I mended my schedule, as I said I would. I'm now double majoring—History and Social Studies. The Social Studies major differs from History because it combines economics, geography, sociology, and psychology with the courses required for certification, in addition to history classes. I dropped an online course and Twentieth Century Europe, but I'll now also work on The Falcon's Eye, our school paper.

Lindsey and I are to look at a house in Oakboro this weekend. It's exciting to do things like this because it really hits me: in less than four months we'll be on our own. Our house, our payments, our silence, our unbroken times. It's going to be hard but good.

The semester began this past Wednesday. I'm in several upper-level history classes, working on the Pfeiffer Review, and playing golf (I know). 15 books, $575, 4000 pages. I'm thinking of rearranging my schedule. I've been in college for over 5 years now, and I'm working and planning a wedding. I want a lighter load this time around. It should be settled by mid-Monday.

Okay, the title is cheesy, but I'm a cheesy guy, so it's all right.

Eight semester hours of science are required for my major. A year ago I had the choice of biology or chemistry, and so like a person with any sense would do, I chose chemistry. I didn't like chemistry in high school and I gave up on it after a while like a true moron. That was eight years ago. I wanted to give it another go and treat it properly. I'm glad I did.

On the first night in August, in walked a man resembling a well-groomed Einstein. He looked like a pushover to some—a nice, old teacher who would turn 78-years-old the next month. The class soon found out that this man, Perry Weston, was more than they had bargained for. Throughout the following ten months Dr. Weston weaved a brief biography of himself by treating us with interesting stories of his life. We learned of his trips to Africa and encounters with "medicinal" roots, JuJu (bad or good, but usually bad), native women selling beads (and the old woman acting as a guide on the hill), as well as his time in Europe and others. He told of the state of humankind, his predictions for the future, as well as life in the past. Oh, we learned a great deal of chemistry as well. Dr. Weston is an excellent teacher and an all around great guy. I heard students say that they don't care for him or his style of teaching. But if one honestly tries to learn from him or even gives him a chance to connect in any way, one will learn something, whether it be academic or not.

Tonight was the last night of chemistry. I finished the exam, which was only nine pages—short compared to our usual tests—and hung around for a while, long after everyone else had left. Dr. Weston probably didn't realize it, but I did this several times. I would stay after just to talk with him for a few minutes about things unrelated to chemistry. We spoke of NCAA basketball, my future, and other things. I did this because he's truly a wise man; because his words all have substance, not just when he tries to express something important. I also did it because I began to think of Dr. Weston as a friend. Tonight was a sad night for me—not only for that reason, but I also befriended several of my fellow students, and I know I'll probably never see them again. If any of you, including Dr. Weston, happen to find my site and read this, feel free to contact me in some way, let me know how things are.

Anyway, I realize that I'm an over-emotional person and that I'm far too sentimental and nostalgic, but that's the way I've always been. I doubt I'll ever change. If I could only say that for so many other things.

Before I fill you in on where I've been, I'll try to get you up to speed. Here are the classes I took during the Fall semester:

1. Religion in America
2. American Literature
3. British Literature
4. Twentieth Century World History
5. Chemistry I

I made As. It was one of the best semesters I've had in a long time, even with all the papers. It felt so great to take things other than computer related classes. I'm more suited to history, sociology, and the like. I enjoy it more, anyway.

I'm now at Pfeiffer University, majoring in history. My current classes are:

1. Civilizations of Africa & the Middle East
2. European History (since 1492)
3. United States History (since 1865)
4. Foundations of Education
5. Field Experience I
6. Chemistry II

I like Pfeiffer a lot so far; it's old and small. The professors are nice and I'm enjoying the subjects.

In April of 2003, I made a plan for my education. I decided to finish my associate's degree, continue for a while at Stanly to knock out some of my general education requirements, and then head to Pfeiffer. All of that has been accomplished. I now have a new plan.

