John Hattaway

I believe today, or now yesterday, was a rather successful day. I’d been studying for a world civ test, this is the second mid-term, the third test will be the final and that is offered only on Thursday December 18 at 5:00 p.m. What this means is that by 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. I will have completed the class and be done with finals and BYU. Since Erin and I were on campus so I could find some books for research on a project I am working on, and since we wanted to show codename: CAMPER off to some of the people I’ve worked with in the past, we were walking around, visiting, and talking about life in general.

“I wonder if I will feel relief when I am done and if this pressure will go away or if it is going to take time?”

“I think you will feel relief,” Erin said.

“Really?”

“Well, more than me. I had that one class and it just kind of fizzled.”

“Oh. Well, maybe I will sleep for, like, two days straight. Not really. I have to help take care of [codename: CAMPER]. But maybe it will feel like it.”

That was it. When I am done I may very well feel like I am done. This is a long time coming. There was a period of time where, quite honestly, I don’t think I ever expected to go back to college and get a degree. I was really just expecting that I would find a way to live my life and do little more. Now I will have one and go on for more. I find it amazing the changes that take place that allow for radical changes to take place in our lives.

What is really exciting to me is that I walked away from the test today actually feeling like I did well. I read through the questions. If they required a complex answer I outlined on scrap paper what I wanted to say, I went through all of the answers and did that. In some cases, I wrote the answer down on the scrap paper and then moved on. Nothing in the Blue Book until I was done outlining everything I needed to answer. And then, and only then, I moved forward and started writing. I almost filled the entire Blue Book. I’ve never done that.

The professor told the class that, traditionally, the class did overwhelmingly well on the first test, less well on the second, and slightly better on the third. I passed, but not well, the first test, I believe I rocked the second test, and I hope to REALLY rock the third test. Here’s me crossing my fingers.

As for the future job search, had some positive waves come in my direction this morning/afternoon when I received some emails that, first, gave me a bad time for referring to a wrong company; and second, indicated that my resume was getting in the right hands. Unfortunately, since having UMass Amherst tell me that all job searches were being suspended and that if and when they start the hiring process again they would contact me, I have felt a little bummed at the prospects and have been applying for things within a 40 mile radius of where we will be living. The outcome has been bupkiss since I’ve had no responses from anyone. That is pretty sad. However, things feel as though they might begin moving forward and that is pretty exciting too.

Anyway, that’s it for now.

Real Heroes Fly