Yes, love is still the greatest of all.
The only thing that can deal with human errors and faults, the only thing that can surpass conflict among people and stare hate in the face and return kindness, goodness and love, must be something that is bigger than all our problems and the current state of upset we are in. This verse is something I grew up with, lived with, but now cling onto to, for nothing else can help you deal with a situation of animousity and unkindness except for God’s love.
Love is patient; love is kind
and envies no one.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, not quick to take offense.
There is nothing love cannot face;
there is no limit to its faith,
its hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things
that last forever: faith, hope, and love;
but the greatest of them all is love.
– 1 Corinthians 13
The little things that make me happy (2)
1. Listening to Pheonix on grooveshark to relax after a busy morning of cramming reports into my head
2. Knowing that Spring is here and the sun shines a minute more each day
3. Waiting for the long weekend and looking forward to taking a break in Rosario, the first holiday since I started work again
4. Reading a mail from my friend asking me to be her bridesmaid, and even though I know I most probably can’t, it still made me smile
5. The Korean instant noodles waiting in the bag SY gave me, SOS help whenever I miss Asian food and want to be reminded of home sweet home
6. Receiving a lovely SMS from my aunt telling me she misses me, and hopes things are well
7. Biking down Libertador Avenue all the way to Retiro, seeing Buenos Aires in a different way
8. Chatting on skype with my best friends in the world, no matter how far away they are
9. Discount shopping, which gives me greater purchasing power
10. Picking up the phone to call my family, or a friend, and breaking into a smile when I hear their familiar voices and translated smiles
11. Thinking about CNY back home, eating homemade pineapple tarts brought by my mum
12. Cooking Chinese food– yes, it is actually therapeutic, and the smell of chicken rice steaming in the rick cooker almost makes me believe I am back in Singapore
13. Spanish classes with Veronica, one of the nicest and sincerest Argentines I have met since arriving 6 months ago
14. Arriving at work and having my morning chat with colleagues, before starting a relatively peaceful day
15. Reading reports on Singapore and feeling I know much more about my homeland now than ever before
16. Discussing holiday plans, and the arrival of a cousin’s birth
17. Writing, about anything in particular. It is my theraphy.
So many little things that make me happy. Life is good : )
One cm too close
Clash with the secretary this morning over the visa process… imagine that after 2 months of working I still have yet to get my visa! Brilliant! And the secretary is immensely “mala onda” which means black face and bad attitude. She probably wakes up on the wrong side of the bed everyday. Not about to divulge into the details here, but thing is, not getting along really well with this type of person.
Another colleague made me almost blow my top, but I held back, saved by the fact that I am generally in a good mood, and that tends to be my saving grace in situations like these.
Sometimes there are just things which piss me off, and in times like these, you better not get any closer.
Feliz Primavera!
Can’t remember the last time I sat down and wrote! It’s Spring already!!
The last month flew by with my time spent majorly on working, sleeping, eating and then working some more. Finally a Friday when I get home early enough before dinner and awake enough to want to pen down some thoughts.. and maybe update those of you who read this page.
I’ve been working hard at my new job, and surprisingly not because I’m forced to, but because I want to. Getting into the office before 9am, and sometimes leaving after 9pm. Man, I don’t even remember being this much of a workerbee in workaholic Singapore! But the job is a great start for me, because honestly I’ve learnt so much in the last two months (well, of course the learning curve is always steepest at the start), but other than that, I find myself actually being less afraid of models (not catwalk models duh! its excel spreadsheet models!) and more able understand a balance sheet and income statement without shrinking back in absolute horror of the mere quantity of numbers.
In some way, this job combines what I need to know to analyze stocks (and eventually invest in them myself) with a similar scope to what I did during my rotation with Tai & Alvin in Global Research. I read so many articles, scan the net leaving no page unturned, until I manage to get a good idea of an exchange enough to be able to comment and state my view on it. I’m starting to enjoy the stock exchange industry better, getting a grasp of an industry I never even thought about just a mere 3 months ago.
I’m also learning everyday how to manage relations between colleagues who absolutely don’t speak to each other. I find out more about them everyday; what pisses them off, what makes them feel good, and how to manage situations. I realise some people are very needy for attention and ego-boosting. Their competitiveness makes them incredibly intolerable but at the same time you can’t do without them, especially if they are senior in their position, and also intelligent. Then there are others who are extremely helpful and polite, and are willing to go the distance with you. Two types of very different people, in a very small company.
I like my work, I’m getting more settled in the company, and life in general. But I don’t want to feel so tired everyday. I want to come home energized and refreshed and be able to do all the other things I dont get to do during the week, not sleep my whole weekend away! Guess its going to be a matter of adjustment before I start rescheduling my time and making more time for myself. I miss my family alot too, and whenever I walk along the streets of Santa Fe, or Callao, and pass by the Petít Colon cafe at Tribunales, or the French design building Ronald loved so much when he was here, I miss them even more. I’m reminded of the time we spent in Calafate, in la Boca, in Recoleta, Calle Corrientes, Puerto Madero. And how much fun we had.
