(no subject)
Dec. 15th, 2004 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cleolindaYesterday's horoscope(s): Overview: It's storytelling time -- and since you've been saving up a couple of really good ones for some time now, all you have to do is find an appreciative audience, clear your throat and prepare for applause. Tough job, isn't it?
Thank y'all so much for all the birthday wishes--I'm behind on my thank-you comments for both my birthday and the fundraising, but know that I read every comment that gets sent to my email, so I read every single comment on yesterday's entry and I appreciate them all so much. And the e-cards. And the birthday greeting "from" Jack and Charlie. And the Marilyn Monroe-style serenades. Hee.
Are you really this disorganized? Or are you just overscheduled?
About three o'clock, however, I got some really bad news. Academic news--nothing about my health problems. Basically, I'm either getting a D or an incomplete for the semester because I'm an absent-minded idiot. Being sick and having to take off to have all those tests run knocked my grade down a little right there. Then there was a bibliography I just didn't turn in--it was due that week I had the Death Flu, as you will recall, and I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and decided to take the hit. I didn't realize it was going to be worth all that much, I'd gotten away with not doing it for another class before--bottom line, I made a bad call on that one. But then there's also the part where I thought we had to write a mini paper and present it--not write a mini paper AND a conference paper and present the latter. So that mistake compounded a bad call I'd already made, and... yeah. It's all my fault, and I think that's what upset me the most about it. It's not like the school called and said, "We are so sorry, but everyone's term papers died in a fiery cataclysm, so you're going to have to rewrite them... for some reason. Shut up, this is a theoretical scenario." I don't know if a D is a passing grade or not here, but I'm going to see if I can't at least raise it to a C, because I just don't want that on my transcript. The professor was kind enough to email me and say, basically, that I had until this Thursday to arrange something with her, and she knows about my health problems, so I think she'll let me take an incomplete. Normally I would just scramble and try to have all the missing/redone work to her by Thursday, but I just... can't. I just don't have the fortitude at this point to pull that out. I'm having a hard enough time getting psyched out by my own expectations for the book; I can't deal with this right now. Partly because I'm so embarrassed about it, I think. And I can't tell my parents about it--I've got to fix this on my own, which I can, because there is nothing my mother can do or say to make it better, and in fact there is nothing she can do or say that wouldn't make it worse. I don't need her horrified concern and/or disapproval on my back as well. Maybe someday I'll tell her how I pulled out the landing gear at the last moment and saved the plane from crashing, but before I've done it? Hell no.
(And it makes me mad at myself, because she said my first exam was "an impeccable discussion" and my final exam was "wonderful." I shouldn't be making a D, but if I am, it's my own damn fault.)
Expect some great news today via phone, email, fax, or the Internet. This could involve a lucky break of some kind, auguring beneficial changes in both profession and lifestyle. A number of short journeys in your near neighborhood may be necessary, and you could stop by the homes of friends or neighbors to tell them all about what's been happening with you. Enjoy your day, Cleolinda. You won't have too many quite like this one!
So... my birthday was not a lot of fun. Mostly because I felt so guilty and anxious and embarrassed about it, but couldn't tell anyone. Whenever I get bad news, I generally react with a calm but stunned daze. This means that if emergency measures need to be taken, I'm your man, because I won't fall apart freaking out on you. The bad news, particularly if there's nothing I can really do about it at the moment, is that I have a hard time hiding this daze. And believe me, when we all went out to dinner last night, I tried. My grandmother and my cousin M (to keep Sister Girl company) were there, and it was just a bad, bad time to go into catatonic dismay, let me tell you. I finally realized that I'd been home by myself all day--no one knew that I'd been happy and chipper all day until this sudden blow, so at least I didn't have to hide a total mood change from them. Everyone was willing to chalk it up to my being "tired" from working on the book, so there was that.
(Ironically, Sister Girl behaved herself perfectly.)
Relationship elevator going up. Today you'll want to spend more time with someone you find special. That's because today the stage is set for your relationships to improve and mature. If possible, try planning something unique with that someone special. And don't let outside influences interrupt your time together.
