1:00 AM:

Okay, I'm up past my bedtime again, but it's been over a week, and I'm gonna be in Michigan and probably unable to post from Thursday through Sunday, so I figure I ought to at least pop in and say hi. So, hi!

A brief recap of the past week or so: Last Monday, I never did make it into class. Not much to report from Tuesday, which I spent compiling a list of potential apartments in Ann Arbor. Wednesday, a day with miserable weather -- wet, cold, and windy -- I had my Public Speaking midterm, after which the instructor ditched the remaining portion of the class and allowed us to go home and dry off. Thursday, I managed to piss off yet another administration at the college paper by writing an admittedly scathing editorial about the decline of journalistic standards at the paper. They're printing the thing (with a rebuttal), but they've made it clear that they're not happy with me. Oh, well. Friday, I went back to the family home in Woodmere, seeing one of my brothers for the first time in about a year, he having just returned from Israel. Saturday, spoke to said brother for a bit. Sunday, watched most of the Oscars and started cleaning my apartment. (I need to clean it for Passover, but a full round of Spring Cleaning will be necessary before I can even start on the Passover level of cleaning.)

Monday, I took my first Linguistics test (piece of cake), and then got to my Political Science classroom for the first time in three weeks. I accosted the first classmate I found, saying, "Okay, let's start with the nightmare scenario. There's no test this week, right?"

"Umm, there is," he replied.

"WHAT?!" I said. "Really?!"

"Uh huh," he replied.

"What on?" I queried.

"All the readings so far," he said, naming the three books I was supposed to have read through by this point, "and the stuff we did in class."

"I see," I said weakly, adding we who are about to die salute you under my breath.

After briefly flirting with the idea -- urged by another classmate -- of cutting the test and praying for a "do-over," I realized that this wasn't a viable option at all, and settled for catching the teacher before class, explaining that I hadn't even known there was a test until moments earlier, and throwing myself at his mercy. He explained that he never gave retests, so that was out, but that he wouldn't give the midterm the full weight (one-third of the grade) usually assigned to it, and he'd give me an additional assignment to do later to make up the rest. Deal.

I may have done okay anyway. I'm not sure. I bombed out on Part I (identifying a few terms in a sentence or so, 25 points). I did just fine in Part II (one short essay, 25 points, and I chose a topic for which I was in class). Part III is the question. 'Twas one long essay, 50 points, and I answered it fairly well, I think, but my answer was based entirely upon my knowledge of the subject from my honors seminar in English a few semesters back. I don't know whether it bears any resemblance to the stuff we were supposed to have learned in this class. So either I did okay, or I completely bombed out. Guess I'll find out in a few weeks.

After that, still on Monday, it was on to a poetry reading, which was sparsely attended, but still nice, especially as I got to hear Phebe read a bunch of her poems. Oh, and the person who read after her had some of the best poem titles I've ever heard, although the verse itself didn't quite live up to its billing. Plus I read "The Seussian Contribution to the Sexual Revolution" while wearing my Clean Sheets T-shirt for the first time, which was fun, although the lack of a crowd dynamic was a bit unsettling. Oh, well.

Today, Tuesday, the brother mentioned above came by my apartment, and Operation Spring Cleaning continued. One can now see much of my floor. And now that I've finally managed to get my bed clear again (I had to pile the stuff being cleaned on something), I'm going to get some sleep, I hope. G'night!