Fighting the Legion and Winning a Unicorn

At the end of Summer quarter I found myself practically vibrating from stress, wilting from the heat, and staring down two months off of school. Up until this point, the longest period I had had off of school was about a month. One big benefit of a crazy-short quarter was a longer break before Fall, and I was very excited.

The first order of business was to unwind. I needed to work out some of the stress that had been building up. I also needed a lot of hugs from my dog Beck. She needed those hugs too. As my time was completely consumed by schoolwork, I got a lot of this face:

So adorable!! I don't know how I resisted the urge to chuck all my work, wrap my arms around her, and bury my face in her neck... Looking back, I might have gotten my work done more efficiently if I had taken more time to do just that. A little de-stressing with my unlicensed, though clearly official emotional support animal would have reduced some of the stress and anxiety, so I could work better and maybe have a little leisure time... Hind-sight, am I right?

I began my break by staying in bed practically all day for the first day, cuddling my puppy and watching Netflix. Once I emerged, I decided a good way to aid the unwinding was by killing some demons:

Ahh, the simple pleasure of shooting the crap out of a burning legion of demons. Take THAT final exam! In your face anxiety! Oh look, a pretty dragon! Oh World of Warcraft, where would I be without you? I really don't understand why I resisted playing for so long. One of the irritating things about summer quarter, was that when I did take a little time off from the work, I couldn't de-stress by killing demons, because I was so sick of being on my computer all day and evening. But when my schedule opened up, a peaceful ride through the countryside, shooting stuff, was right there waiting for me. Therapy for the low low price of $14.99 per month. Even a broke college student can (kind of ) afford that.

Other than regaining my sanity, my biggest accomplishment during summer break was winning a new mount (in WoW) called The Lucid Nightmare. Sounds intriguing, right? It is a bad ass unicorn, I mean, look!

Purple flames coming from its tail, hooves and horn, contrasted against that charcoal coat. Beautiful. The things you have to go through to get this thing... Yikes. I wasn't at all sure I would ever actually get it. One of the last tasks sends you into this super creepy dungeon, complete with rotting corpses. One of my friends coined a nickname for this beauty, a nickname that I find highly appropriate: The Murdercorn. 

By the time Fall quarter rolled around, I was nicely low on stress, high on demon killing, and ready to dive back in... 

More to come...

Photo Sources: http://www.wowhead.com/news=274804/decrypting-the-lucid-nightmare ; https://us.shop.battle.net/en-us/family/world-of-warcraft

Cultural Study, Blood Sacrifices, and the Summer I Lost My Mind... Again

After two weeks(ish) off, it was the beginning of Summer quarter. I have taken classes all four quarters, every year since I started school. When, after high school graduation, you wait 14 years to start college, there is an overarching feeling of urgency to get done as soon as possible. Taking the summer off of school seems like such a waste when you are already so far behind. At least, that's how I have been feeling... At WCC, the summer quarters are about 8 weeks long. Taking ten credits as opposed to the usual 15, is considered full-time as you have to cover the same material as a regular quarter, in a shorter time period. I have always found ten summer credits to feel much more difficult than 15 credits in Fall, Winter, or Spring, but it was doable... Toward the middle of Spring quarter, I had done as usual and registered for two five credit classes for summer. What I failed to realize was that both were in the "extra-short quarter" category, at just six weeks long. Yes, you read that right, six weeks, which is approximately HALF a regular quarter... Uh-oh...

In addition to the time crunch, both my classes were online, which is often a little more difficult for me. I decided to go with online, as I have major heat intolerance issues (just ask ANY of my friends, especially the one who found me barely conscious and incoherent from heatstroke one summer) and a sun allergy. I don't just burn easily, I break out in extremely painful/itchy hives within moments of sunlight touching my skin. That part isn't usually a problem in the winter, as the UV index is much lower, but I am always careful... Anyway, online classes. Right. Although the campus would have air conditioning in the buildings/classrooms, there is generally a bit of a walk from one class to the next and while a parasol helps with the sun, the heat radiating up off of the bricks causes me to get dizzy and nauseous and gives me intense migraines. That being the case, I decided that sitting home in minimal clothing, always having a huge glass of iced-tea or ice water by me,  and avoiding the sun at all costs was the best option... While, health-wise that was true, it turns out that class-wise, it was not.

I was excited about the classes I had signed up for, Sex & Gender in Culture and Aztec, Inca, & Maya Archaeology. I really shouldn't have taken them in the summer... For exactly six weeks, I left my house approximately once a week to see friends, and spent ALL of the rest of my time doing school work. My stress level during that period is impossible to describe. I feel sorry for all those who ventured too close during that period. I was frantically trying to wedge information on culture, language, art, warfare, politics, and religious and sacrificial practices from three different cultures AND learning about perceptions of gender and gender practices from about a dozen other cultures into my brain all at once. I think, having face-to-face classes would have helped. With so little time in which to absorb all of this, being bale to talk with the professors and my classmates would have made a huge difference. As it was, I mostly felt so stressed out that I was as sick as if I had spent several hours a day in direct sunlight in 100 degree weather. On top of that, having to rush through all the material so quickly, I don't think that I got nearly as much out of these classes as I would have if I had taken them during a different quarter. It was really a shame, as the subject matter of each were topics I had really been looking forward to. Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot. Don't ask me questions on any of those topics unless you want to sit through a long-winded lecture. I just feel I missed out on a lot.

