Japan again

I don’t know what is with Japan that keeps me coming back.

 

This was taken in April 2017. During cherry blossom festival @ Tokyo.

 

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looking back to look forward

by the grace of the almighty god, i am still alive and got through the year 2015. healthy, alhamdulillah, with minor demam batuk flu asthma sikit-sikit tu normal la. major grateful there wasn’t any incidents like in 2014, terkoyak lutut, viral fever, etc. and no major bruises and heartaches like the years before that.

grateful i was able to change my job, albeit entering the industry in a poor market condition. a bit depressing juga, when your income target is far fetched. with 2016 looking very much dim as it was in 2015 (where brent crude oil has recently dipped below $30 level )..signs of hope went down the drain already. but, persevere we must. still, i am glad that i am no longer with that investment bank.

met people and lost some along the way. its part of life, i think. i have reached the age & the maturitylevel where I could no longer tolerate selfishness, especially from certain people, who only used u for i dont know..share her sorrows, provide shelters, etc.

dimwit men. i have met and ditched few of this kind. the kind of men that I initially tolerated cause i was trying to be nice. but after some time, i could no longer withstand their ‘stupidity’, if i could put it that way. there was this guy who had never been out of the country and could only sparsely converse in english. so tell me, how can i have a decent conversation about say, economics or other matters like movies, art, history, music, places of the world, etc with a close minded people like that? so painful i tell ya. melayu ni tau nak get high all the time saja. outcome, apa pun takda.

anyways, i’m hoping for a 2016 where the volatility is curbed, commodity price stabilised, higher country’s GDP growth, and market that are vibrant and prosperous. and mostly, for everyone to withstand all the possibilities.

 

the YLDP

I have, on random days, asked my friends random questions and polled their answers for my own keep. Like earlier today I asked my colleagues who is their least desirable person in the market, or YLDP. I’m so busy, I know.

Here are some of their answers:-

• loud mouthed guys. we dont mind loud people, really. but there are guys who always always make lame jokes and be really bingit about it.
• annoying high pitched treasury sale people who always appear too bright on a monday morning. give em creeps apparently.
• certain people from a certain (biggest) local investment bank. they’re, well, proud? only god knows why.

 

 

 

 

the thing about our market..

..is that its too small.

 

That everyone kinda knows each other and for some, the dirty stories behind them as well. For instance I know a girl who slept with a guy one day, and the next day everyone in the market gossiped about it. Pity her.

Besides that it is really difficult to avoid meeting ‘your least desirable person’ or ‘YLDP’ in the market. There are always sessions like conferences, seminars, market updates where there is a tendency to bump into YLDP.

I heard countries like India and Indonesia are the analysts’ favourite this year. So how fast can I move there?

think of dopamine like gasoline

“you combine that with a brain equipped with a lesser ability to put on the brakes than normal, and you get people who push limits”

 

 – Article “The Mystery of Risk”, National Geographic, June 2013 –

Off the trip to Bali

So, what happened was, I finally quit my job. Had a 3 weeks of much needed break before starting at my new job. Naturally I had to go somewhere, and Bali being my most fav island escapade, therefore off to Bali I went. Prior to Bali, I went to Jakarta for 4 days. Did some shopping, feasting and sight seeing. This time around I opt to use their train service as my hotel is situated near Sudirman train station. Went to Taman Ismail Marzuki, which hosted their local theatre, cinema, art gallery, book store, planetarium and spaces for various cultural performances; ideal for the likes of moviegoers and theater lovers. I didn’t manage to catch any of the shows there though due to the limited time I had. Getting there is relatively easy btw, from Sudirman station, take the train to Manggarai and change the train heading to Jakarta Kota, but get down at Cikini station. From there there’s plenty of taxis and bajaj that’ll take you to Taman Ismail Marzuki.

Sudirman station

Cinema poster. This movie however wasn’t release yet .

I came back to KL on Saturday night. Sunday was spent on car and iphone repair works, laundry, last minute packing, a WEDDING and rushing off to the airport AGAIN at 2am! Phew! Didn’t manage to sleep that night but did doze off for a bit on my early flight to Bali. The views from the window plane were beyond beautiful early in the morning. Couldnt bring bulky dslr on this trip, hence this mediocre picture FML.

This time around I didn’t plan much about the itineraries. I had a week to kill there with nothing much on my schedule. I was busy at work before and this trip was kinda unplanned for me, hence the hefty plane tix and nothing much on schedule. What I know was that I definitely gonna go to Padang Bai to swim and laze around at Bias Tugel beach. And also I would repeat Uluwatu this time. This was gonna be my first time in Padang Bai and third time in Uluwatu. As usual my first stop in Bali was Sanur. I love its night market that’s got plenty of delicious and cheap halal food. Perfect for traveller on a budget like yours truly. Pasar Sandhu is located at Jl. Danau Tamblingan. Gotta say that the food and vendors were pretty much the same since last time I been here in 2012.

