It took me 8 years and 8 colleges

To get a degree that is. Well 2 actually, I got a 2 yr and a 4 yr. I was married (yes, I have an ex husband) to a military guy and we moved a lot. Plus there was just the turmoil of not figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up for an eternity. Let's see if I can remember where I went...
Hey I went from a Banana Slug to a Terrapin, up the evolutionary ladder!

Mesa College in San Diego, I took a German course here while in high school, yes I was a TOTAL geek and randomly decided to take a college course during the summer, for fun. It eventually counted towards my final degrees so I count it on the list

UC Santa Cruz, This was my first 4 year college and I can't even begin to tell you how wrong this college was for me. I went there for 1 year. 3 trimesters back in the day before they had grades. Yes, this college had no grades. Transferring those credits was a total bitch.

Skyline community college in South San Francisco, This was after I was married and the ex husband was stationed at The Presidio and we had a hideous little apartment in Pacifica while waiting for on base housing.

College of Marin, This was the community college north of San Francisco in Marin. We were offered on base housing for the lowly enlisted on the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate bridge but it was nasty and had roaches. I refused to live there. Since the base was closing down they had officer housing available and they offered us a duplex in Fort Baker. If you've ever jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge you'd know the place, they pull all the jumpers in to the little Horse Shoe Bay there. The place a freaking beautiful. Too bad we were too poor to appreciate it any at all. Apparently it's been sold and will be some sort of first class resort. Awesome.

Montgomery College Germantown, This is in Maryland suburbs, the ex was stationed at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC. Only a feaking moron would live in DC proper so we lived in Maryland. This was the college that The Blair Witch Project came out of. I claim no responsibility and never watched the movie. Again, only a moron would....

Montgomery College Rockville, We went here for summer school. It's their main campus I think and Calculus was only offered here. This is where Tabitha and I had that math teacher with skin tight WHITE Levi's. Don't ask, it was a tragedy.

*please note* I loved this community college (the Germantown campus), when they told me I was up for graduation for my 2 year degree I almost cried, I didn't want to leave. 4 year colleges suck. This was also where I had such a stellar teacher (in organic chemistry) that I decided to be a chem major.

Hood College, One of the bigger disappointments of my college career and that's saying something. It used to be a private all girls school. Now it's just private and stupid expensive. I was told I would have a scholarship. 2 weeks after school started I was told I wasn't getting anything. I went in to the office and cried. Seriously. And you know what? It worked. Got something like $3000 knocked off my bill. Only had to come up with something like $8000, for the ONE semester I had there. Redunculous. Obviously that was my first and last semester there. They still send me mail begging for donations. I don't think so.


And my final college may I never ever have to go to another college again, the
University of Maryland at College Park, A nice college with a very demoralized chemistry department. I found that even though there was no money in the department they had a fabulous dean and that makes a HUGE difference. We were on a first name basis because, as you might know, I do not fear making my voice heard. Yes I may have had a few petitions signed and burned a few bridges (Dr. Fenselau is a raging bitch, just sayin') but I built a few too so it was all good. Dr. Khanna taught me Physical Chemistry and I was in his office for every single office hour he had. I never ever understood that course and I swear he passed me on pity/effort alone. He was supposed to be retired when I was there and I graduated in 1999, do the math. He's still there. He patted my head once and told me I reminded him of his daughter. I think he had a thick headed daughter but I took it as a complement that he didn't kick me out of his class at all. He must really really like teaching, he was a gem.

Wouldn't you know it though, the one professor I had that most related to what I eventually found my niche in I still think is one of the most useless teachers I ever had. Dr. Lee's accent was so thick he couldn't pronounce his name, it always came out Dr. Ree. He put up overheads and then passed out packets of copies of all the over heads. No one could understand his english so he had to do something. Not a very creative man but hey, he taught Instrumental Analysis. Just how creative do you think we analytical chemists are anyway? He actually studies Genome Mapping/Typing and proteome analysis, it's what I spent my first 6 years in the field doing. Working with the biggest name in the research field might I add. Dr. Lee has no idea what he was missing. Poor man, if he only knew...

I'll have you know the purpose of this particular post had very little to do with what I ended up writing about. I seem to have a hang up with back story, have you noticed? My original purpose was to tell you about the UC Santa Cruz Occupation. I'm totally serious, they are experiencing a student led occupation. Freaking morons, they brought it on themselves. I told you I didn't belong there right? They say there was a student living out of his van and eating road kill back when I went there. Looks like they're all going to be doing that soon with the cost hikes. Not really, those wanna be hippies are all trust fund babies you know. I spent my loser Saturday nights doing laundry and being mocked by them. I worked in the building that's being occupied. My parents didn't send me weekend party money, I worked to to put myself through school. Looks like the trust fund babies don't want to give up their pot money....