Exam Insanity and Sushi

As some of you may know, I had insomnia in Law School. Now I've always had a hard time sleeping, but back then I would go for days with no sleep at all. But the funny thing is, I haven't had any real bad nights since... until the night before the barrister's exam! I think my body is trying to tell me something, or maybe I just react badly to stress.

Anyway, when I got up yesterday to head out to the exam, I had slept less than two hours. Not a good sign!

The scene at the Direct Energy Centre was insanity. The exam started at 9:30 (but we had to be seated at 9) but by 8 am there were around a thousand prospective lawyers (more than the entire population of Dal Law) milling around getting coffee, catching up with friends, and waiting in lines. The lines to get signed in weren't too bad (they were well organized by last name, a few letters to a line. But more than an hour before the exam, people were already lining up to get into the room. I figured it was like at an airport: as soon as they announce that the flight is boarding, everyone gets up to stand in the line. But the flights not taking off till its scheduled time, and the seats are assigned, so what exactly is the advantage of being the first one on board? I'm inclined to sit in the waiting area and wait till the line dies down. Which is exactly what I did!

The exam itself was long (7 hours!) but made even longer with waiting for everyone to be seated, getting instructions (be sure to fully blacken the bubbles!) and then waiting to be allowed to leave again. I'm sure I wasn't the only one at the end who was ready to make a break for freedom (or a bathroom!) as we waited for all the exams to be picked up, all the exit passes handed out, and everyone to leave row by row.

But I got through it. Thank the goddess for coffee and dark chocolate, I got through it. And I think I did OK: I finished all the questions and even had time to check some of my answers.

To celebrate having it over, I went out with Kara for all-you-can-eat sushi. We went to a place called My Sushi, and the all-you-can-eat menu had teriyaki and tempura as well (and ice cream! All you can eat ice cream is a beautiful thing) so I knew that despite not liking sushi, I wouldn't go hungry. But Kara had convinced me to try some “beginner's sushi” (has anyone else read Sushi for Beginners?) So we had spicy tuna, spicy salmon, and dragon rolls. I liked the spicy salmon rolls the best, though the spicy tuna wasn't bad either. Both had rice on the outside, with some crunchy stuff that was really good. Its the texture of the seaweed that bugs me, always makes me feel like I'm going to gag, but without the seaweed wrapper I quite liked it! (Enough that we got another order of the spicy salmon!) The dragon rolls had avocado, crab, eel, and salmon on the outside. I didn't mind the avocado, but the raw salmon gave me that gaggy feeling again. I declined to try the crab or eel. (Yes, I'm a wimp.) We also had tempura and beef teriyaki, both of which were quite yummy. And green tea ice cream for desert. So, it turns out that I don't hate sushi, I even like some of it! I might just be adapting to big city life.

So, one more exam to go, then just the long wait for results. That's the worst part: worrying about how I did, but not being able to do a damn thing about it! As it happens, the Solicitor's Exam is on the first day of NXNE, so I think my reward for getting through it all will be an armband. Four days, 450 bands! Now, I can't go to all of them, so here is the link: I'm soliciting suggestions from my more musically knowledgeable friends about which are the “must see” ones.