Resignation!

"No, not me, no, no!"

We had a meeting last Friday, and a very shocking news was announced, my colleague YS has resigned! It was shocking because he was meant for some form of likely promotion as far as we all know, and when that was announced it was quite unbelievable. Well, I am sure there is a background to the reason and perhaps I may not know it at all. Having said that, I had heard from other colleagues that YS has not been happy in the past years and he have been here for more than 5 years already. My personal experience dealing with YS also tell me that while YS is a reserved, quiet type of person, he also appears to be quite unhappy with a few things, not to the extent of overly expressive, but in a subtle sort of way, he will reveal to you. And I do get that from him.

As far as I know, this is the first permanent post of YS since his PhD. To me, he has a relatively even better background compared to me. Better and supportive colleague over here, as compared to me, not even the case at Aberdeen. Seeing colleagues you do research with, one after another quit their jobs, how bad can that be, and that is what I had experienced at Aberdeen. I did tell LF before, I might not be here long enough, but I am happy so far. Indeed, there is no heaven and one cannot expect heaven. Strictly speaking, who won't have complains, and honestly, that is normal. For some, I guess, they may be too haunted by their unpleasant past work experience, that they keep thinking they are "not getting the best deal" and they became easily unhappy after a while landing in a new job and that is sad. There will of course be unhappy thing or stuff we find "not as good" in the job, but as long as it does not overtake our personal life too much, I think it should be acceptable.

We cannot expect heaven, but we can create a heavenly environment surrounding different aspects of our life, So, Rain or shine, summer or winter, keep a smiling face, it held your spirits high and that bring you good vide. Good luck, YS, I hope you find new inspirations in your new job, wherever that is going to be. :D

The Singapore GE 2011: Apology, Social Media's war and the voting outcomes

"..... in the long term, Singapore will be fine. It is what you expect from it that matters."

The Singapore General Election 2011 had just taken place on the 7th of May. The current government taking charge by the People Action Party had ruled Singapore for more than 30 years now, only managed to gain 60.14% of the total votes cast by the people, that is a huge reduction compared to that in 2006 which was 66%. News has reported that the government will investigate into this. Being living in the UK for about 10 years now, I already cannot imagine how it felt like living in Singapore. I do visit Singapore every year and can sense the difference one year after another. Reading some the news report and after observations and evaluations, the followings are the three areas which I found are the most important coming out from this most recent Election.

1) Apology - It is refreshing to see and hear political leader saying "sorry". This is a first. I am sure in the earlier years of the political development of Singapore, this could never have happened. What does it mean and what this imply? In my opinion, while it is commendable that apology was granted, but somehow this was not done at the right time. And strategically, it was unsound. It certainly not act in the favor to say sorry in the midst of the election, whether it is late or not. The PAP paid a price here, I am sure. In a positive light, to be able to apologize show that the government is willing to take a step back and see the big picture and to move forward from there. Perhaps the relatively lower votes cast for the PAP is a blessings in disguise?

2) The war of the social media - There were arguments that the recent GE 2011 is becoming like a Social Media Election. This is quite a new idea. It just made you amazed how far technological leveraging can go. Now it even goes to the extent to potentially influence the outcome of an Election. Singaporeans are known to be a bit reserved coming to voicing one's comments. This, apart from the environment that most are brought up, is also the rather restrictive "freedom of speech" being practiced. However, the social media like facebook and twitters, open up a new platform for opinions and viewpoints to be transmitted at unbelievably high speed rate. What is to be noted is that, this helped people formulate thinking and thoughts and which is something, the politicians should not ignore.Therefore, when PM Lee claimed "he was a newbie " when replying to questions on facebook, he appeared so uncool! Unless the government totally banned social media's expression of opinions and points of view like in other countries such as China, social media is a bit of a challenge as "freedom" is totally "uncontrollable".

3) The voting outcome of Aljunied GRC - I often admired people who put in effort and take time to see things materialise and be patient about it. At time, you don't get it right, but you keep going and in the end you made it. On this note, I have my respect for the Worker Party who won this. I must also say it is a VERY tough job. Looking at how well the PAP ruled Singapore, but still missing out on important points. How well these are conveyed to the people, without appearing too over-the-top is a tough job to learn, especially in Singapore when "freedom of speech" must be taken with extra care, it made it hard to really have allowances for "errors", and the more I admired what the Worker Party had achieved. They certainly know what they are doing and what role they play. They convinced the people and they won their votes. They know the people.

I am sure in the long term, Singapore will be fine. It is what you expect from it that matters. So, if you expect "more voices" to represent you in the Parliaments and if that happened, will you be happy? At the end of the day, it is the attitude to life that matters, whether there are  "more voices", "less voices" or without voice, it really does not make big difference strictly speaking. However, things only change for the better and we should all feel hopeful about it. :D

Do you feel "older" today?

"we can do anything in any stage of our life, never mind our age...."

