You can feel it everywhere. The TV ads all have soccer on them. The ads on the street. All the television shows, they all point to soccer. The feel this year has especially been enhanced with Australia’s qualification into the World Cup. The last time they were in the tournament was in 1974. Who will win? Brazil are favourites, but then again, there are so many superstars in various teams around the world who have qualified. It will be interesting.

Was watching TV at Vyanne’s place and there was a documentary on the origin of football. Apparently the Chinese invented it a few thousand years ago. Heh, something to do with kicking a sheep skin ball into a hole 5 metres high. The re-enactment felt slightly off, with the costumes looking like they were from the Song or Ming dynasty (the emperor’s “hat” had flaps).

It is a fascinating sport, football (or soccer, or whatever you call it). It took a while for it to evolve to its state today.

Just counting down to the opening ceremony tomorrow night. Swamped with a personal to do list. Heh, and trying to catch up with sleep as well.

Been sitting here for more than an hour already, shuffling through ideas and actions. Nothing concrete has come out of it yet. Liken myself to a mad scientist at the moment, with paper strewn across the floor and my desk.

Finally managed to get my work computer to connect from home and there is a slight satisfaction from seeing email pop up in my Inbox. Heh, want to spend a little time working in the New York and London time zones, so I can get some issues resolved a little quicker. Work is picking up a little, and while it’s still the same old things, it seems to make a little more sense now and being able to grasp the concepts on how things work is just quite exhilarating.

* * *

Flooded with spam on this website and if it wasn’t because my side blog would break if I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress, I’d have done it a while back. This is why I’m stepping up the process of redesigning my blog. Was looking at an online interview about a guy who learnt how to draw in 2 years, and I’m really impressed. I’ve been wanting to sketch an original piece of artwork for my website, but lack the know how to do so. I’ve been flipping pieces of paper, and the only things I remember how to draw date back to when I just started college. It does seem that when you grow older, you become fixed to certain ways of doing things. Am trying to break free of that mould now and see if I can ‘relearn’ how to draw from an artistic perspective.

I suppose the next design is too soon to feature anything thoroughly original from me. Heh, have some ideas, but will not try to be too ambitious at the moment.

* * *

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was still fretting on whether to take up the CFA course. The notes arrived a few days ago, for my colleagues who are taking it. If four phone directories don’t intimidate you, I’m not sure what will. Heh, the recommended hours allocated for studying should be 10 to 18 hours a week for 18 months. I’m thinking that’s 2 plus hours a day for 5 days weekly if you ever intend to finish up that kind of load. You could probably cram for the exam in the last 3 months before it happens, but cramming was never my ideal way of studying. Heh, it’s been quite a while, but generally for exams I tend to not study the day before the exam. By this time, if you are still trying to understand the concepts behind the theories, you might not have enough time to adequately figure it out (I also do believe that the mind has its own way of understanding things given time).

It is intimidating.

* * *

Vyanne has been destressing from her exams through cooking. Heh, been getting a lot of exotic meals of late. Today it was wild mushroom soup (a mixture of mushrooms, from the Swiss variety, to your everyday Australian variety, to the Chinese and Japanese varieties all mixed together) with meatball pasta. She likes the challenge of whipping something different and exciting in the kitchen. She is a good cook, the food is good, what more can I say?

* * *

Still sitting here idling and scheming. *minute update* Friend is stressed from exams. Engineering is one of those degrees that if you get through, I consider you to be quite amazing. I never understood how the lecturers could assign exams all back to back. 3 exams in a row, where is the time to loosen up and concentrate for the next paper? I am not a student anymore, and they say to enjoy life as a student while you can. They are right. And this is so wrong as well.

Money is better than poverty, if only for financial purposes. – Woody Allen

Spent the last hour looking at slightly different things, and not the usual camera/computer tech stuff.

Finally got round to checking my to do list on my O2 and it was about time I decided to fill up a form to donate something to charity. During the day I finished my first finance paper for this year, I was walking on my way to Borders at Melbourne Central when somebody stopped me in my tracks. Heh, it was for a charity, and having had my brain turned to mush, I stood by and listened to this guy talk about donating to a children’s charity. Usually I’d sidestep these volunteers and mind my own business.

Somehow I was persuaded to sign up to donate a monthly fee to this children’s charity (little persuasion was required). I think about these things at times, how there is a great divide in the world where some kids who have everything and don’t make the effort to better themselves because they have everything, while there are others who work daily to support their families with whatever meagre incomes they receive. They barely earn enough for one of my lunches, yet it’s that little amount that puts food on the table for an entire family.

I have always wondered about the welfare state, how in Western cultures, the unemployed are given handouts and this dependence makes them lazy. There is the current offset where they (the unemployed) are required to look for jobs and will only receive payments if they actively seek out a job. It is inherent in human nature, that there is envy, and people have a tendency to think they deserve anything and everything.

Back to me donating money. Heh, the form I signed was never implemented, due to a botch up in some of the details. Personally wondering if I can make a difference, and wondering whether my contributions will even get to be used for their intended purposes. You hear of charities syphoning off half your donation before it reaches the right hands, and even the best of intentions can be hampered by red tape in bureacracy.

Looking at taxes, personal income, personal financial management and foreign exchange stuff. Heh, not nearly as exciting as the next camera lens I want to own, but it has more value in daily life. Wondering if the world is becoming a little too materialistic, that we need to manage all these things, instead of just letting go and doing what feels right inside. Things in the world have become less abundant that we have to allocate them around. Then again, the world consumes more than it really needs just to keep up with getting that better quality of life.

Will send that small contribution out in the morning.