To Record or Not to Record... What kind of a question is THAT?!

So, I took the GRE Friday. It's OVER!!!!!!!

I registered to take the GRE in Las Vegas, NV, not discovering 'til much later that I could have taken it in St. George - they didn't have St. George as an option on gre.org! Not wanting to have to drive the whole way to LV the morning of the test (in case of emergencies, I wanted to be closer) and not wanting to actually stay in LV, I decided to book a room at a hotel in Mesquite, about halfway between me and LV. I took half of Wednesday and all of Thursday and Friday off of work - to study for the GRE and to prepare for moving on Saturday - so I ended up being able to leave for Mesquite around 3:30pm Utah time. I arrived in Mesquite around 3:30pm Nevada time. I was exhausted (I had spent the morning moving), so I plopped down on the king-sized bed in my room and watched TV longer than I should have. I went to the buffet located in the casino adjacent to my hotel (I stayed at the Oasis), paid more than the food deserved (though it wasn't horrible), eavesdropped on the people around me, and studied my vocabulary cards. Upon reentering my room, I watched more TV. Sigh. I eventually worked up the "desire" to study and took a practice GRE test. I scored okay, so, after a few minutes looking up various tips, I watched more TV.

Friday morning I woke up early, to "study". I didn't. No, I didn't watch TV. I showered, dressed, realized I had forgotten makeup (yikes!), did my hair, and checked out. I arrived in LV plenty early; I wanted to make sure I could find the testing center. I tried to find a restroom, so I drove around the area awhile until finally stumbling across a gas station with the smelliest restroom I've EVER experienced. Since my test started at noon and supposedly lasted 4 hours, I worried about getting hungry, so I bought some peanuts in the gas station. I drove back to the center and discovered that the center had called to say I could start the test early, if I wanted. I wanted. I sat down in front of the computer a whole 30 minutes early. Three and a half (roughly) hours later I stood up from the computer, quite satisfied with my performance, if you want to know. My unoffical scores are Verbal 630 of 800 and Quantitative 670 of 800, making my total unofficial score 1300 out of 1600 - 81%. Yes, I feel good about that. Even after asking the attendant to define a "good" score (she said she has seen a lot of scores that were lower than mine - but maybe she just said that to make me feel good - who knows!), I still am not sure how well I did. The attendant said a lot depends on the requirements of the grad programs for which I apply. I guess that makes sense. No matter what, though, I'm pleased with my score; it could have been a lot worse.

Upon leaving the testing center I realized I needed two things; to find food and a bathroom. Not wanting to revisit the gas station experience, I opted to get out of LV before stopping to fulfill my needs. As it turned out, I didn't stop until I reached home. Well, I stopped at Wendy's to grab dinner (drive thru), THEN went home. Yes, I ran to the bathroom. Don't ask why I told you this, I just did, no reason.

I sent my scores to four universities; University of Utah, UNLV, University of Nebraska - Omaha (they supposedly have a good econ program), and McGill University (in Montreal - wouldn't that be FABULOUS!!). Those last two are a sign of my attempting to shoot for the stars, even if I miss; the first two are me being a little more realistic. I can also have my scores sent to additional schools, but I'm not sure what I'd need to do for that to happen, and since I don't have additional schools yet, I'm not worrying about it.

So, that's that. A bit of a rambler, I realize, but no apology; it fits my current mood. :)