Friday June 29th

Investment banking analysts in NY work on the basis of a two-year program after which, most leave for highly lucrative jobs in private equity or hedge funds. Today is the last day for our 2nd-year analysts. A flood of "Last Day" emails have arrived in my inbox, mostly gushing about what a phenomenal experience they have had at the firm. It is kinda sad to see these kids move on coz they have been great fun in my brief two months in NY. But also, it sucks to see others move on when I'm still stuck at the same firm doing the same job, albeit in a different location. Especially because I'd been dreaming of writing my own "Last Day" email since the day I started work. I have started many different versions in my head:

Dear all, I am so glad to be finally leaving this sad pathetic job and all of you, especially those of you who actually believe in your own greatness for doing this sad pathetic job.

Dear all, I'm leaving. I will be on a beach somewhere for the next x years, lying in the sun and sipping mojitos while you continue toiling away in this rat race. Try not to take it personally. I've served my time here and you will get your chance soon to leave.

Dear all, I'm leaving. Try not to miss my cute butt too much.

I am really looking forward to quitting this job. Just not yet. Not while they're making a sweet deal for me to enjoy NY. Patience...

Wednesday 26th June

Gordon Brown has become Prime Minister. What a sad day this is!

Tuesday June 26th

As I was shelling peas in the cool of my kitchen yesterday evening, I reflected upon my post yesterday. I realised that I haven't felt the need to make deep meaningful connections with people since moving to this city. I'm happy to have one-night-stand (not literally, I'm too old for that now!), hit-and-run type of interaction with the inhabitants of this city, like the dinner on Saturday night. I had a great time, enjoying sparkling conversation and wit. And it didn't matter to me that I probably was never going to see my dinner companions again. Whereas in London, I would have made a real effort to stay in touch. Anyway, I think this is because I have some truly wonderful friends in London who are just a phone call or email away. How blessed...I'm never really alone. :)

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I need advice. I think one of my co-workers is trying to ask me out. When I first started, I went out with him a couple of times for drinks/dinner because I was new and had no friends. But I'd always assumed that he was just being friendly. Then I kinda got a vibe so I started inviting friends along whenever we hung out. And now he's pestering me to tell him when we can hang out again, just the two of us. How should I make it clear that he's not my type without pissing him off? I need all the friends I can get in the workplace.

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I mentioned pea-shelling earlier in this post. This was inspired by Smitten Kitchen who not also cooks and bakes well, writes beautifully and then takes amazing photos of her culinary masterpieces for the rest of us to drool at. Click here for pea-shelling-inspiring blog entry.

So here are the peas I shelled...


And here they are again in a salad with sliced red spring onions and fried scallions.

Monday 25th June

I had dinner at a colleague's place on Friday night. Given what a WASP-y firm we work at, I thought it was hilarious that the dinner company consisted of:

Him - white gay slightly camp guy
His boyfriend - Japanese gay who happily professed his love of cooking and cleaning and housewifely ambitions (at which said colleague rolled his eyes)
Other colleague - Italian/Irish-American super-PC, "too nice to be a banker" guy
His girlfriend - a Jewish rabbi
Me - Singaporean irreverent, un-PC, non-religious girl

I'm definitely all for diversity. :)

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I mentioned I was going to this private dinner party on Saturday night. Basically, these 2 girls, Becky and Hayden, throw a dinner party in someone's apartment once a month. The cooking is Southern and pretty good (very good homecooked food rather than restaurant standard). Random people show for these parties along with a bunch of Becky and Hayden's friends.

I had lots of fun as did my 2 acquaintances. I've always believed that food and wine are the best social lubricants. I love food not just for the taste and experience, but more importantly, for its ability to bring people together. It is the lowest common denominator - very little prior knowledge or experience is required for its appreciation. And that was why it was so fun on Sat night. I met some interesting people. Naz - corporate tax lawyer who was born and raised in NY and probably never ever leaving NY. She reminded me a little of Marianne from Cybil. Joe - distressed debt hedge fund guy who had more personality in his pinky than most finance dudes in this city combined. Not sure if I will see them again, but for those few hours, we talked, we laughed and truly enjoyed each other's company.

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It's been three long weeks since I first met Frenchie. This is the longest continuous period I have been seeing someone on such a regular basis since the 1990s. (OK, I exaggerate but you get the picture) Frenchie is mature and considerate, not physically unattractive (not that I am superficial, but did I mention 8-pack abs?) and gives amazing massages. Yet I think there is a part of me that suffers from the Sex and The City syndrome. That is, I keep thinking that there is someone better out there for me and that I could be giving up a forest for a tree. Yes, I believe some also call this a commitment phobia. Indeed, Frenchie is not the overachieving, high-flying, jet-setting type I normally fall for. But then again, he is not a schmuck and I don't need to mount a major logistical exercise (air travel, diary coordination etc) to see him. So I think, for now, I shall try to get used to this. But if anyone's asking, he's not my boyfriend (yet).

