Learjet school day 13 and Checkride Day

i didn't want to write last night on day 13 because it was the infamous Checkride Eve, a term which I am coining at this moment. Checkride Eve means cram, rehearse the weak areas for the last time, have a little flying fun, relax at night, and ATTEMPT to sleep. Oh, the latter is the least in my control.
I had a great time on Day 13. I had a very efficient cram session in late morning / early afternoon. Then we flew our LOFT flights in the sim, which included fighter-jet-like blasting through mountain valleys in Austria and barreling down a 5.9 degree ILS slope into London. I practiced a V1 cut from the right seat without a problem and taxied into the lineman because the guys were provoking me! Hahaha. The lineman simply disappeared.
Charisma and the kids were at the Arlington Convention Center mingling with Michelle and Josie Duggar, so I came back to a quiet hotel room and watched some SportsCenter and Lord of the Rings on TV while I ate dinner. That's relaxing.
How about the overnight? Well... The hours I did NOT see on the alarm clock were 1, 2, 3 and 4. I was quite frustrated that I was not sleeping. Which assured that I would sleep less. It was not a good night. But I had work to do, a checkride to pass. My strategy was to be consistent with everything I did Saturday. Same clothes, same travel route, same Vemma Verve energy drink, same seat in the briefing room, same first turn at flying, same pen on my shirt.
My particular situation was that i was receiving a checkride from a Training Center Examiner who was not yet approved for Basin Aviation, so he had to be observed by an FAA examiner throughout my checkride to receive his sign off. That added a little extra pressure, but FAA Tom was a really chill guy, and besides, the worst harm I've suffered has been self - inflicted. Nobody can fail my checkride besides me. The verbal exam went 90% well. I was stumped on a couple questions, which means that I spent 10% of the questions in the learning direction. How many days do we spend learning ten percent of everything that comes at us?
I would say the same about the practical (flying) part of the checkride. I encountered a heading miscompare; a starter that wouldn't disengage, an engine vibration warning followed by an engine fire; a single engine missed approach, single engine landing; flap failure and zero-flap landing.
I did feel like I was going to lose the game during the single engine landing. I had the rudder trim compensating for an approach slope at Vref, and when I broke out through the clouds I aimed at the runway and cut the power from the operable engine. When I did, I encountered a yaw control imbalance, then added power and opposite imbalance, and somehow got the plane onto the runway centerline and touched down smoothly at the stall horn. The post-flight briefing my examiner gave was a more forgiving than I was expecting; he said that if customers were in the plane they would be like, "okay...and...we're here." I should have took back some rudder pressure on my own foot so I could feel and control the yaw better during my power variations. It's one of those moments that I'll remember for the rest of my life and never do again, simulator or elsewhere! I still review the seconds in my imagination and am so grateful that God granted me that dispensation of grace.
In the end, I left the simulator with a handshake and "congratulations" from my examiner, and walked out of Bombardier with my first type rating. I'm a Learjet pilot!!!
I got the rental car to Enterprise at two minutes after close time, and my man Jeff allowed me to turn in the car at 3/4 tank AND gave me a lift back to the hotel.
We celebrated with a trip to Rainforest Cafe with my longtime friend Mark Say! We also returned to our hotel room and enjoyed ice cream - the end of my dessert fast. The ice cream was this Moose Tracks from Kroger, and man was it delicious!
I expect to sleep very well tonight.
Give God the glory, great things He hath done!