NYLON. I meant New York - London rather than the synthetic fibre. It is a relatively easy crossing to make. From NY, leave in Fri evening, arrive Sat morning, leave Sunday evening and arrive Sunday evening, in time for work the next day. From London, leave Fri evening, arrive Fri evening, leave Sunday evening and arrive Monday morning in time for work. And because you're going for such a short period, you don't need more than a cabin bag's worth of clothing/stuff so you're out of the airport as quickly as customs will permit it.
It does get a little absurd though when you've done your fourth NYLON crossing in nine months. And in the case of the last crossing, I only told less than 5 people because I feared friends were getting a little sick of seeing me back in London again. I was afraid people would figure out that I wasn't all that happy in NY and that's why I keep going back to London to seek refuge.
It does sound a little crazy for one to say that they are not enjoying NY. I mean, what is there not to enjoy about it? The fact that my dry-cleaning gets picked up and dropped off at my building without me ever having to go to the dry-cleaners? The fact that I can get any food I want delivered to my doorstep? The fact that cabs are cheap and plentiful? The fact that I have been on more dates in the last nine months than I did in four years in London? The fact that I have an amazing apartment with an amazing location?
I *have* enjoyed NY. But I have also come to realize that my heart is in London. I have become far closer to some of my friends in London over the past 9 months in NY. And I miss them terribly. I also miss the stoic English sensibility. And I feel superficial and uncultured over here. People seem to be too busy chasing the next better thing. Oh and I also shop waaaaay too much over here - combination of convenient Internet shopping and proliferation of pretty things around. Oh and the boys in London - well, that's for another entry...
I am not sure how many more NYLON crossings I will be doing or where I will end up, but I just wanted to put this down for now.
p.s. yes, I am alive!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tuesday November 20th
So I think I am supposed to be making new friends and making a life for myself in NY. Last weekend was decidedly a London weekend though.
My Greek friend from London, bless him, with pinhead and hair loss and all, tried to put the moves on me again. This was after I had to text L to save me from my last encounter with The Greek. He tried very hard this time, even offering to do the NY-LON commute in order to see me. But...definitely not enough love there for me to get over the pinhead and hair loss. honestly, I am not a superficial person.
I also hung out with a visiting London colleague. I floated the idea of going back to London earlier than planned?
Which may not be such a bad idea. I've been meeting attractive men from London (not the Greek!), outside of London and after I moved away from London. That says something doesn't it?
************************
As depicted in Lust, caution, sexual intercourse is the most honest form of communication where both parties are in their most raw primal forms. It is weird then when the lights come on, and clothing worn, it is as though you've woken from a dream. That honesty is no longer real, but surreal.
My Greek friend from London, bless him, with pinhead and hair loss and all, tried to put the moves on me again. This was after I had to text L to save me from my last encounter with The Greek. He tried very hard this time, even offering to do the NY-LON commute in order to see me. But...definitely not enough love there for me to get over the pinhead and hair loss. honestly, I am not a superficial person.
I also hung out with a visiting London colleague. I floated the idea of going back to London earlier than planned?
Which may not be such a bad idea. I've been meeting attractive men from London (not the Greek!), outside of London and after I moved away from London. That says something doesn't it?
************************
As depicted in Lust, caution, sexual intercourse is the most honest form of communication where both parties are in their most raw primal forms. It is weird then when the lights come on, and clothing worn, it is as though you've woken from a dream. That honesty is no longer real, but surreal.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Friday November 16th
Rejection is a bitter pill to swallow as I have learnt this week.
I went on a date on Monday night with someone who never called me back. I even swallowed my pride and text-ed him on Wed to say what a good time I had. Big blow to the ego because I thought I had that one in the bag. Admittedly I was a little harsh on him. (I am really not an easy girl to date, but more about that in another post.)
And that's after what I thought was a date on Sunday night turned to be not a date. He just sees me as a friend and is comfortable enough with me to tell me almost his entire dating history. I don't want guys to be comfortable with me, I want them to be slightly nervous in my presence coz they want to win me over. I want both of us to be slightly nervous initially coz we both want so much for the other one to be fond of them.
