the irony of it all

sometimes you get what you don't want.

at least, thats how things turned out for me. the friday before spring break, an extra credit assignment was due in my family and consumer economics class. the assignment was abstract...the professor basically gave us the problem and told us we can do anything. that meant that it could be a paper, a project, a board game, a powerpoint presentation, etc. it had no length requirement and no rubric. we were free to do whatever. i hate assignments like that.

this extra credit project was 30 automatic bonus points, as long as it was sufficient. so what is sufficient? no one really knows. the incentive to be really creative was extra bonus points and presenting your project to a 300 person class. that is, if you were one of the top six projects.

for me, the thought of having to present a project that had no structure did not want to make me try hard. let alone talking in front of 300 people. i have a hard enough time giving a five minute speech in front of my small public speaking class.

because of this, i decided to do a mediocre project. yes, i decided to be the person that would do just enough to get my 30 bonus points. that’s all i really wanted. and a mediocre project is what i turned in. i wasn't even sure if it was that.

then yesterday rolled around. i was avidly working on the r&b crossword puzzle of the day while the professor was making announcements. he got around to the projects and i was concentrating on the 20 across clue: "dissertation". my friend jenna nudged my left arm to draw my attention to the screen, where my last name was displayed in uppercase, bold font with five other names.

my jaw dropped. "you've got to be kidding me."

i can't imagine how bad the other 200 projects must have been for mine to be selected. if only i had left out one more clipart image...or left out that diagram of bird migration paths over north america.

so despite trying not to do a good project, i have been declared a "winner" and must present my project for 7-8 minutes in front of the entire class on monday so the class can vote.

oh. my. gosh. the irony of it all.