Londontown

I'm in London!!! I have been here for almost 18 hours and I have not spotted even ONE air-con here. The reason is, there is natural air con. I took the Heathrow Connect express train from the airport (by mistake and ended up £7.40 poorer) to Paddington station. Was too kan chiong on finding my way to my accommodation that I did not took out my camera to snap a picture. Paddington station is such a marvelous and grand old railway station.

I realized it is only when you go overseas that you appreciate what you have at home. In SG, the trains operate rain or shine 24/7, any maintenance work is carried out in the wee hours. In London, most maintenance works are carried out on the weekends, and they have no qualms about shutting down stations or even entire lines.

I had to make a big detour to navigate around the London Underground to get to my accommodation. It was quite a distance to walk, but with the air so fresh and temperatures at 11 degrees C, it was enjoyable just taking in the sights and sound.

I met two Hong Kong undergrads at the reception, Michelle and another guy whose name I cannot (or can't be bothered) to remember. The moment I got my room, I unpacked my stuff and hit the deck immediately. I was almost late for my orientation in school. Now the LSE has hostels all over central London, and my hall, Rosebery Ave, was in the district of Islington, an area well known for the Sadler Wells theatre and nice restaurants and bars.

I was waiting for a bus when I saw this very blur looking Chinese girl, Chen Ye (who is actually Chinese-American from Boston, Massachusetts) who approached me and asked me how to get to LSE. I told her I was going there too and we promptly took the wrong bus together. Thanks to my exceptional urban 'topo' skills, we arrived at LSE just about on time.

Again I was too busy looking for the correct queue that I did not snap a nice picture of the famed LSE logo. But I'll have 3 weeks to do that , no problem. After collecting my LSE student ID, I went for a short tour around the school. Cobbled streets, central location in London, dream school!

I was randomly snapping pictures of the campus when I bumped into Chen Ye and another new found friend, Laura from Barcelona who moved to Madrid six months ago (the things you find out about new friends haha). We were all famished, and wanted lunch badly. We anyhow anyhow walked, and stumbled across the famous Theatreland and Covent Garden!

Lunch was an overpriced pasta for £10 after tips where I counted approximately 20 penne pasta on my plate. Really expensive place. After lunch, we walked around Covent Garden market, bypassed the London Transport Museum, visited St Paul's Church, and finally Laura went back to hall first to find (unsuccessful) for an international adaptor. Good thing SG and London same plug, don't need adaptor.

There was a welcome reception at the hall in the evening, but the food and drinks ran out very fast. In the end, a big group of us new friends went out and explore Islington in search of food. We only had dinner at 10pm, and the sky was still bright!!

Will talk about my first day of school in LSE in the next post. London is awesome! :)

Blardy heavy backpack. I regretted not bringing a trolley bag..


Portugal Street, buildings surrounding it are part of the LSE



Covent Garden on a sunday

Theatreland, next to Covent Garden


Large crowd gathering around a street performer, lots of them in Covent Garden



One of King Arthur's knight

Plastic bottle man

Erm... I dunno what is this haha

St Paul's Church


Not Singapore Flyer la, the London Eye

Beautiful London summer sky

I was awestruck when after taking picture with the London Eye, I turned around and saw this...

Big Ben!!!


The Houses of Parliament

Updates real soon!!! :p

Most of my friends have finished their exams, but for me, it's another two weeks to go, with two more modules. First and foremost, congrats to the class of 2009 who have graduated from university. I know Timmy has secured a job as a pricing analyst with ExxonMobil, so if you guys realise that the price of petrol is going up, remember to give him a ring haha.

So far, the two exam papers that I have sat for went pretty well, definitely not A grade, but hopefully enough to add as a qualifying module for second upper tabulation. Despite my paper this coming thursday, I still managed to squeeze in two hours of football today, which means I must mug extra hard over the next three days.

I am very grateful that ever since I ORDed, I have been blessed in many ways. First, I managed to get a job within two weeks of completing my NS, and then when I failed my bridging course and needed time off to study, the bank converted me to part time. Now, I have the whole month of May off for my exams, and because I will be going to London in July till mid-August, I tendered my resignation.

My manager rejected it and told me to reconsider. I inform her of my dilemma: I do want to carry on working, but it is seemingly impossible to take one and a half months of work, what with me exhausting all my annual leave for my exams. Obviously no company in their right mind would just let a staff go off for so long unless they just gave birth.

Despite the obvious difficulty, I pushed on and pressed the senior managers on this particular issue. During that time, HR also gave me a new contract to sign, this time as a permanent staff. Because of the trouble on the US side, there is no pay raise this year, but I will get a lot more fringe benefits. So I signed and somehow, miraculously, the director approved my application for unpaid leave for one and a half months.

So, even before I have graduated, I have secured a job, and though it is not my ideal department, I am able to request for a lateral transfer given that I have served two years. I am really, really thankful. And I know this is not just mere coincidence or pure luck, if not I will be buying 4D and striking it rich already.


