Jumping right to the end, and to what everyone is here to see...B & C received my profile on Friday and I wasn't expecting to hear back, since they're on the East Coast and I know they got it on the later side, but they must have been almost as enthusiastic about me as I am about them because I got a call just before close of business yesterday saying they "absolutely love, and I mean love" my profile (I may have listened to the message once or twice more than necessary). It was a needed high in an otherwise rock bottom kind of day.
I guess my whole agency is going on vacation next week, so, had my IFs (Can I call them that now, even though we've gotta do the match meeting to make it official?) not been so enthusiastic, I would have had to wait not only the weekend, but a whole additional week to hear about how awesome I am. I was not pro that. As it stands now, I have to wait until Monday the 8th to schedule our match meeting, which is super awesome that it's happening, but the delay pretty much dashes my hopes of a match meeting in New York City before we leave for Hawaii on the 12th. The likelihood of the match meeting happening at all before Hawaii seems pretty slim unless they can do it on the 11th, which means we would fly home on the 12th and then turn around and fly to Hawaii. Which doesn't seem like a particularly good idea, on one hand, but if it means we can avoid a 2 week delay... We all know how these weeks add up. And I imagine B & C are similarly motivated to move quickly. We'll see. In a week. :-p
And now moving backwards another day, to Thursday and our trip to LA! This was a helluva a day, lemme tell you. We left the house at 6:30am for what was supposed to be a 1 hour drive to make our 8:45 flight. Sitting in ridiculous stop-and-go traffic on 580 (How do people do this everyday?!), we get rear-ended. We were in the far left lane, and the other driver tries to pull over into the center divide (very dangerous and should never happen except in emergency situations), but Tony eventually coaxes her to the right shoulder. Inspection shows no damage to either car, and the surely psychosomatic twinge in my neck has now abated, but all of this means we're parking at the airport at 8:15. Super fast walk to the terminal only to find we're in the wrong terminal. Now, despite both us of sporting flip-flops and overly full bladders, we're running. We get there, get our boarding passes, and get into the security line that's 3 rows long. We make it to row 2 and I ask with desperation in my voice and eyes, if someone can please let our plane know we're here, and we're trying, as it is now 8:22 and our flight leaves at 8:45 (I don't know if I thought they'd hold the flight for us or what, but I felt like I had to do *something*). She let us cut the rest of the line, and we sped through security and ran to our gate, where they were just lining up our section. We ran to the bathroom in record time and made it on, the last people on the flight. Phew!
The flight was nice and quick, and we landed into Burbank to find a driver waiting, holding a sign with my name. For serious. I was so bummed I forgot my memory card (remembered my camera, but forgot the memory card), 'cause I totally would have made him take a picture with us. The drive to the agency was nice, especially considering we got to enjoy it from the back of a Lincoln Towncar. We got all touristy when he drove past Warner Bros. Studios. The only downside to drive was I got a very surprising email saying that our exchange student, who was supposed to be here until June, would have to be going home next week. It's a very long story, but suffice to say, it was a really upsetting, stressful email to get at the beginning of our exciting day in Los Angeles, and it hung like a giant boulder over my head all day, as I had immediately wrote an email back trying to argue with the organization, and they never responded to me.
Anyways, we made it to the agency office, which I have to note was on the 13th floor, and got situated in a nice little room to await our meeting with the psychologist. We appreciated the view of the Hollywood sign while we waited. Our meeting with the psychologist went very well, and then I got to do the MMPI again. Apparently last time I only had to do an abridged version, because I'm fairly sure the one I did last time was only about half of the length of this 567 question behemoth. And regardless of how assured of your own sanity you are, it can be kind of intimidating when you're exhausted, overstressed and the statements use words like "oftener" (Am I the only for whom that was terribly distracting?! "More often," not "oftener!"). On several occasions it took me several passes to make sure I properly understood a statement, and more than once I had to go back because I accidentally clicked true instead of false or vice versa. But I did eventually get through it, and therefore completed all of my screening. Huzzah!
After that, since all of our medical stuff was already done, we were free to wander LA until our return flight at 4. We meandered down towards The Grove (Thanks Andrea!), passing through the La Brea Tarpits on the way. I suppose I admire the ingenuity of Los Angeles to turn a natural blight into an attraction, but lemme tell you, that stuff is noxious! The Grove, however, is a very nice little area, and we ate above and beyond at The Cheesecake Factory. It was so very, very yum. After which, we headed back to the airport, where we arrived in plenty of time, and zoomed on back to Oakland, and then home. Had I not had other stress weighing me down, it would have been a more or less great day, but, as it was, it was pretty darn nice.
