Friday was the Great Psychological Evaluation for the Sheriff's department. I've taken plenty of IQ tests before (like most geeks, I take them for fun), but this was the first time I've had a personality/psychological evaluation of that magnitude. First there was a half hour or so of interview with the psychologist, where I got to briefly describe my life history, talk about any traumas I'd ever suffered in my life, explain why I got divorced, elucidate how I came to be working in the casino industry with a BS in Math from Georgia Tech, and, of course, give detailed commentary on why I wanted to be a sheriff's deputy. That all went fairly smoothly, I suppose, and she seemed to be convinced in my sincerity and reasoning about my wanting to join up. It was also rather interesting since it turns out that this doctor knows my sister (who is a pediatrician in town) and that they've referred patients back and forth. The only weird thing was when she asked me (with a bit of an apology: "Since I know your sister I need to ask you...") about a problem that my sister has had. Fortunately the answer was an easy "No," but it was strange for the doctor to have that kind of "inside information."

After the interview part, I got to take two short IQ tests. Those were a breeze and I finished them in far less than the allotted time. So then I got put in another room with two long personality tests--600+ questions on the first one, and 300+ on the second. Actually not questions; all statements to which I was to mark true or false. Some of the statements really cracked me up. There were actually statements like: "I hear voices in my head that tell me what to do." Or: "I see visions." Or: "I feel that revenge is necessary and healthy." The majority of the test was normal-ish personality stuff, but there were a good many of the weird statements thrown in there as well. I dunno, I really do find it hard to believe that anyone can get any kind of accurate idea of a person's mentality from that sort of test. I mean, how many people are going to actually mark "true" on any of those statements? Even if I did hear voices, I'd be willing to bet they'd tell me not to mark that one true.

The second, shorter, test was geared more toward law enforcement, and had statements like: "I have used cocaine on occasion," or "I must admit, I've stolen from my employer," or "I have held more than three jobs in the past three years." But the one that really made me laugh was: "I am being truthful on this questionnare."

Maybe it's actually a stupidity test to see if anyone will actually say true to those statements.

So anyway, that's over, and I now get to second-guess myself on how I responded on the tests. I dreamed last night that I was refused entry into the academy because of my psychological profile. Now that would be a darn silly way to get washed out!

Went shooting yesterday, and then again this morning. I was very pleased to see that the sight adjustment helped tremendously. Plus I've been doing tons of dry-firing of my pistol in an effort to train out my trigger jerking, and have also been doing a lot of visualisation, as was suggested by an astute reader. Results are what count, and I noticed a great deal of improvement in my shooting this week. At seven yards I was able to put ten rounds into a 2 1/2" grouping. And today I practiced the 25 yard section of the qualifying course, and only dropped one point. Woo! Of course my ultimate goal is to get a perfect qualifying score. Practice practice practice! It's nice to see that the work I've put in up to this point is really paying off.

The fitness goals were put on the back burner all week long though. I haven't been in to the gym since last friday, and I haven't been running in a week. Part of the reason I haven't been running is because the good ole southern heat is beginning to kick in, and even at 9am, it's pretty darn sweltering. I hate running on treadmills, but it's better than not doing anything, and it may come to that if I can't motivate myself to go out in the morning after work and sweat gallons.