Just Another Title

So, I just finalized all the paperwork on my end for my baby to get an apartment.


No, he's not literally a baby. That would be weird.

And no, I'm not kicking him out. He just doesn't want to live in the dorm come Fall 2010.
Spoiled much? Probably. Okay, yes.

But even though he's (gulp!) nineteen years old and holding down a full time job this summer, I'm not quite ready to admit that he's an adult. I was just getting used to the "empty nest" that he left me and K with last fall. And I haven't seen much of him since classes let out in May. In fact, once he moved back into the family home for the dog days of summer, he hasn't spent much time here. The first couple of weeks he hadn't started work yet, but he had to cram in visits to and from all his friends that were home as well; some were only home for a couple of weeks before they headed back to classes, internships and the like. Then there were a couple of weekends dedicated to training, so the few weekdays he had left before "the old grind" claimed his freedom, he spent swimming, playing and an impromptu camp trip.

Gone are the days of lazing in bed until mid-afternoon, because he's out the door by 7:30 a.m., unless it's his week for pre-camp pick-ups which has him leaving closer to the butt-crack of dawn. Okay, more like 7a.m., but for this night owl it may as well be dawn's early light! And, yes, I'm up just as early because I'm making a lunch for him to take with him. 'Cause I'm a good mom like that. (Read: sucker!) Actually, I feel like it's the least I can do especially since I get up to prepare K's lunch anyway. (Read: DOUBLE-sucker!)

So, the prospect of him living in his own digs come August has gotten me all melancholy for the days of yore.
The days when he'd strip down to his Blue's Clues Underoos because his pants were "disturbing" him. Halloween nights of "trick-treatin'" (he never could remember the "or"). Singing Barney songs over and over and over..."play it AGAIN, Momma!"..."Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease."


Days when he'd march into the living room with Scooby Doo skivvies and mimic Yul Brynner in "The King and I" proclaiming "Etc.! Etc.! Etc.!"

Days surrounded by Pokemon cards and viewing operations on Discovery Channel.

Times when he'd just call me "Momma" (or "MOM!") and not "Guarantor." Well, he hasn't actually called me "guarantor" yet...and personally, I hope he never does. I much prefer "Mom."

Where Life is Unbranded...Welcome to Maverick Country

So goes the latest advertisement for UTA.

The time has come. Josh is off to college. And loving it.

So far...well, he's only been there just shy of a week. We packed his car (with a bit of overflow in mine) on Thursday morning and made the three-hour trek to the monsterplex. We arrived right around lunchtime but he wanted to get settled first. So he checked in at his residence hall, got his keys and the necessary paperwork then we were off to locate his home away from home for his first collegiate year. How exciting!

He's on the first floor so no waiting for elevators or climbing steps. Whew! Now to unload the car in 100+ degrees of full-fledged Texas heat. Ugh! However, there were tons of volunteers on hand to help and dollies/push carts to sign out for use. We flagged down one of the handful of golf-cart drivers and headed to the parking lot. We were able to get all his gear loaded on the cart and dolly the first time around, so now it was just a matter of unloading it then getting it all into his room. And I thought girls packed a lot!

Three hours later, he was all unpacked. J has two roommates and they all have private bedrooms in their "suite," sharing the living room/kitchenette area, the vanity area (2 sinks and mirrors), the restroom and the separate shower. Here are the first pictures of dorm life, they're not very big but it'll give you an idea anyway.

Each residence hall is divided into sections or "houses" and Joshua is assigned to Hawkins House. Each RA (Resident Assistant on staff) is responsible for decorating with welcome signs, name tags, etc. Here are the three name tags on their outer door.

Here's a shot of the living room and kitchenette, this is what you see when you first walk in. You're standing in the living room and the kitchenette is to your right. Ahh....mini-fridge, coffee maker, sandwich maker and a microwave, the appliances of fine dorm food everywhere. Got Ramen? (That's like pot noodle for you UK folks.)


W's room, left of the living room...and T's room, next to J's.


The sinks, just behind the kitchenette...and you can see the "water closet" to the left.


This is the hallway, to the right of the living room, leading to J's room next to the wall mirror and T's room just beyond that. The room at the end of the hall is where the shower and towel racks are.


This shot of J's closet, was taken standing by the window. The pantry/bookcase/linen closet is right inside his doorway, taken from the hall facing towards W's room and the living room.


