Another Countdown

Tonight I had my student orientation. Two weeks from today I start my Master’s Program. I’m so excited that I can hardly stand it. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is paying for books. I forgot how much college textbooks can cost. It’s ridiculous! They act like the books are made of gold or something. The e-book version of the book I need is $84! Can you believe that? Anyway, I’m finally able to start my program, something I’ve been planning since I was still in Iraq in 2010. I wanted to start school after I got home, but because of unforeseen circumstances I had to postpone my school plans and go back to work. Even though I was discouraged and frustrated that I couldn’t go to school when I wanted to, I see now that it just wasn’t the right time for me. When I was looking for jobs, I also started getting emails for schools. When I finally got a call from a school with a program that was along the lines of what I want to do I jumped on the chance. I was able to get everything done in one afternoon: application, payment, and registration. It was just too easy. I can see that now this was the right time.

I do worry about being back in school. I graduated from college over 6 years ago, so being a student isn’t something I’m used to anymore. I am used to being anal and proud and always wanting to be an A student so I know that I’m going to be super gung ho about it initially, but I’ve had habits in the past where I would procrastinate and skate by with my classes. I don’t want to do that again. I may not be able to write as often, so that’s going to suck. But maybe I’ll be able to create shorter posts.

Anyways, I felt like last week was going by way too slowly. It took forever for the weekend to get here. I actually had to go back to the new Reserve unit that I am trying to transfer into down here. I wasn’t looking forward to it initially, the last time I was there I wasn’t very comfortable with some of the people, but it actually wasn’t that bad this time around. Sunday, was a family day and we had it at Six Flags. Lorenzo and I invited some of his friends to come out since we were given complimentary tickets. We were there for about 5 hours and only managed to get on 3 rides. In our defense, we got on 3 of the best ones: Superman, Batman, and Goliath. Now, I’m not afraid of roller coasters, I’m just afraid of falling out of them. I never feel like I’m secure enough and if I shift, even slightly, I feel like I’m going to slide out and fall to my death. Lorenzo loves every single moment of it, wishing the rides were faster and longer. I think he’s crazy. Yesterday when I woke up and the back of my neck was killing me, I think I may have messed myself up a little bit on the Goliath. There was a point where we went up and down so fast that the top half of my body was coming out of the seat while still being held down. I felt massive pain in the top half of my spine; it was pretty bad. I’m feeling a lot better today after a whole bunch of IcyHot and Aleve. I think I’ll give it another day or two before I start work out again.

My new goal for the next few weeks is to meet new people. Don’t get me wrong, I like Lorenzo’s friends, but I want to meet people on my own. I also want to venture out and do more things on my own, instead of waiting for Lorenzo to accompany me. I want to see more of Atlanta and get to know the town I live in a little bit better. If there are any “ATLiens” (a word a learned this weekend) who have any suggestions, please let me know. What would you recommend to an outsider-including food, activities, and attractions?