I’m having a day inside my head today, and it’s a bit cramped in here.

E and Katie are both home sick, and I am home studying for test number two, which I will take tomorrow afternoon. I am trying my best to get through all of the material (mostly my notes and Kaplan notecards) today and make a sheet of things that need to be gone over again in the morning. This exam is relatively easy compared to the other three sections, but I’ve given it far less time than what I devoted to yesterday section, and there are a lot of formulas to know (capital asset pricing model, anyone? weighted average cost of capital? expected growth rate expressed in EPS?).

I am not having a blast. It’s hunker down and work time, and my brain (and eyes, from staring at the paper all day) is about fried. Mostly I’m focusing on an area that is about two feet by two feet, although luckily that encompasses my computer and its speakers.

I did try to find some good study music this morning, and I ended up with the mellow Piers Faccini and the not-mellow Akron/Family. But at the moment I’m back to Tuesday’s picks and am considering breaking out the Andrew Bird. It’s going to be a long time before bed time.

One test down and three to go on this round of the CPA exam. This first test had some parts that were super easy and other parts that had me looking at the screen sideways just to try to figure out what the question was asking.

My last post about good reasons for listening to new music while preparing for an exam left out reason number five: get new music so you won’t have a song stuck on repeat in your head while you’re trying to focus on the computer screen. I had that happen once. Cost accounting and “Psycho Killer.” It wasn’t pleasant.

Ironically, I forgot to put that in my post last night, and I ended up with Herman Dune stuck in my head on the way to the testing center. Luckily I was able to drive him out with a little pre exam Andrew Bird.

One of the weirdest things about taking a long exam like this CPA mess is the extreme disconnectedness you feel in the sterile testing center (I cannot express how much I hate that place, but that’s another story). For four hours this morning I sat in a room with a dozen or so people where all I could hear was the occasional cough and the opening and closing of the door as people came and left. Not only was there no music for four hours, there was no anything. I can’t recall the last time I was so completely disconnected from the world for so long (while awake).

But now it’s time to work on test number two, which I will take on Friday afternoon. Today’s post test pick is BrakesBrakesBrakes. I need to find at least one more pick, but first it’s time to clean the gutters before the next wave (ha!) of rain hits.