No Music No Life 01/2007

itunes: 森高千里, Do The Best (1995)

The main reason I seldom listen to the radio is because there is no control over the songs that were played. Radio is for the mass and hence they tend to play songs that are generally liked by the mass, which means pop thrash are most likely to be played. Dun forget commercial radio stations need income for survival, therefore there are recording labels which would buy the airtime to promote their artists' latest releases and blast them repeatedly almost every hour. It's not what the DJ love and play, it's just they are paid to do so.

As a music-nazi, I like to 'dictate' the songs that I would want to listen and getting my 'victims' and force it down into your ears (errr in more friendly terms, sharing with them haha). That's the reason I own an ipod because it does not have a tuner. Why would one need a tuner when there are thousands of songs in it? Nevertheless, I must give credits to radio stations, particularly Gold 90.5, I'm able to know there are so many great artists and songs in the 70s.

The list of CDs that I have bought in January 2007:

Count Basie, Jazz moods - Hot (2004)
This guy is one of the most important bandleadersof the swing era, ie 30's - 50's. Being a jazz fan, I'm truly curious and attracted to the sounds of this era. This is the second artist of this era that I have brought for reference listening after Glenn Miller. Simply raw and enchanting...

Brandy, The Best Of (2005)
I did not own any of her albums but a few of her hit singles. Bought it at a price-down sale at Borders.

The Whispers, Greatest Hits (1997)
A must-have album to complete the legacy of the 70s R&B!!

Nelly Furtado, Folklore (2003)
This is her second album, the one that barely cracked the Billboard Top 40, spawned no hits, and sold about a quarter of what her Grammy-winning debut did. Despite of that, I still love this album more than the debut, guess it's kind of personal here. Her recent 3rd release, Loose was a No.1 album in Billboard but I just dun like it at all. Got this at yahoo auction for $8, cos I refused to pay full price for it hehe.

Sting, Songs From The Labyrinth (2006)
I love Baroque music and always facsinated with Harpsicord. Having a rocker doing a 1600's classical thing is definitely rare, the rock 'noise' of Sting is completely vanished and it really astonished to hear the 'clean' version of his voice. It took me more than month, to sample it at Gramophone or That CD almost every weekends before deciding to buy it. Listening it at night often makes me feel that I'm an English Duke dressed up in Elizabethan costume haha self indulgence right??!!!

Joni Mitchell, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977)
Bought this at a storewide 15% discount at Borders. I'm a Joni Mitchell fan and my aim to do complete the collection of her discography.

Brian Mcknight, Ten (2006)
I always find him the most under-rated R&B male vocalist, a couple of Grammy best male artist norminations but never win any.

Simply Red, Simplified (2005)
I'm not a fan of Simply Red, maybe just like a few of his 90's songs. This album contains a more smooth and strip down rework versions of his old hits, like the title suggests. Beautiful....

Motown, 100 Essential Motown on 5 CDs (2006)
Come on...the renounce Motown label in the 70s!! This label produces sound so instantly identifiable that "Motown" unequivocally became a style unto itself. Big names like Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Commodores and Michael Jackson starts their career from this place...a must-have boxset collection.

UA & Naruyoshi Kikuchi, Cure Jazz (2006)
UA is called Bjork of Japan and Naruyoshi Kikuchi is a famous Jazz saxaphonist in Japan. A jazz collaboration of 2 extremes.....it's experimental.

The Chinese Orchestra of Shanghai Music Conservatory, Melodies For New Year's Greetings (2004)
Bought this yesterday at People's Park Centre. Chinese New Year is coming and it would be nice to listen to some festive tones to liven up the spirits. Last year, I bought a collection of New Year oldies songs by famous artists in the 30's. This year, I decided to look for a Chinese classical version of these songs. I'm going to rip a few copies for my parents, aunts and uncles. Sure they will love it.

