i had friday, 1/20 off (test day) so i made hotel reservations for thursday night. the plan was to go to work thursday, drive home, take care of the cats, pill..feed...leave light on and stereo for them. drop off my work junk and grab my knapsack (packed the night before) with directions, books, pj's and toiletries. gas up the car and drive back in the direction of work by 7pm so that i would be at the hotel by 9pm, rest, shower, eat, and do a little light studying. suffice it to say:
1. work was awful and i actually had to tell my boss i needed to leave precisely at 5 pm. somehow, this new workplace thinks i A)don't have a life outside of work B)enjoy hanging out after work to help without getting paid
C)have a lot of nerve asking to leave on time...
2. i practically had to run out of there. the computers were down, deadlines were beginning to get annoying, and i had other things like (the big test) on my mind.
3. traffic was a nightmare. driving in the dark to a city i've never been to on I-76 or (the american autobahn)was extremely stressful that i ended up getting lost in harrisburg for about an hour and 30 minutes. had to stop 3 times to get directions to the hotel. by the time i checked in, it was about 10:30, i hadn't eaten and there was no food to be had at the hotel. when i inquired about food, i was handed a map!
4. so, all i had to eat for dinner was a poptart, an orange and some water.
5. i took a shower, got comfy, and hauled out the books.
6. intent to stay calm and positive, i proceeded to go over notes as if they were just reading material.
7. i ended up going to bed at 12:30 am, and couldn't sleep very well due to nerves and not knowing how to get to the campus... so i got up at 4:30, showered, checked out of the hotel, and got my directions from the hotel to the testing site.
8. couldn't find the testing site. stopped a few times and finally found someone that a. spoke english b. could actually help me. i found the test site and went off in search of breakfast. NEVER EVER GET GAS STATION COFFEE.
NERVES + a bad blueberry muffin + coffee = a bad case of the runs.
9. parked my car in the lot, grabbed my notes, went over them in vain. gave up, walked to the testing site and tried to steer clear of the chattering mob. i hate moments before a test because, even though all of the noise is really nervous tension, it still freaks me out and messes my mojo.
10. checked in for the test, and used up all 4 hours. it's a blur now. i can't bring myself to look at notes or tech books. drove home in a blur, tired, wired, stressed out and when i finally got home...i cried my eyes out.
i don't think i passed and it kills me to think that i might have to take it over and that i'm just that much farther from a career working to help some of the best beings on this planet (animals).
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still volunteering at the animal shelter. i like the people, i love the animals and it'll just have to do for now.
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i wait 6 weeks from test date. they mail out the results. 8 weeks the results, are sent to the school? not sure. all i know is that i have another month to get through before i get any info.
ps. just to make it clear, the new job is still a gazillion times better than the old job. it's mostly annoying but not so stressful it'd drive me to the shrink.