Trepidations

In a couple of weeks the fall semester begins.  I mentioned in a previous post that I'm not looking forward to online classes, but well, such is life and it can't be helped.  Some of you may be surprised to hear that I have post-summer jitters every fall.  And now as a student, the same jitters are back.  Not that I'm worried or anything, but after a summer off, it's hard to get back into gear, you know?

I've signed up for five courses, though I likely will drop one (four will allow me to stay full time).  I need eight more to finish the degree, so taking five this semester doesn't do much other than to give myself more work.  As to which one I'll drop, well, that depends on how I like the prof and the way the class is run.

This will be a strange semester, naturally.  Not only are my classes online (there are classes that are in-person, but mine happen to be all online), thus obviating interaction with others, the lack of a need to actually be on campus kind of negates the whole point of my undergraduate venture.  I mean, hell, it's not like I need another degree.  But in these unusual times, what can you do, eh?

But as autumn sets in, and as classes get started, it will be harder for me to maintain my present routine.  On an average day, between my rucking and working out at home, I need about five to six hours of free time a day (in a block).  How the hell will I get that when I have classes to attend to, readings to do, assignments to work on, etc etc?

And as you can imagine, Ottawa is not a particularly hospitable place for rucking by the time November comes along.  By winter, when temperatures plummet to thirty below, who the F*#k wants to go rucking?  And for hours?

Well, my gym told me that they have reopened.  But you have to make appointments to go, and you only have a one-hour block.  And there's no shower.  So okay, if I want to swim, say, which itself means 50 minutes in the water, what am I to do?  Come out dripping and smelling like a pool and go home?  Or a workout without showering afterwards?  But actually more important, I am not sure I want to go to a gym.  Isn't the weight room going to be a cesspool of germs in the air and equipment?  I asked them to freeze my membership for now, but there will come a time when I have to decide what to do.  Especially when I can't continue my present routine.

Do you have any thoughts?  Any experience to share?

I think anyone reading this is a student no more.  So the beginning of a new semester doesn't really mean much to you.  Or classes, for that matter.  But I am guessing that all of us, in some way, shape, or form (you have noticed that I LOVE the Oxford comma?), are affected by the covid virus.  Life as we knew it is disrupted.  Let's just hope it's not a permanent situation.  Stay safe!  Till next time...