HOMESTRETCH

This has been a really long semester . . . but even the really long ones grind slowly to a halt. I have TWO DAYS of class left . . . then finals. Of course that two days of class includes a test (quiz, really, which is much less pressure) and finishing a research paper and turning it in (the ONLY paper I have had to write this semester . . . which feels incredibly weird because I wrote SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many papers in the Fall . . . I was always working on at least one . . . ALWAYS . . . )

I have no idea yet if I will pass my Math class. I have worked my little fanny off making sure I was always in class taking copious notes from my professor's lectures . . . I did every SCRAP of homework . . . and kept at it and kept at it until I understood what to do and how to do it (no small task) . . . and for the first time in my life, it clicked . . . I got Algebra . . . but my professor's tests are HARD and he is deliberately tricky (hard to explain but very true) and I ace all the quizes but have done very poorly on the exams which are MUCH more heavily weighted. He drops one of those when figuring the final score . . . but I do not know if that will be enough. I took one more of those exams yesterday (and felt good about it, which I know means absolutely nothing . . . the last one I turned in feeling very confident about -- thought I had nailed every SINGLE problem -- I got a low "C" on) . . . and then the final . . . the most heavily weighted test of all . . . Still, I have LEARNED tons . . . so if I do have to repeat it, I know I will pass it next time (and I think I will get a different professor, even if I love this one's warped sense of humor) . . . and if I squeak by with a passing grade, I will feel confident about taking the next class (the final Math class I EVER have to take . . . YAY!!!!!)

My geology class has been fascinating. Learning how the earth is made . . . why things look the way they do . . . why things happen . . . all about volcanoes . . . and mountains . . . and earthquakes . . . I really have enjoyed. If I was still going to treat school as my 'expensive hobby' . . . I would take more earth science classes, because although I also worked hard in THIS class, I loved the things I have learned. I especially have enjoyed the new appreciation and awareness I have of the world around me . . . I love classes that make me THINK . . . that enhance my awareness and perception of some aspect of life . . .

I love to learn . . .

I think that may be one of the things I like best about me . . .