Back To School

In Spring 2008, I had a chance hallway meeting with a former instructor, who began a dialogue about me about my educational and career aspirations. After some heartfelt words of encouragement, she convinced me that I belonged at CCA - a competitive and very reputable school here in San Francisco/Oakland. This discussion was extremely motivational to me, and caused me to rethink my whole "just get it over with" approach to school, and inspired me to strive for what I really wanted in life. While it took some academic backtracking, and adjustments, the dedication was ultimately worth it.

I arrived at my orientation this morning a little before 8:00. I parked my bike inside the school corridors at their secure indoor bike racks, and waited for the program to get underway. While queued up near the registration table, I was flagged down by a former SF City College classmate, and we spent the time catching up. It's always nice to be that one obnoxious jerk who finds the comfort of being reunited with old friends, even in the midst of a nerve wracking, stressful new experience. Usually I'm the awkward one that keeps to himself and hopes that nobody will notice them.

As soon as the day began, the momentum never let up. My group was led by two very helpful and friendly student advisors who led us through the various presentations and meetings. The orientation was packed to the gills with information, and tasks to attend to. Despite the excitement, I did encounter some frustrations along the way – namely administrative screw-up that made my academic advising/planning session very difficult. However, no cloud is without its silver lining. Due to this complication, I was forced to adamantly seek out answers to my concerns. Of the three departmental advisors, I sought out the only one that I hadn't yet spoken to that day.

My inquiries were met with genuine interest, and thoughtful answers that didn't simply rely on dispensing a confusing assortment of facts, loosely assembled to pass as an "answer". For 15 minutes, I had the complete attention of a concerned teacher and administrator, who was happy to discuss not only the most pressing issues, but also my plans for my years ahead at CCA. As our impromptu meeting drew to a close, I was suddenly hit with the realization that I knew this instructor! As we parted, I threw out a final question -

"Hey... shot in the dark... did you ever work for ICPlanet.com?"
"Yesssss...? I did...?"
"Me too! That was my first job out of high school."

From there we both reconnected in a shocked, rambling recollection of our days as co-workers nine years ago. Maybe he was just being polite, but he claimed to remember me. I'm inclined to believe him - we did share a giant wrap-around desk after all. The conversation ended, and we both headed our separate ways to our next obligations. About an hour later, we met up again, and he helped me with some last minute registration issues, which ultimately yielded me a rather good schedule.

After registration, we had a campus tour and campus technology orientation. Before the day drew to a final close, we had to sit for ID pictures. The security staff running the operation was hilarious, and kept us pretty entertained as we waited our turn. My ID photo turned out great... I look like even more of a serial killer than I do in my passport photo. I'm on a winning streak!