Gratitude

So Monday was results day.

I was up at about 6am cus I've got work :( I was nervous, but not very nervous. Not nervous enough to lose sleep over it. I expected that my CAP would drop this sem because I was too caught up with CO stuffs. Last year same sem, my CAP dropped by 0.4 :(  Even though I had a three day week, it felt like I didn't have free days cus there was always something to do. With that said, I didn't study as much as I would like to. I was grateful that I only had 3 finals and they were spread over 2 weeks so I had like 6 days to study for each paper. 

When I finally received my results over SMS, I couldn't believe my eyes. Instead of dropping, it rose by quite a bit and I'm really grateful. I GOT MY FIRST A FOR MNO! That alone is worthy to celebrate. I hated MNO modules cus it's always so fluffy. Thank goodness I won't have to take any more MNO modules in my life. Ever. Up till now, I'm still amazed by that SMS. Luck is finally on my side and I'm happy! I guess I would be taking honours year as well.

Life's been good to me. Work's not that good but I will get over it. 8 weeks, I can!!

I'm grateful. Gratefulness makes everything I do much easier and less painful cus the thinking "I could be in a worse-r situation right now"  makes everything seem better and bearable. It's going to be my way of life!

x

Internship reflections

Sorry for my long hiatus. I've been too caught up with my internship that I've barely time left for blogging. Today was my 4th day at work. Even though I've only been there for a short period of time, there are some things that I've learnt.

Currently I am interning at xxx, which is a public sector firm. Previously I worked at CS, which was from the private sector and there is certainly a stark contrast!

Firstly, the place is quite far away :( it's in the west and a journey there takes me one and a half hour. The traveling is very sian + work starts at 8am so I'll have to wake up at 6am just to reach there on time. The worst thing is that I CANNOT BRING A CAMERA PHONE IN :( I have to lock my iPhone in a locker before I enter as there is a x-ray machine/metal scanner before the entrance. Without my iPhone, I feel so bored all the time. There is no way to escape awkward silences with my colleagues/supervisors during lunch by looking at my phone. There is no form of entertainment when I feel bored at work. Also, there is no avenue for me to talk to L and my friends. Above are the first 2 things I don't like.

Well, the environment is very different. In xxx, they do do OT but I think it's less than in CS and you can leave 10 mins before time to knock off. Everyone does that and no one will look at you with a judging look. In CS, a lot of people do OT and no one ever leaves before the stipulated time. Also, the stress is lesser. A typical day there goes like this. Reach office at 8am, go for breakfast at 8.15am, come back at about 9+ am to do work. Then at 12pm, we go for lunch. Lunch times there are not fixed, or at least that's my impression. So far, the lunch times vary from 1.5hr-2hr. We then come back at about 1+/2pm to continue with work! 5.30pm knock off! In CS, there is no time for breakfast and sometimes, my colleagues will stay back/sacrifice their lunch time to finish their work. And in CS, I never seem to finish my work (at least for the first month) and time passes so damn fast. Meanwhile in xxx, time passes slowly...

The people at xxx talks about work life balance. They like their jobs a lot, not like in CS. And they feel that it's a secure job and it pays pretty well. They can also spend more time with their family cus the workload is not heavy. Sounds nice isn't it?

This experience has set me thinking about a lot of things. I want a high powered job after I graduate and I feel like I don't mind doing OT or handling heavy workloads. All because I want to be rich and successful in life. But my internship made me rethink what I want. Is it worth it to sacrifice time with family and friends for a high powered job? Will being rich and successful make me as happy as I feel when I spend time with my family, L and friends?

Would you prefer a male or female supervisor?

For me, I think female. But both my parents prefer male supervisors.

I only have like 1 working experience at CS and I had a female supervisor. I think we did get along pretty well. She would occasionally ask me which university I would like to go, about my parents and stuff. My colleagues were also female and we had a fun time together, gossiping and stuff. For me, I feel like I would be more willing to ask more questions if my supervisor was a female.

My parents feel that a male supervisor would be more 随便. It might be true... What do you think?

I feel like I can't talk much on this topic because I don't want to blog about work or any of my opinions regarding it.

Everyone has preconceived notions of gender which that might predispose us to be biased. I guess I should just keep an open mind regarding this. And who knows, there might be surprises!

Investing styles

Warning: The long post below is about investing, so if you're not interested you can just skip this post!

I'm quite into investing now cus I'm reading this book called "More Money Than God" as mentioned in the previous blog post below. The author introduced three types of investing styles so far and I have been contemplating which of the three is the best for me.

Long = buy the shares and hold, in anticipation of a rise in value of the shares.
Short = borrow shares from someone/institution and sell it, then buy back the shares some time later from the market to return it to the owner. This is in anticipation of a fall in value of the shares.

The first type of investor is a "stock picker", they believe that good and bad stocks exist. The investor finds out more about the different companies listed on the stock exchange. They also look at the company's balance sheet, the market the company is serving, the managing director and stuff. Then they long the good stocks and short the bad stocks in hope that the market forces will bring the prices to reflect the intrinsic value of the companies listed. However it's quite difficult to decide which is a good/bad stock as different people have different opinions and the market forces might not correct the pricing.

The second investor is a "trend follower", they sense the markets and go with the flow until the bubble reaches the maximum size. An example of such an investor is George Soros. If they feel that the other investors have bullish perceptions of a stock, they would long it (gain from the increase in stock price as other investors are buying) and would look for a point when "the coin flips". This is when almost of all the investors who have bullish expectation are on the bandwagon, and no one is willing to buy anymore. The price would be quite high and there is certainly the creation of an asset bubble. These investors then recognize the flip and short the shares. The difficult part of this strategy is that it's very difficult to know when the coin flips. If they short it too early and long it for too long, then they would lose money.

The last investor is "arbitrageur", which I'm not interested in so I shall not elaborate.

I feel like I'm a micro trend follower. Cus currently I'm a newbie in investing so I'm not well versed with the companies listed on SGX.

Oh and there are some people who feel that the prices of stocks just follow a random walk. Whenever I read an argument for this, I feel very sad. Cus what I'm learning now in school/books is based on the assumption that they do not follow a random walk! All that I ever learnt would crumble :( If all stocks follow a random walk, then there would be no need for a finance department in university cus the stock market would just be like a gambling den. Anyone can just try their luck at any stock!

Books after exams

Finished this book.

Didn't really understand the significance of the mysterious and rich Jay Gatsby. I went to google the book and him after reading it then I knew what Fitzgerald was trying to portray Jay Gatsby to be. The American Dream, the new rich. Rag to riches through illegal means. I guess I don't really like this book, but Jay Gatsby is a good character.

Currently reading this right now, don't think I can finish it in three days cus it's now the third day and I'm only like halfway through :( It's quite nice and I don't mind reading it another time just to grasp the ideas more clearly. Although it's quite insightful, it's quite hard to follow their ideas.