Its been one and a half month since i left Singapore. The NYC trip was awesome and was truly an eye opener. Great that i finally get to 'see' broadway and times square and all that glitters...only regret was that we weren't able to catch either Wicked or Spring Awakening.
I'm very very glad that i'm here at exchange at Ivey. Got to see how class participation can be meaningful, get to experience different environment and social dynamics. Learning new academic stuff, and learnt new things about myself. And having days that you 'do nothing' is very important for me. I recharge on these days. I also realised that being polite and nice to everyone is tiring. Not that i'm a really mean person...but it feels good to sometimes 'suan' people and know that they will not be offended.
This exchange further re-affirms my previous suspicion that my need to show people that I know my stuff stems from my deep insecurity. In Ivey I have no ‘previous’ reputation – smart, stupid, arrogant or otherwise, and yet I subconsciously cultivated the image that I know my stuff. Haha. Who truly know their stuff at this point in their life? Self defense mechanism.
On the rather sensitive issue of race and cultural inclusion, this is the first time I’m the ‘minority’ in the community. Had fun interacting with people from all over the world, but still gravitated towards the Asian community. There are of course no ‘discrimination’ – but “Everyone’s a little bit racist” - How True!
I’m leaving Toronto for Mexico City this Sat. Over the next 2 weeks I’ll be traveling from Mexico City down to Cancun. Joined G.A.P adventures for this trip as I wanted to travel to the out-of-place historical sites. I was inspired by the ‘Central American’ display at New York Metropolitan Museum. Hopefully the tour the will be fun and I don’t fall sick. Haha.
Finally, SUN + WARMTH + HUMIDITY = wearing berms (with boots cuz i brought no sandals) and no long johns !!!
For my break from Apl to mid May, may enthusiasm (and budget) for traveling in the West Coast of USA has been dwindling. In my mind, attending Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting and seeing (albeit at a distance) Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger would trump going to Las Vegas any day. I’m still trying to figure out a way to attend without being a shareholder. Haha. If any one know ANYTHING please let me know.
Will be back in London, Ontario, Canada on 1st March. Promise that I will post pictures and stuffs from my trip :)
To my dear family and friends – take care!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Almost there...
1 project due tmrw, another due within the week, and one mid term.
then Spring Break!!!!
Loh Wei is going to Mexico :)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Random...Oppsss
2 more weeks to the end of my first half in Ivey. In feb there will be a 3 weeks break before school starts again in March - MEXICO!!!!
Dejected....as much as i want to think that i am a 'rational' being, i'm not. I'm easily affected by the behaviour or moods of pple around me. I kind of suck in the mood and emotions around me. I hate working with phony pple, those that overpromise and underdeliver. Gosh, and i can't help feeling disgusted by them...and close friends will say that what i feel is often written all over my face in BIG BOLD LETTERS.
Amazed that i'm having pimple outbreak now! I thought i kissed pimple goodbye 10 years ago! haha. Still young eh? Not the greatest week. 2 projects (done), 1 exam on fri - havnt started revising yet, 1 case due on thus, 1 write up due on weds, 1 exam next week, 1 more project due next tues...phone interview on fri...rejected by another firm....had a bad and expensive haircut....pimples....indigestions....running out of cash due to stupid OCBC atm card....feeling feverish....need my Ma Guang medicine, but 铁牙didn't bring any over. Too much coffee too little sleep. Miss the warmth of the sun and the great wonderful pple back in Singapore. I'm so lucky to have a great bunch of 'energizers' around me back home that cheer me up and help diminish my apparent flaws. Haha. Guess overprotected by friends and family ba.
Damages (with Glenn Close) is the best show on TV now. 30 Rock on NBC is the next best thing that happened after Will and Grace and Friends.
This post doesnt make sense. Senseless...
Dejected....as much as i want to think that i am a 'rational' being, i'm not. I'm easily affected by the behaviour or moods of pple around me. I kind of suck in the mood and emotions around me. I hate working with phony pple, those that overpromise and underdeliver. Gosh, and i can't help feeling disgusted by them...and close friends will say that what i feel is often written all over my face in BIG BOLD LETTERS.
