An Old Beautiful Video

Came across this old video on my playlist and stirred up some old memories. Beautiful video and lovely song. =)

Video title: Always and Forever - Squall and Rinoa Tribute
Song: Listen to Your Heart

The crazy/fun semester (and other rants)

Phew... Finally this week is over. Has been one hell of a week. For those of you who didn't know, the past week had been pretty horrible for me. If not for the heavy work load, then more so because of the freaking flu bug that decided to hit me smack in the face.

Anyways, some highlights. Spent 8 and half hours in a meeting on Tuesday night. Yes, you heard me right. 4pm all the way till 12:30am. Screwed up group members who don't pull their weight or just don't bother to get their act together or DON'T EVEN SHOW UP. They seriously need a swift kick up their a**. That was on top of Sunday and Monday late nights, where I was basically the only person who was at these long protracted meetings, trying to crunch out the model myself. Maybe it would be more efficient to just do the whole damn thing myself.

Which brings me to the point I'm trying to make. Incompetence sucks. BIG TIME. Lack of responsibility and sense of ownership for your own work and poor work ethics is no excuse. And don't give me the [censored] "I need to go for blah blah corporate presentation" bullshit. At least have the decency to show up after that instead of going home or whining like a baby "I need to go home and get some work done, sorry I can't join you guys". Thinking of it just makes my blood boil.

Anyways, just had my first exam of the semester. Yes you heard me right again. First exam when it's only end of September. Damn fun but damn tiring. Studying for that class was just so enjoyable, recounting some of the enjoyable moments in class. Hell lot of work and alot of material, don't even think I will do well in that exam; but heck of a class. Learnt more in that class than all my other classes combined (okay, maybe except for my other finance class: corporate finance).

Some words of wisdom I have to quote by my awesome prof Jess Beltz:
"Time does not exist. There is no past, no future, no yesterday, no tomorrow. There is only now and this moment is eternity." Cool eh? And another one: "Boy, why are you trying to cram at this hour? Cramming is like trying to put 10 pounds of shit into a 5 pound bucket." Haha, brilliant...

Damn, and I thought I was gonna have it easy with 13 credits and no more interviews. Lol, at least I'm just having fun in classes. =)

Peace out. Coral reefs class (Geoscience 100) now for one hour. Hahaha...

The Nasty Little Bugger

Wilson just got officially bitten by the nasty little bugger called the flu bug. Damned pesky fella, making my nose run around in circles. Couldn't take it anymore and just grabbed some Tylenol Cold multi-symtom relief medication. Hopefully that will stop some of these irritating flu symptoms. In the meanwhile, Vitamin C super doses and lots of water!

On the other hand, it's been a nice day of sorts. Cleared up some stuff and had a great afternoon.

At the b-school library right now and going to head for my group meeting in about half an hour's time. Will try to get things moving along quickly (though I won't be too hopeful on that).

Argh, I hate the flu bug!

HAIL TO THE VICTORS!

What a blast today! (or yesterday rather since it's past 12am) We royally kicked the Nittany Lion's butts and turned them into little purring cats. No touchdowns for them, and spectacular plays by Mike Hart and true freshman quarterback Ryan Mallet. It's just so awesome to watch Mike Hart run man. Just lights the field up when he rushes and weaves his way through the rival team's defence. Ryan Mallet showed his composure when he faked and ran for touchdown, (hell yeah! touchdown by the quarterback!) and when he ran and made crazy passes when being pressured by Penn State's defence.

That said, it was definitely a nail-biting game when it came down to the final minutes when we denied them 14-9. With the fight song resounding loudly in our heads and chants of "It's great... to be... a Michigan Wolverine! It's great... to be... a Michigan Wolverine!" We all headed home, satisfied after a brilliant game after our horrendous start to the season. Back with a vengeance!

Pre-game Tailgates

Michigan Marching Band forming the "M"

Here come the Wolverines!

Kick-off

Ryan Mallet passing the ball to Hart for another run

Good job Wolverines!

GO BLUE!

Free Bird (Michigan Marching Band)

Just a quick follow up post, here's a video of Free Bird performed by the Michigan Marching Band last Saturday when we kicked Notre Dame's butt. Awesome performance!

