Lessons In Love, By Way Of Economics

Returns are proportional to the investment | In general, and with rare exceptions, the returns in love situations are roughly proportional to the amount of time and devotion invested. The amount of love you get from an investment in love is correlated, if only roughly, to the amount of yourself you invest in the relationship.

If you invest caring, patience and unselfishness, you get those things back. (This assumes, of course, that you are having a relationship with someone who loves you, and not a one-sided love affair with someone who isn’t interested.)

High-quality bonds consistently yield more return than junk, and so it is with high-quality love | The data from the maven of bond research, W. Braddock Hickman, shows that junk debt outperforms high quality only in rare situations, because of the default risk.

In love, the data is even clearer. Stay with high-quality human beings. And once you find that you are in a junk relationship, sell immediately. Junk situations can look appealing and seductive, but junk is junk. Be wary of it unless you control the market.

Research pays off | The most appealing and seductive exterior can hide the most danger and chance of loss. For most of us, diversification in love, at least beyond a very small number, is impossible, so it’s necessary to do a lot of research on the choice you make. It is a rare man or woman who can resist the outward and the surface. But exteriors can hide far too much.

Realistic expectations are everything | If you have unrealistic expectations, they will rarely be met. If you think that you can go from nowhere to having someone wonderful in love with you, you are probably wrong.

Don’t set expectations too high | You need expectations that match reality before you can make some progress. There may be exceptions, but they are rare.

When you have a winner, stick with your winner | Whether in love or in the stock market, winners are to be prized.

The First post of the year

Well not really the first post of the year, but the first post recounting what went on in late 2008, and 2009.

1) Travelled abroad on a plane alone for the first, and many times to come | It isn’t that scary as I thought when I was younger. Given the choice of flying or not, I’d rather not fly. Makes me feel tired and lethargic after it all.

2) Stayed away from my parents for more than 2 weeks at a go | NS BMT isn’t counted as staying away from parents. This is when I missed the comforts, and conveniences of home the most.

3) Did my own laundry | That means dumping dirty laundry in the right place, washing, drying, folding and then ironing them. Proud of myself!

4) Came up with a ‘to-buy’ list before doing groceries | Never would I expect myself to do the buying of groceries, cooking and cleaning of my own meals. A very interesting learning experience figuring out new recipes and ways to set the kitchen on fire.

5) Visited 4 cities in 1 year, more so than my past 23 years combined | Sydney, Tasmania, Cairns and Brisbane. More in the next year to come. More solo traveling. Getting comfortable with me, a book, a backpack, and a camera.

7)  First ang-moh boss in my whole life | That would be me working in the university library. Knocking off at 3pm every Friday the rest of my working life sounds very appealing.

Kept my hair long enough that it almost completely covered my ears | My parents would skin me alive if I did this in Singapore. I figured long hair does not work in summer and tropical countries too!

9) Experienced the wonderful four seasons | Spring is a lovely season! Birds chirping, flowers blooming, cyclists cycling, and couples strolling all make for a perfect picture.

Looking forward, it’s going to be a time where I figure my national identity. Do I belong in Australia or Singapore? Australia’s a great place to work, given the currency exchange rate with Singapore, and overall work life balance.

However, speaking from a ‘friends and family’ perspective, Singapore is where I truly belong (i can now proudly sing this song and truly mean it). Despite its many shortcomings, there is still plenty to be thankful for. As social beings, the big draw is indeed the many social connections I presently have. Its tough building new ones, and coupled with adapting to a new environment, life isn’t going to be very smooth sailing.

I’ve got it all planned out though. Graduate in the next 1.5 years. Find a job, hopefully in Sydney and work for 3 years. In the meantime, save enough to own my first humble property in Australia, rent and sell it for some gains. That’s for the short term. Beyond that, things have yet to unfold.

Graduation

I and Jeremy. Soccer buddies.

I and Julian, fellow coursemate. Smart kid!

Parents and me.

My Australia/Swiss girlfriend. LOL.
She’s one of the rare non-asian people I got to know.

Really nice people from the church I attend.

What’s a graduation ceremony without the throw your mortar board in the air moment.
Graduation LOHHHH

What’s awaiting me on the other side of my undergraduate graduation ceremony? More studies

Much as I wish I could stop all my studies right now and start working, earn my own keep, start contributing to the family etc etc. I know now it isn’t the time. Much as every baby goes 9 months in a womb, I feel trapped, stuck and immobilized, just waiting for the moment I can get out and do my thing.

I like what a certain wise man said, “There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth”.