The only person I could talk to about it was Vladimir, bless his heart, who stayed up way past his bedtime to hold my hand, figuratively speaking, while I berated and flagellated myself. I knew I would feel a little less stupid and helpless after a good night's sleep, and I do, but at the time it just felt like the end of the world for some reason. Bless him.
Total escape from unpleasantness may not be possible, but do whatever you can. Don't burn your bridges against imaginary pursuers. The situation is so complex and slow-moving that there's no way to tell whether or not things need fixing at this point in time. There's no time like the present to start building your future. Money is a big concern in the current scenario. Set a realistic budget, and stick to it religiously. Consider a few cautious investments as well.
So: presents. I did get the ROTK EE with the Minas Tirith sculpture. I'd rather it have been a lighter grey--you know, closer to white, and all that; it's pretty dark as it is--but it's nice, and very minutely detailed. I did go ahead and order the Minas Morgul companion piece, although I'm not sure I can really spare the money. But I figure, if I don't absolutely fall in love with it, I can sell it on eBay, since it's a DVD buyer-only exclusive, etc. Besides, I get a free little Aragorn crown. Awesome.
A few things that might interest y'all: I got the annotated Phantom of the Opera that I wanted, and House of Leaves, and The Dress Lodger. Also a couple of DVDs and a pretty 1928 bracelet. Oh, and Galadriel Barbie. She seems to have recovered from having her box violated (dirty!). Galadriel Doll looked her rival up and down. "Take off her dress," said Galadriel Doll. "I want her dress." "But Galadriel Doll," I said, "it won't fit you. I mean, I know you're shorter, but your shoulders are wider, and..." "Whatever," said Galadriel Doll, waving me away. "Put her over on the other shelf with Sleeping Beauty" (in the background, you can hear Purple Arwen muttering "THAT WHORE") "or something." Really, the Galadriel Barbie dress and hair are awesome, but the face is just wrong. And not even because it isn't even attempting to be a likeness--it's bad because the Barbie people have decided to change the face mold in recent years, and the face is just too flat. Seriously, it looks smushed in. The profile is terrible. So Toybiz Galadriel Doll, with the awesome likeness but the meh crown and dress, still wins.
(I think White Arwen may be a little... touched in the head. Or something. She just sits on the corner of my stereo with her hands in her lap, swinging her feet. She never says anything, except once in a while you hear a tiny little "la da da..." drifting over your head.)
If you have a talent for words, either written or spoken, you will get a chance to do something with it this year. You are as gifted as the next person, and more so than most [oh, horoscope: you suck-up], so write that book or compose that song or do something that allows you to express your ideas. Here's the clincher: It may even make you some extra money.
So. The HRC book-banning meeting tonight. I've gotten a couple of emails from ALA folks that I'm going to print out and take with me. I have no idea how large the meeting is going to be, how many people will be there, so that'll be interesting. Once I find out from my professor if I can fix up everything in January, I'm going to do my best to put it out of my mind and work on the book.
P.S. Klaus has glasses!
Preemptive ETA: It looks like I can take an incomplete and finish/redo some of the work over the course of the spring semester--not that I want to take that long, Jesus. Of course, if I don't follow through, I get a zero instead of a D. Whee.
Thank y'all so much for all the birthday wishes--I'm behind on my thank-you comments for both my birthday and the fundraising, but know that I read every comment that gets sent to my email, so I read every single comment on yesterday's entry and I appreciate them all so much. And the e-cards. And the birthday greeting "from" Jack and Charlie. And the Marilyn Monroe-style serenades. Hee.
Are you really this disorganized? Or are you just overscheduled?
