All at once, Summer is over in a definitive fashion. I enjoyed a bit of sun this weekend during a short little bicycle ride on Sunday and lounging in a park afterwards. But the wind has picked up, clouds have gathered and this morning it was so cold I went around the house making sure windows were closed. I’m pretty happy about how I spent the season. There was just a ridiculous amount of biking around, wringing out every drop of fun I could manage.<\/p>\n
On the work front\u2026 there’s very little work front left. My last day is Thursday of this week. All the company-owned equipment has already been returned and I’m merely waiting for the paperwork to arrive. It was a good ride and I’m sure I will miss it considerably. But I’m looking forward to what comes next.<\/p>\n
And speaking of next, classes started yesterday. The one waitlist class was successfully added, all my forms were turned in and I don’t feel quite so lost wandering around campus now. Two of the classes should be readily manageable, more review than anything else. But one of the classes should be more of a challenge. I’m realizing it has been *cough* over 20 years since I’ve taken a math class! I’m not even sure I know how to take a math class any more. Does one take notes? What do the notes say? “Carry the seven.” “It’s spelled ‘sin’, but not like the fun kind; it’s pronounced ‘sign’.” “Base 8 is just like base 10\u2026 if you’re missing two fingers.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile at the other campus, tutoring has started for the Fall term, and it is already crazy busy. I arrived early on the first day, and while waiting for the tutoring center to be unlocked, I had students asking me to help them with problems in the hallway, squatting on the floor. The center is filled to overflowing and I spend the entire shift going from question to question without break. Frankly, I prefer that to sitting idle, but still\u2026 it’s an unmistakable increase in traffic from last year. I wonder if it will stay like this all term? And I’m amused to note I’m pretty comfortable tutoring one of the classes I’m taking this term… and the class after it. But that could easily change as the term progresses and the classes move into more challenging material.<\/p>\n
Getting from one campus to the next is going to be a challenge. MHCC is far enough east that it’s a hell of a hike just to get to the last MAX station. If the weather is passable, I can bike it easily enough. But in foul weather, I’ll have to drive to one of the MAX stations and take the Green line from there. I’ve got just enough time to make that work (at the cost of any possible lunch), but it’s a bigger hassle than I might like. I’m investigating changing around my tutoring schedule to make this all rather easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"