This week!

My weekend class is at the end of this week!

Monday, get the house and food ready (for both of us).

Tuesday, an eight-hour shift at the library.

Wednesday, get the clothes ready (for both of us) and finish course work for the week for the online course.

Thursday, appointment with academic advisor and as many hours as possible in volunteer work at the church because there is suddenly a lot to do but I will be in class all weekend. Then, plop my bags and notebooks in the bed&breakfast I found, and go to bed there.

Friday, class from 9-5. Time in the library as late as I want to. Psychology of Transformational Narrative, here I come.

Saturday, ditto.

Sunday, ditto, and class over by 5 that day.

By this time next week, my world will have shifted significantly. I feel like a bungee jumper.

And PLA is not forgotten. For those who don't know, Prior Learning Assessment from Marylhurst University works like this: whereas the conventional college experience is to learn theory and then go out into the world to practice it, PLA is a way for those with the practical experience to demonstrate in writing that they gained the theory along the way and can articulate this learning in collegiate language. When students do this, they can earn college credits for life learning. It is possible to earn as many as 45 credits this way - which translates to about a year's worth of college credits. Nice!

I did not register for the next PLA instruction courses this term because I could not afford to right now. But I can still write for more credits because of the wonder of the internet. Online, because I completed the initial course for this kind of writing, I can now have access to all the aids and helps I might need for continuing to write, so once I'm done with the weekend course, I can start in again writing for credits.

Then there are some standardized tests to take as I can afford to do so. And the rest of my degree plan to work out. And scholarship money to apply for. Thus flows the life of the "adult learner" in pursuit of an accredited degree.