obstruction and justice

studying for another test was going to be completely fruitless (by which i mean: i was simply going to skip it). until i came up with a fantastic plan for going about such. it was the best concoction i had had in more than two weeks. in fact, so exquisitely brilliant was its combination of subtle humility and OTT arrogance that it could not not be carried out.

we had been told that the final section of the exam would entail the writing of 5 sentences with at least 6 words each (in the cyrillic "we" had "just" "learned"). that this information was provided ahead of time gave us the (purported, intended, untaken on most fronts (i would discover later), even those in which it perhaps ought to have been seized)) chance to work on said sentences as a part of preparing. i had no intention of memorising my own words—but those of another and, moreover, one by the surname of Andrić? well, that was a different story....

5x6 sounded like a minimum of 30 words to me; the opening lines of Na Drini ćuprija came to much more than that: many harrowed by water erosion into great specificity, many with Turkish etymologies. which is to say: not found in the glossary in the back of the Magner textbook.

after several unequivocally meaningful (and of an arguable reversal) hours, i entertained the notion of asking permission. (wretched the turning of thought that, if it turned not, would forge from itself sheer hubris—but, doing the full turning, turns into much worse than its being avoided!) to be fair, i did not really ask, but only mentioned that i would be writing 2 (instead of 5) sentences, and i hoped that this would satisfy the requirements, &tc. of course, i did not cast the plan out in fullness beyond this idiotic legalism.

by the time i received an answer back late that night, i could spin the passage backwards and forwards—and was demonstrating this remarkable verbal stunt to my own unmitigated delight. the verdict contained in it, however, left my (Andrić's) words hanging where they had been flung.

narrowness of thought, even—and, in fact, especially—in a "test situation" (as did the rationale go) is full to its shallow brim of staggering woe.

the next morning, i scrawled those sentences in dark angular script on the exam's last page, covering up faint traces, on the opposite side, of my other 5 (in which Nada and Miroslav, their hoping to needing to shave (both themselves and their little, slightly identity-crisised dog, Psom) figured prominently and in 6-word installments)). bravado needn't be so noisy.