Amazed that i'm having pimple outbreak now! I thought i kissed pimple goodbye 10 years ago! haha. Still young eh? Not the greatest week. 2 projects (done), 1 exam on fri - havnt started revising yet, 1 case due on thus, 1 write up due on weds, 1 exam next week, 1 more project due next tues...phone interview on fri...rejected by another firm....had a bad and expensive haircut....pimples....indigestions....running out of cash due to stupid OCBC atm card....feeling feverish....need my Ma Guang medicine, but 铁牙didn't bring any over. Too much coffee too little sleep. Miss the warmth of the sun and the great wonderful pple back in Singapore. I'm so lucky to have a great bunch of 'energizers' around me back home that cheer me up and help diminish my apparent flaws. Haha. Guess overprotected by friends and family ba.
Damages (with Glenn Close) is the best show on TV now. 30 Rock on NBC is the next best thing that happened after Will and Grace and Friends.
This post doesnt make sense. Senseless...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Being Happy and Successful...
When people ask Warren Buffett 'do u think u are successful', he often reply with a 'i dun know what successful means, but i sure know i'm happy.' Success is getting what you want, happiness is wantng what you get. How true! But how many of us truly know what we want?
Its like we spend our whole life climbing a mountain but to realise that at the peak, what we truly love is the river that flows at the bottom of the mountain (maybe because there's a Tim Hortons nearby).
Read a article by David Maister who specialises in professional service firms (law, acct, invesment banking, consulting, etc). His articles are easy to read, insightful and highly relevant even after 20 years. Went to google him and this guy blogs! haha. It was the following speech that's on his blog that's really impactful.
If u have the time, please read the full article.
----------------------------------------------
Stephen C. Ellis - the managing partner at the law firm of Tucker, Ellis & West.
What follows is the commencement address he gave at Case Western reserve School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio on May 19, 2008.
The title of his remarks is "On Being a Happy(and Successful) Lawyer
Now we’re going to do a ten second experiment. Take a moment and reflect on the occasions when you felt truly happy - and please don’t name ‘listening to this talk”. [8 seconds of silence]
I submit that not one of you is thinking about money or material things. Our best times are always with people we care about, doing things that bring us closer together. But knowing that, we let ourselves climb on this treadmill, running harder and harder, like that donkey trying to catch the carrot on a stick.
I believe this is beginning to change, at least in the arena where lawyers have to keep increasing the hours they devote to work. Hours are being recognized as an irrational measure of value. Nobody calls a lawyer asking them to please spend twenty hours on a project. Clients want to pay us for what we do, not how long it takes us to do it.
If you’ve decided to become a lawyer solely to make money if to you it’s simply a job I fear you’ll hate it. As a career and a calling it’s great, and unbelievably interesting, but as simply a job, it’s way too hard and stressful. It’s the people, the pace and the endless puzzles of the law that make being a lawyer fulfilling. If you want tons of money for working twenty hours a day and nausea-inducing stress, Wall Street investment banking may be just the thing . In that business the grand old men are burnt out at 45.
Over the past few years I’ve come to some conclusions on finding guideposts that will give us lawyers the best chance of being successful, in the sense of truly enjoying our lives and careers as lawyers. They are simple, some might say “trite”. But 36 years of listening to happy and desperately unhappy lawyers and watching colleagues succeed as lawyers and people, and some fail, I know that these may be cliché’s, but I also know they are true.
First, be someone others count on. Most folks talk a good game; very few come through. Clients come to you because they have a situation they cannot solve on their own. Most are not looking for an analysis of the law. Most want you to solve a problem. So solve it, don’t add to their problem by being hard to find, by missing deadlines, or by simply describing their problem back to them. It’s like going to the dentist when you have a toothache. You want it fixed and you want it fixed now. That’s what a client wants every time they talk to you. Walk in with a problem, walk out with a solution.
What they want is someone they can count on to make their lives simpler, to accomplish what they want accomplished. If you can simply do that, you’ll be sought out as an extraordinarily effective lawyer. And there is a real difference in your sense of self between being simply a resource; somebody who knows the law, and the person that people count on to solve their problems.
