Oh, hi there!
So this weekend I will be writing about the trabecular microstructure of some rib samples... examining sex and gender related intra-skeletal differences in bone microstructure in theoretical paleopopulations, and comparing those differences to previously observed vertebrae samples.
Two weeks ago I looked at that assignment and thought to myself... "wow, I'm screwed."
Today I look at it and think... "oh that's not so bad."
See? I'm going to be just fine here. I keep wondering if I'm missing something, or if maybe I'm doing something wrong. I have this class on Fridays for new student parent transfers. It's basically a course for credit, that tells you how to balance life and school, how to deal with a bigger workload and more complex material, and it's kind of structured as a support group for parents. Everyone in the class is totally overwhelmed and stressed out, and I'm kinda like... um... YAY everything rules! So I'm thinking, am I just awesome? Or am I delusional? What's going on?
I am seriously the only one in the class that isn't scared of the reading and the papers. After today I was sort of thinking that maybe Golden West is just a really good community college? Because I don't really see that big of a difference in the workload or anything. And everyone else is FREAKING OUT. I mean obviously the professors at Berkeley are AMAZING, but I had some pretty good profs at GWC too. These classes are just more interesting and specialized.
Maybe it's just the combination of my not working and not living with the stress of living with my family that is making me feel like this is all easy peasy. Or maybe it's just that it's the 3rd week and in a couple more weeks I'll want to kill myself. Who knows? Either way... I'm feeling good and I'm excited and I don't think I'll ever get over how rad it is to be here.
It's funny to be wandering around the campus and just thinking to myself... "finally." I mean I really feel comfortable here.
Sometimes I think maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of it in my head, and then I think... who am I kidding, I'm at UC Berkeley! That's totally a big deal. And I love it.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Bedtime... what bedtime?
And so it goes... Another school year has started and along with that comes the dreaded "mommmmy I can't doooooo iiiiiiiit!" His homework. He can do it. He just doesn't really want to. You see, my 9 year old son is a lot like me. We over-complicate. It works well for me in a college situation because it causes me to work harder and produce a better developed end product, but for him in 4th grade it just wastes time and nothing gets done.
And that is how we have arrived at 9:30pm with homework still far, far from completion. So be it.
Right now, this is not the end of the world. I don't have a lot of reading to do since I gave myself a head start before classes began, however come midterms this kind of whining child situation will need to be rectified. Quickly.
That said... I am in love with the Anthropology department of UC Berkeley.
I will be spending a lot of my time in this building during my first semester. The anthropology undergraduate laboratories are located here, in the basement of the Hearst gym. If you ask me, it's a rather fitting little home for the skeletons in Cal's closet so to speak. The labs and offices are hot and dim, and a little spooky. This building also houses the office of the AUA, for those of you not in the know, that would be the Anthropology Undergrad Association. I've decided that I am going to force myself on them, whether they like it or not. I even (*shudder*) offered to help the poor thing who is renovating the website. It also seems that after today's meeting I might be unofficially in charge of organizing kid friendly events for the AUA due to the fact that, well... I have a kid. I'm not sure that I would be able to do all of this if it wasn't for the fact that the majority of these people are in two of my four classes and they are all ridiculously helpful and nice and all of those things that you don't usually expect strangers to be.
So. I have to get through tomorrow and then I will have successfully completed two full weeks as a Cal student. I feel a combination of total impostor and right at home. It's an odd mix.
And that is how we have arrived at 9:30pm with homework still far, far from completion. So be it.
Right now, this is not the end of the world. I don't have a lot of reading to do since I gave myself a head start before classes began, however come midterms this kind of whining child situation will need to be rectified. Quickly.
That said... I am in love with the Anthropology department of UC Berkeley.
I will be spending a lot of my time in this building during my first semester. The anthropology undergraduate laboratories are located here, in the basement of the Hearst gym. If you ask me, it's a rather fitting little home for the skeletons in Cal's closet so to speak. The labs and offices are hot and dim, and a little spooky. This building also houses the office of the AUA, for those of you not in the know, that would be the Anthropology Undergrad Association. I've decided that I am going to force myself on them, whether they like it or not. I even (*shudder*) offered to help the poor thing who is renovating the website. It also seems that after today's meeting I might be unofficially in charge of organizing kid friendly events for the AUA due to the fact that, well... I have a kid. I'm not sure that I would be able to do all of this if it wasn't for the fact that the majority of these people are in two of my four classes and they are all ridiculously helpful and nice and all of those things that you don't usually expect strangers to be.
So. I have to get through tomorrow and then I will have successfully completed two full weeks as a Cal student. I feel a combination of total impostor and right at home. It's an odd mix.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
It really does take a village...
Okay, get this...
Hipmama.com saved my life. It sounds like an exaggeration... and maybe it is, just a little, but the reality of it all is that when I discovered hipmama.com back in 1999 shortly after my son was born, I discovered the most amazing support system that I would ever know. I made the friends that would show me how to not just live as a single mother, but how to thrive as one. I made friends there that would grow with me, as we watched our children grow. Friends that would become my family. Strong women who shared their weak sides with me. Women like me. Girls, given the enormous task of raising the next generation with terrible role models and little more than each other.