19 and 20 September 2007

Weird how some stuff always seem to fall on the same date. After much deliberation and consideration, I finally made up my mind and took up the offer I was extended on 19 September 2009 (Singapore time). A combination of wanting to work with the group which I really liked and the experience which I can get there, as well as the opportunities for further options after a year or two there. The official resume drop deadline for most of the investment banks in the US is today. Decided to pass on that and stick firmly with my decision to return to the Singapore office.

Sometimes, the sinking feeling still hits. Surprising how some things can never leave your mind. Maybe it's just that a combination of not being able to forget and not wanting to forget.

In any case, still thankful for everything that I have (or don't have) right now. A little tired but otherwise, pretty alright. To whoever is reading this blog and cares, don't worry! I'm fine! =)

Suddenly thought of this song for some reason some days back. By now, you guys should have figured out that I'm really a old song junkie rather than chasing the latest pop charts. Nice song...


Have a good night everyone and GO BLUE! Beat the Nittany Lions!

GO BLUE!

Michigan 38 Notre Dame 0! Woohoo!

Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan
the leaders and best
Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan,
the champions of the West!

GO BLUE!

Mike Hart rushed for an insane 187 yards. Granted that Notre Dame was in a dismal state, I could almost feel sorry for the pathetic Irish. It was almost a scoring fest, sending in second and third choice quarterbacks to give them some game experience. It was totally exhilarating, every blitz, every rush, ever sack, every interception, every touchdown. Mike Hart issued a guarantee after last week's loss to Oregon that we would beat Notre Dame, and he carried the entire team (literally) on his back all the way to the end line. Awesome game!

Shouting and singing all the way to the game
Pre-game: The Victors (Michigan Fight Song)

Sacked! (the Notre Dame quarterback of course) One in 8 sackings. Hahahaha...

We bleed Maize and Blue...

Drive after drive, to the touchdown line

The relentless march on!

Hut hut... hut!

Touchdown! Check out the girls in the crowd being tossed up into the air!

The half-time show, rendition of Fire Bird (Guitar Hero version) by the Michigan Marching Band

A glorious day for the Wolverines...

Rushed over to the Singaporean prof's house for the Southeast Asian BBA / MBA dinner. Arrived there kinda late so ended up not getting any food. Oh well, watching Notre Dame get beaten into pulp was definitely well worth missing dinner.

15th of September. 97... What a day...

Second Week of School

Second week back in college and the warm weather seems to be drawing to a close. It suddenly turned pretty chilly last night, with the light drizzle continuing into early morning.

Classes have been alright this semester. A little apprehensive about my strategy class because it seems pretty difficult to squeeze in a word to get participation. Many hours preparing for the cases and not having a chance to put in a word about it seems like a pretty rare occurrence for the past 2 classes. Hopefully things will turn for the better soon as the semester progresses.

Needless to say, I (we all here in Michigan) had a most depressing weekend. As if losing to Division 1AA Appalachian State wasn't pathetic enough in our opening week, we got trashed big time by the darn ducks from Oregon. 39-7, and I was sadly there to witness this epic loss. From national championship contenders in pre-season to a mediocre team that is at the bottom of our conference sucks. With quarterback Chad Henne out for the next game, we'll just have to rely on Mike Hart and friends to pull off a miracle this Saturday and win it against equally pathetic Notre Dame (the great Notre Dame that has also opened the season with 2 consecutive losses). A battle of the losers isn't really an unfair statement.

Contemplating dropping a class to have a lighter semester since I will have sufficient credits to graduate by next year if I take 12 and 13 credits (in any order) between this semester and the next. We'll see how this week of classes progress and I'll make my decision by end of the week.

All in all, I'm surprisingly missing Singapore somewhat. My friends, new and old, and definitely my family. A different feeling coming back here for the last time I guess. This is pretty weird since I don't really have any commitments back home this time round. Haha. -shrugs-

Anyways, back to classes, papers, cases and assignments. Take care guys.

First Week of Senior Year

So here I am, back in Michigan, having (sort of) completed my first week of school. Well, technically, a week is never complete since there is always work snowballing into the next, but we'll just ignore that pesky little distraction for now.

