Not very much happened today. We went to the local college (Craven Community College) because my father had questions about his enrollment in upcoming classes and to find out what was required for me to enroll as well. The very first person we came across was one of the security guards who my father just happened to know since he used to be in the Marines as well. However unlike most encounters of this type they didn’t spend all day talking, I guess because everyone was busy.
After my father asked the questions he wanted about his classes in the front office, his friend the security guard showed us where the offices were that I needed visit to see about getting my diploma so I could then enroll. The building we went to was being painted on the interior (I don’t remember why) so it was mostly empty save for some desks and cables. Most of the staff was gone as well since they had left for lunch, but there were still a couple people there and we started talking to one of them about what I needed. This was different because I’ve never done anything like this before but I had no idea just how ‘different’ the conversation would get…
The person we were talking to said that in order to start any kind of classes they needed my transcript from high school and told us we could get it from the board of education which I thought was simple enough. While we were there I signed up for the orientation that starts in January which is where you have to present your transcript. My father tried to sign up for the orientation as well; as the staff member signed him up and started taking down his information she paused to ask if he was already taking classes at the college and he said he was to which she replied saying that you can’t sign up for orientation if you’re already taking classes as she began to erase his name. So then my father said he wasn’t taking any classes right now and she began to write down his name again. She then stops and asks if he’s currently enrolled to start taking classes to which my father says he is causing her to erase his name again when he then says that they haven’t started yet and she begins to write down his name yet again. She then asks when they start and when he said January she erased his name another time and said with a laugh that he couldn’t do both, but if he dropped his enrollment he could sign up for the orientation as she prepared to write his name one more time and my father replied also with a laugh that he didn’t want to do that.
At this point she asked why he wanted to sign up and he said it was because he didn’t want to leave me alone. He then goes on to say it’s because I don’t have a drivers license and he didn’t want to drop me off and come back but I knew it was because he was trying to be slick. He asks if he can sit in on it with me and the staff member says no and then looks at me and asks me if I’ll be alright at which point I just sort of turned away shaking my head due to the ridiculousness of the entire situation.
After this we went back to the main office because my father had more questions about his enrollment. One thing he wanted to know was how many credits he currently had from past classes he had taken throughout his years in the military. When the staff member at the main office pulled up his list of past classes and credits he said something along the lines of ‘Oh my god!’ followed by ‘I’ve never seen a transcript this long!’ which was made all the more towering when my father looked at it and said a lot of classes were missing from that list. Apparently when you take classes from a military school you need a special kind of transcript; in his case it was a ‘SMART Transcript’ (which I believe stands for "Sailor / Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript").
Finally he talked to his friend the security guard again for a short time before we left to do other unimportant and unrelated things.
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