finally...

i've reconnected with my pre-junior year school standards, and it was about time.

Fact: I began my junior year with a gpa of 3.73 and began my senior year with a gpa of 3.44.

Fact: My sophomore year I made only one B out of 31 hours of classes, and the rest A's. My junior year I made no A's and 2 C's. The only plus side is that I only took 18 hours the whole year. In my small defense, I had taken 6 hours the summer before.

Fact: I withdrew from Comparative Literature twice last year, and not during drop/add. Both times I withdrew at 8 a.m. the morning of the mid-term.

Fact: We had 3 tests in HACE2100 my first semester of junior year and I went out every night before a test.

Fact: I got a C in a class that offered every test online. The lowest grade I ever got on a test was a 95. There was an 8 a.m. lab once a week that counted for a large portion of our grade, and I went twice. Out of curiosity, I decided to look at the key after the semester was over and out of about 200 students there was about 70 percent A's, 28% B's, and 2 % C's.

Fact: None of the aforementioned facts bothered me in the least.

By the beginning of my senior year, I had gotten my head together again and was ready to do well. I thought that since I had about 15 years of successful schooling under my belt, it would be easy to bounce back from one off year. Well, it was a lot harder than I thought. I did finally get the A I had so desperately missed and thankfully no C's showed up on my transcripts, but I had anticipated all A's or at least a shout out from the dean and I accomplished neither. My spirits were a little low, but I convinced myself that it was just going to be harder to get back on track than I thought and I was at least on the right course.

Well, I had a paper due in comparative literature (yes, I'm taking it for a third time, because contrary to what my 2 W's seem to convey, I really do like it) and I got it back today (oh, and this was after I turned in my midterm!) AND I got an A. My professor is pretty intense and after seeing the reactions of my classmates I figured I got a B at best. I was prepared to tell him what one of my friends told me to say: I may not write papers well, but I can write an entertaining blog or two. Thankfully I did do well and therefore didn't have to lie to him.

I was so surprised when I saw my grade that I realized it has been almost two years since I've gotten any sort of excitement from a grade. He wrote on it that it was moving and thoughtful. I blushed in the SLC hallway. He liked my intro a lot too, but offered this critique that I'm sure none of you will agree with: "You might want to rethink your comma use." I laughed in the SLC hallway.