Earlier this spring, when I was in the muck of it all - I was overwhelmed with the school work surrounding my computer. My life was piles of books, paper, and mess cover my dining room most of the time. It was a series of late nights, waiting until nearly midnight to turn in hastily finished assignments- the magical due date of online school - and hoping my Internet didn't freeze up right at that moment.
Luckily, my college is online and I send in digital files of my homework - because the paper copies that I work from are sometimes covered in splashes of spaghetti sauce, grease from various kids' snacks, and Baby Blueberry's scribbles. Although her supply and demand curves are the cutest drawings ever. (Ever learn microeconomics with a preschooler on your lap - it's an interesting process.)
I am nearly two years into my return of completing my degree and I've realized that my sense of direction or lack of - hasn't changed in the nearly twenty years since I started the college process. I was going to study accounting, because accountants make enough money to live off of - and then I took an accounting class. Confession- I took two because I figured it would be a really handy skill to have. Which it has been - I now know for certain after looking at my bank statements with the critical eye of a business major that I'm definitely broke and my net worth is less than when I started school and applying for student loans.
Perhaps European students with their nearly free or at least affordable college education have a good thing going. Don't get me wrong- I was a business major, coming from a long line of failed and closed businesses - but also an equally long-line of never give up entrepreneurs - so I have a healthy respect for capitalism. I also came from Oregon - so I believe higher education shouldn't shackle a ball and chain around your ankle for the rest of your working life.
But back to accounting...
When my head stopped exploding and I stopped crying in the bathroom between each new lesson - I realized I could learn accounting and even pass the class with a decent grade. I also spent most of fall and spring semesters memorizing my accounting textbook just so I could pass the tests. (Just to be fair I passed with high grades, but again this is because I memorized the damn book.)
I switched majors because business would take another two years to complete and I wanted to figure out a plan to finish next year, since balancing school and kids was difficult.
And then my financial situation came crashing down around me and damn it - if I don't go back to work by October than I will not be able to pay my mortgage. School? Mortgage? Running away to a tropical island and living on a beach?
We take a small break from this blog to offer some advice:
1. Finish school before kids and a mortgage payment - it's just easier. I've done school both ways and I miss the days of go to class, meet friends in the library, eat some Ramen noodles, and study or take a nap - it was easy either way.
Going back to school with a mortgage payment and kids - not so much fun. It means your brain is so full of your schoolwork that you forget all kinds of other things - like paying the dentist bill, or picking up groceries. And for some reason the- meaning the kids- don't want to eat Ramen noodles - they actually expect things like mac and cheese and spaghetti. Meals that take longer to cook! Damn kids for wanting food, and groceries, and bedtime stories.
2. Take your algebra class before business classes - especially accounting. It's amazing how much math you use in an accounting class. Go figure.
Back to the Blog:
So here I am, changing my school plans - slowing down my school plans - and trying to figure out a job with only part of a degree and no recent job experience. In our economy- this should go really well. I read hiring ads all the time that say, "Looking for hard working employees that only have 3/4ths of a degree, no internships, no field experiences, and have wiped more runny noses in the last ten years than typed a business memo. Also must know how to vblog, obtain millions of followers on a hundred different social media apps and have the secrets to the last episodes of Games of Thrones before they air."
Add in my failed Ebay business I tried to do last Fall - I'm looking at making lattes instead of drinking them.
I'm going to blame all this on a chance encounter in Denver last spring- because I think I was cursed with a voodoo curse. Or it could have been my overactive imagination, since I couldn't hear the exact words being used at me. But then this happens...so I'm just saying- avoid voodoo curses.
Or don't accidentally piss off someone in traffic that can voodoo curse you- apparently it's bad.
