Registration for Winter quarter begins on Monday. For me at least, flipping through my options and trying to decide what classes to take is akin to the same feeling that a child has when walking into a gigantic toy store. I'm both excited and a bit overwhelmed. I want everything.

But putting it all together is a bit tricky. In order to get my Art degree in the next two years, I'll need to pull off some impressive organizational gymnastics, because I have to meet very specific requirements, such as taking two more 300 level drawing courses and two more 100 level "intro to the world of art" courses. But, in addition, I also need at least 40 more credit of upper division art classes. (Drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, etc...) And, of course, French is in there as well.

After a while, putting it all together becomes like trying to fit together all the rapidly falling Tetris pieces. (Need a better metaphor? Start with the gears of a watch and go from there. Now you can create your own metaphor. You're welcome. Meta-meta.)

For example, I need to take French next quarter. This is an unbending truth, so that class becomes the rock I must build my house around.

I also need to take at least one photography class. The U of O is only offering two next quarter (Digital Photography I and Conceptual Photography Strategy), so I would like to take both. The former is offered at noon to 2:50 on Mondays and Wednesdays. The latter is noon to 2:50 on Tuesdays through Thursday. Sounds good, right? But my French class is currently from noon to 1 pm Monday through Friday.

So, I'll just move my French class to (ugh!) 8 am.

Ok, that's three classes. But in order to meet my upper division requirements, I'll now need to take four classes a quarter until I graduate next year. (Or go to Summer school, which is looking more and more likely. Also, somehow, I need to get a job too, but that's another headache for another day.)

So, what else do I take? Drawing? Art History? Screen-printing? Will any of these be too large of a load, time-wise, considering I'm also taking two photo classes (that I will want to put the majority of my energies into) and an 8 am French class (ugh, again!)? Can I even afford to try and be strategic here? If I need to take these, I need to take these. I'll simply have to attend and assume that my GPA will take a hit, because I won't have the time or energy for that additional class.

Also, I should jump onto 'ratemyprofessors.com' and see which classes I should avoid.

That reminds me, which of these classes will be more expensive, book and material wise? I should look into that as well.

Money, money, money... Sadly, this is all a matter of finances. If I could afford to attend college for an additional year, I wouldn't need to do any more scheduling double-back-flips. As it stands though, I really don't have means to stay for an additional year. I don't have health insurance. I live in a rather small apartment in the bad part of town. I eat nothing. I buy nothing. I have nothing. (Albiet, saying that I live in the bad part of Eugene is something like saying that I only ride rides in the bad part of Disneyland.) So, I need to finish up here as quickly as I can, so that I can launch myself back out into the real world and Get That Job.

So, assuming my difficulty is primarily financial, I might be able to achieve some headway in that regard by visiting the financial aid office. Last year I couldn't qualify for financial aid, scholarships and grants because of my unemployment checks and severance pay, but this year should be fine. Well, after the new tax season rolls around. I should do some research, right? It will have to wait.

I have a major photography project due in three days and I need to go get more paper and film (cha-ching!) before I head fifteen miles out of town to the creepy old abandoned amusement park that I want to photograph. As well as having French homework every night and a large history paper due next week. (Tetris/Watch. Meta-meta.)

Etc, etc, etc...

I really shouldn't even be taking the time to write in my blog. These circular thoughts get me into trouble and then all my time drifts away.

But, really... How can I complain? College was a decision I made for myself. It's a self inflicted wound and if I had to do it all over again, I'd still pull the trigger. Education is a difficult tangle of information going in (slow), money going out (fast), stress (constant), happiness (constant) and really strong coffee (morning, noon and night). Hell, this is what being alive is all about.

So, yeah. Um... What was I talking about?

Did I mention that I register for classes next week?