Today's rambling: I'm smart! :P
Written on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003 at 4:08 p.m.
while feeling a bit

Yippy!! :D

French exams were finally graded, and I got an A!! The actual number grade was a 95 1/2 (yes, I missed half a point, lol)...and yes, that kinda bugged me a little bit. WHEN did I become so darned anal about my grades? Actually, it only seems to be in French that I get this weird. If my grade had been a 96 or 97, I'd have been like, "That's fantastic!" But there is definite room for improvement here, my mind is telling me even as I rejoice at the A. :P Hehe...no, I'm quite happy over that! We even got let out early...after having to do a worksheet together (in English). We had to pick the subjects and objects out of sentences.

Yes, basic grammar.

I hate grammar. She told us that some of us could leave if we wanted to (the ones that had a grasp on this stuff), then singled out Austin as being one of the folks who could leave. He was all like, "Don't single me out..." (probably fearing for his life, ha ha), but he stayed. I'm willing to wager he probably got a really good grade on his exam, hehe...Impressive, really, since (from my experience) the guys haven't been as great with this language stuff. Ironic, don't you think? I mean, language was created by men, and I think it's one of those left-brain things, isn't it? I dunno. But men are proven to be better at left-brain things than women (which I'm A-OK with, as I hate most everything that has to do with the left brain, hehe).

On the way back to my room, I stopped by a tree that I'd passed on the way to class. Kristen and I have this inside joke that she beats me with sticks, and so last semester I brought up this wee twig for her. She still has it in her pencil holder, lol! Anyway, today on the way to class I found this rather large stick...It's probably like 3.5-4 feet, so it'll only be about a foot or so shorter than her! *giggles* Dragged that thing all the way up to the third floor, which wasn't a task weight-wise, but I was afraid someone would walk out of their room and see me carrying this big stick, LOL!

"Hey, why are you bringing a stick up here?"

"So my roommate can beat me with it when she gets home."

I even stopped by the mailbox, thereby giving an even greater opportunity for someone to see me. But not a soul was about. Inside the mailbox, though, were identical Clarion-stamped envelopes for Kristen and I. Actually, the letters themselves are identical, too. I, folks have been invited to join Phi Eta Sigma, National Honor Society, Inc. :P The letter was even hand-signed, as opposed to stamped, so I felt all flattered, LOL! That I know of, there's nothing required if you join this thing--I mean, I wouldn't have to take special classes like Kristen or anything like that. It's $40 to sign up, but I don't know if there are any big annual dues.

I'm kinda ambivalent about joining. It's not required, but on the one hand I can't help thinking, "That would be SO cool! "I'd be able to say, 'Hey, I'm smart!'" :P But then I wonder what good it'd do me to join. Other than being able to write it on a resum� or something, am I going to get anything out of joining this society? Well, there's that superficial need to show people I'm smart, hee hee...I called Mom up and left a message telling her about it, so I'll wait and see what she says. I don't really know why they sent this to me now, since the rules state you need a cumulative gpa of at least 3.5 (and I've only had one semester as opposed to a whole year).

Ugh. I just realized what pressure that would put on me! Inside the little pamphlet it says that you won't get kicked out if you get less than 3.5--it's a one-time induction thing--but I'd still be pressuring myself! If I started slipping in my grades, I'd be like, "Amber! Start studying!" :P

Found out the other night why Kristen is so grades-obsessed. Her parents--who, apparently, didn't have stellar grades in school--harp on her if she gets less than an A. They're all like, "We're disappointed, that could have been an A, blah blah..." How terrible is THAT?? No wonder she wasn't letting herself have fun for the first month or so of school! She still doesn't really do much social stuff, but she's loosened up a lot. And yet she's still getting A's, which is great. It's all about balance, folks. Poor girl...I think I'd have run away from home if my parents had been that Nazi-esque to me!

Miranda had to wait around after French to get her test (because the professor had left it up in her office), and so I waited with her. "Read the Petit Prince to me!" she said, so I did a rather botchy job at translating the first chapter. *giggles* That's as far as I'd translated (thanks, in part, to babelfish), but it was fun, lol! It sounds so simple when you read it in English, whereas looking at all the French makes it seem so complicated and intricately-written and all that. Still, I'd rather read it in French than English. It's just taking me longer to get through it. :P I told her I'd have the second chapter translated for her tomorrow, hee hee...At one point, John asked how long the story was, and when I told him it was 85 pages he said, "So what we have in our textbook is a severely abridged version of it."

"Oh yeah," I replied immediately. Hehe...I like knowing something that other people don't, LOL! I don't brag about it, it just gives me a temporary feeling of importance. ;)

Miranda, as I'd predicted, got an A on her exam as well. It was a 90%, so it was hovering right there on a B, but even a B is good--especially in foreign language! So I just rubbed it in her face that she did well when she kept whining that she was going to fail. ;)

And now I'm going to go...play Aidyn Chronicles when I really ought to be brushing the dust off of The Killer Angels. I can't wait for Kristen to get back and see the stick I brought her, LOL!!!