Obsessions

I kinda feel like my freedom is on a countdown. I know there are lots of things that I Need To Do Before College…but I’m not sure what all.

I know that I need to get my car with it’s squealing brakes and 2,000 mile overdue oil change serviced, but when?

I should get about a dozen new dresses made, but I’ll be lucky to get the one finished that I’ve got partially done.

I did get several things out of the way though. I have pretty well eradicated all the weeds from the flowerbeds. I was sooo proud of Kris on Saturday evening. She voluntarily helped me weed the front flowerbeds. She chopped at the weeds and got them as loose as possible so I could grasp them and pull them out by their roots. She stood for quite a while, holding back the flowers with the cultivator so I could get at the grass that had successfully invaded most of the one flowerbed. She endured the chilly air without too much complaining so I could finish before dark…or just at dark. What a Trooper!! It’s just too bad that the neighbor that had come by the other Saturday and exclaimed about not being able to get any help didn’t come by and see her helping. He would have been proud too.

I managed to get a whole 6 gallons of Roundup sprayed around in various places. Craig wanted to know why I don’t just do some weed eating and I told him it takes so much more time to have to weed eat weekly. This would definitely be the time to come check out our meager landscaping. I’m sure it won’t remain weed-free for long.

Tonight, Kris & I went to WKU and wandered around campus trying to familiarize ourselves with the treks that we will have to make starting next week. First,we drove around and identified the places that we could park without getting ticketed. Kris was already familiar with most of this but I wasn’t. We identified a few buildings and then parked and started walking.

Now it doesn’t take a person long to figure out why WKU is called “The Hill” and the sports teams are called “The Hilltoppers.” Within five minutes we were quietly beginning to huff and within fifteen minutes we were loudly puffing. We quickly located two of the buildings that my classes are in but had to do a bit of searching to find a building that Kris needed to locate. We went up hills and down flights of stairs and up a few stairs and down a little hill…well, you get the picture. We finally found Kris’s building but by that time we were well below car-level.

On the way back to the car, we took a shortcut out to the street to see if we could figure out where the shuttle stops. It wasn’t too bad at first but suddenly the street started to rise sharply. We were puffing our way to the top when we suddenly heard voices bearing down upon us. I did a glance over my shoulder and, in my peripheral vision, I could see four young women power walking up the hill behind us. It was quite humbling to have to move out into the street so as not to get run over by the youngsters. I have a feeling that I will get overtaken on those hills quite a bit in the future.

After returning to the car, we ate some vittles and went to get Kris’s car and on the way Kris said “Sharon, do you ever wonder where your degree will take you?”

“Well,” I replied, “I just wonder if I’ll ever get a degree.”

Sometimes it would be so handy to see a glimpse of the future so you would know if it is an exercise in futility.

I have this fear (and some of you may think that I’m silly, but it’s my fear so don’t even think about ridiculing it) that in three or so weeks, maybe less, I’ll suddenly, with startling clarity, see The Great Deception revealed. The great secret being that everyone has kept my own simplicity of mind from me. Now, how’s that for a fear?!?

There is a man named Pat that has an office in the same building that O & S has an office in Bowling Green. I have covered for our salesman on the occasions that he has been out of town and since the two offices have connecting doors, Pat will come over and visit occasionally. In our many and various discussions, the subject of college has come up and I’ve expressed to him my fear of not measuring up, etc. He, of course, thinks that I’ll do just fine and that I’ve got a good head on my shoulders. Well, today I called up to the office to talk to Mervin and he was outside so Pat answered the phone. He went to get Mervin and, when he came back inside, he quickly asked me if I had started college yet. I told him it starts a week from today and he said, “You’ll do just fine! Go get ‘em, Tiger!!” Oddly enough, I found that to be quite encouraging. If someone or something intimidates me, I’ll just have to growl at them/it.

At what point does a person become a real college student? When they enroll in classes? When they get their student ID? When they pay their tuition? When they get their parking permit? When they buy school supplies? When they attend their first class? I’m not sure but I’ve done all of these so far except attend my first class so if I’m not really a college student at this point, in one week I will for sure be a college student. What a scary, yet kind of exciting thing!

Um…in case you can’t tell by now, I’m kinda obsessing over it at this point. Maybe I’ll use this as my Wailing Wall as time moves on.

I gave in to my pen fetish this evening and purchased two retractable, fine-tipped, blue-inked pens; five highlighters with a bonus permanent marker; and two twist-erase automatic pencils with two free eraser refills. Guess I’ll go look at my newly purchased school supplies and see if I can find just the right place in my backpack for them.