About three o'clock, however, I got some really bad news. Academic news--nothing about my health problems. Basically, I'm either getting a D or an incomplete for the semester because I'm an absent-minded idiot. Being sick and having to take off to have all those tests run knocked my grade down a little right there. Then there was a bibliography I just didn't turn in--it was due that week I had the Death Flu, as you will recall, and I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and decided to take the hit. I didn't realize it was going to be worth all that much, I'd gotten away with not doing it for another class before--bottom line, I made a bad call on that one. But then there's also the part where I thought we had to write a mini paper and present it--not write a mini paper AND a conference paper and present the latter. So that mistake compounded a bad call I'd already made, and... yeah. It's all my fault, and I think that's what upset me the most about it. It's not like the school called and said, "We are so sorry, but everyone's term papers died in a fiery cataclysm, so you're going to have to rewrite them... for some reason. Shut up, this is a theoretical scenario." I don't know if a D is a passing grade or not here, but I'm going to see if I can't at least raise it to a C, because I just don't want that on my transcript. The professor was kind enough to email me and say, basically, that I had until this Thursday to arrange something with her, and she knows about my health problems, so I think she'll let me take an incomplete. Normally I would just scramble and try to have all the missing/redone work to her by Thursday, but I just... can't. I just don't have the fortitude at this point to pull that out. I'm having a hard enough time getting psyched out by my own expectations for the book; I can't deal with this right now. Partly because I'm so embarrassed about it, I think. And I can't tell my parents about it--I've got to fix this on my own, which I can, because there is nothing my mother can do or say to make it better, and in fact there is nothing she can do or say that wouldn't make it worse. I don't need her horrified concern and/or disapproval on my back as well. Maybe someday I'll tell her how I pulled out the landing gear at the last moment and saved the plane from crashing, but before I've done it? Hell no.
(And it makes me mad at myself, because she said my first exam was "an impeccable discussion" and my final exam was "wonderful." I shouldn't be making a D, but if I am, it's my own damn fault.)
Expect some great news today via phone, email, fax, or the Internet. This could involve a lucky break of some kind, auguring beneficial changes in both profession and lifestyle. A number of short journeys in your near neighborhood may be necessary, and you could stop by the homes of friends or neighbors to tell them all about what's been happening with you. Enjoy your day, Cleolinda. You won't have too many quite like this one!
So... my birthday was not a lot of fun. Mostly because I felt so guilty and anxious and embarrassed about it, but couldn't tell anyone. Whenever I get bad news, I generally react with a calm but stunned daze. This means that if emergency measures need to be taken, I'm your man, because I won't fall apart freaking out on you. The bad news, particularly if there's nothing I can really do about it at the moment, is that I have a hard time hiding this daze. And believe me, when we all went out to dinner last night, I tried. My grandmother and my cousin M (to keep Sister Girl company) were there, and it was just a bad, bad time to go into catatonic dismay, let me tell you. I finally realized that I'd been home by myself all day--no one knew that I'd been happy and chipper all day until this sudden blow, so at least I didn't have to hide a total mood change from them. Everyone was willing to chalk it up to my being "tired" from working on the book, so there was that.
(Ironically, Sister Girl behaved herself perfectly.)
Relationship elevator going up. Today you'll want to spend more time with someone you find special. That's because today the stage is set for your relationships to improve and mature. If possible, try planning something unique with that someone special. And don't let outside influences interrupt your time together.
The only person I could talk to about it was Vladimir, bless his heart, who stayed up way past his bedtime to hold my hand, figuratively speaking, while I berated and flagellated myself. I knew I would feel a little less stupid and helpless after a good night's sleep, and I do, but at the time it just felt like the end of the world for some reason. Bless him.
Total escape from unpleasantness may not be possible, but do whatever you can. Don't burn your bridges against imaginary pursuers. The situation is so complex and slow-moving that there's no way to tell whether or not things need fixing at this point in time. There's no time like the present to start building your future. Money is a big concern in the current scenario. Set a realistic budget, and stick to it religiously. Consider a few cautious investments as well.
So: presents. I did get the ROTK EE with the Minas Tirith sculpture. I'd rather it have been a lighter grey--you know, closer to white, and all that; it's pretty dark as it is--but it's nice, and very minutely detailed. I did go ahead and order the Minas Morgul companion piece, although I'm not sure I can really spare the money. But I figure, if I don't absolutely fall in love with it, I can sell it on eBay, since it's a DVD buyer-only exclusive, etc. Besides, I get a free little Aragorn crown. Awesome.
