My Main Homeslice Nathan

I forgot to post this pic of Nathan, one of my main homeslices from Michigan. This is him and I in NYC, hours before my flight to Hong Kong. We had just had a beer at some little spot in Soho. And he was calling me a huge tool for carrying an umbrella. Apparently, it's not cool to carry an umbrella in NYC, especially anywhere south of midtown.

Wakeboarding in Hong Kong

Went wakeboarding today in the Donkey Kong with three friends. Daniel (white guy) and Young (Korean guy) are my co-workers and Jason (tan hapa guy looking over his shoulder) is just somebody I met partying. Here are some pics...

Coming up on 1 Month in the Kong

I've been working for a month now. And it hasn't been that bad. Monday through Thursday, I get off work between 10pm and 1am. Fridays, I've been able to leave at around 7pm, although I had a conference call at 9:30pm last Friday. (not money) And weekends have been relatively free. It seems like things are picking up a bit now, but it's not unbearable.

My apartment has been coming together slowly but surely as well. I started off with just a bed and a closet. Most of my clothes was on the floor and I would sit on my bed when I was in the apartment. Now, I have a sofa, a table, 4 chairs, a bookshelf. It actually feels like a home now. That'll be nice for the 2 hours I have at night to chill there before I go to sleep.

The social scene is HK is interesting. You can definitely do the clubbing thing and eat food at 6am drunk afterwards. There's also a super cool international more-bohemian scene in the "Soho" area. (not sure why it's called soho, since there's no Houston street) You can definitely find new cool small bars every time you go out. I've also managed to find a great place that plays good house music. And the food here is great. Let's see, what are the downsides of HK? Pollution, too crowded, bad teeth, <100% understanding of the local language...but whatever, I'm sitting in a cube all day anyway.

I wish I could upload some pictures, but given that I'm in the office right now, I'll do it later. Hope all is well with everyone.

Droppin' Barrells like Donkey Kong

So I've been here in Donkey Kong for a whole week now. It flew by. I basically arrived last Sunday, bought all the necessities and moved into my apartment, and started work at 8am on Monday morning. It has been somewhat stressful, because my apartment has literally nothing in it except for a bed. I don't even have a table or a chair. So everything is on the floor and right now, as I am typing this blog entry, I am also sitting on the floor.

Work is good. The people are reasonably chill and the projects are interesting. I've discovered where the ramen place, the fruit smoothie place, and the breakfast place are. These are some of the essential building blocks of getting through the 90 hour work week. Luckily though, my first week was pretty chill - I probably only worked about 80 hours. And I didn't have to go in this past weekend which was great, because I had to go buy a bunch of furniture. None of it is arriving till later this week though. So it'll be more floor-sitting for another few days.

I don't really have any pictures to post this time, because I feel weird about going into work and snapping up some photos. Can you just imagine that? "Boss, mind if I snap a few quick pics to put on my blog?" As he looks at me with a weird face and gives me some sh*t work to do as punishment. That would be funny...and not so funny at the same time.

Anyway, I spent most of the weekend hanging out with Alice, my British friend that I met in Beijing. She's pretty chill so we had a good time. Ikea is a hell hole though. I got a few things, but I think I'm going to check out more of the boutique places to see what's available. I saw a lounge chair in a storefront today and went in to inquire about the price. $40,000HKD = $5000USD. Damn...maybe when I make MD.

Anyway, I'm going to walk to the store now and buy some laundry detergent. Could be interesting when I get back since I have no idea how to use the laundry machine. Hope all is well with everyone.

Oh, last night, I chilled with Nathan Chan, the recently married total stud.

Pictures from New York

This is my friend Jessie with her eyes closed. Next to her is Debbie, the wife of Joe my co-worker at Lehman.
Some pictures from the Wu-Tang Clan concert that I went to by myself. I had two $10 rum and cokes and was buzzed, watching M-E-T-H-O-D Maaan go buck. It was fun and strange at the same time.






This is the flyer Will Kang made for the Say Bai 2 Lai party, my going-away from New York and the U.S. party. Cool, huh? I think I fit in quite well with the commie doggs.

