The Trials and Tribulations of the not-so-New Bear Icon

It's been a pretty busy weekend here. I guess I did get a little jump start on being more social. We saw Hairspray on Friday night which was good. much better than I thought it would be. Travolta seems to be in another movie, or doesn't get the joke, but he does OK. The new Tracy, Nicole Blonsky, does a really good job with the whole thing, but it seems, thinking back to my recollection of the original movie Tracy get's the spotlight. in the new film they turn the attention away from her at the very end, and highlight her more famous co-stars. The new Tracy is so good, I wish they would have let it play out as it once did.

I just finished Michael Tolliver Lives which is a good book. Not high literature or anything, but a good solid read. It has much to do with getting older and the changes your relationships with people take, so it resonated a lot with me, even though the character is 15 years my senior.

I finished that book so I can now get on to reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yes, I'm one of those people as well, but I tend to read at a more leisurely pace, so I probably won't be finished with it for a couple of weeks or so. I don't think I could - or even would like to devour the book like some have done this weekend. I fully expect to have the ending spoiled for me by the time I get through, if not by LJ (and some of you have already come close...) probably by Chris.

Chris bought me a copy of the book when he got his on Saturday morning. we bought two because I didn't want to wait on him to finish before I got started, and I thought he would take it on his trip to Miami coming up. Well, Chris is already half way through it, only slowed down by some training he needed to do and my desire to pick up comic books. I guess I could have waited and would have had it in my hands by Tuesday. oh well, we can always give a copy to a library or something when we're done.

We went to Zeus because their 7th anniversary sale included discounts on the new titles, so it was a good deal. Richard (dedagda) was very excited about his upcoming trip to Comicon. I know it will be cool for him because he goes in as the reigning champ of store owners after last year's Eisner win. We talked a lot about what new TV shows they might introduce at the con. I mentioned The Bionic Woman, Chuck and New Amsterdam (which I think has been retitled). Perhaps they will talk about the upcoming plans for a Shazam! movie, or the long awaited Watchmen flick.

One of these days I should go out to Comicon. It sounds like a total nerdy blast!

Chris and I finished the weekend going out to Dave and Busters for their dinner and tokens special where we earned a lot of those yellow tickets at things like skeeball and those strange coin drop games. Unlike say Chuck E Cheese, the food is pretty good and you don't feel like a dork playing skeeball next to a 10 year old. Still, most of the prizes you can win for those tickets are made for those much younger than us, though I don't know anyone who needs a set of clip on dolls of the Blue Collar comedians.

I also picked up some new music, including the new Magic Numbers album, which is good. We did miss Entourage tonight, so we haven't totally gotten our fill of pop culture this weekend.

Hello LJ Land! Long time no see.

I guess I should just get this off of my chest first, since it seems to be the most important thing that's happened lately. Today, somewhere around 5:30 pm, I became a licensed general securities representative. I still can't sell you anything, because there's a state sales license that I would need, but hey, I'm one step closer.

I'm just going to re-phrase it all and put it into bigger letters: I Passed the NASD Series 7 Exam!

It's a really big relief. Although my current job wouldn't have changed had I failed, many more jobs open up to me now, and that's a good thing...the other good thing is that I shouldn't ever have to take this whole damned thing again. No, it won't be the last license exam I'll ever have to take if I keep going forward, but it is one of the biggest hurdles.

Now I know someone who remembers back to my last post might be saying, "Weren't you supposed to take this test two weeks ago?" The answer is yes, but when I actually got a mentor to teach me most of what I didn't know/understand about options, she looked at me and asked me if I was really ready for this test. I honestly said that i wasn't, and she asked if I still had time in the testing window. The test is scheduled, you have to take it in a certain period of time, or you have to pay to set up another time window. I said I'll look to see if I could postpone. Luckily there was one date left at not the original testing site, but the one off in Ft. Worth. So that's when I moved it.

Since rescheduling, I really finally learned what I was supposed to know. Seriously, two weeks ago I had some knowledge, but I really would have bombed the test. No, I didn't get more mentorship, or help from the company, but I did get to borrow a book that made sense (not the one the company provides) and I got busy with the online trial tests that really did give me the information I needed. Apparently much of the reading I did in the other books was a waste of time, and I plan to tell our training department that.

I feel really good about this, because I did it mostly by myself. I could have done more to look for help, and probably should have, but in the end, I scored a 75, which is two points higher than the national average. You need a 70 or higher to pass. Think about that folks, most of the financial advisors of the world passed with a C- average. Makes you think about your money.

The whole thing is something I've done before when I took the Series 6 eight years ago, you sit in a little cubicle with a monitor and a mouse, and choose the best answer of the four choices given. The difference is that you get a lunch break because the test is just that long. The testing center was next to a Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3) and normally i'd get a trivia box and play, but after punching answers 1-4 for a few hours, I wanted to get away from answering more questions.

The waitress at BW3 asked me if I was taking the Series 7. I said yes, and she said that they get several people for lunch who are taking it. Apparently it's the most common test with a lunch break. She asked why I wasn't huddled over books and papers, trying to cram for the second half. Apparently many of the afternoon patrons are looking for the littlest edge, but I said to her, "I either know it or I don't. A few more minutes of trying to dredge up trivia isn't going to help me much."

I'll admit that the last month or so has really gotten me off my stride as I retreated from the online world a bit, trying to use that time for a better cause, but I didn't stay a total hermit. I have watched the bigger season finale episodes of shows and Chris and I have been out to see Spiderman 3 and Shrek the Third (I could have waited for both - doesn't bode well for Pirates 3), and we saw Better than Ezra at the Wildflower! Festival (click for a blurry photo).

Still, my workout schedule is all screwed up, and my work ours have gotten jostled as I tried to pick up overtime hours and still study, and sleep. I look forward to getting back to normal, and perhaps cooking a little more because our eating out budget has gotten out of hand, and dang it if gas didn't finally hit $3.00 a gallon this past week.

Chris took me out to Texas Land and Cattle tonight to celebrate. I was quite happy to be celebrating, and quite happy to see what comes next. Right now I'm more excited to be able to read a normal book, one that's fiction, and has nothing to do with my job, investments, or anything dealing with the number 7.