First Day Of School

First day at Madison Area Technical College or Madison College or whatever they're changing it to. I have classes on Monday and Wednesdays, the days I used to work at the TV station but I quit that after going back to school. Mondays are going to be my long days. Wednesdays are going to be long as well. So that Monday, I got up at 8AM to get ready for the day. Leave the apartment at 8:50. 20 minutes later, I'm in the student parking lot...the back of the parking lot. I walk the what feels like a mile to the building. The building has 3 levels and each level is confusing. All my classes are on the third floor. I walk around like a rat in a maze to find my first classroom. Phew, made it to my 9:30 class with 5 minutes to spare. I feel like it takes just as long to walk from my car to the seat of my classroom as it does to drive there.

My 9:30 class...Math of Finance with David Peterson. Walk into class and on the projection screen says Intro to Philosophy. Hmmm, interesting. I look around and see others have a Math of Finance book. Okay, weird. Whatever. He starts the class off saying welcome to Intro to Philosophy and then finally someone speaks up saying this room should be the Math of Finance class. Peterson stops, ponders then says 'Well maybe I have a slide for that...I could probably teach that'. And instantly I knew this guy was WEIRD. As are 80% of math teachers out there, no offense to those that are reading this. One of my good friends is going to be a math teacher and she isn't weird...yet. But I told her to try her best to not turn out weird in the future.

We spent that hour fifteen minutes doing almost nothing. Peterson talked about his life which is fine and dandy because I do like to know what my teacher's credentials are. But for 45 minutes? Come on, you can do that easily in 15 or less. Then the last 15 minutes, he gave us a quiz on what we'll be working on in the next few months. I talked to one of my regular customers when I was bartending earlier this Tuesday and found out he knew this Peterson guy from when he used to teach at MATC. He said Peterson was an interesting fellow. I did end up finding out some weird stuff about Peterson from this regular and everything makes sense now. As I was sitting in class yesterday, I finally figured out who this Peterson guy reminded me of. Woody Allen...the weird, craziness, stuttering, mumbling guy. Just watch Hollywood Ending. This class should be interesting, not for the topic but this guy's personality.

After my 9:30 class, I had an hour and half break but that won't be for long. I'll have a class right after my 9:30 one but that doesn't start til October. I like the break but I'll be glad when I just have class straight through.

My next class started at 12:30. Business management and organization with Keith Clark. This guy scared me when I first saw him but he's like a teddy bear. He looks like Mr. Clean. Just like the other class, he told us his story on how he got into teaching at MATC but unlike the other guy, Clark was A LOT more interesting and spent 15 minutes doing that. He is hilarious, sarcastic and very laid back. From what it seems, he won't be teaching what's in the book because he doesn't want to teach us what we can read. He uses examples from money.cnn.com and ties it together with the subjects in the book that we read which is what I like because I agree, I can read and learn from the book. I like examples to go along with what's being taught. This class isn't what I want to learn inside and out, it's more of a supplement class to get a general overview on businesses and how they work. But it's going to be an interesting class because of Clark.

Another break...3 1/2 hours. On Wednesdays I'll be done and going to work after that class but on Mondays, I have another class at 5:30. On my break that first day, I went back to the TV station because they were taping a Mayor's Report and on my last few days there, people were saying how I should say goodbye to the Mayor after putting make up on him and mic-ing him up for the last 4 years. I made it in time before the show started and the Assistant Director asked me if I wanted to AD for the last time and I said sure why not. The mayor was surprised to see me because he thought I was done and technically I was. At the end of the show, he gave me a shout-out for all the years of being the floor director and taking the shine off his forehead. I'll just pretend he said my last name correctly. After the show, he wished me good luck and I was about to shake his hand when he said no, and gave me a hug. How nice of him! Even if I don't agree with him all the time, he is the nicest guy I've ever met.

After the show, I went back to MATC for my last class. A 3 1/2 hour class. Accounting I with Linda Brown. She seemed off standish but not for long. She is extremely nice and is a CFO with Kaiser Automotive, so she knows her accounting stuff. We actually did stuff in this class, mainly because  it's a once a week class so if we would've done nothing, we would be way behind when others have this class 4 times a week. It seems long but she gives us a 5 minute break an hour into it or so and then lets us go early at 8:30 instead of staying all the way til 9. This class seems like it's going to be easy breezy for me since I've taken accounting in HS and at UW. It's like never forgetting how to ride a bicycle. You may be rusty at it at first but it comes back to ya.

Trying to balance class and work will be interesting. Sunday nights I close at Old Chicago...Mondays are class all day and night...Tuesdays I open bar then go home to study or do homework...Wednesdays class all day then most likely straight to work...Thursdays, more likely to work during the day...Fridays working...Saturdays working then back to Sunday. Joshua works nights usually 5 days a week. So the only time I'll see Joshua is if he's off on Tuesdays then I'll see him at night but I'll be studying and Sunday mornings for sure. Looks like any free time we have together will be well spent this semester!