Saturday

Just one of those days

Just one of those days where I think about what would happen in four months.

One of those days I study until 2 AM and don’t feel sleepy.

One of those, I feel alone.

Sunday

A walk down the mainroad and a right turn at Hindu temple

Loysel’s Toy.

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A hidden gem in Singapore, serves decent coffee but fortyhands can beat em hands down, all forty of them.

Most importantly, I never thought I’d get to take photos of cafe like this.

Tuesday

vague.

I like how you keep your name in lower case.

I like how you make your sentences short.

I like how you can be so unexpectedly funny.

Friday

It was the last day of June as we know it.

Everytime I book for a taxi cab, the system would register me as Mr. Ron. Nobody knew how it ended up configured that way.

It is not like I ever cared, you get into a cab, having the only intention as getting off that thing as soon as you can. At that time I just quietly accepted the name that meant nothing.

Like what bad things could happen, had I ignored that.

Monday

Don’t go away.

Been thinking a lot about life, I think for my age, I have way too much to think about life.

Some people say it’s good, some people say I’m crazy but I guess I can’t help either ways. It is just that for my age I have gone through a lot of things people normally won’t, for better or for worse.

I’ve realised I take things seriously, even small things that I should not. I have subscribed to The Economist lately, to my horror or excitement it is a thinly looking 100 page magazine. Having to go through every single line of it and having other self study commitments, I’m as close to a lunatic as one could be.

I’ve been managing my personal finances like a company should, I keep cash balance low, take advantages of payment dates, I make sure excess cash balance is off elsewhere earning higher returns. It sounds just as what everyone should be doing, but next to peers who keep cash balance low by spending it, I think I am in a more robust model.

I take papers instead of Masters or other post-graduate programs partly because of the affordability, but I realise this is lost when you are taking way more than what people normally take. Once again I am on a suicide mission to conquer two more papers other than CFA, this time in an extremely tight deadline, the materials aren’t exactly as crazy as CFA but it is a new thing after all and there’s a lot ground to cover!

I’ve been lost amidst of connecting with people, meeting with people no longer seem worth the time, especially when people either lose their way, arrive late, fail to confirm attendance in a timely manner, ends up NOT turning up and well, I dont know, just refuse to show up on time. Guess the key is, to meet people who are worth the time, and who are worth the disappointment if it doesn’t end well.

I miss the one liner talk.

Sunday

There’s a light that never goes out

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Love it, when words say so little, and a photo says so much.

Monday

Muar

Was no more than a short getaway trip to Muar for social visit, of course a visit to relatives I never knew existed!

Tuesday

A dollar’s wager

A dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow, given that tomorrow is not a massive blackhole that consumes everything.

Been going through quite a funny period really. The great chase of my level 2 exam came to an end, like finally. My PR application date is set in stones and company is already processing my letter. Everything I’ve been working on seem to have came to a hiatus, hopefully not a long one.

I realised that once we are used to working on stuff, we have it engraved in our instincts without knowing it. At the very end of this, have we all became Oxes of the new era? It almost feels like they no longer plough the land, all because we are doing those by our very own.

I’ve been thinking so much lately, most probably because of the massive amounts of old films revisited and books that I’ve been bragging about. I really have lost the idea why we are working so hard and not knowing what to expect. Just lately I started reading the book on Risk Management again, and it says that we do not take risks if we do not think we will succeed. It is counterintuitive, that while we know there are chances of failure or undesirable outcome, we more often than not decide on the decision based on our dreamy outcome.

But if that is the case, why am I a working class saving hard and trying to secure a better future. Especially when the risk I am undertaking leads me to a place literally no man had ever been to?

It seems like we want to make the right choices everyday, but we can’t do so with great certainty, despite how much we want.

Monday

The end to the beginning

My paper is finally over and now I can be like a normal working person, it could be half as bad but at least I get some form of control back of my life!

All the photos in my harddrive are just staring at me knowing one day they’d be forgotten and I wouldn’t even know when to post them.

I do really hope I know how to get my life balance back as soon as possible. Honestly I do not even know how many kilometers I can run as of now, the last attempt was 4 months ago, and I seriously doubt I brought my camera with me anytime during that 4 month period.

Time really does fly and being in the workforce is something still very fresh to me, I think I am still on the right track figuring out what other things I should be involved in to add value to society, and not be focusing just on my paycheck.

Oh wait, I’m just as ready to do my paper!

CFA

The designation pursuit takes so much concentration, effort and last but not least, sacrifice. It really really better be worth it. And the quote is right, “Sometimes it means exclusion of everything else”. I really can feel how my life got OFF balance, in all areas, not proud at all about it, but my career, family, and relationship with people in general have all been affected to a certain degree because of it. Partly because I’ve got a very short time for preparation this time, a mere 4 months instead of the usual one year that takes people to complete.

Guess what, it’s less than 2 weeks awaySmile wish me luck.

Wednesday

Lvl II

So Here I am again.

I don’t really know what this feels like, everything is just happening blistering fast around me. I felt like I just passed CFA Level 1 and so here it comes the second paper. I kid you not, having barely more than 2 months to study and I am only done till my fourth book, it suddenly seemed justifiable to burn almost 20 days of annual leave just to study for a paper.

Fact of the day: CFA candidates plan to spend at least 300 hours, for a 6-hour paper. Every level.

As much as I hate where I am in workplace, I guess I’d just have to submit to the idea that we all go through the bad phase of things making sure we are really through, so that we won’t have to revisit the phase.

It really does benefit in developing a new personality, as much as the world would see otherwise. Yet, guess who ends up seeing it?

As I feel super connected to heaven today, and as the world would point at me and say I’m an arrogant lad perhaps, I still want to leave this composer with below.

I believe, I am not a waste of time.

Winning feels good, and I like to feel good.

Monday

Runnin’ out

I want to be back in but it is harder than I thought. I don’t know how taking photos became such a luxury and I believe this is really an understatement. Bringing my camera along was such a normal thing to do and there are even people in Melbourne who associate me directly with that. I guess working life is a totally different ball game, it is always about planning ahead.

A lot of things changed from *gasp* my last post, especially this blog, I think it has become a private journal since most people have forgotten about it anyway. I am in a position that holds so much uncertainty, in fact I don’t even know if it is a dead end despite the having all the terms being reasonable. I much rather be with financial models and spreadsheet all day. I have always doubted people who doesn’t believe money is not everything, but I think… I am challenged, so badly.

My watch died… It was a gift from someone special… I guess it should go away altogether, it is right about time. Also I would not trust anything Italian other than their cars, in just 3 years it could malfunction just like that. But I saw something handmade and mechanical, and I am in love again. In fact I am viewing the timepiece tomorrow.

Wish me luck.

Shalom.