Well, okay, this is weird.

So we are lucky and have an awesome niece and nephew. My niece is in college, and my nephew is in high school. They are sweet, smart kids and went to the same elementary school we enrolled our son in, pretty much just based on how totally awesome they are.

Yes, I know a lot of that awesomeness comes from parenting, but I'll take any advantage.

Anyway, while my niece is home for the summer, I'm hoping to get to hang out with her and my nephew more. We all had dinner tonight with their mom at Chick-fil-A. It was a lot of fun to chat with them all and Jules loves seeing them. My nephew had someplace to go soon after we finished eating, so Jules asked to play in the enclosed play area. Usually I hate those places (germs, mean kids...) and almost always say no, but this time I'm letting him. Free  wifi, you know? So I'm just sitting here, listening to the mom of the three kids in the play area with Jules, talk on the phone. I can't really figure out what she's saying but I keep hearing, "I texted her..." and "Cadillac Escalade." 

On the other hand...

I think I stopped talking at what became the end of my last post because it was time to eat. I should tell you, after I typed the last period of the last sentence, I got up and looked in the refrigerator and when I saw that we were (are) out of eggs, it turned into a disappointing evening. However, those Trader Joe's frozen chicken tamales are much better than you might think they would be. 

They're pretty amazing with a fried egg. 

I've been taking baby steps toward this for a while now, but I finally reached out and got some help: I have been accepted to, and intend to attend, Mount St. Mary's Weekend/Evening College. I've filled out financial aid paperwork and everything (I took this step when I was accepted to Cal Arts, but it was pretty clear I wasn't going to be able to afford it, since I had researched the tuition ahead of time. This time I'm flying blind. I don't want to know how much it's going to cost, yet. I'm not prepared for that information at this exact moment). 

(Last week I was discussing this with my friend Teresa, a super-educated, amazing woman who worked her ass off, and she asked me a question, something about how I thought I was going to handle doing the work. I said, "Oh, I don't know. Let's not talk about that just yet." I know there are real things that I need to think about and prepare myself for, but right now it's better to be blindfolded, taking one tiny step at a time.)

Because my GPA, which was a combined score of the A I recently earned, and the subpar grades I was awarded in the 90s, could have been better, I am taking one last online class at LBCC. I had a bit of a temper tantrum while registering for it, and pitched a hissy fit on Twitter (where else? I wasn't able to reach anyone on their stupid phone system, which doesn't tell you if the school is closed for the day or give you any option to speak to a live person! I was pissed!) because I'd left several "please call me back" messages for "Andrea," the person who's voicemail was triggered when I selected the number for "Cashier." (Look. Her message doesn't say, "You've reached Andrea Whoever, CASHIER AT LONG BEACH CITY COLLEGE." It just says, "This is Andrea Whoever, leave a message..." I mean, how was I supposed to know if I was even leaving my message for the right person?) Anyway, we know LBCC monitors their Twitter mentions, because Andrea called me back twice the next day, once to say, "I can't help you without your student ID" and the second time to say, "you know what, I just entered your name, and there's only one student in the system named Irene Palma, so here's what you need to do..." SO SHE NEVER EVEN HAD TO SPEAK WITH ME AT ALL. 

Anyway, I better ace this online class, which will be new for me (oh, I did traffic school online once a million years ago), and perhaps a way to get my feet wet with this online business anyway. 

Oh, and I left a rating for my English professor on that "rate your professor" website, and yes, I said, he IS hot. 

This post has no title. Dude. Cleverness is not a virtue.

So.... since my last post, things have changed. Not everything, just: goals.

I finished my writing class at LBCC. My professor, Christopher Byars (probably a good 10 years younger than me, with a great head of hair), was amazing. It was a fun and exciting experience. I made a room full of recent high school graduates laugh at least twice, and who knew that would be so fulfilling? 

I got an A.

High on academic success, I decided to get some math over with. I tested very badly, and therefore had to retake algebra. I signed up, started the class, and instantly felt my life slipping away. It was awful. I was awful. Out of my depth, there was nothing fun or funny about that class, or my performance.

So I dropped it. 

Since then I haven't taken any classes, unless you count checking out YouTube for cooking tips (actually, I don't think I've even done that. I may have asked Alexa: "Alexa! Is canned corn cooked?"). Or a work-related training session that was dull beyond belief. No? You don't count those things? Then hey, my education abruptly came to a halt.

More later. My frozen tamale is almost done steaming, and I have an egg to fry.*

*Not a euphemism.

The Professional Academic Counselor is In.

I sought professional academic counseling today.

This is significant, because I don't think I've ever had any academic counseling before. 

I was asked what I wanted to do. I was unsure with my answer (and therefore will refrain from mentioning it here). However, there are a couple of paths I might take, and all of them require that I take a bunch of general ed. classes. 

The professional academic counselor told me, "Older students do well in college classes. They bring something different to the discussions." Well, this is true. We were discussing Wonder Woman and superheroes and femininity and what the reason might be for Wonder Woman to wear such a revealing costume, while the male superheroes are almost always fully clothed in armor or a suit. The other grown up in the room (me, this guy David, and our professor) had the best comment, I had to write it down.

He said, what if the male characters are covered up because we keep our feelings hidden? And Wonder Woman, she's more nurturing and caring, so she can be more open in her costume.

(Actually, this is not a direct quote. I think he said it better than this, but I"m too lazy to get up and get out my notes.)

I loved that. 

We were also discussing how in an essay we read, some guys referred to Wonder Woman as a "butt kicking piece of ass." I said something like, you could put anything in front of "piece of ass" and it's NOT a compliment." We had some discussion on that, about how the actors and actresses chosen for superhero roles are always attractive. This kid talked directly to me (Chris had to tell him my name), and he said something about his girlfriend, and how she likes showing off her body, and he doesn't mind either. I don't know, I don't remember exactly. This is the kid who recently discovered Huey Lewis. He was also reading a Cormac McCarthy novel (blech). I like this kid. He's fun to listen to, and his comments are always smart, but funny. 

Anyway. Back to the professional academic counselor. I don't know what the fuck I want to do. I want to keep taking classes though. We'll see where it goes.