read and see

wrote this for a job application. quite proud of it.

After finishing my A Levels, I faced a crossroad in where to attend university. I was offered a full scholarship by the Singaporean government to study at the national university but I was reluctant to accept it because I wanted to experience life in a context that is foreign from the one that I was used to. I chose instead to study at Messiah College, a liberal arts institution in the United States.

I wanted to study in an institution that did not inhibit creative thought but instead promoted it through multiple disciplines. During these past two and a half years, I have enrolled in theatre, literature, writing, theology, politics and history classes alongside my required economics and mathematics classes. My decision was not free of sacrifices; to alleviate the financial burden of a US college education, I had to forgo summer vacations at home and worked on campus for two summers in a row.

Despite taking the unconventional route to a degree, I think that I have emerged a more educated and cultured individual. I have used Messiah College as a springboard to a travelling experience. I spent a semester in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I saw the stark contrast between urban and rural America. I participated in two week-long service trips, one to Camden, New Jersey and one to Atlanta, Georgia where I realized, while dishing out macaroni and cheese for homeless individuals in a soup kitchen that America had more dimensions than I had thought.

Currently, my education has brought me to London where I obtained an internship at a respectable investment bank and where I am currently exposed to a whole new set of cultures and people.

After finishing my A Levels, I set off to the United States only to discover the rest of the world.

also, greenspan's replacement nominee announced. i feel as if i have a spiritual connection with ben after reading his macroecnomics textbook. i dig the goatee too, beats greenspan's bifocals anytime. you reckon he's talking about his lil fella there?

this week

oooh, also, this week has been a very interesting one with companies reporting their third quarter earnings on both sides of the atlantic. i arrived at work on wednesday to get a blackberry e-mail from my director telling me to summarize our company's third quarter earnings results and a short write up about refco, the collapsed futures and commodities broker. i listened in (or as they like to say here, jumped in) on a conference call regarding earnings and couldn't make head or tail about yield curves and mortgage backed securities but i think i got the gist of it.
i witnessed our companies' stock go see sawing up and down during the day because no one could evaluate it: a drop in dividends and earnings per share but still healthy revenues and a fundamentally sound structure with long term earnings guaranteed once interest rates stabilize. i read nearly every single message on the yahoo finance message board some of which were quite funny.
then i read other companies' earnings reports ... it's quite thrilling really, to be in the midst of a seminal event, where within the span of 2-3 days, the markets were down both in the ftse and dow because of lower profits but then yesterday, the dow bounced back up with higher than expected growth rate even though the university of michigan consumer confidence index, which was also released yesterday, reflected a drop.

oh, and i don't say the company's name anymore because it could land me in hot soup.

i need this job badly.

consumer

the past few days have been quite slow at the office because my supervisor is in the states attending meetings. during the quieter moments, i've been on the company's research center website, looking at research reports for the companies we cover. i've gained quite an excitement for the consumer sector, specifically restaurants and apparel. how wonderful would it be if i were to be a research analyst in the consumer section and write things like "p.f. chang specializes in sumptious sweet and sour pork and szechuan chicken" along with their earnings projection. or "gap continues to do well in their specialty women's line incorporating cashmere in their products." or what if i could become an investment banker in the consumer division, and say float an ipo for a startup designer?

europeans

i am observing that many continental europeans i've come across are incredibly pompous and snooty.

jeans

i am currently looking for a nice good pair of jeans. This is nice but ridiculously expensive. I saw a pair at H&M today, where I bought a sturdy gray zip up sweater for 12.50 pounds, and they looked nice but i was hesitant to try them on, just in case you know, i buy them (29.90). but i'm looking. i might take to shopping in the women's section for jeans soon, because i really want the low cut tight around the thighs hipster look.

and ....

bloody hell again! i've forgotten to inform all of you that the motherfucking atgig server has been down for the past month so i am unable to update my london journal.

rip off

i am being cheated left and right. prior to my departure from ny, i arranged for a transport service to pick me up from ly's and drop me off at newark. i waited for approx. 2 hours (after calling them twice and being promised that a car would be coming soon. eventually, they said they couldn't come and that i would be refunded), i took a cab to grand central and then wandered around looking for the newark bus, suitcase and backpack in tow.
i looked at my credit card bill when i got to london and they bloody hell charged me $19 for a ride that did not happen. i called several times to get my refund (long distance you know) and each time i get the refund manager's voicemail.
then today, i suddenly remembered that i had gone to pnc bank to deposit 2 years worth of nickels and dimes, a huge bagful. i walked from branch to branch in center city philly asking each bank if they'd take my change and count it and they said no. finally i got to this branch whose employees sneered at my bag and said they'd do it but they send it elsewhere to get counted. they proceeded to put my change in their bag and got all my details but i left without getting a deposit receipt or anything. i of course, left in good faith, because it is pnc and not some black market coin changer.
it has been about 2 months now and the deposit still has not shown up on my account. bloody hell again.
not to mention how i paid about 140 pounds for 6 months worth of lenses when they are about 70 pounds online.
on a side note, i am being worked to the ground but i am not doing any work.

hedge fun article

here.

liver

would it be humorous to say that i killed my liver in london?



*i don't even bother with the juice and soda anymore. i down the vodka or gin straight from the bottle*

go here go there

so many things to do ....