marriage prep, yay!

OK, so I'm back in school now, and thus am back to having no life . I finished my 6th quarter with 2 a's and 2 b's, so I'm still doing well in classes. I also had the joy of learning that photography is now being offered online through my school, and am hoping to switch to online classes only as soon as they become available at my level. I'm switching for two reasons: first, if I take classes online, then my company will pay for 4 classes a quarter; and second, I'll actually be able to get some sleep while taking classes.

My company is a bit strange. Right now, they are paying for 2 classes a quarter, which means they're are paying for about 1/2 my degree. However, they just changed the wording of how they'll pay for classes to be that they will pay for 2 classes at a time. With online classes, since you take 2 classes at a time for 4 classes total in a quarter, they'll actually be paying for all of my classes. Don't ask me why they're willing to pay for full time online and only part time on the ground, but since they are, I'm willing to make that change!

As far as sleep goes, I've been back in classes one day, and I'm already tired. My schedule this quarter blows big time! I still work overnight, but now, since I'm taking 4 ground classes, I have school Monday through Thursday. Plus, the school keeps cancelling the 8 AM classes, so I now have a mix of classes. so my schedule goes something like this: Monday off work at 5 AM, drive home to sleep for 5 hours, drive back for class at 12:45-4:45, nap in the car for 3 hours, work 8 PM to 5 AM, nap in the car 3 hours, class Tuesday from 8 AM to 12 pm, drive home and sleep for 5 hours. Wednesday and Thursday follow the same schedule, so I get to see home, my cats, and fiance for about 2 hours awake time during the week until Friday. Thus, online classes would significantly loosen the bindings of my schedule. However, since I am now only 15 months away from finishing the program, I'm not sure when the right classes will be available online.

Of course, I knew this quarter was going to be hard, so the good news is, we've gotten a ton done towards planning our wedding! We've ordered the engagement ring - which is being custom made as neither of us like diamonds, and Seamus refused to have even chips in it :P So, it will be a palladium and Sapphire ring (one green round with a blue trillion cut on either side). We've spoken with the bakery, the florist, and the caterer. We've put in our reservation for the site, have gotten our favors, and most of our supplies. At this point, there's not really a lot left to plan for, which makes life a lot easier for me to handle, as I won't get a break for 3 months. I do still have my dress to make though :-)

Anyhow, that's the update for now - it's likely that updates will be very sporadic on here, but I'm still trying :-)