A good 4-letter word

At 8:15 am yesterday, I was trying not to let the frustration get to me. After all, I had been counting down to this hour since December 6 of last year (just adding that for emphasis; it's only been 8 weeks). As I clicked the "LOG-IN" button on the screen, I watched as it came up, once again, saying that the page was unavailable. The results were to be available as of 8:00; however, not surprisingly, thousands of people around the world were trying to log in to the same site at the same time and it was not working.

I considered just going to work and hoping that I would be successful logging in after 25 minutes passed, but I wanted to save myself the embarrassment of either a) screaming and jumping up and down or b) punching something and yelling expletives.

As I prayed that I would be one of the 35% that passed, it suddenly worked, and I was in! It took me a second to comprehend that I had successfully logged in, and then I saw it: the p-word. No, not the f-word that ends in a-i-l, but the most sacred 4-letter word that a CFA candidate can imagine: PASS. I screamed and jumped out of my chair, thankful that I was in the comfort of my own home as I reacted the way a 4-year-old does when she gets a shiny new bicycle for her birthday. Brinkley looked up from her nap, and listened as I told her how excited I was (she's so understanding!).

To be honest, I would have been shocked had I not passed because I felt really good about it after taking the exam, but there was still that little bit of doubt in the back of my mind that I couldn't shake. Unfortunately, I can't bask in the success of one test for long, because there is another one staring me in the face. I'm registered to take Level II on June 6. It is going to be a long 4 months, and my social outings will be few and far between, but to think that in a few months I could potentially only have one more test to go is highly motivating.

I am sure that most of my friends and family are wondering why I am pursuing this designation, so here is why: I have my dream job, but I don't feel qualified for it 99% of the time. I can't control how much intelligence I have, but I can control how educated I am. And in a way, I actually enjoy the studying, and love the challenge -- the low passing rates of the exams are like a dare.

And just when I thought this week couldn't get any better, Aaron got a promotion today! Yes, it's a good week in the Siders household...I wonder what kind of good news Brinkley will have?