Downward Dog

The semester is over and I'm officially an A student. Well, actually I got two A's and one A minus, but that counts as an A student, right? Reflecting on my first semester back into academia one might ask, so, what DID I learn? Well, I've learned I don't know EVERYTHING. I had just admitted to my husband that perhaps both my most recent instructors methods, although not in line with my views of perpetuating learning, were quite possibly good for me. You see, I may be struggling (in one class yes, in the other no) to be learning the concepts in which the class was based on, but more importantly perhaps, I was learning to be flexible, which is something I never am unless I am in my yoga class, and even then not so much.

As you know, I had not exactly embraced my Hospitality instructor and came to realized while she is an abstract thinker, I am concrete, and therefore I cannot fathom how her abstract insane brain wants me to think like it does. She is a teacher, and I think she should adapt to the learning styles of her students. Apparently she does not agree. Don't get me wrong, she has a PHD, so she may be intelligent, but that doesn't mean she is smart. She may be one of those poor souls that cannot relate to us mere mortals. She may be like my old friend Terri, stupid-smart. Kinda like those people that are skinny-fat. They are thin, yet very flabby from hours of non gym going, and it surprises you, because while you expect to see the flab wiggle on the underside of the upper arm of the obese and overweight, you are taken aback by it when it confronts you in the form of a skinny girl. Come to think of it, Terri was not only stupid-smart, she was also skinny-fat. And, she was a genius in all things architectural. She could conceptualize a building so as it would not fall down in the biggest earthquake, but, ask her to perform any remotely routine act that would involve any type of common sense, like say, boiling a pot of water for a cup of tea, and she became dumber than a rock.

And so, on the eve of my big Hospitality final, my stomach churning and knotted from nerves, I sat completely bewildered by my 25 page study guide, which I had JUST finished filling in and the test was the next morning. I hadn't actually studied yet, I had just inserted the answers. And although I had a B so far in this class, a high one, it's sure been a struggle, as how can I be expected to recall what I have read in chapters 15 through 21 plus all the material that came before that when half the time I cannot remember the names of my own two children? Time was not on my side, so I scanned my study guide and prayed, literally, as I prepared for bed that night, that somehow, someway, I would mark the right answers on my final even if I didn't know them. I prayed, to God, that I be assisted in choosing the correct answer as I guessed at them. And God listened, or else I actually learned more in that class than I realized, and I ended up getting a 59 out of 60 on the final exam and thus an A in the class.

My Wednesday Nutrition class, that was a breeze, I knew I would get an A and I did. My instructor basically prides herself on how easy her class is, and, with three other jobs, really, how in depth can she get with us? So, I got A's on all my projects and tests, and the final was a regurgitation of the two quizzes we had already taken, how hard could that be? I reviewed my previous study guides that I had made, and that was it.

Currently I'm on break, and ecstatic, I need it. I didn't realize how stressful trying to keep up and get good grades could be, I'm exhausted. But, next semester looms and I am more unsure now than ever if I want to take baking, be a pastry chef or anything that requires being in a kitchen.

I'm signed up for Principles of Baking, Hospitality Purchasing, and Small Business Management. Daily, I wrack my brain as to if I should try to change these class selections. Do I really want to take the baking class? Sure, I have heard the instructor is not exactly, uh, nice. He is a master baker from Germany, and I guess his quizzes are like 10 or 12 pages long. Apparently, he tries to find you doing wrong, not right. I got all this info from Old Guy, who took the class last semester, and, then verified it online in the "Instructor Ratings" on the CSN website. But no, I'm not scared of Chef Ramsey, I am just not sure what I want, or more specifically, what I want to do. I'm positive I want to open another business, but what?

Think I'll go talk to the one that helped me pass that test.

Happy Holidays everyone. May the New Year bring you all the love, peace and happiness you deserve.