Testing Room as Dark as a Dungeon

Yesterday, I took the Graduate Record Examination. I'm not fond of standardized tests (I don't think I've met anyone who is particularly fond of them.) and was dreading it. Though the study guides and testimonials of people who have and haven't taken the test assured me it was easy, my nervousness wasn't assuaged. During the actual test, I wasn't nervous at all; I was resigned.

It was an interesting experience. Nervous, I arrived forty minutes early. You have to write a confidentiality agreement before you take the test. My dyslexia flared up, and I paniced because I kept misreading words and my tendency to misread had been the main reason I missed question on the practice sets that I'd taken. However, I got my nerves under control and didn't have a problem during that test.

The test took place in a backroom with no lights or view of outside. Since I forewent my breaks, I had no idea what time it was since I hadn't glanced at the clock as I went in. I signed out at 3:18p so it took about three hours to take the test. You cannot take anything into the testing area so my phone, wallet, keys, book, and pencils were put into a locker. I had only a locker key and my drivers license (I suppose this is so if the building where bombed, they could identify my body, but I don't want to believe that anyone's last moments were ever spent taking the GRE). I was also warned that if I wanted to remove my hoodie, I would be required to leave the testing area.

So it's over and done, and I got good scores considering the amount of time I actually spent studying for the thing. Initially, I was upset with my nonspectacular scores, but I'm content with them now. When I was in grade school and high school, comparable tests held a lot of importance to me. Though the results of many of the tests didn't have any bearing in the real world, it was imperative to me that I excelled.

In celebration, I went over to my Aunt Mary's house to watch Australia. John Paul and I went through a bottle of Merlot, and I was able to spend time with my infant first cousin once removed. She was born last November 4th so the political event on her birthday totally trumps that of my own. (Walter Mondale named Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate on my birthday.) She's learned to roll and is experimenting with crawling. From her reaction to the film, we surmised that she either likes animal noises or Hugh Jackman.

Aunt Mary and I really enjoyed the film. I'm not sure that John Paul liked it as much as we did. It's a very postmodern take on epic cinema that I really enjoyed. It's a sprawling, romantic epic, and I'm a sucker for things like that. Just as I did with Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India, and several other epics, I was swept up into the story and cried. I know that the reviews weren't the greatest so I'm not looking up anything. I'm just going to be happy that I saw it and assume that the naysayers are wrong.

Right before I wrote this, I watched John Ford's The Searchers, and I've been listening to Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison while I've been writing. Thus, I would like to observe that John Wayne and Johnny Cash share a certain vocal quality. I'd never realized.