Happy Halloween!

You will notice--I hope--that my profile pic is a lit Jack-o-lantern carved with my favorite face--ME. Hahahahhaha.

S

ince Halloween is not a national holiday, I went to work. Not only did I go to work, we had a midterm in J Lit in Translation. Poor guys. So anyway, I created the exam this weekend--sometime after another one of UCLA's incredible comebacks in overtime--and saved it to my handy dandy flash drive. Yes, I am not totally inept when it comes to computers.

Well, I go to school today and plug in the drive to my computer and... and... IT'S NOT ON MY DRIVE! Oh crap! I call M to have her send me a copy by email... one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy... the answering machine picks up.

"Hi, this is Onigiriman. Please leave a message."

"Helloooooooooooooooooooo, Musubichan. Pick uuuuuuuuuuuup! Helloooooooooo! You there? Please, please, please be home!"

No luck. She's probably running, that health freak! So I'm about to give birth to a cow, when I look at the screen again under the LitClass directory and low and behold: "Midterm05"... Why didn't I notice that earlier? Well, I print it out post haste, check the hard copy for typos and whatnot, edit it a bit and make 30 copies for class.

Whew, one near--presumed, imagined, self-imposed--disaster resolved. A student walks in to ask me about another class--Literary Japanese, bungo. We have a midterm in this class on Thursday, so he's stressing out about that. He has a few questions, I answer them. He puzzles over them for a second, understands grammar of a question he got wrong in last week's quiz (we have a quiz every Tuesday), and he leaves happy that he understands it.

Ah, another satisfied customer...

I look at the clock. 5:15... 5:15... Lit in Translation begins at 5 o'clock... 5 o'clock... 5... SHIT! I'm late!

I scoop up the exams and bluebooks I will distribute and race down the stairs, all the while trying to figure out if I should give them extra time or reduce the exam by one essay question. It never ceases to amaze me how fast the human brain can process information when faced with a dire situation. Luckily for me, the class is only one floor down from my office. I heave the door open, and burst into the room.

"Sorry! I got..."

I look across the class and about 15 unrecognizable faces stare at me, startled. A teacher standing in front of the whiteboard looks at me puzzled, then with a look of disbelief.

"Oops, sorry. Wrong classroom."

I too am puzzled, as I sheepishly withdraw and close the door. I look at the room number, check my surroundings. Everything seems right... I then check my watch... 4:18... 4:18... I forgot to reset the clock in my office to Standard Time. I hate daylight savings. It is sooooooooo outdated.

I exhale a very heavy sigh. I averted another would-be, wanna-be disaster, but in the process embarrassed the hell outa myself.

I wonder if this is the product of being overworked... Somebody, give me an excuse I can live with...