Marks.

I finally got my mark for my first paper.  I got a 54, which is a C.  This is chastening for a couple of different reasons.  First off, it's far too close to the pass/fail cutoff for my comfort.  I wasn't expecting a brilliant mark, but I was expecting to pass a bit more comfortably than I did.  Second, the comments I received were essentially the comments I would have given myself if I were grading myself very harshly.  This is comforting in the sense that there weren't any big surprises in the comments section...but also alarming, because I've realized that any areas for improvement that I think exist, the graders will think exist too.  For example, I waited longer than I should have to find an article to write about for this assignment, and ended up with one which...well, I wanted to throw it out and start over, but by then the due date was two days away, so I had to made it work as best I could and hoped for the best.  And the grader totally picked up on that.  So in the future, I really need to be at the top of my game, and if I think something needs fixing, FIX IT.  And leave enough time to fix it.  I am a terrible procrastinator, so this is going to be a challenge, but it's one I need to rise to.

Cheers, y'all.