Thursday, September 20, 2007

But I want it NOW!!!

This Saturday marks my 25th birthday. Before you conjure up any images of a youthful, radiant young woman, I'd like to show you this:

This is not the eye of a 20-something. It is the eye of an overworked student working 40 hours a week and having severe problems with sleep and mood swings *.

That said...I don't have time for an undergraduate degree. I haven't really explained how this whole school/work thing works (or doesn't) for me, so here's the general idea:

I have a bachelor's degree in Professional Writing. I love paleontology. I chose writing over paleontology because I was afraid that a getting a science degree would be challenging and that I would fail. I'm sick of being afraid and I know I'm capable of succeeding, so I'm going back to school. I need very basic science courses, plus a whole slew of not-so-basic courses, in order to obtain another bachelor's degree, which is why I am not getting my master's degree. I cannot afford to go to school full-time because the government thinks that one bachelor's degree is enough and refuses to give any "need-based" aid. As a result, I am working full-time at a university and taking 15 credits a year for free. At this rate, I will have my B.S. in XXX (insert name of self-designed major) in about 6 years.

SIX YEARS!!! If I work really hard I might have a PhD by the time I'm 40.

I want to read as much as I can, keep up with the latest discoveries, get a grip on sauropod phylogeny...but I just don't have time.

I don't want to complain too much. I know that the courses I'm taking now will provide me with a nice foundation for the courses I'll be taking later on. And why not enjoy the process, right? Introductory chemistry is actually really interesting and calculus is fun...sorta like doing a lot of little puzzles.

*I'm pretty sure I can blame the Nuva Ring for my mood swings. Despite claims that side effects are minimal, I just can't believe that adding a dose of hormones into my body every day doesn't have any effect on my emotional state.

1 comment:

Julia said...

Race you for that PhD!

My eye looks like your eye but with more fine lines on the outside, more veins on the eyelid, deep purple shadows underneath (with more creases that seem to collect the concealer I apply in vain each morning) and to add to it all my eyes have been bloodshot for about the past three years.

Welcome to the suck...