Megan and I went for a walk yesterday along that canyon trail I wrote about a couple of days ago. Both of us were quite taken with this view of the Perrine Bridge. No one was jumping, I imagine it's a little too cold for that right now.

I've noticed that I really miss Megan a lot these days. She usually makes it by at least once a week, but sometimes it feels like years. She's decided not to date until she's 22, then she'll date, find the guy she wants to spend the rest of here life with, and be married by 24. That seems like a really time to fight off the advances of amorous males.

I can't figure out really why I feel so needy of her these days. I'm just really glad she is here in town and I can see her as often as I do. It keeps me grounded I guess.

One big test down, and....

I got the abnormal psych test back, and it was definitely a bomb. An A-bomb! I aced that baby! 95%! I don't mean to boast too much, but it is very reassuring. I think I have really been stressing out too much about this school thing, you know making it much harder than it is. I think I forgot that there is a huge difference between being a student who must learn a subject well enough to understand it and being a paraeducator who has to learn the subject well enough to teach it to someone who will have trouble understanding it. I also must keep in mind that I am competing with kids who do not have my level of life experience, and have not accumulated the quantity or quality of knowledge that I have accumulated over the span of two of their lifetimes. Is that fair? Of course it is! By the time they are my age, they will have accumulated twice the wealth than what I will ever see!

I have and Intro to Stats test this Thursday. I was prepared to come home and start memorizing formulas. Guess what, the teacher is letting us bring a cheat sheet of formulas for the test. I know this stuff, so I should pass it fairly easily. My studying will be in hopes of another Bomb!

Just Another Manic/Depressive Monday

Betcha can't guess what we're studying in Abnormal Psych class!

There were no accidents in Idaho Falls caused by me tonight! Not even any close calls. I can't believe it's already been a week since that dreadful night! So I calmly and smoothly commuted to Pocatello, and got there even earlier than last week. I took the opportunity to try to take a picture of the building, my camera wasn't in the mood I guess. But this is what I see when I get there on Monday night.

My commute was worth it too, because, we had class tonight! I was so happy, that means that the class wasn't dumped by the teacher! Now I won't have to scramble for another class to keep my financial aid. I got to test my laptop too. I have to go tomorrow and find out how to get my computer set up for the wireless account at the school there. It better not be too hard, 'cause I'm not sure how strong this knot is at the end of my rope!

Unfortunately, my friend wasn't home, so I had to commute home for bed. Then I have to get up bright and early and head right back. Oh, well. The highs and the lows of life.

I still can't really figure out this wireless thing. I am getting a signal here at home that I am not paying for, so I expect the internet police will be summoning me soon. This weekend, I will find out if it is ok, or if I'm a law breaker. I keep looking for information on the net and all I can find is how to get equipment to make my computer do what it is already doing. I guess I just can't see how this can be free, when slow slow dial-up isn't.

Better go to bed now, I have class tomorrow!

Simpler Days

Today I went for a walk along the canyon. It was such a beautiful day and the perfect time to just go and clear my mind for a while. As I walked, I began to reminisce about the Twin Falls I knew as a kid. It was such a small town back then. The College of Southern Idaho was way out on the edge of town, and Canyon Springs Inn and Randy Hansen Chevrolet were way out in the boondocks. Blue Lakes Boulevard was still lined with big beautiful old houses and people drove 25 mph in town. We had a little shopping center, but no malls yet. Williams Market was the best place to buy groceries in our neighborhood, and Safeway was the best place to buy groceries in a nearby neighborhood. Disturbing the peace or drunk and disorderly were big crimes, and people felt safe. So it was really big news that Evil Knievil was coming to town.

It was September 1974. People from all over the country started pouring into town. Hells Angels stalked the streets and gave us all a bit of a scare. Hippies in decked out vans could be seen any time of day or night. Shoshone Falls became the favorite hangout for all of the visitors. It was hard for us backward town folk not to feel a little put out and insulted by these “worldly” folk, some of whom laughed at us directly as we drove past them with gaping mouths. Talk about Culture Shock!

Well, the day came and Evil attempted his jump. We watched from one of the places only the locals would know about. There aren’t many secret places like that around here anymore, but we sure had them then. It had been such a huge build up that when it actually happened (and failed so badly), it was kind of a let down.

We were heading back into town, happy to be beating the crowds, when we saw a helicopter heading right toward Canyon Springs Inn! We turned into the huge parking lot and parked while the aircraft landed, eyes glued. People started piling out of the helicopter and sure enough, it was Evil. My little brother, 4 at the time, was such a huge fan of his. He had all the dolls and cycles and everything! He ran up to Mr. Knievil to get his autograph, only to be brushed off like some little pesky gnat.

