ACT Qualifying Disaster!!!

Well, it was bound to happen.  I failed…to qualify for an ACT English writing Project.  I’m no stranger to failure.  I would like to think that at some point, I will put it on my resume as something I’m fairly good at.  Whether it be at school, on the job, or even at life, I have a failure I can proudly point out in any of those categories. I have read that failures make you stronger, or smarter, or something…But mostly I find them just depressing.

You would think that with two college degrees, I could master the training of just about anything ACT puts in front of me.  I qualified for MCAT!  Now, technically I don’t have an English degree.  I DO have a bachelors in Elementary School Education.  And, even though I wanted to be a math teacher, I was forced to take English Grammar, English Writing, English Literature, English Composition, and even SPEECH!.  I’m sure English majors have more advanced classes, but I think I would have most of the basics covered in that array of instructions. 

Ah, Don’t get me wrong,  I don’t feel like ACT tried to single me out.  Cheryl passed just fine!  ( oh, she has a MASTERS in English/Philosophy!)  I guess that Philosophy degree pays off….in the right field.  And I guess that makes me feel like an even bigger idiot for not signing up for the math/ science/ or even History project.  ( Fish and Wildlife/biology/physics/calc one and two may have actually helped in one of those projects) But no, I thought, “English?  How difficult can THAT be? “

Ah well,  On a bright note, I now have more time to dedicate to Origami.  ( yeah!  THAT is helpful!  Try paying the bills with little folded paper cranes!)http://www.cardealexpert.com/news-information/fyi/origami-pigs/  And I don’t have to hurt my brain trying to wrestle with those papers. ( Incidentally,   my head actually DOES hurt after a day of scoring.) And I can sleep in if I want to. Drink good coffee, play with the cats, and donate more time to my blog.   See?  The shame and disappointment is almost all gone!

In reality, I do feel as if My pride has been dinged a little.  The ADULT me knows that no one can possibly know everything, and no matter how well educated you may be,  there will always be holes in your knowledge.   An English major will probably not be very good at wiring up a building, pouring concrete, sewing clothes, or repairing a furnace.  There are people who specialize in those fields and people who label themselves as academics pay good money for those services. 

But the “ACADEMIC” in me feels like I’m getting slower, I’m out of shape, and perhaps I’m not as  smart as I once thought I was.  I should be able to wrap my head around just about anything that ACT throws at me.  I GOT TWO DEGEES!  We are just “scoring papers” after all.  Even a trained monkey can do it, right? 

Well,  Not this Monkey!  The Ape in me wants to climb a high tree and yell at the top of my lungs!  Throw rotted fruit at bystanders and generally make an embarrassing  spectacle of my self!  Luckily,  I have subdued those animal-like reflexes to the point where I now sit quietly at home and blog about my problems with snarky wit…or at least try to. In the end, I know the depression will pass, the sun will rise and the earth will continue to turn. The universe does not care and my world will not end.   One little project is not going to kill me. (And I have survived failures much larger than this!)  My new found time will be donated to other causes and ACT has another project coming up in three weeks.  It’s all good.