Upon the cessation of a private review session I had with a fellow classmate before World Religions class, I realized I was really pumped for the midterm we were going to have. I walked into the auditorium thinking “I’m totally going to ace this!” Around question 61 I realized the GTA lied when I specifically asked if there would be questions that weren’t covered on the crib/review sheet. Fortunately, those incredibly specific questions regarding obscure passages in the readings were quite limited, so I have no excuse for not receiving an A. The first 90 questions were multiple choice and the last 10 were short answer. I left one answer out of 102 blank because I couldn’t for the life of me recall what important figure brought communism to China. It was not on my review sheet and it was part of a reading that was not mentioned in class. I sat in my chair for 5 minutes mentally scanning names of important figures we learned about and couldn’t even conjure up some semblence of a good guess. I was quite ashamed for leaving an answer blank, but, I had to get over it. So, I attempted the bonus questions. Of course, one just had to ask what family Ganesha was a part of. Since I know Brahma is generally overlooked, I narrowed it down to Vishnu and Shiva in the Trimurti. And being such a fan of the counter-culture, I chose Vishnu because Shiva is so blasted popular. Curses! I was wrong. I could have hung myself, but the second bonus question asked to explain how Buddhism rejected Upanishadic and Vedic Hinduism. Thankfully, I knew that answer. I just hope it was what they were looking for. I found myself trembling whilst testing and at some points I thought I’d go mad. At first I thought it was just my desperation for the grade, but several hours later I remembered I had about 18 ounces of coffee earlier in the morning.
I walked out of the exam with a lot less arrogance, realizing the exam had humbled me. But I respect DeChant more for it. This class is not an ‘easy A’ and if I eventually attain it, it will because I put forth the effort. At best, I’ll find out my grade on Thursday, but most likely it’ll be Tuesday before I know.
I walked my anxious self to the library after class, as I regularly do and worked on some Anthropology homework. I completed my readings for tomorrow but have yet to complete my project. It shouldn’t take too long. A 3 to 5 page essay and a kindship chart should take but 2 or 3 hours of my time?
On my drive home my head swirled with what I still have to accomplish before this week is over: a kinship project, Russian homework, completion of the eastern religions reading, and a couple poems for a certain Poetry Jam to be had on Thursday evening. My mind wandered from school to recreation and contemplated what my compositions’ focii would be. I thought of incorporating my studies into the poems. And an idea to express music as a religion was born. I hope to work on this tomorrow after classes. But it, of course, will take a backseat to my studies. And with all that I still have to make it to the nearest computer with a decent internet connection and headset tomorrow by 5PM BST to hear Shardcore’s interview.
