Books that i read recently...

The fortune sellers, one of the first books that i read from a list of books that i have gathered and reserved from the school library. (that's when i realized the school library has a good collection with excellent librarian service, nice librarians who always smile). This is about the prediction and forecasting which the author claimed to be one of the oldest business in history. Talks about technology prediction, economic forecasting, weather forecasting. it's quite a "bottom-line" kind of book, but i though the book didn't really give a solution to all the issues.

The new age nerd-to-afro thinker, made famous by "the tipping point" (which incidentally is next is my reading list). Just have to see what is this talk-a-bout, how great is his findings and ideas.

Blink, is mostly a pscyhology, sociology kind of book, though i find the most interesting parts of the book to be in the end, where examples are staged using real business world examples.

Freakonomics, also one of the books that is so much on the bestselling charts, i have to see what is it all about. read half of the book in one day, probably finishing before the weekend. I felt like i was devouring books. Interesting book to an extend, explaining phenomenon using stats and whacky associations.

Sometimes i feel that authors are trying too hard to write books that will sell. But genuine heart-felt thoughts sometimes are just the most easy and interesting to read.

next in the reading list: and bedtime readings:
and if everything can be learnt through books:Books I'm looking for:

can you recognize this tune?

划划划你船，轻轻下那溪，喜喜乐乐，人生是个梦。。

Soccer with St Gab boys

get ready.....

okay....all the action come out..

Kong Kong, Sungai Johor

trip to Kong Kong, a part of Sungai Johor. this is during the trip back. notice the white strip in the background.. and true enough, after we check out of Johor's immigration, we met a storm while heading back Changi.
Very fun trip, over night with seafood dinner and BBQ, beer..

9 of us, the structure behind us is the restaurant. dorms are behind the restaurant, air-con with bathroom attached. floating fish farm just beside.

Check this out, the fishes are huge!! almost as big as me (length and width). we asked the guy what fishes are these, they say its "Kelong fish". looks like snakeheads, but the double fins looks like arowana.

Confused@India

was looking thru some of the photos on my laptop, didn't even know that i have this photo. India? Changi? No idea man.. confused.. It's either Hyderabad airport or Changi. but i doubt its Hyderabad, since we left at night..

the economy of birthdays

a common phenomenon in singapore is that people like to collect money from a group of friends to buy birthday presents for individuals.

suppose we start on a basis of assumption that in a group of friends, say A, B, C, D, E; the presents bought for each individuals during their respective birthdays are similar. for this case, let A be the birthday person and B, C, D and E collected money to buy a present for A

we acknowledge that the presents' value is equal to the value of the money collected is $(B+C+D+E), assuming there is no loss in value from the transfer of money to present.

if each person's present is similar in value, it should be equal to value present(A). therefore, Present(A)=present(B)=presentC)=present(D)=present(E).

assuming that each person in the group give equivalent amount to buy for any of the presents. meaning each present will be the value of present(A)/4.

for each birthdays, the value of present(A)/4 is given to buy presents. that would be a dollar value of $present(A) for the whole year [present(A)/4 * 4].

the present received by each individual will be equal to present(A). [since present(A)=present(B)=present(C)....etc]

therefore, the value given out and the value received is the same each year.

in the process of buying presents for others, there are deadweight losses such as energy, time, effort to think of something, sms-es to organize, quarrels from divergence of opinions etc. we let the value of these losses represented by value(losses).

so the total welfare is present(A)-value(losses).

but if everybody stop buying presents for each other, and each individual just go and buy a present for themselves for the value of present(A) at their respective birthdays each year, the value spent will be $present(A), which is less than the current phenomenon, which is present(A)-value(losses)!!!!!!!

So, everybody should just stop buying presents for their friends and just buy themselves something each year!!!!!!!!!

okay, even if you argue that there are goodness from it, such as gratefulness, thanksgiving, the fellowship values, and we denote these values as value(goodness). i contend that value(goodness) is just equal to value(losses). so there is no overall gain. don't forget, there are usually a lot of chances, that presents bought are not used by the receiver due to a bad fit or taste preference.

and often, there are a lot of inequality created due to unequal value in presents, and bad choice of presents etc. therefore, the whole society's consumer surplus is transfered to producer surplus, and that contributes to a greater rich poor parity.

so overall value of the society is less than desired if you think about it rationally.

update after long

long time since i updated the last post. have been to China and Perhentian trip. Packed everything into a summer holiday, was fun. i think i'm sucker for that kinda of nomadic and sometimes i'm a sucker for stress too. i need tastes of reality from time to time to keep me alive.

