Maybe I can do this...Part 2

Last Thursday was a fairly spectacular day for me. Let me count the ways:

1. Purdue FINALLY got around to posting their finals schedule and it turns out that both my finals (neither of which are actually finals; one I'm administering and one is a "recap and celebration") are on the first day of finals week, which means I can get out of here earlier than anticipated. YES.

2. I got an analysis back from my 600 class and I got a 47/50, which was the highest grade in the class (by 4 points). Now, for those of you who ask why it wasn't a 50/50 (and I know you're out there), this professor does not give perfect scores, and in fact getting a score that high is something of a miracle.

3. I was giving a presentation in my International Relations class that day. Quick pause to explain about this class- it is terrifying. It's a seminar on International Relations, so we all do copious amounts of reading and then come to class and discuss it. The professor hardly participates and most often just awkwardly stares at anybody foolish enough to venture a timid remark. Let me tell you, there have been a lot of very long pauses in that class while everybody nervously avoided making eye contact with each other.

Anyway, we had to sign up to present the topic on a given day and I (somewhat foolishly) signed up for an early slot, figuring I would just get it over with. We hadn't been given a whole lot of instruction on what to do with the presentation, so I planned what I wanted to say and then went to talk to my professor about it Thursday morning. She told me I was on the right track and told me that I should be sure to emphasize some of the points in my outline because she thought they were very interesting (hallelujah!). My visit with her was great because not only did it mean that I had the right idea for my presentation and paper, but it showed me that my professor was not a terrifying monster out to eat poor young students alive. It's hard to say which one relieved me more.

3. I gave my presentation and it went very well. Not perfectly of course, but, drum roll please...my professor actually nodded and smiled several times during my presentation. Let me repeat that: MY PROFESSOR NODDED AND SMILED. It was a minor miracle.

Maybe I can do this. I wish I wanted to.