I guess my whole agency is going on vacation next week, so, had my IFs (Can I call them that now, even though we've gotta do the match meeting to make it official?) not been so enthusiastic, I would have had to wait not only the weekend, but a whole additional week to hear about how awesome I am. I was not pro that. As it stands now, I have to wait until Monday the 8th to schedule our match meeting, which is super awesome that it's happening, but the delay pretty much dashes my hopes of a match meeting in New York City before we leave for Hawaii on the 12th. The likelihood of the match meeting happening at all before Hawaii seems pretty slim unless they can do it on the 11th, which means we would fly home on the 12th and then turn around and fly to Hawaii. Which doesn't seem like a particularly good idea, on one hand, but if it means we can avoid a 2 week delay... We all know how these weeks add up. And I imagine B & C are similarly motivated to move quickly. We'll see. In a week. :-p
And now moving backwards another day, to Thursday and our trip to LA! This was a helluva a day, lemme tell you. We left the house at 6:30am for what was supposed to be a 1 hour drive to make our 8:45 flight. Sitting in ridiculous stop-and-go traffic on 580 (How do people do this everyday?!), we get rear-ended. We were in the far left lane, and the other driver tries to pull over into the center divide (very dangerous and should never happen except in emergency situations), but Tony eventually coaxes her to the right shoulder. Inspection shows no damage to either car, and the surely psychosomatic twinge in my neck has now abated, but all of this means we're parking at the airport at 8:15. Super fast walk to the terminal only to find we're in the wrong terminal. Now, despite both us of sporting flip-flops and overly full bladders, we're running. We get there, get our boarding passes, and get into the security line that's 3 rows long. We make it to row 2 and I ask with desperation in my voice and eyes, if someone can please let our plane know we're here, and we're trying, as it is now 8:22 and our flight leaves at 8:45 (I don't know if I thought they'd hold the flight for us or what, but I felt like I had to do *something*). She let us cut the rest of the line, and we sped through security and ran to our gate, where they were just lining up our section. We ran to the bathroom in record time and made it on, the last people on the flight. Phew!
The flight was nice and quick, and we landed into Burbank to find a driver waiting, holding a sign with my name. For serious. I was so bummed I forgot my memory card (remembered my camera, but forgot the memory card), 'cause I totally would have made him take a picture with us. The drive to the agency was nice, especially considering we got to enjoy it from the back of a Lincoln Towncar. We got all touristy when he drove past Warner Bros. Studios. The only downside to drive was I got a very surprising email saying that our exchange student, who was supposed to be here until June, would have to be going home next week. It's a very long story, but suffice to say, it was a really upsetting, stressful email to get at the beginning of our exciting day in Los Angeles, and it hung like a giant boulder over my head all day, as I had immediately wrote an email back trying to argue with the organization, and they never responded to me.
Anyways, we made it to the agency office, which I have to note was on the 13th floor, and got situated in a nice little room to await our meeting with the psychologist. We appreciated the view of the Hollywood sign while we waited. Our meeting with the psychologist went very well, and then I got to do the MMPI again. Apparently last time I only had to do an abridged version, because I'm fairly sure the one I did last time was only about half of the length of this 567 question behemoth. And regardless of how assured of your own sanity you are, it can be kind of intimidating when you're exhausted, overstressed and the statements use words like "oftener" (Am I the only for whom that was terribly distracting?! "More often," not "oftener!"). On several occasions it took me several passes to make sure I properly understood a statement, and more than once I had to go back because I accidentally clicked true instead of false or vice versa. But I did eventually get through it, and therefore completed all of my screening. Huzzah!
After that, since all of our medical stuff was already done, we were free to wander LA until our return flight at 4. We meandered down towards The Grove (Thanks Andrea!), passing through the La Brea Tarpits on the way. I suppose I admire the ingenuity of Los Angeles to turn a natural blight into an attraction, but lemme tell you, that stuff is noxious! The Grove, however, is a very nice little area, and we ate above and beyond at The Cheesecake Factory. It was so very, very yum. After which, we headed back to the airport, where we arrived in plenty of time, and zoomed on back to Oakland, and then home. Had I not had other stress weighing me down, it would have been a more or less great day, but, as it was, it was pretty darn nice.