Anyway, by the end of the week, my ego was feeling rather fragile and I was feeling like a worthless human being.
But God works in funny ways. On my way to pilates, some guy came up to me and pulled the cheesiest pick-up line ever. "Excuse miss, do you work in fashion? Are you interested in fashion? You look like a very stylish type who must be somehow connected to fashion." It was painfully cheesy but it did the trick. It made me smile for the first time in the day. A girl just needs a compliment every now and then. :)
So this guy, just to add to the cheesiness of the encounter, is an aspiring writer. He is supposed to email me some of his writing for me to critique. Heh.
Thank you, God or whoever out there, for havin some humour.
I went on a date on Monday night with someone who never called me back. I even swallowed my pride and text-ed him on Wed to say what a good time I had. Big blow to the ego because I thought I had that one in the bag. Admittedly I was a little harsh on him. (I am really not an easy girl to date, but more about that in another post.)
And that's after what I thought was a date on Sunday night turned to be not a date. He just sees me as a friend and is comfortable enough with me to tell me almost his entire dating history. I don't want guys to be comfortable with me, I want them to be slightly nervous in my presence coz they want to win me over. I want both of us to be slightly nervous initially coz we both want so much for the other one to be fond of them.
Anyway, by the end of the week, my ego was feeling rather fragile and I was feeling like a worthless human being.
But God works in funny ways. On my way to pilates, some guy came up to me and pulled the cheesiest pick-up line ever. "Excuse miss, do you work in fashion? Are you interested in fashion? You look like a very stylish type who must be somehow connected to fashion." It was painfully cheesy but it did the trick. It made me smile for the first time in the day. A girl just needs a compliment every now and then. :)
So this guy, just to add to the cheesiness of the encounter, is an aspiring writer. He is supposed to email me some of his writing for me to critique. Heh.
Thank you, God or whoever out there, for havin some humour.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Sunday 11th November
It has been a while.
*****************************
My romance with San Francisco has finally ended. I am glad that I decided not to move there. Maybe it is the realization that SF is too 'granola' for me? Maybe it is the fact that I have finally given up on him? Maybe I am over-reacting after having one bad weekend in SF on my own with a 4-hour delay to get back to NY? Whatever it is, I thank that tarot card reader at Camden Market for guiding me towards the right decision.
I am not sure how much of her advice was based on her reading of my state of mind and how was of it was based on her reading of the tarot cards. I think she definitely could see that I wasn't convinced about my decision, especially if I was consulting her about it. And she told me what anyone else who saw that would tell me. She told me to do nothing for a month and then make my decision after that> She told me it didn't matter if I'd told people about my decision already, I could still change my mind if it was the right thing to do.
And that's what I did. I enjoyed summer in London, hung out with my nearest and dearest and then decided that I wasn't going to move to SF. The job was all wrong. I would be too far away from my support network. And it was the wrong reason for wanting to move there.
I went to a tarot card reader again when I first moved to NY. This tarot reader told me that there were people who were jealous of me and I should keep as much as possible to myself, be patient and everything will work out from December. She also told me that in terms of romance, there was a guy, M, whom I liked, and a guy, J, who is tryin to get into my life.
So far, the first bit has been kinda true. I am still not sure who I can trust at work but I do believe that things will somehow work out after December. As for the second bit, M is him I think, and I am still waiting for J to show up. I'll let you know when he does.
*************************************
I learnt tonight that in New York, a guy asking you to the movies on a Sunday night is probably not asking you out ona date. Shame that. He was well-travelled, funny, intelligent, decent-looking and (my Mom would love this) Asian! Ah well, at least I know for certain that tomorrow night will be a date. And no, his name is not J.
*****************************
My romance with San Francisco has finally ended. I am glad that I decided not to move there. Maybe it is the realization that SF is too 'granola' for me? Maybe it is the fact that I have finally given up on him? Maybe I am over-reacting after having one bad weekend in SF on my own with a 4-hour delay to get back to NY? Whatever it is, I thank that tarot card reader at Camden Market for guiding me towards the right decision.