The next morning I headed out to Padang Bai. Like my previous visit, I use public transportation to get around. Not many people know this but the best way to move around between far out places in Bali is via bus. From Sanur to Padang Bai it’d cost me IDR75,000 via Perama Bus. Apart from Perama there’s Sarbagita bus service which is ideal if you need to move around to nearby places in Bali. Sort of city bus service. Initially Sarbagita was set up to cater to the tourist’s demand but sadly it’s not really popular with the tourists. Bad marketing, perhaps? I really hope these bus services stay as I really dont want to resort to using supir service.

Padang Bai

Padang Bai serves as a port to the neighbouring islands of Lombok and the Gili sisters. And for the more adventurous, yes there are ferries to Komodo island too. There are two beautiful beaches in Padang Bai; namely Bias Tugel beach and Blue Lagoon (which was featured in Eat Love Pray movie). Both requires a bit of trekking to get there. Blue Lagoon beach is tad bit smaller and further than Bias Tugel, and most of the people opt for motorbike to get there. I chose my accommodation that is nearest to Bias Tugel, but still it needed a bit of trekking to get to the beach.

And you wonder why would anyone fascinated with this hidden beach?..

Bias Tugel beach

Blue Lagoon beach

Diving in Padang Bai

Of course, I didn’t book diving trips prior because I wanted to look around on the price and availability of diving trips offered along Padang Bai area. Lesson learnt from diving trip back in 2012, dont rely on only dive trips available on the internet. Often times (though not all) the dive shops are run by the westerners and not by local people, hence the hefty price charged for dive trips. Thus this time around I decided to shop around for dive trips before securing any dive package. It didn’t take a long search though as I was quite impressed by the dive stories told by local instructor, Imade Widana or more fondly known as Pak Wi. He runs a small dive shop near to the port.

Price per dive is about RM100 (nego for equipments) and of course, depending on the sites. Diving at sites that are further from the port is more expensive. And it’s better to at least possess an advanced diving license prior to diving in Bali as the currents are pretty rough there. But then again, dive sites in Padang Bai are relatively calmer than those in Nusa Penida (possibility of underwater currents at Crystal Bay site). Pak Wi is definitely a macro expert. He has the flare of spotting tiniest sea creatures, some were even smaller than an index finger. So if macros are your fancy, then go look for him in Padang Bai.

The new job

So..

I got this new job and currently I’ve been here for almost a month. Gotta say I hardly feel it cause I’ve been busy with meetings, daily reportings and whatnots. Literally there have been daily meetings (up to 2-3 times a day) and conference calls with the portfolio managers. Draining, but all is well though. Still coping and learning the ropes around here.

I used to be on sell-side (the dark side of the investment banks, they say) but now I’m on the buy-side, specifically focusing on fixed income investments (bond and sukuk).

Apart from the awesome perks and benefits, there are some other things that I like about this new job. Am writing it here as part of my gratitude project (one thing that I promise to myself to constantly do).

– Opportunities to travel / attachment programs with the fund managers abroad

– Super nice bosses & colleagues. One has to experience dealing with harrowing bosses to appreciate these new superiors.

– New like minded friends. I think I made friends quite easily here, thank God for that.

– Messy but awesome trading desk with Bloomberg terminals just few steps away.

– Plenty of new things and areas to learn. Areas such as Emerging Market debt and Asian debt to look at with the differing geo-political situations, country ratings, potential rates and currencies strategies, etc.

– New phone 🙂

– Trading room is quite after market hours, thus I’m able to study after work

– There are 3 people in the trading room who are currently undertaking CFA. So yeah, glad to have these people to study with.

All in all, I am grateful to land this job. Of course there are few hiccups here and there (to mention a few; the slow bureaucratic process, yikes! and the attendance monitoring system – I have to be present at the office latest at 8.29am, imagine the traffic horror I have to face every morning), I am beyond grateful, nonetheless.

The Ring Around the Sun

Assalamualaikum..

Been busy with life that I couldn’t be arsed to write anything for the past couple of months. And suddenly its nearing the end of July. How did the past 6 months just disappear?

 

Sold my car and got a supposedly fuel efficient and environmentally friendly new machine.

Went to Jakarta in February

Went to Japan (again) with the colleagues in early May

 

Enrolled for CFA programme. One of the toughest exams in the world, the hell was I’m thinking? Library visits, weekend classes and tests are part of life (foresee that I wont be enjoying much life for the next 3 years). Enjoying the company of my brilliant classmates though, bless them.

 

On a job hunt. thus been to interviews. Got an offer. Resigned from current job. But still going for interviews in other companies. Still have 2 months to serve the notice period.

