For what it's worth, which is definitely not much, I once (but only once) dreamt that I had just been informed that I was about to sing the lead in an opera at La Scala. But they wouldn't tell me what the opera was, or let me see a score. (I hasten to assure you that this information wouldn't have helped much, but in the dream I seemed to feel that asking was appropriate.) And THEN, worse yet, they told me my thesis adviser (who loved opera) would be in the audience. I awoke trembling...
The "didn't study for the exam" scenario played out for me in real life, too, as did yours about the musical. In my junior year I was, um, taking this Chinese history course. Liked the first semester. Didn't like the second, and so only went to the first three classes (of 24) and didn't do any of the reading. The night before the exam I figured I had to do something about this problem. I decided that I should swot up on a likely topic for the Big Essay Question, which would carry the most weight. So for much of the night I read about the Boxer Rebellion. Unfortunately I'd forgotten that the Boxer Rebellion was one of the possible subjects offered for the mid-term take-home exam, and that the final would only address material covered since that time.
This was pointed out to me by a kind friend just before I left to take the thing. "Do you think you'll fail?", she asked. So hubristic was I in those days that the thought of failure had never entered my head. I mean, I didn't think I'd do well, but fail?? |
