If you've been reading the last couple of posts, you know I'm having a tough week.  I seriously was ready to walk away from the whole student thing.  Not a well thought out plan - but I was done!      That was my Thursday morning.  I was in, "I used to be a student" mode for about three hours.  What happened next really woke me up and changed everything.  I had emailed my Leadership 325 professor about something, and inadvertently mentioned that I was having a hard week (in part to apologize for a paper I had turned in late....did I mention I was having a bad week?).  He emailed me back right away.  I'm going to share part of what he said. Thank you for your email.  Hang in there.  You're a good student with great things to say.  It won't always be easy -- and it might even be more difficult at times -- but it's worth it.  You belong here...and you've got lots of amazing things left to do. ...

         As mentioned in the last post (A Semi Silent Sob in a Stall), I'm having a rough week.  Have you ever noticed that when something big is coming up, it's just too hard to acknowledge the big thing - so you sort of perseverate and get pissed off about something smaller and more manageable?  No?  Well, I do it all that time.  But I do give myself extra points for clarity, I am now generally able to notice this phenomena more quickly.  Through this week's funk, however, it's taken me a bit longer.  My main perseveration topic for this week has been "math".  I finally realized what was going on last night, when I was having problems doing my math homework (not unusual, I might add).  I was so angry that I was hitting the desk loud enough that the neighbors could (probably) hear.  If you knew me, you would know that I don't do that.  Anger management isn't typically an issue for me, but I was so angry...

I'm dumping the Spanish minor.  Long story short, it's way too many classes and it's chewing up all my time that I want to spend on other things.  Instead, I'm picking up a second minor in Dispute Resolution which I'm good at, and I think will go nicely with my Leadership minor.   To my old and dear friend Spanish,  I have not, nor will I ever forget you.  We are slated to meet again AFTER graduation in some community course classroom.  It will happen.  I promise.  Don't cry for me Spanish The truth is I never left you All through my wild days My mad existence I kept my promise Don't keep your distance

  One more 2 pointer extra credit post for Leadership 325!       In a recent leadership class, we were asked to write about a bad leader we have known.  Well, that was a no brainer.  I have been in the work force for many years.  I started my first job when I was 16 and I will be 55 in a few weeks.  You do the math.  I have dealt with various levels of incompetency from bosses and leaders.  But I had no idea how bad it could be until I met this one.  For the sake of anonymity, and to keep me from being sued, we’ll call her “Joyce”.      Part of the class assignment was to categorize our “bad leader” according to an article we had just read called, “Making Meaning of Being Bad” by Barbara Kellerman.   An excellent read, I might add.      I couldn’t pigeonhole Joyce into just one category of bad leaders, as she is surely a combination of several.   “Incompetent”, ho...

     Ok, I'm getting to some really heavy stuff now.  Here's an example: -5(-5 v-u +3)      And here's the crazy thing.  I can do it!  It takes me awhile, and I sort of have to talk out loud, step by step, to get me through it, but I can do it.  So, no surprise that when I get a wrong answer, it's not because I don't know how to do the formula, it because I missed something simple, like I forget to carry over the " v " as I am working it out.  Or I change the "+" sign to a "x" sign by mistake.  Dyslexia?  Hmmm, I'm not sure.        I've been sitting here thinking about this.  Details.  Why do I miss them?  And I've done it my whole life.  Boy, has that gotten me into some hot water on so many levels.  But there is one place in my life that I don't miss them, at all.  And that's in my healing work.  It's difficult to put into words because for me, it's not a ...

     No, no, that's not it.  It surely doesn't help that it's 3:30 am.  To say that I'm not awake is an understatement.  I worked tonight and didn't get home until around 1:00 am.  I had a two hour "nap" and now apparently my body thinks it's time to get up.  So I'm eating out of a pot of cold spaghetti and blogging.  What else would I be doing?      Ok, let me try this again.  "My teacher, who teaches my Dummy Math class, would be so proud".  Oh, that's better.  I'm going to get sued if I'm not careful.  I actually like my math teacher who, thankfully, has been very kind and helpful to me.  I'll have to reread this in the light of day to make sure it is making any kind of sense - or not.  I did say I was going to be an authentic blogger. So, back to work math.      Being the last shift of the 24 hour day cycle, it's up to me to add up all the Is and Os.  Or in la...

I heard Julia Gillard speak last night at BSU.  Wow.  I'm her newest fan.  She is Australia's first women Prime Minister and served from 2010 - 2013.  Check out her speech to her Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life.  It sent shock waves around the world!  I found her to be intelligent, sincerely caring, knowledgeable, and extremely inspiring.  I'll be watching this one.