Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst

Studied Ignorance posted earlier on the issue of checking results alone or with others. Personally, I’m going to go with a plan similar to hers, with a few minor variations.

For the first time in months, I re-read my posts written immediately after failing and was instantly reminded of just how miserable that evening was. Although I did prepare for potentially bad news by getting fall down drunk, this did little other then somewhat mute the general shittiness of the evening. But as bad as the evening was, I think it would have been much worse had I elected to check results with a group.

I have a friend who got together with his study group to have drinks and check results together. Unfortunately for both him and the group, he was the one present who failed. Needless to say, it turned out to be a pretty shitty evening for him even though the group did everything they could to console him, and keep their celebrations to a minimum.

Tonight, I’m going to pack my survival kit for tomorrow, largely consisting of hotel size bottles of scotch, a pack of smokes, a bottle of Tylenol, and an energy bar. I’m guessing that my tolerance for the real world (i.e., work) will be exhausted by lunchtime, at which point I’m going to develop a sudden case of stomach flue, and then proceed to the nearest outdoor bar where I’ll pretend to read a book, chain smoke, and hope that the afternoon passes somewhat quickly.

I've been dreading the momentary pause that comes after hitting the submit button but before the the results page appears for far longer then I'd care to think about. Whether I pass or fail, I'll call my parents, and then send a text message to the few people I know who also took the exam. Either way, I'm guessing that I'll have the mother of all hangovers on Saturday.