"Imagine my Su-priiiiiiiissssseeee"

              So today was the due date of the first “Major Paper” in the Honors English 105-01 class at the University of Louisville.  I wrote it in five hours, two of which were spent staring blankly at the cursor blinking on and off in Microsoft Word as I waited for some form of inspiration to strike.  Eventually, I thought of something to write and I began typing.  I managed to type out the required amount for the revision activity we did in class on the first of the month in two more hours following the first two.  I started it at 7pm and finished at 11pm.  It’s was just a regular night of homework for a sleepless college student who hasn’t learned the downside of procrastination yet and can only see the positives.

                As I typed, I can’t remember how many times I watched and re-watched the advertisements and studied the transcripts to find some hidden jewel that I could incorporate to make my normal boring writing style a bit more….appealing to my English teacher.  “Anything that would help my grade would be helpful” was my first thought.  The second and third thoughts were along the lines of “Geez, I’ll never get this done” and “God, I wish I’d have been born an English nerd instead of a science geek….would have made this so much easier”.

                I’m just glad that I endured the grueling hours of critical thinking and rhetorical analysis that came with two years of Advanced Placement English Language and Composition & AP English Literature and Composition.  During that class, I learned to hate the teacher as he constantly scarred my papers with bright red ink proclaiming the dreaded “SO WHAT????” turn that seems to be indicative of English courses everywhere.  We were on the standard grading scale for Advanced Placement tests and I NEVER scored above a six on any of the essays.  Don’t get me wrong.  A six was an excellent score but, for a former straight A student like myself, it was tantamount to failing everything that I stood for (good grades, a spotless record, and a tendency to be a stickler for the rules).  If I couldn’t write a decent paper, then what good could I do on the AP test?

                Eventually, I got through it and managed to get a seven on one of the prompts.  I was ecstatic, to say the least.  Apparently, going through that mental hell that exercised a part of my brain that I never wanted to touch had actually done some good.  And so I say thank you, Mr. Jeff Nienaber of William Henry Harrison High School.  Turns out your rigorous criteria actually improved me somehow.

                Imagine my surprise when I join the Honors English class and manage to get full credit on one of the first essays.  “A miracle!” I thought.  “It’ll never happen again.  I better enjoy it while it lasts.”  But who knows?  Perhaps I’ve gotten better at something I’m terrible at.  That IS the point of school, isn’t it?