Peace and quiet

The phone was silent today and it's going to be quiet from here on out. I loved it. I should have disconnected the landline a few years ago. I was able to read my assignments undisturbed, without annoying telemarketers calling for "Ms - - - -" with that long, drawn-out and befuddled sound. My printed last name is quite intimidating to Anglo-Saxons, and when people called asking me by my full name I knew they were callers I could gladly hang up on. They didn't know me, so why waste my time? A silent phone means I didn't have to jump up to answer the phone and I didn't have to conjure up some lie as to why I didn't want to listen to some marketing scheme.

Even the TV stays off for longer stretches of time during the day. I am calmer and more focused now. I am appreciating the sounds of silence.

But the silence is also disheartening. The school hasn't called me in two weeks. With my current class load I don't mind, quite honestly, as I can start each day concentrating on one subject. Mondays it's computer essentials, Wednesdays it's US History (taught by a Bisbeeite who's resembling George Carlin more and more), Thursdays it's English that is slowly warming up to me as well, but I am used to getting called in to work at least three days a week.

My one on-line class is also coming along, although my one concern is still getting my MoJo at starting my research papers. Even my computer class requires a research paper. That totals seven papers in three months.

I enjoy the mix of classes I am taking. But next semester I think I'm going to appreciate taking non-writing classes like Spanish or Biology for Non-Majors.

All my classmates are new this semester. None of them are familiar from my Education courses. I've come across Cecilia in the bookstore a few weeks ago. She's changed her major to Nursing. I ran into Rebecca last week in the computer lab. She, too, has switched to Nursing. Yesterday I met Kim at the library. We chatted a bit about our current class load, gave tips for good and not-so-good instructors here, and shared sentiments about the ever-growing drop-outs in the teaching field. She is taking her Elementary Ed course this semester and already seems overloaded, but Kim is simply a woman who takes all tasks seriously. She will do just fine.

One thing I know for sure: I can't waste time this semester reading recreational books, or spending long stretches on the internet perusing fun sites. Time is precious.

Hard to believe we are already in September. Soon fall will arrive and temperatures will get cooler. The rain we were supposed to get from Hurricane Jimena never came. In fact, Jimena died to a Cat2 and then to a Tropical Storm two days ago, veering west and then north, away from Baja California. That course was not predicted at all. I was looking forward to her coming north across the Sea of Cortez and hitting us today/tomorrow with rain. She never made it to the Gulf of California.