In summary, my plan is as follows: I will finish my bachelor's degree, teach for a while as I work on my master's, and eventually go for my doctorate. I would feel unfulfilled, or as if I let myself down if I didn't obtain at least a master's degree. I know I can; the only thing that would stop me is the same almighty agonist: money. This will also require time—many years. Hopefully though, a few years from now I'll be writing an entry similar to this, reflecting on another plan that worked out.

On to the silly reason for my absence.

If you know me, or have read enough of my blather, then my position on society is established. I decided over the summer to impose a fissure. This was to be a personal split; a mental, social break. I simply wanted to part ways with everything and everyone as much as possible. I excluded my family, Lindsey, and her wonderful family from my personal provisos. I won't go into detail because it's important only to my interests.

What did my wacky plan accomplish? It allowed for great introspection. Half a year of self-examination gave me emotional and mental strength, confidence, a better vocabulary, a greater understanding of my intense emotions, an escape. I'm afraid it didn't help my grammar, though.

During this time I traveled a great deal as well. Over the past six months I've driven several thousand miles, most of it in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Danville, Lynchburg, Yorktown, and Greenville are three of the places I've spent any significant time. I love to travel.

I've taken hundreds of pictures. Many are of the area in which I live, which I plan to organize and award their own fancy html page. Whenever I get the money, I plan to buy a big, fancy new camera that will actually take a picture once a press the button in less than 4 seconds (eternity).

Since my last posting I've also met Leo Kottke at one of his spectacular shows; spent loads of time with Lindsey, including both birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas; bought a cellphone and a new car, in which I've driven 20,000 miles since July 22. My old Honda finished shy of 300,000.

You'd think a university would have online class registration, financial aid processing, etc. That way I and thousands of others wouldn't have to wait in line for two hours for a dozen stamps, a picture, and millions of fake smiles.

Teenagers can be very annoying. The immature should wait until they're at least twenty-one to start college.

This morning at 8:15 was orientation at Pfeiffer University. New students went into a small lounge type room at Stokes Student Center. A few people spoke and then we were off to testing. It was very similar to the SAT with different sections and a total testing time of 3 hours.

I also had my first Chemistry II class tonight. Same times as last semester: Monday and Wednesday nights from 5:30 to 8:30. There are eleven people in the course, all of whom were in the previous class. I'm hidden in the back right corner again, so I should be fine.

Sorry.

For the past year and a half I've taken nothing but classes related to computers. Now I'm taking art, history, and sociology. It's strange to be writing essays again. I turned in my first one the other day and I'm waiting for the verdict.

I've been up all night. Again. Today is my last day of finals. I have a two-parter at 8 (questions/hands-on) and then a hands-on to finish from 1-3. I've done well so far, but I'll be very glad when it's all over. My final grades will be in the A-B range. A week from now I'll have my diploma. A week after that I start right back with classes, ha. I'll be taking three classes, which they said is a lot for summer. I want to finish quickly, though, so I don't mind. Everything seems to be going as planned. I now have my ITN degree, I'll finish my general ed. requirements for Pfeiffer this Fall, and I'll start there in January. Maybe I'll finish with school before I'm thirty. (Twenty-five if we're being serious.) Indecision has been my master for too long.

Just for future reference, this is the first time I've updated publicly since April 4th. This is also the first entry with commenting enabled. I hope you guys comment from time to time, so people will think I actually have friends.

Representatives of various universities were on campus today. I went to talk with the Pfeiffer lady. I'm not sure that's where I'll go. It depends on my major and, of course, money.

It's actually warm outside.

Today wasn't fun. I didn't get much sleep last night and I had to get up early and go to my 8 o'clock class. Jeff is sick and his voice is gone, so we didn't stay in there long. I'm glad, because I needed to write the last of my notes for my programming test. After that I had to tutor three people at once, which was strangely thrilling. It made me feel important. They listened to everything I had to say. I mean, really listened. It made me feel like a real teacher, and I liked that feeling.

