And that's what you call "ironic"

I took a quiz online today in which I was required to look at a world map--a rather small and squishy one, I might add--and type in every country in the world by memory (there are 195 countries, in case you are wondering). No, it wasn't for a class.

*Cough.*

Yes, yes, this is what I do for fun.

(Addendum: This is what I do for fun aside from practicing, of course.)

And so.

I began. Though not required to do so, I decided to name the countries by order of continent, so as to be sure not to miss any.

I started with North America. With no trouble, I soon named all 23 countries.

On to South America, the easiest continent of all, with only 12 countries.

Then Europe. It took some thinking, but I got all those, too.

Next up: Asia. 44 countries later, I needed only two more. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what I was missing.

So, glancing at the ticking timer (the allotted time of 15 minutes goes by quickly), I moved on to Africa. Piece of cheese--all 53 countries in the bag.

Australia (which includes Oceania). Typing away furiously, I named those islands off like they were my own children.

I then looked at my country count: 193/195--perfect, but for those two illusive Asian countries. I racked my brains. I searched. I puzzled. I hmmmed and hawed. All the obvious ones were there--China, Russia, Japan, North and South Korea, India. And all the not-so-obvious ones were there, too--Bhutan, Brunei, Timor-Leste, Azerbaijan, Qatar.

WHAT was I missing?

With baited breath, I watched my last few seconds slip away and then the two countries I had missed appeared in red.

Iran and Iraq.

IRAN. and. IRAQ.

Uggggggg. Here goes again...

If you also would like to conquer the world:
http://www.sporcle.com/games/world.php