Ranking of the jobs

The other day I was recounting how many different part time jobs I have had during my 2 years of studying A-levels in the UK and 4 years of undergrad in the US. The number came down to more than 20. At one time during college, I even held 3 different part time jobs.

Here are the ranking of the jobs:

The worst job: working at Burger King

The most rewarding job: babysitting foster children and volunteering with autistic children

The most difficult job: paper delivery – having to balance a heavy load of paper on the bike, stopping every few meters and walking all the way into the driveway to put the paper into the slot in the door. In the UK, they do not have mailboxes outside. Sometimes, you get yelled at by the homeowners too!

The easiest job: being a building attendant at a theatre. You just have to sit there and do nothing. However, sometimes you have to get up really early and go turn off all the lights inside a theatre before locking it up at midnight. Quite scary!

The best job: doing IT support at school. It’s relatively high paid compared to other on campus job, fun, flexible, good experience and with a very good boss!

Disclaimer: My blog is for entertainment purposes only, please do not take it seriously or personally. Thank you!

HOT HOT HOT

Ha ha... I fooled you into reading this boring blog. The weather in SG is just so hot recently, it's unbearable. I feel like taking a shower every five minutes, except that I don't have anyone to take a shower with to save water.


This recession sucks. So many of my friends have been laid of recently. Life isn't stable as we were used to. The good old days are gone. And this is not going to be the only recession in our lives that we'll have to go through. How should be prepare for the next one to become recession proof?


Anyways, to a different topic. I have been talking to a friend recently. We were reminiscing the good old times when we would be partying, playing drinking games, wandering around NYC together one summer. We interns were a real close group of friends. But now everyone is scattered all around the world, we hardly talk anymore. Suddenly we realized we are getting old. Then somehow we talked about love and marriage. Well, since last year, I have known more than 30 couples around my age that got married or are going to tie the knot. Isn't that depressing (for me obviously, not for those happy couples). My friend said he doesn't want adventures as much. I said I still like adventures, but it would be nice to have someone to share them with. We were discussing whether we should feel pressured to settle down. Well, I don't want to live a boring life, but I also want to be happy like "them". The thing is, the world divides into 2 groups of people: couples and singles. Couples only hang out with other couples. So the remaining singles are left to hang out among themselves. Believe me, I have been to many events/parties/dinners where I was the only single person and it sucked. And as more and more people our age gets married, the number of singles left to hang out with decreases. Isn't that sad?


I just found out a friend of mine has been carrying a broken heart for 8 years. All this time and I had no idea. I always assumed she was picky or just too focused on her work and does not want to date yet. It makes me feel sad. There are so many heartbreaks in this world. Some people are lucky to avoid it, most have to go through at least one, a few unfortunate ones have to go through a few heartbreaks (as if enduring one wasn't enough). But this also makes me realize how indifferent I was to friends at times. Sometimes I was too occupied with my own problems, sometimes I knew what they were going through but didn't do anything or say anything to comfort them or help them because I was always afraid of doing or saying the wrong things...


But another friend also pointed out "Phải có đau khổ và nỗi thất vọng thì cuộc đời mới thêm thi vị". It really makes us appreciate the good times and learn to protect our happiness. Giữ gìn hạnh phúc là cả một nghệ thuật.


Let me tell you a little secret: I have always dreamt of becoming a writer. But how do I write without revealing my feelings? Isn’t writing always biographical, expressing what the writer has been through. Even fiction stories have their roots in real experiences. So how do I write the twists and turns of love stories and life adventures without letting people know a part of me has been there? Writers need to have the courage of revealing themselves to the whole world; will I be able to do that?

1 more week!

I can't wait for 1 more week to pass. I will finally be a free person. These past few months have been painful. I was constantly struggling with standardized tests, resumes, essays, recommendations, and interviews. I must have been floating in my own world for a while, not even wanting to talk to anyone. I was always preoccupied with my own thoughts... I don't even know what's going on around me anymore.

Life is a never ending cycle. In elementary school you had to try to get into a good secondary school. In secondary school you had to work hard to pass the exam to get into a good high school. In high school you work harder to get into a good college (I remember going to London 4 times and sleeping on a friend's floor to take the SATs and TOEFL and ACTs 6 years ago). You thought you were done? No way, job searching is even worse. Imagine applying to 100 firms, spending 8 hours per day job searching only to get a few interviews and if you're lucky, 1 job offer.

Well, that's not the end. Just when you think it's going to get better, applying to grad school is the same grueling cycle. LSAT, GMAT, essays, interviews, resumes. And if you do get in, you barely have time to breath before that internship and full time job search comes back to haunt you...