Second - be an interesting person, for your own good and so that clients think of you as more than a lawyer. A decent definition of hell is a dinner party companion who is a first year lawyer on the day after his or her first trial. Law stuff is interesting mostly to lawyers. In fact, it’s real interesting to lawyers, so that’s what we talk about all the time, just like you talk about law school all the time.
Force yourself to do be able to talk about more than law - read books, go to movies, be part of politics, go to lectures. You’ll meet people, you’ll be able to talk about things that other people find interesting, and you won’t burn out on your job.
The horror stories you hear about associates working 2500 hours a year? You will be surprised when you see how much of that is self imposed. These young lawyers get caught up in the chase and find that what they’re doing more interesting than anything else- so they become that boring self absorbed dining companion. The world’s full of great people with jobs and hobbies that are just as demanding and just as fascinating as yours, (assuming you make yourself get a hobby). Learn about them. You’ll be happier and much more fun to be with.
The toughest lawyer is not the one who is the most obnoxious. Clients will say they want a tough son of a gun to make somebody life’s miserable, a real bulldog, etc.
Don’t be that person. It’s been my 100% uniform experience that the bulldog only adds time, expense, stress and confusion to an otherwise inevitable result. Even clients can’t stand them after a couple of months.
And finally and hands down most importantly, and please pass this on to your friends and your children, because it’s really important — Be nice and have fun. Just doing that makes life better for everybody, mostly you.
Its like we spend our whole life climbing a mountain but to realise that at the peak, what we truly love is the river that flows at the bottom of the mountain (maybe because there's a Tim Hortons nearby).
Read a article by David Maister who specialises in professional service firms (law, acct, invesment banking, consulting, etc). His articles are easy to read, insightful and highly relevant even after 20 years. Went to google him and this guy blogs! haha. It was the following speech that's on his blog that's really impactful.
If u have the time, please read the full article.
----------------------------------------------
Stephen C. Ellis - the managing partner at the law firm of Tucker, Ellis & West.
What follows is the commencement address he gave at Case Western reserve School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio on May 19, 2008.
The title of his remarks is "On Being a Happy(and Successful) Lawyer
Now we’re going to do a ten second experiment. Take a moment and reflect on the occasions when you felt truly happy - and please don’t name ‘listening to this talk”. [8 seconds of silence]
I submit that not one of you is thinking about money or material things. Our best times are always with people we care about, doing things that bring us closer together. But knowing that, we let ourselves climb on this treadmill, running harder and harder, like that donkey trying to catch the carrot on a stick.
I believe this is beginning to change, at least in the arena where lawyers have to keep increasing the hours they devote to work. Hours are being recognized as an irrational measure of value. Nobody calls a lawyer asking them to please spend twenty hours on a project. Clients want to pay us for what we do, not how long it takes us to do it.
If you’ve decided to become a lawyer solely to make money if to you it’s simply a job I fear you’ll hate it. As a career and a calling it’s great, and unbelievably interesting, but as simply a job, it’s way too hard and stressful. It’s the people, the pace and the endless puzzles of the law that make being a lawyer fulfilling. If you want tons of money for working twenty hours a day and nausea-inducing stress, Wall Street investment banking may be just the thing . In that business the grand old men are burnt out at 45.
Over the past few years I’ve come to some conclusions on finding guideposts that will give us lawyers the best chance of being successful, in the sense of truly enjoying our lives and careers as lawyers. They are simple, some might say “trite”. But 36 years of listening to happy and desperately unhappy lawyers and watching colleagues succeed as lawyers and people, and some fail, I know that these may be cliché’s, but I also know they are true.
First, be someone others count on. Most folks talk a good game; very few come through. Clients come to you because they have a situation they cannot solve on their own. Most are not looking for an analysis of the law. Most want you to solve a problem. So solve it, don’t add to their problem by being hard to find, by missing deadlines, or by simply describing their problem back to them. It’s like going to the dentist when you have a toothache. You want it fixed and you want it fixed now. That’s what a client wants every time they talk to you. Walk in with a problem, walk out with a solution.