I am not sure how much of her advice was based on her reading of my state of mind and how was of it was based on her reading of the tarot cards. I think she definitely could see that I wasn't convinced about my decision, especially if I was consulting her about it. And she told me what anyone else who saw that would tell me. She told me to do nothing for a month and then make my decision after that> She told me it didn't matter if I'd told people about my decision already, I could still change my mind if it was the right thing to do.
And that's what I did. I enjoyed summer in London, hung out with my nearest and dearest and then decided that I wasn't going to move to SF. The job was all wrong. I would be too far away from my support network. And it was the wrong reason for wanting to move there.
I went to a tarot card reader again when I first moved to NY. This tarot reader told me that there were people who were jealous of me and I should keep as much as possible to myself, be patient and everything will work out from December. She also told me that in terms of romance, there was a guy, M, whom I liked, and a guy, J, who is tryin to get into my life.
So far, the first bit has been kinda true. I am still not sure who I can trust at work but I do believe that things will somehow work out after December. As for the second bit, M is him I think, and I am still waiting for J to show up. I'll let you know when he does.
*************************************
I learnt tonight that in New York, a guy asking you to the movies on a Sunday night is probably not asking you out ona date. Shame that. He was well-travelled, funny, intelligent, decent-looking and (my Mom would love this) Asian! Ah well, at least I know for certain that tomorrow night will be a date. And no, his name is not J.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wednesday 24th October
Just had lunch with a Singaporean friend who works in NY where we talked about 'home'. This reminded me of an essay I wrote about 2 years ago.
*********************************
To borrow a phrase from Pico Iyer, being a “global soul” matters most to me. In his book, “Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls and the Search for Home”, Iyer describes the global soul as a postmodern wanderer who is searching for a sense of home. To me, a global soul experiences jet lag but not culture shock. He is a postmodern traveller who is neither an expatriate nor a local of the location he inhibits, but yet feels at home and relevant wherever he is. I have chosen a global lifestyle
and I believe being a global soul will allow me to survive and thrive in our new world order where people are in positions to choose their sense of tradition, of loyalty, of religion and of home as never before. Whilst I have been successful in meeting some of the challenges of being a global soul thus far, I believe that an MBA at Stanford GSB will make me better-positioned to explore the wonderful
possibilities of this new borderless world.
My own journey towards becoming a global soul started when I chose to go to university in the United Kingdom (UK) rather than remain in Singapore where I was born and bred. When I first arrived in the UK, I had not anticipated the degree of culture shock I actually experienced. Eventually as I interacted more with my British college mates, I gained a deeper understanding and tolerance for the British culture. I was also able to connect well with my British friends and now count them as some of my best friends. This first experience of adapting to life away from what I had called home for the previous eighteen years, was not always easy or pleasant.
Since then, the decisions I have made about where to live and work, have not been the least uncomplicated or easiest paths I could have chosen as well. I could have returned to Singapore which would have been comfortable but ultimately bland. My social circle would be comprised of the people who attended the same ‘elite’ schools as I did, and who would now mostly have good jobs in the civil service. Many of my peers appear to be on a certain fairly straightforward ‘cookie-cutter’ path which I probably would have followed if I had returned to Singapore – get married by the age
of 28, buy a government-subsidised flat and have three kids. However, this path did not appeal to me after three years living away, encountering new cultures, meeting a diverse range of people and seeing new places. New experiences thrill me and the awareness of the infinite possibilities this world offers keeps me on this global soul path even though it is not the easiest one.
