I'm on "financial aid probation" because I dropped a class this Spring. (New career, new state of residence, and the most badass case of the flu since Hazel went droopy in Upstairs, Downstairs are good excuses, but the guilt will last longer than the now-useless $1000 in out-of-state tuition I still have to repay, even though I was living in the state and not for the purpose of going to school.)
I don't mind being on probation. (Today I jokingly put one of my own students on double secret probation. And then leaned against the wall and softly giggled to myself.) All I have to do is take one summer class and they'll go back to throwing fistfuls of low interest cash at me in the Fall.
The Bad part is that I'm enrolled for Summer Session III. Summer Session III runs right up until the start of Fall. This means that Financial Aid doesn't have time to figure out whether you passed your summer class before giving you money for the Fall. Which means coughing up $1500 on my own until the money comes through. (Assuming, hopefully reasonably, they get me changed to resident/district teacher status, so I don't have to pay $6210 for the semester instead. OW.)
I can't take a Summer Session I class because none are offered in my field. I can't take a Summer Session II class because it starts next week, while I'm still teaching, and there aren't any evening classes at the graduate level.
The Good:
Hold on! They just added one! Doesn't it look cool? Adventure! Film! Literature!
The Bad:
But... I'm not allowed to take more than two 600-level classes towards my Master's. I'm already signed up for R*mantic Po*ts in Summer Session III. (Asterisks aside, wouldn't it be nice to take a class in Romantic Pots? Alas, two other sites are already in Google for this.) I already bought the book.
The Good:
It may not count towards my degree, but every class in my field from an accredited, etc., university will move me up the salary scale.
Well, at least every five-ish classes moves me up.
The Bad:
I'll already have five-ish classes by the next time I can apply to move up the scale.
The Good:
This class, the new class, is not only in an earlier session (meaning I can get my summer playtime in right before heading back to work in August), but it's in the evening instead of at 9 a.m. That's really good.
If I have to pick just one, I should pick this one. I'd like to sleep in, putz around all day, laze out to the Strip in the early evening, attend class, then wander on to the next thing. Much better than getting up, fighting traffic, fighting for a parking spot (not sure how much of an issue this is, to be honest), then walking out into the noontime desert sun to be a daytime person, something I'm resigned to never quite getting the hang of, and never being able to relax in the cool evening hours without degrees of fretfulness ticking down in the back of my head.
The Bad:
Wow. Now I hate the idea of that R*mantic P*ets class. Damn.
The Good:
I don't have to pay for parking after 7 p.m.
The Bad:
Do I have to get a parking permit for the 15-20 minutes before my class starts? But I don't think I'll have time to go to the parking office before Monday, and online is out of the question! And I've already had two bad experiences with faulty meters at UNLV. (In other words, on both of my visits to the campus.) Also, I don't want to walk to my car after dark. Where are the shuttles? Are they convenient?
The Good:
My new sunglasses came in yesterday; they're awesome. I look cool and slightly wicked, but in an ultimately friendly way. It's weird, though, because when I go to take a photo, I look pretty dorky. Maybe I need a new camera! After all, UNLV is just fraught with photo opportunities!
The Bad:
There isn't time to bargain shop for books.
The Congo:
And one of the books is... Heart of Darkness. Unabridged. Which I already have in one of my boxes (that won't arrive until July -- the move is on, by the way). That's not the point -- the point is that I hate Joseph Conrad. I know that's so unbecoming in an English major but, my God, I hate him. Even when he's kind of interesting. Spit. Spit. Phooey! Even though two of my most favourite professors ever love him.
I just don't like Africa, colonization, manly isolation, man vs. nature, realism... those are all words I use on things like lesson plans. I want Continental forests, feudal systems, girly introspection, nature vs. man, and fantasy...
The Good:
Maybe we'll watch some Indiana Jones.
The Bad:
Oh no! I already have John Waite tickets for one of the nights class meets. Oh no!
The Good:
Rate My Professor says that this instructor is laid back about absences. I've emailed her to see if she'll mind. Usually it's foolish to miss a class during the summer session, but maybe it will be fine.
The Bad:
It's mostly unrelated to this issue, but I really need to get my room packed up for summer. Bleeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don't let me keep putting it off!
The Good:
Summer! Summer! Summer!
The Congo:
Might not be so bad on the third or fourth read. Like the protagonist and his queen, I shall get through it by lying back often and thinking of England. As for the other required books, this one looks super-cool, and this one looks even better, especially for someone who chose Travel Lit as one of her MLA areas plus will be teaching three sections of TL in the Fall.
(Well, not quite, but I can't divulge more without getting into sticky territory.)
Now to blow on the hamsters in delight. They're so cute when they're ruffled.
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