29 cents

I swung by Barnes and Noble this evening to pick up the Princeton Review for AP Calc. After locating the book, I took it up to the register. The guy scanned it in and said it's be twenty-dollars and twenty-nine cents.

I had a ten and two fives. I was 29 cents short of paying for the book. So I tell him, "I'm 29 cents short, so I'm going to run out to the car to grab some change."

He replies, "You know what, don't worry about it."

He then reaches into his pocket, pulls out a one dollar bill, and throws it in with my 20. My receipt indicates that I paid 21 dollars for a book that cost $20.29. He figured the change, and put it back in the pocket.

I thanked him a few times, and he was very gracious about it. He pocketed his change, and I was walking off he says, "Good luck with your test."

This is important to me. It proves that there are good people out there. Twenty-nine cents wasn't a big deal to either of us standing at that register. It was more or less inconsequential. But he was a really nice guy, and he decided to sacrifice a bit of himself to help me out. He'd never met me before, and there's a really good chance that he'll never ever meet me again. I didn't catch his name, and he didn't catch mine. All I really know is that he worked at the sandy Barnes and Noble on Monday night, April 7.

I know it's stupid, but it makes me want to pass this test even more. All of the sudden, there's one more person that's invested in the score I get. Kaelin has put in a ton of work on me. I've put in work, the guys from Davis put in work, Kyle's put in work, Melissa's put in work. There are lots of us that have put something into this test.

But now there's one more guy. He tossed his 29 cents into the ring, saying to the world, "I've never met this kid, but I believe in him."

I dunno. It's a big deal to me. It makes me want to go out and help people. It makes me want to five this test.

I was given a micro-loan today. I doubt I'll ever meet this guy to pay him back monetarily. But I'm going to do my best to ensure that his 29 cent investment is not wasted.

Fiving the BC calc test is a feat that will rival last year's fiving of the chemistry test. It's entirely possible, but I'm on a super time crunch. I have to bust it in order to make it happen.

I'm going to do it. I will five the BC test. Academically speaking, that's what matters to me right now. It's going to start taking top priority in my schooling. I've got someone counting on me.