As the year ends

My final for English 372 was on December 10th.

Last day of work was December 18th, and I return on January 4th.

When the class arrived for the final we were missing two students. One student was given accommodations earlier and the other student was always late for class. Was wondering if he was going to show up or not.

So, our professor gave us a mock up of how to read the grades we got for the semester. We already knew what each component of class was worth, but he listed everything on one page. Our short story was worth half of the semster grade, which equaled 500 points. There were 4 other components that were worth 100 points each, and two worth 50 points each.

First we read over his critique of our short story and the grade we got for the short story. As always, I had problems with commas. They do not like me and I am beginning to take it personally. Then we got the semester grade sheet. Then he went over the final. After all of that, he announces, that if we are happy with our semester grade we did not have to take the final. If we were going that route, we were to signed the semester grade sheet acknowledging our semester grade, we are happy with it and we aren't taking the final. He also said, if we have a grade with the word "BORDERLINE" following it, he suggested we take the final. It may bump you up to the next grade depending on how well you did. It could not hurt you. He strongly suggested to take the final if you were borderline.

I was borderline. I had a B+, and I had worked very hard all semester long to earn an A in the class.

At the beginning of the semester, there were 20 students. We finally ended up with 16 students after the final drop day. One young man dropped after the first two days of class. The last one was a young lady on the very last day of dropping without receiving an F on your report card.

15/16 students showed up for the final. Seven of us decided to take the final. Just as we were getting starting, half an hour after the final started, the boy who was always late showed up. He too took the final. The final consisted of two parts. The first part was to write dialog. He gave us the picture of a couple, a head shot.  She was a blonde and he had medium brown hair. The requirements for the dialog was each person had to have three separate pieces of dialog, they were both attorneys and they were at a wedding reception. This was the minimum. If there were others in the piece that were talking, that's good too, but the two people in the picture, had to speak three separate times each. He said, of course if we wanted to, we could write more. He had also told us on the last day of class if we wanted to, we could bring our laptops to class for the final. I'm so glad I did.

I ended up writing a 1 1/2 page flash fiction. I would post it here, but I am going to submit it to a literary magazine, and they won't accept it, if it has been published somewhere else, including my blog. Once I get it accepted somewhere, and the rights revert back to me, I will publish it on my blog.

I received an email from my professor telling me that my dialog was the best in the class. I received an A+ on my final, and that I earned an A in the class. That just made my day, month, and year. I am so excited I did so well after being out of school for so long. I graduated December 14, 1991.

So, as the year ends, I look back on all of the things that have happened to me.  I started working for Southeastern Louisiana University. I have gone back to school to earn a second BA. And I have earned an A in my first class back. Now, if I can only continue to do so each semester, I will be in fantastic shape.