Mid-Life Career Crisis & Depression???

itunes: 平井堅, Sentimental Lovers (2004)

It has been nearly a month since I last blog on the New Year's party. Yeah, partying time is over and now I'm back to reality, facing the real work. Indeed, I'm really sick and tired of what I'm doing now. It's definitely a deadend job. I'm 8 months into this job and all I faced a mountain high of shit snowballed from the past. I mean problems that were swept under rug for years, waiting for someone like me who have to lift up the rug, watch dirt and dust blown and scattered into the air and clear them as fast as I can. The burning question here is why my boss can allow such things to happen for years and yet now set deadline for me to clear them???!!!!! So what if I clear them all? What kind of light will I see at the end of the tunnel? What about the things my boss promised me during the interview? Nothing.....the real situation here is not what you have pictured. Yeah all I have to face are the things that were not mentioned at that time. Ironic right?

This is only the first month of 2007 and I'm getting depressed and stressed up over my work and gettin lost with my career direction. In the past, I would just simply find another job and move on. But this time I strongly feel that changing job may not be the best solution. Frankly speaking, I'm most happy to quit my 12 years of Finance & Accounting profession if I can. Realistically speaking, this skill allows me to put bread on the table and live comfortably. Yeah, but I'm not happy at all. We just live once and if I'm not happy, I should change it, simple logic right? Yeah, what nature of job should I move to? For my age, without the relevant industry experience, it's really hard to switch and even if I'm willing to take a massive paycut and start afresh, no one will dare to take me at all. So dead end again.

Hmmm how about doing a Master degree? That may able to make some difference. Yup, I'm interested in treasury. By having a Master in Finance which will compliment my CPA status, it maybe a alternate way out too. What a brilliant idea!!! I wrote an email to my good old friend, CL and asked him for advice since he is in the financial industry....read his reply below:

Hi KL, Thanks for your trust in me. I don't consider myself fully equipped to give advice. I shall try sharing instead, and aim to be as encouraging and as honest as I can be.

First of all, I can understand what you mean by getting tired of doing the same thing day in and day out. It does get frustrating. I left civil service because of this.

Next, definitely learn new things and challenge yourself. Taking a masters or some other qualification will be satisfying personally. You'll have to be prepared though, that it may not be financially enriching in the career sense. It can still be financially enriching if you learn something that will help in personal investing.

The financial industry is a big one. Are you interested in retail or corporate? Commercial banking or investment banking? Insurance, asset management or research? Or maybe credit card issuance? You'll need to figure these out. Check www.vault.com for more details.

Full time study in order to change career. Typically, people go for full time studies for career change in late 20s / early 30s. At that age, employers are still amenable to consider a person for a career change, figuring that he's probably took about 5-7 years after graduation to reach a point of wanting change. Even then, it's tougher in Asia than US. When you finish your studies, you'll be 37. Successful career change stories has happened at that age before, read it in some US MBA brochures. Will it happen in Asia - not sure, pretty high downside risk I'd guess.

One of the programs you considered follows the CFA program. Actually you don't have to go to school to learn that. There are full syllabus available for free on the website. If you pay for books and materials, which I'm sure is much less than full time tuition, you can also get prepared for the CFA. Be warned though - it takes at least 2.5 years. By the time you pass all 3 stages, you'll be 39.

A safer, though not guaranteed route, is to try to get an accounting / financial analysis / internal audit job in a financial services company or indeed any other company, then figure your way forward from there. For that, you can try doing straightaway, without the MSc / CFA. While you're trying, definitely study (part-time recommended - tough, but lower opportunity cost).

Why I recommend part-time: There're lucky stories coming out of full-time studies, and I am very blessed. However, many Asian stories I hear are not as fantastic as what you read about Harvard MBAs. A couple of scare stories about my friends in full time MBA programme. An ex-accountant (mainland China) was jobless for about a year after graduating, and eventually went back to PwC China as some senior or manager. Another ex-HR-manager (Hong Kong) was jobless for about 9 months after graduating.

I must admit the above are short term solutions. Even after you get into a desired industry, desired job, in the long run, you're still going to face disillusion. Either your boss is dumb, or your subordinates are dim, or your peers get promoted over you, or your clients suck. A more sustainable solution, and I've been doing a lot of thinking myself, is to have some extra-curricular interests (horror from school days!)These may be profitable financially (e.g. running your own small business, managing your own retirement funds), or they may be pure activity interest (e.g. dancing ala Richard Gere, build a readership for your blog, write a commentary on The book of Job).

