point breaking

today began with a painful wake-up, a quick review and then rushing off for an early exam. ignoring the embarrassment of spilling coffee beneath my seat when we're not allowed food or drink in the classroom, and the incredible uselessness of the invigilators... i think i had a good exam experience. the sample paper that my manager handed me (from 2004) turned out to be *really* close to what we received, and after struggling to do the sample and then directing my studying accordingly i felt properly prepared for the real thing. four questions out of 24 had me stumped; i should get most of the rest right and we only had to fill in twenty; so that worked out well.

for the essay, i chose sonnet 130 and had a lot of fun with it: i really hope the grader appreciates my turning it on its head.

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i was reminded of sir ken robinson discussing new paradigms when co-conspirator got antsy with the invigilators for not updating the time on the board. she could have just worn a watch.

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on the way to the bus, i suddenly remembered something exciting that we heard on the radio on the way to the wedding on monday evening: a country-wide announcement explaining that leaving the engine running is a pointless waste. i can stop harassing people now :)

i'd barely sat down at my desk when i got a call back from one of my pension funds (i have three, theoretically, although one may be closed and the other worth a pittance) to assist me in registering for their website. the tech-support girl was very sweet, even becoming excited when she had to verify my date of birth and it's apparently the same as hers... i had to be very patient with her, though. i could hear her thinking over the phone, i could hear the speed with which she hunted down and killed the buttons on her keyboard and she seemed to have quite a lot of difficulty spelling things. at least she was pleasant.

...

have i, at any stage, mentioned a cunning plan of mine to impose massive taxes on private vehicle ownership and use the proceeds to upgrade public transport infrastructure? i think that might work. with tax breaks for those hauling things as opposed to people, of course.

...

i spent the afternoon in anguish, finally getting it looking right and almost putting on the finishing touches before discovering, to my dismay, that i'd overlooked something in the design. it was a deeply shameful experience, as design is the one thing i keep harping on about and to fail in something whose importance i appreciate so much is miserable. my boss saw the state i was in (granted, the lack of sleep and the other stresses like exams and apartment moving / renting do feature prominently in today's picture) and kicked me out the office, giving me a ride to a convenient bus stop where i spent the remainder of my ipod's battery chilling out before getting on the bus and being blown away by survival of the sickest.

i stopped by the old office for a couple of hours, did some documenting and hacking away before rushing to get home in time for dinner. the final chapters of the book were simply inspirational. fascinating stuff, especially the theories explaining the complexities of human birth. the only problem i had with it was that i couldn't discuss it with pg because i recently read wired's article on the breast milk market and was fascinated by the importance of breastfeeding... she's beginning to worry that there's a pattern in my chatter :P

pg had watched about a quarter of point break, so i joined her for the rest because i couldn't remember any of it. dinner was even better than usual. the apartment still looks like a storage facility.

i worked (reworked) until about an hour ago, achieving the goals i'd outlined at the start of the evening, and i'm now way past being ready for bed. in addition to all the other stuff, like tonight being another wedding, i suddenly realized this evening that my next exam is on sunday.

STRESS.

it's the big one of the three. and i'm not ready :S

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on religion:
piraro's take
the fear factor