A Fancy Win!

When I was 10 we had to write a report about an artist. I chose Renoir. A week after we turned in our projects, our teacher stood before the class. He had a stack of various coloured folders on his desk. Actually 2 separate piles. Everyone else had done the usual 3-5 pages that a 5^th grader would realistically produce when asked to write about some dead dude and his frescoes. My report, however, hovered around the 25 page mark, including several Xeroxed copies of his work with my own annotations.

And then as an adult, I decided that I would learn to speak H’s native language. He said that was the stupidest idea he’d ever heard (“They all speak English there!”) but I figured that it would show him how madly in love I was. And also show my Future In-Laws what a great choice I was for H. (As if being of legal drinking age and able to read and write weren’t already huge improvements over the last chickadee he’d brought home. Anyway.)

So I did. Language tapes, satellite TV, children’s books, weeks at immersion schools, private tutors. At one point I’d enrolled in a group class in our neighbourhood. I was completely out of practice when I took the entrance exam and was placed in a class far below my level but since I like being The Best, I didn’t really say anything. And then they gave us our pre-term exams. You know, so you could see how improved you were at the end of the semester.  Except instead of the exam intended for my class, they accidentally handed out the exams for the next year up. You know what happened, right? Ever had a bunch of middle-aged women chase you to the classroom door, hands waving and singing “Bye bye!” Yeah.

Anyway, the thing about being the Teacher’s Pet is that the other students don’t always love you. They don’t bother even trying to compete with you. They just ignore you or put obnoxious stickers on your back that say “Kick Me.” Trust me. They do. 

And that, my friends, is how many of you probably felt when you saw Kate Takes 5’s blog post about her inner Fancy. In fact, she’s completely Fancy. It’s just  better management of her staff that she needs to work on. I think a tiara would seriously help let them know who’s boss. So, from the Journal Of The Obvious, we have a Giveaway winner. C’mon my little overachiever, walk up to the podium and accept your prize. Job well done!