All of that ended around 12:20, at which point I went to my 1 o'clock class to study a little bit more before the test. My five pages of notes and all the studying I did the night before did little good. This ASP stuff is difficult for me right now, which gives me an odd feeling. If I'd had more time in which to do the test (consisting of creating a small Web site with a lot of asp crap in it), I would have done better. Oh well.

I then had to tutor again at 3. Right now (10:08PM) I'm feeling very badly about other things that I'm not going to discuss.

My final grades: 96.35, 100.37, 96, 98, and 92. Not too shabby. The only reason I made over a 100 in one class is because of the funky way in which he grades, but I'm not complaining. In my hardware class I made 91 on the skills exam (putting that CPU together and everything) and 96.7 on the final.

I made a lot of friends over this semester, so a lot of today (and yesterday) was spent hanging around talking to people about everything. If it hadn't been for Kevin, the three classes I have with him would have been boring as anything can be. I hope I see him around next semester. The same goes for Tom, Jan, Gina, and a lot of others. I'll miss Janet next semester, too. She's only taking medical classes, so I probably won't see her any. She was just about the nicest person in the world.

After a week of the flu and finals, I'll thoroughly enjoy this month off.

I met with Tony for about an hour yesterday morning. We talked about school, teaching, and life in general. He agreed with my assumption that everything is going well for me at the moment. He even complimented me on this website. Leslie had shown it to him. He's going to help me figure out which school would be best, which classes I need to finish up the AA degree for transfer, and stuff like that.

I need to get certified in some things. I'll probably end up taking the A+ and CIW. I have about 19 trillion pages of study material that I'll have to wade through beforehand. I could probably already pass the one for webmaster.

Christmas break is almost here. A few finals and then I'll have a month off. One day during last year's break I sat down and taught myself html. I need to do something like that again. Maybe I should go for some basic Spanish. If I go to UNCC I'll have to take a foreign language. I remember very few things from high school Spanish class. Andrew and I were too busy cracking jokes and pondering the mentality of our teacher. One of the few things I actually remember is watching Selena. "Anything for Selenas!"

stupidity   idiocy   and, just to sound smart... hebetudinous

Someone from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents keeps coming to this site. Who are you? Can I help you with anything? How about giving me a scholarship or something?

I found this very interesting:

In July 1997, a fetus was discovered in the abdomen of 16-year-old Hisham Ragab of Egypt, who had been complaining of stomach pains. A swollen sac found pressing against his kidneys turned out to be Hisham's 18cm-long identical twin. The fetus, which had been growing inside him, had lived to be 32 or 33 weeks old.

That would be so awesome.

In one of my classes the final grade is calculated by three exams worth 20% each and homework, quizzes, and lab work as the other 40%. We had the second exam yesterday and I aced it.

Here's my schedule for next semester:

M/W   10:00-12:00   Implementing Internet Services
T/Th   8:00-10:00   Network Systems Managing II
T/Th   10:30-12:30   Principles of Web Design
T/Th   1:00-3:00   Internet Programming
Internet Development and Support (Independent Study)

Whoa, two blockquotes in one entry.

Not bad. Maybe by next semester I'll be running a couple websites. I'll actually have time to do that (probably). After talking with Jeff I found out that the class I previously said was only offered on Monday nights is going to be taught on Tuesday/Thursday mornings also. That's a relief, I guess. After I graduate with this degree in May I'll take as many classes during the summer as I can. Then I'll complete the rest in the fall to finish up the AA degree for transfer. After that I'll have two years left during which I'll finish my four year degree in Education. I may change my mind between now and then (I have over a year to finalize my decision) to go for English. I could still teach with an English degree. Plus, I may wind up going back to SCC to teach computers or something. I'm glad things are finally starting to come together. Sometimes I wish I had just gone straight to State after high school like I had planned. But, who knows how different my life would be if I had? I guess I'm not in bad shape. Some people don't even go to college. I wonder where I'd be right now if I had never met Samantha. Maybe I wouldn't want to know.

