Exam; moving; new job; free time; surgery

It has been some time since my last post, but really, it seems the older I get the less things change.

Exam

From the beginning of August until mid-September, I was off work on study leave, preparing to write the  Common Final Evaluation (CFE). This is the last hurdle to becoming a Chartered Professional Accountant. I won't know if I passed until December.

The exam took place over three days (day 1 = four hours, day 2 = five hours, day 3 = four hours) and is entirely made of up case-based "questions". There aren't any actual "questions" on the exam, at least not in the traditional sense. You are meant to read the case, figure out what you are expected to do given the situation, plan your response, and then write, playing the role assigned to you in the case. You have to consciously not address certain requirements because you simply don't have time to do so, which is hard to get used to.

The length of the test also lends itself to interesting psychological quirks. For example, if you don't sleep well the day before an exam, by day 3 you will be a wreck. Even without such confounding factors, it's difficult to remain sharp over all three days especially if, like me, your writing grows more flamboyant, effusive and tangential under sleep-deprived conditions. Also, maintaining sharp focus for five hours in any task is challenging. Now imagine doing so with almost-palpable exam stress oozing out of 150 students writing around you in a frigid, cavernous Northlands expo hall. 

Moving:

My current roommate, Ian, got a new job and will be moving out at the end of November to be closer to work. I've been visiting various buildings over the last two weeks, deciding where I should go. I'm favouring a bachelor unit in my current building. Unfortunately I look into the side of a parkade, but the price is right.
The rental market is considerably softer than the last time I looked, and most management companies are offering incentives - cheaper rent, reduced damage deposit, IKEA gift cards, etc. There are some good deals out there but I decided there was no need to get something big, since I don't have any furniture to speak of.
Unfortunately I seem to have inherited a inclination towards stocking up when I see a good deal at the grocery store. I'm working on eating my way through my pantry and freezer by the end of the month so I don't have to pack up five cans of crushed tomatoes.

New job:

Although it's not official yet, I'll be moving to a new job before the end of the year, but in the same group I'm in now. Currently I run the long-term financial projections for my company, and I will transition to working on the budget. It's not much of a stretch, since the main difference is the level of detail and time horizon, but I'll have to learn a couple new systems. I'll also have someone reporting to me for the first time since university.

When I got back from study leave in September, I found that the previous week the company had done a round of layoffs - about 25 people total, so not huge, but we did lose someone in our group. It was somewhat odd coming back to empty desks, but at least I was spared.
I'm very busy at work as we are right in the midst of the forecasting cycle. I'm also training my replacement, which always makes things slower, but it will be good to do something new.

Free time:

Since I'm no longer studying and work isn't that busy at the moment, I've had quite a lot of spare time. I've been making an effort to exercise three days a week, and have also been doing some tutoring for university accounting a couple days a week.
I'm slowly working my way through Mad Men on Netflix. I've stalled on season 4, and might not make it much further as my interest in the characters continues to die. I think they should have capped this show early.

Surgery:

I'll be going in for a second gum graft next week (I had the first back in June). I've known since I was 19 that I would probably need grafts, and finally decided to get started since I have good insurance through work.

Basically, the surgeon cuts out part of your palette (top of your mouth) and stitches it under the gum site along with some donor bone - "like putting paper in an envelope" is the way he phrased it. As long as you don't touch it for a while, blood vessels and nerves grow in and attach the new to the old. 

As I had plenty of time to be contemplative while the doc was rummaging around in my mouth, I was reminded how raw and primal actual surgery is. At the end of the day it's pretty much all taking knives and scissors, cutting this or reshaping that, and then the body does the rest. 

The guy I had is the top-rated man in Edmonton for this sort of work and I thought he did a nice job. He even gave me his cell number and responded to texts when I had some post-op questions. If anyone needs something like this done I've got a name for you.