finally, a little something positive

November 27, 2010 at 12:24pm
No new news on the health front so far as I am concerned.  My son (who turns 21 this year) was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder (sorry, love, I'm most likely the genetic culprit there)... narcolepsy.  He is responding very well to treatment - yay!

Ah, then, you may ask, if not my health - why the note?

Well, I've been a little stressed lately.  Ok, a LOT stressed.  Stressed over school (4 classes away from graduating - and then whamm-o), stressed over insurance, stressed over finances, stressed over all the must-do's that have to happen, and in the correct order, before everything is back to as close as we ever get to normal, just generally stressed.

Stress is not good for me. (or for you. try to cut back on your stressors.)

I had every intention of taking a Medical Withdrawal from FSU because of my health issues.  The only problems with that being 1) it effectively withdraws you from the university thereby dropping you from ALL classes during the current semester and requiring readmission to the university once you are medically able to return and 2) my insurance is through FSU - if I withdraw from the university, I lose my insurance.  Right now, that is not an option.  Yikes, more stress.

Last night I read several emails from FSU reminding me that 1) my insurance premium would be due January 10th and 2) if I did not register for something before December 10th, I'd have to pay a late registration fee if I added classes during the first week of Spring semester.  I was talking with Peter about his online class at the same time... and suddenly I had a lovely little ah-ha! moment.  I already have financial aid lined up for Spring because it is done in a Fall/Spring system.  All I need to do is register for classes in order for that aid to be awarded.  But I can't take classes on campus, because I have to be near my doctor and in and out of doctor's offices, hospitals and then recovery from surgery.  So I thought - online classes! Surely FSU has some that I can take.

Well, they do and they don't.

I'm an English major.  FSU offers exactly 0 English courses online.

Ah, but after getting cleverly creative with the course search tools, I discovered that there are classes done completely online, available for anyone in any major.  Granted I won't have an English class, but I will have 12 credit hours of some funky and unusual "electives" and if that messes me up later on down the road, so be it.

So, I will be taking the first "F" grades of my entire life this semester... three of them, in fact.  19th Century British Novel, 20th Century American Novel and Senior Seminar in Literature... and one "Incomplete" in 18th Century British Novel.  I've sent letters to all of my professors with an explanation of why I did not take the Medical Withdrawal, and a tentative plan for completing the work for the 18th Century class.  Whew.  One stressor relaxed... I will have insurance!

I am  now registered for:
CGS2513 Spreadsheets for Business  (yay, I'll finally get to update my MS Office to 2010)
CGS2826 Introduction to Web Design (without ANY actual programming - from the description it sounds like we're going to be looking at websites and evaluating if they are effective or not)
GLY1000 Dynamic Earth (A lovely little fundamental class, that will be replaced if the Intro to Oceanography opens up)
GIS3015 Map Analysis (Just what it sounds like - looking at different types of maps and figuring out how to extract information from them)

Considering I've been working with computers since they had to be programmed in BASIC and have a 5" diskette with a HELLO program in order to get them to start up, and I've designed several websites of my own, and since I use Excel (which is the spreadsheet we'll be using in class) I don't think there will be a problem with either of the CGS classes.  The only problem with the GLY would be if if I cannot take it since I already have a higher level class that is essentially the same thing.  And maps... maps have always fascinated me... and I'm fairly certain I know how to figure out map keys.  So, four fairly straightforward, mostly easy courses, which will leave me plenty of time to complete the coursework for my Incomplete.

And with being enrolled for 12 credit hours I will get the full financial aid award AND be able to put the insurance premium and my books on deferment until financial aid drops, plus the remainder of the award will take some of the stress off of those mounting health care bills and co-payments.

All in all, not a bad day so far.

Oh, and I slept last night!! Well, from around 2:30am until 5:30am, but still... sleep! at night! Every little bit that goes "right" gives me something for which to cheer!