Man, I'm finding it really hard to keep up with daily postings.  It's a combination of keeping busy + having nothing really cool to talk about.  I've still got a month and a half to go.  I'm not sure how well this is going to fly.

I signed up for a class featured on Ali's blog.  At first I was resistant to sign up because I knew from the beginning that I wanted to go a different direction with this, but then I decided that I couldn't resist my curiosity any longer.  Was it worth it?  Maybe.  I don't know.  I'm on the fence.  It's cool to have step by step directions on everything she did, but at the same time, unless you are going for the exact same look she came up with (and I guess you can because there are kits you can buy and she supplies an exact list of what she used), it's nothing you can't see on her blog from other projects she's done.  Actually, I think some of her mini albums are more creative than this project.  I was just really intrigued by the spinner format.

I got to pick my classes for Spring semester this morning.  I decided to go ahead and take 5 classes (16 credits) because 3 of them I can take in person which will pretty much ensure good grades for me since that's how I operate.  The only other class left to take online is chemistry.  Which I'm going to struggle with, I know already.  When I saw that they offered sociology online, I decided to go for it.  I've taken it before in high school and got a 98% without even having to study.  Considering this is only a community college, I don't expect much more from it than I've experienced before.  I think that after taking human maturation and psychology, I've probably got a pretty good base of background information to draw from.  It really shouldn't be too bad.

I thought about skipping it since Algebra and chemistry are going to be really tough for me, but for this particular college you only need 66 credits to get an Associate's degree in General Studies.  The only required class is English, which I'm finishing up right now.  It makes me feel good to know that I'll have *something* to show from all this no matter what.  So I took the extra class now to save myself some time later.  It's kinda sad, but by the time I get through all my pre-reqs I'll have almost enough credits to get that General Studies degree.  The problem is that I can only take the classes in a certain order, but I have to go to school full time to keep my financial aid, so I'm taking a ton of electives and other general classes to fill out my semesters. 

I did the math this morning and have since forgot, but I think I decided that if I keep taking 16 credit semesters I should have 66+ credits by the end of the Spring '10 semester.  Not bad for just having started school back in June.  Which is also, incidently, about the same time I should finally finish up with all the stupid pre-reqs for the nursing program.  Very strange that they require you to have nearly a full degree before they will even accept you into the program to start teaching you things.  Oh well, I'm sure that an education is never a bad thing, no matter the reason why you aquire it.

So that's pretty much it.  Today I've got massive amounts of homework to wade through and I've really got to make some progress on this journal swap I joined.  It's due the 1st of December, I think, which is right around the corner.  The thing is that I started making these really elaborate painted backgrounds, but then got involved with all my other swaps and now I'm behind.  I could just finish it without the major backgrounds, but that just seems like a cop out.  I really do like the pages I've done so far, they are visually very interesting, but the dry time on these things is extensive and it makes it hard to rush through them.  I guess I'll have to see how it goes.

I've decided that I'm done with swapping for awhile.  I'm finishing out the swaps I've committed to and then I'm taking a break for awhile.  I haven't really been in a creative mood the last few weeks and going to the post office is even worse.  The end result is putting off projects until right before they are due and then putting off mailing them even longer.  Like I've got this one swap all ready to send out, but I probably won't get it mailed for several days, once it's good and past due by at least a day or two.  Why am I doing that?  It's so lazy of me.  So yeah, I think that I should probably take a swapping break until I'm feeling less pressured.  Right now I feel like everything is coming at me from all directions; school is intense because the semester is wrapping up in a few weeks, I've got to plan an unexpected trip cross country in a little over a month, I have a personal art project that I need to finish up for my mother in law's Christmas gift and since we're leaving the 19'th of December, I have a week less than I would if she lived locally.

I hope I can get my mojo back because I've got so much good stuff in my studio that I really want to use, but for some reason I just can't get into the creative spirit lately.  Not that it stops me from wanting to BUY the stuff.  Nothing can  stop that short of death, I think.  I went to the craft store yesterday to pick up a few things for the spinner I'm making my mother in law and sure enough even though I haven't wanted to spend any real time in my studio for at least the last two weeks, I still managed to come out of the store with $40+ of supplies.  I can't even really remember what I bought now.  I remember I got decorative acrylic embellishments, puffy paint (for a project that most assurely didn't work), and a chipboard bulk pack for that same project.  Hmm... Ok, I guess I can remember most of it if I really work at it.

Anyway, I'm just putting off all my homework by writing such a long post.  I hope everyone has a good weekend.  Expect more of the short last minute posts that have become the norm for me on the weekends.