god, what a week. the test yesterday seemed almost anticlimactic in comparison to the rest of this past week. studying for the test was only a part of all the drama, and i will grant that not all the drama was bad. but good and bad, it wasn't the best time for most of it.

that test is the major reason i haven't been around much lately. i popped online to check mail, keep an eye on boards, and do research for the study guide, but i wasn't on as much as usual and definitely wasn't as social as normal. i was reading 1 1/2 to 2 books a night, not getting much sleep, and eating even less. i was trying to keep as focused as possible so i can pass this damn thing. of course, it couldn't be that easy, now could it?

first, my dsl was disconnected. i knew i had to pay and was planning to pay it the day they disconnected me, which was a day earlier than their little notice said it would be. now, i needed my dsl so i could go to wikipedia and use google to research anything i didn't have immediate, easy-to-access info on for the test, so you can imagine how freaked i got when when i was shut down at 6pm on thursday and not back up in 30 or 40 minutes. i spent 2 or 3 hours thursday trying to deal with the mess - i paid the bill and was bounced around the phone system 3 times trying to get reconnected. i was told it would be back up within 4 hours. at 11pm, i still had no dsl. i call tech support like i was told to, and am told that the billing department / customer service - who are now closed - have to take care of it. friday i call and am told it will now take three days to get reconnected because they didn't disconnect me with any leeway - they closed the account. a few hours later, a supervisor gets a hold of me and i spend another 2 or 3 hours trying to get things resolved. obviously it did all resolve, or i wouldn't be posting here, but i am more than a little angry that the disconnection was earlier than they told me it would be. perhaps that's why it didn't take 3 days to get it all hooked back up.

which leads me to an only semi-related question about a rather annoying fact of the whole shut off/hookup process: why does it take utility companies just a flip of a switch to shut you off, but days to get you hooked back up? and why can they shut you off without coming anywhere near your house, but half the time they need to enter to get everything back on?

anyway, in the midst of all this test studying/reading and dsl madness, kitten calls with her drama: dad is cutting yet another week off of her visit because he can't afford the tickets for next weekend. now, i told her she was going to have to deal with it, but, of course, that didn't mean it was any less on my mind. the girl needs to work on her timing, because i certainly didn't need that kind of distraction. i did manage to give them some ideas yesterday afternoon about how to get this handled, but either kitten chose not to tell her father about them, or linnorm chose to ignore me yet again. and, of course, the whole thing comes down to his idiotic mishandling of his money, yet again. the man is almost always overdrawn at least $100, and often over $300, just before he deposits every single check. he pays outrageous amounts on bounce fees every month.

i had hoped that having one of his children in the house that he was responsible to care for would help him decide to get his finances under control, but nope. i guess he just doesn't want to. he whines and complains he has no money and needs to take a second job, but it won't help. he no longer has a $4-500 car payment and that money got absorbed into his mismanagement. i realize saxy and i aren't angels in this area, but i swear he makes us look like saints. and he knew this trip was coming, that he'd have to pay part of the plane ticket, and that a pet was going along as well. most people with common sense would plan for this. not him, same old spending habits, same old problems. hell, the man owed me $80 on child support and i've had to let him use it so we can get her cat out here rather than having him or his brother force her to give it up for adoption.

yes, i'm more than a bit irritated about this. the man is homing in on 50 and, at this rate, will need to have his children support him because he can't manage his money enough to even make sure he's covered for retirement. hell, if he managed to get his money under control and tucked all the money he pays for nsf fees into a savings account, he'd probably be taken care of when it's time to retire! and i'm furious that my one month visit has now become 10 days. he complains he doesn't like only having a week with the kids, but, really, who's fault is that? save money for the damn tickets and hotel, split the vacation time up, and walla! more than a week! he makes something like $18/hour, works full time and double shifts, and has less people to support, and he has help with his rent and utilities. stop the damn whining and dependency and do what you need to do!

*deep breath*

the test itself wasn't nearly as big a deal as i thought it was going to be. now, i could be totally wrong, my perceptions could have been completely skewed/off, but that test seemed way too easy. i even managed to finish the multiple choice section with enough time to write decent answers on both essays. some of the questions were way easy (what genre is lord of the rings?), but most of them weren't quite that simple. even so, there were only 2 or 3 i really stumbled on - one i checked and i know i got right, one having to do with poetry that i have no idea if i got it right, and another dealing with an adverb clause. all the other questions, i answered pretty quickly and fairly automatically (not quite the right word, but most people have taken tests and probably have an idea of what i mean). now, this means either it was a lot easier than i expected and i did really well, or i misread a whole bunch of stuff and tanked it. we'll know after july 16 sometime.

which brings me to one piece of good drama: resolution of the timing issue. no, i haven't yet been offered a job. i turned my resume into only one school, and i think they have to wait for my pII scores before they can offer me anything. however, i met mcat's new lady, and she happened to have the email of the person responsible for hiring in my county. i contacted him with the problem and he gave a rather interesting response. apparently, there's another option that gives you a 5 year nonrenewable certificate when you pass the pII. so if i pass the pII, i can then be offered a job, work this year, and enter tapp next year with plenty of time left on my certificate. the relief is almost overwhelming. i have more time than i thought i did to get my educational stuff done so i can change the nonrenewable into a renewable.

and in a different kind of drama, saxy took the kids and i out to see revenge of the sith yesterday. my feelings about it are somewhat mixed - there were problems with it, but it was good enough to make you overlook them for the most part. which means for the average viewer (one who hasn't been "ruined" by literary analyses classes - i miss the days when i could sit and just watch a movie) it's absolutely fantastic. but what i was really blown away by were two of the movie previews. the new harry potter movie looks as fantastic as always, even though the glance was brief. but even more fantastic was the narnia: the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe preview. holy freaking cow! it seriously looks like they did a fantastic job with it - i mean, heck, i was almosty crying from the damn preview! i am sooooo looking forward to taking the kids to see it this winter.

2 movies this winter - right when saxy and i both have down time in our jobs. now there's going to be some drama!