The square root of stress cubed

I know, it's been a month almost since my last posting so I'll try to make up for it.

Being thirty something and in college isn't a big surprise to most of us, but it is to me. I genuinely thought I was too old for this sort of thing, but I seem to be doing well enough. LOL I guess you can say 4.0 is well enough. While I realize that an A is an A regardless of where in the A range it is, I still fret the missing 4% here or 6% there. I used to be a restaurant manager and I'm spending more hours per week on college than I was working. At least in the food service industry, you have instant gratification when you make a dish. In college, you have to wait for the professor to grade whatever it is that you've turned in.

My school has had 2 ice days that have pushed back my first two classes instruction. I was supposed to have a psychology exam today (that's my major in case you didn't catch it earlier), but that's been pushed back to Thursday. An extra two days to study you say? heh I was also supposed to have a math quiz today, but get this... The professor forgot about spring break. (What?!) Sooo, he decides to change his mind and forget the quiz and instead schedule a half chapter test for Thursday. Okay, back to back exams first thing in the morning isn't so bad. Now the course we all love, Public Speaking. This mid-term was supposed to be today also, but nooooo, because some people think that not showing up on the day they're supposed to speak but showing up on exam day is fine. Well, rat-butt because we all had to listen to the late speeches and the exam was put off until Thursday. THREE BACK TO BACK EXAMS.

Now literature is another subject all together (all pun intended). No exam for this week, just the occasional quiz and ridiculous vocabulary assignments, but... We have an essay due the first day we get back from Spring Break and another one due exactly one week after that. At least three of my professors left Spring Break alone. :)

Spring Break is going to suck anyway. It's not at the same time that my kids have Spring Break and my wife is going to be TDY the entire week. I have a 15 year old that can, if he chooses, behave like a fine young man but decides that being rebellious and obstinate is the better choice. I have an 11 year old that talks faster than the human brain can process and I have a 7 year old whose imagination (especially when he's built something and wants mom and dad to come see it so he can explain it in detail for 30 plus minutes) is boggling.

On top of all that, my wife is going to Iraq for a year. Here I will be, a grown man in college again, raising three kids, maintaining a house and finances, etc. With every passing day the stress gets greater and greater. Now, I consider myself a psychologist in the making, perhaps pre-psychologist would be a better term. I'll just say this. Ever try to perform psychology on yourself? It's very difficult to get an unbiased opinion.

So, I just finished a lengthy project observing a 4-year-old which assessed his development. This kid is an absolute trip. Middle SES African American kid being raised by a single mom and an uncle. (huh?) Families come in all sorts, just remember. This kid is just smart. I could qualify that, but I don't want to bore anyone to death with psycho-babble. Maybe I'll publish my report on him after a little bit.

I'm going to close this for now. I'm done ranting and raving.