A few things that might interest y'all: I got the annotated Phantom of the Opera that I wanted, and House of Leaves, and The Dress Lodger. Also a couple of DVDs and a pretty 1928 bracelet. Oh, and Galadriel Barbie. She seems to have recovered from having her box violated (dirty!). Galadriel Doll looked her rival up and down. "Take off her dress," said Galadriel Doll. "I want her dress." "But Galadriel Doll," I said, "it won't fit you. I mean, I know you're shorter, but your shoulders are wider, and..." "Whatever," said Galadriel Doll, waving me away. "Put her over on the other shelf with Sleeping Beauty" (in the background, you can hear Purple Arwen muttering "THAT WHORE") "or something." Really, the Galadriel Barbie dress and hair are awesome, but the face is just wrong. And not even because it isn't even attempting to be a likeness--it's bad because the Barbie people have decided to change the face mold in recent years, and the face is just too flat. Seriously, it looks smushed in. The profile is terrible. So Toybiz Galadriel Doll, with the awesome likeness but the meh crown and dress, still wins.
(I think White Arwen may be a little... touched in the head. Or something. She just sits on the corner of my stereo with her hands in her lap, swinging her feet. She never says anything, except once in a while you hear a tiny little "la da da..." drifting over your head.)
If you have a talent for words, either written or spoken, you will get a chance to do something with it this year. You are as gifted as the next person, and more so than most [oh, horoscope: you suck-up], so write that book or compose that song or do something that allows you to express your ideas. Here's the clincher: It may even make you some extra money.
So. The HRC book-banning meeting tonight. I've gotten a couple of emails from ALA folks that I'm going to print out and take with me. I have no idea how large the meeting is going to be, how many people will be there, so that'll be interesting. Once I find out from my professor if I can fix up everything in January, I'm going to do my best to put it out of my mind and work on the book.
P.S. Klaus has glasses!
Preemptive ETA: It looks like I can take an incomplete and finish/redo some of the work over the course of the spring semester--not that I want to take that long, Jesus. Of course, if I don't follow through, I get a zero instead of a D. Whee.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 11:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 11:47 am (UTC)(God I'm such a fangirl.)
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Date: 2004-12-15 11:50 am (UTC)It sounds like you've managed to negotiate something reasonably good with your professor so I hope that makes things better. Being so ill must count for something.
I too have the Minas Tirith sculpture, and I agree with you - it's very dark!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 11:54 am (UTC)weee sister girl behaved...
sorry to hear b-day didn't end all that well... but glad to hear you don't get the D...
yeah the minas tirith is a bit on the dark side :s but it's gorgeous... not taking it out of the box... lol (now i gotta find the argonaths ;)and my collection will be finally complete)
i tried to order galadriel-barbie but *cries* she's sold out... *grumbles* oh well... another thing to scratch of my wish list ;) rofl...
hope you have a great day today...
hugs
Lorien__
cheerleader and nutcase
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:02 pm (UTC)!!!YADHTRIB DETALEB YPPAH
I'm glad to hear you'll be able to work out your scholarly problems. :D
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Date: 2004-12-15 12:05 pm (UTC)Soooo glad to see that pic of Klaus with glasses, I was getting worried for a minute there.
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Date: 2004-12-15 12:06 pm (UTC)Also: where do you get your horoscopes?! I love them, and they seem (if not always accurate) at least amusing.
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Date: 2004-12-15 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:12 pm (UTC)Also-Glad to see you can still maintain your odd humor with the war of the dolls. Arwen sounds like she's going Ophelia on you. I LOVE that kid playing Klaus btw... I want kids just like him from that Stepmom movie with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:27 pm (UTC)That was awesome. *falls over and dies laughing*
I am SO relieved about Klaus's glasses!
