Only beauty to fill our souls

I have just read a sentimental article about ballet. I just simply love ballet and I  treat it as a therapy for stress relief probably. I learn music and I play piano but I don't think they affect me like how ballet does on me. To me, it is more than dance.

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What Is It About Ballet?

If you ask any one person what it is about ballet that they love so much you will get a million different answers. If the person you are asking is not a dancer themselves then you will hear them mention the beautiful costumes or the haunting music. Those who don’t dance are fascinated with the physical agility of the ballerina.

If you ask a ballet dancer what they love about ballet you will hear them speak of creative expression, discipline, self control, and enjoying the challenge of trying to reach the highest level of perfection in technique.

I have thought long and hard about this ballet thing trying to find the right words to describe just why ballet is adored by so many.

In this world we have a daily dose of negativity surrounding us from television news reports and newspapers. We know this world is full of ugly things; earthquakes, famines, murders, disease, poverty, and abuse.

Then we catch a glimpse of a ballet and suddenly we are transported away from all the negativity into a world of beauty, elegance, and grace. For that hour or two we can live in a joyous world, a creative paradise. No bad news, only beauty to fill our souls.

That is why I call the ballerina an angel. She brings a little piece of heaven down to the weary masses and gives us the gift of hope for a more beautiful world.

--From "Ballet Forever 

Just not good enough

Seldom I feel good about myself. I am not born with perfection or conditions that naturally make myself proud. I know I have flaws and there's time I even reject myself.

These days my heart has broken in some way- by disappointment, fear, rejection and ridicule. Everyday I try very hard to shape myself to be the one I desire to be. Everyday I just find I don't really look like myself. I pick up the sword and shield to fight for every challenges in order to keep my balance to move on. I don't even know how many weaknesses and sadness I could still hide underneath my mechanical bitter smile.

My friend always said " Why do you just give others blessings but not yourself?" 

I am a very protective person and it's  hard to break my wall and open my heart to anyone solely because I just feel I am not good enough and I don't want to get hurt again.

Indeed, the insecure feeling kills me.

Keep your smile

It has been years since I wrote my blog entry. Time flies, I am already a fresh graduate after undergoing my so-called 4 years of study in the university. I can admit I have changed quite a lot these years both implicitly and explicitly.

By the way, another journey is about to start. Everyone just told me being an accountant is never easy with long and tough hours of work and most probably I need to burn midnight oil to finish the job in the peak season and meanwhile sit for numerous examinations.

Though I am not sure whether it is the right track for me( hopefully yes), at least I am psychologically well-prepared for it. Just believe I can make it then. Frankly, I feel blessed to get into the company that I look for.

We never know what the future holds but we can trust who holds the future. Always believe and keep your smile. :)

Want to get away from the dilemma , find the answers and find myself

Since when, I have lost one of the most valuable things in my personality- passion, and didn't even realized it until emptiness filled up my pursuit of knowledge.

I am second majoring in marketing. What I am thinking may not be the same of yours...but I just want to voice my thoughts after taking 4 marketing courses in these 2 years...

Politely speaking, studying marketing is like studying the framework. Frankly speaking, marketing is just making up some "professional jargons" to each phenomenon and giving "professional" definitions to each term that even your mom knows. I can tell it is stupid to remember those contents because they are just commen sense! What I am looking for are implications and insights and that's why sometimes I am disappointed in the lectures. Chinese have long been refrained from thinking creatively which should be the most successful marketer does. But fine, Lady Gaga demonstrates the meaning of creativity to you. It is almost funny that you can get more from watching Lady Gaga's music videos than having the lectures.

My classmate said "May be we should focus on the framework, or model ofmarketing, which is good for planning, follow the model, step by step....."

Then I said "That's the problem! Being bound by the so-called framework and lose all the creativities and uniquenesses..."

