I’ve just discovered that I cannot use or even think the word “preparation” without immediately mentally supplying the “H” after it. As in Preparation H, that little tube of hemorrhoid cream that no one ever wants to talk about. I’m always impressed at great marketing/branding and this is a fantastic example. First, it’s a terribly bland and vague name for a product, and second, it’s not exactly a product that could be considered sexy in the least, and yet, it immediately comes to mind when I think “preparation”. Well done, Marketing People. Well done.

The good news is that this blog has nothing to do with creams for your nether regions. Thank heavens, right? The bad news is that it is a blog about my LACK OF PREPARATION. I think we’ve all been there. You know you have a big important test, meeting, (insert really important responsibility here), and you KNOW you’ve got to get on the ball and do your due diligence, and yet there’s always something more urgent. Then you find yourself scrambling at the very last minute trying to cram everything in and you end up not quite getting there.

So, in my typically long-winded, slightly round-about fashion, I must report, that I did NOT pass the Refrigeration License Exam. You may remember that I posted about taking the exam a couple of weeks ago and was cautiously hopeful that I’d eked out a passing score. As it turns out, I missed it by FOUR points. Two questions. And one giant disappointment. AAAARGH!

If I’m being honest with myself, I knew going in that I wasn’t 100% ready. I took the classes and I got myself the 2,000 question study guide. I had all of the information I needed, but I only made it through just over half of the practice questions in my weeks of studying prior to the test. I had hoped that it would be enough. But in reality, all I needed was just a tad more Preparation H. Dammit! Preparation. It’s not my bum that needed help here. It was my BRAIN.

Well, lesson learned. Now I must wait the required time before reapplying for the test, but I will take it again. And I will pass this test. No, scratch that. I will DOMINATE this test. Because I’m mad at myself for trying to eke by. I am not a half-asser. And I’m embarrassed at behaving as if I was. That will not happen again. I can and will kick this test’s butt.

OK, so now I’ve gotta go study…