Why is my life so much like a comic strip?

God bless you, Jorge Cham, and you're brilliant comic: www.phdcomics.com
Results:
Macro I : Marginal Pass (almost a strong pass)
Macro II: Marginal Fail (almost a marginal pass)
Micro I: Marginal Pass (go me).
Micro II: Fail (boo to me).
So this is not that surprising really, except that I did not pass the Macro. In fact one of the prof's told me that if I had made the same score in summer, I would pass. Which begs the question: why the hell am I taking it again if I did well enough to pass, even just barely?
"Well, we feel that in the case of May qualifiers, they have a good chance to review and reinforce for June."

... dang it.

I did well on the Micro I, and my prof said that I showed very good improvement. There were still a few issues I had (mainly with the short answer questions) but that he was pleased with my work. My Micro II professor believes that I freaked out due to the final (do we think maybe this has to do with his impossible tests?), focused mostly only Micro I, and neglected (at least did not put the right amount of time into) the Micro II. He also thinks that I tried to answer the wrong questions given the comparison of the final to the qualifier (suggestin I would have done better on the questions I chose to not answer). Well... I thought I'd picked the ones I knew, but okay.

So no one is telling me, "look for other work" at this point. I just got the short end of the stick. Ran into a fellow student who passed the Micro and failed the Macro. So I'm not too alone.

I'm a bit disappointed in my performance. I look back and think "if only I'd studied harder first semester and earlier in the second" but then it also took me that long to really figure out how to study well. And this is not to say I was slacking in the first or second semester. I just didn't find the right rhythm until later on. Jumping from a four year undergraduate to a PhD program is a very frustrating experience. I almost wonder if I should have stayed at KU for two more years to get the MA, and take a few higher level math courses to boot. But so much has happened this year, that I really can't imagine this year turning out any better than it has. Really, this has been one of the best years of my life (does anything beat out the year between being 6 and 7? The world is your oyster, puberty hasn't ravaged your face and voice, school is easy, and the only relationship troubles you have are apologizing to the teacher for making a girl in class scream by showing her a weird bug? ... a good question).

At least now I am moved in. Tomorrow I start studying. Monday I will go to Juarez (until Saturday) because I'm about to go nuts with not seeing the ardilla. In July my sister gets marries, then two weeks later I retake these stupid tests.

My metrics teacher told me in the bathroom, "I'm sorry to hear it, but really this is a blessing in disguise. You'll get a reinforcement that few of your classmates get, and you'll be very ready for the next semester when you pass."
... tell that to the very cute Mexican girl waiting for me in Juarez.

On a last note, I'm honestly relieved. Instead of sitting on my thumbs like a jackass (or sitting on my hooves then?) and waiting for the outcome, I now know what I have to do, I have a plan, and it's time to execute it. That is always better than sitting in a world of uncertainty.