I recently finished my first finance class on Personal Financial Planning. The class got me interested in the Life Insurance field so I signed up to take the Licensing Exam in L.A. The exam was on a Friday and I was studying like crazy that week staying up late nights and thinking to myself, “What in the world did I get myself into?”
Studying for this exam brought me back to my college days at Biola University. However, instead of my college buddies keeping me company during the late nights it was the dog (Buddy) that stayed up with me. It’s probably more productive that way. During college, when the exam got closer and closer I would get stressed out and start trying to distract my buddies from studying. Since there wasn’t anyone to distract I had to focus on studying. Bummer. During the late nights, while Buddy was trying his best to stay awake he would fall sound asleep by my feet. While asleep he would begin dreaming about whatever dogs dream about. I know this because his eyes were closed but he was still growling.
Finally the morning of the exam arrived. I got up extra early to get some more time in studying. Googled the directions to the test site in L.A. and took my wife’s GPS. The test was at 1pm and I left about two hours early. The Google directions and the GPS were saying two different things but I didn’t realize that until half way there. Despite leaving two hours early I was pressed for time. Only in L.A. is there “rush hour traffic” without it being rush hour. My air conditioning is currently not working so it felt like a million degrees in my car. If I’m late for the exam they close the doors and you have to reschedule.
Let’s recap: I’m running out of time despite leaving early, stuck in L.A. traffic while confused about the directions, and it’s a million degrees. That’s not exactly what you want to be going through before taking a big exam you’ve been studying for all week.
I had to call my wife for clarification on the directions. I mean we are talking about downtown L.A., not exactly the easiest place to get around if you don’t know where you’re going. After getting off the freeway, I decided to follow the GPS and it directed me right into a single lane construction site over a set of train tracks. Guess what? . . . wait for it . . . a train arrived and the one lane ceased to move. I was shaking my head in complete frustration while a Cal-Trans worker saw me and sympathized with me by saying, “That’s Eff(ed) up huh?” I nodded in agreement.
After the train finally passed by I was praying up a storm. Not so much in seeking the Lord that things will work out but to repent from cussing up a storm from the train delay. I finally got to the building and parked across the street for $9.00. Normally I wouldn’t mind parking further away if it meant not paying for parking but since I was pressed for time I gladly paid.
Entering the building there was a security check, of course. I finally made it to the test room after 27 total turns within the building. Despite the angst I made sure that I was friendly to everyone. Apparently, the workers there didn’t feel obligated to do the same. You simply hand them your ID and they check your name off of a list and tell you to sit at a computer. If you ask for help they have the “I can’t believe you’re asking for help on something you’ve never done” type of attitude.
Finding my computer I logged in with my password and begin the exam. The test site condition was slightly above a meth-lab and guess what? The air conditioning was not working and everyone was complaining about it. Sweet! Instead of listening to everyone complaining about the lack of air conditioning I thought about the time while I was in High School playing summer league. It was a tournament at Whittier High School and we played three games in one day (9am, 11am, then 1pm). The gym was about a million degrees but we played through it and won all three games. I said to myself “If I went through that basketball tournament I could go through this.” I love this game, so many life lessons to be learned.
I quickly finished the test with 33 minutes to spare. You turn in your paperwork back in the front and the employees rudely tell you to sit in the waiting room. After about another 30 minutes of waiting a person comes out with a batch of papers, which are the test results. They proceed to call people’s names but because of the lack of toner in the printer they had to tell you whether you passed or not in front of everyone. So I watched with eager anticipation as several people went up to receive their test results with a couple of “It looks like you passed” and a couple of “Sorry you didn’t(s).” The person handing out the results completely butchered my name, not surprising, and tells me I passed and to proceed to finger printing.
I joyfully walk up to the fingerprinting lady and tell her “Hello, how are you doing?” She says, “Fine” with a “Why the h*ll are you talking to me?” tone. So I just shut up and let her take my fingerprints. As I do cartwheels all the way to the parking lot I realize I actually paid $9.00 for parking and become upset again. In perspective though:
Life Insurance Exam = $37.00
Fingerprint scan = $60.95
Parking = $9.00
Passing your exam on the first try? = Priceless
My wife packed me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some trail mix. Remember that it was a million degrees so when I got to the car all the chocolate in the trail mix had melted to the point where I couldn’t open the bag because it was so sticky. Fortunately the peanut butter and jelly sandwich made it. Now I have the “pleasure” of driving out of downtown L.A. traffic while eating my sandwich. I don’t get how some people think that honking their horns in anger repeatedly and flipping every off would help move traffic along. I would simply tip my sandwich to them as I passed by.
Click here for Part II
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