What I am doing, and why

Today was the first day of chemistry class. Chem class? Why am I taking a chemistry class?

From the job-free vantage of 2004, I several times considered taking my massage training into a more rigorous direction, such as going back to school for a degree in Physical Therapy, or Chiropractic, or perhaps even full-on med school. However, when I looked closer at any of those options, they tend to require a list of pre-requisites that my training in civil engineering simply did not provide; chemistry, organic chem, biology, physics. And somehow the prospect of two years of pre-requisites before you can even enter a degree program is a bit… daunting.

Thankfully, some chickie-babe steered me towards New College in SF. They offer a series of classes designed to fulfill pre-med requirements, condensed into a weekends-only, 8-month program. Two months of weekends for Chemistry, two more for Organic Chem, two more for Bio and two more for Physics. In other words, just a staggering amount of knowledge in a really short span of time. Drinking from the firehose.

So, the general plan is to do Chem and O Chem back to back, assuming I can keep up with the pace. Then I’d like to take a term off for traveling, camping, and letting my head clear, then rushing into Bio and Physics. Frankly, I expect those last two to be much easier than the two Chem classes.

And why? That still remains to be seen. Maybe I’ll finish all four classes and rush into a degree program. Or maybe not. I’ve always enjoyed “education for education’s sake”, so even if I don’t do a thing with all of this material, I still think I’ll enjoy the process. Hey, it gives me something else to geek out over, and that’s usually a good thing, right?

The classes are right at Fell and Market, in SF. If anyone has lunch suggestions in walking distance from there, I’d love to hear about it. Today I was able to catch up with phidiana at Zumi, which was lovely, but far too brief.