Life Planning

So I have developed a new strategy (well, not new, really… what I have is new motivation.) 

I just read the FABULOUS book Excel-erated Learning. It’s a good overview of the current state in academic learning theory, (the study of how all organisms learn) specifically geared toward professional dog trainers with the goal to bring training practices into line with science. (To make training easier and less stressful for man and beast.)   I am not a pro trainer, but I loved it.  I am such a wonk at heart, it reminded me of how much I love psychology and the brilliance of a well-designed, well implemented experiment.(There are a lot of them referenced in the book.)  It made me want to be part of it all, back in the fray of academic life. 

My theory is that a lot of people who really love psychology (and are good at it) are those who are not naturally good with people- since we had to teach ourselves to understand other humans, it lays the framework for cataloguing and analyzing human behavior. (And animal behavior.) I could be wrong, but that’s my experience.  I was definitely a real dork growing up. (Still am, maybe…)

So my new plan is to work this fall, save up enough money to enroll in community college for the spring term, get as many credits as I can, and then transfer to one of the Oregon state universities and major in psychology, with a focus on learning theory.  This will take several years, but I think I could tolerate going back to school if I had a clear plan of what I’m working towards.