I touched down in Detroit on Monday afternoon; Ming came to pick Yuhui and I up from the airport. Got back and unpacked all my stuff as fast as I could in the sweltering heat, which I really did not expect. Had dinner out at Great Lakes with a large group of Singaporeans. I didn't really want to do Chinese so soon after returning to Ann Arbor, but oh well, went with the flow. I was supposed to do some readings but knocked out as soon as I got home. I blame that on jet lag.

Woke up at *gasp* 4:30am on Tuesday and by 5:30am, my entire household was up. We decided to satisfy our craving and hunger pangs by heading to the AWESOME Angelo's for breakfast. *drools* What better way to kick start a semester and our final year at Michigan with the huge Special Breakfast at Angelo's? Following breakfast, I hit the b-school library bright and early when it opened it's doors at 7:30am to grab the necessary textbook and do my readings for the 8:30am class. 6 hours of class straight after that was definitely no laughing matter. Went to Chili's and then grabbed groceries from Kroger before heading home to pass out for the night.

Wednesday was slightly better with 8:30am class too. Thankfully less intense classes than my Tuesday / Thursday ones. I passed out sometime in the afternoon and did my work late into the night. Case preparation is sure gonna be a royal pain-in-the-ass this semester (again). Also got the official offer contract for my employment. Choices...

Today wasn't such a bad day. Classes were intense once again but starting to get into the swing of things. By next week, I'm aiming to be right back on top of my game. Went for a senior reception with the Dean of the b-school; free food and drinks is always good.

I guess that's enough ranting for now. Going to head back home from the b-school. We're playing Oregon this weekend. We better f**king kick their butts else I'm going to swear off Michigan football. Losing to Appalachian State was a BLOODY DISGRACE.

Anyways, meetings galore for the weekend too. What's new huh. Life is headed straight for crunch time again.

Last Week of Summer

Hello. Been quite a few days since I last blogged. Got a little lazy to write up on the stuff that's been going on since I ended my internship on 24 September 2007, more than a week ago. It has been a really packed but good week, meeting up with friends / family almost everyday. Since I'm jet lagged and sleepless here in Michigan, I'll just jot down how I spent my memorable last week in Singapore.

*** Warning: Long account of the chronology of events in the past week. It's more for my own memory rather than for anyone else's reading entertainment.

Last Saturday, met up with Sharnon for dim sum at some sorta obscure store in Trengganu Street since she was craving it and I didn't really have any preference for dinner. Walked around City Hall area after that and did the whole Starbucks routine (I should really wane off the latte). Met up with Kelynn after that and went to the Loof for drinks. Thankfully it stopped rainly just a little before we got there. Anyways, it was a pretty nice place to chill out. We had quite a few drinks until 3am in the morning. After wandering around, all the way to Bugis and back before we settled on having a snack at the 24 hours Kopitiam at Plaza by the Park. Think it was almost 5:30am when we finally got home.

Sunday, woke up early to bring my dad to a Chinese physician for massage since he was aching after his flu bout. Glad he felt better after that. The rest of the day was pretty much spent at home with my family.

Had dinner with 2 colleagues on Monday evening near my ex-office (and hopefully my future office if everything goes according to plan). I went to meet up with Weilin after that and had a pretty long chat past midnight. Been quite awhile since I had the chance to really sit down with her to just chat about stuff.

On Tuesday, did dinner with my cousin Clara and Lynn (her travel buddy and my colleague during my internship). We tried out the food at Swiss Culture in Suntec City. Pretty good I must say, though we didn't get the chance to have the cheese fondue, which I heard, is a must try. Went to the Loof for drinks (again) and stayed there till pretty late at night. I didn't really drink anything since I was driving that day. It was almost 1:30am by the time I got home.

On Wednesday, I headed out to meet up with the interns and some friends who were still working at my second internship location. Chatted for a short while before I dashed over to have lunch with my JC classmate, Huiyi. Haven't seen her in ages! We did a decent Japanese lunch at a restaurant located at the basement of one of the office buildings in Shenton Way. Travelled back to Kovan for tea with Wei Yi at Hong Kong Cafe, catching up with him until almost dinner time. Dinner at home with my mom and my brother; went to pick my sister up from tuition after that. Played Monopoly with my sis until her bedtime.

