Tag: bar exam

It was a little disappointing this time around, mostly because I didn’t have any big plans. No hanging out at a bar with classmates, no friend playing a concert at a local club, no booty trap—nothing. I just drove home. Poop.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t nothing. When I got in the door, I plugged in my cell phone so it wouldn’t die when I launched my evil plan: call some of the guys from California and start harassing them. I checked my e-mail and surfed around a couple random pages to waste some time, then grabbed the phone so I could taunt Chuck. “You’re still studying and I’m not! BWAH-HA-HA-HA!!!”

Alas, t’was not to be. And I can’t imagine how nutty I must have sounded when he checked his voice mail, but given that he hasn’t called me back… maybe he figured they sent me straight to the loony bin after I finished the exam, but gave me one final phone call that I wasted on him. But like I said, he hasn’t called me back. (So this is what it feels like when a guy dumps you…)

Next phone call: Scarlet. She sounded a little upset that I called Chuck before her, but when I explained that he was still studying for… I don’t remember what exam it is—it’s not the boards, but it’s important for him to do well if he wants to get into a decent program versus Billy Joe Bob’s “What’s This Sharp Thing Do? …Ow!” University. Anyway, she understood. We talked for about half an hour, after which I was feeling relatively sane again. The urge to give people a ring, cackle into the phone and hang up again was gone. For the time being.

Once again, I called Justin to find out whether he had plans for dinner. Once again, he told me he did. (Once again, I remembered he told me about said plans before, but I’d forgotten. I get the feeling my mind was occupied by something else when he did, but I can’t imagine why…) He was helping his friend Dale (and his wife whose name I can’t recall) pack up all the crap in their house so they could move out by Friday. And once again, he mentioned that I’d probably get dinner if I helped them as well.

Well, who could turn down an offer like that? I ended up heading over there, helped squeeze some big-ass leather sofas through a not-so-big-ass door—I imagine the process would have been a little easier if they hadn’t already packed the Astroglide—and carried a couple boxes into the truck. And I helped keep the dog occupied. And I helped lighten up the kitchen counter by eating a couple pieces of the pizza that was on there. It didn’t feel like a whole lot of work (especially the eating part), but given that I was still a bit out of it from the exam and everything else… they still appreciated the help.

But this was the quality moment of the evening. Dale’s neighbor was helping them move and I don’t recall what brought it up, but Dale told him he was in the presence of someone famous. He looked at Dale, then Dale’s wife, then me—I raised my bottle of Gatorade towards him (“Yep, it was me”). There was a blank expression on his face. “Did you ever watch Beauty and the Geek?” “Yeah, a couple times.” I raised my bottle of Gatorade towards him again. It took a few moments before his eyes lit up. “Oh yeah! I didn’t recognize you!” That might explain why I haven’t had to worry about stalkers around here—I’m incognito even when I’m cognito… I don’t need a disguise when no one realizes it’s me to begin with.

I was still feeling a tad sleepy on the drive home (I never nodded off, but there were a few points when I started drifting towards the middle of the road). I got back, turned on the TV and watched The Tonight Show for a while—I would have gone to bed right away, but I wanted to wait for a little while before taking my night dose of my meds.

Perhaps that was for the best since I was still sitting there when Mom called home to ask how I did. I told her I thought it went better than last time, then told her about how I was falling asleep during the afternoon session. She proceeded to insist that I was tired because I hadn’t developed a proper sleep schedule for the exam and she didn’t drop the issue right away—it was the closest I’ve ever come to hanging up on my mother.

But she was sure I did fine and loves me very much and I was kinda fading in and out of the rest of the conversation. When we finished talking, I dragged myself out of the recliner, did a menial job of brushing my teeth without toothpaste, threw down my drugs, got into bed and didn’t bother setting my alarm. That was probably for the best since I woke up eleven hours later, fell back asleep and was woken up by my phone over an hour after that. I think that made it official: I was really tired.

Since getting up, I talked to Brent (older brother) and I’ll be heading over to his place on Saturday to have lunch, watch Constantine and get back all the movies he’s borrowed from me recently. The phone call was from the publicist at the WB—I’m getting interviewed by someone from the local paper on Monday. (Why the hell do these people want to talk to me now when the show ended a month ago?!) I also walked the dog, gave two kids a swim test for the Scout camp that’s next week, watched a pair of movies and wrote these last two blog entries. (Only walked the dog once, though—so much for a theme…) As for the rest of the week… hey, I bet Chuck is still studying for his exam! BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!

I was pretending to be responsible (which is a hard job, believe me…). I got into bed at a semi-decent hour so I could sleep for six hours. The problem? I didn’t sleep for six hours.

I’m blaming it on the caffeine. I had a Mountain Dew with my dinner and opted to drink another at some point that evening, which must have been a little too close to bedtime. Whatever the reason, I woke up multiple times before finally getting out of bed when the alarm went off. (At least I remembered I was still in Minnesota this time around…) I went down to The Liffey for breakfast again, had some orange juice and maybe half a glass of water with my food, then headed back over to RiverCentre for a day of 200 multiple choice questions.

Things started a little slow, but I got in the zone and I was in no hurry working against the clock—I ended up getting out of the room about twenty minutes before the session ended. I went to get my lunch of out of the bag check, then went across the street to enjoy the weather while I finished up the other half of my Subway sub (which wasn’t wet and soggy after almost two days in the fridge! Yay!).

That’s when I hit the wall. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but when I get really warm and really dehydrated, I get really tired. Given that most of the liquid I’d consumed up to that point was one quart of water I brought from home, two glasses of juice, a couple cans of pop and little sips of water here and there… I can’t imagine why I’d feel dried up. Why not more water while I was there? It’s because we’ve got a well at home and the city water tastes extremely nasty in comparison.

I was tempted to take a nap outside, but I didn’t think anyone would wake me up and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t do it on my own. I eventually got back inside, sat down to wait for the doors to open up again and immediately started doing ye olde tired head bob. When I finally plopped down in my chair, we had fifteen minutes left before the clock started again and that was all I needed to conk out.

The same went for taking the exam—I was falling asleep for part of the time. If we’d been using pens instead of pencils, I wouldn’t have been able to erase all the little lines drawn in random areas on the page from those moments when I was nodding off… Still, I finished the final 100 questions of the day with about fifteen minutes to go, left the building and didn’t feel nearly as thrilled as I did the last time I escaped from the clutches of the legal nightmare known as the bar exam. I guess I was a little grumpy after waking up in the middle of the afternoon like that…

Don’t jump on my back—I set my alarm last night so I’d get six hours of sleep. Since then… you’ll have to wait ’til tomorrow for me to write about “Day 2, Take 2.” In the meantime, I hear a nice, cozy bed downstairs calling my name. (Maybe that’s why I didn’t sleep well last night—I’m used to hearing voices coming out of the mattress…)