The beginning of the end?

Plans never work out the way you intend them to.
This I have learned. Or at least learned to live with the fact.
"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."
-Proverbs 16:9
It's important to know, to trust in the One who does know where you're headed, or rather where He wants to guide you and how He wants to shape you. Too often I try to forge my own path to satisfy my desires. It seems to be a recurring theme here on this blog. Let me tell you the most recent ways it relates.

The Army vs. diabetes thing is not looking too good right now. I think it's still a matter of eating right and exercising, but I haven't exercised for the past three weeks at least, and have indulged in sweets and desserts way too much before coming back to school. Then, once I get here, all the food is starchy (as in potatoes and breads and pasta and stuffs, not pressed shirts. :-p) and thus loaded with carbs, which is what I need to be avoiding. So, I've checked my sugar a few times since arriving in Texas, and it's been lower each time, but all three were above my "acceptable" threshold, which has me a little concerned. However, I think that once I start running again and continuing to avoid breads and desserts for the most part (60 carbs is not much of a meal when you've got a heaping plate of pizza and pasta in front of you), I'll be back on the road to enlistment. Then comes a lab test in September or October, and that will most likely determine if I decide to pursue them any further.

Ok, enough of the Army. On to another area/era that's coming to a close in my life is my undergrad status. I hesitate to say my college life, because I'd love to stay in school, if it weren't for the school. Getting married is a very appealing option, but not for me at the moment. Maybe if no Army, definitely after Army. Army Army Army. Where was I again? Oh right, College. So this is the first day of classes for the last semester of my current college career. I graduate in December, and then it's world wide open. Oh boy.

Presently, I'm working at a local gym/recreational outreach center called, unsurprizingly, The ROC. I was hoping to work 16 hours a week in the evenings working on homework, but it looks like that's gonna get cut in half because there's another guy who was here before me that wants to work as well. Drats. So, not making as much as I wanted, but at least I have a guaranteed 8 hours each week. Also trying to get into the Network side of Network Services, but my roommate helped out over the summer and thus has higher priority now. Another closing door.

It's time to start looking at other options. I need to send out feelers all over to see if there's anyone (other than the Army) willing to hire me, and at a wage that will pay rent and other bills. Unless I live at home and get a government job, I'll need to find an apartment. I could live with a friend, but that may not be optimal. We shall see what develops, but I'd really rather not live at home, if only because that would require hauling ALL my stuff ALL the way back to Maryland, and I'm pretty sure it won't all fit in our van and my car. (YAY CAR!)

Not sure what else to put down, so I guess I'll sign off now. If you'd rather hear about something other than the Army or college or relationship whining, please tell me so. Then again, if that's the case, you probably stopped reading my blog long ago. :-p

Adios!
-Gilligan

Major events summary - Spring '09

SO. There's a lot going on, and I'm not quite sure what's gonna happen this summer. Here's a brief recap:

I've gotten through another semester of school, though I'm not really sure that I got C's or better in all my classes. I've got a B for sure in at least two of my classes, but currently carrying a D in two others before the final, and no idea about the fifth. Won't find about those until tomorrow, so here's hoping.

I've got two summer courses, Intertestamental Period and Romans, so we'll see how those go. I'm interested in the information presented, and they are online so it might be a bit easier, but I don't know how the quizzes will be.

I still need to find a job for the summer, and the options range from driving cars back and forth to dealerships for my dad to working at the IT department of a local hospital, to being a fitness guy at the new YMCA by my house. I may even look around for waitering jobs if nothing else comes through.

Also, and this is really exciting... I HAVE A NEW CAR! My parents bought me a 2001 Corolla LE. It's silver/grey/"Mica" So we'll be driving that out as well as the van when I go back to school in the Fall.

Speaking of school, I need to not get any D's (unlikely), or else I'm on my own for college next semester, as per my agreement with Dad. I'm already set up with responsibilities and maybe even a job next semester at LETU, so I'll be alright as long as I find enough work to pay for most of it, like my roommate did. (Un)fortunately that means I'll have to step up the responsibility a bit more, but I only need 13 more credits, so keeping up with the schoolwork shouldn't be too bad. I've finally got a schedule that will allow me to work non-stop during the day, have half an hour for breakfast, and hour for lunch, and a 2-hour dinner, then studying afterwards. I finally also realized that I CAN break up big assignments into 20 or 30 minute chunks, and NOT have to have a certain thing done before I can move on to the next assignment. That's what's killed me before. Big assignment = "ACK! What do I do? It's too big for right now, so I guess I'll put it off till later when I have more time... oh wait. It's due tomorrow! OK, late night it is!"

