April 25: "Tired''

I don’t think I’ve ever been as sleepy tired as I was Monday morning between my Geography final and my Journalism Ethics final.

I had about 2 ½ hours to kill between the time I finished my first final and the time for the second. My original plan was to devote that time to study. I would have a late breakfast (I finished the 9 a.m. test a little after 9:30) and review all the material for the Ethics test at noon.

But I was stumbling, bleary-eyed tired. I ate breakfast and stared blankly at my Ethics notes for about a half-hour. Then I went over to the Starbucks in the Student Union, grabbed a cup of coffee and sank into a chair and stared blankly at my Ethics notes for another half-hour. I walked around the Drill Field and notice how few students were out and about, a sure sign that it’s Finals Week.

Finally, I staggered over the McComas Hall, slipped into my seat and stared at my Ethics notes until the professor showed up and the test commenced.
This was not how I planned to “go out’’ this semester – with a whimper rather than a bang.

I had already had A’s pretty well locked up in both classes, which I am sure affected my study plan. Up until now, I had been pretty diligent in my test preparations. But I needed to score only a 60 in Geography to secure my A and probably a 70 or so to nail down an A in my Ethics class.

So call it a lack of incentive. I studied my Georgraphy notes for about an hour Sunday evening before bedtime. I was going to get to be and get a good night’s rest. But instead, I stumbled across “The Passion of the Christ’’ on TV as I was flipping channels and was mesmerized. I hadn’t seen “Passion” in a couple of years, so I forgot that it was a pretty long film. By the time it was over, it’s 12:30 and I’m not even in bed.

Even so, six hours of sleep is enough, I figured.

But I am not sure how much sleep I got, to be honest. Given my condition Monday morning, I’m guessing it was far fewer that six hours.

In what I can only describe as a semi-conscious state, my conscience would give me no peace over the small amount of time I had devoted to my studies.

All night long, I kept going over the material I would be tested on. I thought maybe I was dreaming that I was studying for the test. But I was so tired Monday morning, I am pretty sure that I was awake, just awake enough to be troubled by the prospects of not knowing the growth rate of the Northwest Africa/West Asia Realm.

It turned out OK, though. I made a 96 on the Geography test, which secured for me the most points in the entire class for the semester. (All tests scores and cumulative points are posted online).

I don’t know what I made on the Ethics test, but none of the questions caught me off-guard. Truth is, I could probably take those tests without attending class, relying on almost 30 years of practical experience as a journalist.

By 12:30, I was walking out of the class.
All that stands between me and a 4.0, I figure, is my final group presentation in Mass Media Law. I like my chances in that class, too.

The other big development of the day is that I may have a date to graduation on Saturday.

Do you remember Joy, my three-hour-a-week Georgraphy buddy? She sent me a Face Book message. She’s graduating on Saturday and wanted to know if I was dating.

“Kinda weird, I know,’’ she wrote. “But my mom is coming up for graduation and I was thinking you might want to get together.’’

So I figured, “why not?’’ I haven’t had a date for graduation since 1977, after all.
Besides, it’s good to have somebody to take the pictures, right?

By Wednesday at this time, I’ll be finished with school for the semester

Then there will be a month-long break before summer school. Here’s the kicker: I don’t even know if I can get financial aid for summer school; the financial aid department has been disturbingly vague on this.

So who knows? I may be out of school until the fall. And that means I’d better be thinking about getting a job. I started a part-time job at a convenience store last week, but 20 hour a week at $7.25 per hour isn’t going to keep a roof over my head.

So I could be in a pretty tight spot and pretty soon.

But I’m not going to worry about that now.

I’m too tired.