Sneaky Lizard Update!
He has not been spotted at my house, but the other morning when I was leaving in the early hours to go to Algebra class, the clarion call had apparently been heard, because there were about four types of lizard on my front porch. I ran on my tiptoes out of the house, squealing like a little girl under my breath so as not to wake up M2, whose window I was right outside. And as I was squealing my way to my car, I ran face-first directly into a giant spiderweb. Sometimes, I think God put me on Earth to entertain Him. If so, I hope the resultant gyrations satisfied my purpose on Earth this week.
Algebra Class Update!
I got a 44 on my most recent algebra test. In my defense, my new baby niece was born last Thursday, and I spent Wednesday night through Friday evening in South Texas, staying with my 13-month-old nephew while my sister-in-law was in the hospital. So that put a crimp in my studying time. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I don't know what the rest of the class's excuse is, though, because a 44 was the fourth highest grade in the class. The highest grade was a 66 (two people had that), and the next-highest was a 53. Then there was me. I should elaborate on this.
I totally knew I was bombing the test while I was bombing it. I could not get my brain to function, and promptly had a huge panic attack in the middle of the test. I finally stopped torturing myself and turned in my test without even trying a bunch of the problems. And then I immediately went home and cried in the bed until it was time to get the kids from school, skipping Radio and TV entirely. Which was actually okay, because the Radio and TV guy didn't care. So I felt guilty all day Monday for no reason. This has actually happened to me before - in 2000, when I took this class the first time. I bombed a test and left the testing center in tears, only to run into my high school algebra teacher in the hallway (NO LIE), who asked me what was wrong and then gave me a hug when I told her and said "Well, you always were a mess when it came to tests." Nice to know I made a good impression on you, Miss Cooley. Turned out that everybody in that class bombed that test, too, so she curved it. I'm wondering now if maybe it was the same part of the subject matter. Maybe rational expressions just are not for me.
The Final Exam is on May 9th. Our instructor passed out the review packet today, and I feel pretty doggone good about it. There are only about three rational expression questions, so I should be just fine. I'm still going to study like a madwoman, and I sort of want to get a hotel room for the weekend so I can just hole up with my dear friend algebra and have a weekend-long tryst that will result in a good grade. After the test, I'll have two weeks (srsly) until Intermediate Algebra begins. And then in the Fall semester, College Algebra. So two more semesters of this. Le sigh.
Punctuation Matters!
It's amazing what a difference a hyphen can make.
"I am so sick of these stupid-ass hairs getting in my mouth."
OR
"I am so sick of these stupid ass-hairs getting in my mouth."
Misplace the hyphen at your peril.
When I was working full-time, my boss' name was Sherman. He loved the hyphen so much that his entire editorial staff called him Shermanator the Hyphonator. If you haven't read "Eats Shoots and Leaves," you should. An excellent (and hysterical) tome on the importance of punctuation!
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