Getting Off The Ground

My new career has taken off - actually both of them. :-)

The past two and ahalf weeks I have been feverishly learning everything I can about my new employer and the signature color and cut looks they offer. It has been an exhausting but rewarding experience thus far - and we haven't even had our official grand opening yet (that's tomorrow).

In the midst of all of this, I took my State Board practical exam in Topeka. Let me say, that experience was the most nerve wracking I can remember. The whole way home I second-guessed myself and ran over all of the supposed errors I thought I'd made and the things I couldn't remember if I did properly. It was a nightmare!

For three days before the exam I hardly slept. Then I took the exam and hardly slept for days thereafter. I'd run into a girl there who was retaking her exam and she had to come back and retake the critical blood spill section. Her overall score was a 92% but since she'd failed the critical portion, she failed the entire thing and had to stop work and wait two months before she could retake that section. The idea of that happening sent me into a bit of a tailspin.

So when I received my letter two days ago, I whooped and hollered so much I couldn't stand myself - passed with a 94% and 100% for the critical blood spill. My son never had any doubts (nor did Tonya, you little stinker). For the first night in more than two weeks I slept like a log.

Today is my first day off in ten days and I'm hitting the second part of my career full-force in the midst of a full-blown storm outside. I just LOVE writing amidst thunderstorms! I've been furiously working on cleaning up and perfecting my second draft for posting as an eBook on Amazon. More and more I am convinced that this window of opportunity could lead to success in this industry.

For the past several years, there have been just dramatic changes in the publishing industry that will never allow it to go back to its former days. Think of it as the i-Tunes of publishing. Online music changed that industry in many ways for the better. That is my (and many others) hope for the publishing realm.

And I want to be one of those on the ground floor to see it happen.

So soon you will see http://www.readersmatrix.com/ and http://www.indiewritersalliance.com/ on a computer screen near you.

Then shortly thereafter you'll see the first of my novels, Running into the Darkness, hit the screen.

The small screen, that is. But hey, I'll take the big screen maybe someday too. :-)

But first things first - getting off the ground with my cosmo career. Isn't life interesting these days?

That's what I thought.

Nine Months Down

Check off another milestone in nine months of my schooling.

Today I completed the remainder of my final tests in anticipation of my graduation next week from cosmetology school. After having already completed and passed my State Board written examination, it almost seemed redundant.

But I still aced it!

It seems so strange to think that nine months ago I started this journey. Now it is nearly complete. At first, it felt as if the idea of nine months was going to drag on and on forever. At this stage, it seems almost surreal that I'm almost done. However, this week things have begun to drag again in anticipation of that 1,500 hours mark.

Gee, I wonder what next week will feel like???

Monday and Tuesday I'll be putting in whole days (booked solid, by the way). Wednesday morning I'll put in two and ahalf hours. Then it is off to packing up my stuff and loading up the bus.

Several girls have already gotten a little teary-eyed when we start talking about next week. Others keep saying they wonder how it will feel when I'm no longer there.

Hopefully it will give them incentive to make it to class everyday so they too can be missed soon.

For me, I'll be off tackling that first job in my chosen field. Then onto my future dreams of salon ownership.

Can hardly wait!

After all, look how quickly nine months have passed.

One Down - 200 More To Go

Well I have completed one major step in pursuit of my new career path and aspirations.

I passed my written State Board exam this morning!

It's hard to believe that eight months ago I started cosmetology school and now have only one more month to go. Then I'll get scheduled for my practical examination in Topeka.

For now this is a huge hurdle to have surmounted. I feel such relief tonight!

To graduate from school I'll need 1,500 hours, however a student may apply to the State Board to take their written exam at 1,000 hours (with the school's permission, of course). After several weeks of waiting, last week I finally received acknowledgment that they were approving me to proceed.

Having passed with a 91% means that the moment I certify completion of 1,500 hours I can accept employment and start working in a salon prior to my practical exam. Sometimes the wait to get into an available testing date for the practical can take a month or two. This way I won't be hampered by more time without an income stream into my happy little home.

But it does add a little more pressure for that crazy practical because if for some strange reason I DON'T pass my practical I then lose my temporary license immediately, must cease employment, and spend more time and money to retake the exam.

It can be a little hairy I've heard.

That's okay. For now I'm celebrating this little moment in time. Then in a month's time I'll celebrate the big completion.

Just under 200 hours more to go - woo-hoo!