la_belle_laide | The bridal of the earth and sky (And my clinic entrance exam, too.) (Reply)

This morning I took my clinic entrance exam, which I'd stressed about for months. I got out of bed at like ass o'clock AM and got there at 8:30 to sign in, as instructed. However, none of the proctors showed up until 9, and we didn't begin the test till 9:15 or so. I was done at 9:45 and home by 10.

The test itself was pomegranate pie, seriously. There were some questions where I was 50/50 (maybe ten out of the 100) but most of them were first-year stuff, some were common sense, and some were just stupid. ("You can massage over a broken bone, T/F?" Umm, let me think about that one for a second.) All of my stress and worry was for nothing, but I was glad that I had reviewed some of the early stuff, like neuro and myo1 etc.

What else is today? It's the day that the editors at the OWW put up their editors' choices and critique them. I'm waiting with everything clenched, seriously. I'm more freaked about this than I ever was about clinic entrance. I've heard from other writers that the editors only choose ones that they like, but what if mine is the exception? What if there's something so wrong with it that they had to point it out as an example? I know; that's crazy talk, because they've never done that sort of thing. I've read all the other editors' choice reviews and critiques, and most of them are like, "Yeah, I chose this because I like it, and here's what can be improved to raise the chances of nabbing an agent / book deal" kind of thing. Which, wow, is so totally what I want more than I want a grilled cheese sandwich right now. I love a meaty critique. They rock my world and inspire me to get better. Yet still I'm sitting here refreshing the page while my palms sweat.

And what else is today? Why, it's the Spring equinox. And it couldn't be more gorgeous out there. It's seriously almost seventy degrees with a salty, breezy tradewind between the north and south shores. I did a little grocery shopping today, then took the dogs out for about a half an hour just before and played with them and brushed them down. Later on I'm going to go for a jog, and then have a soak in the tub since I am off work tomorrow. And if you're wondering how those two connect, having a soak and being off work, it's because I like to put some herbalicious oils in my hair to condition it, and leave it till the next day. So, I only do that when I don't have to be anywhere.

Oh, hilariously, the Jesus people came to my house today as I was coming home from shopping. They were heading to the front door and I pointed out the already-obvious "BEWARE OF DOG" sign and asked them to please not open the front door. One of them handed me a Jesus pamphlet and said, "We'd like to invite you to our gathering," and I said, "Thank you, but this is a pagan home." She tried to press it into my hand saying, "But we welcome everyone, and Jesus welcomes everyone," and I told her, "That's nice, but seriously. Witches live here." (I wasn't trying to speak for my Mom, but I thought it best if they knew where they stood and didn't try to come back later. My Mom, an agnostic, doesn't like this kind of soliciting.) I bid them a nice weekend and they went on their way, though they seemed a little put-out. I don't know why. I was just being direct, and I sure don't go around inviting people into paganism or atheism or whatever-ism I feel like. I don't go up to people's homes handing out Richard Feynman pamphlets for goodness sakes. If I did, and someone told me "Hey that's not my thing," I'd be like, "Oh cool, okay, have a good one." But duh, that would never happen 'cause I'd never try to put anyone on the spot like that. Though sometimes I feel like it. ("I know that the molecules in my body are traceable to phenomena in the Cosmos. That makes me want to grab people on the street and say, 'Have you heard this?!'" - Neil DeGrasse Tyson)

But, today is a really sweet day.

Yesterday was also kind of the bomb. First, Snarklit came over because he's doing a report about tarot cards and the people who read them, and he wanted to interview me. I read him a bunch of times with different cards, and he asked me interesting questions. I hope I was able to help him. Mostly it was just fun getting to hang out. He liked my sunroom and Havok, and said my house was very "earthy." Well, that's definitely no lie. It's like a forest in there. :)

Then, SB and Jo-chan came over. We visited with Boychild and his Momma and Dadda, and Boychild constantly cracked everyone up with his antics. His new thing is doing the "I HAVE THE POWER" phrase from He-Man. Except he goes, "Have a... POWAAAAHHHH!" in the highest, squeakiest voice you ever heard. Then he asks his Momma to put his foam sword down the back of his shirt like Link wears his, and he straddles his stuffed giraffe and rides it around sideways going "HYUUP." He rides it to the table, where he climbs up, and then jumps down totally Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style, except he finishes with Link's "A Button Attack." Hilarious.

We went to Mom's where Jo-chan showed us this app on her iPhone which I remember playing on the computer a few years ago. It's this 20 question game, and you think of a person—fictional or real—and answer mostly seemingly vague questions, and then the computer guesses your person. It's seriously spooky when you choose someone you think is obscure and it guesses in a few questions. I thought I'd stump it with Richard Feynman or Toranaga from Shogun, but the bastard guessed both of them in just a few questions. WTF? Toranaga, seriously?

After that, we—guess!--ate ice cream, and watched Zombieland. I think that movie suffers from over-hype, as I expected to be rolling on the floor holding my sides. But even if it wasn't side-holdingly funny, it was still really entertaining and I did laugh pretty hard a few times. Bill Murray's entire section amused me, and when the girl hits Woody Harrelson in the head with the golfball, yeah, I LOLed pretty hard at that, now that I'm thinking of it. And the line about Eddie Van Halen too. The delivery slayed me. Okay so yeah, I'd see it again. ^_^

Btu the best part is really spending time with my dearest of dears. Wish there were more days like that.

So, and right now I'm watching everything in my goddamn fish tank fight with everything else. Two days ago the water turned all cloudy and everyone started acting like a douche, except for sweet Lucrezia. Onion's mostly minding his little green cory business, but he's acting like a spaz, too. I had the water tested today and found out it's got too much ammonia in it, which is really bad, so I got an ammonia filter and changed half the water yet frigging again. But, Leon is acting like a dick and flaring at Lucrezia and chasing her away from everything, and my damn snails are fighting. First I thought they were banging again, but then it started to get really nasty, and the little one keeps bitchslapping the huge one with its pointy-ass shell. I've never seen the like! I wonder if ammonia causes aggression in creatures or if it's the equinox or some kind of rage-virus outbreak in the tank. Anyway, looks like the filter might be doing its job because the water looks a little clearer. I don't want anything bad to happen to these fish. They are my favorites.

3:30, time for Sano's meds, turn the laundry over, clean the bathtub, and go back to refreshing the writing workshop like a woman obsessed.

I hope everyone else is out there having a beautiful weekend. :)

ETA: Stolen (as usual) from