Looking back on that highly charged month-and-a-half, I am surprised that I didn't end up at the hospital again. Maybe it just all happened SO fast, that my anxiety & depression didn't have time to realize how stressed I was, and respond accordingly. I can say though, that I am grateful I didn't COMPLETELY lose it. Instead, I only lost it 3/4 of the way. 3/4 was enough though. I needed some serious recovery time after that quarter. I don't know how I got through it, much less in a fashion that had me nominated for a national honor's society... Oh well, I will count my blessings and move on...

I Hate Marx, But I Love Cake

I was not prepared for the amount of reading all my new classes would require. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading and the topics of the books and articles was totally fascinating to me. There was just a LOT of it.  So much, that I almost started to hate reading. I filled entire 3-ring binders with double-sided, hand written notes. Incidentally, my hand began to cramp a lot. In my "spare" time I would daydream of being able to afford buying dozens of European-style notebooks so that I could use my fountain pens for note-taking. They write so smoothly and with practically no pressure, so writer's cramp is practically non-existent... Fountain pens you ask?

Here's a little story (I don't think I've told you yet). A couple of weeks before I started school at WCC, I was having a really rough time. I had just lost a friend and was sick, and I was super nervous and stressed out about starting school. My mom and I were hanging out and she mentioned that she had a roast (or something along those lines, that part of the story is a little fuzzy) and that my 2 older brothers were coming over for a family dinner. The Sunday that was planned for the meal dawned, and I was feeling particularly ill and REALLY grumpy. I was told what time "the boys" (as I started calling them when I was very little) would arrive and I started whining like an angry toddler. It was something along the lines of "Easter is next week! Why can't we just postpone it until then?!" to which my mom replied that she had already had reschedule on them a couple of times due to my schedule and to stop being a baby. Rightly so. I was being a total baby. I grumbled under my breath then asked what she meant by rescheduling. She ignored the question. A few hours later, the boys arrived and I was anti-socially staring at a computer screen. A wrapped gift and a card was placed on the desk in front of me. I looked up, confused, and saw my big brothers smirking and waiting expectantly for me to open it. I asked what was going on and my mom said that they had gotten in touch with her and wanted to surprise me. They had been trying to schedule a time and I kept having changes to my schedule. I almost started crying as I opened the card. My lovely brothers had gotten me a gift to express that they were proud of me and my decision to go to school.

(Yeah, that's my name written beautifully with a fountain pen by my brother) The gift was my very first fountain pen, a bottle of emerald green ink, and a notebook that could handle that ink. I felt like such a jerk. Here I was being grumpy and trying to postpone this family meal, and my brothers were just trying to be sweet...

Anyway, writer's cramp and reading... I was pretty overwhelmed that first quarter at WWU. My transfer adviser at WCC had warned me that transfers usually have a dip in grades their first quarter at their new school, as there is an adjustment period. This felt like a BIG adjustment period, but I was learning a lot. I learned that I do not want to Minor in Religion, not because there is anything wrong with the program, but because it just doesn't feel quite right. I learned that theory classes download mass amounts of information into your brain in a surprisingly short amount of time. I learned that (don't shoot me scholars) I HATE reading Marx. It's weird, even when I agree with what he's saying, I want to disagree just because of how he comes off. The man wrote like an arrogant, know-it-all, asshole. Reading his work drives me nuts and I had him assigned to read in every class that quarter. 😩 Fun...

As the quarter came to a close, I was holed up writing 3 enormous final essays and preparing for my WCC graduation ceremony. I was a little nervous about it. I had not attended classes there in a couple of months and I wasn't sure that I would have anyone I knew at the ceremony. As it turned out, I found a pal to hang out with and the ceremony was surprisingly non-boring. The keynote speaker was a woman who was a former astronaut! I donned my cap and gown:

Attended/participated in WCC's 50th anniversary commencement:

And received my first college diploma:

After the ceremony, the graduates were walked through a tunnel of the faculty. I was scanning the tunnel when I heard my name. I looked up and saw my three favorite professors from my time at the school waving at me; my Archaeology & American Indian Studies Professor, my Educational Planning Professor, and my Geology Professor. Hugs all around!

My group of attendees; my mom, dad, step-mom, and my best friend who is practically my sister, and I all went to a local restaurant/brewery where we met up with another friend of mine, and one of my older brothers (tickets to the ceremony were limited, and the friend who came had to sit in a different building and watch a live-stream, so my brothers were gonna meet up to celebrate after, but one of them wasn't feeling well). We had a lovely dinner and drinks and I got some lovely cards and gifts, including a new fountain pen from my brother. It's beautiful... Afterwards, my two friends and I went out to a couple of bars and just generally had fun...

A couple of weeks later, I had plan to meet up with 4 of my best friends to have dinner and play some board and card games. I walked in, and was promptly barred from entering the kitchen. I was pretty confused. I sat in the living room by myself, waiting for them, and then I noticed the decorations in the room. Across the ceiling were streamers and balloons wishing congratulations to the graduate. I had walked into a surprise graduation party thrown by the friends who couldn't celebrate the night of the ceremony, complete with mini-mortar boards and homemade cake.

That night, watching my friends and thinking about my family and other friends after the ceremony, it hit me once again how very lucky I am. I went through a period of a few years in my early 20s where I didn't  have any friends, not really. There were people I knew that would attend the same things, but the only person I really talked to or hung out with was my amazing mom. She is a phenomenal best friend, but now my circle of friends is actually a circle. I am getting a little misty thinking about it now. I have the best group of people around me.

More to come...