The exam was yuck, and judging from my friends' feelings, they felt the same way about it, too. No one ever knows how they did, even afterward, because you just feel yucky about it and it's impossible to know what they were looking for or if you even did anything right. There are a lot less people that take the exam in February which makes the environment a lot less crowded and everyone is just more relaxed, probably because the majority of us have taken it before. It's a very 'jeez, why are we here again, ugh' attitude, haha. The trip out to the convention center was smooth and this year, I was smart enough to buy enough food for the few days so I didn't go hungry and could relax in my hotel room every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was really cold in the convention center, though, and with the lack of sleep (you just get so paranoid about oversleeping), stress, and exhaustion, by the time I got back to my hotel room after the afternoon session of the third day, I felt horribly achey, dizzy, feverish and chilly at the same time. Horrible!! Although I was booked to checkout the next day, I had planned to just go home that night anyway (I wanted a place to keep my stuff so I didn't have to rush to pack before the last day and leave my stuff in my car the entire day, bleh), but I felt so terrible that it took me a while before I felt well enough to gather my stuff and go home. Sadly, Matt was even flying in on Friday and I felt so sick and awful...I couldn't believe taking this test took that much out of me! I was more afraid that I caught something bad, like the flu, since I felt achey all over, as if 50 lb weights were tied to each of the muscles all over my body, and there was just weird tinging running up and down my spine and into the top of my head. I was cold but then falling asleep made me feel hot. It was so painful to move around or even sit still, and everything seemed so cloudy. I did rely on Tylenol for a few doses, since I was afraid I was getting a fever and it also helped relieve some of the aches. I'm so relieved at least that this happened after the exam was over (even if it was ridiculous that it happened immediately afterward) and that it was also the weekend so I could try to sleep it off.
We ended up doing absolutely nothing this weekend and it really felt good for once. I slept a whole bunch and finally, I feel somewhat back to my normal self. I still have a bit of some nose congestion and my throat is just a little scratchy, but I hope to be back in shape within the next few days! At least I feel I can function tomorrow for my first day of work after being away for 2 weeks. I left with a million things due during the next 2 weeks and I'm praying that nothing major happened while I was gone, because I don't know what I'm going to do if there are disasters to clean up. Trying not to think about that...
The week has also been hard because there have just been so many passings. At the beginning of the exam, a friend of mine (who was also taking the Bar) found out that his grandma passed away. On Tuesday, Matt's beloved cat Noogie, who he's had since his first day of high school, was put to sleep because he's been suffering from so many different health problems. And the day after the exam was over, while I was in ill and crazed state, I found out that my grandpa had passed away as well. Definitely a hard week for everyone :(
The week has been so busy that I haven't taken as many photos as I would've liked. And actually, I've been struggling a lot lately to come up with interesting photos to take to 'represent' my day in this 2011 year. I had intended at the beginning of the year to do a photo a day so I would keep up with blogging but I think some days have become stale as I've had to force myself to come up with an idea of something to post. Blogging for so many days already has made me really enjoy blogging in general and I think, in light of missing a week of posts, rather than catch up, I think I'm going to scrap the idea of continuing to force myself to come up with specific ideas for daily posts and focus instead on posts that are on a more creative level and more fun. That would be more fun and interesting for all of us, don't you think? So for now, I guess I'm scrapping my 2011 photo yearbook project and I'm just going to develop my creative and fun blogging side and keep blogging as much as I can to share the fun things that are going on with my life.
I did take some funny pictures from my Bar exam experience. Matt was so kind to use his hotel points to book me a hotel and because of how often he has to book hotels for work (one of the ONLY perks about his job), he has platinum status and often gets to upgrade to a suite. So I got to live in style and for free while taking this exam, same as I did last July. Lucky me! The front desk woman got really confused when I checked in and referred to Matt as my 'husband,' but whatever, at least I got the room even though it was in his name without any problems. Check out my digs for those few days:
It was nice to have a lot of room, not that I really needed it. (Yeah, do you also like my stuffed animals who came on the trip, too? Haha...I needed the company and for it to feel like 'home.') Too bad I can't transfer that extra room to my current apartment, haha. We could really use that extra space here. But I was glad I planned better this year so I had an easier time packing and transporting things to/from. It's probably not a good thing that I'm becoming an old pro at this, though.
I also took a funny picture of my Ziploc bag for the exam. I learned last year just how strict the proctors are about making sure that you put everything into a (stupid) plastic bag, including your wallet. The list of items you can bring to the exam is really strict and everyone has to look like a total fool carrying a plastic baggie full of all his/her belongings to and from the convention center every day. That's how you can spot all the exam takers - I mean, really, it's not hard to notice someone tightly clutching something as ridiculous as this everywhere s/he goes:
My last picture is actually one I borrowed from Matt's mom of precious Noogie. It's one of our favorite pictures of him - he just looks so handsome and distinguished in it, and it was a photo that was used on many of Matt's birthday cakes, complete with a party hat, too. She posted this picture of him on Facebook the day of his passing and it made me really sad, and Matt even sadder of course. I guess since he was fine at Christmas, I just assumed I'd still see him this year so I never thought anything of it that he was getting older. But he's had a steady decline lately with a tumor in his head growing bigger every day behind his eye, causing it to swell and the side of his face to bulge, among other mouth and teeth infections :( Matt got to say bye to him last weekend, but it's still hard to imagine that I won't see him there anymore. It's going to be really weird. Even though we all know it's for the best so he doesn't suffer, it was still hard. But he did live a great and long life with a family and a little boy turned man who loved him very much so I guess that's what's most important. Rest in peace little Noogie, the best kitty ever.
Look at the adorable face!
ReplyDeleteps: the bathroom looks huge!
xo*