Kristin is a new NINJA CPA Blogger.
HiYa!
After a year of watching and reading and loving the NINJA Blogger concept, I have decided to join the ranks!
Recently, I read a blog from someone that really resonated with me, and it made such a difference I thought, WOW, if someone can connect with me, if my experiences, successes, and failures can help just one person, it is well worth it.
PLUS, it is like weighing in at Weight Watchers having to blog weekly will make me feel accountable, so win/win right?!
So here it goes. My name is Kristin, and I reside in the amazing Pacific Northwest, Portlandia to be exact. I love the northwest, the beauty, nature, craft beers, camping obsessions, and overall kindness of the people who live here.
I have two boys which are my life, 6 ½ and 8, and they are absolutely hilarious. Although it is often impossible to focus while they are around, they constantly remind me of what life is about, and keep me grounded.
But when they arent around, I forget that life is not about passing the CPA exams, and I go into crazy study eye twitchy mode at times, I fully admit.
I started with AUD last July, and missed it by one point. Have I mentioned that I hate the number 74? I always said, if I was going to miss it, I wish it had been by 5 but I am sure folks that get 70s say they wish they would have gotten a 74 and been that much closer to passing. Grass is always greener, I get it.
But I still painfully try to think, was it one question? Was it one question that I knew, but misread? Was it a mindless click on A when I meant B? In the end, it was not a 75, so it really doesnt matter, but every so often, I think, WWWHHHYYYYY!!!???
There is nothing quite as deflating as spending months pouring yourself into something, knowing you have to go back to step one. Evenings away from family, social events missed, snappy crabby bad-itudes as I call them. And it never helped me to get online and read these stories, Ya, I just realized I hadnt studied and my test was in 3 hours, so I skimmed and got an 80! My jaw would open, and likely out loud, I would say, SERIOUSLY?!?
Dont get me wrong, I do not grudge those test taking super heroes their success, I am just not fortunate in that way.
Next stop was REG, and that was last August. I read the ELL Plan from Jeff, and decided although I wake up for work at 3:45 am and there was NOT going to be an early, I took the premise of the idea and fit it to me. I kept up with my hobbies, I still read non-CPA material in bed, I shut my computer when my kids got home, and took it more lightly. And it worked.
I still worked, but I feel like I got to take a step back and work smarter not harder. I also had some tax experience, as in the state of Oregon, you have to have a license to prepare taxes, so that helped, but I liked me a lot more with this approach.
75, I will take it, by the skin of my teeth, all I read was PASS.
And then .I took a break GASP!! I know. Stupid, wasteful, no reason. Its like the party you threw at your house in high school. Makes so much sense and seems BRLLIANT beforehand, and then after you say to yourself, WHAT was I thinking?!?
I just burned out to be honest and needed to take a break from my boyfriend BEC, I still felt caught up on my ex AUD and couldnt focus. I picked up with AUD again a few months back, and along with the other poor Oregonians, am waiting the additional 7 or so days it takes to find out if I got another 74.
A few days before my test, I purchased the Wiley Test Bank in a moment of weakness and panic, but I am really glad I did. While I wait, it is time to get in gear. My REG will drop off in FEB and I still need to tackle BEC and FAR, hopefully not AUD again.
I look forward to sharing my story with all of you NINJAs in the future! Quote/joke of the day:
I went on dictionary.com to search for ninjas the other day, and it said ninjas cannot be found. Well played NINJAs, well played.