And here's J settling in...already logged onto Facebook. Priorities.


I apologize for the poor photo quality. I committed the cardinal sin of bloggers and forgot to bring my camera. These photos were taken on J's new camera, but then loaded to FB, where I then "lifted" them and saved them to our home computer. I'm sure there was an easier way, but this was the quickest option I had at the time. Anyway, you get the gist, yeah?

Onwards!

After several campus visits, scholarship offers and tons of junk mail from affiliates of each university, I'm finally getting around to letting you know where Joshua decided to go to college.

He chose the University of Texas at Arlington
and their School of Architecture.


Over the last several years Joshua has cultivated an interest in art and architecture. He's looked at buildings with awe since we lived in DFW. He wanted to take pictures of every building we saw in England. Serving as the President for his newly-formed chapter of National Art Honor Society at school has been one way that he has honed his skills and interest. So when the applications needed to be filled out for college, he had a pretty clear idea of what he wanted to study and with encouragement from us to stay within the Lone Star State he knew where he'd be studying it. (Have you SEEN what out-of-state tuition can run you lately?!? Forget an arm and a leg, you'd have to throw in both sets AND a first-born!)

We looked at the University of Texas (in Austin), but J was capped because of the 10% rule. That's where a state university is required by law to accept a student that places in the top ten percent of their graduating class. Joshua is in the top twenty percent, but not the top ten. Still quite an achievement for a class of 400+ students.

We visited the University of A & M, about a 90-minute drive up the road in College Station. He was accepted into the university, but the Architecture program was full for the fall semester. His options were to a) start at A & M as a general studies major (where he wouldn't be able to begin taking any of the freshman level architecture and studio courses), keep a 3.5 GPA or higher, and then change his major and hope he could still get in to the College of Architecture which would in essence put him "behind" about a year as far as coursework is concerned; or b) go to another university that HAD accepted him into their School/College of Architecture, begin taking freshman classes that were degree-specific, maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher, then TRANSFER in to their college. We all agreed the TRANSFER option seemed the most logical.

We then visited my alma mater of Texas Tech University in his birthplace of Lubbock. I encouraged him to go to Tech even though it was the furthest from home and would be harder for me to visit or for him to come home as often. Honestly, I thought that would be seen as a "plus" for him. I had a great time at Tech and enjoyed college even if it wasn't conventional since I was a single mom at the time; a rarity, I'm sure or at least I didn't meet many others, back then. He liked the program and everything else about Tech, but I think the deal-breaker was the dorms. I tried to get him to look past that, but to no avail. To be honest, I really don't know what else changed his mind against Tech.

Then, lastly, we were off to Arlington, minutes from our previous "home" in Euless. I had no idea about UTA, had driven through campus many times when we lived in the area, but never really gave it a second thought. I liked the idea of a smaller college and how smaller, more intimate classes could better serve J's education, where he wouldn't feel lost in the shuffle which can happen at larger universities. But were the opportunities as plentiful there as they were at a "major university"?

We did the same thing we had done at the other colleges: toured the campus, visited the dorms, and talked with people in the architecture department. I didn't see any vast difference, other than the size of the campus itself. Facilities seemed appropriate to its size. There were newer buildings that proved money was coming in and there was growth. (Student body population is right around 25,000 and according to their respective websites Tech's is listed at about 28,000, A&M's at 48,000+ and UT's at 50,000+.) On the surface, it seemed comparable. However, something happened in Joshua that set off a spark. He seemed to be more excited about going to college, looked forward to the fact he was going to finally be able to study something he was interested it, wanted to get to it. Something happened and he was "sold"...and that was all I needed.

The final selling point was definitely the financial aid. Joshua was awarded an Outstanding Freshman scholarship for $6,000 that was renewable for up to four years depending on grades and such. That won't pay for everything, but it'll take a nice chunk out of the bills.

His plan is to utilize the scholarship, study hard, work diligently at creating a damn fine portfolio and then look at transferring as a sophomore into UT or A&M, a little closer to home. His dream of studying at Rice hasn't completely faded so I may still have to sell an arm or a leg at some point. I'm just glad that he's got a bit of focus and a goal set.

Now if I can just come to terms with the whole empty nest thing that's facing me...

We Are Pleased To Announce

That J received acceptance letters from
and
We're still waiting on two more. Watch this space.