On The Move…

Random thoughts:

– The Valentino ads for AW13/14 are simply stunning. Poses inspired by classical paintings, maybe Vermeer and earlier? Wonderful.
– Cara Delevigne is the face of both DKNY and Fendi this A/W season
– Mariacarla Boscano is the face of both Dior and Giorgio Armani this A/W season
– Totally in love with the limited edition, metallicised python & suede clutches at Smythson. I wonder if they’ll go on sale later this year…?
– Fur is back, as always. Definitely want more fur.
– Asian models in the A/W campaigns for Prada, Etro, Chanel, Stella McCartney,
– not sure about the new Bulgari ads. Somehow seems like a big break in photography style from previous campaigns, and not sure I love the new look.
– Looks like a pretty obvious type-setting error in the SK-II ad I’m seeing in “W” magazine starring Kate Bosworth. Embarassing.

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PS: I’ve taken a new job in the luxury sector, and relocated to Paris, France to do it.

It’s a bit late, being the 15th of Jan and all, but still a good time to take stock, reflect and dream about the future.

Dubai has been pretty good to me thus far. And with the weather turning more fall/winter-like every day, I grow increasingly fond of the city. I will miss the life I had here, when I leave.
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2012 in a nutshell:

Jan: Still staffed on dairy project, had a pretty cushy time. Worked with new hire X – it was fun to have help and to pass on knowledge
Feb: Staffed on retail FS case with some old friends and new faces; an intense 6-8 week project, but a good learning experience
Mar: Went to HK and Macau (first time!) for G’s birthday
Apr: Wrapped up FS case; Went on vacation with S, starting in Singapore
May:  Staffed on F&B case; Went to 5th year reunion in Cambridge, MA – what a blast! Stayed with Ryan in NYC, caught up with old friends, roommates, teachers – LOVELY
June: Started properly on F&B project, a generally messy experience; Got a good review for the first half of the year, which was nice
July: NS in-camp with extended out-field stays; Cousins M and F come to visit, we go to HK, Bangkok, KL, Redang and Singapore
August: All F&B project; Experienced one of the most memorable client interactions (which will come back to me unexpectedly, 6 months later)
Sept: Wrap up F&B project; TBN Israel tour (with Petra thrown in) – what a blessing to get to go on this trip! I start work in Dubai, UAE; Staffed on local Dubai project; I return to Singapore to attend the office retreat in Bali, which was a treat. Table won best dressed for “The Fifth Element”
Oct:  Busy with work; an unexpected trip to Paris, and London, which was lovely – got to see Matilda, the new Bain London office, and also London Bainies F, S, A, Singapore friends G and P, plus good friends M in London, G in Paris
Nov: Somehow I took a long weekend back in Sg
Dec: Dubai offsite trip to Muscat, Oman (cool!), some not so great news from SEA office, a nice long end-of-year holiday to Singapore (cousin L’s wedding), Bangkok (with extended family) and NYE in Beirut (with Dubai Bainies C, F and M). Got to visit Byblos, Arjan and Baalbek in Lebanon. Caught up in Singapore with old friends like S (new bar!), G, T (surprising new relationship!) etc. etc. And got to attend Christmas service at The Star, which was a great blessing.
Jan: Looking forward to the rest of the year, which will certainly bring lots of new challenges, and hopefully a continuous slew of successes!

Was praying was wisdom and peace, when I had the brainwave. It’s not a new idea, but nonetheless one that I’m super excited about.

And shortly it will be a reality. Thank God for the Internet.

I’ll launch on my birthday, that seems fitting enough 🙂

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Am trying my best to look forwards, onwards and upwards,  but it hasn’t been quite as easy as it has been before.

2011 was rather a mixed bag. with more than a few disappointments and apparent mistakes, both small and quite large.

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I just looked over the blog posts I wrote in 2010, to give a sense of comparison with 2011.  It helped me remember that it’s worth listing out the highlights of 2011:

January: Submitted R2 applications for b-sch; Still staffed on project “N”
March: Barcelona with Sam, which was overall a fantastic trip (also made a side trip to Bilbao); Bali trip for DT’s birthday
April: Staffed on project “H” in Jakarta, my first proper travel case; results from R2 apps come back (1-for-3)
May: Provence for the F+J wedding; side visits to London (Ming!) and Paris (Tzelin!)
June: Started on independent luxury fashion consulting project
July: Promoted; 2 weeks of National Service; and then NCT in Montreal; with side trips to NYC (stayed with Ryan!), SF and Hong Kong
August: Staffed on payments case for ~3 weeks; incorporated own company; Puff Puff passes away 🙁
September: Office retreat in Phuket; staffed on PE diligence for ~5 weeks, of which I spent 3 weeks in Sydney
October: Staffed on dairy case; submitted 1R application
November: 1 week in Shanghai/Hong Kong
December: Results (1-for-4); 4 days in Tokyo

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I have faith that 2012 will be the best year yet.

