Today was my all-day Notary Public training class out at the new College of the Canyons’ Canyon Country campus. It was something I signed up for back in May thinking it would be a good skill and certification to have in m “bag of tricks” of things I could do to generate income.

The class itself seemed pretty straightforward and though there’s a lot to know and a lot of legalese, it’s not exactly rocket science. However, after sitting through the class, learning what I needed to know and taking (and passing) the two practice exams, I decided NOT to take the exam for real. Why? Well, because when you pass (which I know I would) you have 30 days to get your equipment, post a $15,000 bond and take an oath with the county and essentially get “on the clock”.

There are two reasons that compelled me to rethink this: 1) there would be an initial outlay of nearly $1,000 for everything I need by way of equipment, supplies, bonds and insurance and that would be difficult right now, and 2) if I’m allegedly serious about leaving the country for Japan within a year, what’s the point of shelling that all out on a 4-year appointment that I’ll be leaving behind anyway?

I do still have up to two years to take the test without having to repeat the class, so it could still be a possibility. I’ll wait and see how things go with the agencies I’ve signed up with and my potential employment elsewhere.

I did get done with class early because of choosing not to take the certification exam, so Matt & I carpooled down to Crag Stevens’ house in Tarzana, a.k.a. “The Rat’s Lair” for his annual Bengal Club dinner and evening of entertaining fellowship. He fed us WAY TOO MUCH, and it turned out to be a real binge. I tried to moderate what I was eating, but it was just nuts. The final coup de grace was the oversize ice cream and chocolate dessert. I really have nobody to blame but myself, but I KNOW I’ll hate myself in the morning when I step on the scale and undoubtedly see some of my weight loss progress vanish.

Craig, though, does way too much nice stuff for us. Consequently we wanted to give him a special gift and we came up with an historic British Officer’s undress cap in a case similar to the kind the Comissariat officers wore and officially named him our Comissariat. It was pretty nice. Thanks a bunch, Craig! (Just don’t ever make me have to fall so far off the wagon again, please…)