How do I know that it is due to "divine intervention"? Well, for starters, everyday when I travel to work, I need to work through CitiLink and bypass the HMV store. On two separate occasions, as I walked past the store, it started playing 'Shout to the Lord'. The first time, I brushed it off as pure coincidence, but the second time it happened, it was probably two to three months after the first and the same thing happened.


And recently, as I walked towards the MRT station after work, the HMV store was playing "The Heart of Worship". Well, I could choose to categorise these incidents as nothing more than 'the store just so happen to play such songs', but I do believe that that isn't the case. I know it is pretty ironic for me to be saying such stuff, given that I am not regularly attending church nowadays.

But hey, going to church doesn't make anyone more holy and spiritual than one who doesn't, though the benefits of fellowship and guidance from attending church is obvious. I don't want to be a hypocrite, by encouraging people to keep the faith and continue going to church when I myself don't, and the truth is I stopped attending a while ago because it became a routine and I went for the company of friends more than anything else.

It has been ten and a half years since I first set foot into 64 Tanjong Katong Road, and I know if during those formative teenage years without the guidance and love from the people inside that former maternity clinic, I could have become a really bad person. I heard there is a special performance in the first two weeks of June for Saturday @ 5, but I have not received any invitation!

Okay, I know many people usually set up walls to see if others care enough to break them down. I do not need such patronage nor do I need an invitation. Charis still is my home, and I do try to keep abreast with the developments (thank you Facebook) from time to time and thus I do not need a red carpet to welcome me or people fretting over me as I walk through those hallowed (and seriously in need of repair) gates of 64 Tanjong Katong Rd. I am just, erm, inactive for now, but definitely not a newcomer nor outsider.


Okay now, people shouldn't take themselves too seriously and learn to unwind a little. That is exactly what I am going to do come July, so if you guys/gals want anything from the UK, France or Spain, please just drop me a message. I will be visiting some of football's most famous grounds (think Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, Anfield!!!) and hopefully catch Liverpool live in action in the season opener of the new EPL.

I have been studying in various public libraries the past few weeks and I am going to write an entry on them, it should be useful information for serious students who want to study and not chit-chat with their equally annoying peers. I realised that studying in Starbucks or McDonald's is just a lame excuse to meet up with friends, in the end nothing goes into the head.


Have a great week ahead, all the best to those taking Module 92 Corporate Finance this thursday! And Ethel, I read you are invigilating for UOL at Expo. Well, if you still are, be nice and say hi. And give me more time to write after 'pens down'. Haha :p


P.S: A rare photo of skinny Tim and skinny Sam! Got chiseled jawline!!! :)

Still Alive

Exams.

Walking On Sunshine

Birthday breakfast with darling


Perfect setting for an intimate valentine birthday

Commando ironman turned credit card officer

Citibank senior mgt group drops in to Operations..

To serve ice cream! This is the man whose signature grace all welcome letters to new Citibank cardholders - big boss of consumer banking Anil

Long...

long queue for ice cream and goodies

Attending a sunset wedding..

At Chalk @ Old School on Mount Sophia

Owned by the Porsche driving, multiple Ya Kun outlet owner, CEO of mainboard listed semiconductor firm bridegroom..

Sweets for my sweet :p



P.S: 30th May 2009. Midnight. Changi Village. 42.195km. 4 hours. adidas Sundown Marathon. Easy run. ..?!!

What A Feeling

It has been one of the best Tuesdays I have had in recent weeks. The day started off with me waking up just in time to get dressed and hop on the train to reach work just in time before the manager started to ask "where's Bryan", but I had to work the whole afternoon on an empty stomach.

The first hour at work was a frenzy, running to and fro from my desk to the admin department to sort out a few customers' demanding requests, all the while with my stomach groaning and pleading to be filled with food. After clocking my five hours, I packed my stuff and made a few calls to my mates who would be meeting at City Hall for dinner.

The night before, I sent out a message that says to meet from 6pm onwards but no later than 7. I thought I was being very thoughtful in my flexibility on the meeting time, but apparently that ruffled some feathers early on. A hungry man is an angry man, and Matte certainly was grouchy when we met up. His first sentence to me was,

"Why did you have to say meet between 6 to 7? You could have just set a standard time."

I replied,"but there are people who has work and school, so must give them time to travel."

He retorted,"Yeah, but I pity those who actually come on time at 6", in an obvious reference to himself. So to prevent him from becoming like the Chelsea and France footballer Nicolas Anelka, famously known as Le Sulk, I quickly ushered him towards the counter to get his dinner served. Suddenly the world seemed such a brighter place.

By seven, everyone who was supposed to be there was there. We tucked in to our food and had a great time chatting away. Close to the end of dinner, Timo and CY, after slipping off rather unnoticed, emerged with a birthday cake from Canele. The group then burst into an embarassing and rowdy rendition of 'Happy Birthday'.



Having had our fill, we proceeded to TCC at CityLink for drinks. We chatted even more about all things under the sun, and only left at close to 11pm.