Woke up bright and early on Thursday, looking forward to dinner with the group of interns. However, towards late afternoon, the event got cancelled due to low expected turnout. I was so disappointed! Thankfully, Sharnon was still up for Menotti and so we met there for dinner. Had a huge serving of some cream-based pasta (can't remember the name) while she had tomato-based lobster pasta (I think). Food was pretty decent but I was really sick of cheesy stuff after the meal. As a farewell gift, the crazy gal bought me superbly nice chocolates from Prestat, Purveyor of Chocolates to HM the Queen! Headed to Starbucks for cafe latte and java chip frap and shopped around for awhile before heading home.

I was scheduled to have dinner with Esther and Weilin on Friday but ended up only eating with Weilin as Esther was down with high fever. We went to Soup Restaurant at Seah Street for the set meal. Good food as usual and the place was decently quiet so that we could hear each other without having to shout. Headed over to Raffles City for Weilin to by some books and CDs, before settling down at Menotti for desserts and for me to grab a drink. After a slice of Tiramisu for her and a glass of Italian liquor for me, we decided to grab some red wine. Kuku Weilin got tipsy after we each finished half the bottle. Never going to let her touch alcohol again after all the stupid stuff she wanted to do after drinks with Leon. Kuku first class.

Saturday, I had dim sum buffet lunch with my grandma, quite a few of my cousins and uncles / aunts. I think we must have totally terrified the managers, waiters and waitresses at the restaurant with the alarming rate at which we ordered our food. Totally stuffed by the time we were through with the meal. I definitely got my fill of egg tarts, chee cheong fun and har gau's for quite awhile. A little while after lunch, I went to visit Pat's niche to bid farewell to her. Went to meet up with Sharnon and her ex-classmate, Natalie, to hang out in Orchard for sometime. Had a drink at MOS burger while Sharnon took her dinner. I headed back home for farewell dinner for my bro with my family and his friend. I dashed out of the house to Siglap to meet up with the gang for supper. Didn't really eat anything since I was still pretty stuffed from dinner. Sent Weilin home and met up with Sharnon for my second supper of the night at the prata shop in Thomson. It's the second time I went there for prata... fond memories. Got home around 2:30am or so. I drove my family to the airport to send my brother off to the US. Pretty whacked by the time I got home at 5am.

Sunday was the last day of my summer in Singapore. I had lunch with my mom and sis at our favorite Toa Payoh chicken rice shop. Stayed home, packed up my stuff, and also let my sis bug me the whole afternoon since she would have no company from her brothers for almost another year. We went over to my granddad's house for me to let him know that I would be flying off. Dinner was sort of a social dinner at Taste Paradise with my family and some of my dad's friends. Pretty enjoyable company, great food and good ambience as usual. Just a little peeved that some gossipy staff had to cook up some news about me appearing there with a friend for dinner some time ago. Some idiots just have nothing better to do.

With only a couple of hours left before I had to head for the airport, i went hunting for friends to hang out. Met up with Sharnon and wanted to go get tau huay. We ended up just grabbing some drinks and hanging out at Seletar dam instead. Rather thankful for the company and the chance to spend some time quietly outside, to reflect on some of the things that have happened in the past year and this summer, and also recount some of the memories of my previous departures from Singapore. Thanks gal. Really appreciate it.

My family sent me off at Changi Airport and after a long flight around the world, here I am back in Michigan.

It's been a really awesome summer. Learnt a lot of new things, accomplished quite a bit in terms of career advancement, and also made a ton of new friends. A good balance of work and fun. I'm really thankful for all the people who have made it possible in one way or another. Special thanks to my parents, as well as my immediate family. To my good friends, both those whom I've known for a long time and those whom I've only met this summer, thank you and please do keep in touch.

Now, it's time to wrap up all these fondly cherished memories and gear up for the academic dog fight once again. Wish me luck and all the best everyone.

Best regards,
Wilson
Ann Arbor, Michigan
4 September 2007
Eastern Time, 5:45am