But anyway, my point is that everything is back to back, internship>China>Ipoh>Perhentian>come back straight away Spook show, and then school kicks in. So haven't really had time to sit down with anybody and share about the China trip. hmm.. maybe should go for a beer at brewerks, kinda miss that place. Any takers?

From time to time, i do miss China. maybe most memories i had in China is pleasant for this trip. the scenery there is awesome really. when we were travelling to the primary school up in the hills (2500m above sea level), the places we pass by is quite breathtaking to me. maybe i have not seen much scenery really, but i would Asia has the kinda scenery and the flavor that no place can contend. i'm beginning to love Asia more and more really. i mean we have the tallest mountains, the fiercest whitewaters, the most diverse culture and heritage, the best food.. i think i can be contented in staying in just Asia for the rest of my life.

was just thinking that day, you know when you were young, you have many things you wanna do, but you are not old enough or does not have the required skills; and now the feeling is like the skills are acquired, but the opportunities are not there sometimes. maybe it'll arrive in due time.

we'll see.

treasure

"....remember that wherever your heart is there you will find your treasure. you've got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense."---------, Paul Coelho



"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" is an exerpt from the bible. lets look at the full text:


“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:19-24)

Burn

Is it a like quarter life crisis, when you always think of how old you are and start to compare yourself with others and how is your achievements proportionate with your age progression? been thinking about what would i be, always thought i know what i want, but sometimes suddenly felt momentary lost. well, this song came to my mind, dunno why. Hmm..what is the real meaning of this song?


Burn

Do you wanna be a poet and write
Do you wanna be an actor up in lights
Do you wanna be a soldier and fight for love

Do you wanna travel the world
Do you wanna be a diver for pearls
Or climb a mountain and touch the clouds above

Be anyone you want to be
Bring to life your fantasies
But I want something in return

I want you to burn, burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn, Burn for me, Burn for me

Are you gonna be a gambler and deal
Are you gonna be a doctor and heal
Or go to heaven and touch God's face

Are you gonna be a dreamer who sleeps
Are you gonna be a sinner who weeps
Or an angel, under grace

I'll lay down on your bed of coals
Offer up my heart and soul
But in return

I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn burn for me burn for me

Laugh for me, Cry for me
Pray for me, Lie for me
Live for me , Die for me

daniels and joshuas and jane

i must have known at least 5 or 6 of joshuas and 5 or 6 of daniels (or more), im sure you guys know more joshuas and daniels than me.

you know last time when we were young (at least for my generation) we read ladybird books, got book 1A, 1B, 1C, then go to 2A, 2B so on and so forth. the main character inside is peter and jane.

i seriously think next time they should just change the peter to joshua or daniel. should be peter and jane, or daniel and jane. or maybe even better, just joshua and daniel. but hey, im not a advocate of homosexuals okay.

myy goodnessssssssss....eeeeeeeeee

(10:04:21 PM) (name censored): WHAT is ur problem, my goodness! hahahah

zzzz..girls.duh

arghHHHHH

ok relax.. keep it down... don't be so angry.. relax.. *breathe in.. breathe out*

i don't understand why, but today when i come to school, i can't access my mail, every web-based school website i can't access, i can't get my mail and all. however, i can access icq and other websites around the world.

i really dunno, should i attribute this to the incompetence of the school's IT department??

most of my closer friends know that i have this unhidden contempt for the CIT. the way that they treat their customers and all, sigh. somebody help me.

bloggingggg

that day i was reading that how blogging has become such a big influence, that microsoft is getting into it, and they set up this msn blog thing, which apparently isn't very good.

see, miKLosoV is just like a rich fat old-fashioned, old man, trying to break dance or play hip hop music. this guy that rips of ideas from kids on the streets and try to push it to sell. its just off.

de-ll ah kao is like this guy from kedai runcit (convenient store, chinese version kind) that sells alot of stuff and eventually becomes a whole seller. like sell many many of the same boring kind, but it sells.

