I have had the pleasure to have breakfast with the chairman of a leading global trading house ( l_ & f__g )today to hear his view on the global economy in the coming year.

1, while he has always been an optimistic, he is mildly pessimistic regarding the economy as of right now.
2, the difference between this financial crisis from the ones in early 2000, 80s is that the demand that was knocked off (close to 10 trillion in the States) didn't come back as quickly as expected. The fact is that no matter how bad things are in life, consumers will always buy things, and most short term downfall can be adjusted by the consumptions that we make regardless of whether things are good or bad. However, it is not the case in this crisis.
3, in his business (trading of garment,textile, toys, and components), they always refer to consumption demand as "when the users will buy the 11th pair of jeans", and in this case, he doesn't believe that things will recover in the State until at least 2012. China's domestic demand will be better than expected, but overall China is still an export oriented country.
4, psychological impacts on consumers played a huge parts on how fast comeback can be, and it would be based on unemployment rate. if unemployment rate continues to linger around 10 to 11 without significant improvement, the recession will continue to exist.
5, his biggest worry is the raise of protectionism that may be enacted by various governments, and if they do indeed happen, all hell will break loose.
6, cleantech is the new evolution, and the winner will shape the future of the global economy in the next 50 years.

I came away from the breakfast with light bulbs beaming on top of my head. Who needs MBA when you can have access to the abundance of knowledge from these industry leaders.

in some way really signifies the change of tide, at least on what i do. Whereas previously, my focus is only in China. But, as opportunities, we are now an global operation. My mileage no longer limits itself to inland travels, but rather more inter-continental travels.

this is the big break that i sense that would change the dynamics of the operations in the days to come. however, managing and merging various sets of cultures is a tough task.

hence, my travelings continue to pile up. singapore, indonesia, malaysia, india, iran, turkey, dubai, america... just to name a few.

it will be an interesting ride, once in a life time opportunity, and i look forward to it.

if i didn't have to work and get to enjoy the city more. 

I've stayed in the Capella, a hotel that was opened just earlier this year.  It's definitely a great place, I had my own pool, own outdoor tub amid a nice view of trees and the great sentosa beach.  Too bad i was there by myself.

has the most random ingredients in them, and they taste really bad.  But for some odd reasons, they seem to be able to work.

According to the doctors, I have too much "yang" in my body, and that's why I feel agitated all the time.

with the soup he prescribed that I have to drink on a daily basis, I am actually feeling a lot better now, and have been commented by others that I have less temperaments now.

Magical stuff, these traditional things..

A city that someone resides in. 

There are times when I visit the city that I wonder whether I will accidentally see her on the street of this little city. 

But..

What will I do if I do meet her again?  What is there to say?  A common greeting?  Will it ever be a honest conversation or will the conversation be just a polite and yet impersonal exchange of life.

I wonder.

Been having this stuffy nose for two weeks now, and now I really want to cut my nose off.  I miss the days that I can breathe comfortably.

Last week, I received a sudden message from a beautiful and sexy female friend.  "I am getting married" she said. and I was in awe..

As I recall, she was still single 2 months ago, coming out from a breakup, and the person she's getting married to is someone she met just around late september (whom I have also met on the same day she did). Now she's getting married...

I can't help myself thinking the reason behind this sudden decision??  This girl is gorgeous, smart, sophisicated, and from a very prominent family.  Should there be a dream girl for guys, I think she would be someone close to that standard.  Nonetheless, perhaps it's her family pressure or the mood swings from the breakup, or maybe it's the ultimate reason: LOVE, she's getting hitched in december.  I have a mixed feeling, she'll have my sincerest blessing and yet, I can't stop feeling pity that a girl as great as her would need to rush her lifetime decision upon someone so strange to her life.

Makes me wonder; is marriage really as easy as that?  A foundation of two months would be sufficient for a committment of life time?

• Makeups are everything and anything
• I was sitting in a train and saw the transformation of a not so pretty girl to a gorgeous girl within 30 mins. (I didn't know that they would put two to three layers of fake eye lashes onto their eyes)
• There are lots of disturbed ladies in Japan.
• Cutting their wrists are just a walk in the park and lots of them have panic attacks.
• There's a growing trend of older girls date/marry younger guys.
• There is someone who work around me married a lady that's 44 years old, and he's only 35.  Another example, a friend of mine is dating a girl of 36, and he's only 30.
• Marriage and have kids are not essential part of marriage.
• kids are too expensive to raise.  Thus, cats and dogs are getting more popular. (there are actually pet spas available...)
• Some of females there are self-claimed "living for the moment"
• Business is slow and reform would take lots of time
• Japan remains to be a closed market to outsiders.

That was my common sentiment until i was 25.  I graduated at 2001, right after the bursting of the Internet Bubble, I was out of college and there were no jobs on wall street.  Ever since that, I possess a "sour grape" mentality towards bankers and what not.  I envy their access to the castle of fortune and secretly pity myself own misfortunes of the bad timing.

Since then, many cities and many many startups after, I appreciated the fact that I was not in banking from the beginning.  I don't see businesses and growth as merely numbers, but I see the sweat and tears that people put into them.  That was real, instead of just simply black ink on a piece of white paper.

Mind you, I have my fair collection of bankers that I deal with.  PEs, VCs, Private bankers...etc, Some of them have absolutely no idea what they are doing or what they are selling to me. Some of them are brilliant, absolutely top notch geniuses that thinks beyond the scope of just current businesses. However, the reality is that 99% of them are only thinking about the short term, and anything beyond 5 years is unthinkable. 

Yet, I have realised that in the end of day, everything and anything always comes down to one commodity, money. Either in forms of currency, gold or what not, everything always comes down to cold hard cash.  As such, I am setting up my own fund in the next 6 months, a small fund that would serve my own long term interest; an investment holding entity of all my equities in companies, and to take interest and invest into angel level companies and projects. The fund will have zero outside capital, but rather it will be limited to only a few of my close friends that have made their own fortunes and industry influences.

It will be a great adventure

So it seems that while I have tried much to escape from the finance world, but ultimately I will still be a part of it.

 it's nice, like a constant IM conversation with format elaborations like email...  but, i am afraid once it's fully operational, i will never be able to have a time to rest, as it will be a nonstop discussions on various fronts. 

nonetheless, it rocks that i have an account already!!! woohoo