I hope this will be the last admissions process I ever have to go through. I don't think I can stand doing this one more time. Unless one day I couldn't find a husband and decide to get a PhD to kill time... As my friend said, she'll go back to Vietnam after her MBA to work and find a husband, but if by the time she's 30, she is still single, she'll probably go abroad to do a PhD.

The only good thing coming out of this is that I made a few new friends also going through the same thing as me. It's kind of like a support group. Also, while trying to write these arduous essays, I had to think a lot about my past, present and future and had to do an evaluation of myself. I actually discovered a lot about myself, and suddenly remembered a lot of things/accomplishments I had that I had long forgotten. It somewhat gave me a bit encouragement in disappointing times. It made me realized that I actually had a few good achievements and characteristics, that I am stronger than I thought I could be.


Just have to keep trying. Keep smiling. Keep hoping. And keep praying...

When your coworker is also your best friend

I once read somewhere that to climb up the corporate ladder, you shouldn’t become close friends with coworkers in case you might have to fire them someday. I thought to myself “Isn’t that sad”. I have only had two significant work experiences but have met my best friends there.

During my summer internship at Goldman Sachs two years ago, I sat right behind another intern Mike, a very smart guy from Georgetown, half Lebanese-half Indian, fluent in French and Arabic. We had the same initials ML. We did everything together. Most days we would go to this food truck on the street to have Chicken and Rice for lunch for $5. He loves Vietnamese food so I once even made spring rolls for our group of interns at his apartment. He would actually confide with me all his love stories. Sometimes when we were talking, I would say “Wait, slow down. I’m getting confused. Which girl are we talking about? The Indian girl, the Chinese girl or the American girl?” Because we sat so close, he would tease me “I wanted to spy on your emails so bad but you’re always typing away in this weird Vietnamese that I can’t understand. Damn!”

After our last day of work for the summer internship, we went out for Vietnamese food, had a drink and bought the lottery, promising each other that if we win, we’d split the prize. Of course we didn’t win. We then sat in Union Square smoking (just for fun, please don’t scold me!) and played this really really stupid and silly game: Looking at the girls walking by and guessing which ones are still virgins! I have no idea how he determines this (by the way they walk, how they dress??!!) but I kind of go for the assumption of “Guilty until proven innocent”. Ha ha… It was a fun summer.

He was the only one I kept in touch with after the summer. Luckily, both of us moved to New York after graduation. Although we don’t work at GS anymore, we still meet regularly. Whenever I had a problem, I would email him “Mike, we need to meet ASAP”. And he would reply “OK, looks like someone has an emergency. How about getting a bowl of Pho tonight? Let me ask my girlfriend for permission to go see my confidant” And whenever we saw each other, I’d ask him about his girlfriend and yelled at him “Oops, you did it again! You’ve got to stop this or else you’ll be punished, he he…” (did it again meaning break up with the girl). Up to now I still can’t remember any of his girlfriends’ names. Oh God I’m going to miss him.

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Right now I have an amazing best friend at work, Sophia. She and I are like sisters. Everyday, the minute I got to the office and logged in, she would IM me “Where do you want to go to lunch today?” We plan our lunch even before we had breakfast. The problem is that she’s so picky so I let her decide everything! I’d just answer “I dunno. It’s up to you. Since when does it matter where I wanted to go?” But I would also add “Gosh, I really spoil you. It’s not so easy to find an easygoing one who’d go with you anywhere you wanted”

I don’t know what I will do without her at work to help me with all the Finance and Accounting stuff. In between our long work day, we’d IM each other random messages or “I’m sleepy. Let’s get coffee” We would share a beer at baseball games and even eat out of each others plate when we eat out. People probably think we’re lesbians. It’s also really scary that some day we’d show up at work wearing shirts of exactly the same color. The creepy thing is we seem to not have enough of each other even after 5 days a week. We’d go watch a movie at weekends together. Since we both share a love for food (it’s unfair she eats more than me but is skinnier), we would try different restaurants in the city. Right now our favorite place is Accademia di Vino on 3^rd Avenue at 63^rd. This place has the best pizza, tuna tartar and salad!

For my birthday she gave me a book called “Why men love bitches” and told me “You should stop being nice to guys”. I probably should have taken her advice. Since we are both foreigners, we both were praying for the H-1B visa. We’d threaten each other “I’ll kill you if you get the visa and I don’t” Maybe God didn’t want anyone of us to be murdered so he gave neither of us the visa. Right now we have the new hobby of sharing wedding pictures or websites of friends with each other and discussing weddings. We’d also threaten each other “I’ll kill you if you get married before me” I hope it’s not going to be the same case with the H-1B visa. Or else both of us will end up a spinster….

Disclaimer: My blog is for entertainment purposes only, please do not take it seriously or personally. Thank you! He he...