"What's that?" "Tofu."

I'm really not in a peppy sort of mood.
(Eventually at the end of this, I'll write about happier things. But the beginning just holds a few more pressing matters.)

(I have more than 3.97. That's just my checking account. However, my student loan account is nearing about 240jd... not a lot. Makin' me worry.)

I recently just found out that I can't get any loans without filling out an Appeals Form because I have too many credit hours.
Isn't that what colleges want? People to take classes and pay them money?

I have been in school to long to not have received at least one bachelors. I accept that.
I also accept that music majors generally take 5 years. That's a given.
Plus one semester if you add up all my degree changes before my junior year.
Plus a year dealing with Fraternity/Lawyer things.
So. 6 and a half.
IF I student teach fall semester. (fall 2010.)
If I don't... Spring 2011.

Then after that, I still want my antiquities degree.
Because I like it.
I like this work, i like the reading and research and history.

A masters, because you can't do anything without a masters.
Perhaps in Classics.
Maybe in religious studies.

That's like... a thousand years in college.

And a million dollars in student loans.

And schools and people constantly telling me I can't and I shouldn't.

BUT for right now, I have Missouri State telling me I can't.
I can't get student loans because I have too many credits.
So I have to fill out an appeals form, which isn't as crazy as it sounds, come to find out, because one of the guys on our team had to do it while he was getting two masters degrees.
BUT. I had to contact my lawyer because I don't know how to tell the University while I'm still in school or why I have a lawyer, and that's how I've been enabled to continue with my classes- because my Big Bad Wolf is clearing a path for me.

So. I sent an email to Joe. And now I wait.
The form is supposed to be turned in like... this week. Maybe next week.
I guess we'll find out.

Financial Aid has been throwing me through firey hoops, and I'm getting ehxausted.


IN DIG NEWS.
Seth and I got booted from our cave.
See also: Dave the field sup kept our squaresups and sent Seth and I to another field for the day, because they needed our help.
Turns out, though, they didn't need our help as bad as they thought because after second breakfast, Seth and I got to work with bones! My favorite!
Seth got to clean bones, I worked inventory.
I actually had a lot of fun working inventory- I like the tedious things, it turns out...

After that, we came back to the hotel and showered, ate lunch, then left to tour some other dig sites in the MPP (Madaba Plains Project). We saw Umayri and Jalul- both very interesting sites.
One of the Andrews girls, Lizzy, is going to work at Umayri the 23rd-- one dig right after the other- so cool.
She's pretty awesome.

All dig sites seem to be very similar it that all living spaces were built to protect, to be strongholds- so they were all built on high hills, some with high walls, others not. Umaryi had excavated the protective walls, and actually found a mote. Pretty cool.

After touring the dig sites, we went back to our own site, and we had our site party with the workman. One of the Andrews guys made BBQ (ish) for us and we all hung out for a bit.
Some of the workmen sang and danced, impromptu-like. It was pretty great. They got some of us out there to do it too. I had a lot of fun.
Great food, fun singing and dancing.
We had a visit from a movie star, apparently, who was filming a perfume commercial on our Tell (?)... I dunno, man.. I thought it was pretty weird considering we always leave the Tell smelling awful. haha

Then we all came back to the hotel and slept.

This morning I got to sleep in a bit because, while I needed to help with bone registry, I thought I needed to go to the Police Station to have my passport checked more-- Jordan has a policy where all foreigners have to get an HIV test if they're in the country for a month or more. But the HIV test is so unsanitary, it's pretty unsafe and can actually make you sick/give you diseases. So, Dr Walker won't let us do it- the fine for not doing it is 1.5 jd's a day for every day after a month...
Which is roughly the cost of the HIV test.

That's basically what the police station told us (Which is what we, MSU kids, already knew...

So, instead of going to the site to help MJ with bones, a couple of us helped Jeff, our doctoral student from Andrews, pack the "backyard" up so it's ready to be taken back to the site.
One of our guys helped Lizzy do pottery registry and pack up...

A lot of the Andrews kids kind of just... took off and went to the mall.
It's kind of strange.. the desire to work between them and us.
A lot of them, it seems they're here strictly for religious reasons, and all of us, we're here to dig.
I dunno. I might be completely wrong in that thought. Who knows. Everyone knows what assumptions do.

So.. now we wait until lunch.
And maybe tonight, we'll go out.
I'll celebrate how little money I have.
SIGH. I don't want to be a party pooper, but with such little jd, I can't help it!

I reaaaaaalllyyy hope my lawyer gets back to me quick so I can straighten out my loan business....

Money. The bane of existence.