As of lately,....

As of lately,....
1). USC is being a pain in the ass. Monday (MLK's day, so school was nonexistent), USC, or rather one of USC's many 'offices' dropped 2 of my 3 classes I have scheduled for in Sumter. Apparently, it was the Bursar's office. Now, mind you, I went to the campus all day Friday and had meetings with all the affilated offices, doing paperwork, getting signatures needed, transfering my classes to Sumter, meeting with Dr. Knapp-Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences-, about my classes, etc. He was going to have me drop 1 of my classes, to be able to add a different science class if possible for a better class that would count towards my Biological Sciences major.
Well, Monday, went to go do that at 7/7:30am, you know me, and lo and behold, 2 of the 3 classes-of course the 2 classes I was keeping were dropped and the class I was going to drop (Biol270, b/c it will not count towards a major credit for me, so why take it right now??) was still there,....go figure-were dropped. So, sent me into a panicky state of 'OMGosh!' after not being able to 'add' said classes back in, not getting ahold of anyone, sending out emails to offices(never heard back, by the way, still from those,.......),etc. Called Danny and told him, he said not to worry about it until tomorrow, b/c the offices are closed (USC was closed), so I can't do anything about it.
So, Tuesday AM, bright and early at 8:30AM, called up there and spent 1-2 hours on the phone with random offices including:
-Registration office: said Bursar office dropped classes due to a non-payment of fees.
-Bursar office: could not get ahold of this office (their phone line dead?? or maybe just don't want to talk to students.Hmph.) until 4:30PM, but when I did, they blamed the Financial Aid office for not putting a 'hold' on the classes or my record b/c they were processing the Financial Aid (for me to pay), of whom I had been on the phone with all day as well. Spoke with 2 individuals at the Bursar office, got disconnected with the 1st one (man named Mike) (stupid dying cell phone-it had had enough of this shit I suppose! Ha-ha.), but spoke with another, a lady named Gloria, who told me that I had to fill out paperwork (again? I DO NOT think so.) to get re-enrolled in my classes. They could not do it.
Financial Aid office: Spoke with several people all the day, including people I had met with and spoken with in person on Friday when I was at campus,.....They said there was NO REASON for the classes to have been dropped, as the deadlines were not passed and in the end, YES, they did have a hold on the classes, so they pointed fingers at the Bursar. ALSO, they said that the Bursar office CAN get you back into those classes, and can assist students with that, contrary to what our little Bursar office secretary (or whatever) Gloria touted over and over and over and over.
SO, at the end of the day, with really no desisve answer, but a bit of a conclusion about this mess (!), an advisor (?) Candi in Financial Aid suggested I talk with Johnathan, the head of Financial Aid, (the supervisor and one dealing with my paperwork and transent student forms), but to leave him a message ( around/after 5pm, so he was not answering phone,......) and talk with him tomorrow AM about this and to make sure my paperwork is getting through anyway.
Around 9AM I thought, screw this, and went to go do barn (Di was on a lesson in Aiken, so barn to myself, which was probably a good thing,.....) and did it in 1/2 the time (Ha-ha!), and then stopped and chatted with (Retired Air Force/USC Sumter professor) Bob Brown, Mr. Brown really, and his wife for a bit, we talked about all of this, of which they reassured me a bit, so that was good. ("Go with the flow", don't let it stress you out-if you have to just take the online classes and not any campus classes this semester and just work on classes for May/Summer to set up, do that. Maybe that is where God needs/wants you to be. So I could work a bit more, pay off some debt, ride more, etc.- This was something I was thinking about possibly doing while I was driving back and forth from Hopkins/Dalzell and back, etc. Just having that option and freeing myself of the pressure to get it done asap or nothing at all reassured me that it would work out. Thank you Browns and Beau!) I also got to see their little 'cabin' in the woods they had built last year and see Beau, their lovely little Jack Russell Terrier who is GREAT. :) :) It was good.
Anyway, got back to Hopkins, and Mr. Gary (D's dad) and Brian ( D's friend/coworker, good friend, etc. ) were doing our yard (lawnwork), bless them. So, we talked for a bit, explained the USC situation (what was going on to date), and they left after we talked for a bit and they got done to finish working. Bless them!
Anyway, so had 1 tear of frurstration and 'sadness' about all of this and how I am NOT in the wrong, but that was it. So, determined yet again, called and called until 5PM yesterday, ending with the information I posted above, finally getting a hold of the Bursar office and talking more and discovering more about what was going on (again, said above), with them. Ending with me leaving Johnathan in the Financial Aid office a message and asking him to call me this AM, it's 9AM and I have not heard back from him, yet. I will be calling him shortly. ;)
Gotta love this.
2). I rode Sasha on Monday with Susan riding Geyser, her 'new' baby horse ( 4-5yrs. old I think! ), and then she let me try/play with Geyser. He is very fancy, but is definitely just a big, wiggly baby too. He's fun though. I think Sasha got jealous, so I fed her extra carrots and sugar and all was right in the world again. ;)
One of Susan's students, Larissa, was there as well and rode with us, which was fun! They are a ton of fun, I laughed so much, it was great. :)
Anyway, long story short(er) here, Larissa is looking for a horse, come to find out, and I suggested she looking at Mary's two mares she has been trying to sell/give away/get new-good homes for. L wants something affordable (extremely), sane, fitted to her height as she is smaller in stature ( about my size ), and something they can work with and maybe show/etc. training level dressage, or rather, something that would/could be appropriately suited for dressage work in training level, etc.
So, we are going to Mary's on Sunday; L was very excited and so is Mary. Sent L some photos and one video of them, she really likes I think, so we'll see. I do hope it works out and Mary's horses are good for this and are what they are looking for. Susan mentioned as well possibly needing another school horse, so the 'other' mare of Mary's could possibly work. We'll see. :) If they 'fit', it would be a good thing for everyone. :)
But anyway, had a good ride on Sasha (and Geyser, whom Susan said I could ride and/or work with her with, which is exciting! ), working on strength and developing her throughness, which is mucho bettero, and straightness with shoulder-fore/in work in the canter, but really needed in all gaits as well.
Also, getting myself and her back into fitness and back in shape for work. :) I'm excited as to see what all we can do this year. Watch out! :) She's great!
Ok, off to work on USC and figure out what I need to do this semester,.....fighting it out with USC.
-Em