KompaC Lim H.P. is the kedai runcit guy next door that does not sell as well.

KreatiFF is like i call myself "clever", but i score D in exam kind(seriously, how creative is KreatiFF?). monkey see monkey do lor.

Oh-sim is this guy that graduates from traditional foot theraphy. he made if big by making it more angmoh. delist here delist there, now still wanna buy this store that use girls to sell vitamins to sick old men and muscle builders.

the list continues on.. come back next week or so for more profiles of famous people...

uhuh...

"valentines day, a day invented by greeting card companies to make people feel crappy" --eternal sunshine of a spotless mind.
damn right.
i watched the show for about 10 mins and decided to eject the disc.

anyway im having sch break now,
irony 1: breaks in SMU are for students to catchup with work and slog through it
irony 2: i have lots of stuff to read up and do, but don't feel like doing it, and thus not doing it.
irony 3: although ironic, but a break is necessary to keep us sane.

valentines day on mon and bday on fri. not a really cool week. but nonetheless, my church buddies gave me a suprise (masterminded by Mr Foo), that was the last moment before my bday day ends, so it was alright, it offsets the whole day of staying at home and going back to sch for stupid meeting..zzz..

do you realise that adults always like to say that bdays are not very special ( i felt that since like very young..jaded..hah ). one of my friends tell me her reason to feel good about bday is to catchup with friends on that day, but those who remembered my bday are those who are close (can be counted with hands and legs(referring to both those who remember and those who are close)), so nothing much to catchup also.

remember the scene in "catch me if you can", when frank abagnale call carl, he called him on a supposedly special day (to him), christmas eve, because he has no one else to call. hmm.

anyways on the next day after my bday, went to this concert by local bands. the MC is the same DJ that is on power98 FM like now.. called Mario (he passed a cold joke saying you can call him "super" also..) anyways, some bands performed in the concert, the observatory, concave scream, ronin, ugly in the morning etc. check out the ugly in the morning bassist, damn good sia.. he's like brushing the frets, his bass solos.. concave scream is down to 3. heard the guy that plays bass now used to be a very good guitarist, my friend was like "wasted...", then ronin, of course, can't miss the albino lead singer.. he's diff from the rest though.. got good vocals. classic rock.

i hate punk bands. irritating. one played that day. its so off.

nemesis

LTJ has mastered all the best methods of irritating me over the years. he is my nemesis.

yessssss..

yes yes, finally, but well really quite distracted for the past weeks, didn't anticipate the whole sch-is-starting thing, didn't prepare myself emotionally and mentally for it. i guess we are all hit by the tsunami huh.

Andre Pradesh, or more specifically Hyderabad was the place i missed during the last business study mission that i went to india. interestingly, fever 04 (mission trip) was at the same place that i missed. so we went there and had a great time, and as you know, it is also one of the states being hit by the big waves, being in East India.

haha dropped the equity course and took up fixed-income. much more interesting lecturer and subject i guess, enough of discounted cash flow and PVs for a term. for those taking finance major out there, post-corporatereportingACCT201 is a good era. add oil guys.

what's special? well, really nothing. just that some of my friends went to do relief in Sri Lanka and Aceh and all i can do is sulk here back on island S. i just realized that Aceh is the source of Islam in South East Asia. Hmm..

oh haha, under Mr Duncan MacRae for ethics. he told us in class that when he typed his own name in search engine, he saw his name on a SMU student's blog. well if he searches again, mine will be the second or more.

do you really believe in new year resolutions? so what are yours? are goals meant to be fulfilled? well at least stock valuations are usually not true, but that does not stop them being published. but well, i've got my goals for 2005. what 'bout you?

yada yada..

okay, fine. its finally here. exams week, tmr is the first paper--game theory. open book test, but im not arranging the notes, not preparing anything, basically just felt so so sick when i see any materials at all. see the irony, game theory is suppose to teach me how to make decisions rationally. guess emotions are not rational at all eh.

