This available light self-portrait is my attempt to join in on the back to school photo fun. I even picked out my outfit and got dressed all by myself. And yes, today marks the start of my 23rd year of school some sort:

One year of kindergarten.

Thirteen years of grade school. Yes. Thirteen. I had to repeat first grade due to a speech problem I had as a kid that put me behind in reading. Don’t worry, though. I think I made them regret their decision to do that. I don’t think my teachers either year of it where very fond of me.

Four years of college right out of high school.

Did I get a degree?

No.

Even back then it was a dream of mine to become a nurse / nurse practitioner / physicians assistant, but I didn’t have the maturity, direction, determination, or desire to put in the effort required for it at the time. Ended up spinning my wheels a whole lot, and dropped out of school due to college algebra.

Then I spent two years in advertising school for commercial photography. That was the first time I really had applied myself in school. Ever. It became my whole life.

So, back to today. It is the start of the third year since I decided to start taking classes to work towards being a nurse again, while still continuing to work as a commercial photographer.

On my plate this semester I’ll have statistics – where I assume I will learn to mislead, tell half-truths, or just blatant lies with numbers. And also, chemistry, which I believe is the evil inbred offspring of science and math, after a drunken one-night-stand at a family reunion gone terribly wrong.

Between those two classes, and trying to work, I’m sure to have some good times ahead of me this semester. I’m actually looking forward to it though because college algebra has succeeded in making me look forward to any class – but it.

Add all that up, and you have 22 glorious years I’ve spent in school making teachers regret their decision to teach.

As you can see here, I look the part, don’t I?

I think I’m even going to give a wallet-size laminated print of this to Julia to wear around her neck at work – under her scrubs. That way, when patients hit on her, as I know some of them do, she can whip out this shot of me –  and their competition – to let them see just how taken she is.