I'm a late bloomer

After a 7 year hiatus from college, I have finally returned at the ripe age of 26. I must admit, I was very immature during my teenage years. I dropped out of high school my senior year with only 6 weeks left in the semester. I then returned the next year, after working in a furniture factory for a few months, and graduated at the top of my class. Most people would think I had learned my lesson about finishing my education, but they are wrong. I enrolled at Northeast Mississippi Community College in August of the same year that I graduated with all intentions of getting my Bachelor's degree in secondary education. Unfortunately, I failed to follow through, once again. I ended up dropping out midway through the semester, due to stress I suppose. Never the less, I have returned at the age of 26. The in between years are a blur, as I had been married for 4 years and working several different dead end jobs, but I digress. I've been given the opportunity to recapture my goal of getting a college education.

Going into college, I thought that there wouldn't be much difference between myself and the thousands of 18 and 19 year old kids that are attending NEMCC, but apparently I was wrong. I have only been in college for a few weeks now and can already see the differences of being 18 and 26. 26 is still young, right?

It took me a little while to get acquainted with my roommate and his friends, but they quickly accepted me. I'm reminded how different I think than a teenage college kid every day. The other night, my roommate was playing his music on his laptop. He had a good song playing, then all of a sudden I heard him say, "Okay, I'm going to play some old school music." Well I am standing there, waiting to hear Def Leppard or The Rolling Stones start playing. Instead, I here a 5 or 6 year old Usher song start streaming. I quickly thought to myself, "Hmm, I was listening to this song while I was on a date with my ex-fiance'." I realized that it was about 6 years ago, when I was 20 years old. Then I realized that this kid would have only been 12 when this song debuted. Even though I know I am not that old, these college teenagers make you realize the age environment you are surrounded by.

During the second week of college, my friend and I started our workout routine. Our daily regimen was to wake at 6 AM, be at the Boulevard around 6:30, jog for about 45 minutes, go eat breakfast, play ping pong in the game room, then get ready for our 9 o' clock classes. After that first day of our routine, I came into my dorm after my classes were over, only to be met by my roommate and his friends. They were, all 3, wide eyed and full of energy with smiles on their faces. "Man. What time did you wake up this morning," one said to me. "6 AM," I replied. Apparently 6 AM is very early to 18 and 19 year olds. It was if I had exposed that I was an undercover agent, by looking at the expressions on their faces. I giggled to myself again, thinking, "My God. I feel like a dinosaur around these kids."

I finally received my first "Yes Sir" this week from a young black girl that was in one of my classes. It hurt so badly. At least these kids have good manners.

Like most Junior Colleges, males aren't allowed in the female dorms and vice versa. Last weekend, my friend and I decided to stay on campus instead of making the trip back home. For the most part, we continued our routine, but played XBOX 360 all day after our workout. Saturday afternoon, we were hanging out in the lobby of my friends dorm complex, talking to the students that stayed on campus that weekend. After walking outside for a bit, then returning to the lobby, there was a lot of murmuring and gossiping going on. "What's all the fuss about," I asked the dorm mother. "Well as you know, males aren't allowed in the female's dorm rooms. About 10 minutes ago, I saw a black boy, dressed up as nice as you have ever seen any woman dressed up, coming down from a girl's dorm room. He had on a nice dress with sequins on it, a wig and women's jewelry," she replied. "Well I'll be. Some guys are just outgoing, I guess," I replied. My buddy and I laughed about that for a good while, because we realized we had seen him when we walked outside early and were shaking our heads because of the way he was dressed.

Moral of the story: Never underestimate the creativity of a college kid.