(by the way, please enjoy the sad display of Photoshop abilities with this “enhanced” picture of myself)

Just over a week ago I finished school. It was a Saturday night in San Diego when I turned in the final assignment for my learning team, logged off my school website and told everyone in the room that it was done.

The one question that I heard more than once upon finishing was “how does it feel to be done?”

You’d think it would be an easy answer. Awesome! Stupendous! Fabulous! (okay, I’d never say ‘fabulous.’ Maybe)

Turns out, the answer was more challenging that I thought. I mean, at the moment I turned everything in on that Saturday night, there was no screaming, cheering or jubilation. It was mostly a slight exhale and then I went to the couch and continued reading one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read (Ender’s Game, for those that want to know).

I told Jina it seemed kind of “anti-climactic” for some reason.

Maybe it’s because when you start something like this, which was back in early 2006 for me, you slowly lose sight of the fact that what you are doing will have an end point and it ends up becoming a part of your life for awhile.

Since 2006! Aside from a break I took during the later months of Jina’s pregnancy, I’ve had school in my life for three years and some odd months. At some point along the way, it just became something I had to do every week. A chore. Like mowing the lawn.

Probably a second reason it didn’t end with excitement might have been that break I took. I was done with my core classes and was going to take CLEP tests to finish my remaining elective credits. But I enjoyed the time off and had no desire to have to study for these tests, which is something UoP doesn’t do for normal classes. No tests, just papers and assignments.

So I went back early this year to finish via the classroom method, because otherwise it just didn’t seem like it was going to happen. Jina encouraged me to do it, something I’m glad she did.

But I honestly wasn’t very proud of having to do that. I wish I could have just taken those tests. But with a new baby and the struggles that come with it, the classes were actually easier and better suited for me than tests were.

Either way, I think that whole thing made the finish line a little less exciting?

However…here I am now. Done. In around 30 days, I will be holding in my hand a diploma that says “Michael Robert Olbinski: Bachelor’s of Information Systems” or something like that.

16 years after graduating from high school, I actually have a college degree, something I never thought would happen. I’d given up on it. The idea of going back to school was so far from my mind. I had a good job and was moving up, so why did I need it?

But it was the idea of having kids and a family that kind of woke me up. If I ever lost my job, I would need something that got me in the same door other people had access to with less experience than me.

Now I have the experience and the degree. If I were forced to find other employment, things will hopefully be easier for me.

I also have my free time back. Just in the nick of time too because this weather photography hobby is really taking hold of me *grin*. But there are other projects I want to start on and things I can now do without worrying about homework every weekend. What those might be are up in the air, but at least I know now if I dedicate an entire Saturday to yardwork, or painting, or whatever, I know that on Sunday I can rest and not have a 1000 word paper to write.

Back to the question. I’ve thought about that a bit more over the week or so since I finished and it really didn’t hit me until the girl called on Monday to tell me I need to register for my diploma once my final grade is posted. Which happened yesterday. And so I registered and it said my diploma would be here in 30 days.

So how does it feel to be done with school and a college graduate?

Feels damn good.

The plan was to study for and take these fairly inexpensive CLEP tests. You pick a class, find the material and study, study, then take a test, hope you pass and get the credit. I was all set to graduate in the fall if I killed these tests.

Well…once I was done with classes, I found myself gloriously free from the bonds of school and it was excruciating to think about studying for a test. First off, I’d been at UoP since the beginning of 2006, so it had been over 2 1/2 years that I was doing this. 5 weeks on, 1 week off…for that long. It was painful at times.

Secondly, none of my classes at this school involve test-taking. It’s all papers, presentations and discussions in online forums. So the notion of studying for an exam was no fun at all.

And I kept putting it off…and putting it off. This is a fault of mine that I freely admit to. Procrastination. If I’m not under the gun or being somewhat forced to do something, I usually put it off.

One day Jina said to me, “If you want to just go back and take classes online so you get it done, I think you should do that. I want you to finish.”

It was an interesting idea. First off, it forces me to finish and do the work. Secondly, maybe even a better reason, is that it will postpone my student loan payback for another year. And with Jina cutting back to 20 hours a week, money will be tight for awhile until we get used to how things work.

I’m fairly embarassed to even have to do this. Why can’t I just take the tests? I dunno, but the thought of going to classes definitely seems like the right way to finish, even if it will cost me a bit more money.

So today I start my first class. It’s U.S. History to 1865. I love history, so this will be an interesting learning experience. American history if my favorite.

The only worry I have with these elective classes is that I may actually have to put in more work than I did for my core classes. The reason is that I pretty much knew what those classes were about. Programming, project management, networking, software…I work with that stuff daily, so it didn’t take a ton of effort to do well.

With this history class, a second history class, then two religion classes…I’m definitely going to have to do more reading and more studying.

It will all be worth it though. Come this summer, I will officially graduate and be happier for it.

Funny, when I was typing her name above, I automatically put “Elyla” first and couldn’t figure out what was wrong for a second there.

Old habits die hard.

So like I said, she’s moving around a lot, but I haven’t been able to feel it again since that first time, no matter how often we try.

According to our handy baby size emails that Jina gets, Lyla is the size of a Papaya and wont be changing much size-wise in the next coming weeks. At least, we’re in the range Week 22-24 now, and this is the fruit we get to cover that time period.

Here is what is going on with her now:

“Watch what you say — baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby’s starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn’t be hard to figure out when — just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.”

It’s almost perfect timing really, because football starts in about a month and if she can already hear noises from outside the womb, then she’s going to be a NFL fan in just a few weeks.

Jina is doing great though despite some increasing discomfort. We’re starting to get to work on the baby’s room and I finally hung some blinds up last night to keep the hot afternoon sun out of there.

Other than that, life is good. I just finished my last class at University of Phoenix on Monday, so a few tests are in order and I’m done with school.

But one thing that I’m trying to finish before that is school. For those that know, I’ve been attending the University of Phoenix Online since the beginning of 2006. I never graduated from college and it was something that suddenly awoke in me as needing to be finished.

Well, I’m happy to report that I’m two weeks into my FINAL CLASS. Only three weeks left of writing papers, working in learning teams and of course, getting good grades. *grin*

I still have some electives required, but I’m going to knock those out with CLEP tests as soon as I can. I think I need to take about 4-5 of the tests to completely be done.

I’m worried about the tests, because I really need to motivate myself to study for them as much as I can and then take ‘em. It’s difficult without the deadlines I’ve had for 2.5 years now. But we’ll get it done.

So that’s the big update. I appreciate all the support I’ve gotten from family and friends. It’s been a long, long process for me…but I can’t believe it’s so very close to being over.

Hopefully this will open some doors if they are ever needed and give us opportunities that we haven’t even thought of yet.

Anyways, I wanted to just give an update. I am scheduled to graduate next May, which is only nine months away. Considering I have been in school now for 17 months, that is pretty amazing. I cannot believe I’ve gotten this far in such a short amount of time.

I really haven’t thought about it until now, but thinking about actually graduating and having a degree suddenly makes me very excited. I guess it has been something so far off that it never feels like it will happen…but with such a short time remaining, the reality is becoming apparent.

Basically I need 120 credits to graduate and I’m already done with 76 of them, so I have just 44 to go.

The classes have for the most part been extremely easy…the fact that I work in the field that my studies are in has helped immensely. It’s pretty amazing to see how simple some of the things in school are now that seemed to impossibly hard when you are younger.

Of course, UoP isn’t exactly Harvard or anything

Anyways, thanks to everyone who told me it was a good idea…especially Jina and my friend Todd. The support really helped me start this journey and I’m so happy I did.