A Check

Defying expectations, when I arrived to present my paper at the Phi Kappa Phi ceremony today, the man behind the prize contest for which I recieved second place changed his mind and decided to award me a little cash as well, which I think was pretty darn cool; I'll now have to remember to write him an official thank you for your generosity card/letter. Aside from that, I have to admit that the paper that won the whole shabang, and five hundred bucks was actually pretty well written, and as such, works an object lesson for me in that I need to remember not to wait until the last minute to write my papers. The first place award winner even indicated in her presentation that she practically spent half the previous term writing her paper, whereas I waited until the last week to even start. This blog was started as a partial attempt on my part to alleviate some of the stress that I felt during that week trying to write a good, prize winning, 12 page paper in a matter of days. Despite everything, I still think that second place is not that bad.

Still, all of this brings to mind the famous movie, A Christmas Story, because the father - a somewhat luckless and frustrated man who is known for his outbursts of cursing - recieves a "major award" from a radio contest, something that he obviously loves tremendously because of its association as a "major award," but which is so hideous to everyone else that his wife "accidentally" breaks it while cleaning. Of course, he returns to earth in his normal more distraught condition. But as for myself, I can't help thinking about the "major award" whenever I start to feel a little pride in my accomplishment, because on some level, I fear I may instead be acting foolish.