Smarter than a fifth grader

Second post of the week after a month of hiatus, man! I am bored.

There is nothing worse than being bored when you have to study because any and every stupid little thing can make you lose track of time and waste a whole morning/afternoon doing nothing. Bored as I am, just a few minutes ago I decided to go through my old posts just to keep myself away from "Some very bad Corporate Valuation notes writen by I-really-don't-know-who(m)" and I re-read my "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" post. Then I remembered I forgot to tell you the end of that story, and knowing myself and how I love to brag about my achievements and make clear I am after all an intelligent person I cannot imagine why I didn't say this before!!!

Seems I am smarter than a fifth grader, that or in that company they don't need people smarter than fifth graders cause two weeks ago they called me in again for a second interview. It actually felt good to tell them I was no longer interested...

I'll leave you now, Corporate Valuation awaits and I can't risk screwing this last exam, my future depends on it!

The tale of the three pigs

Who would have thought things would change so much at home.

For years my mom has urged my sister and I to study, she is constantly asking us to sit down prepare our exams and write our essays and projects and stuff... she mainly does what every parent does: try to make us hard working/good students. From my point of view she has been quite successful on her task, but my opinion is completely biased.

However, she does not expect the same of herself as a student... A few years ago she started to take english classes twice a week. Of course at first my sister and I were willing to help her with homework and class stuff, but as the years pass her homework requires more and more of her time and unlike us, she asks someone else (mainly her daughters) to do her homework for her.

Last week she had to write a 200 word essay telling a kid's story. She was unwilling to make the effort so she asked my sister and I to write it for her. The problem is we had to adapt the story in spanish to her level of english, and that is a bit complicated taking into account that using, let's say, conditionals or subordinate sentences is not exactly what a student with her level of english can do.

In the end, and after one of the best laughs ever, my sister and I came up with this translation of her story, with some changes in the traslation and the plot (our additions are in italics):

"Once upon a time three little pigs decided to build a house each. The youngest of them all built a hay house. The second eldest built a wooden house and the eldest, being as he was the hardest working of them all, decided to build a brick house.

His two younger brothers laughed at him because he was working too hard, but then one day the wolf came. Each pig hid inside their house and waited for the wolf to arrive.

The wolf knocked on the firt pig's door and when the pig didn't open he started to blow and blow until the house collapsed. The second pig invited his brother to hide in his house, but again the wolf came and blew down the house. Terrified, the two pigs had nowhere to go but their elder brother's house. They asked him to let them in his brick house. He didn't want to but he was very good and he did.

When the wolf came, he blew and blew and blew but the house was so well built that he couldn't bring it down. The wolf hyperventilated and died.

The moral of this story: Hard work always has a reward. Beware of hyperventilation."

I wonder what her teacher thought of the story, and us, cause there's no way he bought that my mom wrote such a thing considering she never does her homework and always answers his questions in spanish.

The moral of this story: Such is Life!

Author's note: Yeah, I should be studying my finalest of finals, I know, but with my mother's example, what do you expect?

My sister: The online Phenomenon

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... my sister.

My only sibling is three years older than me, and ever since I started this blog has been nagging me about it. The reason? She thinks this blog is the platform that will turn her into an online phenomenon. I don't want to discourage her enthusiasm but I honestly think this poor girl has no idea of the terrible things I could say about her.

She should be thanking the Lord I am actually a nice sister, cause otherwise she would not become an online phenomenon but a social faillure.

Still, my sister, "the online phenomenon to be" doesn't surrender, and she insists on me telling stories about her.

Just ten minutes ago we had a conversation that explains the situation quite well:

Sis: I have been reading your blog today.
Me: Really, that's good.
Sis: Yeah, and I've realised the post I like most is "What this blog is not".
Me: No wonder, it's about you.
Sis: Exactly, I think you should talk more about me, it's fun.
Me: Fun?
Sis: Of course fun! I actually like the posts about me most.

At that point of the conversation my fingers started to itch, and I felt the urge to start writing. I can't understand why she tells me this kind of stuff, doesn't she know I am going to tell you guys about it asap?

So innocent, poor thing.

Here you go sis, your third post in Such is Life, congrats.

Crossroads

Be careful what you wish for...

Months complaining about the job market, countless interviews that came to nothing and now... now I have two job offers, and I have been cursed (or are incredibly privileged, I still don't know which of the two) with the gift of choice.

Choices are double-edged swords, cause they always leave a lingering question in our minds: What if I had done something else? Law or Consulting? This or that? Here or there? The difference, in my case, is a number followed by four zeros and the uncertainty of ignoring what the future holds. Where will I be in a year if I choose option 1? Where will I be if I choose option 2?

I should feel fortunate, cause whatever I choose I'll be somewhere I want to be, and I wont be able to blame the crisis for my misfortunes, it will be my own choice, and that idea makes me feel I have regained control of my life after so many months of trying to find my place in the real world.

Will I make the right decision? time will tell, unfortunately we don't have a looking glass through which we can see ourselves in the future. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mistery... And today? Today I finished my classes at my current University forever.

