And I was so looking forward to something enjoyable tonight, too. I guess maybe I'll watch my new Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone DVD. I need something reliable to cheer me up.

I stayed home today because John came home with the flu yesterday. He's still pretty miserable but his temperature's down and he's starting to look less like death on a plate. I had already decided I was going to skip OryCon in three weeks so I had a day off to use. I tended my husband, did all the laundry, voted (Peter Camejo for Governor, both because I liked his platform and because I would run naked through the streets before I'd vote for either Bill Simon or Gray Davis) and studied for tonight's history test.

What a waste of time. I should have read comics instead. Our handouts and study guides all focused on early California history: Spanish colonization, Mexican rule, American land grabs, and the experience of the indigenous population. Our test was on twentieth century labor problems, immigration, the Zoot Suit riots, and the "Mexican Problem." We spent six weeks on the stuff I studied, and one day on the rest of it. Yes, it was in my reading, and yes, I do keep up with my reading, but I am thoroughly cheesed off. If the study guide was ninety-five percent terms and definitions of colonial California up through the mid-nineteenth century and we never discussed the modern stuff in class, how were we to know he'd test us on what we knew about braceros, Cesar Chavez, and the rapid growth of U.S. industrialization?

If he says one word disparaging our bad grades on this test, one word, I am going to tell him I think he's mixing us up with his day class. I'm going to show him the study guide and ask him why he didn't test us on the information he asked us to study. We're not mind readers. There's a lot of material; study guides are supposed to help us focus on the material he thinks is important. I feel misled and cheated out of a chance of doing well.

Man, I can't stop fretting over this class. I can hardly wait to see what kind of crappy grade I get on my paper as well as the test. Oh wait, Harry Potter. The very thing. A nice, classic fantasy with good child actors and Alan Rickman. I enjoyed it in the theater and I expect to enjoy it on DVD. I am very pleased the second movie opens next week. I'll finish my take-home test on Saturday and go see it. Yes, another test, though only a little one for extra credit. Jesus, this history class is relentless. I can't go to OryCon because I'm too busy between now and the end of the term. I could hardly let myself relax last weekend; I can't take any more time off. I keep reminding myself it's only this one last term, it's two thirds over already, just a little bit more and I can relax for the rest of my life.

Six weeks until finals. One month until my recital. I hate this. I wish it were over.

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