oh yesterday night still watch tv til late, realised that central is actually one of those very interesting channels, got very good programs here and there that are not very well publisized. i watched this dance thing by Akram Khan, apparently some 30 year old cheorographer from London, the genre is alternative Khatak (some indian dance). very interesting, probably the best cheorographed dance i ever seen. he added in sounds, and movements that are in sync with the sounds, so the dancers produce sounds. engages one more of your senses. the instruments used is a percussion, either a indian drum or some pot, with a cello as melody. cool.

now gian-ning nike V10. watch that displays and syncronises with the distance/acceleration measure device that is attach to your shoe. costs $199. US dollars depreciating, last i heard? just realised that all the shops in queensway, having 40% of sales on their watches. originally wanted to see whether they have the latest stuff, i guess not. for those out there who does not know, all the major shops in queensway shopping center has the same owner. oh just told by my friend that b.i.r.d is owned by some indonesian, they are not nike boutiques. the shopkeepers really dunno anything abt nike products by the way.

got a salomon VA comp. didnt manage to get VA PRO-II no size. oh well.

exam weeks are those times that i watch the most tv, and do things that i dont usually do, just to evade touching my materials. gosh.

anyways was watching some sad stories on tv, like tragedies. so i swtich away to another channel. my roomate commented that i am very sheltered from any evil of the world. well, i guess its true, i am very blessed in that sense i guess, good family, good friends. just some insecurities and lack of talents and brains. haha.

talking about family, how do you feel about your family?

exams. idle. dinner?

its exams period. about 10 days away. i always feel idle when i am having exams. such a contradictory feeling, not because im overly smart, that i dont need much revision or im idle cos i refuse to do my revision (in fact its the opposite). just that there's this bored;idle;sien; whatever-you-wanna-call-it feeling.

and as a sidekick to idle feeling, its really excruciating everytime it reaches dinner, when i have to decide what to eat. lunch is ok most of the time cos BY DEFAULT i'll be eating in sch (YUCKS!). and this i-hate-to-randomly-choose-my-dinner feeling weighs heavier on me during times like this. so sometimes i would ask my friends to have dinner with me, so that the company will lessen my pain on my taste buds and the emotional aftermath that comes. but oh well, i have busy friends and housemates.

maybe its some kind of pre-exam trauma. haha.. or im just weird. but hey, try not to eat at your home for almost 6 full years (i discounted the holidays periods when i go back ipoh), after that, you can qualify to call me picky. hehe..

anyways thru this i realise that i have a short attention span (which i know since young), and i hate to be idle. Oh, and i hate to be indoors for a long period of time (esp in my residence), it'll drive me crazy.

sprained my ankle on tuesday. pains me to walk down that 4 flight of stairs to get lunch or dinner everytime. of course it is the emotional claustraphobia to stay in my residence for more than a certain number of hours that will scath me more. i became so bored from revising and doodling on the laptop that i tried to sleep, but just staring at the darkness and not falling into sleep, then i realise something.

so every night when you lie on your bed and stare at the back of your eyelids, when all you see is darkness, when you turn your body and find a good position to slumber, take a moment to realise again that you can see and walk freely, to enjoy the sight and to travel to anywhere physically pain-free. take a second moment to imagine how would it feel like if you can't see and walk.

then.


Rejoice and Thank God. because He is good to you.

sonic-edge service

date: 30 OCT (SAT)
location: Bukit Merah Touch Community Theatre basement (Magic BOX)

cool stuff, these guys did some electro-art stuff. got 3 characters that acted, with ambient sounds in the backgroud, then some guy will say smtg into a mic, that creates some special effect. really good acting, dedicated people.

then of course our favourite local band, the sonic-edge band, performing, leading worship. like their songs lots, have been listening again and again. waiting for surreal's debut and sonic-edge's second album.

check out:
www.sonic-edge.org
www.surrealonline.blogspot.com

good stuff. you guys oughta come down to magic box one of those last saturdays of the month. last sat of NOV 2004, anyone?

cycle

so there is this friend that told me something about relationship, when i say that there are a lot of people that is in this "vicious cycle" of getting into relationship, so he say is due to these reasons:

the familiarity, the comfort, the security or whatever or even expectations from ppl around

1. duno what he/she wants, but recognises the need for companionship and comfort

2. relationship junkie, can't stand being alone

*i censored 3 and 4 and 5

quite true i guess. so what do you think?