ammogirl

As you guys know, I’ve been taking a full load of classes non-stop for over a year now in the hopes to get my bachelor’s knocked out by next summer. Also you know that I have been stressed out about these classes non-stop for over a year, and have never been ahead.  In fact, how many times have I posted that I’m frantically trying to write all my papers…the day before they are due?  Not nearly enough times, that’s how many.

This term, however, I have used up all my Tuition Assistance for the fiscal year, and was only allowed to take one class.  And guess what?  I am not only caught up, I’m AHEAD.  Yes.  Ahead, or in other words, stress-free.  I cannot explain the weight that has been lifted off my back, knowing that this weekend I won’t have to do ANYTHING RELATED TO SCHOOL.

Therein lies the dilemma.  There’s nothing that says I HAVE to take a full load of classes (full load for my college being two per term) except my own goal.  With the way the school and my tuition assistance work, I have three options.  First, I could continue taking two courses per term and finish as planned. Second, I could take one course per term, which adds an additional year, but subtracts the stress.  Third, I could take advantage of the overlapping split terms and still fit in all eight courses.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!  It makes me tired to think about it.  However, the thing is John’s leaving in October for OTS/tech school, and he won’t be done for over a year.  That whole time, I’ll be single parenting it.  And working full-time.  And studying for my next stripe.  And pulling my hair out and begging the shrink for an increase in my drugs.  Just kidding.  Maybe.

It seems like it’s a no-brainer, I know, but while it sounds nice to just take one class at a time, that means I have another TWO FREAKING YEARS of school.  Orrrrr…I just thought of a FOURTH option: put off school until I retire, and then go full-time and knock it out in two terms!  I could do that! But I probably won’t.

What would you do–honestly, now–in my situation?  And those of you who already have your degree, no rubbing it in.  Luckies.

In other news, it is my birthday next week!  Already!  I would be excited but this year is…I mean, I’m turning 38.  That’s almost 40, you guys.  I’m not afraid of my age or anything but thinking/saying 40 just…feels so weighty.  And final.  However, chin up lil’ camper, I’m not there yet.  We’re going to Rothenberg for the weekend to celebrate/get out of the house which we did not leave at all this past weekend (god that was so boring).  I am excited mainly because I have been told there is a super cool torture museum oh sorry, Medieval Crime Museum, which includes instruments of torture.  Whatever, I CAN’T WAIT.

Tschuss!

Randomly I’ll get hits coming off some really, really weird search terms.  I’ve gone over a list of them before, but I got two today that really made me squinch my face up.  In a confused way, of course.

First, someone searched for “treena williams” boobs.  This person is from Boise, Idaho.  Now, I know my name is not THAT uncommon (although nobody EVER spells it right) but there can’t be that many Treena Williams out there.  However, even on the very strong chance this person was not specifically interested in MY boobs, which for the record, are really not that interesting, why would anyone search for a body part not belonging to a celebrity?  I’ve never once said to myself, “Hmmm…that regular, non-celebrity person I met/already know, what’s his name?  John Doe.  I would really LOVE to see what his butt looks like.”  and then google “john doe” butt.  NOT, I might add, that I regularly google celebrity nekkid parts either. I’m just saying.

I know that’s coming off like I’m offended.  I’m not.  I have worked with almost exclusively men for the past 17 years, trust me, I’ve heard/seen/read worse.  I’m just…well, don’t google my boobs, okay?  They are mine.

The second search, however, hmm.  You might not believe me if I just tell you, so I will copy and paste from my stats:

That right there, you guys, is the evidence of a disturbed mind.  Seriously?  What was that person WANTING FROM THAT?  Has the thought of wanting to see that, even in the mostly vaguely disgusted way, ever crossed your mind?  Because I can tell you that until I read that, it certainly hadn’t crossed mine.

PEOPLE ARE WEIRD.

Tschuss!!

Anyway there we were, on the Nile, eating lunch.  Being that we were A) starving and B) dumb we all piled our plates high and ate away.  It was good!  Truly!  We were all diggin the Egyptian food.  At this point, seeing the people fishing from the trash-filled Nile and eating fish were totally unconnected.  Naive.

After lunch we headed to the Egyptian Museum.  This is where all the  Tutankhaman artifacts are held, when they aren’t out touring.  I will tell you, we were really, really stoked to go here, and a large part of that was due to the fact that it was a museum, which was sure to have air conditioning. Because, if you don’t remember, it was damn hot.

However, for whatever reason, the Egyptian Museum does NOT have air conditioning.  What it does have is ninety-seven million visitors inside its walls at any given time, making for a really uncomfortable, unenjoyable experience.  I am telling you, it was ridiculously hot.  It smelled, and it was hot, and it was so not fun.  Okay, seeing the King Tut stuff was actually pretty cool, but we couldn’t take pictures, which sort of dampens the coolness.  You know, because photographic memories don’t work so well IN THE FIRES OF HELL.

Afterwards we headed to the hotel, where I took a bath and washed my sweat-drenched clothes in the sink, because who knew we would need ten thousand different outfits for social events (dinner with the tour group).  How hot was it, even at night?  My dripping capris and t-shirt were bone dry within the hour.  Ugh.

Sooo…we’ve established that it was hot in Egypt, I think.  So just keep that general theme in mind, I guess, or don’t, because I’ll probably mention it again.

After dinner we went to a lightshow at the Pyramids, which was super cool but didn’t start until 1030pm.  At that point we had been awake and on the go since 6am.  Little tired, and let me tell you I slept hard that night.

The next morning we piled back in the bus and headed to: Saqqara, Lunch, the Pyramids/Sphinx, and Memphis.  At the risk of totally complaining (which I am, I’m completely whining about this, I realize that, so I’ll keep it short): neat to see, one time will definitely be enough.  There.

I’m sure the heat and the beggars and the trash and the overwhelming dirtiness  (and the food poisoning) put a damper on the experience, but I will go on the record to say: I did not enjoy Egypt and I never, ever want to go back.

That afternoon, Taylor started feeling sick.  The rest of us were not 100%, but we put that down to the heat.

That night, Taylor started throwing up.

And then, you know, the other end.  The next morning I took her to the ship doctor, who gave her antibiotics, an anti-diarrheal, and weirdly, some probiotics (not weird that he gave them to her, just weird that a doctor prescribed them).  We were in Cyprus that day, but by the time the two of us made it back to the cabin it was clear that none of us could really go anywhere.

It was a long day.

The next day we were docked at Rhodes.  We had an excursion booked, but none of us could be more than an elevator ride away from the bathroom, so we had to miss it.  I went back to the doctor that afternoon to get more medicine, and that’s when I found out that several families on our Egypt excursion were suffering from the same thing.  I think they issued a lot of Loperamide those couple of days.

Unfortunately, the rest of the trip was definitely affected by that; fortunately the rest of the trip was spent in Greece so it was super easy to have a great time, regardless of any gastrointestinal distress.

Greece was so beautiful.  We didn’t have enough time there, for sure.  Our next big vacay will be at least one week there, if not more.  The difference between the ancient history in Egypt and the ancient history is Greece is so large–I can’t really explain it but although all the places are now tourist sites, it seems like the Pyramids are just commercial, while the Greek sites are more…real?  I don’t know.

Overall I give the entire vacay an eight.  The Egypt interlude is more amusing than anything, even taking into account that we missed Cyprus and Rhodes.  We’re really glad we went.

Now we’re back, and back at work, and it’s raining here.  The girls flew to Alaska yesterday, so John and I are kidless for five weeks.  I should be doing homework.  My house is a complete mess but I don’t care, and now I’m going to go read.

Tschuss!!