The Flow of Consciousness

I’ve had my diploma from Westminster College for a day more than a month, now. I received my diploma on May 19, and have been mostly taking it easy since then.

I look back through the past month and see how I’ve changed. At the end of the semester, I was fantastically stressed, almost neurotic. I was finishing out The Holcad and trying to keep my head above water in my classes, all while ill with bronchitis. While I knew my grades in calc and capstone were solid, I was not so sure about my history/English cluster. I had scored high on the papers I’d written, but I was not proud of my test grades.

This launched me into a fit of uneasiness that remains unparalleled in my life. I found myself pushing away from people and concentrating on nothing but the work for the class.

Often I’ve thought, “What would be different had I not cared as much?” I ended up with a B+ in the class (two classes, actually, for those who aren’t familiar with Westminster’s interesting curriculum). Would I have gotten a B? Would I have gotten lower?

I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a week—a pretty impressive feat given my inability to read fast when reading for purposes other than pleasure. I read a few other shorter stories that I’d not read because I was too busy trying to finish capstone and read them in a day before the final exam.

I know I’ve been able to relax, not only as a result of graduating, but simply as a result of finishing that damned cluster. Undergraduate graduation is only a waypoint on the mission of life goals. I knew that I’d be starting grad school in at most three months, whether or not I had a job.

I guess I’m rambling. I wish that I could have built last summer some of the friendships I built this semester. I’d love to have another year around these people; I’d love to have another chance to show them that I care about them and that I’m not as cold and concentrated as I felt I had to be this semester. I wish that I had one more year to hang out and be cool at Westminster.

Not to be, unfortunately. I started grad school at Robert Morris University this past Monday. My class is comprised of students mostly older than me, but not by more than maybe five years. I’m certainly the youngest in the class—something which I think is a little unnerving considering my all but three or four of my classmates have been either teaching or substituting for at least a year. Those three or four are making an early career change or are like me and wanting to teach computers after having received a IS degree.

The class I’m taking is basically a graduate-level ed. psych. class. I like it. I enjoy psychology, so I find it interesting. Perhaps I just like being a guinea pig

I still don’t have fall plans ironed out just yet. I’m going to be living with JD somewhere in or around Pittsburgh. We looked earlier today at an apartment in Moon Township—not far from RMU. I liked it, and so did he, but we want to keep looking to see if we can find anything better.

I’m waiting for a call from a company on an interview, too. If I get the job, I’m pretty well set for the fall and can register for fall classes and getting the annoying “hurry up and wait” weight off my shoulders.

As for those friends, I’m going to have to see what I can do from a distance. I have a feeling, though, that I’ll be up to Westminster often, but not so much that I’m a creepy alumnus :-p

Colin Dean, son of Tom and Jane Dean, recently graduated from Westminster College in New Wilmington with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a minor in creative writing focusing on journalism. He was editor-in-chief of The Holcad, the college’s student newspaper, and served on a number of committees and was a member of a number of scholastic and social organizations.

Colin will be attending Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania for a Masters of Education in Business Education. This degree and certificate will enable him to teach high school computer science classes. He hopes to earn eventually a communications certificate so that he may teach journalism, as well.

In the mean time, Colin is working as a writer for a computer hardware and software web site while searching for jobs in Pittsburgh and living at the Phi Kappa Tau house in New Wilmington.

JD tagged me. Ready? Go.

• Graduate.
• Key to success, here. The only people who could keep me from graduating are Dr. Shaffer and Dr. Hickman, who are teaching Capstone and Calculus, respectively. Passing capstone is a matter of simply doing my project, and passing calculus is a matter of getting enough people to help me even though I’m mildly terrified of it.
• Go to grad school.
• I want to get my M.S. in Business Education ASAP. Robert Morris, Bloomsburg, Gwynedd-Mercy, and Mercyhurst (just a certification there, though) are my options for that. Otherwise, Pitt has a M.Ed. English/Communications to which I’m also applying, figuring that I can get a job as an English or journalism teacher and earn my business, computer, and information technology teaching certification for my required continuing education hours.
• Keep writing
• Evann Garrison, the woman behind my writing minor (had her for four of the six required classes!), once said, “Keep writing.” I intend to do just that. My new blog will help with that, as I’m going to keep most of my punditry there and my cutesy stuff on my Livejournal.
• I want to get into writing about politics and technology a little more. Net Neutrality is a perfect example of the topics about which I want to write. I will continue to avoid religion, thank you.
• I’m enjoying doing reviews for ThinkComputers, any may soon start doing them for ThinkGaming, too.
• Keep coding
• I finished a site in about 24 hours this week (thank you, Smarty). I need to make manifest more of my site ideas so that I can perhaps start pulling in a little bit of money from them.
• Also, I want to get my idea for a social bookmarking site off the ground. I doubt that it’ll start prior to summer, perhaps launching this time next year.
• I want to improve my Python and Smalltalk knowledge.
• Learn more Esperanto and German
• My Esperanto is slowing getting better. It’s difficult to really work on it because there’s no one else around here that speaks it. I’ll continue to use Kurso de Esperanto and lernu.net to expand my vocabulary.
• I kinda wanted to take German in college, but I didn’t have enough time during the few semesters it was offered. My mother bought me a “learn German” program a few Christmases ago, but I have yet to even open it. Perhaps I’ll open it this summer.

I tag rosejoliefemme, morrigan32, jessbevan, billmeir, and dauphin1.