Testing and Reading

I'm already becoming delinquent and I've barely even started. I suppose I have a legitimate excuse as I was studying for that feared phenomenon that seems ever present in our lives - the standardized test. As children and teenagers these tests are trying rights of passage that sometimes seem to have elusive control over the rest of our lives. As the college admissions process becomes more and more competitive, the stress and pressure around those 3 hours trapped in a room with a #2 pencil continues to increase.

As adults, one would hope we have a little more perspective, yet regression into childhood is almost inevitable when test day arrives. The format of this test was strikingly different (gmat). No droning proctors or #2 pencils in sight, it was all automated and computer adaptive, so while the room was full of other nervous test-takers, the process itself was entirely solitary. And to make matters worse, the scores to these computerized tests are ready right after you take it - the 30 seconds it takes the machine to compute it at the end are gut-twisting. Despite the trappings, and it seems regardless of age, the testing experience is pretty similar from decade to decade. Relief washes over at the end (as long as you didn't screw up), and you take a long walk from all the way downtown to soak in the city and your newly found relaxed self, and maybe get a bit of shopping in. Ok, so maybe I meant me, not you.

The testing thing also put a crimp in my reading for fun. I started The Tipping Point on the plane to Cali in mid-July, and have yet to finish the last stretch. I know I'm about 5 years too late to get excited about this book, but I still find it pretty exciting. Not least of all it is so well written that it's a pleasure to read. Malcolm Gladwell comes from the New Yorker school, and if you glance to the left you'll see how much I appreciate that publication, notwithstanding what I still think is a crazy use of the umlaut (the two dots) over the first of two adjacent vowels. Also, not widely known is the fact that the New Yorker has some of the best and most comprehensive event and cultural listings for New York that I've seen anywhere. Take a look, you'll see what I mean.