Where did the last month go?
Well, I did manage to finish up OWS ch8 (only about 25,000wds ^^;) and I've started into the ch9/epilogue. I'm really, really hoping to post them together before year end, but we'll see what happens because of other news...
No, seriously, holy shit! After months of radio silence toward my resume, I had two interviews a couple weeks ago. One was for a tax staff position in a small firm, but I got the sense that, while they loved me as a person, they wanted someone more experienced. Still haven't heard from them, but whatever since I had another interview a week later.
The whole thing was totally unplanned since I've been pretty much hitting public accounting firms for jobs, but started to apply to other jobs just to figure out my options. One was posted through RobertHalf, and a week later on a Friday, they called about a Senior Accountant position at a small portfolio owned company that was interviewing on Monday. It was a strange, speed interviewing session with several applicants getting only 30min with the Controller, Asst Controller, and HR manager (I usually take 1hr...). After that, they wanted a second interview the next day on location, stating that I'm not as experienced as the other candidates, but they liked me and my apparent intelligence. During that interview, the hiring manager/assistant controller plopped a laptop in front of me and basically grilled me on some Excel stuff. I didn't know pivot tables since I don't use them, but that was the only thing I didn't know and he liked how I performed under pressure. Still, I wasn't expecting much since I was told at least four times that I was the least qualified applicant.
Then on Thursday, they gave me a job offer, stating that I was the number one candidate! O.o Never saw it coming, which meant I needed a night to really think over what it would mean to work there. I think I scared them a bit with my hesitation, but really, I was so focused on public accounting jobs in the past several months and I hadn't really thought about corporate accounting. Still, I'll be directly working with a CPA, so I'll get my experience for my license, and the controller is also a CPA who got to that position without needing public accounting experience. I'm really excited about this.
Oh, and shall I mention that I'll be paid nearly twice than compared to my current job? I'm almost to the pay grade I was during my short chemistry career, which makes me so very, very happy. I won't need my parents' help on the mortgage anymore!
Otherwise, the month has been crazy with many Avalanche games (dear Lord, they have sucked it up lately) and doing random social stuff. One of my coworkers invited me to Thanksgiving dinner and it was so very yummy, and also entertaining since it led to a bitch session about our company. There is a lot that is very wrong about that place, and I'm so happy to be leaving. An HR person was upset to learn that I (among so many others in the last year) am leaving the company and she complained to a coworker that they have a tax group I could have joined. Yeah, that tax group has had an open tax staff position since around May and I just learned that the manager AND the director are leaving this month. Seriously, the director's commute is tripling, and it's still worth it to leave. Scary times.
On another note, I also found out that my thyroid officially sucks. I have a family history of thyroid conditions, but since high school I've been at a steady high TSH level and didn't really have symptoms... well, to my knowledge. See, everything is affected by the thyroid--hair loss/growth, mood swings, constipation/diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss/gain, etc. Anything wrong in your life, check your thyroid! :p I've been fighting pills for a long time, and thankfully had a doctor who agreed with me since I didn't have any major symptoms and I was below the old level of concern for TSH, although above the new threshold. And then I started exercising in April and didn't lose a pound. And then I got really moody lately, although I was very frustrated by work and didn't know if it was anything real in terms of symptoms. And then I started feeling more exhausted, but again, thought it was work related.
Finally, I had my six month check up earlier this month with the doctor and my TSH levels jumped from 5.9 to 9.7 (note: 4.0 is the "something may be wrong" level and 10.0 is the "something is really wrong" level)! Yeah, so I'm on medication for that, and only after a few weeks, I'm feeling so much better. It's like a weight has been lifted when I didn't even realize that it was there, slowly building on me. I'm now wondering if my lack for writing desire has been associated to that, too.
And that's the latest news that comes to mind. I'm hoping that the Avalanche start to remember how to play hockey again at some point this season. I'm still enjoying "Once Upon a Time," mostly because I love the integration of the fairy tales. I bought a stove top grill pan on Friday and I'm really excited to use it, even though I suck at cooking. And finally, let's hope that I manage to get some writing done in the next couple of weeks. I think finishing OWS was my only New Years resolution for the year, aside from passing the CPA exams. ^^; I better get to work, huh?