25 years on

25 years on, what are some of my peers doing?

Physical oil trader, driving a corolla altis

Affiliate marketer, driving a camry

Part time student, future Marina Sands Pit boss

Masters Student

University drop out, cooking school drop out

Recent marketing university graduate, finding a job

Masters degree graduate, holidaying and road tripping

Forex trader on the side, final year university student

Couple of people working in Big 4 firms

Many if not all of them having 2 to 3 holidays to USA or Europe in a year.

Looking at my peers, one or two of them have their own cars. One looking to buy a luxury car in the next one year. Few more just graduated. More working the 9-5 corporate life.

Everything we talk about when we meet revolves around one thing. MONEY. Who’s making how much, and how to make more of it.

Very superficial I know, but isn’t that how success is measured? From Singapore, to London, and to Sydney, what counts is the size of your bank account, the make of your car, the house you live in, the clothes you wear.

Never have we talked about how one gives back to society, serving soup in a salvation army kitchen, delivering food packets to elderly living alone in one room flats.

Pressure is on me to ‘make it big’, not least to give my parents a comfortable life, but to show my friends, ‘Hey, I drive a BMW and live on private property, I’ve made it in life’. But have I really made it?

I am still calculating the cost of giving up my soul to gain everything the world has to give. I’m pretty sure I have what it takes to succeed.

However, it’s actually a no brainer and moot question. I would be the brainless one would if I give up the values I know are right and true for quick bucks and success.

There are yet some points of debate.

What kind of deal is it to get everything I want but lose my soul? What is the real measure of a man in today’s materialistic world? What if I give up my soul and earn big bucks, yet still give to charity? Am I a success if I embrace worldly values till 45, retire and give my parents a good life, and then start giving to society after 45?

Remember arcade game cheats? Facebook has it too.

Facebook’s secret code. Remember arcade game cheats? Try ↑,↑,↓,↓,←,→,←,→,B,A, Enter. Useful? Not in the slightest, but pretty cool

Link: Time magazine

Car woes

I’m going to document my Journey purchasing a 2nd hand, or is it 4th hand 18 year old Mazda.

I bought my first car (yayness!) sometime in the 3rd week of November and thought it would be the best gift I could have on graduating. It only had 140,000kms on it, looked  like it wasn’t driven much by the previous owner and very clean. On putting down $xxxx for the car, I was looking forward to taking it out for a spin.

The first few days owing the car was great. What took 10mins on the bicycle took 2mins with the car. No fear of the weather be it rain or shine. It felt like my sweetest honeymoon. Except that I could have never expected what demons was to come with the car.

I always garage my car, but I decided to park it outside one fine day. Having been left in the sun for pretty much the whole day, I got the equivalent of the BSOD (for Windows users), or the spinning wheel of death (for Mac users).

On turning the ignition switch, my car would gurgle and sputter and sound like a very exhausted runner trying to cross the finish line, only to fall down in a heap of dust and defeat.

The second time round the runner must have had his legs chopped off and asked to run a marathon.

More sputtering sound produced what could only be known as the car telling me, “Idiot, you pay peanuts, you get a monkey, you think a car with 140,000kms $xxxx runs well?”

I curse the Mazda that it should never have seen the light of day.

No problem. In came trusty mobile mechanic Tom to fix the car’s armature. Done and dusted. The car was fine and dandy at a cost of $xxx. Problems 2 days later.

On flicking the signal indicator, the cruise control comes on. My car slows down, I can’t accelerate.

The drivers behind me curse and swear that my Mazda should never have seen the light of day.

I get so worked up that nobody works on weekends in Australia. My parents are coming for my big day this Sunday and this has to happen. The gods must be playing a prank on me.

That said, this car goes to a Mazda dealer on Monday and I better have my honeymoon back in one piece! Grrr.

Never buy 2nd hand cars. *Fumes*

Where is my car mechanic!!!

Why is no one working on weekends in Australia!!

Stupid city that shuts down after 5 pm and on weekends.

Everything is so slow here!

2 days appointment for doctors. No car mechanics when I need them.

Where is my trusty mechanic at Eunos Ubi when I need you!!!

How do you hide from the internet?

A real story on trying to vanish in today’s tech connected world.

Wired writer Evan Ratliff spent 27 days in constant fear of getting caught as a small army of amateur and professional investigators hunted him. He had a bounty on his head and the Internet nipping at his heels.

Vanish, a combination of a manhunt and an experiment, began at 5:38 pm on August 14, 2009 as a bold headline on Wired proclaimed “Author Evan Ratliff Is on the Lam. Locate Him and Win $5,000.” We would discover if someone could disappear in today’s world, or whether the electronic trails from ATM, email, and cell phone usage would give him away.

