Patrick is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Today at the Park, my five year old son was trying his luck on the monkey bars with varied success. He could barely reach the slippery bars and lacked confidence. I supported his legs at first but he quickly brushed me off when he realized that he could do it.

He made it across once, but failed on every subsequent try: too slippery, too much sun, bars were too far apart, hands were too small for the bars.

He didn't give up, but the harder he tried, the more frustrated he got until he broke down. “It's good to not give up,” I consoled him, “but when you get frustrated, sometimes it's better to stop and try again later.”

Later on, I left for the office to continue studying, to the protests of my children. I explained that I'm having a really hard time with this section and that I needed to do everything I could to pass. “Maybe you should just stop, like you told Victor,” my daughter reasoned. Well, I didn't take my advice, but it's nice to know she's listening.

What gets me about tax is the lack of principles and concepts. With FAR, I think the conceptual framework bailed me out on many questions but with tax, I'm not finding a set of principles to guide me through. Based on the Wiley MCQ results, I might as well let my five year old take the exam. We'd score the same but he'd finish sooner.

I start my new job in Las Vegas in mid May. I will work there for a couple of weeks to meet the team and then work from our boat during the summer. So I'm very excited for this summer and don't want to ruin it with more studying.

The latest vacancy in Las Vegas was May 22nd and so I ended up scheduling for Phoenix on the 31st. The logistics are still sketchy and I haven't booked a return flight yet. I'm still holding out for a vacancy in Las Vegas, which would give me less stress and another night to study.