End of One Journey, Start of Another Friday Random Ten

This morning, while I was shopping and trying to distract myself from wondering about the NXCLEX (the test I took Wednesday), I ran into my old counselor, Tom W., at Trader Joe's. Tom figured in this old post about the terrible Our Lady Of Angels fire here in Chicago in 1958. I had seen him for a while in trying to deal with the double whammy of a divorce and the frustration I was feeling trying to get a teaching job. Now I was running into him as I was getting ready to start a new career-- a response to dealing with the fact that teaching jobs were becoming scarce. I felt it was a good omen.

At 2 pm, exactly 48 hours after I started the test (you can get your "unofficial" results 48 business hours after you test-- for a $7.95 fee), I checked the website of the company that administered the test, and it told me that my results were available. I paid my $7.95 and got my results: Pass.

I felt a little lightheaded. I texted my son (he can't get phone calls at work) and called my parents. I joked about my brother's layabout ex-wife, who somehow never finished her nursing degree that she started long before I started mine. They were, needless to say, delighted, as was my wife, who I called next. And then, of course, I posted on Facebook.

It stands as a tribute to the program I was in that so far everybody I graduated with who tested has passed. The program was a ballbuster, but we know our shit.

So now, time to find a job, and start a new journey.

1. Green Shirt- Elvis Costello and the Attractions
2. Castles Made of Sand- Jimi Hendrix
3. Take Me Home, Country Roads- Toots and the Maytalls
4. Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)- The Impalas
5. Situation- Yaz
6. Jet Set- Joe Jackson
7. Rednecks- Randy Newman
8. It's a Long Way To the Top- AC/DC
9. Personality Crisis- The New York Dolls
10. Cruisin' For A Love- The J. Geils Band


Notes:
1. Back when Elvis Costello was angry. A disco spoof.
2. A Hendrix song of dreams lost and found. Perfect for today.
3. A lovely reggae cover of the John Denver classic.
4. This was the song the boys kept singing in "Stand By Me."
5. Love this eighties classic.
6. Joe Jackson seems to come out with a great album about every five years.
7. An ironic song, frequently mistaken as racist.
8. First grew to love this song after hearing it at the end of "School of Rock."
9. This was the first Dolls song I ever heard.
10. The J. Geils Band was one of the first bands I ever saw, at the "Superbowl of Rock" at Soldier's Field in 1977. Still love them.