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Saturday, April 06, 2002

 
I'm back!

My apologies to all of you who were actually concerned that I hadn't written in a few weeks. I had my CFRE (professional certification for fundraising) exam this morning and have been studying like crazy the last little while.

I am sooooo glad it's over! I've been studying continuously for 4 months. I did take the occasional night off, but I always had the guilt hanging over my head. "I really should be studying"..."only 6 weeks left"..."why am I watching television?" etc., etc.

Anyway, the exam went well. It was 4 hours of multiple choice questions (225 in all). I got through all the questions with enough time to go back and review my questions. As I was reviewing, I kept a tally of all the questions that I was 90% sure I answered correctly. They added up to 80%, and many of the other questions I was at least able to reduce to a 50/50 chance. So, I think I did just fine. I'll find out in about four weeks or so. The passing mark is about 75%, so there's still room for nervousness there.

Tonight we're going to rent a couple of new releases to watch.

Some time ago I made up my mind that at 5pm the day before the exam I would stop studying. If I didn't know it then, I wouldn't know it later. So, I headed to the Glebe and walked around for a couple of hours. I then went for a massage at Third Avenue Spa. I came home and had an epsom salt bath and a pot of herbal tea. Despite all this, I had a terrible night sleep. Oh well, at least my muscles were nimble.

I'd had an extra amount of stress building up this week. I'd taken the week off work to study, but low and behold Devon came down with a nasty virus and ear infection that lasted from Easter weekend through yesterday. She's better now, but my nerves were realy frayed and my studying plans pretty disrupted.

Devon is presenting us with something new every day. She's picking up words like crazy. In addition to the usual Mama and Dada, hi and bye-bye, she now says ball (sounds like booooo) and baby (she says bay...but is consistent). I think she also has a word for tiger, but I'm still trying to verify that information. It has a lot of b's in it, but the intonation is right.

She's also learning some sign language. She sniffs at the mere mention of flowers, and has a good cat sign too. I noticed her making funny little movements with her hands whenever she saw the cats, but couldn't make any connection. Finally, I realized that whenever I see the cats I snap my fingers and call to them. So, her little hand wiggles are an attempt to get the attention of the cat (it doesn't work BTW). Pretty smart if you ask me! We'll have to try to get it on tape.

Well, I think I'll go and have a long nap and a read. I'm starting "Clara Callan" by Richard Wright. So far, so good (I started it last night while I was relaxing in my epsom salt bath!).

Ahhhhh...happy day!