In 2008...

Funny thing about us bloggers are that, more often than most, we forget what we wrote before and get pretty amazed when reading the stuff we wrote before. Feels just like a random blog if it wasn't for the familiar web address.

The more I think about it, the more I think this financial crisis isn't a bad thing. Hear me out before bananas, tomatoes, and shoes (lol). Did it not baffle any of you that banks were selling us shit that we never understood? Yea it went up but WTF was it?

Without bad times, we wont cherish the good times. Humans are naturally dumb - we don't learn how to tighten our pocket unless we are forced to; and when we have money, we use it all... as if the every 10 year stock market crash doesnt already teach us a lesson. Yes finance people do make a load of money but we are omitting all the people who get fired on their way up top. A fortuneteller once told me that I should go into finance and I told him the daily life of a stressful 8-6 job just isnt me.

Let's see if my feelings towards this changes in 2009.

Small Break

Apologize for the lack of updates recently. Exams are hitting up pretty hard and I have been drinking a lot to write. ...yea exam and drinks. Not study, drinks. I am, by no means, implying that MBA is something you get through with alcohol. MBA is something bigger than textbooks and lecture notes - there is no right or wrong, its all about how well you argue your case; which is essentially the case for things in life, there is no right or wrong.

We make our best judgment on any circumstances based on the scenario presented; our best judgment has no right or wrong behind it, its just what we felt like doing.

...and i just happened to feel like drinking before exams

Cocky MBA part 2

Just want to elaborate a bit more on my previous topic.

I think all students put way too much emphasis on their grade. MBA for example, prepares you for the business world. In the real world, no body gives you a grade. You are evaluated by how much money you made or how well you managed your team and the MBA's purpose is to well equip yourself to do so. It is not your grade, but your knowledge, that matters out there. Getting high marks and then forgetting everything 2 months later is more useless than getting average marks but remembers everything. I am seriously more worried about how i can apply the things i learned than my exam grades.

...chances are that I will probably forget everything I learn 3 months after I graduate though...

Cocky MBA

Exams are coming up and professors do revision sessions to help students get through the exams. I am not being cocky here but while everyone is worried about their grades, I am overconfident to a point where I dont see the need of over studying.

Most of the people I talked to in this MBA thought our class and works are intense, but this is nothing new to me. This MBA is busy, yes, but it has also been a relatively easy ride for me, at least compare to the 4 years of hell I went through as a Biomed undergrad in JHU.

I have always told my parents this... "unless there is some other planet with living people, I graduated from the best biotech university from the universe and everything else in life will not be as challenging as that" Seriously, how do you top from being the best in the universe? This doesnt mean I dont treat my MBA course with the attention it needs... I just dont see the need of stressing over it, especially when its just an exam of your analytical skills (somethings you cant train in 10 days).

Why so serious?

Getting around the system

Christmas is coming up and everyone will be going home for the holidays. Do you live in the EU region (UK especially)? Will you be traveling out of the EU region for Christmas?
If your answer is yes to both of the questions above, then I have a good suggestion for you. If not, you can go back to living your life.

Student Discount + Tax Refund. UK has this amazing thing called student discount where students get a nice 10% discount for every purchase they made at most of the shops. What you dont know is that you can also get a 15% tax refund (starting 3 months prior to your departure date) for your purchases. That is 25% off of all items you buy! Crazy right?

I am a huge sucker for Yohgi Yamamoto (used to be CdG too but they got way too expensive) and guess what? I got a nice 15% discount off the pair of pants i bought and it was a nice 100 pound refund. (I was trying REALLY hard to avoid directly showing the price of the pair of pants here) This is essentially a buy 6 get 1 free scheme that us international kids can use. ON TOP OF THAT, you can also give your tax free receipts to your friends who comes to visit as well (works especially well with XXX <--> EU flight attendants). This is pretty much a year round 15% discount for all items that we can get around.

(PS - the 10+15% combo is available at top shop)


Happy shopaholics!

Winter and Fashion

Phewwwwwwwwwwww

It is hitting zero and the negatives here in london... yes the stupid weather report says its 5C, but the 14mph wind takes it to like -10C, which brings me to another point - why cant those weather people just tell us how cold it is AFTER the wind here in UK? Windchill was a nice thing to have in US. Anyway, so weather is getting cold and everyone is looking for that thick jacket and scarf inside their closet. The problem is, everyone's thick jacket is either black or dark brown. How do you get fashionable when everyone is wearing the same thing?

My dad once told me "when its fxxking freezing, you shouldnt think about how you look but how warm you are"

No fashion advice is the answer. Get warm silly.

I was originally going to write about something else... but its been a while since I have felt such crappy in a long while today so I would just like to reflect on that a little.

I don't know how but I have this special ability to let negative stuff bounce off of me rather easier and I get happy again easily. Exceptions are things that keep coming back to haunt me, for example - me being in London and not being able to fix anything bad that is happening in Hong Kong.

(there is a lot of "I" in this entry)

I sometimes (i guess) over criticize myself too much for being in London while everything I really love is in HK. It's just a crappy feeling to have something bad going on back home and not be able to do anything about it.

I will drink myself to death tonight and when I wake, its a brand new day!

...oh for fxxk sake...