It's Monday again and I find myself looking ahead at the week wondering how it looks so short. It seems as if week after week flies by, and while I'd much prefer a breezy flight than a painful lag, sometimes it feels too fast.

This month I'll be starting school in what might be considered 17th grade. While I don't start for another three and a half weeks, I'm already getting the "back to school jitters," which I literally have gotten every year of my academic life. It's sort of silly to get the jitters, seeing that most of my education will be done in a distance program, but meeting new professors, having them assess my work, and student teaching all seem scary -- exciting -- but scary. For those of you who don't know, the program I'm doing is an accelerated Master's degree at USC. By the beginning of January 2011 I should have a Master's in Teaching with a single subject credential in English. What's cool about this program is it has an emphasis on urban education and closing the "achievement gap," something that I feel passionate about.

I'm glad that I finally have a clearer direction, though there are still lot's of little pieces floating around. Like finding a solid part-time job and the living situation. I think If I've learned anything in the past six months it's that life tends to be lived with lot's of little pieces floating around. In college the pieces were set in place for four years, than growing up, your parents seem to fix them in a stable state for you, but maybe, in a way, the pieces have always been sort of loose. It's just that now I'm responsible for them, I'm fully in charge, that's what's so new. True, a job and a house are essential, at least I have a place to live now and a little babysitting income. Something, after all, is better than nothing,