First day!

Oh, how much I hurt...

There were good and bad points all day. First, I couldn't sleep last night.  Went to bed early, fell asleep, hour and a half later 100% wide awake. Went back to sleep sometime after 3am. Woke up and got out of bed about 6:30. 30 minutes later than I had intended to. I got out of the apartment and to school in good time. I purchased a locker for the semester at the rec center, but didn't really have time to get started. Checked on the bookstore. Closed. Realized I was very hungry and headed off to the meal hall.

All you can eat breakfast food. $7. So, I'm $7 poorer now, but the biscuits and sausage gravy was so good! After eating my fill I have 7 minutes to go about 200 yards to English class.I arrive at the class with 4 minutes to spare, but apparently he started a few minutes before that. Good to know now. Prof English goes on about the syllabus at length pausing sometimes to go into more depth of certain personal feeling of semi-related subject.

For instance, his absolute disdain for graduation ceremonies, stating vehemently he believes they are one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and are the reason for all of the "sense of entitlement" that people have today. He goes on about this peeve of his for about 5 minutes. This instantly inspires me to write an essay that would surely put me at odds with my Professor. Whereas it'd be fun to tell him off on that topic, it would be more fun to get an 4.0 GPA at this school too.

After class I show a giant classmate where the IT Help-desk is. He says he just came from Chicago and that is what people call him. Why would people in Chicago call him that? Is he the epitome of Chicago? Are they all 6'6" basketball players? Is he the the Avatar of the city itself? If so, why is he in metro Atlanta? I may never know the answers to these questions. I don't think they're important questions, so it will be okay.

 I leave Chi-town and head over to the Physics office to see what's going on. I got 2 hours to kill be fore Pre-Calc. Two guys were hanging out there, both younger than me. I find out that one is a physics professor. LeJoné and I talk for a few minutes. He's hung over from a party last night.

I get over to the bookstore finally. I still had not received my email notification that my books were ready for pick-up and I wanted to know why. Found out that they were ready for pickup and I was on my way again.

This is where my lack of sleep punched me in the face. It was like being suddenly drowsy and drunk at the same time. I found a student organization handing out free coffee and had a cup. Good and bad move. The coffee got me going again, but it did so by letting me burn all of the energy at the bottom of the tank in one quick 25 minute burst.

Just in time for me to be 20 minutes early for Pre-Calc. I try to download the e-textbook. right at the critical point the network drops. The activation code used. Instantly I watch $80 fly right out the classroom window. Not a real $80, but the $80 I spent on that e-textbook.

People pile into the classroom. Oh yeah. The desks in the room are those desktop-attached-to-the-chair kind from when you were in middle school/Jr High. No really. The same exact ones. They were so tiny that my 15.6" laptop can just sit on the desktop and there is no room for anything else. Not even a pencil. It was this exact type of desk in the image.

Prof Pre-Calc arrives on time. introduces himself quietly and quickly. Goes over the syllabus in about 10 minutes and spends then next forty with his back to us in speaking writing on the chalkboard (yes there was a chalkboard) his body in the way of being able to see anything he wrote. Also, if there is a way to write in small type with chalk, Prof Pre-Calc has mastered it. He could probably teach a class on the subject. To bad you'd never be able to read his notes, as he doesn't lecture.

Back to the bookstore to find out what can be done about the lost e-textbook. I'm given the vendor's phone number and told to try and work it out with them and if nothing happens through that method the school will refund and then reissue the e-textbook. I go to the Help-desk to get a good WiFi connection and begin the journey.

Successful in my effort to get the e-textbook activated, I find that through this vendor (not a Nook Study book) I can only have access to the book when I am connected to the internet. Not to mention the atrocity that is their user interface. I make the decision to hang my head in shame and purchase a real copy of the text book. I might add that while at the Help-desk, I did a fair share of tech support. The line was constantly backing up out of the office all day.

Back to the bookstore. I get a copy of the Pre-Calc text book and the required graphing calculator and go home as fast as I can. Later this evening I decided to open the calculator and get to know it. Shortly after I get a call from a friend who in the course of conversation tells me that I shounld have used his calculator instead of buying one.

I'm hoping they'll take it back with an opened package.

I'm so exhausted.

It's good to be back in school!