I had to take an incomplete once. Actually, I was just given an incomplete, no discussion. I hated that professor. I was on summer break when I checked my grades and found an "I". So *I* e-mailed *her* and she told me I needed to turn in some of my research articles with the final paper to get full credit. I grumbled about that for a long time, especially since a lot of the articles were newspaper articles I had to pay to get from things like the Buffalo News and the New York Times online. (It was a magazine writing class - I felt like it was my duty to do it, though, since I was the only sophomore in a class of juniors and seniors, even though I had junior standing). That was the biggest issue I had with that class, by but far not the only one. Anyway, I'm sure everything will work out lovely with your grade and everything.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 01:11 pm (UTC)I am feeling kind of the same way (it's all my fault!) about the fact that I started studying for my finals like, last week instead of a month ago like all the actually conscientious law students. *sigh*
But I have faith in your abilities to fix this. It's clear that you have the intellect and the ability to do it, so you will prevail!! :)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 01:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 01:28 pm (UTC)As for the D...I was in a very similar situation my junior year of college ('cept it was my mom that had gotten so sick and I needed to go back home to be with her). I opted for the D and let me tell you it was the second worst decision I have ever made (the first being lyposuction on my thighs. *grin*) I missed graduating with honors by a hair and I'm still miffed over the whole thing.
Anyway, in my personal opinion - I'd take the incomplete and finish/redo your work over the upcoming months. I don't think you'll regret it at all.
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Date: 2004-12-15 01:30 pm (UTC)Though in my case, I can plead insanity. *CRAZY GARY OLDMAN GRIN* =D
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Date: 2004-12-15 01:42 pm (UTC)It's good that you tutor is cutting you some slack. Do you mind me asking what an 'incomplete' is? Your uni/college system goes over my head sometimes. *is ignorant*
and a belated happy birthday :)
incompletes are my savior
Date: 2004-12-16 11:34 am (UTC)So Cleo--it'll all be okay, as long as the procrastination goblins don't work their evil magic!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 01:47 pm (UTC)Myself, I'm freakin' out here over a research problem, resulting from my own damned-idiotic tendency to propose damned-fool complicated solutions, initially poorly understood, so I'm in a mood to sympathize.
Yarha, Dedicated Masochists Have More Fun
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 01:59 pm (UTC)I'm sorry it wasn't great, but at least you got good presents! ;) *hugs*
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:02 pm (UTC)(and squeeee at klaus!)
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Date: 2004-12-15 03:11 pm (UTC)In other news,- TGIW - repeats of Lost are better than no Lost (or most other tv shows!) So...just look at Sayid and Sawyer, and Shirtless!Jack, it'll help your mood in a jiffy! ;)
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Date: 2004-12-15 03:35 pm (UTC)The point of this overly long comment is Do Not Fear the Incomplete. It was hard for me not to view it as a scarlet letter (My interior monologue went something like Failure! Fraud! Loser!), but I had become such a basketcase over the course of the semester that it was really a salvation to be able to not worry about writing a 25 page term paper on Piers Plowman. Really, it saved my college career from total burnout.
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Date: 2004-12-15 03:58 pm (UTC)Chipper up, at least the semester's almost over, and your professor understands, right?
...your "action figures" talk to you too?
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 04:03 pm (UTC)Earthsea in Clorox
by Ursula K. Le Guin
http://trashotron.com/agony/columns/2004/12-15-04.htm
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 04:17 pm (UTC)I've had a lump in my throat the whole day, Cleo. Didn't know if it was the funeral or Andrea finally getting her chance for a real job or the ghastly bit of news you got on your Milton class -- but it made me hold my breath the whole day long.
Can't tell you how gratifying and electrifying it is to hear that you WILL get your chance with this incompleteness thingamajiggy. Whatever, whatever! Just let the Princess breathe, people! She writes, she rallies, she fundraises, she KNITS OMG! The woman deserves her break! And she better get it, or the academic community of Alabama *will* feel the wrath of the Last March of the Galadriel Dolls, so help me Eru.
Happy birthday!
Date: 2004-12-15 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 04:42 pm (UTC)first off, Happy Belated birthday!
Second, I am sorry about the grade, I am sure it will work themselves out in the end. (But I do agree from personal experience, parents do better finding stuff out after the fact.)
Third, just wanted you to know (as if you didn't already from your huge existing and growing fanbase) that your extremely witty entries as well as m15m, etc. really brighten up my day. It is nice to see someone that can be so honest and opinionated (in a good way!!!) yet not come off at all as being snobbish or poser-ly. Please please please do keep it up, you-light-up-my-life, all that good stuff ;)
Ok first ever post to you, hope I don't make a fool of myself (I swear its like I have a crush on you "OMG I just messaged cleolinda!!!")
