The Epic Of The English Olympiad

(Pictured Above: Artist's depiction of the decipherability of my grammar)

 Today I just participated in the county stage of the English Olympiad (And I completely fluked it but don't tell anybody pls). Of course, this statement has a very deep backstory that I have to elaborate on:

 You might believe - Or, alternatively, entirely be skeptical that - I'm really good at English for a foreigner my age. You might be right.

 What's certain, however, is that I knew English well enough to get qualified in my country's English Olympiad. If you don't know what an Olympiad is, it's sorta like this except that the English Olympiad is less about science and more about eligibility for getting a job that pays only a sixth of the US minimum wage over here.*

 The Olympiad is separated into multiple stages: School, Locality, County and the National stage (I'm not aware/informed about an international).

 Prior to participating in this Olympiad, almost exactly a year ago as of writing this, I've taken a Cambridge English Advanced exam, got a 204 score out of a maximum of 210, which gave me a C2-level certificate, all of this when I was just 13**.

 Fast forward to 9th grade, when our English teacher (which also happens to be our form teacher) asks the class who is willing to sign up for the English Olympiad. I'm one of the volunteers, and when the results come in I'm the only guy that's advanced to the next (locality) stage***.

 School goes as usual for the following weeks until my teacher pardons me for ~2 weeks****. Instead of going to classes like usual, I and two other kids spent the day in the school library doing whatever we were assigned by the teacher and skimming over a book or two during pauses.

 The examination occurs and I as well as one of the other kids I studied with advance to the County stage (This country is divided in counties btw). Again, everything goes on as usual until the last two weeks when I and the other guy get pardoned from our classes and proceed as usual.

 Problem is, I'm a really unmotivated, lazy f*** (Possibly due to depression*****), and while my teacher overlooked my lack of satisfying work the first time we had these training sessions, I was really getting on her nerves this time. Tbf, I've been a pain to her more often than not, she's even had a relative die recently, so I can't judge her. Anyways, she's angry and warns me that she'll make me regret it if I soil her reputation by not advancing (Again, I find her justified here, so I'm not particularly outraged about this).

 Today came the examination, and while I can't say I've butchered the thing, I'm 100% sure I'm not going to get the 9.50/10 required to get to the nationals. While my teacher probably won't do anything too rough to me I still feel slightly guilty about this, since, C2 and all, I was a pretty promising kid and my sloth/depression has not only destroyed another person's hopes but also put an emotional strain on them; Which only further serves to prove that I'm a worthless subhuman that's a net loss for society at the end of the day.

 Slightly related: When the testing was over, I decided to hang out with the other participant from my school for a while. We talked about some things, (Happened to find out that the only store that sold decent board games closed down recently, not that I had anybody to play them with anyways) and now I think I finally have a friend for the first time in half a year. Feels good man.

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* - That job's name? English teacher. The starting pay for a teacher is around $2/hour here. But, prices are also lower here, so this isn't as nightmarish as you might imagine.

** - You are probably calling bull**** on this, and I don't blame you; Because I can't provide you with photographic evidence (translated: can't take photos), you are 100% in the logical right here. You'll have to listen and believe with a lot of stuff here.

*** - Listen and believe, fam. Listen and believe.

**** - It's been about two months ago and I have the memory of an Alzheimer's patient, you'll have to excuse me for any current and future inaccurate details.

***** - It has not yet been made apparent in this blog, but I'm a depressing mother****er, trust me.