Of course, in Evan’s case it wasn’t just a few concerned family members or police officers looking. It was any person on the Internet whose curiosity was aroused, either by the sheer challenge or by the bounty. Any and all traceable information would be shared over the next few weeks. Soon Evan’s phone records, credit card statements, IP dumps, interviews with friends, and anything that his hunters could dig up would be posted on Twitter, Facebook, and Wired’s own site.

The end goal for the hunters was to locate Evan, photograph him after giving the codeword “fluke,” and then submitting that photo along with a codeword Evan would provide to Wired. And after 27 long days, someone did just that. Evan was caught.

You can read the entire tale here. As you do, consider whether Evan made any genuine mistakes or whether his capture was simply inevitable. Is there a way to disappear, without giving up travel and technology? How would you do it? [Wired]

 

Round 2 – Australia (Weather) 1 : 2 Singapore (Racism, Food)

Other rounds in this series:

Round 1: Australia (Work & Holidaying) 2 : 0 Singapore

Round 2: Australia 1 (Weather) 1 : 2 Singapore (Racism & Food)

Weather

Australia

• Humidity is low. Can easily get cracked and bleeding lips, dry skin especially during winter. Lip balm and Nivea moisturizer were my best friends when I first came in 08 winter. Low humidity (averages 45-55%) means my DSLR can be kept outside without a dry box, less expenses, hehe. No worries about sweating profusely when jogging in winter.
• Not used to the cold winter air especially when I first came, jogging, soccer and general cardio exercise got me coughing like crazy.
• Nights are generally cool about 20, 21ish in spring, my favourite season, like being in an air con room back in Singapore.
• Summer can be hot, recently heard temperature in Sydney went up to 38deg.

Singapore

• Singaporeans are proud to be number one complainers, and the weather frequently bears the brunt of the complaints. June and July are major complaint months when the weather is very, save for the occasional showers.
• High humidity. DSLR needs a dry box home.
• Air isn’t cold, so exercise isn’t that difficult.
• If temperature gets hot, it can get really hot. Add the humidity and all I feel like doing is hibernating in an air con room

They call Queensland, where Brisbane is located the sunshine state – beautiful one day, perfect the next. I’d prefer Australia’s weather over Singapore because of the humidity. I can live with the heat and all, but the humid weather gets my hair all wavy and curly, which I hate!

I can get the Korean, Jap hair-swept-to-one-side look very easily in Australia, and it makes me more attractive to the Korean and Jap girls too

Racism

Australia

• Racism definitely exists. Glass walls, glass ceilings, indirect discrimination in some form or other definitely somewhere under the smiles.
• No need to recount one ‘F’ word that got spoken in my friend’s face by a high school punk, the drive-by shooting shouting, bad attitude by uni librarian to me, got charged $50 to change ONE bike tyre, came back another day and tried to ang moh’nize my english and got it changed for $25.
• That said, there are really nice Aussies. Some ABC’s I know make the effort to chit chat, ask you out for coffee. Some ang mohs also work pretty well in project groups, picking up the slack for you if they know you aren’t good in English. They are too polite in the gym when I’m using a machine, imagine a ripped, muscular ang moh guy hitting on a skinny asian dude? Totally wrong.
• There’s Chinatown and some suburbs that are purely Asian enclaves, so you’ll feel pretty at home if you ever think of settling here.

Singapore

• No worries man. Chinese make up what, 70 over % of Singapore’s population?

Food

Australia

• My only gripe is that there’s no 24 hour kopitiam. Where to go when I’m hungry at night and no food in the refrigerator?
• Brisbane even has a restaurant named ‘Little Singapore’ selling $9.80 roti prata. Daylight robbery?! #$)*&
• Some Asian fare, think HK or Korean food are pretty decent and eatable. Very few are exceptional. Most are not comparable to Singapore’s standard. To me who’s raised in SG, majority of Asian food here is a meek imitation, overpriced and non-authentic. There isn’t a very wide range of Asian food here too, I haven’t come across chilli crab, sambal stingray or rojak!

Singapore

• Nobody beats Singapore in the food category man. Nation of food loving people, yet no obesity problem? Take that America and Australia, UK, and erm Fiji.
• ‘Nuff said
• Sigh I’m missing Singapore food more and more :’(

Yesterday, today & tomorrow, I thank You for…..

A job in uni that pays well, that puts food on the table, that provides (what little I can) for my family