Me and my Dreams...

It has become obvious to some that I have quite the imagination when it comes to my dreams. So let's discuss another recent dream. While this one was shorter, and the details are fuzzier, its weirdness has not eluded me. This dream occurred a few nights ago and while I planned to write about it and hadn't gotten to it due to seasonal gatherings, I still remember the details fairly well.

In this dream, I'm dating Alan Rickman. Many of you may know him from his recently well-portrayed and infamous role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movie series. However, if you've seen the latest of the movies, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2", then you know Snape is no longer infamous. For the sake of those who haven't seen this final film, I will say no more.
Anyway, I'm dating Alan Rickman, and we're serious about each other. We're in love. We start off at some type of meeting or banquet hall. In one room, a hypnotist/psychic is holding a show, or presentation- whatever. We're walking past the room and Alan makes eye contact with the guy and I realize they know each other. By the look on Alan's face, it's not a pleasant past. The psychic calls him into the room and is taunting him to come in, "Oh, come on, Alan. You can't still be scared." I tell Alan he doesn't have to do this, and we can go, but he has something to prove and we move over to the table this jerk is sitting at. As we sit down, he's holding my hand very tightly and I whisper in his ear, "I'm right here. Say the word, and we'll walk out of here." It's this part where he looks scared and I feel so badly for him that I know we're in love.
This hypnotist/psychic is messing with him. He's putting him into some kind of trance and trying to scare him. I'm trying to talk to him, but he doesn't hear me. I decide I have to do something and I get up and look for a way to help him.
I walk out of the banquet hall, cut across the foyer, and go into another room. As I walk into this room, my shirt snags on the door frame and rips. Ever so conveniently, it's ripped in a way that it keeps falling down in front. (Shut up) In the room I've walked into, there's a woman wearing a silk blouse sitting at a desk. Holding my shirt in place, I tell her to give me her shirt. She looks at me like I'm insane, and I quickly say, "The hypnotist is making me do this." The stupid, imaginary woman believes me, gives me her shirt, and puts her jacket on.
Here's where the details get fuzzy. When I go back into the hall, I'm able to get Alan away from the hypnotist guy, but the guy's livid that I have. So, Alan and I have to run. We make it outside and into the parking lot where a group of his friends is waiting for us. They hide us in a cargo van and the hypnotist comes running out, now with goonies. He starts to recede when one of goonies sees us and they begin smashing the windows of the van. With the help of Alan's friends, we get away and make it safely to our hotel where we check in as though none of this happened.
And that, my friends, is my dream about Alan Rickman. Now, I haven't watched anything with him in a few months so, I'm not sure where this dream came from. I've never had a "thing" for Snape, or the first character I knew him as- Metatron in "Dogma". However, now I have this lasting feeling as though Alan Rickman and I have once been in love. I would also like to point out, that he was born in 1946. This means that he is approximately 65 years old. Being as I am 28, that is a 37 year difference. But, love knows no age.
Also, while reviewing his work on the IMDb, Internet Movie Database, I learned he was in a film that involved the role of a high functioning autistic woman. I will see this movie.

Well then... I think I'll pop in a Harry Potter flick.

Whoa

Following the steps of my follower, I took a depression quiz. I used to take medication for depression. I started on a low dose of Prozac for about a year before it had to be doubled, then tripled. Then I moved to Lexapro; after 6 months, they added Welbutrin. THEN, they added Clonazepam, and anti-anxiety drug.
Then one day, I came to the realization that all these medications aren't working because I'm not medically depressed, I'm just unhappy with my life. Yes, I un-diagnosed myself and stopped my medication with the help of my psychiatrist. I've not been on meds for over a year.
I took this little quiz today, which told me I have issues, but it all seems normal to me for someone under a lot of stress. Shouldn't I feel stressed and slightly depressed watching my autistic son struggle to make friends, and while I'm trying to graduate with honors, and my husband and I fight almost daily? No medication will change those things. It's up to me to manage these stressors more productively.

So here's my results...

Disorder	Your Score
Major Depression:	Very High
Dysthymia:	Extremely High
Bipolar Disorder:	Very Slight
Cyclothymia:	Slight
Seasonal Affective Disorder:	Extremely High
Postpartum Depression:	N/A
Take the Depression Test

Well then... on with the coping.

Listen up, people

When Obama became President, he made promises in regards to secondary education and student loan repayments. Specifically, he said, "...in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college." In a petition on the White House website, through the "We the People" platform, a citizen presented their concern about forgiveness of student loans, the declining economy, and citizen's inability to keep up the job market due to lack being able to afford secondary education. Thus, leading to lower wages and increasing poverty rates. This petition received over 32,000 votes within 30 days. In the response to said petition, they pointed out the increased Pell Grant amount of $5,500.

Today, on the radio, I heard about a bill in the making regarding the Pell Grant. For those of you who don't know, the Pell Grant is a grant from the Federal government that does not get paid back. Whether or not a student qualifies to receive these funds, and the amount a student receives, is based on his/her income and poverty level the previous year- verified through yearly taxes.
The proposed bill suggests decreasing the monthly range of Pell Grant disbursement from 15 months to 12 months and changing the qualifying criteria so that approximately 100,000 students would no longer qualify. All of this is to aid in lowering our nation's deficit.

What kind of hypocrisy is this?

Now, I didn't vote for Obama- mostly because I had a baby that very day and didn't make it to the polls. But, I'm starting to see the problem people have with him. He wants to lessen the country's deficit by killing the future economy. Less funds paid out in Pell Grants means citizens will have more funds from student loans, more debt, and higher payments after graduation.

