I woke up at the hideously early hour of 6:30 this morning (laugh all you want, I’m a night-owl) so I could go take the SAT. I was horribly nervous last night, pacing the upstairs hallway, frantically looking for a little pencil sharpener to take with me. Then I obsessed over finding my laptop which I thought somebody had stolen, but it turned out I had actually putten it away. Then I tried to sleep, but I got too cold, then too hot, then the people in the house behind me started playing really loud music, then the flying saucers came… Nah, I wish.
The test honestly wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I went to a local high school to take the test, which was unfortunate. I hate being inside high schools… they’re so austere and mind-numbingly-dull. But, anyway, I’m digressing again.
Thankfully the teacher assigned to my room was really sweet and was good at setting everyone’s nerves to rest. I had spent the entire night – in between bouts of restless sleep – trying to convince myself not to be nervous. After all, my SAT score really doesn’t matter. The school I want to go to wants the ACT, a test I know I’ll do well on. The SAT doesn’t matter at all. The only reason I took it was because I registered when I still thought I was going to the University of Wisconsin, but now that’s not going to happen because a better opportunity came up. Rather than waste the registration fee I decided to take the SAT anyway, to see how I do on it. If today was any indication, I’m not too worried about my score.
Thankfully the first section was all english, the department I consider my strength. I sped through the questions in half the allotted time, constantly reminding myself that perhaps the following sections would get progressively harder. I had the time to double and triple check my answers, confirming that I think every answer in section one was correct. Of course, in four weeks time, I’ll know if that feeling was right. Right or not, it made me feel a bit more confident. We all stood up for a break and the teacher asked us what we thought of the test so far. I know this sounds evil, but I felt a *lot* better when almost all of the other students answered with a resounding, “We didn’t think it’d be this hard!” “The words are so confusing!” and last but not least, “I don’t think I got anything right!” It felt better to know that maybe my theory was right. Maybe all those people will do really well on the math sections, cause they’re math people, and I’ll have gotten a good percentage of the english questions right.
Time went on, subject after subject, and of course, I think I did terribly on the math. But, looking on the bright side, I don’t think I did as terribly as I had expected. Thankfully there were quite a few story problems so I felt a little better. Mind, I didn’t feel too good after every math section. It was rather like a roller coaster; I’d feel relatively stupid after the math sections, and after english I kept remembering that quote from a Stephen King book I read; “I’m freakin’ Shakespeare!” Hehe, okay, so I didn’t think that, but it entertained me while I sat around doing nothing for five to ten minutes after I completed each section early.
Thankfully the four hours for the test went by quickly enough. I happened to walk with some nice girls to and from the test who set my nerves at ease. They kind of reaffirmed my failing belief in teenage girls. No evidence found for the boys today, though. 🙂 Hehehe, just kidding.
After the test I went with my Dad, my brother, his wife, and their son Max to see “Ice Age.” Definitely a kid’s movie, but not too bad. It was nice to just relax after taking the test and watch something rather mindless. Then I came home, played online, answered some nice emails, and played around. And now I’m here. The dreaded Saturday, March 16th, 2002, day of the SAT, is finally coming to a close. I think I’m going to wrap it up with a nice shower and veg out watching Ian McKellan on SNL. He’s hilarious — I saw him on the Daily Show a month or so ago. I think he was drunk during the interview; he kept going off on tangents about the Queen, and how awful England is. He kinda staggered as he interrupted Jon Stewart and said, “You know what? I’m not even a citizen of Great Britain… I’m a subject. A bleedin’ subject.” It was hilarious. Can’t wait to see if he’s drunk tonight. Great actor, yeah – phenomenal in Gods and Monsters (thank you, IFC Fridays on Bravo!) – but absolutely hilarious in interviews.
I’m off. G’night.