Haha, anyway, hope all works out! :)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 06:49 pm (UTC)I'm sorry about your grades! I've experienced the same thing, only without the health problems, so...yeah, I was just a really baaaaaaaad student, but you get what I mean, right? I hope you get to do something about it as soon as possible.
And meh. Me jealous of you. You have EE with Minas Tirith sculpture and Galadriel Doll and Purple Arwen and White Arwen although White Arwen doesn't say much. Methinks White Arwen be creepy, singing to herself like that in one corner...
::TEH SIGH:: Some peeps have all the luck. That's coz Fate took all the luck away from me and gave it to everybody else. But yeah. Hope you're gonna be okay. There's always the EE to cheer you up, with Teh Dom and Teh Viggo/Billeh Kiss somewhere in thurr...
Namarïe,
~Sáthien
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 11:53 pm (UTC)Secondly. I know the D feeling when you actually did better in the class. My accounting class was horrid to sit through and my teacher never did anything. I stopped going but have like all 80's on the exams. Oh wells. At least with yours she's giving you the opportunity to fix everything. i know you can do it :D
*mhwwwaaaa! once again happy (belated) bday chica!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 12:34 am (UTC)anyway, very happy belated birthday, and i'm so sorry you had to receive the bad grade news and have things ruined. meh.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 01:06 am (UTC)Back when I was still majoring in Media Studies and naive about how little unpleasantness it is actually possible to avoid in life, I encountered a professor who was supposed to be my adviser. He was a backwoods cracker-sharp kind of curmudgeon, full of no-nonsense behavior and a mean mouth. The kind who would be twinklified into charming toothlessness by, say, a Hal Holbrook or a Wilford Brimley if played on stage or (small) screen, but in real life: an asshole.
I managed to escape his adviserliness by transferring that particular duty to another professor (which wasn't much of a tradeup) but one semester had had HAD to have him. For an editing class.
At 8am.
I've never been really good at early-morning anything. I've never been very good at doing what I should but what I don't want to.
I made it to every, say, 1.2 out of three classes per week, on average.
Come the final exam, I figured I could bullshit my way through it. I showed up and he dragged me to the front of the class, stood toe-to-toe with me, and in the best ice-blue-eyed rattlesnake hiss outside of a Hatfield-and-McCoy parlay, told me I hadn't shown up for enough classes to even take the exam, and summarily dismissed me.
I seem to recall explaining it away to my family as having been a really hard class, blah blah. They thought I was full of it, but nobody could do anything. I took it over again and still managed to graduate with a 3.2 in my major, which given my apathy is nothing short of miraculous.
And I haven't even done anything with myself, as I never tire of lamenting on my own LJ. You have a book deal, several websites, a kickin' fandom (oh, yes, we are), a nonstop talent, a drive to succeed, and a dedication to improve your community through halting censorship. One incomplete? Just an amusing story to tell people years later.
I don't meant to tell you not to fret if fretting is what you must do for a while (I can relate) but don't fall into Teh Black Pit Of OMG Despair. You have far too much drive and natural talent for this to be anything more than a minor setback.
I'll shut up now.
Oh, and I wanted to ask--what does Eowyn Doll think of all this? Or is she still too busy trying to steal Aragorn's sword to really care?
no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 02:48 am (UTC)(*hug*)
Empathy
Date: 2004-12-16 09:17 am (UTC)It was Tuesday of finals week. I thought the Literary Criticism final was on Thursday and was studying for it in the library...and fell asleep...and awoke in a panic when I realized that the final was Tuesday and I'd slept through the first hour of it. Arguably the hardest final of my life--I was so embarrassed. There was no way I could finish it. I should have talked to him, asked if I could make it up by writing an extra paper, but I never did. So I have two Cs on my transcript for two of the most important Lit classes of an English major's career.
The moral of the story: definitely talk to your prof about an extension. Unlike most science professors, lit. profs still believe in their humanity and will often show kindness. (Too late, Tyler said he would have helped, had he known.)