I passed my Pre-Juvenile Moves in the Field test yesterday. What a relief! I didn’t make any major mistakes and all three judges passed me with no reskates. I felt pretty good during the test, but nerves were a bit of an issue. I didn’t skate any of the moves as well as the best I’ve ever skated them in practice or during a lesson. Still, I was able to show sufficient mastery of the moves to pass the test. Much of the actual testing is a blur; I don’t remember many details. I think I remembered to keep my chin up, but I don’t remember consciously thinking about it. I wish I had a video tape so that I could analyze how I skated in a little more detail. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
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I got started with a new project this week, using the yarn I bought at the Ram & Rose last Thursday. Because I started it while watching a video of the Pirates of Penzance (specifically while listening to Kevin Kline’s rendition of “I am a Pirate King”), this bag pattern will always be inextricably linked with that song. Now, every time I sit down to work on it, the song starts going through my head. Sigh. At least it’s a good/fun/happy song!
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Well, Cindy signed my test form yesterday after my lesson and I sent it off to the Sherwood FSC test chair. I tried to call and explain the situtation in advance, but couldn’t get ahold of anyone yesterday. Hopefully, it will arrive either today (the official deadline) or tomorrow, and it will be post-marked on the 11th, since I mailed it before 5 p.m. Since it doesn’t take a very highly rated judge to to a pre-juvenile moves test, and I know that they’ll have at least one other person (i.e. Jeanie) taking the exact same test, I hope they’ll just let me in.
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I finally got around to reading the entire first chapter of the Robert Irwin real estate investing book that I borrowed via Summit. After reviewing quite a few books, I think this one might be a good one to purchase for future reference. I like his style; it’s not technical, but it’s not a “get rich quick” book either. It seems to give a realistic, if somewhat simplified, view of what is involved in real estate investing. Hopefully, I’ll be able to mostly finish it up this weekend and have a much better idea if real estate investing is the way to go when we get the house fully paid off in October.

After finally finishing all of the lingering bag projects I had hanging around, I’m now ready to start a new project. But I can’t quite figure out what to do. I bought some nice yarn to make a small sunburst bag last night at the Rose and Ram, but I’d also like to do something with that red Trendsetter flashy yarn and red merino yarn. I found some patterns in my pattern-a-day calendar today, one for a hat and one for a tank top, that might also be nice with the red yarn. I’ll have to take some time to try some actual knitting this weekend.

I was planning to test my pre-juvenile moves at Sherwood at the end of August, but now that the deadline for submitting the application draws near, I’m having second thoughts. Making the application submission deadline is going to be difficult, given that I won’t see Cindy until Aug. 11th and the form is due to the test chair in Wilsonville on Aug. 12th. I’ll check with her and see if I can either drop the application off at the rink on the 12th (and take the day off from work so that I can skate the coffee club session) or see if she’d be willing to accept it when it arrives at her place after I mail it on the 11th. If neither of those options is acceptable, then I guess I’ll just wait until the November session in Eugene.
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