stuck in the garage and explosions in the kitchen - just a typical first day of school

Today was the day...my first day of school.  It began with a phone call from my new voice teacher.  We have not met.  She has never heard me sing.  She is apparently concerned that I am supposed to do two recitals in two years and have been away for so long.  She wanted to let me know that she's a "stickler for technique" and is thinking I may need to stretch things out and stay an extra year.  Haha!  I've already put in over 4 years of undergrad work.  I will do no more than necessary.  Thanks for the vote of confidence, lady.  So looking forward to meeting you!  Upon hanging up the phone, the babysitter arrived just on time.  The kids don't start school for another week.  So, I grabbed my bag and hopped in the car.  I drove up to the gate and waved my key-fob at the sensor.  It turned green.  The door did not open.  I tried again...and again...and again.  I pressed the call button to alert the office to my dilemma.  No response.  At this point, there was a line of 6 cars behind me.  They were all honking and yelling at me - typical Jersey.  Oh, right!  I'm supposed to EXIT  the garage!  I thought I would just hang out here for a while.  Good thing all the honking and yelling brought me to my senses.  About 15 mins later, a maintenance man came to my rescue.  Needless to say, I was 15 mins late for my very first class.  I'm trying to move forward in life and my first step attempt left me stuck in the garage!  Symbolic?  Perhaps.  But, I was determined not to let it get me down.  I arrived at my class to find the door locked!  I knocked....nothing.  I knocked again...and again.  Finally, a fresh-out-of-high-school young boy opened the door for me.  I was the only non-freshman in the room!  In my next class, the professor asked us to take out our laptops...oops.  Last time I was in college, we didn't need a laptop in class.  After also not having an iPod with me, I realized I am technologically out of touch when it comes to college in the year 2010.  Note to self: bring electronic equipment to school.  And so, I press onward.  My first big challenge?  Find a friend amongst my classmates (not a voice major) who is willing to take a few free voice lessons, then bring them to class and teach a lesson in front of the class.  Now, I don't know anyone other than professors at this school.  Do I just go up to one of the freshman in my earlier class and ask them if they want to sing?  Then, hope they won't mind doing it in front of 20 other people?  Any volunteers?  (It's funny I'm taking a class to learn how to teach voice, when I have been teaching voice for about 12 years: )  So, to end my fabulous first day, I made a fantastic dinner. (vegetarians, look away)  I made tomato sauce from scratch, with some local, grass-fed beef and tons of fresh herbs and veggies.  It was simmering away on the stove when I took the spaghetti squash I was roasting out of the oven.  I placed it on the stove-top and it instantly exploded!!!!  POW!!!!!  A bazillion shards of glass showered down upon my simmering sauce!  I've experienced exploding Pyrex before, but I roasted the squash on a fairly low temp and placed it on a perfectly cool stove top.  What the heck?  Off to Elevation Burger we went!  Midway through dinner, my little one leaned back in her chair and it began to fall backward.  In slow motion, I grabbed the chair about an inch from the floor, her eyes ginormous with fear!  It slammed into my arm, but I summoned my inner Superwoman and curled that wooden chair and my three year old upright!  I am not discouraged!  I found the calamity of a day to be quite amusing.  It was just a typical first day of school, right?