Happy Back-to-School.....here is my tribute to the new school year. A quick stroll down memory lane.
Hope you enjoy!
I was taking a health class at BYU my senior year. It was a large classroom in an auditorium. It started in the morning and I liked sitting in the upper portion of the room. And so I did every class period. And every class period I would nod off. Without fail. I had a notebook full of scribbles......literally. My pen would dutifully start the sentence and by the third or fourth word there would be a squiggle mark that would cross the lines of my notebook and finally take a nose dive off the paper. My hand falling from my desk would jolt me awake. I would then crack open an eye and realize what had happened and once again start a new sentence and the vicious cycle would continue. I couldn't stay awake. And it wasn't from lack of effort. It was from lack of sleep.
So this particular morning, I had decided to take good notes. I did want a good grade after all. I sat in my usual seat. Things went well for the first part of the morning, but after 15 minutes I felt the usual lethargy setting in. NO! I would not succomb. My resolve lasted a mere 60 seconds before it was shattered. Lulled into dreamland by my professors soothing voice I allowed myself to drift.........and was rudely awakened by a loud question. The problem with drifting in and out of consciousness is that you have no idea what is going on. I frantically tried make sense of my jumbled notes. When that didn't work, I tried to string together a few of the words that were floating through my subconcience. Nada.
Some know-it-all was trying to answer the question but the professor was cutting him off saying he wanted someone else to answer. The girl up there wearing the yellow shirt. Huh? Was the professor actually looking at
me? In this huge classroom full of students
and did he say "yellow"? Hard to tell, sitting clear up in the nose bleed section. Surely not. I hadn't heard him ever call on a student before unless their hand was raised and mine was safely taking "notes". I glanced down at my bright yellow Dole Hawaii shirt. Neon. Perhaps a bad choice for the day. I looked up in time to hear a girl a few rows in front of me answering the question. She was wearing a pale buttercup shirt. He, he, he. Saved. I silently thanked my lucky stars because deep down I knew it was me the professor had wanted to stump.
But Professor I-Forgot-His-Name wasn't finished with me yet. He asked another question followed by, "Let's let the girl up there answer this one. Wearing the bright yellow shirt." I looked around me hoping someone else would mistakenly answer the question again. No such luck. I stared at him, mutely. Because I had no idea what to say. I couldn't even come up with a guess. He politely repeated the question and stared back at me. After an eternity, he turned it into a simple multiple choice question.
"Yes or no?"
I ventured a guess...."Yes."
At this point, classmates were turning around to snicker at the dumb girl in the yellow shirt.
"How many of you think the answer is 'yes'?" says Professor I-want-to-humiliate-you.
I looked around the classroom. Not a single hand was raised. I felt like I should've repeated kindergarten.
"How many of you think the answer is 'no'?"
I don't need to tell you the entire class raised their hands. An auditorium full of smart, attentive students. Minus one.
Me.
Ah, the memories. I vowed right then and there to mend my ways. I don't remember if I did. But I think I tried. ;)