Motivation

Do you ever think back to your college years and wish that you had taken more classes?  Are you kidding?  I was pretty much focused on fitting in all the classes that I needed to graduate in four years.  However, there are a few classes that had nothing to do with my physics major that really would have been of some benefit.  I really wanted to take a graphic design or painting class from the art department.  Those classes met in the evening for three hours at a stretch, though, and I never could see giving up six evening hours per week.  (When would I do my physics homework?)  I did manage to work in a few painting seminars and lessons from my grandmother in later years, however.

My dad really wanted me to take an accounting class.  I did the books for his retirement account when I was in high school, which really was a chore (especially the first year, when I had to go back and find all the mistakes made for the last ten years in order to get all the accounts to balance).  Even though I knew how to balance an account ledger when I got to college, my dad thought it would be good to understand how accountants think.  Since then, I’ve found that using Quicken makes balancing the accounts at home a snap, though I still wonder what the accountants are thinking every time I try to decipher the monthly budget reports for my grants sent to me from the budget office at work. 

My mom lobbied for me to take a sewing class in the family and consumer science department.  I’ve always worn a small size in petites, and it has always been a challenge to buy clothes that fit.  Some years I’ve giving up on shopping completely and headed for the fabric store to piece together a wardrobe (literally).  Other times I’ve just given up on having new clothes for that season.   Nothing is more maddening than to be shopping for professional clothes to wear to work and have the sales clerk tell you, “We don’t carry your size.  Have you looked in juniors?”  Umm, no, junior styles usually are not what I have in mind when I’m trying to look older and more sophisticated than the college students I’m teaching. 

One of the perks of being a college professor is that you can audit any class for free, and I’ve had my eye on the tailoring classes for quite some time.  But I always found an excuse or a potential conflict, and never had the nerve (or the time) to take a class.  However, the stars have now come into alignment.  I met the instructor for the apparel design and tailoring classes.  My teaching load for the semester turned out to be remarkably light.  I could even shift my stellar structures class so that it didn’t conflict with apparel design.  And, by golly, I got really disgusted with the last dress that I made that just didn’t fit right ….

So here I am, after having graduated umpteen years ago, back in the classroom as a student.  And this time, I really want to learn the material.   So despite the fact that I have four kids at home ages three through seven, and the fact that I have three papers and a grant to write before the middle of October, I decided to write a blog about this experience so that I can remember all the details later.  And so that I can get extra credit. :)