There are times when my exam superstitions become blatantly impractical
I'm in the computer lab, I'm about to get into some study, but my feet have just landed on ... what is this? A footrest!
I swing down to have a look below the desk and, yes, it is a carpeted footrest! Oh what luxury! Glancing down the row, I surreptitiously check out the other feet: hmm, no rests for them.
Feelings of luck are now replaced with feelings of trepidation - why is this seat the only one with a footrest?
Perhaps this seat is especially reserved for a very short person of great importance ... Oh gosh, is this how people feel when they park in disabled car parks without displaying the required sticker? Jeepers!
I begin putting my books back in my bag - better leave before I get a ticket!As soon as I vacate the desk, another girl quickly settles herself there. I pause by the door. Why, she's even taller than me! I find another seat a few rows down, and begin to unpack again.
I stretch out my feet ... and I hit a footrest. Carpeted, just like the other one.
OK, this is ridiculous. I look around the entire room, searching for more footrests.
But there are only two. Am I drawn to the energy emitted by the aura of footrests? Should I take this as a sign? (Note to Katie: Rest your feet more.)
It certainly does make the experience of studying much more comfortable. I decide to embrace the footrest, and no-one tells me off.
I have been back to the computer lab many times since my discovery of the footrest, but I haven't had the chance to use it again. I miss it, and when I study in that room I feel disadvantaged if I don't have a footrest beneath my desk.
This made me think of all the "footrest situations" that plague my exam study at this time of year. For example, I feel quite lacking in a three-hour exam if I don't have a barley sugar with me.
But in reality, the three minutes I spend self-consciously unwrapping the sweet is probably more of a hindrance to exam performance than my declining blood-sugar levels.
But it's just one of those things.
There are times when my exam superstitions become blatantly impractical. Yesterday, I told myself that if I did two more reps of steps, today's exam would go well. The exam was fine.
However, the walk to the Tower lecture room (a long walk, for those who don't know it) was terribly painful, due to the post-step-rep protest of my legs.
After sitting uncomfortably for two hours (there are no footrests in Tower) my legs felt even worse. I have been lying on my maximally heated electric blanket all evening, hoping the muscle-healing effects will be similar to that of a warm bath.
No improvement noted so far; in fact, it's actually given me a bit of a headache. If I unload the dishwasher this morning, positive karma will deliver me favourable essay questions.
Yes, this is yet another footrest situation. My flatmates really encourage this superstition - funnily enough.
If this apple is crunchy (I told myself at lunchtime), the marker of my papers will be kind. Upon biting, I acknowledged that "crunchy" is a relative term. Yes, the apple was crunchier than a banana. It qualified.
Last night, I saw a black cat standing in the middle of the footpath. I froze. If he walks towards me, I thought, my results will be good. The cat scuttled sideways into a bush. Hmm. The ambiguity didn't satiate me.
I ran inside, grabbed a slice of salami, and went back out to call for the cat. Some people would say: what a waste of salami! Contrarily, I would argue, it was well invested. After all, it would be quite indolent to expect "Luck" to do all the work.
• Katie Kenny studies English at the University of Otago.