I was watching BBC2's The Graham Norton Show and saw Robert Pattinson on the show. He looks so dreamy and only 24 year old. I looked at him and I asked myself how long will that pretty face last? And I wonder how often he compared himself to his earlier years. But I think not often. He has his ego supported by his fans, who reminded him time and again that he is "charming", "gorgeous" and "good looking". I think for a normal person, no matter how young one is, one will still feel "older" because he will always be comparing himself/herself to the earlier year or ages. If everyone felt this way all his life, then we all feel the same at every stage of our life, i.e., we feel we are "older". Not many is as lucky as Robert Pattinson to have fans demanding, desiring him. However, the good news is, we are also "younger" at every stage of our life, if we can stop comparing ourselves to our earlier year. Some say age is just a number and that is correct.

It is, however, inevitable for one to want to look and feel good, and to me, acceptable as long as it does not go too over the top. That could be based on a different reason. Some obviously is for good look and nothing else. For me, keeping well and feeling good is more a reflection of one's healthy self-esteem. It is not so much of covering the fact that one has aged. There is a difference here. This is quite true and increasingly the case in recent years for me. Sometimes, you do however found yourselves a bit "carried away" and thinking about how young others were, and getting a bit "jealous" or "envy" (just a bit, a little). But then you think, we all had our equal share of our life, our up and down, our youth and our days, so it's fair. After many years, these current young kids will probably think the same about their younger peers. So, why should I bother or worry about it.

I know for sure, how I probably will turn out to look like many years down the road. So I am doing something to prevent myself going "too wrongly". Keeping fit and exercise and walking are all good practices, in which I am adopting. At the end of the day, it is not your age that matters anymore, it is what you do to your life that matters. Ironically, what matters to you the most in your life seems to make more sense the more experiences you accumulated over the years. Perhaps one day when you become wiser, you probably know what is best for you to do in your life, again it has nothing to do with how old you are. As long as we keep an open mind, you will always learn new things and become "relatively wiser" every minute and we can just do anything in any stage of our life, never mind our age.

How "dark" is a dark comedy?

"It's life and you got to take it or leave it, you either laugh or you cry......"

Have you not wondered before why this is so? We might be too concentrated on being entertained and forget about the meaning and implication behind those laughter. I especially felt about this when I watched "desperate housewives" this week. In this week's episode, Gaby was asked by Carlo to go for therapy, in which she is dreading it. Watching her trying to find all sort of excuses not to go for the therapy and not let Carlo know about it, was a bit of a good laugh.

Let's face it. Perhaps among the Americans or more precisely the celebrities, seeing therapy is no big deal. But then it could be a luxury for some. It was really funny to see that, Gaby, the character played by Eva Longoria, exclaimed to her husband that, "I like therapy, it's like a talk show". Obviously, she is saying this only to make her husband thinks she is obeying his instruction to go and "get some helps". Surely, therapy is not a joke and under normal circumstance, people would not see it as a laughing matter, perhaps people will talk about it or discuss relatively more openly these days, but won't be a joke (if you want to know the background with regards to this, you may watch the clip here. That comment was made in the 18th seconds).

Anyway, coming back to "dark" comedy. So, why do you call it a "dark" comedy then. I guess there is some therapeutic element here. Though some critics had claimed that "Desperate Housewives" is a bit too dark and sometimes a big exaggerating, I personally like the character of Gaby. She is calculative, attention seeking and argumentative. She was often portrayed as someone who like to take things the easy way, and a little selfish at times. In this episode, we learned that there's a reason as to why she is escaping the therapy. It is, to me, a very sensible reason, but you have to watch to find it out yourselves. All I can say is that, "dark" comedy brought out the problematic or sad parts in life, dramatize it and at times, though exaggerating, is worth a laugh. What left behind after the laughter is a reflection upon your own life, make you think, and you asked yourselves if that happened in real life, what would you do, would you laugh or cry. Well, a matter of choice.

Breathing space

".... stop procrastination entering my thought system...." 

Finally, I had the most challenging task taken off the lists of research I wanted to focus on. It was not easy and I am talking about this one with MW as discussed few days back. The tough part is though I wanted this to be done soon. I cannot be too pushy when pursuing this with MW. I have to subtle.What I did today was. I had a thought about what to do first. So I thought giving him a call and have a causal chat will be a good start. However, I cannot get through his line, so in the end, I sent him an email, carefully explaining to him why I think that housing paper is now about time to be sent off to Journal. I did that, and then I got a reply fairly quickly. Then I realized MW's mom was ill and that explains why he didn't contact me to meet up during the Easter break. MW asked for my updated version of the paper and I sent him one. So, in reply, I told MW I will call him tomorrow and have a good chat. I guess all these sounded friendly and I hope MW appreciate that.

Sometimes, I find that I need to feel the connection with someone before I feel I can work with someone on research. MW was actually quite fine. However, compared with JL, for example, he is a lot more less expressive and a bit too introvert, though he is very careful and throughout and detailed in what he do, which I thought was very good work ethics.

