Smarty Pants

a friend texted me “you’re just too damn smart” the other day after i had shared with him the news that i passed the tax portion of my cpa exam (my hardest section) and when i read it i had to laugh out loud because you see, nobody has ever really called me smart before. usually the adjectives that are used to describe me are hard-working, or diligent and organized, i was even called simple-minded recently and on a more superficial level, i’ve been called cute and sweet but never ever smart. jon was always known as the smart one of the family, the one who barely studied for the sat’s but managed to get a high enough score that it was even mentioned in our local paper. jon was the one my parents would mention when the topic of what college your kid was attending would come up (a very popular topic among chinese parents) while i toiled away at the local state school. even during high school when we had the choice between taking calculus ab or bc, i initially chose bc but then even though i ended up getting the highest score on our first test, i was so convinced that there was no way i would be cut out for calculus bc that i immediately dropped out of the class and went down to the ab class. this has always stayed with me because i had so little faith in my abilities that i would always choose the easier road when possible instead of setting myself up for failure.

my strength was that i was very disciplined and was the one in class who would take copious notes and made sure i had a brand new five subject notebook (always college-lined) to start the semester and always did all of my homework. i was the same in college and did well enough to graduate with honors (at state mind you) but even so, in my advanced accounting classes, i always felt a step behind and was the last one in my group to understand the problem and the one playing catch up. however all of that sort of changed when i started working in the real world and realized that hey, maybe i do understand this and actually much better than lots of people i’ve worked with that even i surprised myself sometimes.

so you can see why that text message was so unexpected to me and well, according to my cpa instructor, the exam is not so much a test of how smart you are but a test of discipline. and i guess now all that discipline is really paying off because all those hours spent studying is working and i'm so close to my goal that i almost can't think about it too much for fear that something bad will happen along the way but for now, i plan on just chugging along until i can get that elusive three letters behind my name.

Eye Of The Tiger

Drawn by Alpha Male James

Flying High

it’s been a while since i’ve blogged (isn’t this how all my blogs start out these days?) so i figure i’m due for another update and it looks like things are on the up and up. the last time you heard from me i was stressing about the cpa exam and was just about to spend xmas vacation back home in san diego. since then i’m happy to report that i haven’t deterred from my cpa goal and while i am still in the process of taking my exams, the end is somewhat in sight and i am actually feeling for the first time that this is my year and i’m going to get it. sure my motivation has come and gone but overall i haven’t lost sight of my goal and have had much help and encouragement along the way. ideally i would like to say that i’ve passed everything by the time my birthday rolls around but if not, then definitely by the time i ring in the new year.

another big reason for my positive outlook is that i’ve come to really grow to love my condo and neighborhood and it’s almost silly to say but i never really realized how much of an impact the sun can have on you. my place now gets tons of sun throughout the day and something about that and just looking out and seeing the city and the bridge with the sailboats just makes me feel happy and content. i really don’t have much to complain about there. i’m also just wrapping up a one week visit from my mom and over the years, our relationship has gotten closer to where i really value her opinions and don’t really feel like there is anything that i couldn’t discuss with her good or bad. i’m also constantly amazed by her many talents (barf i know) and kind of wish some of that had rubbed off on me. i mean since her time here she’s been working on an oil painting to hang above my couch, completely redid my flower arrangements and cleaned/tidied up my place like only a mom could and even cooked for a little dinner party i had with some friends while we watched the nba finals and didn’t complain about it one bit.

since my mom has been in town we’ve been having dinner with my aunts and uncles and it’s been pretty interesting to hear them talk about our generation and try to get a better understanding of how we think. the topic of dating came up and i spent a good amount of time trying to explain that when someone “dates” it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re dating with the goal of getting married and that by agreeing to date it really just means that you’re becoming more exclusive and willing to give it a try. all my cousins on my dad’s side (at least the ones we have met and know of anyways) are all girls and as i’m the oldest i’ve somehow become the de facto role model for being an adult. lots of questions were asked of me about what i thought of roommates after college, how my perspective on dating has changed over the years and as i was talking i felt that I had grown a little older and wiser and actually had some life experience to share…that is until i remembered that i had just puked all over my car this past weekend and was brought back down to reality.