 

Bought a studio apartment. Actually this was done on impulse. The construction of the condo is supposedly finish this coming year end. We shall see.

 

Til then.

Random Rants

1. Rakyat marhaen Selangor are now facing water rationing. Termasuklah aku yang terkena ni dalam Fasa 3. Seumur hidup aku ni 1st time kena catu air terkejut, which i had to resort to bathing using mineral water. Mampu?. Anda semua rakyat marhaen amacam, seronok jadi orang Selangor? Beb..hujan hari-hari bai…depan rumah gua siap air naik lagi. Tapi bukak paip..air non hado. I’d assumed everyone reading this adalah rakyat yang somewhat terpinggir dalam arus kemodenan negara, dan apabila mana-mana krisis terjadi adalah orang yang akan menerima tempias, no?

2. I’ve learned a bit on life lessons upon hitting 30. One of the most valuable lessons is to drop the useless friends. Put a stop to where i had to put up with them. You see, there’s always this kind of friend in life, the one who drags you down instead of pushes you forward. To me friendship is to always be there for your friends through thick and thin, especially through THIN. And when i hit rock bottom or when i faced the biggest hurdle in life, where were you my dear friends? So yea, learn to say no and most importantly, learn to say stop.

3. If you cant afford it, dont buy it. You’ll regret it much sooner that you think.

4. Your family sometimes is not your back bone. One has got to learn to be fiercely independent to get on in life. If you happen to have the merriment of your family to cheer you up and to pick you up when you lose, then good for you. But that’s so much what they can do for you. To get back on the track its solely up to you honey. Sesetengah family ni aku taktau la, maybe sebab upbringing kot, instead of offering love and supports, ada yang lebih suka ‘peleceh’.  That’s downright sick la, bukan nak tolong tapi lagi nak bring you down lagi ada la. This, girl you gotta learn. Sendiri tolong diri sendiri la. Knowing all this made me learn and do things without relying so much on anyone else.

5. Speaking about being independent kan..aku jual keta aku sendiri bai. not just pegi dealer and drop the car and let the salesman do the rest. Aku cari buyer sendiri, pi puspakom 2-3 kali, turun naik JPJ and so much more, sendiri bai. Hampir kena tipu few times. Aku memang tobat dah nak deal ngan salesman melayu. Time nak pakai duit gila2, housemate aku kluar plak. Kena cari org replace, in which initially takde orang nak masuk..time tu aku berserah je la mana nak pakai duit lagi nak bayar bank, takde orang nak share rent ngan aku,.tapi tuhan tolong la within a month all the problems solved. Alhamdulillah!

6. No one knows that I had once hit rock bottom. 2012, aku tak ingat bila. Tapi sebab keja. Nak cerita balik pun malas dah tanak ingat dah sebenarnya. And now 2014 even aku terkejut that i’m still at the godforsaken bank. Ni kira love-hate relationship punya cerita la ni. I like my current (current ya not previous) bosses, I like the complexity of the job, the people whom I can learn from. I hate the culture, the non-existent benefits, the management dan banyak lagi lah. Tapi bila kau dah merasa how hard life was when you hit rock bottom, then kau sedar kata J.K Rowling, where she said ‘rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life’.

Till then.

Ain’t Nuthin But a G Thang

Not what you think 🙂 The title, this song, is just depicting something old school. In this case, the memories when I first started in the corporate world.

Not exactly old school, but yea, whatevs.

Here are my friends, the goons and me.

Met these chicas back in 2007 at the SC. I joined the Commission in June and few months after that Farah and Mun came along. We clicked somehow, Farah and I even carpooled to work since we both stayed in Subang. I started to get close to Hafsa when we were stationed in the same department and we became neighbours at work.

I had my first taste of Perhentian with her back in 2009 (it was love at first site and I ended up going there seven more times heheh).

Silhouette shot during sunset

The obligatory jump shot

One of the thousands of pictures we took while few others went diving. Oh, Hafsa ended up marrying the guy at the far right 🙂

Us goons

See, this post is just about me missing their friendship and the camaraderie. Even though our time wasn’t that long as I left the Commission in 2011, but the bond remains strong until now. I guess its the memories that keep us together.

The fateful annual dinner back in 2008 where we performed an Arabian themed musical. I was the bad girl of course.

I have so many (too many in fact) profound memories of the SC. Apart from awesome friends cum colleagues, I had the best boss ever there. He was the head of department who sat beside me at the Bloomberg station teaching me stuff where I in fact only asked him a simple matter that didn’t really warrant him explaining it to me in such great effort. For that I am forever grateful to him. Too bad my time with him at that department didn’t last long. If only I could have him back as my boss (not that my current ones are bad, but still).

Fly away little angel 😛