Asian (Con)Fusion

It's exam time, and I just had my first exam. The class was Corporate Financial Policy. Now I know to buy low and sell high, and then there was some other stuff about some other stuff that I can't remember. I don't think I've ever had a class that's covered more material. And because of the breadth of material the 8.5x11 formula sheet we're allowed to use becomes your best friend. Everyone comes with their sheet and it's usually in 2pt font and everyone's squinting about 4 inches from their sheet the entire time. Sometimes I think about pulling out one of those watchmaker monocles, because shit, if this guy can rock one then so can I.

"Robot. Clooney. Want. To. Save. Darfur. And. Make. Sweet. Love. To. Models. Ocean's 45. Will. Be. In. Theaters. In. The. Year. 3030. Check. It. Out."

And the crazy thing is that you really hardly have time to consult your formula sheet. You kind of either know it or you don't, but don't get me wrong, when you realize you put an example on the sheet and that same example comes up in the test you feel like a million dollars (tax shelters included). Anyway, the way it went last year was that there was a forced curve, so someone was going to end up at the low end of the class and get a "Low Pass". Getting a Low Pass is kind of like getting a Scarlet Letter back in 17th Century Puritan Boston. It's like, okay, maybe I'm a little bit of a slut and I like having a good time and I could've studied harder and not be so adulterous, but no need to get all righteous about it because all ya'll wish you were having as much fun as me. My feeling about Low Passes...it builds character. Nowadays, because we're all grown ass men and women in our second year of school there's no forced curve and no forced Low Passes. We're in class because we want to be in class. Still, the Low Pass isn't totally out of the question. However, in my class there are a ton of Korean students who are here for the semester on an abroad program. I never hear them speaking english, they dress in earth tones, they all wear vests, they travel in packs, and they have Hello Kitty backpacks.

Hello. Kitty.

Ok, maybe they don't have Hello Kitty backpacks. What they all have though is academic prowess. The only issue for them is that it's probably hard as hell to take a 2 hour test comprised mostly of writing english about corporate financial policy. They always look confused and I can understand this. It's like me going to Korea and taking a class, in Korean, and taking a test in Korean. I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably write bibimbop 300 times, and draw a Hello Kitty. The point being, if I'm confused about what the hell the question is asking, they've gotta be confused as well. So while I take these tests and I'm confused, I know that there are at least 3 foreign students who are REALLY confused, and thus I can avoid the Low Pass.

It's about 80 degrees right now and while my body is telling me to go play golf, my mind is saying, just study a few more days. This weekend I'm off to Happy Valley (Penn State) to watch the #3 team in the country take Michigan out behind the shed. Should be good times. Hopefully there will be another roadtrip pictorial forthcoming.