 My fingers twitched, then again, then smoothly and assuredly as they answered the part of the essay question that I knew, with what memories I had.   As I wrote my mind calmed my body as it planned out the immediate future and courses of action.  I finished the second and final page of what should have been a six page essay, and closed my blue book, then grinned with relief.  Walking towards my hippy swirl, multi-colored, tie-dye shirt wearing T.A. with blue book in hand and a toothy smile on my face I mentally added Failed a test, Failed a class to Quit a job and Got fired from a job as things I was truly happy I had worked hard to accomplish.
	 “Tap-Clack-Click” goes the keyboard.  I stare past the computer monitor, past where it sits on the breakfast nook table, to look at the refrigerator.  It’s full sized now, with a freezer and enough space to hold a few weeks worth of food.  The rectangular box of a room is slightly larger this time.  All three of us are still packed into a one room studio.  
	This time the room is in Mira Mesa, where we’ve lived since 1991, and which is located just five miles from UCSD’s campus.  Five minutes of walking from our front door gets me to the MTS 921 bus that drives me to UTC in La Jolla where I can catch the SDT 41 that goes straight to UCSD’s campus; Total travel time twenty five minutes.  There are two beds now, and even though mine is an uncomfortable fold out couch, it’s still right next to the air conditioner.  A living arrangement I consider a very good thing.  Three people in one room is still stuffy business.  
	The last year of school has been a lot better than the first.   My financial aid was processed in March when the financial aid office grudgingly accepted my 8.0 units of enrolled classes as sufficient to fulfill their student aid requirements.  And again in September when the FAO grudgingly accepted my 12.0 units of enrolled classes, personal letter of support from the Provost of Muir, essay length letter of explanation as to the difficulty of my circumstances hyphen steps taken to rectify those circumstances, multiple accurately filled out official forms, and two personal slash two impersonal references as sufficient to provide student aid and temporarily suspend my academic probation.  
	As far as classes go, in my second quarter of Spring ‘03 I achieved a B+ and an A.  Which kind of surprised me because I had no idea UCSD gave +’s and -‘s on official transcripts.  From all my work this quarter it look’s like I’ll be getting a C in Literature English 21, a B in Latin 1, and probably a B in Literature Writing 8C.  I’m not quite sure about the last one because that grade depends on this paper, and I always feel my writings are failures. 