Now that the Easter breaks is over and back to the term time, I am slowly picking myself up. I began to feel to stop procrastination entering my thought system, I need to give myself lots of "breathing space" for me to sort myself out and get things done eventually. Today is a good example. It may not be productive, but it's effective. A task that is seemingly tough, just need a bit of "taking a step back" and "focus thinking" to decide what is best to do. I hope this time MW would give a little more attention to this paper and make some progress. Meanwhile, I must really get going and so must think about issue with other research.Those with JR and BB. They should be the agenda for tomorrow.

Get the engine started

"Yes, it works fine even with some mishaps...."

It's the bank holiday today and I already tried to get back to my normal work routine. So, it was waking up in the morning, going for a swim, then back doing dinner and then breakfast, and head off to office. I did what I planned out. I had a thought about tomorrow lecture and finding ways to improvise it and making it better (for the students) and started making copies and stapled them with the main lecture handouts. The day went on quickly. I even sort out the overseas voting matter with regards to the Singapore election, which appear to be taken up quite a bit of time. I then contacted JL in the afternoon about our research paper on bootstrapping. It was always nice and feel inspired chatting with him. He often appeared so energized and like a breath of fresh air. I also replied a couple of emails to students fixed some appointment later in the week.

The rest of the day in the office felt a little exhausted and I just didn't feel I can carry on with anything. However, I went through the stuff listed yesterday and think I should approach MW a bit tactfully. I want to be understanding towards him, but also not want to appear to be too pushy. I then decided that maybe I should re-read the revised paper I did with him and seriously think whether it is ready for submission and then sent hm an email to let him know. Perhaps that will be better.

I think I am doing quite well considering some mishaps happening recently. This time it is not just my fridge/freezer not working, but my shower is also having a problem. Put it in short, it is the temperature mixer that has a malfunction. But then, I can use the bath tap to run a mini-bath cum shower, since the boiler is working. I didn't let these matters affect me too much as I believe I had mastered a bit of the "focus" technique, which is why I can keep my attention at work in the day, which of course, more can always be done. I had just learned yesterday from Richard Carlson's "You can be happy no matter what" that "the less stress one experienced or displayed, the more receptive others are to our needs." This is important as I am going to report the incident to Nadine tomorrow. This should help since I had learned to take all these lightly or with a sense of humor.

At night, I had my dinner, played a bit of "bubbles" (which I also broke a record, so well done ME!) and had a couple of phone calls with friends, a bit of catching up and I already felt so contented, never mind the shower and the fridge/freezer problems. We should all looking forward to another better day and always trying to go on from where we stopped the previous day and never repeat things or procrastinate too often. As for some unrelated and existing problems, we should get them sorted, but they can also take care of itself. We can think of them, but not too much to affect us and get stressed about it.

Research Strategy

" .... my strategy is to keep an "equally weighted" research portfolio..."

This is the last Sunday evening of the 4 weeks Easter Break. From Tuesday onward, I will be back to the routine at work. I so much wish I had one more week of holiday. However, looking back, this had been a good 4 weeks break. I truly enjoyed it and had relaxed myself to large extent. A good mix of work and play, which I am pleased. Well, so what's in store for me start of the term then. A few things about research that I would like to complete or accomplish.

1) The bear and bull markets with BB - This must get sorted soon. BB has provided me a 6 page of the theoretical perspective of the issues involved. I must get the rest organized, including the empirical motivation and the structure of the paper.

2) The DEA Bootstrap paper with JL - JL was quite productive and already sent me an updated version in the email on Saturday. This paper was presented in the recent BAFA conference. However, he has claimed that the paper needs further contribution inputs and has kindly worked on it. I guess I need to give him feedback and at least get the first draft in a format suitable to be sent out to a Journal.

3) The Housing paper with MW - I am a bit heart-broken with this one. I worked with MW since I was at Aberdeen with him as colleague. He has since moved on to HW as Reader and then now at Nottingham Trent as Professor. We are so near to completion and sigh! following his recent move, this paper is being hung in the air and not getting anywhere. I need to give this a push and if not all efforts on this paper will be up in the air.

4) The German DAX option paper with JR - My former student has not come back to me about this paper, regarding the data sequence I asked him about. Again, this paper is so near to completion and just need his input. However, this is less complicated compared to 3), as I am in control o most of the time and can try and find a way round to get the problem sort out. This is another task on my list.

I had spoken about my strategy in research is to keep an "equally weighted" research portfolio just to keep the momentum going in order to be productive. The above 4 items are the current papers I am working at the moment. They are all in different stages. 3) and 4) are in my out tray, ready to go anytime. 1) needs some work to be classified as in the in-tray and 2) can be soon be thrown in the out-tray ready to be sent out. I like it when I have different things working on in different stages, that way I can invest different amount of time and efforts. I am more diversified and can be more efficient, as a result. Let's hope I can have a reasonably productive time spent on research when the term re-opens next week. :D