Four months since my last post, although it truly feels like years.

Last weekend was my fourth company retreat. We went back to the same tropical resort island as my first offsite in 2007. I even had the same roommate. We were strangers back then, and now have become pretty good friends. We’ve shared many a project experience and merry evening together with family and colleagues. Back in 2007 I spent hours on my costume and left an indelible first impression on the firm.  This year I picked something fun, and pretty easy to pull off – but managed to get the party started, anyway.  Happy clappy memories, as EP might say.

This month is pretty packed. I have to push ahead on four different work and personal projects, with one more already pretty much defunct from neglect. That last part makes me sad. But I understand it’s because I prioritised all my other commitments and interest, and so be it.

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Puff Puff passed away last month, and is still dearly missed.

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September is a month for nostalgia, chapters concluding and new beginnings.

Can’t believe it’s been two months since my last post. A lot has happened since then.

There have been good times, but now I’m waiting on the world to change.

Maybe tomorrow?

It’s been a while since I last posted in June, but I felt compelled to record the last two weeks, which have been the BEST TWO WEEKS EVER.  On multiple fronts, too.

– The Dins wrapped up on their highly successful, super fun and wonderfully lucrative tour stop in Singapore

– I got a wonderful room at MBS on National Day despite the hotel having been booked out for months in advance; view of the fireworks was spectacular

– Wrapped on my project and went on two weeks NS reservist training, which is like a long (although tiring) vacation, kind of like going trekking on vacation

– Achieved a good IPPT result despite spraining my ankle just 4 days before and not having a pacer to run the 2.4km run with; had the batallion’s fastest run timing (mainly a negative reflection on the batallion’s fitness, but I’ll happily take the award)

– Helped out with a 5-hour board of directors’ retreat for one of Singapore’s premier performing arts organisations, very cool, and super interesting people/discussions/issues

– Had four consecutive rock star fantasy nights of fabulous parties, great meals, incredible views, fireworks and loads of fun

– Got the best suite yet at MBS, highest floor of rooms (54), views in both directions, obscene oodles of space

– Attended a great PP sermon at NCC

– Had a long, super lucrative streak at MBS

– Survived almost a month of sleeping just 3-4 hours each night, successfully staved off several near-flu episodes

Did I mention?  BEST TWO WEEKS EVER!!!

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And next month I go on vacation to London/Munich/Milan.

Life = more abundantly
Me = thankful and rested

It’s upon us, finally!  The two month long Great Singapore Sale (GSS) season, along with end-of-season sales worldwide.  Hope everyone has been diligently saving up and scouting out their dream purchases! 🙂

I probably need to pace myself a bit better…  in just two days my tally is currently:

Etro: 2 dress shirts and a silk sacrf
Prada:  1 structured doctor’s bag and 1 pair of perforated Oxfords

And I’m still patiently waiting for a Marc Jacob’s tote to go on sale, as well as a certain Bottega Veneta clutch.  As I was telling someone yesterday, the trick for designers/labels is to create really special things that move the customer to action – how can you not buy something you find unbelievably gorgeous, iconic and unique?

Same goes for non-clothes too.  I bought this gorgeous LED table lamp from SPACE with a significant mid-year sale discount (which makes it just about the same price as buying it direct from Europe or the US).  If you’ve ever seen the Kelvin LED from Flos, with it’s space-age looks and functionality (magic touch sensor on/off switch!!),  I’m sure you’d be seduced too!

Maybe some pictures will be forthcoming…  we’ll see.

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Work is awesome, I *heart* my current project, it’s so cool!

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Siem Reap was such a beautiful, delicious, inexpensive and satisfying long weekend vacation.  Everyone should go!!

After last year’s desultory reading log, I’m continuing to do much better this year, which makes me happy.

