Hanging in there

Random photo inserted for color.


Early registration for winter term started this week. On Monday, the registration computer went down, so all the registration has to be done by hand. The registration lobby has been packed all week long. And people who are already frustrated by standing in line for fourty minutes come to us saying, "I have to take a placement test before I can sign up for my classes. How long is this going to take?"

Well, it takes longer than it used to because the powers that be want us to use three seperate tests rather than the single neat package we used to use. So we set them up with reading, they come out and get their scores, we go back in with them and set them up with writing, they test, come out and get their scores, we take them in and set them up with math. No two tests have the same log-in procedures. No two have the same final procedures. This one, you don't close out till you come out and make sure your results printed, that one finished automatically and boots you off the computer. The old placement tests were one simple package, leading from reading to writing to math seamlessly. And the results printed off on a single page. The improved system is a definite fail in my book. And I feel such pity for the people trying to register. Wait and wait and wait some more. Who would have thought it would take the whole day just to sign up for classes?

But we're busy, and that make the day fly by.

So I'm planning my wardrobe for Hawaii. One change of underwear in the carry-on. I was remembering how, in my slender youth, (this was before butt-floss thongs)I could stick my string bikini skivvies into a sandwich bag,(no one wore bras.) Now my bra is underwired and has padded shoulder straps, and my bun cozies could be used to dry a van. A one quart zip-lock just barely does the job for my unmentionables.

Used to be my makeup bag weighed a couple of pounds. Now I make do with a mascara, some brown eye-shadow to color in my anemic brows, and a tinted chapstick. Hair care? A brush and some bobby pins. No mousse, no hairdryer, no hot rollers. Shoes? Runners which I will wear on the plane and do most of my walking in, and skimmers for pool and dinner wear. Used to need a pair of shoes to go with every outfit. Now I pick my outfits to go with the shoes.

But where the makeup bag has shrunk, the medicine bag has arrived. Vitamins, his blood pressure meds, my anti-depressants, his diabetes meds, my calcium supplements, our Ginko, our fish-oil, aspirins, sudafeds, Immodium, Neosporin, motion sickness meds, anti-fungal gel (athlete's foot is all over the beach, Catch it early) Antihistamines for bug bites. rash ointment, and don't forget the talcum powder. On a sticky hot day, I can raise a blister between my cheeks without the talc. (T M I Roxie!)

Any packing hints or suggestions? I'm always on the lookout to make travel lighter and easier.