Not sure when I’ll be able to take leave to head back to sunny Singapore. But at least for now Winter is over and Spring is finally here! Off with the woolen jackets and leather boots, and hello sleeveless tops, shorts and bikinis!!!
Winter-season job hunting!
After more than 1.5 months here, I started to kick myself in the butt and decided to be a bit more motivated in searching for a job and getting the hang of checking job search sites at least once every few days. Now, having registered an account with a couple of job search sites, I find it a lot easier to apply for a variety of different jobs without having to go to individual company websites and work through the entire application process for just one position.
Have seriously begun to be a bit stressed and worried about finding a job that I want and that also wants me, so now I am making use of every single contact and email address that comes remotely my way, in a bid to cast my net a little wider and apply the properties of the law of large sample. Hopefully by sheer probability from casting my line in a thousand directions to a million fishes, I will manage to catch a few among which I can choose something to my liking and desire.
Being a foreignor in Argentina, I have to adjust my mindset to understand that alot of interviews that I will be called up for will be conducted only in Spanish; if any part of the interview is to be conducted in English, it will only be periphery, unless it is the core requirement and pre-requisite of the job. After almost 2 months here, I can say that I have begun to have a rough grasp of the language, but still the sheer velocity with which Argentines speak their mother tongue astounds me and sometimes leaves me biting the dust in violent shock. I am trying to get the hang of the accents, the way they stress their “r”s in all the words, and how some people speak without ever opening their mouths properly, a manner of speaking that irks me no end. I speak relatively clearly, both in English and Spanish, and so when a native Spanish speaker doesn’t do me the favour of at least articulating his words clearly, I get more than a tad frustrated. Well, at least I’ve mastered to ability to tell them to please slow down “más despacio, por favor!”
Having not worn formal office clothes for the last 2 months, since I left the Bank on 9th April, I tried on some of my clothes and felt relieved to know that at least my pants still fit quite nicely; thank goodness a diet of meat meat and more meat doesn’t add so much to my butt size, and I guess I have to say that the last three weeks of gym membership has paid off relatively well. I feel fitter, and also indulge myself in eating more (which according to J, is probably the real reason why I go to the gym; not to lose weight, but to maintain when I eat so much!). Back to office clothes, I tried on my new Zara blazer that I got just before quitting in Singapore, and yay, at least I know I’m ready for an interview, together with my tailored white shirt by Supreme Tailor with my purple glass cufflinks. Now I need to get skin-coloured stockings to match my calf-leather Aldo shoes – black just won’t do. Darn, with winter coming, I need so many other types of formal clothes! Need to spend more money even before starting to earn any! Not very sensible for a person with a finance & economics background! Not sure if a blazer would be overly formal, but like I said in a presentation that I conducted before – “Dress to impress”. If you want the role, you need to dress like you deserve it.
Well, of course looking the part is just a portion of the overall package – what’s most important is that I know what to say during the interview, that I can perform well in a group setting, despite my language limitations. Back to reading about the banking industry and the company! Freezing my toes off in today’s weather, but finally! The hunt is on….. and I am going to focus on the prey! Tata!
And the French work 35-hour weeks?
After working for 30 hours straight without sleep, Juan arrived this afternoon, having been given the rest of the day off. First time he was back on a weekday for lunch; first time I could see him when the daylight was still shining. So despite a whole day of not seeing him, at least I can see him now : )
So he worked 30 hours in a day; and somewhere in the European continent called France, the people work only 35 hours per week? Tell me, where is the fairness of all this?
How long can the dollar remain on its pedestal?
It’ll be a long time before the dollar will be phased out as the world’s reserve currency. According to IMF data, allocated world holdings of the USD in 2008 totalled USD2.7 trillion, and with its nearest competitor, the Euro, only at a total of USD1.1 trillion in world holdings, it seems the USD still has a strong lead in the race.
However, if we noticed that USD holdings in 2000 was only 1.1trillion, it goes to say that in just 8 years, total world holdings of the dollar almost tripled, particularly in the period 2002-2007. before 2004, most of hte increase was attributable to advanced economies, but from 2006-2007, it was emerging and developing economies that ramped up dollar holdings. China must have played a large part in this, as it rapidly increased its holdings of US debt in those years, with at least USD1.3 trillion woth of foreign reserves, a large increase over the years in its effort to intervene in keeping its RMB currency cheap.
An intriguing point to note is the fact that after from 2007 to 2008, USD holdings by emerging and developing economies practically plateaued; while their holdings of EUR kept increasing, although at a slower pace. It was also during that period of time when China started to be more proactive in diversifying its FX reserves protfolio, and started entering into currency swap agreements with its major trade partners. In these swap agreements, China allows its the countries to which it exports to pay it in Renminbi instead of dollars.
