Going back to school!

I've been itching to go back to school for anything. Okay, except math, science, history, philosophy, psychology...okay, so not just anything, BUT definitely for writing and graphic design. There are two problems with going back to school, though: 1. the cost and 2. the time.

I'm really interested in taking another class on writing children's literature (first one was taken waaaay back in 1999), but I can't afford the hefty price of 600 bucks for just one semester of classes. Nor can I convince my company that this class is career-related.

I would also love to take some classes on typography and branding, and hone my Illustrator skills and learn more about Photoshop and Flash. But, again, I can't afford to do that. Nor do I have the free time to take a semester long class.

Then I found online classes offered through UC Berkeley Extension, specifically a sequence of classes for editing, a skill I would like a refresher on. While I know a million rules on editing for grammar and content, I've totally forgotten most of the terms. Which makes for an okay editor, but I want to be a good to great editor. I want to be able to explain things, even if whom I'm explaining it to doesn't know what I'm talking about.

After some careful research, I found job descriptions outside of mine that the editing classes could pertain to (one requirement to get your tuition paid by our company is that the classes must be career-related and do not directly apply to your current job), so I got the paperwork signed, turned it in, registered for the first class, and now I'm hoping my request won't be rejected in December or January when the class is over and I try to get reimbursed.

I'm also hoping I can manage to take the online class, which is schedule for Tuesdays but with no specific time (I'm still not sure there is a specific time). Because you know, I have this little guy in my life, and he's pretty demanding, especially with my time.

When I talked to my boss about all this, she told me she wanted me to take a class so she could pay for it with her training budget. What? Okay! I said.

I didn't want the editing class to be paid through her, so that opened the door for me to take a class on Photoshop. I've been taking online tutorials, but learning software that way can be a bit difficult for me. I need someone to show me all the whizzbangs and dilly bobs because Photoshop is nothing like Illustrator, and since I know Illustrator fairly well, I have a tendency to become frustrated with how differently Photoshop works.

So I found a two-day class on Photoshop basics and now I'm adding more skills to my skill set! And I get to take this class on work time, not my time.

I've been feeling rather stifled lately because I want to do so much but my time is so limited, and taking these classes will definitely help me feel like I'm doing something to get somewhere, where ever that may be.

And I get to buy more reference books because of the editing classes, and I always think, the more books, the merrier. What can I say, I like having an obnoxiously filled overhead cabinet at work.