The Wonderful World of Learning

(gee, my title sounds like one of those PBS specials, doesn't it? Or a kid's program)

I got a copy of the Winter quarter schedule of classes for the SBCC Adult Ed division this week, and started thumbing through it tonight. All sorts of interesting things jumped out at me. That, coupled with Tabitha's recent post, still fresh on my mind, got me thinking about all the things I'd love to do if I had more free time. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to bits (despite my constant ragging on Allan-- hey, it's a survival mechanism!) but having such responsibilities make it kind of hard to freely pursue all sorts of personal interests.

So I thought I'd jot down a few of the things I'd like to pursue (mostly classes) sometime in the not-too-distant future. But hey, even if I have to wait until Todd's in college, I'll only be in my mid-40s, that's still young enough! So here's my list, in no particular order:

1. Take an art class. I took them when I was younger-- too young to appreciate the nuances of drawing and painting techniques, I suppose. Would love to try my hand at it again.

2. Take singing lessons. I can carry a tune, but I've never had any sort of formal lessons, and I'd like to learn proper technique. I took the bilingual singing class through Adult Ed with my friend Leah this past summer, but it wasn't so much a class to teach you anything as it was preparation for our Fiesta performance.

3. Brush up on my French. All I know of it is what I learned throughout 3 years of high school, so it isn't much. But I love the language and love the sound of it, and would love to be able to understand more.

4. Learn the basics of some sort of ballroom dancing.

5. Take a writing course. Two kinds: creative writing for fun, and business/technical writing-- also for fun, I suppose-- for career purposes.

6. Take a "how to study the Bible" course. I had a brief taste of this at the beginning of last year (yeesh, seems strange to call 2009 "last" year!), during one of my small group studies. Our leader shared a few techniques (culled from her own Bible education and experience) for how to read/study the Bible and they were pretty useful! I'd love to delve into it more than I currently am.

7a. Do a summer internship at a turtle rehab center/research university. Today I donated $100 to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, to help their efforts in saving cold-stunned sea turtles. Basically, a sudden cold snap recently caused thousands of sea turtles along the south/eastern coasts of the US to basically go into a coma and float to the surface, endangering their lives. If you know me, you know that I have a soft spot for all kinds of animals-- but especially sea turtles. I can't wait to get the receipt so I can submit a company match that will essentially double my donation. Anyway... I've always wanted to work in close proximity with and learn more about these beautiful, majestic creatures.

(okay, okay, I qualified that with a subgrouping because that's not very realistic, since I can't well take 3 months off for something like this, those organizations would prefer giving internships to people pursuing a career in this area, and the locations would be places where you'd find turtles-- Florida, South Carolina, Costa Rica, Indonesia... so let's float down from the clouds a bit and pick something a little closer to home...)

7b. Volunteer at a local animal shelter or other organization dedicated to animals. This is actually something I could see trying to pursue in a few years, when Todd's a little older and can tag along and help. What a wonderful way to introduce him to volunteering and instill a love of animals in him.

8. Get back into playing the piano. Much like my art lessons, I think my piano lessons (which I took from age 8-16) were largely wasted, aesthetically speaking, on an unappreciative student. Oh, I practiced and I played but I never really got into it, and did so wholly out of obligation, because my parents were paying for a piano teacher to come every week. I know that if I'd actually put my heart into my piano lessons, I could've done so much better and learned so much more-- not to mention outright enjoyed myself rather than feeling like it was a burdensome chore.

9. Related to #2: Sing as part of a choir. In 8th grade I took choir, but I was the piano accompaniment. I didn't sing. I remember being dazzled by way all those voices combined harmoniously together, especially when we performed the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah". I tried joining this informal a cappella singing group at UCSB, but found it a little too advanced for me, since I can hardly sight read. Besides, my class projects quickly encroached upon my time. Then I joined the Hope Community Church choir, and even though it was really small and most of us were amateurs, I had a great time! For the first time in my life I started to understand the application of all that music theory I learned during piano lessons. I started developing an ear for harmony. My sight reading began to improve. And I was really enjoying myself! I'd love to get back into that sort of thing.

Hmm... as I read back on this list, I can't help but think that this sounds like a bucket list. Maybe it is, in a way. But if so, it only encompasses a subset of what my true bucket list would be (not that I've given any thought to said list :-P) I prefer to think of this as "Helly's List of Personal Interest Pursuits". Or better yet, "Helly's Highlights from the SBCC Adult Ed Catalog".... hey-- perhaps that should've been the title of my post ;-)