China has made rather explicit remarks that it the dominance of the dollar as a worldwide reserve currency should and will end soon, yet there is a peculiar dilema that China is facing. As much as China would like to deviate from being overly reliant on the dollar, so much of its assets and foreign reserves consist of the dollar that dumping it suddenly and heavily will be China kicking itself in its foot. So rather than dumping, what is more sensible is exactly what China is doing – increasing reserves of other currencies by taking up debt other than from the US.
So, the shifting away from USD as the world’s reserve currency will be gradual, not overnight, but certainly inevitable. If China were to continue diversifying at at accelerating pace, then it’s uncertain how long or how quick it will take for the another currency to replace the dollar.
Some commodity food for thought…
Looking at the commodity trend present during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, we see that the biggest differentials in commodity prices happened between Jul 2008, when the crisis started manifesting more obviously before exploding into full form and led the free fall for almost all markets, and around March 2009, when most commodity indexes seemed to have bottomed out and started to pick up, albeit pretty slowly, and are hovering around the 150 mark. (Source: IMF; 2005 is the base year).
A look at the commodity indexes since 2000 up till 2008 show a quick simple story – In the years 2000-2004, the prices rose gradually, but after 2004, commodity prices went on up uphill climb, except for a relatively weak period during 2006. Apart from that, price index levels soared to never before highs of almost 250 till just before the GFC kicked in.
The latest commodity boom (2000-2008) was the largest and longest ofany boom since 1900, a clear sign of the huge increase in demand in the past decade, as countries like China and India no doubt contributed to this spike in their quest for growth. The current 150 levels suggest that prices some more room to increase, and for sure they will. The question is when, and by how much?
As commodity prices reflect forward looking expectations, a current gradually sloping upward curve is proof of brightening prospects, but expectations are still held back with an attitude of caution. The recent Euro crisis and worries about Greece as well as its fellow PIGS club members scared the markets somewhat – evident in the slight downturn in Feb 2010.
How long more will it take for the indexes to reach pre-mid 2008 levels? Will the next commodity boom bring the markets to even greater heights? Will it reach those new heights in the next two years? Or will the recent GFC scare overshadow any optimism in light of the global recovery?
Everything takes time
There is usually a lag time between the planning, the action and then the outcome.
The understanding of this concept is what separates patient, far-sighted doers, with impatient excitable people who need to see immediate results to be persuaded.
Everything begins with a plan in mind – a vision which allows the person who came up with it to imagine the future, even if it seems undoable, out-of-this-world, or impossible.
It’s like this – what you think is possible to create a few years, or decades down the road, will only take place if there is first a plan which you choose to act on. If there is a plan, but no action is taken, there is a 100% chance of a zero progress situation. But when a far-sighted planner gets works on a plan to achieve a certain goal; if there is a consistent amount of work put into it, usually, the goal can be achieved, even if it takes a long time.
There are a couple of examples that will prove my point. As a Singaporean, I am immensely proud of the fact that despite my homeland being a small and resource-limited country, in just 45 years we astonished the world as a fishing village sprouted, blossomed, bloomed and grew into a nation highly revered around the world for its logistical efficiency, for its ability make things happen, and for the many hubs its rulers have achieved in making it become. A long time ago, when we were asked by Malaysia to leave, Singapore was forced into being independent – other countries fought for independence; we were left with no choice, but it was a blessing in disguise. Left on our own, the political leaders managed to conjure up a visionary dream and made it reality. Today, Singapore has progressed by leaps and bounds from what it first was in 1965, and virtually has become the centre out of which many companies and multinationals operate. It is a story of sheer determination and the power to imagine and create the future.
Taking the spotlight away from the Lion City, let’s go to a story based in South Korea. When you first think of the Internet, and its American inventors, it is natural to assume that the cheapest and fastest internet connection speed is in America. Unfortunately, South Korea beats the US flat on both fronts, but hey, no surprise. 10 years ago, South Korean leaders decided that they wanted to create a South Korea which was highly connected to the internet, and boy did they pump a lot of government money into it. They wanted to see how the investment would perform a decade later, and lo and behold – South Korea is now the country with the fastest and cheapest internet speed, thanks to the VDSL technology they used in the past few years, which AT&T in America is only beginning to adopt. And while America, whose government left linking up the States with the Internet to the private sector, is trying to catch up with South Korea, the latter is now moving on to optic fibre technology and aims to make it readily available to houses.
So we see that while nothing takes place overnight, an early mover advantage may not necessarily put you on center stage forever, particularly if you don’t do anything to continue progressing. Ok, I know that’s not new. But where the world asks and seeks for instant gratification and immediate results, we tend to forget that sometimes, slow progress in the present will show results in the future, whether far or near.
There is a quote which hangs on the wall outside my office pantry. It goes like this, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Isn’t it true?
One step at a time
“There’s no knowing how many miles you’ll run to chase that dream.”
I took the first step yesterday.