I never like Evil after that.


They are planning to put a park at the old jump site. To this day that jump is still the biggest thing to hit Twin Falls. We’re much bigger now. Randy Hansen is lost in a maze of retailers, and the once luxurious Canyon Springs Inn sits in the middle of much more luxurious Inns. Murder is still shocking in this town, but crime is on the rise, and though Twin Falls is still a safe place to live, it surely has lost much of its innocence. The big beautiful homes that once lined Blue Lakes were torn down and replaced with fast food restaurants. We have a mall and several big department stores. The little grocery stores are all but gone and the edge of town seems to stretch farther out every day.

It’s not all bad. There is a beautiful walking path along the canyon rim these days, and sometimes I just like to walk along that path, clear my head and reminisce about simpler times.

I'm So Tired I Could Sleep

I’m starting to understand how people can just pop in 3-6 times a day and post something on their blogs! When you have this fast of a connection, you don’t waste a lot of time waiting to dial up, load the proper page, and still have energy left to write.

I spent most of the day doing homework. I have most of it done. I need to revise my 4-year plan, but it isn’t due until next Monday. I don’t have to do the ch4 s4 math homework. I might take a stab at it, but I might be better advised to just study for the quiz that will be happening on Thursday. I check the webCT site, and I did Bomb the quiz. I got a B for Bomb! I just need to remember - Bees are our friends. I might post about the meaning of that someday.

I have to admit, I did spend some time looking at some u-tube clips on some of the autism sites that were too slow to download on a phone line connection. Then I even downloaded a couple of Blue October songs. Each time I was instantly gratified. So I popped over to rockclimbing.com and check out some of the videos there. Yep, too much fun.

Now I should go to bed. I just finished reading 2 chapters on mood disorders, and I would definitely absorb and process that information better if I were hibernating.

Tomorrow, I might play around with uploading pictures with a wireless connection. And finish my homework. I have a chapter to read in Social Psychology and a quiz to take.

School, Homework, and the Pursuit of Decompressing

So, the first couple of school weeks were all about homework. So much so, that Zach decided HE needed a break from it! It was Saturday, and it sounded good to me, so we hit Pizza Hut and a movie, A Night at the Museum. The movie was so funny! It was a really enjoyable evening, and yes, I was a little frazzled by homework and classes, I thought. I spent the rest the weekend doing nothing but watching videos. Mistake?!?

Monday night was a nightmare. I was trying to get out of Idaho Falls so that I could be at my Pocatello class on time. There is this interchange there that really is screwed up! Even when the weather is good and the roads are dry, it confuses me. Well, the roads weren’t just wet, they were icy, and in the matter of about 10 minutes, I managed to nearly cause four separate accidents. Each mistake flustered me, and the more flustered I got, the more mistakes I made.

I was really, really happy to get to Pocatello. I took some deep breaths. I wasn’t even late, things were cool. I got out of the car, walked across the frozen lawn, and entered the old depressing building. “No Class Tonight! Psy 499 Cancelled!” The good new is that nobody died, and my car and I are in one piece. From now on, I take my sweet time getting there.

Tuesday was a wake up call. I hadn’t done all of my homework! I really don’t know how I got so confused, but I am definitely more on top of it now. Thursday (after being kept up until 3:00 a.m. by Zach), big Abnormal Psych test, I hope I at least got a b, although a definitely prefer vowels for grades. (don’t despair, bees are our friends! ;) ) I think I might have bombed the stats quiz. Then I nearly had a meltdown in Social Psych when we were discussing a newspaper article about child abuse. Any other day and I would have floated above it, but I nearly lost it. I made it through class and slept last night.

So today I am writing a blog entry. On my new laptop computer that came just today. I am testing this battery to see how long it will really last. I might need to buy another one (battery) so that I can get through two classes (from 8:00a to 12:15p). I have been running it since about 11:30 and it is 2:30 now. I’m down to 31%. It might work with just the one battery. I won’t need it through all of my stats class, just when she starts talking about minitab.

I love this though. I can sit wherever I want and do my homework! This is so cool. This has a wireless connection which I immediately became addicted to. I can’t believe how nice it is to get immediate gratification. And I am really looking forward to getting that instant word/concept look up when typing my psych notes right there in class! It is so hard to write notes by hand, pay attention to the lecture, then go home and type my notes so that I can read them. I spend a great deal of time just trying to make sense of them at all.