Someone from the University of West Florida in Pensacola visited my site not long ago. Anyone I know? I was seriously considering attending that school. I had papers sent up and talked to them over the phone a couple times. That was a while back.

Since it's Halloween I thought I would put up a scary movie. No movies scare me anymore, but when I was young, Fire in the Sky was just about the scariest of them all. Every kid has one thing of which they're deathly afraid. For me, it was aliens. Not the big monster-looking things like in the Alien movies (which, by the way, I wanted to go see in the theater for the Director's Cut release, but our shabby little theater decided against). The "grays" are what I'm referring to; the little ones with large almond eyes.

They were the only things that really scared me as a kid. I saw so many documentaries and movies about alien abduction that it seemed plausible. I guess that's why it was so scary to me. I was terrified that I would wake up with them in my room, ready to abduct me. It's kind of funny to think about it now. Anyway, I still like that movie, even if solely for nostalgia value.

I've been having some problems in a certain area. I was really worried about it for a while, and then it suddenly got worse, so I finally went to the doctor. This is NEVER a good sign:

Why do I put even the most embarrassing things on here? Eh, I don't care. I'm human. And after seeing this today, I was right to go.

Since we're on the subject of rectums, I hate it when people say they're afraid of clowns. You know exactly what I mean. Every one of you knows at least one person that claims they're afraid of clowns for one stupid reason or another. Here's the deal. Girls say they're afraid of clowns to be cute. Guys say it because they think it'll add a little youthful charm and maybe make a nearby female say, "Aww." There's nothing scary about clowns. If you truthfully are afraid of clowns, and aren't under 10, then just go ahead and castrate yourself right now.

I've gotta lay off the Maddox.

Thank you, Leslie, for all your help. I talked with her and some other person today about my plans. Actually, I just casually walked into her office to talk and she pulled out several papers, saying she had been going over some things about my classes. Now that's something to appreciate: someone thinking about your well-being and using their time to do stuff for you before you even ask for assistance. So, we looked over the classes I've taken, what I need to take, which classes I can take here, and what I'll have left to do at UNCC (or wherever). As it seems now, I'll finish this degree in May, have 19 hours left of general education classes that I'll take here, and then four semesters at the university to get my degree in education. Of course, that's just generalization. I still have time to decide exactly what I want my major to be. I might go for English. I could still be a teacher (English in that case of course) but also have other options. That's one of the major decisions I have yet to make. So, right now, it looks like I'll be completely done with school in the fall of '06 or the spring of '07. I'll be 25 either way. I guess that's not too bad, especially since I'll have two degrees.

pumpkin   game   Dalí   10?   generator

I felt horrible this morning. I don't know if it's an underlying sickness, or some space parasite, or what. Whatever the case, I didn't feel like going to class. It's not as if I wanted to miss my two classes today; I've grown to hate being absent (no doubt shocking to high school chums). It's my first (and hopefully only) absence in those classes.

Complaining about school wouldn't be complete without mentioning my networking class. I failed a quiz today in this class; the first thing I've ever failed at this college. Our teacher is trying to cover far too much material. I hate this class very much. I wouldn't take it, but for some insane reason it's required even though my major has nothing to do with networking. I honestly don't care what my grade turns out to be as long as I pass the course and never have to read about IEEE 802.3, OSI layers, or UTP, STP, or any other blasted type of twisted pair again. I can think of nothing more uninteresting than networking.

I'm still worrying myself with everything I wrote about last time. So many questions continue to present themselves. Which university will I eventually end up attending? Which classes will transfer? How long will it take? What exactly will I teach? What age? What if I want to teach at the college level? Will I even be able to get the money to do this? How tough is it going to be? That's just the beginning. I know I want to teach. I can't imagine myself doing anything else except becoming a reclusive writer. I can't even write. I want to teach. I know I would be good at it. I wish I had started on this path right when I graduated high school. If I hadn't met Samantha, that's exactly what would've happened. I might've even been near completion by now. I can't go back and change that, though. I sure have a tendency to ramble, don't I?

