on tuesday nights i go to liwanag. i really like it. a little while ago i made a commitment to grow my faith and try to be closer to my religion and the Catholic church I was raised in. liwanag is the filipino catholic community at uc irvine, my alma mater.
anyway, a little background. after i passed cfa level I in December 2007 i broke up with my girlfriend. break ups are tough. shortly after this i decided to take a vacation and go to the philippines. i had wanted to go since i was a little kid but was never able to. so in march i went and had a great time. i had so much fun. there was another more cultural element to it though. i was amazed by the Catholic presence in the country. Easter in the Philippines is something else. I saw a lot of people offering penance by beating themselves. I also saw three guys get crucified. Intense.
On Good Friday I went to the town my mom grew up in, Guagua. It was pretty neat but I was a bit emotional when I visited the house she grew up in because it was such a humble home. Poverty is everywhere in the PI and it's sad, but it's more emotional when you realize your mom grew up in it, not above it. We spoke to the people next door, who have lived there forever and remembered my mom. It was then that it really hit me how blessed I have been because my mom had risen from such meager beginnings. The same family still living next door reminded me how lucky I was that my family was able to move to the US and elevate their economic status while others weren't so lucky.
When I got back to the US I made a commitment to go to church every Sunday. I had been inconsistent for about a year. I decided to start going to Mass again at Interfaith at UCI rather than at my local parish in Newport Beach because I could relate more to the service and the choir is bringing down the house on a regular basis. So at church a girl named Kirsten mentioned Liwanag and I kind of warmed up to the idea of going to a meeting. I had just got back from the Philippines so I guess I was on kind of a pinoy streak. HAHA.
Liwanag has been a blessing. For a while after the break up I felt kind of empty. I was working crazy hours and I had nothing to come home to or look forward to. My friends were people I knew from work and all we did together was go to bars and party. I felt like I needed something with more substance and Liwanag has really helped me find a better balance. What's even better is that my affinity for the group continues to grow. I really like the people and I look up to a lot of them. In all honesty, I don't think I can ever be as good of a person as some of the people i've met there.
as my studying intensifies in the fall, winter and spring, i want to stay committed to liwanag and mass. balance is necessary even when you're trying to pass the CFA exam. I get a lot out of Mass at Interfaith and Liwanag and I think staying committed to it will strengthen me and enable me more to earn my charter.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
a blog with a theme
for some reason i have started a blog. i often find myself with a lot on my mind and the thought pattern is pretty random. one second i could be thinking of something totally random and the next second i could be thinking of a cute girl i know. actually i think it always converts back to cute girls, so it really isn't random. but the thoughts in between thinking of cute girls can be pretty random, like the agency mortgage spread to treasuries right now. which brings me to my next point. but seriously, the spread is 200 bps. we can talk about this more later if you're interested in my work.
i've actually started this blog with the intention of theming it around my pursuit of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, commonly known as the CFA designation. in short, it's a series of three tests given once a year in June to earn a designation that shows you have adequately studied the CFA Institute curriculum. www.cfainstitute.org is you are interested.
right now you might be asking yourself, "is he serious?" more likely, "is he crazy from all that studying?" too early to rule that out. but it occurred to me today that though i am pursuing the charter for work, the pursuit is deeply personal for me. i am investing a lot of my time and energy into achieving this. i've had to sacrifice a lot of the social aspects of normal 23-year-old life. right now i'm actually not studying because the next exam is not until next june, so i've granted myself a vacation until December 1, and i'm trying to get in as much fun as possible. I might even throw myself a going away party before December 1, even though I'm not going anywhere.
Another thought that struck me today is that this can't be too uncommon, for the pursuit of a professional designation to take on profound and personal meaning in a person's life, at least for a short period of time. Surely those studying for the Bar Exam, Med School, CPA, lawyers, nurses, and other similar exams have this same experience. In the long run it's probably for the better, but wow can it be trying in the interim.
so please, if you're still reading, join me along this journey to achieving the CFA designation. It's a bumpy road for sure and quite interesting. maybe you are studying too and can draw inspiration from this. for me, i personally hope this will help me stay focused on my goal, and keep away the distractions (like my every other thought, cute girls). i am happy to take on this challenge, but i know in the two years ahead i am going to struggle to balance the things i find important in my life because this test demands so much of me. There is the CFA exam in June, but i need to still balance studying with family, work, a healthy lifestyle, my faith, and perhaps even a (very) understanding cute girl.
in the long run i think i will earn more respect for myself.
i want to keep this themed around the CFA designation, but there is more achieving it then just hitting the books. Since I don't start studying until December, I'll probably start of blogging about background info on myself and my life outside of the CFA designation. Tomorrow is Tuesday and I'm going to Liwanag. This is a good place to leave off. I can pick it up after the meeting since you'll probably get to hear more about Liwanag in this blog.
i've actually started this blog with the intention of theming it around my pursuit of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, commonly known as the CFA designation. in short, it's a series of three tests given once a year in June to earn a designation that shows you have adequately studied the CFA Institute curriculum. www.cfainstitute.org is you are interested.
right now you might be asking yourself, "is he serious?" more likely, "is he crazy from all that studying?" too early to rule that out. but it occurred to me today that though i am pursuing the charter for work, the pursuit is deeply personal for me. i am investing a lot of my time and energy into achieving this. i've had to sacrifice a lot of the social aspects of normal 23-year-old life. right now i'm actually not studying because the next exam is not until next june, so i've granted myself a vacation until December 1, and i'm trying to get in as much fun as possible. I might even throw myself a going away party before December 1, even though I'm not going anywhere.
Another thought that struck me today is that this can't be too uncommon, for the pursuit of a professional designation to take on profound and personal meaning in a person's life, at least for a short period of time. Surely those studying for the Bar Exam, Med School, CPA, lawyers, nurses, and other similar exams have this same experience. In the long run it's probably for the better, but wow can it be trying in the interim.
so please, if you're still reading, join me along this journey to achieving the CFA designation. It's a bumpy road for sure and quite interesting. maybe you are studying too and can draw inspiration from this. for me, i personally hope this will help me stay focused on my goal, and keep away the distractions (like my every other thought, cute girls). i am happy to take on this challenge, but i know in the two years ahead i am going to struggle to balance the things i find important in my life because this test demands so much of me. There is the CFA exam in June, but i need to still balance studying with family, work, a healthy lifestyle, my faith, and perhaps even a (very) understanding cute girl.
in the long run i think i will earn more respect for myself.
i want to keep this themed around the CFA designation, but there is more achieving it then just hitting the books. Since I don't start studying until December, I'll probably start of blogging about background info on myself and my life outside of the CFA designation. Tomorrow is Tuesday and I'm going to Liwanag. This is a good place to leave off. I can pick it up after the meeting since you'll probably get to hear more about Liwanag in this blog.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)