"The 'Bu"

I finished another chapter in Bianca Reagan: Where the Action Is! Six more to go! An excerpt from Ch. 17:

“I have to put my whole hand in the scanner? I thought it was a fingerprint.”

“New company policy. Sign here please.”

“Which of the many forms is this?”

“It releases the company, the testing center, and the test administrators from liability for any injuries you may incur while at the facility. This includes, but is not limited to, falls, sprains, broken bones, eyestrain, seizures, cancer, and/or death, and you are present in the facility and are taking the exam of your own free will.”

I looked at the form. “To apply to business school, I am required to take and pass this four-hour-long exam. It is only administered on flickering computer screens instead of in paper form. And, at 25 miles away, this is the closest facility to my home. To enter and exit the exam room, I have to repeatedly place my hand on a radioactive machine. So yes. I am exposing my body to eyestrain, highway collisions, and cancer by my own free will.” I signed the papers and handed them back to the administrator.

“This way, please.”

.

Sunshine and Overcast Drizzle

The raininess: I took my first practice full-length GMAT in my room today. It was so hard. I kept freezing on the work problems and the reading comprehension. I almost didn't finish the Quantitative section. I think I did okay on the Analytical Writing Assessment, which I only recently discovered doesn't count in your Total GMAT score. I have four weeks until the real exam, so I can do better. I am going to continue studying diligently. I need a hug.

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Sunshine: I was reading The Argonaut last night for the first time in years, and I came across this article, Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is keynote speaker at West L.A. Democratic Club, by Helga Gendell. I should read this free newspaper more often. Here are some choice excerpts:

Kucinich said he wants to be a healing president, end the occupation of Iraq, and restate America's position in the world...

...On nuclear weapons, he said that it's not for the U.S. to pick who should or shouldn't have nuclear power, asking, 'Do we want the threat of extinction for our children and grandchildren?'

Kucinich advocates getting rid of all nuclear weapons, referring to the non-proliferation treaty that provides for all nuclear weapons to be abolished.

On abortion, Kucinich said that the ruling on partial-birth abortion by the Supreme Court 'was very destructive, and that Roe v. Wade has to be protected to protect women's rights to privacy and the right to decide, working with their doctor.'

America needs a culture that affirms life and heals, providing for pre-natal and post-natal care, a living wage, economic opportunities and giving people the right to make choices, he said.

Regarding immigration, Kucinich said, 'It's a great shame that slave labor is allowed to exist and that system needs to be stopped.'

'No fines should be paid (by immigrants), no one should be made to go back, and we should stop scapegoating immigrants,' said Kucinich...

...The education system is becoming dangerous, creating a two-class society, and education has become a privilege rather than a right, said Kucinich.

On the subject of student loans and tuition, the question is always, 'Where will we get the money?' said Kucinich.

No one asked, 'Where will we get the money when we went to war in Iraq and borrowed money from China to fight,' Kucinich said.

And my favorite part:

Another audience member asked if the candidate is still supporting a 'Department of Peace' to look at society's issues ' domestic violence with spousal and child abuse, school violence, gangs, guns, racial violence, anti-gay violence and police clashes with citizens ' and Kucinich said he had proposed a bill and that 62 members of Congress already support the idea.

I don't understand why all the mainstream coverage mocks Dennis Kucinich as a funny-looking kook with crazy ideas. He's no John Edwards, but he does have valid facts and opinions to add to the political discourse. I don't fully understand why NOW is endorsing Senator Clinton when Senator Clinton still hasn't apologized for essentially authorizing the illegal occupation of Iraq. Peace is good for women. War is not. I hate that I had to get informed about a two-time Presidential candidate by accidentally reading an article in the middle of my local newspaper. I should be getting this on my TV, front and center.

Getting into B-School, and Unnecessary Guilt Trips.

In a completely unrelated note, I discovered a crusty scab on the top of my head from the straightening on Saturday. Lovely. I hate getting burned.