What they want is someone they can count on to make their lives simpler, to accomplish what they want accomplished. If you can simply do that, you’ll be sought out as an extraordinarily effective lawyer. And there is a real difference in your sense of self between being simply a resource; somebody who knows the law, and the person that people count on to solve their problems.
Second - be an interesting person, for your own good and so that clients think of you as more than a lawyer. A decent definition of hell is a dinner party companion who is a first year lawyer on the day after his or her first trial. Law stuff is interesting mostly to lawyers. In fact, it’s real interesting to lawyers, so that’s what we talk about all the time, just like you talk about law school all the time.
Force yourself to do be able to talk about more than law - read books, go to movies, be part of politics, go to lectures. You’ll meet people, you’ll be able to talk about things that other people find interesting, and you won’t burn out on your job.
The horror stories you hear about associates working 2500 hours a year? You will be surprised when you see how much of that is self imposed. These young lawyers get caught up in the chase and find that what they’re doing more interesting than anything else- so they become that boring self absorbed dining companion. The world’s full of great people with jobs and hobbies that are just as demanding and just as fascinating as yours, (assuming you make yourself get a hobby). Learn about them. You’ll be happier and much more fun to be with.
The toughest lawyer is not the one who is the most obnoxious. Clients will say they want a tough son of a gun to make somebody life’s miserable, a real bulldog, etc.
Don’t be that person. It’s been my 100% uniform experience that the bulldog only adds time, expense, stress and confusion to an otherwise inevitable result. Even clients can’t stand them after a couple of months.
And finally and hands down most importantly, and please pass this on to your friends and your children, because it’s really important — Be nice and have fun. Just doing that makes life better for everybody, mostly you.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Arbitrage, 麻油鸡& Acquisition
I love the way my Derivatives class is taught. Often in Singapore, we first learn the definition, then the formula, then we 'apply' to question. The way Prof Busaba teaches derivatives is to first help us get the intuition behind the instrument, then move on to a numerical example. From there, we generalize the case and arrive at the 'given formula'. A very refreshing way to learn new concepts.
He shared with us a fact that has been bugging arbitrageur and folks that support EMH - 1 year oil futures vs. spot oil price has HUGE spread that cannot be easily explained by pricing model.
FACTS: Spot price = 43.81, Futures (Mar 09) = 55.61
Given the figures, the implied cost of carry is about 23.8%. For oil, the cost of carry is basically cost of capital + storage cost. If cost of capital is 10% (hey, 30 risk-free rate is only abt 3%) and cost to store is about 5%, then there is a 8% spread that CANNOT be explained.
Can u imagine if we see an advertisement in Straits Times saying that in one year's time NTUC will be buying toilet paper from me at 55.61 if i enter into agreement with it. All i have to do is borrow 43.81 from my dad, buy the toilet paper, store at some dry basement...sell the toilet paper back to NTUC at 55.61, pay my dad some interest, and compensate whoever lent me their basement, and the rest of the money is mine to keep!
ie. Profit = Agreed selling price - cost price - interest - storage cost!!!
Haha. Any friends here that have low cost access to capital and also a HUGE basement to store barrels of oil ?!?!?! Call me :)
To the see the intraday futures prices, click here.
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Managed to cook 麻油鸡today, my most ambitious dish yet! Super proud of it given that it was my first attempt and the final product is quite edible. I couldn't find 米酒, so i used some super strong liquor i found in the cabinet. Haha. So my 麻油鸡 is super nice for the super cold weather.
The soup u see was prepared by my landlord. and the dumpling thing beside veg was bought from a neighbour that sells homemade food. Since it reminded me of 锅贴, i 'educated' my host that it SHOULD be taken with ginger and vinegar. Sadly there no 黑醋 around, so i used red wine vinegar. Taste great!
My latest acquisition is my HUMIDIFIER!!!
Now my room is Warm and Moist. Sounds a lot like the weather back home huh?
Haha. My summer palace in the winter wonderland!!!
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