Yawn.

What a whirlwind. I'm starting to think I enjoy stressing myself out. It seems lately that I'm cramming SO MUCH into one day, week, month... I'll just be glad when May 1 gets here because I really don't have anything lined up after that.

So here's a recap from the big test: I spent the night at mom and dad's house out in Arlington because the test was at UT Arlington. I woke up to the sound of the alarm clock that my parents purchased for me in 1980 so that I could wake up for kindergarten, my mom cooked me breakfast, and I drove to UTA using the same road I drove down to elementary school every single day of my life. Only this time, I wasn’t wearing a plaid skirt, I was driving the car loaded down with my suitcase of engineering textbooks, and I was blaring the Rolling Stones pretending to be Mick Jagger so that I wouldn't vomit from nerves. And yes, you read that correctly - I took a suitcase of books. From personal experience, if you want to feel like the most gigantic nerd ever, take your biggest suitcase, fill it full of books and roll it around in public. Go ahead - I dare you. One girl there had a dolly of books like she was moving to the Town of Dorkville. I was waiting for some guy to stroll in there with just a calculator, point at his head and say "It's all in here".

The exam went okay. One guy got kicked out of the exam before it started because his drivers license had expired. Ohmygod, after studying as much as I did, I would have had an aneurysm on the spot if that had happened to me. The girl behind me was freaking out before the exam started. She said "I've never wanted something so much in my entire life. I want to pass more than anything". Really? Because MegaMillions was $265 million last week and I wanted it just about as much as I want to pass this test. Maybe even a little more because that way I wouldn't have had to wake up at 5am on Friday morning and wheel around my bookmobile. I could have just rolled around in a big pile of money instead.

Anyway, I get my scores back online in 8 weeks so it'll be interesting to read this post again then. I thought the morning (breadth) section was so-so but the afternoon depth section (I took water resources) wasn't that bad. When we were being bussed back to the cars after the exam, a guy asked me how I did and I told him I didn't think it was that bad. At that moment, the entire bus turned around to look and me and for a second I thought they were going to turn on me and kill me. So I just shut up and hugged my luggage 'o textbooks. All in all, I feel more confident about this exam than I did coming out of the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam (the test I took 5 years ago so I could eventually take this test). I just can't believe it's all over... for now (reference above statement about re-reading this in 8 weeks).

Friday night was fun. Lee and I went to my favorite wine spot, Times Ten Cellars, and then for sushi at Blue Fish. I hadn't really gone out in 8 weeks so I needed to make up for that - all in one night apparently. On Saturday, I had a facial and a haircut and then tried to move some stuff to the new house, but all I wanted to do was sleep.

Lee and I moved our entire kitchen on Sunday and then went to the Mavs game. They won! The big move is this weekend... I'm going to make an attempt to publish my first pictures on my blog after we move in. Stay tuned!!

Impending Doom

I'm taking the Professional Engineering Exam this Friday, April 21, hence the title of today's blog. On second thought, that may not be the most optimistic name to give it. Maybe I should call today's blog "I'm Going To Make This Test My Bitch" or "The Easiest Exam of all Time" just to make myself feel better about it. I don't know what to say - on my best count, I've probably put about 150 hours into studying for this thing through classroom time and personal time. At least if I don't pass, it won't be because I didn't try. It will be because I'm stupid. Just kidding. If I don't pass, then I'll take it again in October, but I'm trying not to think about it that way. The hardest thing is that I won't get the results until late June. That gives me a full 6 weeks to wonder if the answer to #35 was B or C.

I did have a really nice surprise today - Katy and Leslie sent me flowers to wish me good luck. I was speechless!! What great friends they've been for 18 years. So great, in fact, I'm thinking about keeping them around another 18. I think they know I've been a little stressed lately. This morning I thought Trudie's kidneys were failing, so I had to drive home at lunch to make sure that my dog could still urinate. I put her on the ground and shoved a piece of paper under her so I could actually see the pee. Then I told her under no circumstances could she die this week. I'm pretty sure they medicate people for behavior like this.

And poor Lee - his birthday is the day before the exam. I think we're going to celebrate on Friday night instead. Happy Birthday, Honey!!

Well, wish me luck - I'll be back with a full report soon. Maybe next time I write, we'll be in our new house.