I hope I've fulfilled my objective of being encouraging and honest. I think the above are equally applicable to your friend. Let me know if I've been insensitive.

All the best with the struggle. It'll be tough working it out, but you'll emerge the better for it.

Keep me posted.

Cheers,
CL

Sigh...another deadend. This is really frustrating! It's like getting stuck in quicksand, the more you struggle, the more it drag you in. For the first time in my career, I have never feel lost before. I used to have goals to achieve year after year but in the recent years, everything has come to a standstill, my career is not advancing anymore. What should I do about it? How am I going to do about it? Why am i so uncontended and keep wanting more?

I went to the doctor recently and he suggested that I maybe suffering from mild depression. Wah, that's really something new. I still believe that I'm just facing a periodic emotional downturn, burnt out and a bit withdrawn that's all. Nevertheless, he prescribed some mild tranquiliser for me to have a good night sleep. It will relax my mind and hopefully I may be able to think better after my brain receive a good rest. I have not taken any yet and perhaps I should try it over this weekend.

Sigh....so before I can think of anything constructive to get me out of this situation, I guess the best solution so far is to move on to another job and hopefully a better job.

After all, ambition and aspirations are strictly reserved for the young ones only....

Final Moments of 2006...

itunes: Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, Foursider (1972)



I was in a small gathering at Norman's house yesterday. We had tea around 4 plus in the afternoon and a simple Peranakan dinner prepared by Norman. The dinner ambience is good. Beautiful Christmas decor and lit candle lights with nice home-cooked exotic food over red wine. It's heavenly is not it? Everyone is relaxed and delighted, chit chatting heartedly while passing the dishes around and enjoying the food. One of the dishes, Chicken Buah Keluak tasted really good and even the ladies keep asking for more rice or french loaves to go with it.



After the sumptuous dinner, after all the wash-ups (hehe hail to YL who volunteered), dessert (Almond Jelly with Longan) and dessert wine is served. Everyone just gathering around, sit back, chilled out and enjoy the quiet moments, with good old music from FM90.5. I really enjoyed myself very much in the final moments of 2006.....

Countdown can be simple, peaceful and yet enjoyable right? I hope my new year can be like this throughout. Maybe Norman should organise more dinner gatherings in the near future haha. Happy 2007!!

It's 2007...

itunes: Jill Scott, Beautifully Human (2004)

It's 2007.
This year there are things gonna change and there are things gonna start all over again. Gonna lose more fats & build more muscles, gonna to be more vegan & eat less meat, gonna detox more, gonna take up a water sports, gonna take up yoga, gonna learn driving, gonna pick up Japanese lessons again, gonna save more money & spend less money on CDs, gonna to check out chinese classical music, gonna file my mails away everyday, gonna fire my boss, gonna go holiday at 1 exotic place, gonna spend more time to understand buddhism, gonna take care my love ones even better than before, gonna control my temper better, gonna catch up with friends that I have not met for years, gonna donate more money to the charity, gonna be a environmental activist....

Oh resolutions, they just come and go, like year after year. Will I do any of these things? The answers probably not all of them but at least, they give hopes to a better coming year. Particularly, a mid-thirties single man like me, I would not say that I'm successful but at least I dare to consider myself established. A relatively good income that promises a comfortable life for myself and enough to take good care of my love ones. However, that's only the material aspects of it. But why do I always feel lost in life and often found myself standing at crossroads? What do I want out of my monotonous life? Take up a MBA? So what's next after completing it? Better job and pay? So? That's it? Or change my sucky job? Will the next job be better than this? The feeling is just like buy lottery tickets, one that never strikes and yet gives hopes to the next draw. I will be back at the starting point, feeling lost again in the vicious cycle. Should I get out of my profession and do something that I really enjoy? Yeah, I may be happier but what can I do besides finance and accounts? This question has been burning for years and yet I'm as lost as ever. Mid-Life Crisis, that's what everybody said. Yeah I do not need resolutions, I just need a steer of direction in life, a critical change of mindset towards my life. Will Buddhism able to help? Or indulge myself in community service help too? Yeah, this statement is so obscure that I can say it easily without able to feel it.

So, in the end what's in for 2007, 2008, 2009.....?