Black Sunday - Raining on my parade

I took the GRE on Saturday. Like many of these standardized tests, the ability to computerize them has made the process different than it has been in the past. For example, there is not a large group of people all taking the test at the same time. When I showed up, I signed in, got frisked, a mug shot taken, and was on my way. It was pretty wild. You literally cannot have anything in your pockets while taking this test. I guess my plan for domination by osmosis from the cheat sheet in my pocket was foiled!

The test area is basically a bunch of cubicles in rows. Each cubicle is videotaped and you are given a set of headphones that I believe were taken from the baggage workers at the United terminal, perhaps the most ludicrous looking things I've ever laid eyes upon.

Another difference now that the test is electronic is that the exam adapts to your skill level. In other words, as you answer questions, the exam determines on the spot if it was right or wrong and offers the next question based on the accuracy of your response. Get it right and the next question gets more difficult. Get it wrong and the next question is eaiser than the last.

That said, I'm taking the exam and I felt like the questions were quite hard. I guess on the one hand that is good in that it means that maybe I'm getting them right? But I felt like I was doing quite a lot of guessing. And then occasionally an easy one would pop up and I was sure that I was tanking! Overall, the test seemed much more difficult than the practice tests and practice questions I had taken. Since my math score didn't count for admission into my grad program, I spent very little time trying to work out the problems.

At the end of the exam, I was given the option to dismiss my results without sending them to my school for consideration. Basically, if I felt like I bombed, I could just not count the test and try again later. Unfortunately, you're required to do this BEFORE you get to see your score. Since I already paid for it and thought I might have been OK, I didn't consider dismissing the results. I clicked the Accept button and up popped a glorious score that was more than 100 points higher than the minimum needed for entry into my grad program. Woooo-freaking-----hooooooooo! I still have to wait for the writing score to come back because that piece is still human graded. However, I'm not too worried about that. I'm considering this piece of the process complete.

Sunday was the most important day of the baseball season for me and my favorite team, the Mets. The team had stumbled down the stretch and found themselves tied with the Brewers headed into Sunday, the last day of the baseball season. Both teams were trying to snag the final playoff spot available in the National League. Both games happened to be televised locally and were going on at the same time. The games were nip and tuck the whole way, both tied in the late innings. And, just like a microcosm of the Mets season, they coughed it up late, while the Brewers rallied late for the win, clinching the final playoff spot. That makes two years in a row that the Mets have been on the verge of the playoffs and given it up right at the very end of the season. Given the media circus that is New York, it's going to be a long, long winter in Queens. Add to this the Eagles ignominious defeat at the hands of the Bears Sunday night, and it was a sports day I'd care not to remember.

In the interest of ending on an up note, I'll close by saying I managed to win one of my fantasy baseball leagues for a nice payout and went 3-0 in fantasy football this week. So, all is not lost, I'm definitely off to a great start football wise!

Song lyric of the day (with apologies for trivializing the intent of this song) "Sunday, bloody Sunday" - U2

Until next time.

Ace