Author: karan

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Singapore Sling is pretty damn sweet

Singapore is one of those places that hits a sweet spot: urban, cosmopolitan, inexpensive, and all year round great weather. That is, as long as you come from a location which is none of these things, and you don’t mind the fact that 10 minutes outside at midday will have roughly the same effect as a Swedish sauna.  And inside the building is roughly the same as going outside in a Swedish winter.

Hmm, funny that.

No, seriously, Singapore was good fun. So much fun I didn’t even think to blog about it,  and indeed still am very much in that kind of chill mood. I love the place and could very well move there with little qualms, what with it being pretty much in the centre of Asia, and English speaking to boot with a sensible currency (AU$ 1 = SG$1.20ish so it’s not like things are too different). The people are warm and friendly and taxis to get anywhere in the city centre cost about $4, which is entirely reasonable and ultraconvenient.

Somewhere between the 4 days of training, of which only two and a half were truly useful, we managed to get in a lot of food, drinking and partying, so I’d have to say it was the most fun I’ve had since my London trip last year =) I only wish we had more time!

Photos, or at least those that survived a mysterious and unexplained formatting, are on PicasaWeb or Facebook.

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Disclaimer: I work for Deutsche Bank

Quick work related updates:

  • Going to Singapore next week for graduate program training, so updates might be thin on the ground, time and internet access permitting.
  • Second rotation is 95% set for London, leaving around May as work projects permit. Will be there roughly till the end of the year.
  • If you want to apply for the Deutsche Bank graduate program and are graduating next year, get in quick: applications for Australia close next week, Wednesday 28th. I highly encourage anyone to do so: we take grads from all types of course, from the obvious Finance/Accounting/Economics majors, to the support service oriented IT and Law course, to the less obvious Engineering grads – it’s all about finding solutions. And you may have heard my stories of the London training, so I don’t think I need to encourage you more =) Either way, the application process is good practise.
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Question

Ladies –

If in response to:

“Do I look fat (e.g. in this dress)?”

… which we all know is a loaded question, a guy, presumably your boyfriend, was to reply:

“No, there’s just more of you to kiss.”

… would he get away with it?

Cheers,

Karan.

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Movie Review: Stranger Than Fiction

This is a story about a man and his wristwatchwe’re told by the narrator. Harold Krick is a mild-mannered everyman who works at the IRS (the American Tax Office). He goes about his daily life like clockwork, until one day…

Ah, a twist. Cue standard plot device.

Well, it’s hard to say if the over-arching plot rises above the standard – mild-mannered man, influenced by outside factor/plot twist turns his life around – the trick here is that it all gets a little Kaufmann-esque: Harold starts to hear his narrator. And the narrator tells him that he will soon die.

I was going to describe this as a “cute movie”, but then again I’m not entirely sure what I mean by that. I like these kind of meta-stories where things get a little stranger than usual [ed: allusion not intended], and Stranger than Fiction fits right into that style. There are places where it could have gotten more creative, but that’s only a “perfect world” scenario.

Will Farrell plays straight-laced excellently, though I can imagine Jim Carey pulling it off just as well (as long as somebody kept him in check). Maggie Gylenhall is cute, eventually, as the love interest, and Dustin Hoffman pulls off a brilliant professor. Emma Thompson looks sufficiently haggard, suiting her role perfectly, but Queen Latifah is about the only actor that really misses – more because of her character not being given anything to work with, merely acting as a facilitator for plot points.

Good movie, worth watching on DVD.

★★★☆

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The Melbourne Report

Boy, have I been lazy around here… was in Melbourne over the weekend for Nathan’s wedding, but before that, a few growls:

  • Argh, Qantas is supposed to be a full-service airline right? So why do I not get a choice of meal, or some other snack, if the only meal offered contains something I’m alergic to? I can understand them not having alternative meals unless specifically requested – though I’ve never had a problem before – so I asked for a snack, some pretzels maybe, instead, they said “Ok we’ll get it for you from the back.” No acknowledgement later that any such request was made. Even Jetstar gives you better service than that.
  • Melbourne’s looking a lot… browner than I remember. It’s been raining fairly steadily up here, and the lawns are green, so maybe that’s a factor, but it was the other way around just 6 months ago.
  • Melbourne also feels more… European, especially around the new Southern Cross station (I like it; it’s fresh and open). Pleasant surprise that makes me a little bit more favourably disposed to it =) Pity about the weather.
  • Melbourne drivers…! Gah! Give way fercryin’outloud! Sydney’s roads may suck, but at least people know how to behave on the road.

On a more pleasant note! Nathan’s wedding was excellent. Scary to think of friends getting married, but it was a great evening that wasn’t bogged down in any major formalities (yay!). The location was perfect (apart from being an hour and a half away from the city), the dinner excellent, the bride beautiful (it’s like weddings have this special halo that makes the bride & groom look especially flash). Nathan should put up photos at some point, so I’ll link to it, but y’all really did miss out =P

Nathan did however point out that we were coming up to 5 years out of school. Did not want to dwell on that. (Did you ever make goals to tick off? I’ve got through half of my 5-years-out-of-school goals – a job and to have travelled – but a new car and girlfriend, sadly, remain unticked. Halfway to the new car though!)

And then afterwards – making it back to the city in doublequick time! – went to a long-delayed 21st and caught up with a bunch of people from CompSci/SoftEng. Everyone’s in jobs, which is cool because there’s no awkwardness, and we were able to pick up nearly where we left off.

All in all, a good trip that was much too short for the fact that I missed out on meeting so many other people =/ Will try to come down one more time before heading off to London, if possible – an excuse would be great ;)