Rejoice with Me...

For anyone who believes in rejoicing with those who do rejoice, please join me... for I am truly rejoicing! I was not sure what I was going to do about the conflict between my anatomy & physiology final on Friday morning and the need to get to PA by 5ish for the FB college retreat Friday afternoon. So I asked Dr. M a couple weeks ago if I could make arrangements to take the final early. He said he'd be glad to work something out with me. It was put on hold while I madly tried to keep my head above water for all these tests (two tests per week).

Now beings the last lecture is on Thursday, and because the content of the lecture will be on the final, it is not feasible to take it the day before. So I've been just planning that I can come early on Friday morning and take it before everyone else gets there; then we'll buzz on to PA. I wanted to get a confirmed time, however, so this morning after lecture, I stayed after class and got in line to talk to the prof.

Anyway, when it was finally my turn to talk to the prof, I told him what I wanted. "Come in and sit down," he said. I sat. He said he was going to tell me this tomorrow, but now is just as good. He said that since I've already "locked in" my A, I wouldn't need to take the final. Just show up for the rest of the days, and I'd be fine.

I simply did not "get it" right at first. "What are you saying?" I said, trying to shake the fuzz from my brain. "What do you mean, 'locked in'?" It turns out that he drops the lowest grade in both the lab and the lecture, then doubles the next lowest grade. So neither one of my last two tests could hurt me. "Huh?" I said. "Are you sure??" I was really confuzzled.

"Kris," he said. "You've given me six A's already. You are one of only four people in the class who has a legitimate A at this point. I do not need another A to tell me that you're an A student. Just show up Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and you won't even have to show up on Friday. In fact," he continued, "for the lab test on Wednesday, I do not want you to do any more studying from now until then. Let's just see what you remember. If you know it, fine.. put it in the blank. If you don't know it, write me a little poem or something."

"Are you sure this won't come back to bite me?" I asked (duh, Kris).

"I promise," he said.

I was totally flabberghasted. "I've already promised to meet with another student tonight and study," I said a little lamely.

"Oh, that's fine," he said. "I'd be glad if you could help somebody else with a tip or two, but you don't need to worry about any of the last two tests. Deal?"

"Deal," I confirmed, shaking the hand he offered. I just had to laugh... a little with glee...a little from the high I got from finally "getting" it.. a little from the sheer joy and relief of no more pressure and knowing I had "locked in" my A for the class (what a concept!). No more schedule conflicts. Wow. I love Dr. M.

Now the thing is... if I didn't have to actually take the test on Wednesday, I would follow his suggestion and cease my studying. But I can't bear the thought of getting a test back on which I didn't put forth the effort required to pass. Therefore, I will continue to study through that test for sure. I would hate to join the majority of the kids who start cussing immediately upon getting their tests back like they did this morning. I hadn't noticed it before this morning, but the air was literally full of cussing kids.

Now isn't this grand?? Any suggestions for a clever little poem I can put on my test on Wednesday?