Chronicles of a Young College Boy

Saturday, January 03, 2009

ah ok today my mind is a little more clear for writing blogs. Ytd was just badd...but it actually ended off quite well because i finally finished one cover letter...the more important part is that i understand more or less how the format for the letter works. So for the other 2 positions that need cover letters (global capital markets and investment management) I just need to research more on what those 2 actually mean lol.

hmm i dont think i want to limit this entry to one subject...i want to think as freely as i can =). For a start I probably want to think through a couple of goals that i want to set for myself for 2009....you know...the regular process. Buut first maybe I should evaluate on how i did on my previous 08 new year evaluations.

First goal i had was....believe it or not...to start getting serious looking for a partner. I debated whether i want this as my new year resols or not...since it concerns other ppl. Did I achieve it? no and yes. No because obviously i am still single now. Yes because I have narrowed my choices my quite a large margin. Lets say my search narrowed from the world (yes i'm tht clueless) to just asia plus minus 3 max. my age (so 16 to 22 currently). During my summer I had a couple of...hmmm...revelations that kinda directed and showed me doors that i will open and doors i prefer to close. This is one of the first new year resols tht i kinda failed to achieve but i know will lead to a big thing sometime somewhere.

Second and third goals are the regular goals that i dont really like to mention because...well..i didnt achieve it lol. Second is the academic goal and third is the health goal. Academic goal i really slipped up especially in the fall smst, while the health goal i actually got to a good run during the summer...running almost everyday. lol for some reason the summer is really the highlight of 08 for me =). But the second half of the year after summer has definitely improved my academic life somewhat. I had gone through 10 interviews and went to new york for a function with the rich university alumnis ($$). I think this alone has boosted my confidence in how I should carry myself in both formal and informal sessions. Plus during the Walstreet crisis my learning curve for the finance world is even sharper than what i had with my internship with UBS. Plus I bought my first stocks!

Health i think is the really worst hit as I end 08. I even stop going to taekwondo..which is normally my last resort of dropping.

Soooo coming back to the goals. I definitely want to get my black belt this year. This will be happening some time in march, so i have time to practice during those times. LOL honestly speaking this is the only tangible goal tht I can think of this year. In terms of academic goals I want to achieve a smst gpa of 3.6 or higher for both smst. Since i failed quite miserably in terms of numbers for gpa in '08, i will revise down the goals for '09 =).

In terms of social goals, i think i will want to do a better job in asking ppl i havent talked to for some time how they are doing. I was not really able to do tht up until recently when i started to become more active on facebook. Ahh what are we to do without today's technology =P.

I think i want to end off this entry on a small note. I hear once from a motivational speaker that setting goals does not mean tht you will reach them (duh I'm the living breathing evidence of tht). Buuuttt heres the quote he followed with," Even if you dont reach the moon, you will land somewhere in the stars." Happy 2009!

DanieL counted snowflakes at 1:20 AM

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year 2009! ahh been some time since I have written, so what better time to write to start off the new year? well i actually have an alternative motive to this to...I am supposed to begin the application process to internships again, and I have to write cover letters. Writer's block is not the most useful thing to have now...so I'm using this blog entry to start/warm-up my engine....and also reflect on 2008 =).

To start off 2008...I spent a couple of days on cruise with my cousins...fun and memorable times. But too bad I was sick during tht time -_- haha. and then i have to go back to US to continue my school....you know what come to think of it I don't really remember significant things that happened in the first half of the year...other than spending hours in front of the computers writing a program for a class project lol.

Then only in the summer my year starts to get really interesting...as I have said a couple of entries ago, its probably by far the most fun I had in a summer ever. There were definitely some downs in the summer. But looking back, i thought the ups really outweigh the downs. Then in the fall I started my journey of job-searching. O boy it was one of the most humbling experiences I had ever had. So far, I have been rejected 4 times from companies that I have interviewed for. I got so accustomed to the rejection emails that I know i am rejected on the 3rd and 4th companies just by reading the first 3 sentences. Even though people would attribute this to the lousy economy, I would disagree to some extent. Yesh the economy does a play a role, but the fact that other people are getting called instead of me bugs me because this fact is stating that I am not good enough for the companies yet. This is the really worrying fact. arghh now my mind is drifting back to the cover letters...lol I know the whole entry seemed like I just want to get to my cover letter...haiz I will do my best to write another entry to reflect on the events that occured in 08. For the mean time, wish me luck =).

DanieL counted snowflakes at 11:59 PM