Which Line Were You In?

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything. It is difficult with my schedule to find the time to post. Included in my daily routine are 4-6 hours of scripture study, 1-2 hours of praying, 10-12 hours of neighborhood watch, and countless acts of charitable service. Thus, I have not been able to include much time for posting. I have ,however, been able to keep up on the blogs I regularly read.



One such post that caught my eye was posted on the Would Be Writers Guild blog and it concerned freshman year in college. Although my freshman year was a long, long time ago, I still remember a few things about it.



To give you an idea of how long ago it was, consider the fact tuition was $86.00 per quarter. Also we were just starting to use computers for things like class registration. Bear in mind that a computer back then was capable of doing about 1/20th of what a cheap lap-top can do now. Also the actual computer itself was about the size of New Jersey or about 1/2 the size of Barrack Obama's Ego.



Registration day was in order of which class you were in. Seniors first, juniors second, sophomores third and lowly freshman last. If it was determined that you needed remedial classes, It could take even longer. Classwork usually started around the 3rd Monday in September. I was still trying to register in October.



When your appointed time came you went to the field house, catalog and class schedule in hand, hoping to land some classes that would help you fill requirements for your major or at least fill general requirements... It was then that you learned about lines.



The process required that you stood in lines of varying length to procure a computer card that would eventually be turned into the registrar, thus insuring your place in the chosen class.



It took about an hour to come to the realization that when registering on the last day, there were absolutely no classes available that you had considered that were not already full. There was nothing that would work with-in your own time frame. The only classes left were 5:45 a.m starts or 8:30 p.m. starts or perhaps something with a 3 hour lab on Saturday morning starting at 6:45 a.am.



The lines became easier to read the longer you were in them. Short lines meant that the class was full and some students were just trying to beg or bribe their way into the class. Some of the methods included the well-worn statement "Do you know who my father is?" Other ways included some of the female students trying to get into the class by showing a little too much skin or too much batting of mascara lined eyebrows. The field house was the first public venue other than the beach where I saw a girl with a bare midriff. I think it emotionally damaged me for life. This girl had no business baring anything. The total length of the stretch marks on her generously proportioned mid-section were about equal in length to the new Legacy Highway.



If the line was long, you knew it was a class in high demand either because it was a general education requirement or it had a reputation of being the easiest class ever taken.



If at anytime during the process you were able to actually get to the front of the line, and if they had any space left in the class, you were then given a computer card much like the ones with the hanging chads, that you held onto until the end of the session when you turned them into the registrar to start the new quarter.



After standing in numerous lines, the interesting part of the registration process took place. There was another way to get classes that were already full. There was active trading of class cards inside the field house. The reasons for this were many. Some students just stood in as many lines as they could to get as many cards as possible just to be able to trade for something they really wanted. I remember getting a freshman English class card from some hippie-looking doofus because by 2p.m. he decided that college wasn't for him, and he was going off to join the peace corps. I traded a class in beginning Hebrew to a young Zit farmer from Burley, Idaho after he told me he was going to send in his Mission papers after the first of the year. He had a freshman history class card that I needed so I told him that I heard the church was going to be opening up missionary work in Israel and he might want to get a head start on the language. By the end of the day if you had any smarts at all you could usually get a schedule that at least would keep you from being drafted.



But once you determined that your schedule was set, you checked and re-checked and analyzed your decision. You were about to reach the point of no return. Once the cards were handed to the registrar, that was it. Your schedule was set in stone. Not even a Presidential Mandate could change it. It would be easier to have a sex-change operation in a Provo Utah hospital than change your classes at WSC.



I think,perhaps we can draw some parallels to the pre-existence. For those of you who read this that are not LDS, let me explain that Mormons believe in a life before this life. While not clear on everything that transpired before we came to earth, I think I might be able to shed some light on our mortality registration day.



I would bet there were plenty of lines in the field house of the pre-existence. The lines were not for specific classes but rather for earthly talents, skills, attributes etc. I think you were allotted so much time to gather your earthly cards, analyze them, trade them, ponder over them and then turn them in to the gatekeeper.(heretofore referred to as the registrar). Once again, the turning in of the cards was an ominous time. Once those cards were turned in, it becomes almost impossible to change them.



I am pretty sure I did better at college registration than I did at earthly registration. For pre-existence registration, I know for a fact I spent a long time in the skinny line. I also spent time in the wonderful Irish Tenor line. I'm pretty sure I was standing in the money line with Bill Gates. I was almost to the front of the Mensa Society line at one time. Although I would like to have been in the super athlete line, it was not to be. I couldn't even find the normal coordination line.I know for a fact that I spent time in the never-go-bald line. I think I was suckered into a few bad trades by skinny, smart, athletic, talented rich people in the pre-existence.



That being said, I have determined that I am going to embark on a quest to trade some of my cards. I know I said it was next to impossible. But that's what I thought in college before I was able to get rid of my introduction to quantum physics class for an advanced bowling class



I am even prepared to make a contest out of this. I have participated in some contests on other blogs and have enjoyed doing so.. The main difference between my contest and other that I have participated in is that mine will be FAIR. It will be fair because it will be my contest, with my rules and I will be the final judge.



All you have to do to win is be the first one to tell what card or cards I have exchanged. This might happen very quickly(like hair plugs) or it could take a long long time(like effective singing lessons). Nonetheless be the first to be correct and you will win a great prize. I'm not going to divulge the prize until I declare a winner. Please rest assure that It will be a prize befitting both yours and my position. I do not usually deal in cheap and tawdry items. let the games begin.
Also Rhonda, Ryan, Barb, Liz, Shawn, Katie, Mike, Annie and Dan are not elegible to participate in the contest. I've already spoiled them too much.