I had a lovely day today.

I woke up early, had a shower, did my hair (well, flattened my hair), and did my best to look spic, span and incredibly sane ready for my psychological examination for Big Sister Big Brother (For those who are wondering BSBB is a mentoring program for dis-advantaged young people who need mentors). Mum offered to give me a lift into the City so we dropped Hannah at school then sat in rainy day traffic for an hour. Happily I was only about 5 minutes late.

At the YWCA (who run BSBB) I was shown into a shoe-box sized conference room and given my test. It was like doing those Maths and Science Competitions in school. I had a book full of statements and I had to circle my answer on an answer sheet. It was all multiple choice so I guess I have about a 1-in-4 chance of being insane. All the statements had to be answered with either:

F - False, never true
ST - Slightly True
MT - Mostly True
VT - Very True

They seemed to ask a lot of questions about whether I get nervous, if I take drugs, if I'm physically ill and if I often think about killing myself (I guess it's not a good example to have your mentor nervous, high, vomiting or killing themselves while you're out on an esteem building outing to the Zoo.) The questions were things like:

I have trouble controlling my anger - F
I think I have a lot to offer the world - ST
People tell my I have a drug problem - F
I think there are people inside my brain stealing my thoughts - GOGODY (Get out! Get Out Damn You!)
I would make a good stand-up comedian (Don't ask me what that had to do with anything but the very thought of it made me nervous, which probably meant I should have changed my answers to some of the earlier questions)

My favourite questions came up every 40 questions. For some reason on 40, 80, 120, 160 etc they just asked bizarre questions;

40 - My Favourite poet is Ryzard Extamper (I don't remember his actual name)
80 - I sometimes get ads in the mail I don't want
120 - My favourite sport to watch on TV is High Jump
160 - Most people would rather win than lose
200 - My favourite hobbies are Stamp Collecting and Archery

I can't remember the rest, but they were bizarre questions. And I'm not making them up. Anyway, they were fun. The whole test was fun. I was disappointed I couldn't have more interesting answers to the questions though.

After the test I decided to go for a train trip. I had a few hours to kill in the City before I met Jem. Usually when I'm in the city I sleep in the park, but because it was rainy, and I was tired, I decided to find somewhere dry I could sleep, read my book, and listen to music, so I caught a train. I went to Wollongong. It was a lovely trip. I slept and read. So relaxing.

I wandered around the Gong for a bit when I got there, ate lunch, then caught the train back again, sleeping and reading. I think I will do that kind of thing more often. Perhaps next time I will go further.

When I got back I had beer with Jem. That was good too. She's fun, Jem.

Tonight I came home and watch a movie on Foxtel with Mum.