I Heart Jersey City

I've been in New York for a week now and it's been great. We started Associate training last Monday. Meeting all the people in my start class has been really fun - there are tons of total ballers and it makes me feel dumb and unqualified. BUT, I am Asian and I must keep working and working and working. Haha.

The highlight of my stay in the NY area so far is Jersey City. The bank put me up in a hotel in the JC, because many of our training events are out here. When I heard about the hotel location, I was not looking forward to the long train ride into Manhattan and the fact that the word "Jersey" is in the name of the place where I live. But now, I really like it here and actually, if I ever come back to New York for work, I would definitely consider living in Jersey City. There are many beautiful watefront properties and the area is great for running. It is quiet at night and it always seems to be breezy, something I never experience in Manhattan. Of course, there is a serious dearth of cool bars and restaurants, but who knows, maybe I just haven't found them yet. The people just seem way more chill too.

Last night, I had dinner with Uncle Calvin and cousin Piu Yip in NYC. It was fun. Afterwards, we went to the Empire State Building...which took way too long because there were tons of tourists there. After Uncle Calvin and Piu Yip went home, I met up with Will to have a few drinks at Crime Scene. I ran into Kanika and her friend Maggie on the street. We went to B Bar with them which was cool. Pictures displayed.

Learning more about Lehman and investment banking in general has been cool too. I am excited to start work and I feel good about my career choice...even though some people think I am weird or money-hungry to choose this job. I actually am interested in the work and look forward to doing deals.

Ah well, this will be life for the next whatever number of years...forever? Who knows. 2 years at a time.

Audi 5Thou - Cupertino In My Rearview

I have officially left California. Right now, I am chillin' in the Detroit airport rockin' the wireless internet and waiting for my flight to New York La Guardia (pronounced LaGwaaahhhdia). It was kind of weird to leave. When I was packing, I kept thinking about what I could not bear to be without for the next X number of years, which was pretty much EVERYTHING. But after I took into account that Hong Kong is hot as hell, I quickly eliminated a bunch of sweatpants and sweatshirts. There are still a bunch of CD's and DVD's that I wanted to bring, but I guess I'll have to pick up my Ramones CD next time.

So on my last night, the characters were Lance, Cliff, and Arnie. We cruised to Duplex in SF to meet Daisy for her birthday party. Fortunately for us, she had a really hot black friend and a really cute sister. Unfortunately for us, we quickly became "shy Asians". Maybe in Hong Kong, the "shy Asian" disease will be overlooked because everyone will be a shy Asian. But then, all the Brit and Aussie dudes are going to come in and take our lunch money. Conclusion - it is never money to be a shy Asian. Just yell out "yeah son!" and start balling like you got 10 inches. (probably a direct quote from my friend Nathan who is rockin' out with his cockin' out in Buenos Aires)

Every time I am at the airport, which is quite often actually, I buy a copy of the Economist. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because I want to feel like an intellectual world traveler and that I need to be up to date with all the economic and political dealings of every freaking country in the world. What ends up happening though, is I read all the parts about the U.S. and maybe Asia and I skip all the stuff about the random "curreny deflation in Sudan" or whatever the f*ck else they have in there. I also like the fold the magazine in half length-wise, because then I feel like I've really dug into it and it's all wrinkled. When in actuality, the wrinkledness is forced and not due to any extensive reading I've done. What a poser I am. Even though I realize all of this, I continue to buy the Economist, because there is always this small small chance (like Dumb and Dumber 1 in a million small) that I will start to enjoy reading the random "recession in Laos" articles and it will begin a lifetime of worldliness. It's like that moment when you realize you enjoy drinking beer, like truly truly enjoy. I'm still waiting for that moment with the Economist.

Lastly, here is a picture of my really really cool cousin from Hong Kong. His name is Piu Yip and he is 14 years old. It's funny, because he is ridiculously tall and resembles Everett when Everett was younger. Right now, he's in LA with his uncle on the other side, but in September, he'll be back in Hong Kong, where the two of us will ball it up hard.

Oh wait, one more thing. I signed on an apartment in Hong Kong finally. It's the one with the view! Yes, the one I thought I had lost - it is now mine. Yeah son!