Trials & Tribulations of a CFA Candidate
Also known as "Reasons why I was at starbucks 5 minutes ago"
I had made up my mind to do some studying this weekend, given that my exams are a little more than 3 months away. Knowing myself and my inability to work at home, I decided to head out and park myself somewhere quiet and conducive for learning about ethics and corporate governance. First stop, starbucks on 49th st. It was filled with people... drats...
No worries, there was another coffee shop called "coffee pot" round the corner on 49th and 9th... and there i went. There were a couple of empty spots, but I stupidly set next to the door, where the draft came in and out everytime someone entered or exited the shop... My sojourn at the coffee pot didn't last too long though, because i was getting hungry by 1 pm. The afrikaans music playing was a little too loud, and so was the clientele, although there were a couple like me who were (or pretending) to be diligent students...I bet a fellow cfa candidate and we commiserated about our sad lives. so anyway, i left in search for something to eat.
Next i tried studying and having lunch at the same time in a diner(Olympus, Olympic?) nearby... wrong move... the table was too small and sunday brunchers are not exactly the quietest people on earth... oh yes, the decaf coffee i had was disgusting, and so was artificial sweeteners (I've never ever had artificial sweetener in my food, always opting for the real thing, but for this sugar ban period, its black coffee for me) too, prompting me to leave immediately after i finished consuming my omelette, which was quite tasty and filled with my favorite veges.
I made the rounds in starbucks again, but still no luck with seats... defeated, I went home to finish up reading "the house of spirits" by isabel allende... I bought the book about 1 month ago because Julie had recommended it and it was cheap.. haha (yes I judge books not by content or the number of accolades they have garnered, but by the economic measure of # pages/dollar spent... It was a pretty decent and engaging read, and like the other allende books i've read in the past, eccentric enough to capture my imagination for a bit... The other book i've read recently is "how i became stupid", a book that really capture modern neuroses quite well. I recommend it for people with abotu 2 hours to spare on a lazy wkend to read it
Anyway, at around 3pm, i decided to venture out once again. I found a seat in the starbucks on 8th ave n 49th street. "Good! finally some studying done" or so I thought... But i've only gone through about 15 pages of microeconomics revision because this old indian guy sitting next to me started talking and talking... It seemed harmless at first to entertain him for a bit, but then it started dawning on me tt this 60 yr old dude was hitting on me... errr.. uncle... please take a look at yourself before accosting people who are obviously trying to study!! I tried to ignore him with no avail, so in the end i had to pretend I had something to do and left starbucks, barely one hour after i stepped in, and 50 pages shy of my target today..... Now I'm too traumatised by even going back there now... Luckily there's yet another starbucks on the other side of the building...
I had made up my mind to do some studying this weekend, given that my exams are a little more than 3 months away. Knowing myself and my inability to work at home, I decided to head out and park myself somewhere quiet and conducive for learning about ethics and corporate governance. First stop, starbucks on 49th st. It was filled with people... drats...
No worries, there was another coffee shop called "coffee pot" round the corner on 49th and 9th... and there i went. There were a couple of empty spots, but I stupidly set next to the door, where the draft came in and out everytime someone entered or exited the shop... My sojourn at the coffee pot didn't last too long though, because i was getting hungry by 1 pm. The afrikaans music playing was a little too loud, and so was the clientele, although there were a couple like me who were (or pretending) to be diligent students...I bet a fellow cfa candidate and we commiserated about our sad lives. so anyway, i left in search for something to eat.
Next i tried studying and having lunch at the same time in a diner(Olympus, Olympic?) nearby... wrong move... the table was too small and sunday brunchers are not exactly the quietest people on earth... oh yes, the decaf coffee i had was disgusting, and so was artificial sweeteners (I've never ever had artificial sweetener in my food, always opting for the real thing, but for this sugar ban period, its black coffee for me) too, prompting me to leave immediately after i finished consuming my omelette, which was quite tasty and filled with my favorite veges.
I made the rounds in starbucks again, but still no luck with seats... defeated, I went home to finish up reading "the house of spirits" by isabel allende... I bought the book about 1 month ago because Julie had recommended it and it was cheap.. haha (yes I judge books not by content or the number of accolades they have garnered, but by the economic measure of # pages/dollar spent... It was a pretty decent and engaging read, and like the other allende books i've read in the past, eccentric enough to capture my imagination for a bit... The other book i've read recently is "how i became stupid", a book that really capture modern neuroses quite well. I recommend it for people with abotu 2 hours to spare on a lazy wkend to read it
Anyway, at around 3pm, i decided to venture out once again. I found a seat in the starbucks on 8th ave n 49th street. "Good! finally some studying done" or so I thought... But i've only gone through about 15 pages of microeconomics revision because this old indian guy sitting next to me started talking and talking... It seemed harmless at first to entertain him for a bit, but then it started dawning on me tt this 60 yr old dude was hitting on me... errr.. uncle... please take a look at yourself before accosting people who are obviously trying to study!! I tried to ignore him with no avail, so in the end i had to pretend I had something to do and left starbucks, barely one hour after i stepped in, and 50 pages shy of my target today..... Now I'm too traumatised by even going back there now... Luckily there's yet another starbucks on the other side of the building...
posted by orderin | 5:01 PM
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