Category: Uncategorized

Social media has now invaded our lives in ways we cannot imagine. How many times do you check your FB a day? Is this the first and last thing you do every day? Our inner most voyeurism needs are satisfied as one can keep up to date with people that they have not met in years or even with total strangers. The reverse is also true, where a person can and wants to inform the world of his every activity – the meal just eaten, the holiday photos in real time.

While people from my generation are finally climbing onto the FB wagon, I still have a number of friends who refuse to have anything to do with it. They fear the invasion of their privacy. Guess what guys, it has already happened. Try to Google your own name and see what comes out. Like it or not, every one’s digital foot prints are slowly being accumulated on the World Wide Web. You are already missing out on all the fun stuff and also the ability to connect with your kids online. So why hesitate?

FB has already been around for a dozen years and I have been a member for 10 so far. My story timeline had been carefully built up over time and I cannot imagine living without it. I have also managed to successfully organized a number of class reunions using the events function – efficiently seeking out and connect with old classmates which was quite difficult to do prior to FB (try doing it on email, you will be spamming everyone).

But as with ever changing technology, my son would tell me : “Dad, FB is so old school, no one uses it any more… we are now into Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.” Well… better late than never.

Whatsapp,WeChat and Line are also bring another social dimension. We are simultaneously have multiple real time conversations with numerous groups and individuals. This was not possible a few years ago and it was crazy trying to communicate with a group using SMS in the old days.

 

I had an interesting afternoon yesterday. Managed to catch up with 5 old classmates for a 2+ hours walk in the park, discussing about life in general and what we had done in the last 30+ odd years since we left our alma mater.

I had met some of them periodically over the years but the majority were casual acquaintances when we were 13-16 year old kids in secondary school. How time flies… The innocence of youth long gone, replaced by the wisdom of life experiences.

It is interesting how we all turned out, as we reflect on the next stage of our life journey, given that each of us have had a very different paths so far. A very refreshing boost to make me want to maximize my remaining time on earth – that we should approach each new day as if it is the last day we will have on planet earth.

This article hit so close to home. Been there, done that : www.linkedin.com/pulse/lost-your-job-recent-layoff-kim-williams

The memory is still so vivid, although it happened more than 4 years ago. After 19 years at the company, I had less than an hour to clear the desk…  I remembered that it occurred at noon that day and I was totally lost that whole afternoon, my mind was a blank. Strangely, I could only focus on trying to cancel the year-end dinner I had planned for my team in the immediate few hours. I guess the restaurant manager readily agreed to refund me the deposit because she saw the state I was in, after I explained to her my reason.

This para from the article stood out for me : “Take a breath.  She asked ” What do you want to do”  Do you want to go back to work so bad that you are willing to accept another job that you would be miserable in or do you want to take your time, think about your skills and how they could apply to the job that you really want.  This is your chance to reinvent yourself.  Everyone that loses their job goes through this exact feeling of “disconnected”.  Take this time to reflect, don’t think so hard about getting a job. Think hard about what you want to do.”

 

Back then, I took the first and only job I could find after months of trying. That miserable job lasted me 3.5 years. I will take the above advise NOW.

Time to reinvent myself.

 

Being in the financial industry for the last 26 years, I have seen quite a few crisis before. Had experienced the EMU/GBP, Asia, Russia, Dot.com and GFC/Sub-prime financial meltdowns. The 2008 GFC taught us the dangers of excessive over-leverage and too big to fail, but have we learnt the lesson? Nope. The central banks have taken over the role of the bad banks instead. They have crazily ballooned their balance sheet and push for negative rates to drive growth. But we hardly have any in the last 8 years.

Global banks, starved for revenues, are now doing a periodic chopping of headcount to bring expenses down as profits decline. In 2008, an economist predicted that the world would see 10 years of slow growth and we laughed at his ridiculous prediction. Since then, the debt balloon has grown multiple times larger than the last crisis. I thought I have seen it all in my career, but then this comes along. A strange new financial world indeed…

Happy labour day all, except USA which celebrates it in Sep.

Just watched Captain America: Civil War. How are they able to squeeze a simplistic plot into a 2.5 hours movie?!? The number of superhero movies is amazing nowadays, almost 1 per month. Seems like the movie line up for Marvel and DC comics is now up to 2020 at least. Have to give it to Stan Lee and team – they had the imaginative power to dream up of so many characters and then mixed them up in multiple combinations to extend the shelve life.

Permutations are limitless. Donald/Daffy Duck and Elmer  versus the Simpsons and Avengers next?

 

 

Who watches regular programming TV these days? Nowadays, it is on-demand,  when you want it, at any time from your mobile device. TV set prices are still crashing – after all, they are just a piece of glass. Each family member basically watches what he/she wants, at whatever time it suits them. Death of family movie nights…

An article just highlighted that America now produces 500+ TV shows a year. How can one humanly watch even a fraction of them? Personally, I only watch the ones with some historical background (Vikings, Vinyl, Halt & Catch Fire) or have an interesting but realistic angle (Silicon Valley, Survivor). Supernatural and science fiction stuff are out for me. The only exception is the Game of Thrones, of course…

Shows are so complex now. There are so many sub plots and characters that you probably have to watch it again or read a recap/review to digest all the points that you might have missed. A book I read a long time ago suggest that this actually makes us smarter in the long run – the brain gets to exercise more by trying to keep track to figure out the plot. Compare that to “I love Lucy” from the sixties with only one theme in the whole episode!!!   I remember my childhood days in the seventies where the whole world stops every Wednesday at 6 pm. Kids will scream “Ultraman!!!” and we will drop everything to rush to the nearest TV to watch the latest monster our hero will destroy.  Ah, life was so much less complicated then…

 

 

 

Was thinking about someone I know who is 70 this year and wondering out loud that he is old before realizing I am not too far away (-20 years). Is it possible to be always young at heart?

I still feel like I am in my thirties but my body is telling me otherwise. It takes longer for aches and pains to go away and the six pack doesn’t seem to be coming back any time soon no matter what I do, although we are living healthier and longer now. The seventies is now the new sixties. Just need to get used to be called uncle nowadays.

“Kiss This”by The Struts is my fav song of the month. Why? Just left my old job behind me on April Fool’s day – “You were bad for me, So I’m gone for good”…. Taking a break (smell the roses?) to think about what I want to do for the next 5 to 10 years, perhaps looking to reinvent myself (change careers, explore business opportunities?). Couldn’t stand the toxic work environment any more – “Misunderstood, So kiss this one last time, And I’m gone for good.”

Into my 4th week of “liberation” and Tom Petty’s Free Falling starts creeping into my brain (although John Mayer’s version sounded better to me). Kind of scary jumping off the deep end into joblessness – “And I’m free, free fallin’ ” into the unknown. Painted the drawing below to visualize my feelings- a new journey begins…