I wanted to write today, but I didn't know what I wanted to write about. I don't really like searching and searching for something to inspire me because it feels forced, and usually I just Stumble until an image, or a story, or a quote inspires me.

I found the image below today:

I can't tell you how many times I've done the same thing in elementary and middle school. I was a good student and I studied hard, but sometimes you just bomb a test. And when you know you bomb a test before it's even finished, you kind of give up.

But I had my little ways of trying to score brownie points with the teacher, and crossing my fingers that she'd give me a couple bonus points for creativity. I knew I was a good illustrator, and that I had artistic talent, so I used that to my advantage and drew all these amazing little pictures at the end of every bombed test. Sometimes I'd even spend more time on the illustrations than the actual test.

A lot of the time I'd incorporate little notes like the one above about how much I really tried and did my best, but I hoped that my little drawing was good enough for an extra point or two. At the very least, I was pulling some heavy psychological manipulation on my teachers when I was only 7 or 8 because I'd guilt trip them sometimes into passing me.

Granted, sometimes it didn't work, but those times were extremely rare because I was just THAT kind of a good student. I had my ways, lol.

The last time I can remember doodling on a test to that extent was actually during my AP English exam my senior year of high school. For anyone who's taken an AP class, you know the intensity of not only the class but of the exam as well. And for those of you that don't, AP stands for Advanced Placement and these are master's level college courses offered in high school. If you pass the exam at the end, depending on your score from 1-5, you can receive up to 6 college credits.

The exams cost about $80 each at the time, and since I knew for a good while that I was going to bomb this test but that my parents had paid for it, I didn't really care about my score. I wrote the essays and answered the questions in my booklet, but then proceeded to doodle and render these complex drawings on the unused pages for about 2 hours out of the 3 total hours I had to take the test.

My doodles weren't to sway the college professors and the AP board into giving me a better score, or to take sympathy on me, but it was honestly because I was bored and had a pencil in my hand for 3 hours. I wrote a note that time as well, but more along the lines of what I thought of the English literary system at the time mixed with a little personal opinion on the political arena. In a way it was practice for my following AP exam on American History the next day.

I think it's funny that one image done by an elementary student randomly posted and found online can bring back all of those memories. I'm sure there are more of you out there that have done the same, and there's no shame in it. We're always going to encourage you to doodle no matter where you are or what you're doing.

As always,
Draw.