My day at LBCC was interesting.  I was supposed to go for the entire weekend, but I only went on Saturday.  It was my first comic book convention in over a year (since last year's LBCC) and I was hoping that by attending, it might get me back into comic books.

I'm so pleased that I was able to reconnect with someone important from my past, however brief our exchange was.  That alone made the trek up and down the crappy 710 FWY worth it.  It even made the uncomfortable chairs (my hips still hurt, but that might be because I'm old) and freezing cold rooms bearable (almost).  Seriously, I was wearing jeans, thick socks, Doc Martins, two shirts, a hoodie and a puffer vest and I was STILL shivering.  Still, it was all worth it.  Although, I wish I could have looked a little nicer.  I was dressed for comfort, not seeing someone I haven't seen or talked to in a few years.  Of course THEY looked amazingly awesome, which only made it worse that I wasn't wearing stilettos and a sexy ballgown.  Okay, maybe that wouldn't be right either.  I have no clue what you should be wearing in these situations, but being ultra casual doesn't seem like the best route to take to impress someone.

What else did I do at the convention?  I watched the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special (it was good), a RAW films thing (Lance Hendricksen, etc), sat through an uncomfortable presentation of "Grindhouse" films, saw the former cast of "Young Justice" show how much they enjoyed working with each other (the show was cancelled), another panel on animation and then a spotlight panel.  Apart from the Grindhouse thing (no offense to the people who did it, just not my cup of tea), they were all pretty good, especially the spotlight panel.  Some people are simply a pleasure to watch and listen to.

As I was driving home I had the news on the radio, trying to keep an ear out for traffic reports.  A story came on that gave me pause.  The reporter announced that Wanda Coleman passed away.  I don't know if you are familiar with her, but she was an amazing poet from here in Los Angeles.  I used to watch her on late night TV performing with Henry Rollins and Exene Cervenka when I was in high school, then I was able to see her perform live when I was in college.  She was electrifying.  I know I'm not a black woman who grew up in South Central Los Angeles with the same battles and struggles she faced, but she resonated with me.She was my generations Maya Angelou.  Maya Angelou without the pseudo intellectual barrier that seems to separate her from her readers.  People say they read Maya Angelou because it sounds good.  It makes you seem smart.  Wanda, on the hand...... if you said you read her, people expected to you to back it up.  What did you read?  Where did you see her?  What was your favorite part?  What's your favorite poem?  If you found someone who read her, they wanted to talk about it and share it with you.  How often does that happen in this day and age with a POET?  Rest in Peace Wanda, I'm going to see if I can dig up the video I have of you reading "I Live for my Car".  What a masterpiece.

It was a bittersweet day.

Typical!!!

Just to show how forgetful I am, I walked out of the house without my phone this morning. I forgot to charge it overnight, so I plugged it in thinking "I won't forget it because my Saturday alarm is going to go off at its normal time and I'll have to turn it off". Welllllll, either I left before it went off (had to run errands) or I didn't hear it.  So now I'm stuck all day without a phone! At least I have my IPad, right?

BAH!!!!

Finally!

Well you guys, I passed it!!!!  It's been about a week and still hasn't sunk in.  I slayed the monster!!!  For years I said I would never take the test.  I had a boss that would periodically ask me about it and my answer was always the same "No way, I don't need it and I won't pass it anyway, so why would I put myself through that?".  I honestly didn't think I would be able to pass it.  I know the way my brain works and it's been too long since I was at a point in my life where I had to seriously study.  Plus, I figured that if I took the exam and got the license, that would mean I was stuck in this industry with no chance of getting out.  Well, 13 years later, I've come to the realization that the simple fact that I've been in this industry so long pretty much means that I am indeed stuck!  I thought about it long and hard and realized that I needed to get the license in order to make better opportunities for myself.

A little background on it:  In my industry, it's the BIG one. Six hours long!  It covers all aspects of this business.  There's math, regulatory questions, legal questions, suitability / recommendation questions, client questions, etc.  Anything you can think of is on it.  With a twist.  The writers of the test want you to fail.  They word the questions with the intent of messing you up and getting you to pick the wrong answer.  It's FAMOUS for it.  I'm not just saying that because I found it difficult.  It's true!

Even getting to the point where you are sitting down to take the exam is a trying experience.  My test appointment was set for 7am.  I got there 30 minutes early, per the instructions (actually, I got there an hour early, cause that's how I roll).  I had to lock my car keys up in a locker and was only allowed to bring in my drivers license.  I even had to leave my watch in the car!  Keep in mind that if you are caught cheating on this exam, you are barred from the industry for life, so it's dumb to even try it.  I heard about a guy who got caught hiding a text book in the mens room, how dumb is that??!!???  So, once I put my keys in the locker, I had to go in, pull out the pockets of my jeans and hoodie, I had to pull the hood out so they could see that there wasn't a cheating device hidden in it, I had to push up my sleeves to show my arms were bare and nothing was there to help me cheat, I had to pull up my pant legs to show that nothing was strapped to my legs or in my socks to help me cheat and I had to get "wanded" so they could make sure that they didn't miss any electronic devices that may be strapped to my person to help me cheat.  If I wasn't nervous before, I was then (and this was my second license, so I'd already been through it a year ago).  After all that, I had to get my thumb scanned, my photo taken and sign in on a log sheet to confirm who I am and that the personal information they had is correct.  Once all that was done, I was given my driver's license back,  a basic calculator, two sheets of laminated paper, two crappy thin black markers and a laminated sheet with the number of my testing cubicle on it.  One I was escorted to the cubicle (that was wired for sound and had a camera on me), I had to start the test before I could write anything down on the crappy laminated paper (which kind of sucked since I had formulas, diagrams and charts I needed to copy down).  On the last licensing exam I took, I got a talking to for drawing three lines on the "paper" before I started the exam.  Three lines!!!!

I took 10 minutes to copy down all the stuff I needed to write down and then I took a few deep breaths and then dug in for the first three hour segment.  It wasn't too bad.  I'm sure I made careless mistakes, but I felt good going into the mandatory break.  When I got back 30 minutes later, it was a different story.  The second half was a KILLER.  Taxes!  Limited Partnerships!  Hedge Funds!  GAH!!!  Everything I was weak on in the study materials was on the second half of the exam.  Of COURSE it was!

When you're done, you have to click on "exit".  Then it asks "are you sure you want to exit?", you click on "yes", then it asks "you are about to exit the exam, is this was you want to do?", "YES!!!", then it says "you are exiting the exam, click on cancel if you do not wish to" (or something like that).  Are you serious?  You're asking me THREE times if I'm good with finishing this test?  So after you click to get out you have to sit there and wait for your results.  It's the LONGEST waiting period in your life.  You can almost see your heart beating in your chest.  When the notice came up that I passed, I just sat there, stunned.

I studied for this exam for an entire year and I took a week long class down in Orange County given by the best in the business.  Not counting the ast six weeks before the exam (which the study time was amped up by a zillion percent) I put in, on average, three hours a night during the week and 6 hours a day most weekends.  I even studied at Gallifrey this year before my friends woke up for the day.  I fucking earned this!!!!

Like I said above, it still hasn't sunk in though.  There are times that I feel guilty that I'm not studying!  I'm going to get one more license, but I heard that the one I want to get it isn't that hard.  Maybe after Christmas.  This will be my first Christmas in two years that I won't be studying for a licensing exam.