you may have noticed something...
...i changed the url to this blog back to the OLD url bc i am using oleary.io for my landing page/portfolio. I re-did my portfolio, btw, and it looks great.
The important thing that i am keeping at the top of my head right now is the SLCL certificate program that i am going to be taking in about a week or so (well, 1.5 weeks). i am gonna love it so much.
anyway, i just felt like doing a blog post update as i have been off the internet for most of the day. Working my way through Fight Club (terrific book)
had a fine breakfast of avocado bread (not toast)
but i am still a millenial. It isn't the worst fate in the world. I could have been a Baby Boomer! The Baby Boom Gen wouldn't have been so bad if they had not shit their bed and then make future generations lay in it. They will forever go down in history (& already have) as the generation that inherited the greatest economy the World has ever seen and let it turn into the one of the worst.
But this is a discussion for another day.
In the meantime, i am reading some excellent stuff on the WWW
be back in a bit!
Fascinating to have read about Ontology (which in philosophical terms more or less means the nature of reality), or as i refer to it; consciousness. As well as research methodology in terms of sub-categories & also, too, HOW one came across their research findings. And, the difference between a scholarly researcher and a practioner (the latter of which actually FOLLOWS UP w/ their “clients/patients” and collects data from his/her findings.) Funny how a lot of medical doctors in the United States proudly call themselves practitioners when A) 90% of them never bother to follow-up B) the 10% who DO follow up have a nurse call the patient (at least w/ my experience of gastroenterology (sp?) appointments) and C) 100% of them collect no data whatsoever in the reaction / result from their patients nor the “practice” which they practitioner performed. In my view, a “practioner” in the Western Medicine field is nothing more than another get-rich-quick Dr who is far more concerned with their golfing Instagrams than their patients well-being. Fuck the for-profit medical Health “care” we have in the United States.
Be back in a bit
Model UN Seems Like Fun
I have been wanting to enroll in this program (in any form (comm coll, extra-curricular, open-to-the-public course)) since 2009 when i read about it at Jefferson College. I think i am going to be pursuing it in the Fall 2018 semester at STLCC (if they have openings). There are other ECA i wanna do there, but this is the #1 priority.
I am also having coffee after doing a lot of reading on Wiki about MUN, Noam Chomsky, & watching Chomsky lectures. Also read a bit about the PHILOSOPHY of Naturalism (not the field of study for the certificate that is awarded nationally in the United States. After this coffee, I am going to sit back with the book Fight Club and knock out a chapter or two.
Be back in a bit!
Coffee
Wikipedia
Chomsky
Music
That is what my evening have devolved into. And i am quite happy about that. I read the majority of the Wiki about Noam Chomsky & the history of his activism & education. Coffee is being brewed right now and i am about to put on some music.
Also, i enrolled in the SLCL “Writing Research Methodology” course ( like i said i would) and will start those classes on March 14. I have it marked on my calendar and i have everything i need to attend. I may need a notebook, as well.
This coffee is going to taste fantastic. I have fallen in love with Seattle's Best 6th Ave Bistro Espresso Roast. Fire. Sauce.
I am also working my way through the book Fight Club & will finish soon where I will then go to SLCL & check-out a NEW book, probably The Wealth Of nations by Adam Smith because it sounds fascinating. PLus it is more or less required reading for anyone who wants to study economics seriously.
Yes. The coffee is delicious :)
no other plans for this weekend other than just staying in and writing and reading. Sounds good.
be back in abit!
So i reorganized my homescreen a little bit onthe Moto X.
idk WHY i decided to reorganize it out of the blue, but there it is.
i went grocery shopping. got good stuff. etc.
i also got the response from stlcc's IT dept and i was successfully able to reset my student e-mail password as well as check up on my info and make sure everything was “up to snuff”. As of now i owe the college $0 (which i am v proud of).
Also, it is a distinct possibility that my borrower service is not going to let me et the “good standing clearance letter” juuuust yet (until i can shell out more than two hundo, so, i am seriously considering taking the Gale Course(s) through SLCL to get a Certificate in Writing Research Methodology. It is a 6-week course and I can do basically all of it online and i think i would really enjoy it. I am going to go after it. Classes start on March 16. Good for me.
Be back in a bit!
midnight
full moon
blogging
this what is happening
the question i pose to myself right now is: what can i do that is college-related / progressive in life that i can do within the next 30 days before the bank acct is opened and the first (large) payment is made to my loan entity?
