School (eeewwwwww!)

I just started a new college class, Applied Managerial Marketing, in my Master's degree program. This class started Sunday and the first assignment and part of the second (both Discussion Board assignments, my favorite) were due tonight. The first one was a breeze: An introduction about me and why I'm going to school. Can't mess that up.

The second was not quite as breezy, but still pretty simple. I had to describe the press release as a part of the marketing campaign, then look up a Fortune 500 company and discuss two or more of its press releases. Six-Year-Old-Me insisted on choosing Walt Disney Company (currently ranked No. 65 for 2011), but noted that I should only look at two press releases because this is boooring. 30-Year-Old-Me agreed to both, after a cursory glance at two more press releases just to say I at least started my research with more. What can I say? I have a guilty conscience.

Not quite two hours before the deadline, Assignment One is done and the first part of Assignment Two is done. Parts two and three of Assignment Two are due later in the week. I will have to read and respond to two classmates' initial postings (oh, shudder — why are so many Master's-level students such godawful writers?!?) and then go a bit more in-depth by looking for some news-y response to one of the press releases a fellow classmate reports on. My choice of classmate and thus, press release, thankfully. I'm about as excited about that as I am for reading Disney's annual report.

Six-Year-Old-Me isn't even dignifying it with a thought. She's still all starry-eyed in dreaming about Disneyland and princesses and dragons. Can't say I blame her.

This class is my fifth out of 11 classes for this degree, an MBA in Marketing. I actually started this degree in late 2010, exactly six months after receiving my Bachelor's, so I should be done with it by now. However, due to burn-out, stress, a desire to maintain my current 4.0 rather than losing it to stress, and the financial implications of being done with school, I have become rather good at taking breaks between classes to draw things out until I can land a better job.

I don't want to talk about my current job hunt. I'll just leave it at the age-old question, "How the hell am I supposed to get any experience in my chosen field if nobody hires me?!?" I'm just sayin' — the Master's degree better be damn good employer-bait.

Six-Year-Old-Me thinks I should just give up and be a ballerina. Or a unicorn.

Sounds kinda nice, actually.