Perpetual Ruminations

On a Roll

Yes, it seems I'm on a roll; two days straight. Although, I have to admit, I don't have very much time today, since it's getting close to time for me to get ready and leave for work. Still, considering the time lapse before these past two days, it's something.

I explained yesterday why there was such a long lapse of time, although I doubt there are very few, if any, who will believe my explanation. Yes, it was fictional. The idea came from back in my college days, when one of my instructors gave five points per day on attendance. It resulted in a drop in one's grade if you missed three days or more.

The class was Business Communications, and the instructor was very demanding, very good, and very fair. Even so, this made it difficult to get high grades, so missing class was not an option if you wanted to keep up a good grade point average. She was understanding that sometimes things do come up that result in missing class, and being fair to her students, she provided a means to get extra credit if you did have to miss.

It was quite simple, if you had a good imagination and the motivation to fulfill the conditions. First of all, you had to get any notes form another student and turn them in with any missed work. She would review the notes quickly and give them back. Any missed work had to be turned in  within two days, which was the nest class date. Also, you had to provide her with an excuse when you returned to class.

However, she did not want any plain excuse, even if it was true and legitimate. She wanted something out of the ordinary, something interesting, and of course, something made up. She gave extra credit for these fictitious excuses based on length, originality, and imagination. Now, the excuse didn't have to be real long, a paragraph or two would suffice. If it was well written and something new or different, it received full credit, but even if it was well written, but often used, she would deduct points.

I seldom missed class, but on the rare occasions when I did, I enjoyed writing a good excuse, as you seen with my post from yesterday. She would have been very pleased with the originality, the imagination, and the enjoyable tale it provided. I suspect, she was writing her own book from these excuses that were turned in over the years.

"Now," as Paul Harvey used to say, "you know the rest of the story."