No, seriously, holy shit! After months of radio silence toward my resume, I had two interviews a couple weeks ago. One was for a tax staff position in a small firm, but I got the sense that, while they loved me as a person, they wanted someone more experienced. Still haven't heard from them, but whatever since I had another interview a week later.
The whole thing was totally unplanned since I've been pretty much hitting public accounting firms for jobs, but started to apply to other jobs just to figure out my options. One was posted through RobertHalf, and a week later on a Friday, they called about a Senior Accountant position at a small portfolio owned company that was interviewing on Monday. It was a strange, speed interviewing session with several applicants getting only 30min with the Controller, Asst Controller, and HR manager (I usually take 1hr...). After that, they wanted a second interview the next day on location, stating that I'm not as experienced as the other candidates, but they liked me and my apparent intelligence. During that interview, the hiring manager/assistant controller plopped a laptop in front of me and basically grilled me on some Excel stuff. I didn't know pivot tables since I don't use them, but that was the only thing I didn't know and he liked how I performed under pressure. Still, I wasn't expecting much since I was told at least four times that I was the least qualified applicant.
Then on Thursday, they gave me a job offer, stating that I was the number one candidate! O.o Never saw it coming, which meant I needed a night to really think over what it would mean to work there. I think I scared them a bit with my hesitation, but really, I was so focused on public accounting jobs in the past several months and I hadn't really thought about corporate accounting. Still, I'll be directly working with a CPA, so I'll get my experience for my license, and the controller is also a CPA who got to that position without needing public accounting experience. I'm really excited about this.
Oh, and shall I mention that I'll be paid nearly twice than compared to my current job? I'm almost to the pay grade I was during my short chemistry career, which makes me so very, very happy. I won't need my parents' help on the mortgage anymore!
Otherwise, the month has been crazy with many Avalanche games (dear Lord, they have sucked it up lately) and doing random social stuff. One of my coworkers invited me to Thanksgiving dinner and it was so very yummy, and also entertaining since it led to a bitch session about our company. There is a lot that is very wrong about that place, and I'm so happy to be leaving. An HR person was upset to learn that I (among so many others in the last year) am leaving the company and she complained to a coworker that they have a tax group I could have joined. Yeah, that tax group has had an open tax staff position since around May and I just learned that the manager AND the director are leaving this month. Seriously, the director's commute is tripling, and it's still worth it to leave. Scary times.
On another note, I also found out that my thyroid officially sucks. I have a family history of thyroid conditions, but since high school I've been at a steady high TSH level and didn't really have symptoms... well, to my knowledge. See, everything is affected by the thyroid--hair loss/growth, mood swings, constipation/diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss/gain, etc. Anything wrong in your life, check your thyroid! :p I've been fighting pills for a long time, and thankfully had a doctor who agreed with me since I didn't have any major symptoms and I was below the old level of concern for TSH, although above the new threshold. And then I started exercising in April and didn't lose a pound. And then I got really moody lately, although I was very frustrated by work and didn't know if it was anything real in terms of symptoms. And then I started feeling more exhausted, but again, thought it was work related.
Finally, I had my six month check up earlier this month with the doctor and my TSH levels jumped from 5.9 to 9.7 (note: 4.0 is the "something may be wrong" level and 10.0 is the "something is really wrong" level)! Yeah, so I'm on medication for that, and only after a few weeks, I'm feeling so much better. It's like a weight has been lifted when I didn't even realize that it was there, slowly building on me. I'm now wondering if my lack for writing desire has been associated to that, too.
And that's the latest news that comes to mind. I'm hoping that the Avalanche start to remember how to play hockey again at some point this season. I'm still enjoying "Once Upon a Time," mostly because I love the integration of the fairy tales. I bought a stove top grill pan on Friday and I'm really excited to use it, even though I suck at cooking. And finally, let's hope that I manage to get some writing done in the next couple of weeks. I think finishing OWS was my only New Years resolution for the year, aside from passing the CPA exams. ^^; I better get to work, huh?