Let's try this again....

Well hello there, Internet-Land!

It's been a long time since I updated this blog... I think 2015 was my Lost Year, by and large. It flashed by with a string of good and bad and worse and then it was gone. I hardly even remember it now, and its become nearly impossible for me to separate the events of 2014 from the events of 2015 at this point. Everything has just melted together.

So, let's have a quick catch-up and then some new goals, shall we?

Well, the biggest news is this: I'm in New Mexico! I have moved on from community college, and am now attending a state university... but not in my home state. I'm now anxiously awaiting the state of my second semester here. It has been about a million times harder to leave Arizona than I thought it would be - not least because the Man Called Bill stayed behind to run Chez Chaos in my absence. This has really been difficult. I don't know why I thought it wouldn't be such a big deal, but it is a HUGE DEAL. I miss everything, every day.

It's not all bad though. I thoroughly enjoy my classes and the University, my classmates and my professors. I have a part time job, which is actually really great and I enjoy it. It is really strange living in a whole new place, doubly so to do this on my own.... but the people I have met here have made it easier.

Deciding to up and move to another state for the last part of my educational adventure has taken complete precedence over every other thing in my life for now though. It's drained my financial reserves, it's caused pressure on my relationship, it's thrown a monkey wrench the size of the moon into every plan that I have ever had before this one. It's been an enormous adjustment, in ways that I couldn't have possibly known it would be before I started down this road.

Returning to school as a working adult is a huge pain in the ass. Resources that are available to younger students are not available to working adults. Resources that are available to unemployed adults are not available to working adults, even though my class schedule makes it nigh impossible to find (and keep) any kind of job that actually pays a living wage... much less a living wage after paying tuition and housing in addition to "normal" bills. Srsly. I finally had to give up working full time, because its just not possible while I'm a full time student... and I have no desire to be a part time student for the next ten years. (And that's not even delving into the fact that the majority of upper-level courses that I am taking now in my final two years are ONLY scheduled during the day, when "normal" folks are at work.) It's also a challenge to find time to fit everything in, including the surprises that come up, like needing to take additional tests outside of regular class time or mandatory study groups, etc.

Sigh.

It has been harder than I thought it would be. But I am still motoring forward.

And yeah, I hear the folks (including my mom) who admonish "you could have done this when you were younger, blah blah blah".... and you know what? I would have failed. It's true. When I graduated from high school, I was not prepared for college, I didn't have the desire to go to college, and I had no idea what I wanted to do in college. I was sick of school, sick of tests and reviews and my classmates, and everything. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was go sit in more classrooms and do more classwork. So, yeah, I could have done this college thing when I was younger, but it wouldn't have ended well.

I'm here now though, and I'm succeeding. I'm excited to go to class, to learn, to meet people. I have desire, drive and determination. My parents are helping me pay for things, since I qualify for pretty much nothing as far as scholarships and things are concerned. (Thanks mom and dad!) I'm weathering this adventure as best as I can, and I think its going fairly well so far. I have another year and some to go here in NM, and then I can return to AZ... or roam to somewhere new maybe!

And maybe I'll even managed to post here more than once every two years.