Monday, July 27, 2009

Terrible Odds

The thing about living here is there's so much more free time.  Well, that's partially from living here and partially because school is out.  When I'm not working now I can lay on the floor reading the NY Times.  I can play Wii.  I can screw around doing nothing.  I have not done laundry in almost a month because somebody else does it for me.  I haven't ironed my fancy job clothes.  I haven't done my sisters' laundry.  I haven't gone food shopping.  If we want something, we tell someone and it magically arrives either by the end of that day or the beginning of the next day.  Josh's room is clean and I never clean it.  My sisters and I haven't gotten in any screaming fights about clean towels since we got here.  I haven't skipped breakfast or lunch because we were running out of food, since we got here.  

It's because of all this free time that I can do things like take naps on Sunday afternoons to catch up on sleep.  Sit in Tom's office and twirl around in his fancy ergonomically correct desk chair until I'm dizzy.  There's lots of time for doing nothing and that's great.

Except it means there's also lots of time for worrying and that's not so great.  I still have not figured out how I am going to work full-time, go to school full-time and take care of my sisters.  Two seems possible, three seems like one too many.  I overheard Laurie on the phone telling someone they would never dream of letting Josh work during his freshman year of college.  Not that he has to work at all in his entire lifetime, but i guess it was a hypothetical.  I read an article this weekend that said like only 11% of first generation college freshman have graduated from college six years after beginning.  Those are not good odds for me.  

The good thing about the diner is it's 24-hours, and I can work any shift.  Plus the free food. The bad thing is it doesn't pay that well and it's gotten really tense lately, plus there are a lot of distractions to studying.  The good thing about the fancy job is everyone is really, really nice, it pays more, and it's like, a nice environment.  And it's easier to do homework there.  The bad thing is while there's sometimes free food, it's not something I can count on, and the hours aren't as flexible as at the diner.  

I was thinking that in the fall I'd quit one and just work at whichever place full-time. But now I think I may need to like, do half and half.  Except that will mean I'm never home to see my sisters. 

1 comment:

uberimma said...

Do you have to go full-time your first semester?

I used to teach college freshmen and I saw quite a few flounder. It tended to be the kids who got overwhelmed. It wasn't that they couldn't actually do each individual assignment, it was that they couldn't keep up with the nonstop stream of competing demands on their time. They weren't used to managing their time well. You are, because you haven't had a choice. You also won't be living in a dorm, which will help a lot. It's often the kids who spend too much time socializing that get into trouble--they're used to being at home, and suddenly there are friends around 24/7 and it's hard to walk away and do a problem set.

I don't know what it would mean for your tuition/financial aid, but I would recommend, if you can handle it, not more than three classes your first semester. Four, max, and try not to take on anything that you think will take over your life (calculus, chemistry, a beginning language course).