Did I post my trout lilies yet? I mean this spring. I post trout lilies every spring.
What a fun day! A deep dive into areas of html and css (web design markup languages) that I don’t have a lot of experience with, at least not since I took classes at WCC. I have no idea what that program is like nowadays but it was perfect for me at the time I filled out the online enrollment form, picked my classes, put my credit card number in and held my breath while I hit the submit button.
I took three classes that first semester. I was *late* to my first class. Why? Because I took the frickin’ freeway around town and there was a frickin’ backup. I was only five minutes late and other people were trickling in too but I learned my lesson. No more freeway. It was a long slodge over there on surface streets, something like 25 traffic lights, but I was never late again. Actually, I learned pretty quickly that I liked to get there an hour before class and hang out in the library. I still didn’t take the freeway.
My first class was a web user experience class, which is more or less what I do for a living now. It was taught by Ms. Kelly and she was a stickler (I LOVED her). The first homework assignment we had to turn in was a simple one-page paper. I fergit what the topic was but I’m sure it was designed to help her figger out what we were all about. And we were definitely a mixed bag, from the dirt dog racing guy to the stars-n-stripes railroad hat guy to the beautiful, smart young high school student I often worked with. I worked with the dirt dog racing guy a lot too. Hey, one of the hats I wear has “Mom” written across the front of it. And there was me, a baggy old bag *still* wondering what to do when she grew up.
I followed the homework directions and handed in my one-page paper written (with introduction, body, and conclusion, like Mr. Pfifer taught us in high school), cover sheet attached. Other folks? Lined up at the teacher’s desk with every excuse on earth. “My printer didn’t work.” “The library printer didn’t work.” “My dad wouldn’t let me use his computer.” “My dog ate my computer.” Yada yada.
I vaguely remember somebody predicting that I would flunk the midterm, being so long out of school. Well, not. That’s not to say that the midterm wasn’t scary as all get-out. We were given five topics out of which three would be chosen for us to write an essay about. We did not know which three until we arrived at class the morning of the test. I even had to buy a blue book. Does anyone anywhere still use blue books? But I had indeed internalized the class material and I will never be a “great” writer but I can write to save my life. My three essays got me an A on that exam!
The final was even scarier, oh boy oh boy. A presentation! Oh boy. A group presentation! Oh boy oh boy. (I hate presentations!) Ms. K. assigned me to a group with the dirt dog racing guy and the smart high school student. There were five areas of content we had to cover. DDRG was hot to take on a particular content section and I, as informal prodject manager (aka Mom), told him to go for it. HS student and I each took on two other sections and I created an introduction because you *have* to have an introduction, roight? Well. About halfway through our prep work, DDRG emailed me asking if I knew what he should talk about. Well. I thought, “YOOOOOUUUU wanted to talk about this. Do you not know what to talk about?” I took a deep breath and sat back for a bit and emailed him back, carefully making some suggestions.
The day of the presentation… Oh yeah, we had to meet a time requirement. I forget what it was, 10 or 15 minutes, maybe. If we went over that time limit, points were taken off (yes I hate group prodjects). I was so nervous I forgot to look at exactly what time it was when we started and then when it was DDRG’s turn, he started going on and on (and on and on (and on and on)). Smart high school student and I were both horrified! Miraculously, we finished with something like 15 seconds to go. A on that exam!
Oh those were fun times!