I’m about to finish reading The Predator State, by James K Galbraith, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in economics, trade, social policy, political economy, economic development or markets at all.  It’s the kind of paradigm-shifting social science work that I’ve always loved, with both a sweeping perspective across many decades and many countries and yet also a profoundly intimate concern with individuals and communities.

I will admit that I liked the book partly for the fact that Galbraith confirmed my existing intuitions about the world: that the arguments for “free markets” are riddled with theoretical work-arounds, real-world counter-evidence and also fundamentally philosophical and ethical implications that mean society should be far more thoughtful and downright wary of “market solutions”, “free trade” and Libertarianism (particularly for essential and social goods like healthcare, education, utilities, transportation, housing).  Moreover, “The Predator State” also explicitly calls out the problematic nature of big business (i.e., it’s too big and powerful, and being only concerned with short-term profits are almost inevitably predatory and criminal) contrasted against not-big-enough government.

What I especially liked was Galbraith’s insight into the forces that shape the economic world through time and space, like explaining what led to Japan and Germany’s economic strength in export-manufacturing through the 1970s and 1980s and what macroeconomic conditions precipitated the Internet/IT boom in the US through the 1990s.  In an oblique fashion, the sense that larger forces are behind the success of individual companies and countries matches the point of view of The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig (which I finished reading last month), where the “principles of success” of individual companies as studied by the popular business press are downplayed or debunked in light of larger forces including macroeconomic policies (i.e., the effect of “luck” or “right place at the right time” as opposed to effective management strategy).

Can’t wait to read more, and maybe re-read parts so I properly understand Galbriath’s argument against the obsession with US trade, current account and budget deficits.

The big Christmas to New Year’s holiday season is barely over and marketing has already shifted gears to focus on the next big date: Feb 14.  Of course, this year that’s both Valentine’s Day and also the first day of the lunar new year, so it’s big.

Today at 10pm, after an entire day of almost no food, I speed-walked a good mile to the nearest not-so-nearby McDonald’s and ordered a Mega Prosperity Burger upsized meal (and various other things, but we can leave that aside for now).  It’s a giant, double-beef-patty long sandwich with black pepper sauce and fresh onions, but that’s not the point.  The point is that it’s a Chinese/Lunar New Year offering that’s been launched even as Starbucks is still serving special holiday treats and I saw maintenance workers just starting to take down the boughs of faux holly in the mall.

And then yesterday I bought my first Louis Vuitton trinket of 2010, an adorable and probably utterly impractical coin purse/clutch shaped like a chicken!!  It’s part of the new Animaux collection that’s apparently meant to commemorate Valentine’s Day… and the collection was launched worldwide on 1 Jan 2010.

Source: ilvoelv.com

Isn’t it fantastic??  I *heart* hens!  Actually, there’s a more attractive “songbird” version in a lovely blue colour, but I had to get the chicken… of course!!  The LV website hilariously tries to justify this piece of frivolousness (after all, it’s based on toy animals that the Vuitton family used to make, supposedly) based on it’s practicality.  First of all, it’s called a “Bird Clutch”, as if it has any possibility of serving as an evening clutch bag – this is an item that would be hard pressed to hold a box of tic tacs, no joke…

From the LV website:

Inspired by the wooden toys from the 1950s found in our archives, the Bird Clutch is a playful design in glossy Monogram Vernis leather. A delightful gift idea as either a coin purse or a bag charm.

Size: 4.9″ x 4.5″ x 0.4″

-Large capacity for coins
-Room for several credit cards
-Golden brass chain to hook the coin purse to a D-ring
-Foam under patent leather for extra softness

PRODUCT ID: M91406

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Let me state for the record that I just tried, and not even one single standard sized credit card will fit in this “clutch”…  but I still love it!  And I guess many other people agree with me, because the hen is already out of stock online (on Jan 3), while the songbird is still available.

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In the past three days I’ve just about finished three books, so we’re off to a good start, at least.  And in three totally different genres too – a light-hearted breezy read about the world of fashion by a fashion journalist (The Meaning of Sunglasses), a pensive/sombre novella by Kazuo Ishiguro (A Pale View of Hills), and hopefully tonight I will wrap on the thoughtful critique of Harvard by former Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 (Excellence Without a Soul).

Reading the latter has really made me yearn anew for years past.  Or perhaps it’s just the comfortably fuzzy embrace of rosy nostalgia.