back to school

i need to go back to school. not only am i incredibly bored with my life, but a bachelor's in comparative literature is less impressive and useful than you might think it would be. so i'll go back and get my master's and/or doctorate in comparative literature. still not useful, but definitely more impressive sounding.

my first step in this is to enroll somewhere & take a latin class. this is for 2 reasons: i need a 3rd language for the doctorate, and i have the feeling that some sort of specialization in medeival literature will require at least basic knowledge of latin. i was just going to try & find some city college to take one class at, but this proves difficult. if i wanted to take a course in business administration, this would be extremely easy. latin, however, is not as popular as one would think. also, last night (because it was a freaky 72 degree day) we wandered uptown and saw the amazing columbia campus. if i were to take latin anywhere, this would be the place:

plus, going to an ivy league school would be something to brag about. yet another good reason is that columbia offers a program for people that aren't actually pursuing a degree, just taking a class, that is much cheaper than normal. still expensive, but i'll do it.

to get into this class, i need 3 letters of recommendation. this is another difficult step, as i have been out of school since 2003. i know one teacher that i took several classes from. he might not remember me, but i remember him. however, he taught more of a physical science than any sort of literature or language. but if he remembers me, that's one down. i had to request a transcript (AND pay $6) from crappy UC Davis so that i could remember which classes i took and from whom. this might be a key in getting more letters. so i have to wait like a month for that. at least.

THEN, assuming i get accepted to take one class in this ivy league school, i will have to make sure its ok with my boss if i cut down my work week from 40 hours to include a couple half days so that i could make the surprisingly long trip from work to school and start at 4pm twice a week.

there are probably lots of other steps that i have to do as well, that will take even more work, and i don't even know what they are. man, school sucks already!

UPDATE: the teacher i mentioned already emailed me back saying "of course i remember you!" sometimes it helps to stand out in a crowd.