Wake Me Up When September Ends

When I was serving a mission in Chile, I was scheduled to go home in September of 2007.  My last few months in the field were spent listening to fellow missionaries sing Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" to remind me that the end of my mission was drawing near.  Nowadays, whenever the month of September draws to a close, I inevitably think of that song.

This month has been a very interesting one for me, mostly because I am now back in school.  It's a strange thing, really.  After taking a two-year break from the classroom environment with all the homework, tests and stress that come with it, I at first felt very out-of-place and ill-equipped for success.  Luckily I am only enrolled in two classes at the moment, so my workload hasn't been too overwhelming... yet.

My favorite of the two is British Literature: Beginnings to 1800 (English 2610).  My professor is a delightful woman who is full of energy and great insight, carefully orchestrating the class discussions so that I always feel I am learning something without ever feeling bored.  We have read and analyzed Beowulf, Judith, The Wife's Lament, selections from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (focusing on the "General Prologue" and "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale"), selections from Malory's Morte D'Arthur and we are now moving into the 16th Century with Sir Thomas More's Utopia.  Very interesting stuff, even if I feel like all my time outside of class is spent reading!

The other class I am taking is Ethics and Values (Philosophy 2050), and I am getting tired of everyone laughing and saying, "You sure need that one!"  Ha ha.  I'm gay so I have no values... ha ha.  I get it.  Besides, the class isn't what people think it would be.  Instead of going into Aristotle and his philosophies, for example, we spend class discussing things like healthcare, immigration, and political correctness.  Every week I am required to watch two hours of political commentary (an hour that is liberal and an hour that is conservative) and report on the topics and opinions conveyed.  Overall, I find the subject matter interesting, but the professor lacks a clear objective when he is teaching and the result is a two-and-a-half-hour class period of his rambling.

Assignments for both classes have been minimal thus far, but currently I am studying for a big test in my Brit Lit class and sometime in October I have to lead a class discussion on pornography and prostitution in Ethics and Values.  After those get graded I'll have a much clearer picture of how I'm doing, but for the moment, I'm doing just fine!

Aside from school, not much has changed.  Brian is still working for Culinary Crafts and he's been getting a lot of hours lately.  He brings home twice as much money as me, which doesn't exactly make me feel awesome.  I'm still at the movie theater, but am seriously considering a new job because minimum wage just simply doesn't cut it.  Brian and I went apartment hunting the other day, and if we are ever going to move out I'm going to have to bring home some bacon!

Our financial situation isn't completely bleak, however.  We have finally paid off all our credit card debt!  Yay!  And we actually have a sizable dollar amount in our savings account, which is rare for the two of us.  So in that aspect, things are looking up.

Enough about money, though!  September has had plenty of fun moments!  We've seen lots of new movies, Glee's new season started, Brian took me up to Thanksgiving Point for the first time and later today I am going bowling!  Brian's sister Courtney celebrated her "sweet sixteen" on the 27th, my sister Renee turned eighteen on the 28th and our friend Michelle's birthday is today!

September really has been good to us, and I hope that October can be even better.