Lost Opportunity

Well, hello there friends! It's a bright and shiny September morning in the Ozarks. There's laundry and housework to be done, and homework of course. There's one week to go before I face the dreaded dragon of the GRE (graduate record exam) in Springfield. And there's the depressing knowledge that one of my favorite living poets, Billy Collins, will be in Springfield at the Missouri Literary Festival, reading his work while I am doing battle on that test! I would reschedule, except it would cost me dearly. It's wrong, I tell you. Wrong!

How do you console yourself when you can't do something you really, really want to do because of a prior commitment? Any tips?