Knock, Knock; It's Reality!
Well, as to how things are going here, I've been better, Bob (please ignore the obscure movie reference). The last few days have been a little hectic. Let's see...this weekend I shopped 'till I dropped - a couple times. I hung around with friends, doing nothing of substance. PS, that's pretty much par for the course these days. Even when I "go out," most of the time I'm sitting my ass on someone else's couch rather than my own. Woo. Party.
Anyway, as usual, the weekend positively whizzed away and the week started with an abrupt buzzing noise. Very annoying. On Monday the thought drifted through my foggy brain that, hmm, it was creeping close to September. Perhaps, if I wished to attend classes this fall semester, I should check my university's website to see when I should register. You know, like sometime in a week or so. Ha! I say. HA! HA! Understandably, that day being the eighteenth of the month, it was the last day to register for the upcoming term. Silly me. I launched immediatetly into panic mode. Holy shit - I wasn't set up in the system, I wasn't a hundred percent on what classes I had to take, just everything, everything - I was woefully unprepared. So there I was, suddenly spinning and fluttering from one side of my cubicle to the other like a startled bantam hen. Many long, frantic calls and minutes later, I was signed up for one of the two classes that I needed. Had I signed up for classes when I was actually able to, I'm sure the other class would have been available, but that didn't happen. In the end, it's not a huge deal. I can have the prof sign me in when class starts, but I just felt like kind of an asshole.
And then, do you remember those shoppng sprees? Yes, my friends, that money should have been spent on my education, instead of plaid skirts. Not that it would have been nearly enough. After I signed up for my class, feeling vastly relieved, I went to pay. The computer screen had a number printed on it. The amount of money that I was supposed to shell out. It was so ridiculous that I called the registrar once again and checked with her that that was the actual cost of one measly little class. Oh, yes, she replied sweetly, I did owe one thousand, two hundred and eighty dollars. Holy hershey swirled underwears, Batman! The second wave of panic broke over me like a storm swell and rolled me under. I did not have the liquid resources at hand, and if I didn't pay immediately, my registration wouldn't count. Thank god for the payment plan. Everything buffed out, but it certainly taught me a salutary lesson. The money that used to go to booze, trips to Bigej, vacations, clothes, flip flops and whatever else struck my fancy at the time should now be going to BILLS! Oh, yeah, those things. Kind of tough to keep all of them stuck in my head when I couldn't even pay my monthly phone bill on time. Even though it was the only one I had on Kwaj.
I guess stuff like this is what everyone was talking about when they mentioned the real world; the one beyond the tide lines of our safe little universe. I'm defintely still getting used to it. By the way, thank you a million times over, mom and dad. Thanks for paying for my college degree. It was very good of you, especially considering how damn long it to me to graduate. I never quiiiite understood what it was like for you until now. Yes, I'm off on many a new adventure these days. Stay locked.
