Winds of Change

     So I took my mom to the 209 flea market yesterday out near Stroudsburg and during the hour plus ride I noticed something slightly disturbing--the leaves are starting to change already.  It's the middle of August and as we wound our way through the beginning of the Pocono Mountains, I'm seeing shades of red already.  I've noticed recently here the enormous size of the local wildlife--squirrels, fox, chipmunks... the small creatures that bulk up for winter.  Now to wait for the acorn showers to prove my theory.  We didn't have much of a spring again this year; it was freezing cold, then temperate for a week or so, then suddenly it was summer.  But it wasn't a wicked summer again.  Just a few days here and there with wretched heat and humidity (just in time for my Orlando trip thankfully).  Otherwise, it was chilly, rainy, and overall not too bad.  Not a good sign.  This is what happened last year and the previous year before we got hammered with an early and long winter.  Not a typical Jersey winter, mind you, but like something you'd find in say--Maine or Alaska.  Sub-zero temperatures followed by feet of snow followed by more bone chilling temperatures.  Not that I mind snow, mind you.  I actually happen to love the white fluffy stuff, especially since I neither have to shovel it or clean my car off.  Even on the rare occasion that I do, I use the snowblower and it's done in no time.  It's the temperatures that kill me.  I pretty much lived off of pain killers and ibuprofen last winter just to be able to get out of bed most days.  I'm not looking forward to another winter like that at all. 
     So with the seasons beginning to change, it's just about time for another semester.  Another semester that's looking to start off askew before it even starts.  I spent weeks straightening out my tuition only to find out today that one of my classes is now cancelled due to lack of enrollment.  This naturally is announced after I purchased the texts.  Looks like I might be commuting to campus 3 days a week now instead of 2, with a Monday night class in neuropsych.  That's if I can get an appointment with my advisor asap to sign me into the course considering it's full already, but a graduation requirement.  As much as I'd hate to miss Monday Night Football again, I'd much prefer that to taking a math class right about now.  Well, a statistics or research class at least.  I don't quite count statistics as math considering depending on how you want your data to look, you can change the numbers, formulas, or skew them to say what you want. 
    No matter what course I end up in this semester, I just want to finish it this time.  That means continued vigilance of what I'm eating and drinking, my workouts, and the hardest of all--stress management.  I literally cannot afford to be sick again.