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To the topics at hand. I've been studying for the GMAT, because someday I'll actually be going to business school. The GMAT is hard. Like, for reals. I'm a smart lady, but some of this stuff is ridiculous. Since I started my focused concentration a couple weeks ago, I've become less intimidated by test. I'm pretty good at Sentence Correction, since I was the freak who enjoyed my Grammar classes in Middle and Upper school. And my Problem Solving skills aren't so bad either. I have never liked Reading Comprehension, and the GMAT is only solidifying that opinion, but I'll muddle through that section. However, nothing can justify the existence of the Data Sufficiency portion of the exam. Oh my goodness. Here is a Sample Data Sufficiency Question, provided by the Graduate Management Admissions Council:

If a real estate agent received a commission of 6 percent of the selling price of a certain house, what was the selling price of the house?

(1) The selling price minus the real estate agent's commission was $84,600.
(2) The selling price was 250 percent of the original purchase price of $36,000.

(A) Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.

(B) Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.

(C) BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.

(D) EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.

(E) Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.

Pencils down. The answer is (D).

FYI, no calculators are allowed. Also, you cannot skip any questions. They appear one at a time on the computer screen, and you must pick an answer before you can move on to the next one. And you have to do it quickly, because the GMAT is timed, and "there is a severe penalty for not completing" the test. Super!

Side note: one of my Sentence Correction questions today involved King Henry VII and Anne Boleyn. Ugh. I am so sick of The Tudors, and I haven't even seen a full episode. Although with all the multi-platform promotion thrown in my face, it feels like I've endured the entire series. Give it a rest, Showtime. Three straight months of commercials is not going to make me watch your "historical" (as if), oversexed, misogynist, Eurocentric, war-mongering, patriarchal crap, no matter how many times Jonathan Rhys-Meyers screeches, "I'm the king of England!"

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Second part. I went to the Post Office to buy stamps earlier this week, and that is always a to-do with me. I am very picky about the stamps that I like, for various reasons. I was running out of the Longfellow stamps that I had purchased last month, and I liked those. They have pretty shades of blue around the old man's face. So I planned to buy more of them. I waited in the line, and it moved relatively quickly, by Post Office standards. The woman behind the counter showed me collage of the colorful choices available, even though half of them were Xed out.

I selected the Longfellow again, along with DC Comics Super Heroes, With Love and Kisses, Lunar New Year, and Crops of the Americas. Altogether, it was about 100 stamps. The woman asked me if that was all I needed, and I said, Yes. I didn't need any more Post Office paraphernalia. Then she asked me, "Are you sure? What about the Ella Fitzgerald stamps?"

What about them?! I had just picked out almost $40 worth of stamps. I didn't need anymore. Was I supposed to buy them because they have BLACK HERITAGE in bold caps at the top? As if Ella Fitzgerald was only significant to black people, and not to American History in general.

I simply told the woman, No, paid for my stamps, and didn't make a stink. Luckily the woman was black, so I didn't feel the need to scowl at her or make a snippy remark. Though I did wonder, if I had been East Asian, would she have pushed even more Lunar New Year stamps on me? And what if she assumed I was Jewish? Should I have bought the Hanukkah stamps? There weren't any timely Passover ones on display.

I know the woman was probably just being nice, and I was being overly sensitive as usual. But this isn't the only time I've felt obligated to support something because I was black. I don't have any other pertinent examples at the moment. I'm sure I'll think of something later. Ooh, Soul Plane. That was just an embarrassment to everyone involved. More realistically though, Malcolm X. I was being pressured into going to see this movie by some adults in my life when it came out in St. Thomas. I don't have an excuse for not seeing it now. But at the time, I was 10 years old, and the movie was over three hours long. And to my knowledge, Malcolm X did not involve any singing crabs, dancing teapots, or wisecracking genies. So why would I have wanted to see it?

I did watch Kevin Hill, despite critics assuming that black people don't watch black dramas. I'm still not over that show being cancelled. Nor am I over the end of Everwood. I don't care that the series' respective networks technically no longer exist, or that their respective stars Taye Diggs and Treat Williams are both headlining new series that should be airing sometime this year. Strangely enough, Taye and Treat will both be playing doctors in dramatic situations. Because we don't have enough of them on the TV already.