new year, new post

"It's a new year," Blake said. "Time for a new post."
"I know man," I said.
"Be my child soldier," he said.
"Be my Joseph Kony!" I exclaimed.
There was more to that, but social decency begs me to cut it short right there.

New Year's Resolutions? Honestly I haven't started thinking about that till this very moment. The first post of a new year should, at the least, include new year's resolutions, should it not? Perhaps. But as I'm classic, I'll refrain, from listing more than two. (1) Quit Smoking. For real this time. (2) Start Grad School. 

The year's been awesome so far.

Cold, snowy, windy, lots of days off.

Finances are hurting a little bit, but we'll be on solid footing come February.

Mo's been in Michigan for almost two weeks. She was going to come back the third, but her parents begged her to stay a few more days, and though it sucks to have to wait till Sunday to see her, they have a legitimate point. She's hardly ever up there, bogged down with school and working at the hospital most of the year. There's some talk about her moving to Detroit come May, that whole "gotta find a job and survive" thing, and that's not a thought I'm too fond of. We'll figure it out. I have Monday off work to spend the day with her: I'm not sure what we're going to do, but I'm thinking a trip to the bar for a drink or two and homemade crock-pot chicken, and perhaps even chocolate-covered strawberries, are in the works. I tried talking her into joining me for a marathon of National Geographic documentaries about the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, but I think she wants to watch a musical instead. I'm not quite sure why, to be honest. But, again: we'll figure it out.

After lots and lots of toiling research, I've withdrawn my application for grad school at Norwich University. There's nothing wrong with the school, I just think there's a better route to go to reach my goal. The goal all along was to get my Master's in American History and then get my teaching license. In order to qualify for my teaching license outside of academic training for education, I'd have to accumulate around 30-60 more credit hours. In the end, if everything worked out, I'd have thousands upon thousands of dollars of debt. However, if I get my Master's in Education, and select the right program, I can graduate in 1-2 years with my teaching certification, without all the extra education. I'll still be thousands of dollars in debt, but nowhere near as debt as I would be with the first route. Although a rigorous education in history is something I'd love with all my being, there's no reason for me to pay all the extra cost to reach a destination that can be reached at sooner (and cheaper) in a different manner. Besides, I'm ballin' when it comes to personal study and research on my own time. A clinching argument for me was the simple statistic that the rate of underemployment/unemployment for those with Master's in Education degrees is much lower (by 5-6 percent) than those with a liberal arts degree. I also found out, to my delight, that Master's in Education programs tend to value those without undergraduate degrees in education more than those with them; and with a Master's of Education degree, I'm in a far better position strategically than those who simply have Bachelor's degrees in Education. And thus I decided instead to pursue a Master's of Education, and I'm currently researching different online programs to find the one that would best suit my needs.

A new year, a new post.

Now Blake can get off my back.