My uncle John is to be sent to Iraq in January. He has to report in next Saturday. The first week he'll be in Monroe, then a month at Fort Bragg, then Polk in Louisiana until Christmas. After Christmas he'll be sent to Iraq where he'll be on foot patrol. I'm not all that worried considering the chance of him getting killed is low. But, it could change between now and then.

I'm worried about school. I'm not sure what I'm going to do after this spring. I need to go talk to Mr. Oittenlflisorkvbp or whatever his name is. All I know is that if I'm going to go after that four year degree then it's going to be at least three more years before I finish. I've already been out of high school for three years, and another three (or more) years in college seems like an eternity. I want to map out exactly what I need to do. I just need to talk to someone that knows about this stuff. I'd really like to go to Pfeiffer since it's so close. I could still live at home which would save tons of money. Speaking of money, if I don't get some type of financial aid I might not be able to go through with it anyway. But, from what a teacher at Norwood Elementary said recently, it shouldn't be that difficult for someone who wants to be a teacher to get aid. I just wish I had all the answers. I'm very worried at the moment.

I went to school yesterday to see what I made on that final exam and to talk with some people about my plans. I made 94 on the exam. That's my worst test grade for the class. Pretty sure I made an A in there. So after that I went to speak with Leslie. She took me to see Tony Oettinger and some other dude. We just discussed basic stuff, I'm going to go talk with him again sometime soon and go over everything in detail. I really hope all this can work out. If it does, it means I'll be in college for like four more years. That kinda sucks, but I guess it could be worse. I just don't like having to live off my parents, makes me feel like a bum sometimes. Oh well, there's not much I can do about that. This next year is gonna be packed - 5 or 6 classes each semester. I know a guy who's taking 10. I guess that's why he failed 3 or 4 last semester.

I was at school at 7:45 this morning - first in line. There's always a huge line on registration days. They need to make it available online, that would save a lot of time and trouble for everyone. Tomorrow's the last day of summer classes. I'll have about three weeks off, time to be lazy. Uncle David just stopped by (it's 1:04pm). I forgot how tall he is. 6'6" seems huge when you're 5'9" - 5'10". I remember when Jeremy, Justin, and I were little. We would all get in the front seat of his big, white car. I don't even remember what kind of car it was (I was only like 5). He'd let us take turns sitting on his lap while he drove. He'd let go of the wheel and let us drive. Man, that was awesome. David's a good man; I wish I saw more of him.

Got my second test back today in my programming class. Final exam on Wednesday. I missed half of class today because I went to see Leslie about pre-registration. I had already figured out which classes I need to take, just needed her signature. I went down to Patterson to register, but the line was a hundred long out the door so I decided to go back tomorrow.

I should finish next spring. After that I may transfer to UNCC, Pfeiffer, or somewhere else to get a second degree so I can teach. She said I may be able to teach computer courses after I finish with this degree, but I rather go on and get the bachelor's. This is giving me a little more motivation, which I need. I still have many questions, and there are many things to be worked out, but I feel this is all going to happen. Hey, if all this plays out I could end up teaching my brother.

Broke my previous record like crazy. This weekend is very busy. I have lots of work to do. I was talking to my teacher, Ms. Ulrich, just a minute ago, and maybe I will still go for another degree. I'm not sure right now if I will or not. It's going to be a year before I finish with this IT degree. Perhaps after that I will go to UNCC or State. Maybe even Pfeiffer. Who knows?

I registered for Spring classes yesterday. 5 classes, 15 credit hours, 22 contact hours. Hopefully after this semester I'll be able to make a decent Web site. My major is now Internet Technology. What the heck is that, Brian? Basically, when I'm finished with the degree, I'll end up being some company's Internet dude. Which is fine with me, I love the Internet. Plus, I'll be able to create and maintain Web sites for numerous companies, or whatever. I plan on finishing this degree and also getting a couple certificates (in Web development). I'll probably end up getting certified in certain crap. But, I don't know. Anything could change.

I should probably change majors again.