When I look back at us then, almost a decade ago, I am so completely and totally proud of what we've become since.
And here I thought I would never possibly find another support system like that. The kind that shared my fears and knew my battles. The kind of support system that had not just blind advice, but real life experiences to draw upon to help get me through the rough spots.
Well, I must be one lucky something or other, because I think I've landed myself right smack in the middle of another group of people that just might turn out to be just as amazing and supportive as my hipmama family. You see, the Transfer Re-Entry Student Parent Center at Cal is already the place on campus where I go if I need a hug. Who can say that about their school? I mean really, I think if everyone had a place on campus where they could just go for a hug, then school would be a lot less stressful for everyone! Who doesn't want a hug every now and then?
Now this is not to say that only my hipmama friends have gotten me here. That's just not true. There are others as well, girls who rocked my world by just letting me hang around their smart ass selves, and by smart ass, I mean highly intelligent. I wondered for a long time why they let me hang around them, my uneducated ass. They convinced me to go to school. Even though I thought for sure I would fail, give up, or otherwise sabotage myself. (Thanks you guys!)
But so far so good. I am enrolled in a student parent transfer class on Friday afternoons and for the first class meeting I had the honor of being the only student parent transfer in the room that wasn't totally stressed out! I think that means I'm doing okay so far.
We'll see what this week holds though... I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Hipmama.com saved my life. It sounds like an exaggeration... and maybe it is, just a little, but the reality of it all is that when I discovered hipmama.com back in 1999 shortly after my son was born, I discovered the most amazing support system that I would ever know. I made the friends that would show me how to not just live as a single mother, but how to thrive as one. I made friends there that would grow with me, as we watched our children grow. Friends that would become my family. Strong women who shared their weak sides with me. Women like me. Girls, given the enormous task of raising the next generation with terrible role models and little more than each other.
When I look back at us then, almost a decade ago, I am so completely and totally proud of what we've become since.
And here I thought I would never possibly find another support system like that. The kind that shared my fears and knew my battles. The kind of support system that had not just blind advice, but real life experiences to draw upon to help get me through the rough spots.
Well, I must be one lucky something or other, because I think I've landed myself right smack in the middle of another group of people that just might turn out to be just as amazing and supportive as my hipmama family. You see, the Transfer Re-Entry Student Parent Center at Cal is already the place on campus where I go if I need a hug. Who can say that about their school? I mean really, I think if everyone had a place on campus where they could just go for a hug, then school would be a lot less stressful for everyone! Who doesn't want a hug every now and then?
Now this is not to say that only my hipmama friends have gotten me here. That's just not true. There are others as well, girls who rocked my world by just letting me hang around their smart ass selves, and by smart ass, I mean highly intelligent. I wondered for a long time why they let me hang around them, my uneducated ass. They convinced me to go to school. Even though I thought for sure I would fail, give up, or otherwise sabotage myself. (Thanks you guys!)
But so far so good. I am enrolled in a student parent transfer class on Friday afternoons and for the first class meeting I had the honor of being the only student parent transfer in the room that wasn't totally stressed out! I think that means I'm doing okay so far.
We'll see what this week holds though... I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Go Bears!
It's one of those things that you never really think will happen to you.
Your mother was a waitress, then a hostess, then a receptionist, then a hostess again. Your grandmother never really branched out, so she was just a waitress her whole life. Your father has been dead for most of your life, as have your other grandparents. The only other family members that you know well also work in the food service industry in some capacity or another, and the only relative, living or dead, who has ever gone to college that you know of, is your uncle. The one who lives in Florida as a chemist. The one who is your mother's younger brother. The one who told you back in 2005, when you decided to go back to community college and start over, that you would never get into UC Berkeley.
He was the first person my mother called when I told her that I had been accepted.
That was a few months ago. Since then I have moved my nine year old son and myself to Albany, CA. Albany being one square mile near Berkeley, where the university family housing is located just 3 miles from the UC campus.
Today was the start of week two of classes. I was expecting at this point in my journey to say that I was stressed out or scared or overwhelmed, but so far... all I can say is that I'm excited. Nothing has ever felt more "right" in my life. I am going to thrive here and I can't wait to get started on the rest of my life :)
Your mother was a waitress, then a hostess, then a receptionist, then a hostess again. Your grandmother never really branched out, so she was just a waitress her whole life. Your father has been dead for most of your life, as have your other grandparents. The only other family members that you know well also work in the food service industry in some capacity or another, and the only relative, living or dead, who has ever gone to college that you know of, is your uncle. The one who lives in Florida as a chemist. The one who is your mother's younger brother. The one who told you back in 2005, when you decided to go back to community college and start over, that you would never get into UC Berkeley.
He was the first person my mother called when I told her that I had been accepted.
That was a few months ago. Since then I have moved my nine year old son and myself to Albany, CA. Albany being one square mile near Berkeley, where the university family housing is located just 3 miles from the UC campus.
Today was the start of week two of classes. I was expecting at this point in my journey to say that I was stressed out or scared or overwhelmed, but so far... all I can say is that I'm excited. Nothing has ever felt more "right" in my life. I am going to thrive here and I can't wait to get started on the rest of my life :)
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