Being a global soul is also important to me due to what I perceive to be the new global reality. We have witnessed the increasingly rapid convergence of cultures and systems in our world especially in recent years. Hit any capital city in the world and you are likely to find the multinational familiarity of global brands such as Starbucks, MacDonald’s and Microsoft. Cultural influences spread across the world unhindered by geographical boundaries. The Internet allows people from all
over the world to communicate and share knowledge like never before. All this has resulted in a new wave in the globalisation of businesses quite unlike the multinational corporations witnessed in the last century. The changes in international business have created new commercial opportunities and risks more rapidly than ever before. Given the growing relevance of international business, I believe that my career will require me to work and live across geographies. Being a global soul will allow me to transition seamlessly from one geographical location to another.
More importantly, my relationships are becoming increasingly globalised as friends and family disperse all around the world. I have not lived in the same continent as my best friends for the past six years, yet we remain very close in spite of the distance. Also, I have seen a large number of friends come and go due to the cosmopolitan nature of London. If home is where the heart is, then my home would be everywhere, or nowhere at all. I sometimes feel very lonely amidst this new
global pattern of relationships, and the ability to create a sense of home for myself anywhere and everywhere becomes all the more imperative as a survival mechanism. To avoid the sense of alienation experienced by the global soul on his fruitless, rootless and restless search for a sense of home, as described by Iyer in his book, I have strived to create my home within myself through my cultural baggage offering familiar comforts of home and living on my set of values.
I have packed my cultural baggage from my past experiences, particularly those from the last six years over which I became an adult. My own customs and practices are fast becoming an amalgamation from various cultures – I celebrate Thanksgiving as well as Chinese New Year. My diet is comprised of foods from multi-ethnic origins – Japanese, Indian, English, Italian, American, Moroccan and Singaporean. In fact, my idea of comfort food is Indian chicken vindaloo rather than any food I ate as a child. It also helps that culture is dynamic and these days cultural influence speeds
around the world with little regard for geography. Global branding has created similar cultural landmarks around the world like MacDonald’s familiar golden arches, albeit commercial but nonetheless strangely comforting sights in foreign cities. The idea of a physical geographical home is increasingly less significant to me as I am able to unpack my cultural luggage if required and relate easily to the local cultural landscape at the same time.
My home is also based upon my own set of values, which I have found to be surprisingly universal. Living in a highly cosmopolitan city such as London has afforded me the opportunity to meet many people from diverse national, professional and cultural backgrounds. In the two and a half years I have lived there, I have lived with a wedding photographer, a corporate banker, a model, a bond trader as well as a business development manager, who are all from different countries.
Through them and their friends, I have gained insights into the national, cultural, professional and educational similarities and differences between people. It was very heartwarming to find that there are certain universal values such as family and love, in spite of our different backgrounds. This has allowed me to connect meaningfully with and feel at home amongst people from all backgrounds.
I believe that as a global soul, I face the challenge in maintaining relevance to my location regardless of my circumstances or physical locations. I believe that an open and receptive attitude is key to maintaining relevance. On the one hand, there are some universal values and there has been increasing convergence of systems in this new global reality. On the other hand, globalism has led to greater focus on establishing individual identities, be it national, cultural or ideological. Being open and receptive allows me to adapt easily and quickly to these different identities. In addition, I have sought to travel as much as possible to develop a greater sensitivity towards local customs and identities. My recent trip to Japan highlighted the importance of this local sensitivity –despite also coming from an Asian background, there were still some cultural nuances which took me some time
to comprehend.
Global relevance in relation to careers is also important to global souls. Global souls often have a high degree of career mobility, in terms of job type as well as geography, allowing them to reinvent themselves. This process of renewal is necessary for acquiring the broad commercial skills that allow them to maintain their relevance and transit seamlessly from one business regime to another. The reality I face of working in the 21st century is the requirement to communicate in two or three languages and operate efficiently in several different cultures. In order to climb the corporate ladder, I will need to be able to communicate with colleagues and clients from different cultures, even while sitting in the home office. My own career in investment banking has only given me a wide exposure across industries. I believe though, that my perspective could be further broadened to
acquire greater global relevance. My clients so far have been UK-based companies operating under UK laws, customs and corporate governance regimes. I am also less familiar with the operational aspects of businesses than with the financial aspects.