So, yeah... the summer is moving on... and now I'm off to the Y to ask about that job.

Life in Chicago

A bit more boring than I'd expected... But hey, it's pretty good anyways, and I'm enjoying my break because of it. :-)

I should definitely be doing some homework, but instead I'm catching up on blogs and chatting with friends, and blogging. Life's not so bad.

Not really too much else to report in the land of Gilligan... relationships are all going decently, and school... well I'm still behind, but that should be fixed by the end of today, or this week at least.

Watched Office Space last night for the first time. It was pretty funny, but not as gut-bustingly hilarious as I thought it would be. Still a good movie about the horrors of cubicle life. A bit like Dilbert, but definitely not a direct copy whatsoever. Other movies watched this week include: The Great Mouse Detective, Terminator, Casino Royale, and Doug's First Movie. All decent flicks, except for the last, which made me want to watch some episodes of Doug to get the new voice of Doug out of my head... The movie was done by Disney, who used a different voice actor than they had when the show was on Nickelodeon. I want my 90's television back dangit!

Things I have accomplished

In the past week or two:

1. Got my unread Google Reader feeds down to 14 (from 140something)
2. Got my unread Gmail down to 0 (from 80something)
3. Drove to school (w/ my mom)
4. Unpacked.
5. Hooked up to internet. (Yay!)
6. Met old friends and talked to some new people. (Can't call them friends yet... I can't remember most of their names.)
7. Fixed a MAJOR problem with the registrar. (Finishing that up tomorrow... ugh. More details to follow)
8. Fixed a MAJOR problem with a friend. (That's mostly dealt with... no loose ends to think of at this point.)

That's about it... Ok, now for the more details.

Basically I'd been working with the school to get me re-enrolled over the summer, and hopefully pre-registered, even though I wasn't coming back as a "returning student". I'd been away for a year and thus should have done things the new-student way, but I've got connections. Which is a VERY good thing, because we got 40 or so freshmen on our floor, and I wouldn't have been able to snag a spot had I waited much longer. Anywho, on to the financial snafu. Issue one: How to get LeTourneau to receive the $30,000 loan I'd applied for... Apparently they need to certify it before they can get the money (to prove they're a legitimate school, I suppose.) That slowed things down a bit, and it still hasn't gone through, but now I have till September 8th to get it done. Whew.
Issue two: EVEN THOUGH I'd been talking with the school ALL SUMMER about getting me registered and enrolled and all that, when they asked for some papers, and I forgot to send a copy of my W-2s (and then handed them to Dad to deal with...) they assumed I'd withdrawn, thus clearing my Student affairs information, Blackboard account, classes, and financial aid. Ugh. Double ugh, and triple ugh. Luckily it all seemed to have gotten straightened out, but I still need to get some health forms re-submitted and dad needs to send in another piece of paper (apparently it's an important one) before everything is completely smoothed out. Also good is I will only have one more fall to deal with, and that will be done as a returning student. Easy, right? (Let's hope so.)

Also on the academic side of things, I've returned with more fervor for getting things done this time around, and actually achieving a 3.0 or better. It's too bad I didn't keep it before, cause then I'd still have some scholarships... and some need based aid. Ugh. I sucketh(ed). But no longer! Now all that's needed is a consistent schedule, getting ahead in class, and a heavy reliance on the One that keeps me alive. It's a good thing.

In relationships... Well specifically ones with girls, and most particularly the deep important ones, mine have had less than stellar interactions recently. Though most recently, we've had a big long talk that have put things to rest and in their place. I hope. I'm not dating for the next semester, and I'll be looking for potential mates starting in the spring, who knows if I'll find a suitable female... But I've got a year and a half left after this one. *sigh* Why can't relationships be so hard? Why can't they just work out? When they're on track, life is grand. When they take a turn for the worse, your whole world is upside down.

In the words of an excellent friend, "It's over, it's done, I'm back. Now time for trouble." Uh... well actually, scratch that second sentence. ;-)

Stephe (planning)