love classes outside

Wow, the first week of spring semester 2019 has already gone by with tons of homework and lots of rain. I have learned about the new rules from the USGA, such as dropping the golf ball from the knee instead of the shoulder when playing from a hazard (water pond). I am improving my skills with a soccer ball and my ability to analyze a match by noticing their formation on the field and the strengths of players (things you can learn inside the spin room on a rainy day when their class is canceled).

Anatomy is very fast paced, but I’m trying to keep up. I was prepared to learn about bones, to include every hole (foramen) and notch on them, but the dive into tissues and their roles in the body (without having the book early for reference) has given me a delayed start on getting ahead in the class. I write, draw, and color the body when I’m not using my own as a touching board of answers or using one of the many free phone apps for review (there is so much I do not know).

view from the classroom

Chemistry seems like it would be easy; conversions (°F to °C and miles to km) now and lighting stuff on fire later (in the separate lab class), but the professor is a picky one and wants the labs turned in just so. This shouldn’t be a problem for me as I love being the same way and it helps me ensure I’m getting the right (or most accurate) answer in a field of uncertainty. I have started memorizing the first 40 elements and need to refresh my memory of the role of electrons and masses and bond types.

Managerial accounting seems to be awkwardly the easiest class so far and it’s worth four units in eight weeks. I can appreciate the ease of cash flow math and assessing spreadsheets to account for materials, labor, and costs of goods sold. My applied calculus is also online and I thought I would blow through some graphs and logarithms, but the lack of notes failed me on quiz 2, so I’m going back to prepare for the more difficult mid-term that will be in a couple of weeks (without notes).

anatomy book: built for learning, not for travel

I only have one class on Fridays, Muay Thai style kickboxing, and it will be fun to get my heart rate up while punching air and bags and doing wall sits until the front of my thighs (quadriceps) burn. I already have the hand wraps and the fingerless gloves from when I thought I would practice last year, so I’m excited to use my new gear (no soccer boots on a closed field). That leaves kinesiology, which I will start after spring break when my accounting class finishes.

I still find time to take a walk around the block and get some personal reading done, though I’m sure that means I should be studying more, I don’t want to get burnt out. I know I’ve got a lot ahead of me, but I look forward to finally getting a business degree on this coast and then getting a degree in something I actually plan to pursue — a happy, healthy life with other people in the sunshine, or under the ocean when I become a divemaster and live on a foreign beach somewhere.

I get to look at people and their parts in all their various forms

In the meantime, I should get back to it. I still have a job that requires me to grade pre-teens on their understanding of basic bones and muscles and how to apply that knowledge to life for playing safer and eating better (when they’re not spending hours glued to a video game or social media screen). We (I mean me) divided the classes based on fitness and in-class motivation for more balance — and it’s working.

How is your February so far?