I believe that an MBA at Stanford GSB will help me achieve global relevance. I will get the opportunity to interact more meaningfully with my fellow students from diverse backgrounds. Through working together with them on curriculum-related work as well as in extra-curricular student organisations, I will gain greater insights into their perspectives as shaped by their individual backgrounds. Furthermore, moving to California will give me the opportunity to experience living in
yet another country. The broader and deeper commercial understanding I will acquire at business school will help me achieve global career relevance and open the doors to more global career opportunities after business school as well.
Being a global soul and feeling at home and relevant wherever I am, is important and even necessary for me to continue exploring the infinite possibilities that the new global reality offers. The global lifestyle I have chosen is admittedly a challenging path, but will ultimately be the most rewarding for me.
*********************************
To borrow a phrase from Pico Iyer, being a “global soul” matters most to me. In his book, “Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls and the Search for Home”, Iyer describes the global soul as a postmodern wanderer who is searching for a sense of home. To me, a global soul experiences jet lag but not culture shock. He is a postmodern traveller who is neither an expatriate nor a local of the location he inhibits, but yet feels at home and relevant wherever he is. I have chosen a global lifestyle
and I believe being a global soul will allow me to survive and thrive in our new world order where people are in positions to choose their sense of tradition, of loyalty, of religion and of home as never before. Whilst I have been successful in meeting some of the challenges of being a global soul thus far, I believe that an MBA at Stanford GSB will make me better-positioned to explore the wonderful
possibilities of this new borderless world.
My own journey towards becoming a global soul started when I chose to go to university in the United Kingdom (UK) rather than remain in Singapore where I was born and bred. When I first arrived in the UK, I had not anticipated the degree of culture shock I actually experienced. Eventually as I interacted more with my British college mates, I gained a deeper understanding and tolerance for the British culture. I was also able to connect well with my British friends and now count them as some of my best friends. This first experience of adapting to life away from what I had called home for the previous eighteen years, was not always easy or pleasant.
Since then, the decisions I have made about where to live and work, have not been the least uncomplicated or easiest paths I could have chosen as well. I could have returned to Singapore which would have been comfortable but ultimately bland. My social circle would be comprised of the people who attended the same ‘elite’ schools as I did, and who would now mostly have good jobs in the civil service. Many of my peers appear to be on a certain fairly straightforward ‘cookie-cutter’ path which I probably would have followed if I had returned to Singapore – get married by the age
of 28, buy a government-subsidised flat and have three kids. However, this path did not appeal to me after three years living away, encountering new cultures, meeting a diverse range of people and seeing new places. New experiences thrill me and the awareness of the infinite possibilities this world offers keeps me on this global soul path even though it is not the easiest one.
Being a global soul is also important to me due to what I perceive to be the new global reality. We have witnessed the increasingly rapid convergence of cultures and systems in our world especially in recent years. Hit any capital city in the world and you are likely to find the multinational familiarity of global brands such as Starbucks, MacDonald’s and Microsoft. Cultural influences spread across the world unhindered by geographical boundaries. The Internet allows people from all
over the world to communicate and share knowledge like never before. All this has resulted in a new wave in the globalisation of businesses quite unlike the multinational corporations witnessed in the last century. The changes in international business have created new commercial opportunities and risks more rapidly than ever before. Given the growing relevance of international business, I believe that my career will require me to work and live across geographies. Being a global soul will allow me to transition seamlessly from one geographical location to another.
More importantly, my relationships are becoming increasingly globalised as friends and family disperse all around the world. I have not lived in the same continent as my best friends for the past six years, yet we remain very close in spite of the distance. Also, I have seen a large number of friends come and go due to the cosmopolitan nature of London. If home is where the heart is, then my home would be everywhere, or nowhere at all. I sometimes feel very lonely amidst this new
global pattern of relationships, and the ability to create a sense of home for myself anywhere and everywhere becomes all the more imperative as a survival mechanism. To avoid the sense of alienation experienced by the global soul on his fruitless, rootless and restless search for a sense of home, as described by Iyer in his book, I have strived to create my home within myself through my cultural baggage offering familiar comforts of home and living on my set of values.
