I would like to say argh

Argh. Yep. With just that much empasis.

I sat at this infernal machine for about nine hours yesterday putting together a study guide for the plant ID portion of tomorrow's MG exam. By "study guide" I mean a compendium of all the possible plants we'll need to identify with close-up photos and the text of the plants' characteristics. For about 75 conifers, broad-leaf evergreen trees and shrubs (and they are legion in this part of the world), deciduous shrubs, vines, ferns, groundcovers and noxious weeds. The broadleaf evergreens (laurel, pieris, photinia, madrone and rhododendrons all look alike to me, and yes, they're all in the exam) are to my mind a bit worse than even the conifers (the firs, cedars, spruce, pines, sequoia, hemlocks and cypress). I don't think I have to worry much about the deciduous things, since the instructors are unlikely to find fresh specimens for the exam, and even they wouldn't be evil enough to have us identify dormant twigs. Right?

And by "study guide" I actually mean a cheat sheet that we are allowed to use when identifying the plants. Yes, I can have photographs of the plant to help me. So this can't be all that hard, right? Right?

The multiple-choice and true-false part of the exam are open book. The books which can be open are very well indexed. Thirty-one questions and 20 plants to ID, in 180 minutes. I certainly can't be puzzling very long on any one thing, that's for sure.

So last night I dreamed about all these plants in their botanical Latin-name glory. Suffice it to say I didn't sleep well. I feel like I have a hangover today. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, and regardless of what happens, this long national nightmare will be over by noon.