A: i am not sure right now. aside from getting the student e-mail reactivated (which IT may not return the second e-mail until Monday!), there isn't a whole hell of a lot i can do! I have no college supplies (notebooks, folders, etc) so i will have to buy those but i am 100% broke at the moment because the payment to STLCC wiped me out. Technically it was the ordering of my eyeglasses that eliminated the last $82 of my checking acct, but that total was meant to be $150 so....maybe they'll cancel the whole order and i can get my $82 back? idk. i will find out. But anyway, aside from grocery shopping tomorrow and reactivating my student e-mail, i am sitting. Getting lozenges tomorrow, therapy & laundry on Wed, etc. Not too bad of an ordeal if you ask me. Must be patient is the bottom line.
Never Too Early For A Budget
I did next month's budget as i already have the priority for next month set: open a bank acct and pay as much as possible to my loan service. I am going to start a bank acct w/ about $260 and most of that $$$ is going towards the (old & small) studen loan. I am going to make as big of a payment as possible in an attempt to get a “good standing clearance letter” so i can apply for a Pell Grant at STLCC. Hopefully this can be achieved (the good standing clearance letter) within the next 60 days. That would open up the possibility of a Summer 18 semester for me. I am probably going to aim for a science course as 1) it is a requirement towards an AA & 2) it is a requirement for a Master Naturalist Certificate. I will take said science class if i am not 100% sure which i am going after when the Summer 18 semester rolls around. Chances are i will have decided by then.
So what if the good standing clearance letter is not gotten within 60 days?
If I cannot get this letter within the timeframe alotted (sp?), I will then enroll in the (very cheap, very affordable) Continuing Education classes that are non-credit courses that go towards the Master Naturalist Certificate. The order which i do these courses does not matter (credit-seeking courses before or after non-credit seeking. It's all “up-in-the-air” as far as I can tell so long as i am meeting with a counselor to have some direction in the program).
So i have two courses of action, but the FIRST step is to open a banking acct & pay as much of the $900 I owe to the loan agency as possible before another step can be taken. IN the meantime, I am working w/ STLCC IT department to recover my student e-mail so i can communicate with certificate/degree coordinators as I need an STLCC student e-mail to correspond with them because if i use my civilian e-mail, i could be anybody and they are more comfortable communicating with someone w/ a my.stlcc.edu e-mail acct. So, there's that.
That's about all i can do for now. Going to go to the library in a couple days & grab a book for my perusal (after i finish Fight Club). I am not sure on which subject i will be reading up on but maybe something nature-related as i am not as well-versed in the subject of....Naturalism (is that a term) as i am in traditional studies.
Anyway, be back in a bit!
thinking about the Master Naturalist Program at STLCC
it's a possibility. it is a certificate program, not a degree. it would be tons of fun. a lot of time spent outdoors & a field that would challenge myself a bit. a lot of things to be learned. 6 courses (18 credit hours) done within one year (at least at the pace i would do it) & then several Continuing Education courses that are non-credit hours. All of this seems well & good and it would also get me outside more often. Something i definitely want to do. I am already looking into this program.
as for the “getting out” more part; i applied for STL Metro Call-A-Ride today (as i already have a monthly bus pass) and i am pretty sure i am going to be approved for said program so i can get to some hiking trails here & there. I plan on doing my first trip soon (or as soon as I get approved).
anyhoo, i just want to get a move on w/ things and i think that paying off STLCC the $318 i owed them was the best move i have made in quite a while. Now to just tackle the (small) student loan that i have out there. No problem.
So, that's abt it for now
Be back in a bit!
what ISN'T offered at STLCC...
they are no longer offering the AAS of Mass Communications. i do not know why they cancelled this degree program but that just means that i will be getting the AA in Media Communications instead. They are basically the same degree only one was geared towards going to work straight-after the AAS was earned and the other was for transfering to a four-year Uni for a BA in Media Communications (though i am sure a BA in Journalism was applicable). I will more or less be representing myself as wanting to achieve a BA, but not actually going after a BA in the long run. Like i have said a million times before: too much debt. Too much time. I am in fact getting this degree just for the sake of getting it & the job opportunies (though some will make themselves available) will be greatER once i am a degree holder, this is not the reason I am going to college. I want to actually challenge myself & learn the craft of Communications/Journalism as much as possible (similar to what i am doing now in a widely available, commercial sense).
Anyway, just noting this
Be back in a bit!