At a brick wall

[soliloquy]

Okay, here's the first pick on you posts. You are wrong, Wrong, WRONG when you say that you don't have anything. You have a forum here and more than a handful of posters who have already posted and want to help you achieve your goal. And I've gotta say, when Sanatone and Cookderosa are in your corner, well, you really want to reconsider throwing in the towel.

Okay, second pick. This forum is a big tent with members who come with a wide range of experience and knowledge. You have Cookderosa who could probably be a college guidance counselor/advisor/whatever they're called for Harvard or MIT, and other forum members who bravely put it out there that they're babes in the educational woods. While you see folks picking on you, I see folks who are trying to ascertain where you fall in that spectrum. They want to assist you, but they want to make sure that they're giving you the correct assistance. Some forum members post a problem, and, when others have asked for clarification, it turns out that the original poster misunderstood something, or made an incorrect assumption and there isn't a problem, or the problem is not what the poster thought it was. We're not Harvard Law 101, but there is some Socratic method being used here.

Here's another suggestion. Let's say you're at the end of your financial rope. Go to the library. Get books out on subjects for courses you'll need to take or test out of in the future. See if your college has on-line study assistance for CLEPs, etc. Just because you're not actively earning credits does NOT mean that all learning activity has to end. When you get to a point where you have the opportunity to take classes or test out, studying now could put you in a position to take more courses per semester because your foundation of knowledge means you'll blow through them, or you'll be able to take 5 CLEPs/DSSTs in a day. Also, just getting out of the house might help you. You sound really blue.

I've come back to this forum many times in a blue funk sure and certain that I had reached an insurmountable obstacle, and I was wrong, Wrong, WRONG. With support and guidance, I got through Statistics, College Algebra, and other things that I thought would defeat me. I've got my degree.

You're going to get through this. You're going to get your degree, too. The first step is to take a step. Keep moving forward even if you're not moving as fast as you'd like. Know that we're here for you.

There's some fussing here from time to time but by and large it's a difference of opinion on some substantive issue. People aren't usually on here just picking on each other for the fun of it. Every one of us came here because we aspired to certain educational goals and we all came here humble and eager to learn in the beginning. I've read the entire thread and I think the "picking" is your perception. Sometimes when we anticipate a certain negative behavior by others, we see it even if it's not there - kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.