I have packed my cultural baggage from my past experiences, particularly those from the last six years over which I became an adult. My own customs and practices are fast becoming an amalgamation from various cultures – I celebrate Thanksgiving as well as Chinese New Year. My diet is comprised of foods from multi-ethnic origins – Japanese, Indian, English, Italian, American, Moroccan and Singaporean. In fact, my idea of comfort food is Indian chicken vindaloo rather than any food I ate as a child. It also helps that culture is dynamic and these days cultural influence speeds
around the world with little regard for geography. Global branding has created similar cultural landmarks around the world like MacDonald’s familiar golden arches, albeit commercial but nonetheless strangely comforting sights in foreign cities. The idea of a physical geographical home is increasingly less significant to me as I am able to unpack my cultural luggage if required and relate easily to the local cultural landscape at the same time.
My home is also based upon my own set of values, which I have found to be surprisingly universal. Living in a highly cosmopolitan city such as London has afforded me the opportunity to meet many people from diverse national, professional and cultural backgrounds. In the two and a half years I have lived there, I have lived with a wedding photographer, a corporate banker, a model, a bond trader as well as a business development manager, who are all from different countries.
Through them and their friends, I have gained insights into the national, cultural, professional and educational similarities and differences between people. It was very heartwarming to find that there are certain universal values such as family and love, in spite of our different backgrounds. This has allowed me to connect meaningfully with and feel at home amongst people from all backgrounds.
I believe that as a global soul, I face the challenge in maintaining relevance to my location regardless of my circumstances or physical locations. I believe that an open and receptive attitude is key to maintaining relevance. On the one hand, there are some universal values and there has been increasing convergence of systems in this new global reality. On the other hand, globalism has led to greater focus on establishing individual identities, be it national, cultural or ideological. Being open and receptive allows me to adapt easily and quickly to these different identities. In addition, I have sought to travel as much as possible to develop a greater sensitivity towards local customs and identities. My recent trip to Japan highlighted the importance of this local sensitivity –despite also coming from an Asian background, there were still some cultural nuances which took me some time
to comprehend.
Global relevance in relation to careers is also important to global souls. Global souls often have a high degree of career mobility, in terms of job type as well as geography, allowing them to reinvent themselves. This process of renewal is necessary for acquiring the broad commercial skills that allow them to maintain their relevance and transit seamlessly from one business regime to another. The reality I face of working in the 21st century is the requirement to communicate in two or three languages and operate efficiently in several different cultures. In order to climb the corporate ladder, I will need to be able to communicate with colleagues and clients from different cultures, even while sitting in the home office. My own career in investment banking has only given me a wide exposure across industries. I believe though, that my perspective could be further broadened to
acquire greater global relevance. My clients so far have been UK-based companies operating under UK laws, customs and corporate governance regimes. I am also less familiar with the operational aspects of businesses than with the financial aspects.
I believe that an MBA at Stanford GSB will help me achieve global relevance. I will get the opportunity to interact more meaningfully with my fellow students from diverse backgrounds. Through working together with them on curriculum-related work as well as in extra-curricular student organisations, I will gain greater insights into their perspectives as shaped by their individual backgrounds. Furthermore, moving to California will give me the opportunity to experience living in
yet another country. The broader and deeper commercial understanding I will acquire at business school will help me achieve global career relevance and open the doors to more global career opportunities after business school as well.
Being a global soul and feeling at home and relevant wherever I am, is important and even necessary for me to continue exploring the infinite possibilities that the new global reality offers. The global lifestyle I have chosen is admittedly a challenging path, but will ultimately be the most rewarding for me.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Tuesday October 9th
"Despite the fact that there are over eight million people on the island of Manhattan, there are times you still feel shipwrecked and alone. Times even the most resourceful survivor would feel the need to put a message in a bottle, or on an answering machine. " - Carrie, SATC
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