i PASSED!

Here is the scrapbooking layout I made to commemorate today... one of the most gratifying days of my life: today, on my third attempt, I (preliminary result) passed exam P of the SOA certification series and am officially on the Actuary track.

This is huge for me. Not only does it qualify me to work in my field, but it also qualifies me for study programs which pay me to leave early for the day to study for the next exam, pays for my supplies and expenses, puts me on a program to "tour" every department in my company for a year at a time, gives me a one-time bonus, gives me a raise, and just in general lets me know that yes, I can do this.

This exam was harder than the first two attempts that I took (the questions are sampled at random from a large pool) and I thought I did terrible. I spent the full last 15 minutes randomly selecting answers to over half of the test that I either couldn't attempt or had not the time to try. I was ready to cry in defeat when I hit "end test" and the notice "Congratulations, you passed." popped up. I do not have anything in life to compare the emotions of that moment to. So much of my life went in to this that it was such an enormous thing... I completely broke down (I saved most of it for when I got to the car...) in wonderful, exhilarating tears of gratitude, relief, disbelief, freedom, self-determination, and many other emotions I can't describe.

Afterward, I had to go to the DMV and those people have probably never dealt with anyone of my today-cheerfulness in all of their lives.