Good talk.

I finally got my grade back from my test. 119. I'm not happy with that. I know of one that I missed that I think I should have gotten credit for, but I have no idea what the others were. I'm afraid they were stupid mistakes. I confess I did not go back over my test. I lost all concentration and just wanted to get out of there and get to class. I already had a late start. I had made an appointment to take the test at 9am. I got there and signed in at 9:02. There were two people in front of me. Neither one of them had made an appointment and one of those people didn't know her class number or professor's name and she didn't have a student ID. Needless to say, she took awhile. I, on the other hand, had the appointment, the ID and all the necessary info, yet I had to wait until almost 9:15 to be called. I was supposed to get 60 minutes to take the test but after the test I still had to drive over to the other building and get to my class before 10. I sort of rushed through it. I should have double checked my answers.

Once I got to class I asked about two of the questions on the test. On one, I pointed out what I knew to be the answer but was not sure which choice was referring to the answer and I told her I made a note of it on the test because I would have asked her about it had I taken the test in class. She didn't care. So I know I missed that one. The other one I asked about was one where we had to choose the one that is not an answer. I had read the chapter and knew all four choices were right so I didn't know how to answer. She agreed that technically I was right but it was not the way it was on the power point slide. So she gave everybody 2 points but made sure I knew it was nit-picking. I disagree, but enough on that. I could tell Dr. Murphy was mad and somewhat defensive again so it was time to back off.

Other than that, class was uneventful. I got a hug from Terri and talked with the girls about my mom. One of the students from the early lab said there would be no lab quiz. Good. I hadn't studied for that at all. Then I met Jason for lunch and went to lab.

In lab we grouped up and did some respiratory exercises and experiments. I was the guinea pig for hyperventilating and hypoventilating. After hyperventilating, I was able to hold my breath for 78 seconds. Not too shabby, I suppose. Actually, I have no idea what is good. Then I hypoventilated (breathed into a bag to limit oxygen) and I held my breath for 57 seconds. The next day I had a pain in my side. I wonder if it was connected.

After lab, Dr. Murphy approached me to tell me she wasn't mad at me but at two girls who had come to class and then told her they hadn't taken the test. She was mad that they had all week to make arrangements. I said, "Since you are being honest with me, I'll be honest with you. I was a little afraid of you." I told her I felt like I wasn't supposed to talk with her about the test but she said this is her first time making tests and she knows she'll make mistakes. We also got a chance to explain to her why not knowing who made the test really screwed us up on the first test. I still sensed some controlled defensiveness. But we told her we are all nerds who are sort of obsessed about getting an A in this class and we have a lot of competition. It was good to get the communication lines open again. I think it really helped all of us.

I have a lab practical this Friday. The content is probably the easiest we've had so far. But I know one fact, never underestimate your opponent.

Let me sum up...

A lot has happened since my last post. That Friday in class we did not get our tests back. Dr. Murphy wanted to get through every slide before the next test. So we still did not know what went wrong. I wanted to ask Dr. Murphy about the test, but she seemed a bit angry and defensive in class and I felt like it was a bad time to bring it up. I'm guessing she had been harassed about the test already so I left it alone.

My plan was to start studying for the next test on Monday afternoon. I had no idea my life was about to change forever. My beautiful mother passed away Monday morning. My family and my sister's family stayed together with my dad all week. Our closeness is the only thing that made the week survivable. We were like a tripod.

Needless to say, I did not study for my test and I did not go to class Friday. Dr. Murphy was very helpful. She sent the test to the workforce training center and said I could take it anytime this week. She also arranged with Pam Puckett for me to attend lab on Saturday.

I went to that Saturday lab. It sucked. We had to run some experiments in pairs based on where we were sitting. After getting the instructions, I went to my "partner" and introduced myself. She said, "Okay, I've taken 102 before so I'm just going to make sure it's the same as last time and just copy it." She didn't even tell me her name. So I started the experiment on my own. I had to wait a long time in line just to get to the table with the stuff I needed. While in line, I saw the lady flipping through my notes. Some other people doing the same experiment as me decided to do it where I had been sitting (but was now waiting in line) and they left the stuff right there. So as soon as they got done I was able to have my spot back and get started. What's funny is that my no-name "partner" decided to work with those other people. She basically blew me off because she didn't know me and went to another pair to work as a threesome while I worked alone. I waited the allotted 30 minutes for the results only to be reminded by Pam that we were not supposed to use the original stuff but the new stuff. I had used the old stuff because that was what the other people had left for me. I had totally screwed up and wasted all that time. Pam said we had to time to start over but I was upset and fighting some emotions so I just left. I got the info I needed, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

I'm planning on taking last week's test this Friday morning before class. My friends, the 4, said that this test lines up a lot more with what we talked about in class. There are also 5 bonus questions, thanks to Michelle having the guts to ask for them. Michelle also mentioned that in Friday's class they finally discussed the last test. Apparently two questions were wrong so everybody got an extra four points. That puts my grade at a 112, which is an A. It's not a 125, but it will do.