My dearest Jo ma who is also second majoring in marketing said " I guess from the beginning, marketing is not about framework at all~ Nothing creative can be generalized from framework. Framework is just a tool/ guide to make you think. After all these 3 years, I think you can only be a good marketing students if you are exposing yourself to external sources, i.e. look at effective ads/ pr campaigns which companies do, and then build up on the idea/ twist it around, and then put it into your projects. The market is every changing, unlike other professionals, your marketing knowledge should be changing every single seconds, caused by your dynamic customers. If you are looking for a major of which the framework or knowledge on books are useful, I guess you've made a wrong decision?
"Chinese have long been refrained from thinking creatively" is such a stereotyping. There are so many creative and effective campaigns around you! e.g. vitasoy~ the point is whether u've look carefully and gain from your basic observation :)
Local adaptation is such a huge factor in successful marketing, if Lady gaga's mv is played on TVB, will it be appealing to the local customers?"

Maybe she is right, I am not observing carefully at all...or I am not qualified as a good marketing student?...I am not sure but I have to find the answers and also find myself as well...because I am just a bit lost when I was required to memorize those contents in the exams although they were not that difficult...I always question why I need to remember those stuffs. Maybe I am right also because my intention of majoring in marketing is just giving me more opportunities to train my presentation and communications skills but I also expect it can really give me some insights...maybe my expectation is too high or I am too dumb?

Btw, it will be good for me to go for the one-year placement espeically I am now with not many passions about my academic stuffs or even worse, burning the passion. I always ask myself  " what's the point of learning and remembering these and that ?" I just feel I cannot get as enough insights as I expect and this is the time for me to know how the things work in the real situation although my one-year placement is nothing about marketing but more about finance field. Anyway, I just want to give myself one year to clear up my mind and see whether I can view things differently after a year when I return to school to finish my year 3.

I am so bored... assignments, lectures, projects, meetings all  fill up my schedule everyday. I don't know whether they are part of the reasons why I have lost my passion.But the loss of passion will be burdened by myself eventually...I know it very well.

I really want to pick up my passion again.

《金錢之王》- 蔡東豪

《金錢之王》- 蔡東豪

This is the second well-written book of 蔡東豪 that I read. Actually, he is already a successful guy in finance industry. He interviewed 5 Money masters (葉維義、林少陽、鍾民穎、陸東和陳鎮洪)who are all famous investors in HK and wrote the book from the perspective of a knowledgeable insider. This book is awesome and interesting. Unlike other finance books teaching the skills, it illustrates and emphasizes more on people. It is always good to learn from others’ experience and know more about those working in the finance industry.

I actually find some similarities from those successful investors.

1. They are all men (Why? Men are more analytical? Quantitative? I don’t really know the reasons…)

2. They are filled with passions in their career path and are willing to face new challenges and changes

3. They are all self-disciplined not only in the aspect of investing but also in their daily life

4. There are no strict rules / theorem in investing, they all develop their own investment philosophies through their experience

5. They are all hardworking and acquire knowledge which is not restricted to only economics and finance, but also history/ literature

Among those 5 interviewees, I found that陸東is very charming. I am interested in his personalities because it is hard to see a person to be so confident like him or some may perceive that is arrogant. But I really like his speaking style: very precise, well-organized, and insightful. And he is the handsomest among all! (smile) Maybe I will soon become one of his fans.I will get his book -《智者傲行》to read later.

Btw, it is a good book. I highly recommend everyone to have a look and you will find it interesting even if you are indifferent about the finance field. I will read the 《金錢之王2》later.

