God's Grace. And A New Perspective.

Last night I got so desperate that I e-mailed the Moose at 11.30pm to ask for an extension. I didn't have very high hopes though. I thought he'd turn me down immediately and refuse to mark my paper. So I prayed. And Jemalelinh and Nekoweenie prayed for me too. But this morning when I didn't see any reply, I thought it was all over. He wasn't even going to bother answering my inanely stupid request. So I just went over my material again, typed a bit and went to bake a cake for Felie's party tonight. Then at about 5.15pm, I opened my mailbox to confirm that the party was tonight and to look for a time (there wasn't... -_-") and behold! A reply from Moose. I took a deep breath... clicked.

I couldn't believe my eyes!!! He gave me the extension and he was REALLY nice about it! I was so shocked!! I thought that even if he gave me the extension he'd be nasty about it but he wasn't! He was really really nice!! Here's the e-mail exchange, starting with mine:

Dear Dr. S.,

First of all I want to apologise for e-mailing so late as I have been working desperately on the essay. However, to tell you the truth I have serious doubts about whether I can finish it in time, even if I were to hand in a hard copy by tomorrow morning. This is due to fault on my part entirely. Besides this paper, I had three other deadlines to meet which fell around the same time. Due to some very terrible time management, I ended up over-indulging in the first two papers and found myself pressed for time for the remaining ones.

I do not wish to hand in a sub-standard paper to you and therefore humbly ask if you would be kind enough to allow for a slight extension. I realize that the current situation is entirely my responsibility and will fully understand if you turn down my request or severely mark down my grade.

Thank you so much for your understanding and please accept my sincerest apologies.

Yours Sincerely
Van Su Mei
U02****N

The reply:

Van Su Mei,

If your paper is for me, not Professor Terada, I am happy to give you an extension without penalty to Monday (any time Monday). If you are not well or are very busy on Monday, I might consider waiting until Tuesday.

Dr S.

GOODNESS!!! Can you believe it??? This is the guy who's got an agenda against "abusers" of the English language and believes that all Singaporean students can't write proper English. God's grace is truly wonderful. Thank you Jemalelinh and Nekoweenie for praying for me. Your prayers and your friendship came through so clearly in my time of desperation. And I now have a totally new impression of the Moose! Maybe he's not just a stinking moose... Maybe like Nekoweenie suggests, he's a Fuzzy Furry Moose... (^_^)