The Praxis of Evil

The Praxis is the SAT/GRE for teachers wishing to be certified to teach at public schools. I don't know if I want to end up in a public school, but it doesn't hurt to have the certification. And in delay there lies no plenty (so come kiss me sweet and twenty).

So I'm just getting 'er done. But I'll be a monkey's uncle before I do more test prep than I need to. It's pass/fail, and I have no illusions about the usefulness of standardized testing. It's just a piece of paper to wave at the gatekeepers so I can get through the door.

So I got some practice tests, and I'm working through them, to see what I actually need to study. I did two today, math first, since I thought it would be easy (pretty much, though it wouldn't hurt to brush up on some algebra stuff.) and reading. Get the easy one's out of the way, less to think about. Math I only did alright on. Plenty good enough to pass, but just ok. Reading I got to feel good about. I finished with time to spare and only one question wrong. Which is good, because if I was biting it, I have no idea how I would prepare for that.

I'm a little worried about the last one, of the three, the writing test. I'll do fine on the multiple choice questions, but I need to find out how the score bad spelling. Because I have bad spelling. Also, I won't really know what my score is going to be like, since the practice test doesn't include an actual person scoring my essay. And the essays have to be neat and proper and well formatted. Really, it shouldn't be a problem, I mean, for crying out loud, I write monster posts every week, on this blog, even when I try and write something short because I love writing so much. This should be one of my strengths.

On the other hand, they're not going to ask me to write a stream of consciousness post about what I had for breakfast and the purpose of the universe, so it may not be my genre. Though I want to write a blog post in perfectly-proper super-formatted standardized essay format. But about what I normally blog about. Which I imagine will have an aesthetic effect somewhat like stuffing an enormously fat clown into a tuxedo designed for humanoid mantis aliens.

Seriously, there were like ten spelling errors I just corrected, looking back on what I'd written. Hopefully that's just one point off.


Anyhoo, I wanted to share the saga of the Mustache. But... it's already time for bed again. And I'm really trying to not go to bed at a million o'clock.

...

And somehow I never ended up posting this, and it's days later. And there's so much more to post, to write about. so much more to share. Significant oral surgery. Hoards of bumble-bee's frolicking among mint flowers at dusk. Gettin' stuff done like a boss. My last session with my awesome psychologist-in-training (there's a PsyD program at Antioch so therapy is super-duper affordable.)

Ah well. I'll get what I can down in future posts. But I've got a test or two to cram for this week, so that's taking top priority. And right below that is looking for where I'm going to be living next year, once my lease runs out, a month from now.

Good night and much love, friends and family. I hope your evening is as peaceful as mine is, sitting on the patio, surrounded by my mom's blooming garden and trees. Trees rustling in the breeze, a lone bird calling out in the cool, damp air.

-IO