The CSET

Well, I did one of the dumber things of my life today and registered to sit for the next CSET test. The CSET is the California Subject Examination for Teachers that has to be passed in addition to earning a credential to be able to teach. Because I can NOT teach elementary school, and could only entertain the idea of middle and high school, I would have to get a single subject credential and pass the CSET for that subject, and since really the only subject I am interested in teaching with any sort of longevity is French... here I am, now signed up for a 5 hour French test that includes reading, writing, speaking and listening. This is not going to be pretty. It might be one thing if it was one long multiple-choice test on French grammar with an essay question or two, but unfortunately it's plenty of essay questions, a recorded speaking prompt (and I have not spoken French in YEARS) and the multiple choice questions range from grammar to geography, history, politics, culture and more in France and the entire Francophone, meaning I will also need to study geography, history, politics, culture and more for Guadaloupe, French Guinea, Haiti, Martinique, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Cote d'Ivoire and beyond. Ain't nobody got time for that! The worst part is that the study guides are non-existent. I couldn't find anything in any bookstore, and online all my searches only yielded a thin practice exam that is riddled with typos and horribly outdated (one question asks who the current French president is and is labeled 1995). I can't find any real information about what will be on there and what to study, most of my knowledge is from this joke of a practice test.

Why the hell am I taking this? Honestly, I have no idea. I figure, I won't get any better the longer I wait, and may as well just jump in, sink or swim, and see how well I can tread water or how much further I'll have to go. I do love teaching, but I couldn't fathom teaching anything I'm not passionate enough about, and nothing else is really doing it for me, except maybe Health, but we all know that's a dying breed too. So, come January 11, I will be significantly humiliated and mentally exhausted with taking a test I am sadly unprepared for.

In other news, I went to the Dictionary and looked up "useless lumps" and found this picture in it

Hot or not?

...coincidentally it's exactly what is happening in the other room of the house right now by my sisters!