I finally gave in and bought some olive oil and pepper. It added flavour to my pasta dinner. Just a little tired of living in such a minimalist state.

NYC is quite a nice place to live in. As long as you can cover your rent, you are set to go. Well, that’s what people tell me anyway. I miss Victoria market and the Asian grocery store in Chinatown. I haven’t really found any equivalent here in NYC at the moment. It’s so vast, you could just be 2 steps from an area in town and never ever set foot in it. I miss cooking, or just eating with friends to talk about nothing remotely important.

I’ve been exposed to a more lavish lifestyle here. Wine and fine dining seems routine as there is plenty of opportunity to meet with investors or the prime brokerage people. I just feel out of place at times, with people talking about their ideas on trading the various exotic derivatives or just normal bonds/stocks. I listen but without any background, you only get a partial idea of what they are talking about.

* * *

I’ve gone back to putting a little attention to this website. Heh, I haven’t changed the design since I started working full time. I always flirted with the idea, but my ideas were dustbin bound after a bit as I was trying to break out of the normal mould that I’ve been doing. Been listening to a lot of classical music lately, so that’s helped with spurring some ideas.

Heh, just feel like an imposter at the moment. Stepping out of character on almost every aspect since I started working here. Trying harder to meet people and engage in conversation. Part of the job also requires interacting with people to get things fixed. Heh, I recall I was always hesitant with picking up the phone and would only use it as a last resort if email was too slow or things weren’t moving. It still is but I don’t idle too long now to do it. Has my job made me more confident? I don’t know, it could just be roleplaying, where you are empowered to ask questions as part of your job function. It is a very different culture here and people are generally outspoken, so it’s probably why I find it easier to speak up. Heh, well I guess Australians are pretty sociable too but it was blending into that background from Malaysia that made me a little more reserved. I’m just using what i’ve learnt in Australia out here and so far it’s been working out well.

Looking forward to the weekend to just escape it all. Learning so much at the moment that eventhough I’m fine absorbing it all, it’s just overwhelming to process it all. Just want to chill out.