Burning out

As evidenced by my "silence," I have not had a lot of free time lately. This is a good thing, because it means I have been busy at work, which means I am learning, thus I am becoming better at what I do, and maybe, just maybe, I will someday know how to do my job. That's what my bosses are hoping anyway.

My firm specializes in utilities, and in the last month, I have been introduced to this very technical, specialized industry. Who is jealous? Anyone? C'mon, I know you want to know more about electricity! And if not electricity, then definitely gas! No? Well, I didn't really want to either, but that is not an option, so I am embracing it and trying to learn all that I can.

The downside to all this learning is that I have this other thing that is precluding me from reading "Electric Cooperatives: On the Threshold of a New Era" and "Valuing an Electric Utility: Theory and Application", both of which are sitting on my desk patiently waiting for me to have free time (let me know if you want the authors names so you can suggest these titles for your book club). The CFA is constantly in the back of my mind, and as much as I want to go above and beyond at work, I can only do what is necessary to complete the projects I am on, because nights and weekends are blocked off for quality time with Portfolio Management, Quantitative Methods and their friends. (In the meantime, I barely even remember what fiction reads are like. Romance novel? Is that a story about 2 companies merging?).

I find myself constantly daydreaming about life post-CFA Level 2 exam. Let's see, there's Melissa's bachelorette party in Chicago, then vacation to California with Aaron's family (they may have to sedate me to get me to leave Napa Valley) in June, Melissa & Tyler's wedding in July, followed by consecutive weekends in Colorado, first with my family, then with my college roommates. So much to look forward to -- and that's just the 2 months after the test! Then there's the long list of to-do's that I am putting off until after June 6, which are starting to look more like "get-to's" than to-do's.

What I'm trying to say is I'm burnt out. I am so tired of studying that I can't stand it, and there seems to be no solution, other than the passage of 7 weeks and 2 days. If I take a few days off, I will end up more stressed out about being a few days behind, which I realize makes me sound extremely uptight, but I don't care. I want to take this test once, and only once, so I will do all that I can to prepare.

Okay, I'm done. I feel better. Now I need to get back to work so I can finish what I'm doing and go home to study. Sigh.