Another new year and nothing to worry about

This archived article was written by: Leland Lobato

I would like to set up a nice serene story about how with the coming of autumn, the prospect of great happenings increases as we ease into the new school year. I would like to set up a nice happy environment for everybody to imagine, where everything moves along efficiently with lots of pretty scenery. But unfortunately such is not the case. For some it may just be that way, but not for me. I did not ease into the school year this time around. No, I walked around the corner and it ambushed me as I was looking the other way. So here I am in the trenches being bombarded by books, professors, tuition, student fees and a few other random bits and pieces of scholastic-related schrapenel wondering exactly how I got into this situation. So now we que the flashback sequence and funky music as I think about the events leading up to my state of immense confusion. Also, this is a really great place for a new paragraph.
As the summer began, I’m sure many of the people reading this were making plans to have some kind of grand adventure, or just to go on some kind of vacation, camping or what not. Hopefully everybody got to fulfill those plans and had one ripping good time. Ideally I would like to think that everybody engaged in some sort of exciting activity that they had never been able to do before. I want everybody to have had a new experience. For example, this summer, I jumped out of an airplane, on purpose. Yes, for the first time, I went skydiving this summer and had a septic tank full of fun in the process.
Now many of you may be wondering why I would choose to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. For several reasons, the first of which is that I am always looking for a new experience, a little something to throw some spice into the great big stew pot known as life. Another is because it seemed like it would be lots of fun. Also I was guaranteed a full refund if my parachute failed to open. Not to mention that I am a little bit on the crazy side of life.
Besides the whole falling out of an airplane thing, my summer break was pretty bland. Not to say it was uneventful or anything of that nature, but nothing worth mentioning happened. The point is while everybody was out doing the summertime thing, I was busy doing work and other activities synonymous with that particular four-letter word.
This is where my confusion began, because during this time, I happened to fill out the FAFSA forms for student financial aid. Seems pretty simple and straightforward right? Usually it would be but for one small factor, the person filling out the forms happened to be Leland Lobato.
The first blow landed against me by the fall semester of 2006 was that I had seen, heard, nor otherwise been contacted as to the status of my financial aid. Naturally I was curious so I decided to go check on things. It turns out that I had filled out the forms for 2005-2006 and not this school year. So it was at this point that I went from a rather uneventful existence to having to deal with a relentless assault consisting of financial aid woes, the adding and dropping of classes and a few other issues that needed to be addressed.
Before I go further, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome all the new students to CEU, and welcome back to those who are returning. I expect everybody made it through with everything still attached. Hopefully as the semester gets rolling along, nobody else will err as I have with the whole FAFSA situation. If so, remember that you are not alone. I shall be right there with you screwing up also. Well at least I will in spirit, no actual screwing up will be done on my end of things. Not on purpose that is, who’s to say that any of us will not engage in the up screwing of things. Now don’t go out there and try to up screw something but by no means should one feel bad about it. Screwing up is a part of life as much as sleeping is, or going to the store. Nobody is perfect nor will anyone of us ever achieve that. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive for perfection.
What I am getting at here is that as this new semester gets going and we start feeling the pressure of all our classes and other responsibilities, some of us are bound to make a mistake along the way. The mistakes will vary as much as each of us as people do. Oops, I forgot to turn in that assignment or I filled out the wrong FAFSA forms and now I have to wait for my financial aid to get here. All of that is okay to do as long as you try to make up for it or there is not too much damage done. Still there is always another chance or another route to take. In words forever immortalized by Tupac, life goes on.
In summation I hope to help those who may be feeling a little tension as we all traverse down life’s hi ways and interstates. Just take it step by step and no matter what, remember I made the first mistake of the semester for everybody. That’s right, I took one for the team. I will always be there to half ass it so that the rest of you can look good. The anti-overacheiver holding it down for the rest of the student body.
That being said, let’s all get out there and have ourselves one heck of a semester, and at least on weekends, act like it’s still summertime. Thank you for your time, we now return you to your regularly scheduled newspaper reading. Wear your seat belts and don’t forget to floss.