The Evils of Side Scrolling

The dramas of school have begun again. But first, let's get really TMI about my health, shall we?

When my period started last week, my cramps were so bad I resorted to ibuprofen. I even took more than one! It was intense.

In a separate incident, I had an earache that led to a vicious migraine, so bad I ended up taking a benadryl, hoping it would knock down my allergies (which were possibly making my ear hurt? I was grasping at straws) and it knocked me out for about 14 hours. When I woke, the migraine was mostly gone, so that was good, but my ear is still acting funny. I've been using drying drops, and those seem to help, but I'm not sure how long it should continue before I have to go on antibiotics or something.

I'm still having pooper issues. Diarrhea continues to randomly attack in the early morning hours, despite negative poop cultures, cutting out almost all the dairy, and switching over to a brita water pitcher. I guess it's time to start a pooper diary, then make an appointment with the gastroenterologist. Also, maybe I should buy stock in imodium. I'm usually hesitant to take pills these days, but I rarely hesitate when it comes to those magic little blue caplets. MAGIC.

On to school, I took the first big test test and did not do as well as I'd hoped I would. I was hoping for a perfect score, honestly. I woke up that morning with barely noticeable pain and a bright, alert mind, ready for the scavenger hunt of a open-book, open-note test on chapters I'd studied thoroughly. It was a lot of content, but I figured I had a handle on it. That is, I thought I had a handle on it right on up until I hit submit and got my score back. My jaw dropped and my heart sank when I read the results. 83%. A pathetic, measly B. Oh, the disappointment, the confusion, the sheer disgruntlement of not getting the perfect score I strive for, it burns.

But only for a moment, because I may like getting As a whole lot, but it's about passing the class. If I'm passing the class, I'm making progress in my education, which is the goal. No, it's not total academic domination, simmer down hulk-brain.

I did feel sorry for myself a bit more, even after rationalizing myself off the ledge. The mistakes I made on the test, they were silly. I misread one question, somehow clicked the wrong circle on another one, I have no idea how I got the answer for two of them and then there were a few at the end that I totally skipped because I didn't scroll all the way to the right. There was just SO much ammunition with which to pummel myself, but still, a B isn't so bad with how much I actually screwed up. I wavered back and forth like this for most of the day; being fine with the B usually, but still having pangs of disappointment every now and again. It is just as annoying as it sounds and it's a miracle my boyfriend didn't run screaming from the house the thirty-seven thousandth time I groaned something about Accursed Bs and the Evils of Side Scrolling, UNTIL! My teacher emailed me!

She said I did well on the test and invited me (along with other students) to share my studying and test-taking strategies in a class discussion. I was completely baffled at first, I thought she meant a different test, a quiz really, that we took a few weeks ago, but then I wondered, why would she want me to share my tips, I totally BOMBED the last test- and it clicked right about there. I realized with immense, gut-unclenching relief that other people did worse than I did. I feel a little guilty, since I'm technically enjoying other people's failures, but I'm really happy for myself that I wasn't the only one who struggled.

Coming up, I made a date to go hiking with a neighbor tomorrow and there is to be some kind of mother's day shindig on Sunday, so we'll see how that goes.