Skills I Use Learned in College

I was in college for seven years. It was mostly be being wishy washy what I wanted to with my life. I spent one year as music major. I quit that one because I realized that I wasn't not great at music so my only option would be to become a teacher. I knew I did not want to be a teacher.

For three years I was a computer science major. I wasn't great at that either. Computer science was a lot more math than I had anticipated. I struggled and struggled. But I did get a C in Calculus II, which was impressive to me. I don't have a good brain for numbers in advanced forms.

I finally gave up on that and switched to Broadcasting. I loved Broadcasting so much and I was pretty good at it. The writing, doing news on screen, video editing. It was a ton of fun and I wish I had realized that many years earlier.

My last start in Broadcasting and my dying mom who wanted to see me graduate meant that I had to hurry up and finish my degree. So I didn't get to explore it as fully as I would have liked and I didn't get a chance to even try for an internship.

But there are two things that I use on a regular basis that I learned in college. Kind of sad for seven years of college especially since they are kind of random.

Even though I left music as a major beyond after my first year, I stayed in the women's choir as long as my schedule would allow it. I love to sing and it was such a fun class to be able to take. One of the things I learned in there was to memorized the music as you go. We never used our music in performances so this was a must.

These days, I am a part the women's choir at church. Though because of my health issues, I'm sadly taking some time off from that. But I have noticed that as we practice, I am still in the habit of memorizing the music and the words as we go along. Kind of a funny skill to have but I still have it.

The other comes from my days as a Broadcasting major. One of the first classes I took was an intro class and one of the first things we learned was the 'broadcast voice." Even tone but pleasant but also firm and clear. This is a skill I use nearly every day at work. Keeping my voice even and pleasant is very important while dealing with hordes of unhappy customers.

I use a few other skills I'm sure but these two are the ones I use most. College was an interesting experience and I had a lot of fun. Someday maybe I'll use more the skills I gained!

Alumni Christmas Party

I have two college degrees. My first one is from Central Michigan and it’s my B.S. in Broadcasting. When the economy was so bad in 2007 / 2008, I went back to school and got a degree in Medical Office Administration from a local college, AB Tech.  I never got to do any alumni activities with Central since I moved to NC and I don’t know about any local chapters. But I’m still in the area so I do alumni things with AB Tech sometimes.

Last Friday was the alumni Christmas party. Emily and I had gone last year and had a great time. So we decided to go again. We took the highway because we live across town from the college. We got stuck in traffic and Emily was very concerned that we were going to miss Santa. Thankfully we made it only a few minutes late.

They had a craft table set up and snacks. Emily started working on crafts while I got us some snacks. She colored some Christmas magnets and had fun using a small paper punch. It wasn’t long after we got there when it was time for Santa to make his grand entrance.

Santa led us in a round of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and then went to sit down to meet the kids. Emily was the first one over there and she happily told Santa about the My Little Pony toy she wanted. She got her candy cane and went back to make crafts.

After a while a friend of mine and her kids came in. Emily went played with her older kids while we were able to catch up a little. The party was winding down so it was time for us to go.

It was a lovely party. Emily’s only complaint was that Santa didn’t read “The Night Before Christmas” like he had last year. Beyond that, we both had a very good time!

Late Bloomer or Slacker?

Todd and I when we started dating

I had a bout of insomnia last night so I do what I always do - turn on my phone and read Facebook. One of my friends had posted an article from Time Magazine - Grow Up, Not So Fast. It describes the trend of people who bounce from job to job, aren't getting married and settling down and sometimes moving back in with their parents. It really described me and it kind of pissed me off because the article says that people make these decisions because they aren't ready to grow up.

It did take me a while to graduate from college in part because I was immature. When I started college, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I went to college because that was the thing you did when you were done with high school. I floundered quite a bit trying to find myself. I went through several majors before I settled on Broadcasting.

The last few years of my college experience were stressful. I had a bad relationship with a man who I was engaged to at one point. We broke up right before my last year of college. And my mom had cancer. She fought hard, but she was very sick by the time I graduated.

Because my mom was so sick, I moved home right after graduation. My mom passed away less than a week after I got back home. My mom and I had been close and even though it had been coming for a while, I was just shocked and stunned. My sister was living at home at the time too, and we both stayed there for a while because we didn't want my dad to be alone.

My sister moved out about a year later once she got married. It was another year before I moved. In that year, my chronic migraines started. I was in and out of the hospital and only was able to hold onto my job because of FMLA. I got my pain under control and moved across the state to move in with Todd.

We struggled with jobs because the area of Michigan we moved to didn't have a lot of work. He found a job but it was just a temp. job, even with his vast amounts of experience as a machinist. I bounced from job to job, having three jobs in two years. Because we were struggling we made the decision to move to North Carolina.

Todd held the same job for eight years, until he changed jobs recently. But I still was bouncing. I got one job right after we moved here, but I ended up being fired after a year because of company politics. I got another job that I loved that I had for two years, but I lost that job in 2008 because of layoffs because of the economy. After that, I couldn't find a job and had a newborn, so we decided that I would go back to school. I re-entered the job market after getting my second degree last year. I had a temp. job for about five months. My assignment ended and I got my current job working in tech support. I've had this job for a year.

I was 29 when we got married and Todd was 31. We had a baby a few years later and we do have a house. But I don’t think my living with my dad or bouncing from job to job has anything to do with not wanting to be an adult. It’s hard out there, especially now with the crappy economy. We are doing well now that we are both working, but it’s been a struggle not that long ago.

People coming out of college are faced with a poor job market and low paying jobs. It’s no wonder that people are living with their parents and putting off marriage and kids. And it has nothing to do with the lack of wanting to be an adult.