I called one of the girls I used to work with. I guess the first MRH was a fiasco. And not for any of the reasons I had predicted. You see, I figured the cash register would be the biggest problem. When I left, there was no printer tape, and it doesn’t like to work without printer tape. Then, the battery usually likes to die when it sits for a couple of weeks, and when the battery dies, someone has to reprogram the scan codes into it. But apparently, those things did not happen. What did happen was that, without my supervision, the separates parts worked separately, and people ended up waiting forever for drinks. I didn’t expect that. Hmmm. Guess I might have been even more important than I thought.

Ok, I’m just rambling. So for now I’ll go. With this new toy of mine, I might have more time and opportunity to write. I hope so.

Processing, Please Stand By

I’ve survived the first week of school. This is going to be so exciting. Just as soon as I recover from this complete exhaustion! I am all caught up on homework, for now. That should last until tomorrow.

I’m looking at the clock less and less these days. I do know it was A day today at the high school I once worked at, but I only noticed two distinct times today, lunch time and quit time.

I have so much anxiety about whether this continuing education will be as easy in the future as it has been thus far, but that anxiety is mild compared to that which I left behind at work. I have no regrets. No matter what happens from here, it won’t be as bad as it was.

The drive home Thursday, oh my gosh!, was so bad. About half way there was a blizzard white out. I finally had to get behind a big truck and just follow him at 40 mph until visibility improved. Of course, driving at an average 65 mph sure was good for gas mileage, but I think I won’t live quite as long now.

Tomorrow’s my birthday. Then I’ll have to go and adjust my blog profile stuff.

I think I had planned to make this a cool blog, but I’m tired. I have spent all of my neural energy on reading. My brain is processing. Please stand by.

If you are interested, I have written a little about my classes, just click the read more link. I will definitely be writing about them a lot in the future, I kind of hope it will help


I’ve decided that the Careers in Psychology class is a keeper. I really think it will help steer me in a direction, and with any luck (which seems to permeate through my life) it will steer me in the right direction.

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I’m also taking a class called the sexual abuse of people. It is being taught by an ex-FBI agent. I hope it’s interesting. Apparently, if I show up every day and attend, I’ll get an A.

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Then I have an abnormal psychology class that is being taught by this cute retired (mostly) professor. He is funny, though I think he tries a little to hard to be funny sometimes. I will undoubtedly have carpal tunnel syndrome by the time I’m finished taking notes in his class.

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Then, there is my Intro to Statistics class. I bought the book and read the first chapter before class started. I even did the first assignment (more than was due) before class started. That assignment will be due tomorrow!

I got so freaked out the first day because the teacher had everyone talk about their math 108 experiences. Only about 3 of the 20 or so students who took the class had a good experience. Many had to take it more than once, one student took it four times before she passed. I had college algebra all those years ago and got a b. I thought it was pretty easy and even fun. I had to wonder what it is they teach in math 108 that I must not have learned.

Turns out, the computer program they use to teach it with might be the problem. I get along with computers pretty well, so I’m sure I would have been fine in math 108. Besides, learning statistics is gonna be kick-ass.

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My cross country skiing and snowshoeing class got cancelled. That sucks.

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That brings me to my social psychology class. We watched the Village the first class. I have a feeling that will be my favorite class. Social psychology is such a fun subject - full of grey areas and misty ideas. Just up my alley. (it will be a wonderful change of pace from the world of autism that I am so completely immersed in.)

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And that is about all I can do right now. My brain is still on standby.

Boise Who?

BOISE STATE!!!!!!That's right! Oh, yeah! Big winners with a circus show to boot! Channel 7 news out of Boise talked about how 25,000 or so Idahoans made it to the game in person. Now that the game has been won by us, all of the Idahoans who didn't make it to Arizona, are dancing in the streets of Boise. The police have been called (were not sure who called them), and Gomer did finally show up to make sure Joe didn't fall off the curb and hurt his nose. Jr. is nowhere to be found right now, and Gomer is really hoping he isn't leaning over a porcelain idol. So that just about accounts for everyone. Except me.

I was one of the four Idahoans who had to watch it at home on tv (I swear I didn't place that call to Gomer). I don't watch college football, probably because I didn't get to go to college after high school. But I have to say, I had more fun watching that game than any other game I've ever seen. That includes the state championship high school game I saw a few years ago (I did get to go to high school). So, it turns out that Idaho is a real live place, with a real live college, that has a real live football team.

One might say that we can toss that old spud like no one's business. Heck, the old spud they hucked around at that game was just puny little thing. Our players hardly seemed at all affected by the hot.

Well, that was kind of fun.

Since this is new years and everything, I've decided to resolve to not going to work any more. And some day, I'll even tell you why.

But for now, night night.