Not so Scary After All

I am officially done with midterms! Hooray! I spent basically the entire weekend studying for my human variability midterm and psyching myself up for how hard it was going to be. I only spent an hour or two yesterday afternoon on the material for my urban planning midterm, but that was alright. And the scary midterm turned out to be not so scary after all. Compared to how hard I thought it was going to be, I positively breezed through it! What really caught me by surprise, though, was that some of the questions (the multiple choice options) were actually funny! I guess I didn't know she had it in her not to be serious and hard-nosed. It was a pleasant surprise. My favorite question on the exam went something like this:

You meet a human-like being with short stature and large, furry feet with well-groomed nails. Reflecting on what you know of genetics and human variability, you conclude that:
a. This phenotype results from sexual selection for giving one's mate a good back scratch
b. This phenotype results from a breeding isolate
c. I must be in Middle Earth!
d. This phenotype results from selection for the ability to climb rough mountainous terrain in cold weather
e. Any of the above

She actually had to announce to the class that this question was a joke, and that we were supposed to answer (e). I think she was a little embarrassed. :P There were several other answer options for other questions on the test that made me chuckle, but that was the best one. And all in all, I think I did pretty well. I was amazed; I actually came out of that exam feeling energized rather than drained, because it was so much easier than I had expected. Yay!

There wasn't anything particularly interesting or exciting about my urban planning midterm, but I'm glad that one's over as well. And now, on to the next task at hand - a bibliography of at least 25 sources, 8 of which must be annotated, for my hunter-gatherer paper on curated technology. Fortunately, he's pushed the due date from Thursday to Tuesday, so I have a bit more time. Another yay! I like today. :)