Posts

Secret Obsession: Late Night Coffee Bars

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I have a little confession to make. I love late night coffee bars. At least the ones with decors that are so retro it evoke a sense of nostalgia. Even better if they have awesome music, wifi and are sparsely populated so I can get some real work done. It is one of the reasons why I love this City of Angels. You know one of those days when you feel like you are in love with life itself? I used to feel that about New York. But these days it is LA that gives me that sense of possibility, that there is always something new to learn, to look forward to, to live for.  Perhaps that is the reason for my secret obsession, this nostalgia that I felt about my old life in New York. I have no regrets. I love my current lifestyle. I sleep really late and wake up really late. I do whatever I feel like whenever I feel like. I do not make anywhere near the amount of money I used to make on Wall Street, but I am happy everyday. Which brings me to my next post  - How do I do it? And how much do yo

Hello Again, Seven Years Later

Hello world. It's been too long. Looking back at my last post from 2010, I talked about how my finance career is cramping my creativity and general freedom. The good news is, that life is very much behind me. I walked way from it all in 2013 when I choose to living life to the fullest over making money. I went to business school for 2 years in Philadelphia. In 2015, after graduating, I made one more lifestyle decision to live in a city by the beach, so here I am, in the City of Angels. Living it & Loving It. Just a brief post to let everyone know I'm back online and in my next few posts, I'll write more about how I am maintaining my current lifestyle, how I do what I do and perhaps the million dollar question that my people who were in the same boat like to ask - should I do it? I think you know my answer to that.

Eclipse

I was reminded today, slightly more than a year from my last posting, that work has eclipses other aspects of my life that I enjoy, or used to enjoy. And what reminded me? The solar eclipse of 2010, supposedly the longest one of the decade. It occured, and almost became the past when a client of mine suddenly asked if I have seen it. Except when he asked, it was in Mandarin, and for 3 minutes I could not respond because I did not know what it is. When I found out, I looked north and south and east but the building where I work was surrounded by even taller structures, so I could not see anything. Finally I was told which direction was west(duh), but I was again, blocked by taller buildings and the mountains. The next thing I know, memories of the last solar eclipse I observed came to mind. It was when I was in high school, more than 10years ago, one evening, we were all told a solar eclipse was about to happen and the entire school went outside to the track field to line up and watch i

Counting down from 08 and HELLO 2009!

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So it has really been a while since I posted. Life has just been really really busy what with work stressing me out and holiday seasons and what not. Truth be told I'm just lazy and spent a lot of time watching TV at home. There are always so many new drama series to catch up on TV during winter time. As a sorta backdated post, I'm just gonna summarize my last few months kinda like a partial countdown to the new year. So I moved to the building of my "new" company back in October. Have been really busy ever since, you know how it is when you have a "new" job. You just have to work extra hard and try to survive all the layoffs going on around you. So that was what I did. But amidst my busy-ness I did find time during the weekends to do some fun stuffs with friends. Here's from Halloween 2008 (10/31/08). For the first time in my life in the states, I actually put on some vampire makeup and attempted to attend the Halloween parade ( it's a parade that&#

Recital at Juilliard and afterthoughts

So I've been busy lately with work picking up a bit and all. Hence the kinda lack of updates. I usually write only when I am inspired, and work always get in the way of my inspiration. Isn't it kinda evident? I haven't exactly came out with a single prose after graduation. Well except that time when I was having my idyllic vacation at the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia. But that is another story to tell. Anyway I've been meaning to attend a performance or concert or recital at Juilliard for a long long time. Juilliard is one of the world's best music school and needless to say someone like yours truly that gave up pursuing piano any further when she found out she has to practice at least 6 hours a day will never in this lifetime make it into Juilliard. So you understand why I so wanted to see a performance there. If I can't have the pie smelling it is good enough. But I have no one but my sorry ass to blame for not seeing one because I live literally 6 blocks aw

Survivor Day 2

Has all hell broken loose again? Market was down 733 points today. I wasn't at work on Monday but was told the DJIA rallied almost 1000 points. Now, add the -733 to the -100++ yesterday, hasn't the market almost given back what it gained? The question becomes - when is the end?? Or more like, where is the bottom?? Soon I hope. Otherwise there will be nothing to catch. I don't want to think about that really. I am trying to look ahead into exciting times in front of me. Today is day 2 at the new office. Still trying to get systems up and running. Meeting folks at the "new" office. Everyone is trying to be friendly. But I think it is hard for everyone. Because at the end of the day, there will be more eliminations by the end of the year. It is not fair to anybody. Not to them, not to us. Well, perhaps more so for them. What have they done really? And to think they have to suffer more because of us. Which brings me to my question of the day. Is there room for everyon

Time

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Thud...thud...thud. Thud...thud...thud. What's that? It's the sound of your heart beating. Your consciousness is at a heightened state. Yet everything is standing still around you. The only activity in this confined space is the fan, churning the air on. In the next room, you can hear the trickle of water as it drops on the basin. Thud...thud...thud. And that reminds you that your heart is still beating. And how long has it been? As your consciousness moved from the water back to the clock in front of you, you started hearing it too. Tick tock tick tock tick tock. Oh dear, has it only been...1 minute? So you went back to pacing the room. Ah yes, what exactly is it that you are waiting for? The phone idiot! You are waiting for the phone to ring! And before you start formulating shallow thoughts that this is about waiting for a guy you like to call, think again. This is more excruciating than that. Add to that the fact that some people around you already know their fate. But ther