Well, as I had said, my birthday is just an excuse to ask everyone out for a get together. The whole point was not to celebrate my 23rd coming of age, but rather, more of a water point in our marathon called the race of life. I thoroughly enjoyed myself tonight with the friends who know me best and with whom I had the fondest memories. Thank you Matt, Elvin, Wendy, Huiying, Timo, Samski, Eve, Tiang, Nic, Yu Xian, Siew May for providing yet another enjoyable evening.

Also, I dunno if she is old enough to use Nic's MacBook, but to the adorable Naomi, thank you for your birthday card. Even though you fell asleep writing it, seeing the words 'Happy Birthday Kor Kor Bryan' just floored me. I will drop by to play Raving Rabbits with you real soon. :p

Another piece of good news reached me when I got home which made the day even sweeter...

"Dear Mr Zheng Yuan Bryan Koh,

Thank you for your application to the LSE Summer School 2009. I am very happy to write to you to inform you that you have been accepted onto the following course(s):

AF330 Alternative Investments

Due to technical difficulties with our database, we are not yet able to send out your formal offer letter. We hope to have the problems fixed by next week, and we will email you again to confirm your offer, and to let you know that your offer letter is on its way.

In the meantime, congratulations once again, and we welcome you to explore the Summer School on our Facebook group.


Kind regards,

Simon Briercliffe

LSE Summer School Office"

I am going to Londontown! Now my school has posted a message to say that there will be 12 scholarships up for grabs to go to six chosen institutions for summer school, and LSE is one of them. Even though my mum has very kindly agreed to sponsor my trip, it would really be a huge financial relief to get the S$4000 grant to cover the school fees and accommodation.

Matt would be there by the time I land in Heathrow, as will my cousin Vanessa, who is studying at Goldsmiths, University of London. It may be many months away still, and I have to tackle my prelims and UOL exams in May, but that has not stopped me from doing some preliminary planning on my itinerary.

I have been giving a lot of thought in the past one month or two, on whether it would be wise to hang on to my part-time bank job. On one hand, the exposure and remuneration I receive is very useful and handy, but on the other my first priority should be my studies.

Since secondary school to poly, my results has been straight Bs. Given the amount of effort I put in, I ought to give myself a pat on the shoulder. But I know I can do much more than B, and as much as grades are important, the process of learning and acquiring of new knowledge is what I learned to appreciate.

My annual leave allows me to absent myself from work for the duration of my exams, but leave me with no time off to prepare adequately. I am thus faced with a very difficult decision to make, one that I have already decided internally but find very hard to put into action. The loss of financial independence and reverting back to state welfare aid a.k.a my mother's son has caused me sleepless nights. At 23, I do not expect to be an additional strain of financial resources, especially in light of the current economic situation, but I am just a student. What to do?

To comfort myself, my friends in NUS, NTU and SMU who are 25 are also surviving on allowances from mummy and daddy! Ha! That really reduced the frown lines.

I am looking forward to what the coming months will bring, and I relish the prospects of challenging myself academically for the first time proper in 3 years. Following the strict regime of revision and running seems a tall task right now, and thus I shall encourage myself by posting the outcomes weekly on this space as a reminder of the promises to myself and as a reflection.

Fingers crossed, impossible is nothing.


Today was a blast! =)

M.I.A.

Ignore the Jan 4 posting date (it's actually Feb 4). This is what I have been up to...

Running a vertical marathon....

and winning it.

K-boxing...



Finally playing the luge...

Partying...





and more partying...

Reunion with the wonderful poly friends...




Christmas BBQ at my place...



Commandos regroup!



Bumping into the RSM while chilling at a nice beach resort...



Flying kite at ECP...






Even tried wakeboarding!!

I had a wonderful end year holiday!

:)

Soaking It Up Like Spongebob

I am currently back in the training room for bank products, loans & investments training for the past week and due to finish by next week. I had to sacrifice some school lectures for this, but I would say it has been worth it. Gaining real practical knowledge applicable to the industry definitely beats theory and empirical study.

Bank products turn out to be a totally different ball game from credit cards, it is so much more interesting to see how financial instituitions make money. Small things like earning the spread on FX differentials, sales charges for brokerage contracts, even time deposits - there is just so much to learn and it makes my brain work overdrive thinking how to make these things work for me in the future.

Today the trainer released the results of our first test which we took last week, and which had a passing requirement of 80%, and I topped the class! Haha, not only that, I was the only one who passed. Not bad for the only part-time staff in class. :p I went to my direct supervisor's desk after lunch and after getting an earful from her for sending out an email to the whole department to look out for my missing access pass (which I sheepishly told her I eventually found it in my wallet), I told her the test results and she was absolutely thrilled.

My army buddies who are working and studying with me asked me why I skipped school for work. The answer is very simple, textbooks can give you knowledge and understanding - I definitely feel that me studying banking and finance played a very crucial role in passing my test - but I study what I study because I want to work in a bank after graduation and since an opportunity presented itself for me to gain real life, day to day knowledge, why should I not go for it? Besides, I am being paid to learn, and it is not often that you go to work looking forward to what new things you can learn.

Banks may not be the best place to work right now, but economic cycles rise and fall, and it will definitely rise again. No worries on that front, but having said that, I must not neglect my studies. After all, I am still but a student working part-time. :)