So, I used our government's new, handy petition generator and pointed all this out. So, I tell you, my people, go. Go forth and sign. Go forth and tell your loved ones to sign. Save our futures and our children's futures.

Here's the link:

Save the Pell Grants



or copy and paste:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/leave-pell-grant-alone-and-fix-debt-another-way/kN96dnnJ

Well then... GO SIGN

So, get THIS...

I'll have my Associate's in Interdisciplinary Studies, with an emphasis in Early Childhood Development, as of May 29, 2012. So, in light of my upcoming degree, I began researching for employment opportunities. After not finding much, I went to my school's website to look up my degree information where they include potential job titles. After about twenty solid minutes of searching, I realize my degree isn't listed anymore. However, I do see a newly listed program with all the same courses listed that I've taken (minus two)- Associate's in Applied Science in Early Childhood Development. THIS is the degree I want. I can't help but think this newly named degree would please the eye of a potential employer more than my current one.

So, I called to see what I need to do to have the "new" degree. An academic adviser tells me I would need the two other courses listed in the new plan. I can't replace my needless two keyboarding classes because the two combined equal 5 credits. If I took the other classes for the new degree, I would exceed my program credit requirements of 90, which I'm not supposed to do. And I wouldn't if my last adviser hadn't scheduled me for Bachelor's level honors courses and screwed up my credit count.

Then I ask, "Couldn't I get my current degree, then take the missing two courses for the new one, carry over the same credits and have both degrees?"

His reply? "Well, yes, but the degrees are really the same thing, with different names."

"But if they're the same degree, why are there different courses? With my current degree, I'm missing these two courses to have the "new" degree," I point out.

"Well, yeah, I guess you are."

"Yeah, I guess I am."

So, I'm left with a degree that I'm not sure I want. I planned to start my Bachelor's in Child Psychology in June, accompanied by some Master's courses, which would leave me with my Bachelor's in Child Psychology by July 2015 and my Master's of Science in Psychology- Applied Behavior Analysis by March 2016.

However, I think I'm going to take those two courses first and get the degree I want. 

What's two Associate's degrees going to hurt? Nothin'. Ain't gonna hurt nothin'.

Well then... I'm gonna seem purty smart with all them there degrees.

Testing a .gif upload.... this is one of my favorites :)

Time for Braggin', or Not

My current term is almost over. I have a 99.7% in my Caring for Children with Special Needs class, and a 98.9% in my Nutrition class. When you aim for 100%, these numbers disappoint you. My final term ends May 29. My degree will mail out in 6-8 weeks after that so that I receive it around my ceremony date.
I had to register for graduation today, which isn't until August, but if registration is open, that means it will fill up fast. Students have to have a 3.0 GPA to even attend the ceremony, so that probably eliminates quite a few students. Also, they're holding graduation at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago. While that place is pretty fantastically huge, space is limited. In order to be guaranteed my two guest tickets, I need to register early. Now, I"m not sure why I'm so intent on getting two tickets. The event is on a Saturday, which Dave always works Saturdays...When I asked him if he would take the day off, or even ask, he rolled his eyes. He says he doubts he could get a Saturday off in the summer and that being able to pay our bills is more important. No one else seems to want to go. No one cares, I guess. It almost seems pointless to go. Someone has to watch the kids. If Dave doesn't go, that leaves my mom with the kids, since she doesn't want to go anyway. No one would be going except me, and that's stupid.

Growing up, I wasn't pushed to go to college, or even encouraged. And so far, I'm the only one of four kids to have gone to college. I thought my mom would be proud of me. I thought she'd want to see me walk across the stage and get my degree, with honors. When I told her when the ceremony is, she offered to watch the kids.
No, I'm not getting my degree for anyone else, other than myself. However, I do wish the people most important to me would recognize the hard work I've put into getting into school, maintaining such a high GPA, and finally graduating- with honors.

*Sigh*

Well then... maybe I shouldn't go.

Whose Bright Idea was Digital Imaging?

Here I am trying to create a calendar online, through Walgreens.com. First, the "fast" uploader isn't working at all. Thirteen images are listed and awaiting upload. Nothing happens. So I close it, and restart it about five times. Same thing, every time. I back out of the calendar maker and go to their photo center area and try to create the album there. Success! ...Mostly. It get to image 9 of 13 before it's stopping and doing nothing. What percent is that? That's right, it's frozen at 69% completion. I end up having to load the remaining four images one by one. Good job, Walgreens. Stellar server operations.
Then, all I need to do now is scan the kids' pictures with Santa from last weekend. Place picture one in scanner, set scan mode on printer, hit start... ... ... nothing. The little screen on the printer says it's scanning, it's communicated to the computer and the computer has a small window saying the image is scanning, but it LIES. It lies, I tell you.
So, I cancel the scan, which doesn't really work and I have to go through the task manager to end the process. Guess what!? Not responding. Who'da thunk it?
This time, I initiate the scan through the software on the laptop. I use the preview scan option first, which works. I can see the image. Then I go to actually scan, and three minutes later, it completes my request.
Second picture. Repeat all previous scanning steps taken. None work. Not even the preview scan. My eyes cannot roll hard enough, or far enough, into the back of my head.
I get the benefits of electronically managing and accessing my pictures, but seriously!!?? I'm so tired of technology and it's blatant laziness and lack of respect towards me.

Well then... time to destroy a scanner. >:|