m an expert on Shakespeare
And that’s a hell of a lot
But the world don’t need scholars
As much as I thought…

And this is exactly why I became an official student at Coosa Valley Technical College today. I’m glad Jamie Cullum (and over half of the English majors I’ve ever met) can commiserate.

When I was in high school and college, I was such a snob, thinking that Technical Colleges were so beneath me. What the hell ever. After receiving a rather brutal slap in the face that has repeated itself over and over again for the past five years, I have discovered that this could be the smartest thing this little scholar has ever done.

The idea to go into Medical Transcription actually originated when I rang up a former Shorter classmate and fellow English major at Barnes and Noble. She told me that she had gone into the field. She emphasized how simple it was to get the certification and how many jobs are out there and how well it pays. But for some stupid reason, I stayed put and held fast to the idea of raising the money to go ahead and get my MFA in Creative Writing. What the hell was I thinking?

After two more shitty retail jobs, a long stint as a substitute teacher, and now my good, but boring and less-than-lucrative office job, I’ve finally awakened and realized that there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to get to Graduate School like this. So the idea came to my head again. This happened relatively recently. My usual process of implementing a plan like this is to think about it for six months, talk about it, and procrastinate. But I’ve run out of time for that idiocy. Now is the time for action, damn it. So I went to CVT about two weeks ago and gathered all the information and paperwork. And today, I turned it in, signed up for at least one class (I’ll have two before the end of the week – gotta figure out which of the business courses I’ve got to take first), got a T-shirt, and walked out an official student at a technical college. Classes start April 2nd. Talk about action.

To tell you the truth, I’m rather excited. I looked over the course descriptions and (I think / hope) this is going to be a cakewalk that will end in a much wider job market for me. Shoot, man, one of the classes is Medical Terminology, which puts an emphasis on learning the histories, etymologies, roots, suffixes, and prefixes of medical terms. What could be more up my ally; word-obsessed geek that I am? Plus Biology was the only class I actually ACED in college. Odd for an English major, huh?

I really do miss being a student and taking classes. I’ve always been a geek, yes. I loved classes in college. I hated tests and papers, but I loved the classes. I can already see bringing in my list of Latin and Greek roots, suffixes, and prefixes; and my classmates begging me to bring copies to help them study. I suppose it’ll also be a bit weird to be in a desk as opposed at the front of the classroom, teaching. It’s been a long time since the tables were turned. But it’ll probably be a relief too.

My only concern at this point is…well…not so much my classmates, but myself. I admit that there is still a bit of an elitist in me, which is ridiculous because I have no real right to feel superior to anyone. I hope that reality has knocked enough of that out of me that it will become a non-issue once I get started. And I am a little nervous about how my classmates will take me. I can’t help the words I use or the way I organize notes or the way I naturally make worksheets for myself (there’s still a little bit of teacher in me too). I just hope they won’t think I’m uppity for these things. From what I understand, there aren’t many college graduates attending the Calhoun campus of CVT, so I’ll really have to watch myself and what I say lest I be thought “high and mighty.”

Because, truth be told, I’m a mite lonely. It’ll be nice to make some new friends and to have conversations every once in a while. Misha’s still in Rome, but she’s so busy and she has a boyfriend, so I can’t see her as much as I’d like. And Krishna had to up and get married and move to Florida. :^( (But she knows I still love her). So I’m kind of on my own a lot. Although much of it is my own fault for being so shy and having this weird thing in my head that makes me feel like I’m bugging people when I call them…Well, that’s another issue for another day.

In any case, it will be really nice to be able to use my vocal chords some a couple days out of the week. And it’ll be really nice to have the prospect of a more substantial career.



And now, just because I’ve discovered how much The Replacements kick ass, here’s “The Ledge.”





More on my recent musical epiphanies here – if you’re bored and so inclined.

3 comments:

  1. Now you can just tell folks you attended CalTech. ;)

    The Refreshments were a great band. I love 'Girly' the most. 'Mexico' is a close second.

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  2. But the Replacements are even better. ;^)

    You're a blog skimmer, aren't you, you punk. :^p

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  3. However, even though Jamie says that the world don't need scholars, his writing proves that those english lessons were put to good use.

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