My First Day at School

Sounds like a paper you'd write in, say, grade 1, doesn't it? Well, in a way, I feel like a kid right now: I've just finished my first homework assignment! Pretty easy, sure, but what do you expect for a first day?

Ok, let me back up a minute and start from the morning:

6am, oh GOD, why does it have to be so early? Because you have an 8:30 class, dumb-ass. Ah, of course. In my years of living in Work-Land, I've forgotten that school can start before 9am. Big deal, same morning routine, except an hour earlier and (bonus!) I got to see the tail end of the sunrise! Commuting was pretty relaxed, but trying to use public transportation with a big portfolio in my hands kind of made me feel like a tool. Good thing I have a swell locker to store it in!

(SEGWAY)

OH WAIT, my locker sucks. Yes, it fits my gigantic portfolio (which holds my gigantic 19"x24" pad of tracing paper, 24" T-square, and other assorted art-nerd goodies), but I have to share it with another art student and fit the rest of my stuff in there. Not to mention winter boots and coats! Holy Mother of Cramming Shit In! I also have not one, but two pencil cases (one for art-nerd crap like specialized erasers and expensive lead pencils, and one for normal pens and highlighters) to wedge in there somehow, and I don't even have books yet! Oh, Sweet Lord of Supplies, how am I gonna pull this off? Creatively, I guess. I bought a retardo-strong magnetic hook from Zellers (and cut myself on the cruel packaging as I pulled it out of the bag), so I can, uhh, hang stuff up. The idea here is to utilize every inch of locker space available.

Moving right along (slowly, if you're one of several thousands attending your first class of the fall semester) to my first class: 20th Century History: War & Conflict. Could be fun, and I'm serious. I like history, and the idea of discussing things like WWI and WWII, as well as different social and political conflicts (think: racism, sexism, anti-Semitism...) seems appealing to me. Ok, by now you must think I'm nuts...

So we move on to my next class, Introduction to Page Layout Software. Yay! Immediately, there was something cool about my first design-related class: as they were waiting outside the class, the students were getting to know each-other! This, in stark contrast to the history class, where it might as well have been detention. Sure, not everyone was super-chatty (myself included), but the general atmosphere here was way more friendly. Maybe it's because we will be seeing each-other in 7 graphics classes, as opposed to some random grouping of art kids and (cringe) Pure and Applied Sciences kids, with a light sprinkle of Cinema. Or maybe art kids are just more fun and open. Yes, that must be it! And then we filed in and I took a seat behind a 24" iMac. But that was just a teaser, because we didn't so much as log in. Sad face. Next week, though, we will begin working in Adobe InDesign! Woot!

3 hours later, I found a nice quiet spot in my new favourite lunch nook, and ate my PB&J sandwich and a banana. See why I feel like a kid? Anyway, what's cool about this lunch spot (for now, anyway, until the fresh meat discover they can hang out all over the campus, not just in a huge, disruptive herd in the Atrium) is that it's quiet! Oh, that welcome sound of silence, such delicate respite for the aurally over-stimulated...

Then, some school supply shopping and off to...the Forum?! Christ, I have a class in the Forum. It was brought to my attention the other day that the fact that I call it "The Forum", and not "The Pepsi Forum" or whatever other nonsense they're calling it now proves that I'm of "a certain age". Super. It brings me right back to the Stanley Cup riot of '93...yeah, that was in the nineties.

English class is, well, English class. Alliteration, prose, personification, metaphor, you get it. Read some song lyrics, did a small assignment on reading comprehension, and went over (for the third time in 3 classes) the school's plagiarism policy. Apparently, this is a big friggin' deal nowadays, thanks to The Internet. I'll write more about that another time, but suffice to say that this was a prevailing theme today. That, and texting while walking!

Oh, God, can you put your stupid phone away for, like, 10 minutes??? Don't you think it's a good idea to look where you're going???

Ahem. So, sorry for that last little bit, and thanks if you made it this far. I know this is pretty much a huge blog post, and I promise that they will rarely ever be this long again. Maybe upcoming posts will include photos, too! Yay! Visual stimulus!

30 is a small number, folks.

Mature Student.

Oh crap, that's what I am, isn't it? I'm 29 and about to embark on a new chapter in my life: back to college! Sounds scary, but surprisingly enough, I'm not frightened one bit about returning to class with 18 year-olds. I quit my job of almost 7 years as a guitar repair-person at a well-known music store to dive head-first into the world of graphic design. Part of me thinks, "this is going to be a piece of cake! I worked 9-6 in retail (read: Hell--holidays are nonexistent) for almost 7 years!" but another part thinks "you have no idea what you're in for."

Here's the thing: I'm "old". Not really, but to a teen, 29 or 30 is like, "do you have kids? Are you married?" *sigh* I don't feel almost 30. In fact, I feel like school is really where I should be. I'm at this age crossroads where a lot of people I know are getting married, having kids (that is, if they aren't already in grown-up land), and although I feel like saying "holy crap! Marriage? Kids??", I realize that it's quite age-appropriate. I guess I fit into a category of people who act a whole lot younger than we are; Not that age scares me, or anything. I'll proudly admit to my real age!

All that being said, I'd like to add that this is my second go at college. Yes, I made a feeble attempt at it about 11 years ago, but lost interest and got side-tracked. When you're 18 and your teachers tell you they don't take attendance and will not send letters home to your parents, it's easy to skip class. It's also easy to miss out on all the great opportunities that exist for students: discounts, part-time jobs, a month off during the holidays... Students have it so good and they don't even know it.

So I invite you to read along and (hopefully) cheer me on as I write about my experiences and do my homework. I also invite you to check out my other (almost abandoned, guitar tech) blog, FixTHIS! I say "almost abandoned" because as I am no longer employed as a guitar tech, I won't really update it anymore. I may occasionally have something to say, but this here will become my main blog.

School starts in 2 days, so I should be posting again real soon!