Ides of March

The exam was yesterday. Thank FSM it's over.

My morning went something like this:

5:30 AM: Wake abruptly, in a panic that I might have overslept and missed the exam

5:31 AM: Wait for my heart to remove itself from my throat.

6:00 AM: Get out of bed (this is about half an hour earlier than I get up for work, which, incidentally, explains why I am late for work. Every day.).

7:20 AM: Leave house, get on bus. This is fifteen minutes earlier than I normally leave. It's Saturday! Not happy.

7:20 - 7:40 AM: Work on bus buddy's sock to the point until I begin the cuff. Realize that I have knit the entire leg with 50 stitches instead of 52. 50 is not divisible by four. Put sock aside and cast on new one.

7:55 - 8:30 AM: On second bus, work on new sock, and slowly become aware that there are many people flipping through binders that look suspiciously like the one I purposefully left at home (because if I haven't learned it by now, I'm not going to in the hour before the exam). Squelch panic and knit with more resolve.

8:30 - 8:45 AM: Sit outside examination room, working on the sock. Try to avoid looking at people who are obviously flummoxed at the idea of someone knitting instead of last-minute cramming. Begin to consider the idea that maybe I am over-confident and under-prepared. Especially because there are many people madly flipping through binders.

8:45 AM: Find paper in examination room and wait for the starter's pistol to go off (well, not really a starter's pistol). Begin to seriously consider that maybe going back to school was a mistake, because I would much rather be at home.

9:00 AM: Turn paper over, think the questions aren't as bad as I thought, and write madly, spewing out everything I know about the subject. Hope desperately that I am interpreting the questions correctly. Because this seems a little too easy.

Some time later: One of the invigilators says something. I don't hear it, because I'm concentrating so hard, so I assume it's the one hour left message, and panic. I've got a 40 mark question left. I continue to write, holding my pen so tightly that my hand cramps. Also, pause to think I shouldn't have had that third cup of coffee. I have to pee.

I think I've got five minutes left: I return to the three mark question I skipped earlier, write down a crappy response, thinking that I may get one pity point, so it's worth a shot.

I turn in the paper, bolt for the bathroom.

My cell phone rings. I look at the time. It's noon, not 1 PM. I had a whole extra hour.

12:03 PM: Go outside and wait for the bus. I refuse to think about this again until May 8, when the marks are released.