Picture this:
Recent law school graduate who has been studying like crazy for the bar exam decides to do the responsible thing and go check out the hotel in which the test will be administered. It seems like a good idea to make sure of the location, parking...etc..and if you are a believer in conscious creation or visualization or any of that, it helps to have a very concrete picture of the desired goal. In this case - feeling calm and being successful while taking the bar exam.
OK. Said graduate/bar applicant speaks to hotel staff who directs her to the main banquet room that most students will be in - says she'll have someone unlock the door. Very nice. Walk through the hotel that was probably fairly nice in its day, but has become somewhat run down. Still, decent enough, with the bonus of not being downtown where parking would be very difficult and expensive.
A helpful hotel worker unlocks the door. Small talk is made about the bar exam, and others who have similarly asked to check out the room. A casual question is posed by about the assumption that power strips, or something, will be provided for all of the test-takers needing to plug in laptops.
"Uh...no, I don't think so. We could run a few extensions and try to help out anyone who needs to plug in."
WHAT????????
The room starts to spin.
Applicant tries to remain calm. This does not make sense. NO ONE has a laptop battery that will last for the duration of day one - which even if a person shut down during breaks and instruction periods is about 7 hours. We cannot possibly be expected to run on our batteries.
Applicant thanks the man and goes back to helpful front desk person. She has no clue but suggests that catering could answer questions after 8:00 tomorrow morning. "So could the Oregon State Bar" thinks the applicant. Surely they would not do this to us after making us spend $140 on software and leading us to believe we could use our laptops.
Visions of hand-cramping as she tries to write 9 essays, and a performance test fill applicant's head. She tries to remember to breathe deeply. This "reassuring" trip has not proven to be as calming as she'd hoped.
P.S. - Catering assured me this morning that Hollywood Lighting is providing power (glorious power!), so no worries about plugging in laptops. *WHEW* Think there might be a case for negligent infliction of emotional distress had I actually suffered physical injury. Who even HINTS that there might not be power for the bar exam?
6 comments:
Phew is right! One less thing to stress about.
I love you honey and I'm in your corner and on your side 1000%
YOU CAN DO THIS!
I thought about having a similar freak out and convinced myself that of course they will be providing power outlets. But I haven't confirmed it. So now I might start stressing out. They do allow people to bring in external monitors (wtf) and keyboards, so that must mean there's power. it must.
As if there is not enough to freak out about, we create stuff that isn't even an issue to stress over. Although, in my defense, I wasn't all that worried until they guy said there would be no power!
*ditto Blur*
Is the test at the Monarch again? I scoped it out with some of the fall graduates last feb before they took it. It felt very dated.
Blur - yes, that's the place. There is what looks like it was once a really nice artificial stream running under the skybrige and over near the pool, but it is all dry now, which leaves a lot of ugly cement exposed. The front lobby makes the hotel seem like it might be nice, then the further into the hotel you go, the more you realize - not so much.
I'm not staying there. So one of my additional stresses is potential traffic congestion between my house and Clackamas. Should take about half an hour, but I am thinking I will give myself an hour and a half, maybe two hours. Insane!
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