Stress Relief

russian tea cakes

Russian tea cakes. Vyanne has been feverishly baking cookies in the kitchen for Christmas.

* * *

I find that I turn a little insane just a few days before an actual exam. Not that I mind it very much, but it does make me appear a little cuckoo. I start to think outside the norm about everyday things and my mind starts to have all these ideas.

My concentration is a little thin after work, and I’d rather be listening to music and exposing my senses to visual and audio stimulants than just staring blankly at graphs and charts.

Still not quite sure how I’d fare in the exam. I keep telling myself there is the potential to pass. I hope so. Like they say, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Just need to turn in now and hope I can get up early to cram a few minutes of stuff before plodding along to work.

Starting December

It’s that time of the year again. I’m just thinking back about what went passed. The memories are a little less vivid this year. NYC seemed like a distant memory. It’s not that I don’t have fond memories of the place, but NYC was mainly work and it can be a cold, soul sapping place during the first 3 or so months of the year. You just don’t really feel like doing very much then. Feeling alone in a place with a population of millions, that just doesn’t sound quite right, but in truth it was very much so. I survived it, but thinking back, I don’t think I prospered very much during my time there. I could have done so much more.

* * *

Heh, it’s the final countdown. Sitting for my CFA exam next week. Averaging 60% on sample questions everytime I do them. Not a good score, as you need 70% to pass. Have less than a week to rectify the situation. Retention of info is more efficient now, as there is a basis no what I need to know for the exam. Still wondering if I will pass it. It’s going to be an arduous Sunday next week, with the schedule starting at 8am, needing to arrive an hour before the exam. 2 x 3 hr sessions, with lunch in between, ending at 5pm. It will be the emancipation of me after that, with so many things lined up that I feel like doing for the month of December.

Besides the exam, the only other thing floating in and out of my mind is work. Working for a big organisation presents its own challenges. I have met so many people that I’m not quite sure if I remember all of them by now. Boundaries of duties and responsibilities are blurred so you don’t quite know what authority you have at times to do something. A lot of things aren’t the most efficient allocation of resources but it’s a legacy system that’s been in place since before I was born, so making changes is like moving an iceberg. Heh, not impossible, just rather tedious.

Work provides certain challenges. I no longer feel as green as I did when I first started back in 2005. I feel more comfortable dealing with people, problems and issues. Perhaps its a new environment, I’ve ditched the procrastination and am more willing to learn. I don’t think I want to waste the opportunity to pick up new skills and progress in my career.

This leads me to vague ideas at times, wondering where I fit into the grand scheme of things. It’s strange, how everyone is leading their lives. It’s not a benchmark, but I feel like I’m following a standard guide towards life, all preprogrammed in my mind as I grew up and progressed from one stage to another. The truth is, once you come out of university, there is no template left to follow. Maybe I am simple minded in that sense, of lack a vivid imagination, but there are times when I’m not quite sure what I’d like to do with my future. It just seems that everyone has a clearer vision on what they’d like to achieve, or are more single minded on what they’d choose to do or not. I have always dragged myself along the current of time, just going wherever it took me.

* * *

Heh, start of month posts aren’t supposed to be so philosophical.

It’s going to be a busy month. Work as usual, lots of people visiting. I have a lot of ideas of what I’d like to do, and I wouldn’t be able to fit all that in with one breath. In summary, it would just be cleaning and tidying, a little reorganising of personal belongings, personal priorities and the like.

Now it’s just exam, pain, relief… then all the fun in the world!