Reality Check Part 2

Back in August I whined about my current frustrations and most of them haven't changed except for the fact that my cat is getting fed a daily basis. I'm still unemployed, and still don't have a new PCP (that's primary care physician). That's mostly because I haven't chosen one. How do you pick one just based on name, anyway?

I recently got access to my Simmons College email account and discovered that I have 139 messages in my in-box. Great! Another inbox to check. Most of them weren't very important except for the one from Student Financial Services dated August 29th (I didn't even get the packet of info from Simmons until late October). The message from SFS, as they like to call themselves, said, "you haven't filled out your loan application". Well, duh! If I don't get the user name and password until late October how can I do that? Thankfully, it's not to late to apply for the loan.

Registering for classes at Simmons so was painless that I almost didn't believe that I did it. Huh? That's it. How can that be? No tears?

Thinking back to when I was registering as a transfer student (lowest on the totem pole) at Salem State College in late August of 1994... (let's set the way-back machine....): My co-workers at Spectrum Color Labs in Boston had given me a fine send-off at a really cool restaurant/bar in the South End of Boston. I, of course, drank too much! So I spent the night on the couch at my younger sister Wendy's apartment in the Fenway. Orientation/Registration was the next morning at Salem State College (and, I think, a math placement test). It was late enough in the morning that I knew I could take the train home to Salem, go to my apartment and change and head to SSC. Since I didn't know anyone yet at SSC it didn't matter what I looked like so once I got to my apartment I changed and drove to SSC. I sat in on really boring orientation for new Education majors (that's how I started) and was told what classes to register for. Once it was time for me to register I quickly learned that pretty much all the classes that I was advised to register for were full and I had to choose different classes. Due to a number of factors (mainly tiredness), I started to cry in front of one of the very kind woman who helps students register. She said to me, (I'll never forget) "If you survive this, you'll graduate." And she was right!