At this point the city is teeming with students again, and classes have begun anew. I am not attending them, though. Intent on becoming financially stable, I am taking at least a year off of my schooling. This is the monetary saving that I should have before I quit my job to go back to school, but that I had not the forethought for.
I am a little sad that I won’t be in school (though if I can find some that fit into my schedule, I may sit in on some larger, easy-to-blend-into classes), but I was also getting pretty tired of all the stuff I hate about school too. Perhaps this break will allow me to refocus on the positives sides of schooling before I go fully hateful of the system, as I did back in my teenage years.
And also, maybe I’ll have more money when the year is over.
But I will to work on my education in my own way through this year. I have taken fifty books from my Unread Books bookshelf and set them aside in a pile. I plan on reading the heck out of all that pile before this time next year. Some are the kind of works of literature that could come up in my education. Others are not. Either way, it’s more reading than I’ve been able to do during a school year, which is generally close to none. Here goes.
I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try to give some updates about PDR on this PDR Website.
As I have mentioned, I am done with school for a while, so I’ve been making the most of my time off. Not by going anywhere or doing anything that would involve spending money, oh heavens no, but I’ve been quite relaxed as I am. I am still very broke, as is my usual situation, but it does feel like I am now broke, but improving instead of broke, and getting worse. So that’s a plus.
It should be obvious from the title (“The End”), but the current Secret Government Robots storyline is the last one. This is what the whole thing has been building up to. It’s going to be pretty long, and I am taking my time with it (it involves more drawing than I’d like it to). It is also not the top priority project I have going on right now (the lack of any audience beyond myself allows me to justify that), but I do hope to get it done before the end of this year.
Haiku!
Remember haikus?
No? Yeah? No? I don’t either.
Were they limericks?
One of the things I am currently prioritizing as higher than webcomic making is reading books. Perhaps the biggest drawback to being in school again was that I was unable to read almost ever. I had to read too much for school, so I never had time to read anything in full, and anything I wanted to read for pleasure became something that stole time from schoolwork. But not anymore! In my effort to get back into reading, I have taken fifty novels from my ample Unread Books Pile and broken them into a smaller, less daunting pile that I am working my way through at the maximum pace a PDR can manage.
At this point, I have to admit, I still feel kind of burnt out from schooling. But once I get a few books read, a few pages done, and one or two other projects off my to-do list, I should probably be less overwhelmed and that will only make it easier for me to do more things. Hopefully.
Oh hey, I just remembered that I get marks for those classes I did. There weren’t many this year, but here they is:
Outlaw Tales: A-
The Vampire: B+
The Short Story: B+
There were also two classes I took that I dropped out of a few months in because I was feeling burned out. For these I’ve been given a “W” for “withdrawal” I assume, but the joke is on them because I still learned a bunch of stuff and didn’t even have to write any exams.
Popular Cinema: W
The Pirate and Piracy: W
The bigger news, though, is that I am probably taking at least a year off school. As mentioned, I have scaled down from a full-time student to a part-time student because balancing work and school has worn me out. But the consequence I had not foreseen about this plan was that I now have to start paying off my student loans already. In order to afford that, I need to work more. To be honest, I could probably use the break from school. This winter really got me down on it.
My 2014 Report Card
My 2013 Report Card
Well, I haven’t been saying much but the bare basics on here lately, so here goes:
I’m not extremely skilled at balancing school and work.
I’ve been pretty busy with school and work lately. Whereas last year I had a class in which I’d already read most of the material, I don’t have that this year. With three reading-intensive courses, I’m already behind on my reading and, realistically, I’ll have to start deciding which materials I’m going to skip reading altogether. I am enjoying these reading-heavy courses, but they’re a lot of work for someone who hasn’t the time to read.
Work, meanwhile, has been occasionally difficult. I drive a company car, which is immensely helpful, but since Winter set in, I’ve experienced all manner of problems. Flat tires, drained batteries, door malfunctions, and the steering column had to be replaced. I’m confident that the advantages of not having to own my own car still outweigh the disadvantages, but the scales are shifting. Because of the latest issues, the car has been in the shop this week, which means I lose a week’s worth of money, but I also gained some free nights in which I was able to accomplish some other things (like reading some things for school…)
Haiku!
Rainbows in the sky
burning all the world below
and laughing. Laughing.
Speaking of money, I got around to trying to find a roommate again at the end of December, but didn’t have much luck. Up until now I’ve been considerably better off financially than last year, but that is likely to change in coming months. Let’s see what happens!
I should definitely mention that I got my first ticket while driving this week (and hopefully last for quite some time to come). I can in no way argue that I was going above the posted speed limit (though I will maintain my belief that maybe the limit should be higher at four in the morning than it is at rush hour), so I don’t feel like I was in any way wronged in getting the ticket. Still would have been nice not to though. Anyway, I paid that thing off today and that is that.
Haiku!
Boston is a place.
I know this ’cause I’ve been told.
Still, who cares though, right?
Apart from that, what have I got going on? More of the same, mostly. The semester is practically over and it felt so short. Short and busy, I guess.
