I'm not sure if you were aware, but I'm an idiot. A complete maroon. Getting ready to go to class this morning, I realized it was odd I hadn't done quantum homework this week. I opened my notebook, flipped to the page with the folded corner that marks the end of my astrophysics notes, and waiting there with the clueless optimism of an abandoned puppy was my quantum mechanics homework, marked clearly and boldly, "Due Wednesday, February 4th". I had an hour and ten minutes. And a class to go to.

And this is hardly an isolated incident. Monday found me furiously riding from class to my dorm and back again to grab a forgotten (but thankfully finished) homework assignment. Last week I floundered through an entire WU POPS rehearsal on clarinet music because I had walked all the way there without bringing my own, written-for-trumpet-and-everything, music folder. But at least I went to rehearsal on the correct day, which didn't happen three weeks ago. And this afternoon I wrote a C++ loop that was supposed to terminate only when an unsigned variable was less than zero. Ok, I might let that last one slide.

The point is that at my best I am forgetful and absent-minded. I lose or leave behind things I need; I drive, bike, and walk into oncoming traffic; I inadvertently eat whole packages of someone else's biscuits. But I suppose in the end, no matter how foolish I feel, my harebrained mistakes usually turn out just fine. I finished the homework, I became more confident with my own music, the Tuesday evening walk is my favorite part of the week, and I got to learn a little about debugging in Visual Studio 2005. And if nothing else, my lapses in memory and judgment make for good stories later on. Even if they never make Fenchurch want to kiss me while lying on the grass in the cool of another beautiful evening in Hyde Park.