Thursday, April 14, 2011

Mud Season - The Beginning

Now Playing -  
Marilyn  by Dan Bern

Life -  

This last week was a pretty good one here in the ROUS house!   


Lindsay's wisdom teeth pain has finally receded to the point that she's essentially off of the ibuprofen and with the exception of needing her filling shaved off a bit,, she's back to normal. Which also good news for our diets, as I can start cooking real food for the both of us again.

For the last, well, it seems like forever, but I think it's been about three months, I've been studying (And more than that, stressing) about my upcoming Pharmacy Technician Certification Board Exam. (The PTCE) It's a step in my job that's required for the position I'm in, especially if I ever hope to have my own store, but man... It's darned hard to take a test about drug generic names, usages, interactions and strengths when you work in a pharmacy, but not IN a pharmacy.

Luckily, this last week, I took it and passed. I don't know how well I did, though I felt pretty confident by the time I pressed the "Finish" button. They'll send me my official results in the mail in a few days, but they give ya a preliminary result on the screen a t the end. Used to be, you'd have to wait up to six weeks to find out whether you passed... that would be truly horrible.

A couple of interesting things about the test facility -
- You cannot bring ANYTHING with you, not a pencil, or a wedding ring or a calculator. They give you a locker and check you pretty closely.
-Instead, they give you a white board and a marker and tell you not to erase anything, they'll bring you another if needed. Then they hand you a $2 calculator that displays a 5 instead of an 8 half of the time.
-They have you sign a screen, take a scan of your fingerprints and both palms. I've never had my palms read, it was less illuminating than I'd expected.
-I chose exam cubicle number Three for luck.
-Unfortunately, it was right next to the incredibly obnoxious white noise machine.
-Their noise blocking headphones were clearly designed for someone with ears twice the size of mine but with a head that was six inches smaller around.
-At the end of the test, they ask you three times if you're really really sure you're done.Then you get a screen that should be your results. Instead, it's the start of a 20 question survey about the facility. Those are some nerve wracking questions while you wait to get your score!
-I passed the damned thing! That's the most important detail.... I can finally get back to doing things I love in my spare time instead of fretting about a test.

Oh, and MUD SEASON IS HERE! Or, as we prefer to call it, Rainy season! Hooray!

We took an hour walk in the pouring rain yesterday and really enjoyed it.

Writing - 
Now this is exciting too - I have a few pages of editing left, then all that remains is formatting before I can officially release THE WHISPERING FERNS! It was a long decision, but I've concluded that I like the book as it is too much to let it linger for years while I try and find a publisher. So I'm going to create a new series to write traditionally and make The Moonstone Bay Mysteries an online release series!


I don't have an official release date quite yet, but soon! SOON!

In the meantime, here is the fabulous cover by Deeply Dapper-

More news to come!



The ROUS FAMILY -     

1 comment:

Steve at Random said...

Still snowing in North Dakota...then we'll have mud season. Our roads turn to potholes every spring, but it's a job creator as I see lots of people out in fluorescent green vests patching them up. I, like you, can't wait for summer...brief as it is. Glad to see your blogging again. Between your test and Lindsay's teeth, it's been a long dry spell.