Not that I've lost faith in Roommate, but today I began to work out a budget in the eventuality that I have to go it solo. It's simultaneously better and worse than I expected. On the plus side, it is possible for me to afford a $500 a month aparment, which is good as they really don't come much cheaper. It's bad because, as far as I can predict my fixed expenses, [rent, gas, utilities, insurance], I have less than two hundered a month to live on. Not much. A semi-major medical emergency [espicially since I have no insurance for the time being] or minor auto trouble [highly likely. the Van is 21 years old and has more than 230k miles on it. All in all, its extremely reliable, but I often wonder how long it is before it really begins to fall to pieces] and I'm in the poor house. Even more so. I suppose I shouldn't bitch, there are countless people in this country who are ten, a hundred times worse off than I. At least I have parents to fall back on. My mother today said she'd understand if I needed to stay longer. The thought is very nice, but I'm not sure if I could take it.

In other news, I have officially matriculated for another six credits next semester. Just now, I can only afford to take as much as my financial aid covers. and this year it neatly covers six credits plus books each semester. This time around it was Philosophy 101: Introduction to Philosophy and English 102. Nest term, I've gone with History 105: Eastern Civilizations and Communications 101: Fundamentals of Speech Communication. Assuming I get a C or better in English, I'll be done with my English requirements.

Philosophy was a great class for me to take in this, my first semester of college. I don't mean to sound arrogant when I say this, but it's kind if unavoidable: philosophy has challenged me in a way that school hasn't for a very long time. It was a nice wake up call. Oh, this isn't high school. You may be able to BS your way through English, but there are classes out there that will kick your ass if you don't study for them. Philosophy kicks me in the head on a weekly basis. I do the readings, and think "This is the biggest pile of shit I've ever read. What the hell is this guy talking about? I don't exist? There is no logical basis for trusting in the laws of nature? What the fuck?" [Bonus points if you can name the two thinkers I'm talking about] Then I get to lecture and things start to make sense. Then it's more reading and right back to "What?" It's also been a long while since I had a teacher tear up a paper of mine like this. The worst part about it is, shes right. My essay skills have gotten slightly rusty, and she has very high standards for the work that crosses her desk. She also has the single harshest grading scale I've ever personally witnessed: 100 points for the entire semester. I'm already down to a low A, at best.

English has been English. If you've taken one English course, you've pretty much taken them all, unless you were one of the very lucky few who had Mr. Emery. Mr. Emery, wherever you are, may your beard grow long, may the wind be in your hair, and the bugs in your teeth!

I really hate to say this about a teacher, I generally have nothing but the highest regard for anyone who has dedicated their life to teaching. In my opinion, teachers should be among the most revered members of our society, instead they are among the most underpaid, overworked, underappretiated people around. Where the hell would the world be without great teacher? But I digress. My English Prof is.... soft. She never really sticks to her guns. Never says, "No, I said It would be due today, and it's due today. Do you have it or not?" I think the reasons for this are two fold. First, the two books shes using, "Perspectives on Contemperary Issues" ed. by Katherine Anne Ackerly, and "Writers Choices: Grammar to Improve Style" by someone or other, are brand new to her and she is not as comfortable with the material as she could or should be. Secondly, her back is bugging her something fierce, to the point she's not teaching nextsemester. I think shes to the point where she just wants to end the semester without arguing with students over minor points of the syllabus. BTW, I like both of the books. PCI starts off with a nice overview of reading, writing and thinking critically, then touches on writing research papers, MLA and all that rot. The second half is nothing but essays by learned folk on contemporay issues, hence the titles. Lots o' good reading, and some fun stuff to think about. WC talks all about grammar, and I must be weird, but learning the science and theory behind why we speak and write the way we do, along with the nitty gritty grammaticla stuff is fascinating. The rest of the calss hates the book, mostly because it has a lot drilling and teaches grammar in a way that reflects the new thinking on it, which is not the way we were taught. I, for one, was taught pretty much simple noun verb adverd ect parts of speech. This book points out, quite rightly that most any word can fill many parts of speech, depending on where it is in the sentence, and what words are around it. It teaches not single words, but groups, phrases and clauses that function as single grammatical unit, and that understanding these relationships are key to writing better sentences. In my classmates defense, the language it uses to describe things is pretty screwy in spots, and the drilling drilling drilling is never fun.

The history for next semester is because I have a interest in it, may minor or even double major in it. The rate I'm going though, I should just concentrate on one thing.
Also, the professor come highly recommended.

Commincation? Ehh, my advisor recommended it. I guesss thats what Avisors are for, recommending the things you really need but don't know it. Even so, I'm thinking about dropping it for a writing course. I love to write, espicialy about nothing at all, as well you know, and I think a writing couse just might be the shot in the arm I need.

Well, it's pushing two. Notice that the time stamps on this thing are, for some reason, in Pacific time. I you want to know the real time I posted something, add 1 to every hour.