School is OVER... almost

So, after dealing with the wisdom tooth drama last Thursday I realized that I had a final that night in my social science class (which I loved every minute of). Fantastic. In pain. On heavy drugs. Taking a final (that I hadn't studied for). Priceless. So, I studied for an hour or so before heading off to class. I also had a paper due in the same class that night. No worries on that one. I had it written on Wednesday because I knew that with the tooth drama I would not be up to writing a paper Thursday afternoon. Thank God I thought ahead for a change! At any rate, I went to class. I turned in my paper. I took my final. I actually felt pretty confident once I was done.
So, that's one class (out of three) done. Praise God!
This past Tuesday I had another final. It was for my humanities class. My humanities class that tortured me all semester long. While I'm sure the professor is a nice man outside of school... he sucked at school. Holy hell! I can honestly say that I don't think there was a single person in the class that liked him. It took everything in me to drag my ass to class twice a week. I read all of the required readings. I completed all the required homework. I wrote the paper... I got a C. I don't get C's. I get A's. That hurt a bit. I could have rewritten the paper, but I had lost all heart when it came to this class. It sucked the life out of me. Every time I tried to participate in discussion I was shut down. I missed two classes throughout the semester. The only reason that number wasn't much higher is because I believed I needed the attendance credit to carry me through to the end. Oddly, the last week and a half of class the prof decided to let me participate in class. He actually told me I couldn't answer his questions one night because I knew all the answers and he wanted other people to participate. I shit you not! I almost fell off my chair! So, as I said, this past Tuesday was the final for this hellacious class. I studied. A little. I was so disheartened by this class that it was all I could do to force myself to study. Apparently it paid off. I got 128 out of 129 questions right. That's roughly a 99%. That's obviously an A. Knock me over with a feather! So, within about ten minutes of finishing the final he had my grade posted online. I got an A! How the hell?! I even asked him, just to verify, if that was accurate. He said, "You got an A, why are you so surprised?" How do you respond to that?! "Well, since you usually ignored me and tore my paper to shreds, I just thought..." Yeah, I wasn't going to say that. I just said thank you, made 30 seconds worth of small talk and went on my merry way. Holy Hell!
So, I took three classes this semester. Two traditional (on campus) and one online. So far... two A's (in the traditional classes). The verdict is still out for the online math course. I have until 11pm today (the 14th) to take the final online. Then... I'm done! I'd love to say I'm expecting another A, but it'll be more likely that I'll get a B. I'll update when the verdict is in!

Ooh-ooh! Since I'm rambling about school! I was reading in the e-mail Carpenters union newsletter that I get every couple of weeks that my school (which is part of the Chicago Community Colleges) offers courses geared toward earning associates degrees in environmental technologies and building energy technologies. Why is this a big deal? Well, I'm in construction and currently unemployed. So, I went back to school to a) make good use of my time off and to b) make myself more marketable. So, rather than just getting a general associates degree I might as well make it in something that has to do with the construction field. And, since green building is the wave of the future, not to mention something that I'm very interested in, what's not to love!? I'm going to wait until the summer semester is under way and make an appointment with an advisor to see where I stand and what I would need in order to attain this goal. I'm very excited about it!