There and back again, and back again yet again.

This is the saga of a hapless man’s return to college, in the vain attempt to succeed in life; written procrastinatedly, as would be expected from a college student.

As you may or may not know, I have returned to the realm of college life; partially by choice and partially not. My highly skilled hide was not able to get itself work, not even amongst the drones or retail, so I must now go for another sheepskin. Oh yes, I have a degree, just not in the field that tickles my fancy at the current time. I found my calling (the communication arts) at the point of no return during my previous academic endeavor. (However, there will be more to that story when time and patience permits).

So anyway, I both dreaded and waited for this day – a day that came about a semester late mind you… indulge me in a flashback:

You see, this all was supposed to come about last fall (the fall of 2002 that is, if your reading this late). I registered, and submitted my transcripts and whatnot in the realization that my situation (going for a second B.A., or S. as the case may be) was not coming entirely from left field. However, it might as well have been, the way they messed up my application. For two weeks I called to see if my credits would be accepted, and for two weeks I was told they were still in “evaluation”; that was until the day I decided to go in person. Yes, as if by magic – when I was no longer a rumor over the phone but a live person with foot loaded and aimed at the fanny of the next person to cross me – it was ready. That’s all well and good, but by that point all the classes were closed out.

This brings me to the present; again, a day I both dreaded and waited for… the first day of school.

I dreaded it for the standard reason: a new guy in an unfamiliar land, doomed to wander the campus aimlessly for a bit till a safe refuge could be found. But there was also another reason, the Idiot Factor. You see, I’ve been through this before, and I know that a certain percentage of a campus is made up of moronic twits. My old school only had a total population of about 2500 soaking wet… CSI is considerably larger, so the quantity of fools would be larger as well (encountered 3 of them even before my first class, so already it starts).

On the other hand, it would get me out of the house. Ten months worth of cabin fever is not a fun thing, no matter how bad you may think your current job or school is. Also, changing my underwear will be more of a regular thing, rather than ritualistic.

Amazingly the first day went down without too much of a hitch, or at least that’s how I wrote it half way through the day. Aside from my ID being printed before I got a chance to smile, and the few jackass-students in my video production class (I’ll save you all from that venting), it was a good day as I sat down with a snickers waiting for the 5 hour intermission between classes to end.

After the layover in the library, it was time to head over to night class. Or at least that was the plan. Of course my schedule and those of 15 others would have to have the wrong room on it. The wrong building even. They had decided to move the room, something I’ve never heard of. Of course, coming from a school where class rooms outnumbered staff 4:1, I guess it would have never occurred to me that it was… with no notification or notices on doors. Damn you big city colleges and stuff!!!

So we went home, figuring at that time the teacher was a no show. What a waste of a day. Ah well. Day one closes, but not the adventure.. an adventure full of boring classes that I shouldn’t have to attend – like computing for life, where the first two classes, taught by two different teachers, drilled home the point on how to re-size a window. I guess those computer classes on my transcript translated into culinary classes in the CSI system. But I’ll bear with it, ’cause I do not want to have my credits tied up in litigation again. I’m not getting any younger you know.

An adventure full of extracurricular activities – Yes, I’ve already weaseled my way onto the campus newspaper, bwa ha ha.

An adventure filled with old adversaries – high school phantoms I thought I would be rid of. So far I spotted only one, who was staring at me cock-eyed from across the cafeteria like he’d seen the devil himself. Bwa ha ha! Rumors of my demise were grossly exaggerated! I hope, for his sake we, don’t cross paths too often, cause I’ve still got a lot of anger to manage. I’d rather not say his name on the air, ’cause it may be perceived as a threat (which would be a good call).

We shall see what happens…