Christmas Wrapping

I set about the daunting task of wrapping presents last night, at least the ones that have shown up, and even with my online orders still outstanding (and yes, I am getting nervous), there was a lot to do, and it was exhausting.

To make matters worse, I am positive that I heard some scurrying behind or in my stove. I saw nothing, and I have been rather paranoid of late, but still... and just when I was getting comfortable again.

I'm trying to be philosophical about the A- in Poetry Workshop, and I wondered if it wasn't more of my overreacting, initially, but everyone who has talked with me about it understands immediately why I am upset, and registers it as a subpar grade. Nice to know that I am not off base in my feeling that something is amiss with this. I did e-mail the instructor to inquire about the mark, and she essentially told me that there were other students who "took their work farther," and that while I made "excellent progress" and should not feel that "there was any imperfection in my performance" that she had to grade not only on the basis of my personal effort, but the totality of the class's effort. So I took it on the chin and got an A- because she assessed that someone else made greater strides? I wouldn't say that this has soured my grad school experience, but I feel sobered, and do not trust people who have been entrusted with the task of making judgments and decisions to do so soundly.

I had been feeling positively about my chances of getting a solid A in 20th Century World Literature, but now expect to be blindsided by something else.

My long-back burnered romance novel has moved back to front burner and is now on simmer. I do hope to complete it over the course of the next semester.