Dear Santa Claus,

Can you believe it? Christmas is almost here! Well, I bet you haven’t forgotten, what with all the little elves scuttling around and all of the lists that you are double checking. It must be hectic! I hope everything is running on schedule and none of the poor reindeer are catching the horrible cold going around.

I’m really looking forward to this Christmas. A fresh, new Boyfriend, made especially just for me. Could a girl wake up to a better present? *happy sigh* I have complete faith in your taste, Santa dearest, and I know that you would never let a girl down, especially when she’s been so good for so long.

In fact, I have such perfect faith that you’re going to give me my greatest desire, that I have something to confess. I went wedding dress shopping* today. The very first dress I tried on fit like a glove and swirled around and I looked beautiful. Like a princess. If Boyfriend could have seen me, he would have proposed at that moment, I’m sure. It was a sign, it’s The Dress. So now, I’ve got the dress. I’ve got the location, the flowers, the jewelry and color schemes**. I’ve even got the first dance song. All I need is for you to fulfill your promise.

Only 4 more days! I shan’t be able to sleep in excitement, I fear!

Lots of love,

Julia

*Disclaimer. Dress was only tried on because Best Friend Liz was having her wedding dress fit (she actually has a groom too!) and the temptation was too great to resist. And I did look gorgeous. Pictures are forthcoming as soon as I can get them loaded from my camera (I don’t have the right cable), to be handed out to all of the eligible young gentleman of your acquaintance. If Santa doesn’t come through, I’m going to need a back up plan!
**Disclaimer 2. I really don’t have the flowers and location and the colors. But I do have the song. 😀

I had thought that my entry back home after the last of my interviews would be one of introspection, pros and cons lists of all the programs, description of my visit with Susan, etc.

But I wasn’t prepared for the catastrophe that awaited me here.

A little back story. Way back when, the Dean’s Office emailed me in a panic, stating that I had to register for my next part of my Boards, aka STEP 2 CK, before Dec 31st or woe, gloom and doom, would befall me. I had planned on taking it the last week in December for a while, and got on to register… only to find out that the only available date to take it was Dec. 20th. So I registered to take it then, dropped a class to fit in an accelerated study schedule, but I wasn’t very happy about it. And by the end of November, I was freaked out–there was no way with all of the interviews that I would be anywhere near ready.

About two and a half weeks ago, I was searching through and discovered to my excitement that someone had changed their schedule, and the test was available on the 28th of Dec instead. Perfect. So I rescheduled the exam, with a couple of clicks of a button.

Or so I thought.

Today, I had the thought that maybe, maybe Dec. 31st might be available (who wants to take it on News Years Eve?? Only crazy procrastinators like me), because any extra days of studying would be great now.

And I kept getting error messages. My scheduling number didn’t work. The confirmation number said that the test date had passed. And I couldn’t find an email that stated that the exam had been rescheduled.

Yeah, you guess the story. Somehow, the scheduling changes didn’t go through, and I missed the exam that I was scheduled to take today.

I panicked. Big time. I went up to the Dean’s Office, where of course everybody was gone (in their defense there has been a nasty cold/flu going around that I probably caught just by going up there). I managed to find someone, and between the sobs and hysterics (I don’t do well with life-ruining stress at all), managed to find a number to talk to someone. I can’t do anything for forty-eight hours–I can’t check and see if there are places/times available for me to even try to reschedule. Plus, I have to pay a “rescheduling fee” for missing the test, and if no places are available by the 31st, I have to pay an “extension fee” as well.

I have no idea if things are fixed (I almost put that in quotation marks as well), but I’m tired of worrying about it. I’ve done what I can. I’ve talked to everybody, called the big important people, and all of that. There’s a chance now that I won’t match with a residency, because apparently, the Dean’s Office tells them on Match Day whether or not I’ve passed the test (wow, that would have been nice to know six months ago!!!) and they can back out if I haven’t. All for something that wasn’t my fault.

I’m in better spirits now than I was earlier (I guess The Legend of Zorro was good for something after all!), but I’m still ready to go to bed and just start over tomorrow. Because it can’t be as bad, can it?