Well this blows. I thought I'd be safe registering for the JLPT 日本語能力試験 in Shanghai if I did it within the first week (out of three) of which registration is open. It's a shameful testament to my understanding of China's culture (or population? a little of both to be sure). TEST PSYCHOS! So I register (to be eligible to pick a testing location) on the website, but it's not liking my lack of Chinese name and the space between my first and middle name. So I had to waste the morning faxing them and on the phone getting that straightened out...
And with all that effort... I neglected to do any web searches and find out the pure insanity of this country. The essential literature:
Secret Techniques to getting into the JLPT level 2 test. It has lucid beautiful details about the best and fastest web browsers to use, recommended locations with the fastest connections to the internet, auto page refresh techniques, and reference details about page refreshing hotkeys, etc.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE! From this I see there are nearly 25,000 seats in Shanghai alone for Levels 1 and 2. EVERY SEAT IN THIS ENTIRE GODFORSAKEN COUNTRY WAS TAKEN IN 21 MINUTES! Twenty-one MINUTES!!!
I'm not just a week too late --- by 21 minute interval standards, I'm a lifetime too late.
My last inkling of hope is that every day at noon a few seats from idiots that screwed up on paying their 350 RMB testing fee will be released. . . I'm not liking these odds.
Many thanks - Glenn