one of the highlights of my day....
Last week I had a paper due in my writing class. I didn't work on it nearly as much as I should, and ended up finishing it minutes before it was actually due. I was so unhappy with the final product, I ended up staying after class to talk with the prof. I needed to know how much this paper was worth...so I could calculate just how much this paper was going to hurt my grade. Up until then, I had been doing amazing in that class....three 4.0 papers. I didn't want this paper to ruin that because I could really use a 4.0 to bring my gpa up.
Anyways...the prof told me not to worry about anything. I told her I was extremely uncomfortable with the techniques I decided to use in my paper, and wasn't sure if I pulled it off nearly as well as I wanted. She said that was ok. Thats what she wanted, actually. She wanted us to feel slightly uncomfortable writing this essay...and if she could tell we were at least trying something new, whether we pulled it off or not, that's all that really mattered to her.
Hearing that still didn't stop me from worrying about this ridiculous paper. And this afternoon's class certainly didn't help me feel any better about it either. Just before she handed back our papers, she did the typical prof routine, complete with disclaimers. There�s nothing worse than anticipating some horrible grade on a paper while the prof is standing up in front, talking about how disappointed she is in the quality of work she got this time. Apparently, there were too many errors for her liking...and said that she had been way too lenient in her grading.
Then...after her whole spiel, he picked up a post it note and read off about six names, asking them to stay after class. Guess who was included in that list? Yeah...that would be me. I was ready to pee my pants I was so freaking nervous to get this damn paper back...I kid you not. She handed back papers, but saved a small pile of papers on her desk. After all the other students left the class, she shut the door and started talking to those whose papers she was holding hostage. She made some sort of announcement about how she couldn't tell us what she wanted to in front of the other students....
...and finally she handed back the papers. At first I thought she had given me the wrong paper or something because the cover sheet I had put on there wasn't there. In its place was a sheet on a national non-fiction writing contest some publication puts on every year. I was like whaaaaat? She then explained to us that within the next week or so, we need to give her two clean copies of our essays, because she will be submitting them to writing excellence contests at Oakland.
Wow.
I can't believe it. I've read through all the comments on my paper about three times now and I still can't believe I got a 4.0 on it. With all the mistakes (yes, I was one of the ones she was directing her grammatical error comments towards) in the paper, I should not have gotten a 4.0. But...some how I managed to pull yet another 4.0 out of my ass in that class. And....my essay will be submitted to a few contests. I have a chance to win $1,000. I won't win, but its still nice to know that my essay was at least worthy enough to even be considered for a nomination. Crazy.
I'll post the horrible essay in a few days for you guys to read. I don't feel like editing it right now, but I definitely won't post it unedited. The mistakes are too embarrassing....
There was one other highlight worth noting....
I love getting visitors, this one in particular....thank you for leaving me smiling the rest of the day ;0)