Thursday 21st June

The pace of my posting has slowed dramatically. I need a Readership. I write for a Readership. I need people to comment and tell me that I am being silly/crazy/happy/loved/disliked/hated. So please read me! Comment! Please?

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New York City has been different the past few days. One of my best friends from London has taken over my living room and turned half of it into the newest Hugo Boss store in NYC. The other half is his office where he creates apparently meaningless Powerpoint slides and yells into his Blackberry stuff about diabetics diagnostics. The Germans are such a strange race.

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I'm getting lazy about making new friends again. Between having old friends in town, seeing Frenchie and trying to consolidate the new friendships I've made so far, it feels as though I hardly have enough time for myself. And all I want is some time to clean my house, assemble my new TV bench, try out my new Kitchenaid mixer, watch Food Network and sleep.

To be fair, I'm going to an underground supper club on Saturday night. I'm not only going there with 2 potential new friends, but it will also afford me the opportunity to meet some new people. So fingers crossed!

I am WO-men!

So I mentioned before that I got a self-help book to deal with my new work environment. How American! I read it about twice over the weekend and now I am ready to comment on it. The book itself does not try to be prescriptive. And in fact, the thing I liked most about it was that it laid out the Rules of the Game, at least how it's played in NY. Moving from London to New York was a noticeable change in the way gender politics are played. I believe that women are actually accorded more equality in Europe than in the US. The US, I find, is a more traditional and patriachal society where gender characteristics are more pronounced. Feel free to disagree with me, I've only been living here for less than 2 months!

Anyway, the key takeaways from this book for me:

1) Men are able to compartmentalise more effectively than women. Work is work and personal is personal. I should not take everything personally.

2) Men play the Game to win. This enables them to stay focused on the Game. Similarly, I need to focus on getting my job done well, and ignore everything else. This goes back a little to compartmentalising.

3) Men are better at bluffing. They speak up at meetings, even if to say stupid things. They are able to appear knowledgeable even though they only know 50% of the stuff. I should not afraid to speak up because in most cases, I know more than the guys do.

4) There are different rules for men and women. It's OK for guys to have disgusting habits. (Trust me, I've seen my VP have his hands down his pants throughout a 3 hour meeting before!!) It is also OK for men to be ugly and fat, but ugly and fat women don't go down well, not in this business.

The book has given me a new confidence to deal with my work environment. It made me remember that I'm a tough cookie and have always been. I have nothing to fear and I am not going to fear anything. I'm good at my job and work is going to be only about work in future.

Of course, my VP did make some reference to my perfume and how he liked it just the other day...

Wednesday 13th June

I went for an alumni-organised Garden Party on Tuesday evening. Notwithstanding the fact that the weather was crap yesterday and that they ran out of Pimm's everytime I got to the bar, I had a great time. First of all, the party was held on the rooftop of the New York Athletic Club which had an amazing view over Central Park. With the post-rain mist hanging low around the treetops, it made for a soft and dreamy effect. (Pictures to be posted when I can bully my friend for them.) I didn't get a chance to speak with too many people, but it was heartening to see that the alumni is pretty strong/active. New Friend tally from last night - probably zero. But I'll keep trying! :)

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I met another neighbour from my floor yesterday morning. He's Australian. His wife is not only also Singaporean but shares the same surname as me! I definitely need to bring them more cake! Although, as a neighbour, it is easy to tread further into their personal space than they would like. At least with an acquaintance, you can drop out of touch if you didn't like someone. But with neighbours, you're bound to meet them in the hallway and stuff like that so they can't even avoid you if they decide they don't like you. So, how does one get friendly with one's neighbours without coming across as too keen?

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I went for opera in Central Park yesterday evening. I have always loved the ideas of chilling out in parks, be it picnics in Hyde Park or outdoor movie screenings on Lake Geneva. I think yesterday's show was La Boheme, although we were too far away from the stage to warrant serious concentration on the music. Unfortunately, the weather conditions weren't exactly made for being outdoors and it was COLD!!! But still we made the best of it with our mishmash of chocolate TimTams, bananas and raspberries. Fortunately, it looks as though there will be quite a few outdoor movie screenings in Bryant Park and Hudson River Park over the whole summer. I'm looking forward to those already!

To make a point about how small the world is, I was hanging out yesterday with L. We went to university together, knew of each other but probably never spoke more than 5 sentences to each other during the whole time. Out of the blue, I was out getting lunch a couple of weeks ago, I bumped into her. We exchanged numbers and promised to hang out. At university, I'd always had the impression that she was rather unfriendly, but actually she's a really cool chick. Definitely has the characteristics of my best girl friends. New Friend tally - 1. Yeay!

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I'm off to the OC this weekend to see Emma and her folks. Yeay!