Taking the Tour tomorrow! And acceptance update.

So I am sitting in my living room preparing for my tour tomorrow of Grafton.  I'm dead nervous and I don't know how it'll be....luckily for me, my boyfriend Tim is going to be coming too!  I'll try to get some pictures for you guys so you can see what it looks like.

I just finished reading the manual, and I must say, reading it is DEFINITELY worthwhile!  I know it's intimidating, but it is in very plain English and tells you EVERYTHING you need to know.  It also informs you on who to contact for different issues etc. and what your rights are.  For instance:  did you know as a Job Corps student, you are considered a Federal Employee?  Crazy, isn't it?  Might explain why the pay is so low.  (I kid, I kid).

But yeah.  Tomorrow I should know more, so that's good!  I'll keep you posted!

Now, onto the acceptance drama.  I have, once again, been assured by my Admissions Counselor that I have been accepted.  She even sent me part of the email of the person who confirmed it for her.  Turns out it was just a misunderstanding...so....who knows.

I requested to not start til after Makenzie's (Tim's 8 year old daughter) birthday.  This will be my first birthday with her, and I want to be there for her; and since the first weekend you can't take off, I was nervous.  My Admissions Counselor agreed that it was important, so she asked about it at the center.  They said chances are I wouldn't be starting until after that anyway (since it's in about 2 weeks) so I'm good :).

Hope you all have a great day!  I'll update more soon!

Bump in the road...

So I just found out that it turns out I have NOT been accepted yet.

I called the wellness center today to ask some questions, and they told me that my application was still being processed and I haven't been accepted.  She then proceeded to ask me myriads of questions about my medical file etc.  Do you know how hard it is to answer those types of questions when you are caught off guard like that?!  I hope I did alright though....

I still have no idea what is going on, and I'm more stressed and nervous now.  How could such a big thing be overlooked?

A little off topic, but it's bugging me. Why Valentine's Day?

I'm seeing a lot of people on FB posting this: "Why do you need a special day to show love, you should be showing it every day"

I 100% agree with the idea, but I think people are missing what is appealing about the holiday.

Tim and I do share love every day. We always say "I love you", always kiss goodnight, good morning, and goodbye. But Valentine's Day (at least to me) is a day to do something extra special that normally we wouldn't splurge on to do.

Think about it. How often can you justify a nice dinner date with your loved one? Whether it's at home or a nice restaurant? Reality of the matter is, we all are usually too busy. Valentines Day gives us a time where we can slow down and not worry about every day life.

Now, should we do this more often? Of course we should! The concept of "you don't need to have a holiday to do so" is, in theory, a true one. But when you are on a budget, always running around, have kids, stressed about work and home, etc., when do you really just sit down and have a night for yourselves? There are always a mulitude of "excuses" not to.

Having a holiday (just like we do for anniversaries etc.) to justify the slowing down in such a fast paced, rat race society is beneficial for all relationships, in my opinion. Most families aren't able to have a "date night" every week, so having this holiday really justifies them to call the sitter and just go out. Something that most (too many, really) American couples wouldn't do on a normal basis.

And why are we only against Valentine's Day? I don't see people being against celebrating anniversaries and birthdays. Those are considered "acceptable"; but if you think about it, don't we do the same exact things those days? Show how much we appreciate our loved ones? Take them out to dinner, buy them a gift, and make them feel special? If we are suppose to do that everyday, why do we celebrate those as well?

Interesting twist, isn't it?

This is exactly what runs through my mind when people say "we shouldn't need Valentine's Day".

Tour yet? Not quite. But at least I know what I am hoping to get.

So today, I was suppose to tour Grafton; but due to both my boyfriend and I being sick, it didn't quite happen.

At this point I'm awaiting a start date. Trust me though, the wait is killing me. I'm dead nervous about messing this up, and that is something I don't want to do. I sort of feel like this is my last shot, ya know? I want this to work so bad.

I haven't told many people that I am going on this route. My main concern is that everyone will start gossiping around me and stir up drama. I refuse to put up with it. This is just the way I am, life has enough drama without having to add MORE. I can just picture some people looking down on me, but you know what? Where would I be if I DIDN'T do this? Working in a mall?

I know I can do more than that with my life. I can do big things, it just that I've always lacked the confidence to stick to anything. I am always second guessing myself and worrying about what everyone else says.

Something I came to realize is this though: Who else is going to live by MY choices? I have to make MY life, and not live up to someone else's expectations. Sure, I could get even further in debt to do what society expects me to do. But why? What for?

I want a career that pays the bills. Sure, it'd be awesome to make 100k a year, but I'm not looking to be rich...I want to do something I enjoy and can afford to support myself and contribute to my family financially. I don't want to be working a dead-end job in retail that will never get me anywhere and that I dread going into everyday. I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck and squeaking by.

In this in economy, that's what happens; even if you do have a college degree that you've put yourself thousands of dollars in the hole to get. The idea of MORE debt scares me half to death. I saw my family drown in debt growing up, I don't want that for me. Also, I feel that Job Corps would be good for me in other aspects of my life that college doesn't provide. They can help me build my confidence and social skills. They can help me develop time management skills and learn to balance a schedule. I am held accountable for what I do and don't do. I am also not going to be put down when I mess up, they will help guide me to become a better person, and this is what I am ultimately hoping to get out of the program.