Retrospectus

In the end, it all turned out OK school-wise.  And in the end, I am optimistic that this Ballymore housing mess will all turn out OK as well. 

Things got hairy toward the end of the semester there (hence the lack of posts).  Pressed for time, and tired of how picky the graders were about homework assignments I clearly understood, I gave up on studying for a course and decided instead to happily settle for a B+.  Despite having taken a couple of mid-level biostat courses, the policy department's quantitative method course had my homework grades hovering around the average for 3 assignments (1 was even slightly below).  So I washed my hands of it all and decided to focus on my biostat course.  But I also ran out of time studying for that.  And braced myself for limping toward the finish line with 2 B's.  Who cares?  I kept telling myself.  Grades don't matter.  Then 10 minutes before the biostat final, on a morning when I already ran out of time to grab breakfast, I realized that I had left my laptop on the shuttle bus.  There was much frantic phone calling (and of course, my phone dying so I had to borrow Allison's) and rushing out of the classroom and asking Professor Bob if I could get a few extra minutes and being put on hold and perhaps tears shed in the bathroom as the exam began and I was still trying to get a hold of someone who might know about my laptop.  Those were the 15 worst minutes of grad school in my last 2 years.  But it's funny how finding out my grades for the course changes how I remember it all now, because it worked out OK.  I aced and aced-minused and passed my way to the end despite feeling like a failure in the moments just before (thank you, grading curves and grade inflation!).  A little less than a week from now, I expect everyone to address me as Master.