Diagnostic assignment.

I Don't consider myself a writer. This is ironic because I have a particular love for vocabulary. I love discovering new words (etymology- not so much) and pride myself on proper grammar, (my spelling, on the other hand, leaves much to yearn for), but displaying myself through words on a page has never been my forte'.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy reading other people's prose and even some unconventional poetry (Richard Brautigan, Henry Rollins), and I've done plenty of meaningless "writing" such as album and movie reviews for various public websites (IMDb, iTunes, Discogs.com) but none of my writing has ever been graded for a class! I'm proud of what I've written for those reviews, which are serious, but always with what I consider to be a humurous edge, however it's always been for my own enjoyment, usually coming to me at a late night in front of the computer, with a little beer in my belly, and I've only written about things I've been inspired to write about. In other words, all of my writting has been of my own accord, not assigned, and certainly not with a deadline. I actually have done some home editing; my ex-wife finished VCU a couple years ago, and I was the de facto editor in chief, making plenty, and ofted times, wide ranging "revisions" of her papers, so I guess you could say I have been graded, but obviously the pressure wasn't on my shoulders.

A little history: I am 35 years old, and have never gone to college. The last time I took a class was in 1993, and I've not missed being in school. As of late however, I realize that I need a sense of accomplishment. I need a goal. Even as a child, I never had a real life-goal that I felt strongly about. But that has changed. I have discovered that what I want to be "when I grow up" is an elementary school teacher. To teach young children. To be a positive influence in a child's life. This I believe in, and I can see myself doing in reality. This is my goal. To this end, here I am, at JSRCC, in my first semester in almost 20 years, taking a writing class. It won't be easy, but I'm looking foreward to it. I really am, and it surprises me that I really am. My view on school has always been negative. Not as an institution, but as an activity for myself. I never did well in my school career, being much more interested in socializing than focusing, but things are different now; life is divided into two parts: the first half, and the second half. I've done my socializing, lived my transient days, and now it's time to grind. I hope I can learn to visualize my point when I write, be succinct, yet crisp enough as not to bore, and learn restraint, as I feel like I have a tendancy to ramble (case in point).
So here I am. This diagnostic is for the purpose of gauging my level of writing, and I hope I have achieved this, though obviously this ins't within the 600 word request, it's what I can do for now. The entire point is to improve upon this, right?