School of Thought

I completed my second week of my summer English class yesterday. I think I am doing well. I have done every single assignment so far. I'll be honest, this is the first time I have been this confident in a class since I was in 8th grade. This class is challenging, I have several pieces of reading every day, and several papers due each week. In addition, we have online tutorials in grammar and research to do every week. It is been hard to keep up, but nonetheless, I have. I have three weeks left and I will have passed English 101. This is my third time taking this class. The first time, I got a 'D' and I can not say why I did. I'm sure I didn't put as much time into the class as I am now. The funny thing is, my professor is the wife of the professor I had in the spring of 2005. I am trying to think why I am doing to wall in this class, and how I can apply it to the other classes I have to take. I really enjoy the professor, I have no problem understanding the assignments, I participate in discussions, I sit up front, I am social with the other students, I am a leader.
I had another meeting with a counselor on Monday, and he doesn't think I should major in Music while I am at MJC. I would have to start in square 1. With my psychology, I have taking all of my arts and humanities requirements, all of my language requirements and all of my behavior requirements. I just have to do my science and math requirements, and we have projected that I will transfer to UCSD in the fall of 2013. It seems like a long way off, but I am sure it is going to be here before I know it.
We've been home from Nashville Tennessee for two weeks now. It was an amazing trip. I really encouraged Greg to go because I was hoping the hard work would inspire him to get a job. But it has not worked so far. I got to help on two projects. The first, I helped with a trailer belonging to Nancy. the flood water came up to her floor and a year later, the floors started buckling. the group before us had replaced the floors already. We added carpet to the bedroom, and did the trim for the rest of her home, did a little cleaning in her kitchen and her bathroom and we got her moved back on Wednesday. It was such a blessing to be a part of that phase in the clean up relief. According to some of the other people who have done PDA before, they hardly ever get to see someone move back in to their home, the completed project, and the reason so many of us come and participate. Nancy was a very sweet woman, with a very difficult life. I hope God is continuing to watch over her.
I also got to work at a church (that was air conditioned!) that had I think 5 feet of water drain into its basement. the drain pipes were old and outdated, and they brought all of the rain right into the basement. so the walls and floor were replaced. The first day I was there I met up with Adriel form Disney. He offered to help out a little during our visit. The walls were supposed to touch the ground, but in some area, they were off the ground by 3-4 inches. So we mixed up some grout and filled the walls. The baseboard needed something to hang onto. So we made makeshift wall. Then we went off to an old-fashioned soda shop for lunch. I got a BLT and the woman serving us thought all Californians were vegetarians. How funny! Adriel and talked a lot about different foods and fast food chains and how they differ across the country. I guess people who are not form California, have prejudged idea about people from California. After lunch, she and I went to the store to get ingredients so she could cook us a Southern dinner. Dad and Greg were also invited. She lives just outside of Nashville in Mount Juliet. She BB-Q'ed- no, grilled chicken, corn, zucchini, and bread. It was so good. My dad and her dad hit it off like they were old friends. They bonded over Top Gear. Then we went to the backyard to look at fireflies and then we went back to the church, Westminster Presbyterian Church.
The next day, I also worked at the church and tried with Sandy Bucknell to put the baseboard on, but the project proved to be too big for us.
I also got to meat Joan, a friend of the group from last year. Dad knows her.
Overall, it was an amazing experience, I am so glad I got to go.