Adventures, Misadventures , Reflections and Profanity

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I will be 30 years old. For months my friends and family have been expressing their condolences that my 20s are coming to an end, and the women I know are all either telling me about how much they dreaded turning 30, or how much they are dreading turning 30. Well, I'm here to tell you I just really don't mind at all. My twenties sucked. I guess not a lot of people feel that way about that decade of their lives, I hear people say things all the time like "oh, if I was in my twenties again..." seeming to long for those days. But my twenties were a minefield of tragedy, hard lessons and grief. I realize that most people romanticize the era of their post-adolescence, remembering with fondness the struggles of burgeoning adulthood, of cramming for college finals and week-long benders, the smell of an all-night kegger, the fear of running from the police with your drunk friends, fighting with roommates, late night trips to the coffee shop, and...

This year I completed all of the credits required for my bachelor's degree except for one single class. The class in question began on the very day my mother died this year. As a result I missed most of the class because I was overcome with grief and anxiety. After that it was impossible to catch up and the result was the only class I ever failed in my entire college career. I have to make up those three elective credits before I can obtain my diploma. I have been using the website StraighterLine.com to take the class. I have presently completed everything in the class except for the final exam. My current grade is 91%, but I have been putting off the final exam for over two months. Why is that? Well, I will tell you. I have opened up the computer multiple times over the past several weeks with the intention of taking the stupid final exam and then getting my credits and moving on with my life by obtaining my bachelor's degree and likely moving forward to grad school. When I ...