I am done with lectures after six long years (and two degrees, don't you dare think I took longer than expected to finish my studies!) and I have been tasting a bittersweet sensation all day long. Happy-go-lucky days are over. My final Finals are here and then... then The Leap. I don't want to finish this post without mentioning my dearest friends and severest critics. I love you girls, and I'm going to miss our daily routine, the coffees, the beers, the laughs, the talks, the plans... As I told Ale this afternoon, it's been an honour!

The title of this post is Crossroads, I don't think I have to explain why... Congratulations Class of 09, we are finally done! See you on the Road... Such is life.

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst

Amazingly enough just three days after the interview with the HR girl from the law firm the assistant of one of the partners gave me a call to schedule an interview next week. I am a little bit at odds right now, reasons?

1.- Maybe I sounded more convincing than I thought I did and she thinks I have a chance with them (Unlikely but not impossible).

or

2.- She thinks I'm not suited for their firm so instead of telling me herself she is going to make me go through the toughest legal interview ever so that they can kick me out of their interview process for an actual good reason (Very likely and possible).

I really hope it's option 1, but I expect 2 to be the right answer, just like the song: "Hoping for the best but expecting the worst..." I'm not going to fall without fighting though, and I'm spending the morning going through all my notes on contracts and business law.

Whether you know where you'll be next september or are wandering aimlessly on these troubled job-search waters, I'm sure we all want to be forever young, but... (wait for it!) SUCH IS LIFE!!

Are you smarter than a Fifth Grader?

The answer is... No

After finishing the last post I feel compelled to tell you how terrible my interview went today.

AWFUL.

The position was Junior Analyst at a M&A firm. I was dead nervous since it was my first interview of the kind. I had two 40 minute interviews with two very nice interviewers, but I am not smarter than a fifth grader, so I can't have passed both interviews.

After talking for a while about my CV (that's easy) the first interviewer asked very quickly if 17% of 38 was larger than 38% of 17. I remained quiet for a while and opened my mouth just to say:

"17% of 38 is larger" and the interview carried on without me worrying about the stupid question.

I was doing more or less fine when the guy asked in how many different ways could six people be ordered in a queue, and I fell silent again. Mind totally blank... I give a very wrong answer, which I'm not going to tell you and the interview carried on.

I realise my mistake and try to fix it only to keep giving a wrong answer.

Interview number two was less embarrasing since my mistake was a lack of financial knowledge and not basic math. Still embarrasing though.

Once on my way home I keep going through the interview and suddenly realise something:

17% of 38 = 38% of 17. OH NO, I ignore one of the basic rules of math: a x b = b x a, how could I go through school????

And then I couldn't even come up with the answer to question number two, my mom did (and my sister*): 6!, and that is not an excited 6 but 6x5x4x3x2x1...

I feel mighty stupid... but hey! I was too nervous to think clearly. Next time I'll be a little more ready, but I have the feeling these guys won't give me a second chance no matter how good I am talking to people... Oh well, such is Life.

Worst of all is I have realised life has been spoiling me these last 23 years, and now I suffer from failure intolerance. All I can say is I thought I was smarter, not only smarter than a fifth grader but plain smarter. Yet again, I proved myself wrong. I need some rest...

* My sister was reading this post as I wrote it and insisted on my writing that she knew that basic detail too, I have to let the world know she is intelligent and I am not. Well, lucky she knows math, unlucky she wasn't doing my interview today.

Popularity, NOT Notoriety

What a week... Illness gave way to HR interview debacle which in turn gave way to my new internship and finally today... I screwed up another interview!!

But that story will have to wait till later cause I want to tell you another one about something essential in today's Blogosphere, and actually life: POPULARITY. I believe we all seek popularity one way or another, and when we find out we are not as popular as we thought we were, we get really disapointed.

I wanted to see how popular (or notorious?) my blog actually is, cause people keep telling me they read it, but all the assurance I get is their word, and some of them are not to be trusted... (and here I'm being ironic or sarcastic? I just don't really mean they are not to be trusted, only kidding) Anyhow, I decided to google this site reaching some very strange conclusions. Being incredibly optimistic I typed "Such is Life" and got at least 300,000,000 answers... it seems too many people have writen books and stories with that title... what I liked most is that it turns out Ned Kelly's last words were these three that give title to my blog.

I then decided to add my name to the search and my blog didn't turn up either.

Here comes the hilarious part (for you, embarrasing for me) if the word blog is added to the search, then...

"Ask sister Mary Martha" and I had to click on that link... OMG (literally)

and another one:

"Martha's blog: Finding meaning in the second half of life"

And then I realised that guy was right...

"That guy" is a guy I met at a bar (literally called Coyote Ugly, in D.C. -very very ugly place-) with whom I only exchanged one word:

- That guy: What's your name?
- Me: Marta
- That guy: That's a granmother's name
- Me:... (I gave him a nasty look and walked away)

So yes... it seems I have a granmother's name, at least in anglo saxon environments.

Anyway... I kept trying to find my blog and realised it is nowhere to be seen on Google, and I am crushed. There's no way to find it, so I'll have to keep bugging you on Facebook and personally till this little website has the notoriety it deserves ( I mean popularity!)

Yet another story... Such is Life.

To learn more about Ned Kelly you can read this website: http://www2.visitvictoria.com.au/displayObject.cfm/objectid.000E92DE-B241-1D06-970F80C476A90000/vvt.vhtml