Class of 70

 Hi everyone,

Jubilo left a comment on my last post - "Where have you been?"...that's a fair question.

Just five months shy of turning seventy years old I have...

gone back to college.

After retiring, I took a year off to simply loaf around and have fun - including toy soldier fun.  Then, last winter, an idea started to crystalize, and that idea was to go back to school to get a degree in visual arts, you know - drawing, painting, sculpture, art history, etc.  So, this past August I enrolled at nearby Hagerstown Community College in the two-year visual arts program.  At the same time I got a student worker job in the Student Activities Office of HCC.

It has been all I hoped for and more.

I ended my first semester this weekend, and did very well in my classes.  My job is the perfect "old retired-guy job" that I was scouting around for.  I work three hours a day Tuesday through Friday.  My work schedule accommodates my class schedule.  The job is really fun and my boss is an absolute peach.  The office positively exudes "school spirit"...it's a real kick.

That's the student center right behind me, the building where I work.

This is the Kepler Visual and Performing Arts Center - where I take most of my classes.

This is one of the pieces that I have in the winter student art show.

One of my favorite duties is updating the fourteen bulletin boards on campus.  I actually do have OCD, and it shows in the way I keep the boards.

My daughter asked me if I'm making friends among the students; the fact is, that I'm making friends among the faculty and staff, which doesn't surprise me at all.

Right now, I'm planning on stretching this collegiate experience out as long as it stays fun, that's why I'm only going half-time...instead of getting an AA degree in two years, I'm shooting for four.

Between work and classes, I've been pretty busy - at the expense of playing with, or posting about, toy soldiers.  This blog will probably be pretty slim pickings until summer, when I won't be taking classes.  That being said, I am looking forward to getting back to toy soldiering, just as I'm looking forward to getting back to school after the holiday break.

I hope you'll continue to check in from time to time.

Gaudeamus igatur, and...

soldier on!

Mannie