I have had a good discussion with a friend who is now a manager working in the finance field and thinks that the academic finance stuffs are meaningless and not practical at all and I replied him with a different point of view. He said “我每日用隻手食飯,我個人無乜興趣同我同枱d人解釋我嘅二頭 肌同手指點配合！Hayley, 信我! 睇書學游水真係唔work ka！危急果陣會乜都唔記得! 你想學就搵d機會睇吓d實際操作la! “ And another finance guy ( maybe his colleague, I am not sure) said” 始終理論歸理論、實戰歸實戰…世事如棋局局新~~投資市場更要精準快到方能運籌唯握, 讀書係用IQ分析投資市場…但係投資致勝最緊要係EQ…反而呢家嘢讀書好難身同感受…始終善戰者勝！” Frankly speaking, I know why they said so and I agree with them because I am also a practical person. Compared with experienced and knowledgeable guys like them, it may not be so meaningful. But I am just a baby beginner and thus I am learning how to 二頭肌同手指點配合before 用隻手食飯…to me, it is not an impulse response…As an undergraduate, those must-learn things have to be handled and thus I can have something in mind to實戰 because it is deplorable if making mistakes that everyone can know from the books.

This is what I can do at this stage. If I have a chance to have a real taste of it, then it will be awesome because it is always true that learning by doing is much more powerful.

Points To Note:
-"Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise." - Ted Turner

-Investing through discipline

- value investing > the larger the margin of safety >low/fair price high value (value-price= margin of safety) > also focus on the future growth of company ( patience and time matter a lot) it is a framework/ the thinking guidance but not a strategy

-Warren Buffett > value investing > oxymoron and redundant (investing based on value and price, or else it is speculation

- the style of investing can reflect one's personalities

-" buy and hold "doesn't mean value investing> have to know when to long

-Law of big numbers

-the basic fundamental of hedge fund (a few fund managers have close relationships and knows the need of clients for asset management> will not be a big business) not absolute return but to reduce risk ( a business of people+trust initially)

- PEG price earning to growth ratio > high PE may have growth potentials ( the growth rate of revenue)

-Tony Measor is not willing to invest in retail companies which require the sense of fashion trend of the management, but invests in simple business which nuts can also manage

-index fund 2800 (low transaction cost)

- the components of a successful fund manager : framework, listening, cherry pick, mental strength> have to consider the overall performance of the investment portfolios instead of personal beliefs or a certain market tread

- " you can be right for the wrong reasons, or wrong for the right reasons" market trend is hard to interpret

- 林少陽 recommends not to buy IPO, red chips and he buys what he know best

-"Originally all short-term investors are all long-term investors, but human easily changes"

-陸東believes the power of market and the business cycle

-HK govt >preemptive instead of responsive> not visionary

- " 八萬五" is a failure>govt affected demand and supply > increased supply> price of property decreases > the supply exceeds demand >surplus> deflation > cannot help HK economy> so should depend on the market force

- "Balance Bubble" - work/life balance cannot help to achieve the goal as concentration, passion and time are required

-私募 Private Equity > invest in the investees - companies which are not listed on the stock exchange> internal growth/integration/acquisition of investees> private equity gain money if the investees are listed on the stock exchange/ sold

-venture capital funds (refers to new established enterprises usually in the IT field> look for long term investors （at least one to two years）> low liquidity> high risk enterprises> not more than 20-30 companies> consider the ability, visions, integrity of the management , growth rate, execution ability, rate to increase market share> not capital-driven companies> give financial support to new companies for their grow> earnings and get money after a few years when the companies are listed on the stock exchange market/ integrated/ acquired ( however, GEM stock market is not a good place> low liquidity and high risk and thus the fund managers are not willing to invest in those stick and the estimated value is low compared with the main board)

-3 stages of VC ( VC funds normally are invested at the first 2 stages)

-VC risk diversification > there must be losing and winning companies> as long as what can gain from the winning companies outweigh the loss form the losing companies will be fine

- C.f. 基礎投資者 ( less than 1-2 years before the companies issue IPO) > doesn’t belong to private equity investor

-Warren Buffett > not to solve difficult business problems but to avoid them > “ To the extent we have been successful, because we concentrated on identifying one-foot hurdles that we could step over rather than because we acquired any ability to cleat seven-footers.”

-when the VC is successful> whether the investors/shareholders hold similar point of views, same visions and similar wealth background, continuous supportiveness matter a lot