We had a quiz in History. On our last night we had a freakin' fifty question quiz. All I can say it is the professor must be a glutton for punishment, giving himself extra work to do grading it right before the final. It wasn't too awful for me, mainly because it covered a lot of stuff from the seventies and eighties, decades in which I was aware of popular culture and politics as well as actually living in California. It was extra credit so I just shrugged and did it.
We got Major Test Three back, the one I complained so bitterly about last week. Worst grade yet: 80, one lone point above a C. That was really close. I guessed right on some questions I absolutely didn't know the answer to, which just goes to show you should always fill something in rather than leave it blank. You have a chance of redeeming yourself through sheer luck. Everyone was bitching about the test so it wasn't just me; that was a maddening, confusing experience for all of us.
We also got a take-home quiz back on which everyone, and I do mean everyone, answered the same four questions wrong. There was a fair amount of seething resentment going on and our teacher obviously expected it because he brought a video for us to watch. (The reason we got the questions wrong? There was no right answer. We were supposed to deduce the answer based on what we'd learned so far, reading between the lines. We were such sheep that we foolishly used the information in the textbooks which came closest to what we thought he wanted. And in one case he tricked us, but that was our fault for not reading carefully).
At the point at which mutiny was about to break out the professor said, "This is a very important video which you must watch. It will clarify many things for you," and popped it in the VCR. He switched the lights off and everyone grumbled, thinking we were going to see something about civil rights or labor unrest in the thirties.
It was a tape of a television game show called "Tic Tac Dough", a stupendously dumbed down version of Jeopardy crossed with tic tac toe. Wink Martindale, tv's creepiest host since Richard Dawson, introduced the contestants: a librarian from Skokie and a wild-haired Asian history teacher from the Bay Area. Yep! It was our professor appearing twenty years ago on one of the lamest quiz shows ever devised. He looked exactly the same minus a few wrinkles. The class was screaming with laughter. Boy, he's got the psychology down pat. We forgave him the horrible pop quiz and the lousy third test because we got to laugh at his circa 1982 suit and tie, his glazed expression when answering questions, and his goofy-looking relatives in the audience cheering him on. I gotta say I think it was worth one pop quiz just to see him look confused and dorky.
I drove to work yesterday, discovering on the way that my stereo has no clock on it, and my brakes work really, really well. The Saturn is fun to drive. I still feel as though I'm driving a Dachshund, it's so low slung, but I'm getting used to it. I'll have to find a car clock right away, something I can stick onto the dashboard, because it makes me crazy not knowing what time it is. Apparently the only station that regularly announces the time is NPR, and frankly I don't want to have to listen to NPR when I drive. Driving to class after work was interesting as I discovered the car rides unbelievably smoothly at 80mph. This is Not Good. I mean it is, but not for me. I tend to speed, and the only reason I've never gotten a ticket is probably because the Mazda starts shuddering at 70. Hard to enjoy going fast when your teeth are rattling.
Tomorrow and Friday I'll be a volleyball widow for the last time this season. Stanford's done well, and if they progress to the Final Four it'll be held somewhere outside the Bay Area, so only two more times to take the shuttle most of the way home and then walk half a mile. I can get some studying for finals done and that's important as I have big plans for the weekend. I've sent out all my Christmas cards and mailed the out of state presents, I've figured out what I'm getting John, and I have no idea what I'm getting my parents but we're doing Christmas in mid-January anyway when we're down there. Everyone else is taken care of. Not bad for someone who didn't really start thinking about Christmas until last week.
Just think, this time next week I'll be all done with college. Until then, no diary, no Sims, no mercy. I have to hit the books from now until Tuesday. I'm still in line for an A if I can do really well on the final because my perfect paper balanced out the crappy test, and I've got loads of extra credit. All I have to do is ace the final. Watch me.
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