oh by the way....

So I've totally been a little preoccupied for a reason... and that lil ol' reason is called my counseling state licensing exam that I took yesterday.  And no I did not announce it to everyone and their mom that this was occurring because that piece was HARD... and I will admit that I was a little (and when I say a little.. I mean a LOT) concerned that there was a chance that I may not pass.  So basically what happened was the people that I did tell, I asked them to pray fervently for me and if they did not receive good news from me then that meant to NOT ASK.  And by God's grace and for my sanity and everyone's around me... I PASSED.

So the roommate and I decided to take the test together.  We went through our grad school program together.. studied for pretty much every test together and sat next to one another while we wrote pretty much every paper together.. and graduated together.  All of this does very well for me considering I don't like to do things alone.  (Either that or it feeds into my codependency issues but we won't focus on that here.)  We signed up for our test which would be occurring at H&R Block (RANDOM...) and of course prepared for the exam.... you guessed it... together. 

The day of the exam comes upon us.  We are beyond nervous.  We get up that morning and treat ourselves to Cracker Barrel to kind of keep the nerves at bay and wake ourselves up.  We both have some down-home cooking of biscuits and gravy and feel as ready for this exam as we'll probably ever be.  We show up at our super random testing site about 25 minutes early which just goes to show that we're nervous... because we're never early anywhere.  We go to open the door and... LOCKED.  Cool.  That doesn't mess with your nerves or anything.  Another lady shows up that is going to be taking some other random test and begins to chat NON-STOP for the next ten minutes.  Of course it's not annoying at all since we're obviously not in any type of tense, nervous state and she insists on talking about how she kept getting 91% on her mock exams so she is not nervous at all.  She was an absolute joy to get to know in those last few minutes before the biggest exam of my life.  H&R Block ladies finally decide to waltz their way back from lunch, unlock the door, and scurry us back into the testing room.  (I think the only person scurrying was non-stop talking lady.  Maybe she was on something.)

That is when the instructions began.  For this next part to make sense, you have to understand that us three testers were obviously sitting in cubicle type seats with walls between us.  Non-stop talking high lady immediately took the left spot because that was the most comfortable chair which made Katie immediately go to the right because I'm pretty sure she was about 2.5 seconds from slapping the lady... which left me the middle.  H&R lady begins her spiel about all of the instructions as fast as she can on how to take the test.  Now here is something that I have recently found out about myself.  I tend to zone out.  Or not listen.  Or not really pay attention.  Or not completely comprehend things the first go around.  It just really depends on the situation and how I'm feeling... but a few friends and I have discovered this about myself.  So you can probably guess what happened here.  Yup.  Don't exactly know why but only caught about half of what the lady said so didn't really completely understand how to take the test but heard her say something about the big A, B, C, D letters and the ENTER key.  So my guess was to use those and we couldn't use the mouse.  Bingo... that was what I was going to do.  Practice test began and we were to all do it at the same time.  I used my method of clicking the right answer with my left hand and clicking ENTER with my right hand.  No big deal.  Right?  Apparently not.

H&R lady: Raven, are you left-handed?
Me: (laughing a little, super confused and convinced it was b/c I used my left hand) No.....
H&R: Because we can move that mouse over to the left side for you.
Me: Oh I'm good, thank you.

The thoughts running through my brain is what is the point in moving the mouse over to the left if we aren't even allowed to use it!  And also I bet Katie is wondering what in the absolute world I am doing over here on this side of the wall.  Apparently the REAL deal was, you actually could use your mouse and that is how everyone else actually took their test.  When Katie and I discussed it, we figured out that when H&R lady saw me pecking away at the keys she probably assumed that I had to have been left handed since I preferred that method and offered to help me out.  Nope sorry lady... just a moron.  And when I asked Katie about the whole scenario, she said that as soon as the lady started talking and it confused her a little she automatically thought to herself that she knew I had to have been completely lost.  Ahh... the sweet faith my roommate has in me.  Can't get upset because the girl's right on target.  Especially when the lady asked me that question, Katie said it took all of her not to bust out laughing because she so wanted to know what the heck I was doing over on the other side of that wall. 

Even with my dysfunctional way of taking the exam, I somehow found a way to finish the horrid thing and PASS it so it is done and out of my life.  When I came out of the room, the lady brought me my paper and said "Well Ms. Raven, you have a reason to celebrate."  All I could say was, "Seriously?"  She asked, "Was it hard?" and I answered, "Well it sure wasn't easy."  The other random lady told me "Congratulations" as I just mumbled "I just can't believe it..." all the way to the door.

I'm sure they thought I was the brightest thing that ever walked through those doors of H&R Block.