It's now less than a year until I turn 30. Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to:
Meeting new people
I really like continually new people. Years of experience meeting a lot of people makes it a lot of fun now - I know I can learn something from everyone I meet. I can look forward to meeting more people with good stories to tell, with something to contribute to world. I now know that where-ever I am, in whatever situation, there are people I can connect with. Currently I spend the most time with people my age and that live in my area. I need to spend more time with some different people - young people have good energy and new ideas for me, and old people offer some good stuff.
Career
Being 30, I've built up some good skills and networks so I can make a bigger and better contribution to the world. The best thing I like about working and life in general is setting up the scene so that people can work as a team to do something great. I'd especially like to get volunteers working together. My friends are building up some seriously good skills now in their careers, and I hope to link them into some volunteer work, hopefully with me.
Learning and knowledge
Wouldn't it be cool to be some kind if '-ologist'? My profession as a Health Manager doesn't quite feel like an expertise. If I ever got really bored I could always do a PhD. Unlikely though, but always there as an option. Those evening colleges are pretty good now too - a lot of online learning is available. Books are cheap too, and it is possible to learn practical skills from a book. My friends are getting quite good at what they do, and some pursue their interests also. Therefore another learning resource for me.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
5 things in a decade that changed my life
1. Living in Laos
This changed my perspective in an unbelievable way. I learned to let things go. I relaxed and learnt that being happy comes from social connections. I simplified my life. I became atheist.
2. University
I learnt so much during the first two years of university. The critical thinking and the ability to use information to make decisions consciously made me feel smarter. That and the friends I met too.
3. Travelling alone
I learnt to enjoy my own company. I also became more confident in talking to strangers, and make connections with travellers and others abroad. This has really paid off because I still can't find people to always travel with or even do things in Sydney with, so I need to do it alone. But really I discovered I'm never entirely alone, people that are happy to connect with me are everywhere, even under significant language barriers!
4. Working in a prison
I discovered a whole new section of society I had never seen. It makes me more curious about what's around me, and that things are not quite what they seem. The prisoners work making sandwiches, packing the salads for Woolies and QANTAS when I was working there.
5. Love
Fun to have someone you can rely on and do stuff with!
This changed my perspective in an unbelievable way. I learned to let things go. I relaxed and learnt that being happy comes from social connections. I simplified my life. I became atheist.
2. University
I learnt so much during the first two years of university. The critical thinking and the ability to use information to make decisions consciously made me feel smarter. That and the friends I met too.
3. Travelling alone
I learnt to enjoy my own company. I also became more confident in talking to strangers, and make connections with travellers and others abroad. This has really paid off because I still can't find people to always travel with or even do things in Sydney with, so I need to do it alone. But really I discovered I'm never entirely alone, people that are happy to connect with me are everywhere, even under significant language barriers!
4. Working in a prison
I discovered a whole new section of society I had never seen. It makes me more curious about what's around me, and that things are not quite what they seem. The prisoners work making sandwiches, packing the salads for Woolies and QANTAS when I was working there.
5. Love
Fun to have someone you can rely on and do stuff with!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Why I don't want to buy property
It's common for people to want to buy a property when they're about to hit 30. Not me, and here's why.
*It's extremely inflexible investment. I think one of my advantages to advance my career is that I'm flexible. The more flexible I am, the better my career and earning potential. Having to worry about a paying off a house and being in a fixed location would be bad for my career.
* The Economist has explained that houses in Australia are overvalued. I read the article, and it makes sense to me. Logically I can't bring myself to buy something so overvalued.
* People on average spend 7x their annual income on a house. That's so much money it's not funny. Working for 7 years to buy a material good isn't my idea of fun.
* I'm a snob and unless I can own a piece of land in Sydney's inner west, I'm not interested.
* I think government policies that fiddle with housing demand and supply are ridiculous, I understand that the home owners grant simply makes people bid up the price of houses. This only benefits the seller. I refuse to buy into that. Sadly, I think that the government will need to continue to create policies to inflate house prices. If the house prices go down, that government will surely be out.
* I actually don't think it's a good investment. The interest rate is 5.25% at the moment. I'm not convinced I can beat that, with a risk premium. People get excited about house prices doubling. But for the record, at interest rate 4%, it takes 17 years 8 months to double your money. At 5%, it's 14 years 5 months, 6% it's 11 years 11 months and 7% it takes 10 years and 7 months.
* I would find it personally negligent to make such a huge financial decision without appropriate information. Say I spend 2 hours trying to find a $100 dress. To spend $300,000 I'd need to spend the proportionate time or at least a huge chunk of personal time, that is, hours and hours. To get enough information to comfortably make this decision, I'd need to look at something like 50 properties, spending numerous hours doing so. I would not enjoy this. I suppose I could employ a property buyer.
The upside of buying property
* Tax avoidance because your principal place of residence is tax free, as opposed to interest. But I hate the tax system for the ability to avoid tax, so again, I don't buy into this. I haven't checked out the Henry tax reform details, but hope it stops this distortion in the system. This absence of tax might mean investment might go elsewhere and house prices could go down.
* You own your own thing, and can pretty much do what you want. But problematic neighbours could be an issue.
*It's extremely inflexible investment. I think one of my advantages to advance my career is that I'm flexible. The more flexible I am, the better my career and earning potential. Having to worry about a paying off a house and being in a fixed location would be bad for my career.
* The Economist has explained that houses in Australia are overvalued. I read the article, and it makes sense to me. Logically I can't bring myself to buy something so overvalued.
* People on average spend 7x their annual income on a house. That's so much money it's not funny. Working for 7 years to buy a material good isn't my idea of fun.
* I'm a snob and unless I can own a piece of land in Sydney's inner west, I'm not interested.
* I think government policies that fiddle with housing demand and supply are ridiculous, I understand that the home owners grant simply makes people bid up the price of houses. This only benefits the seller. I refuse to buy into that. Sadly, I think that the government will need to continue to create policies to inflate house prices. If the house prices go down, that government will surely be out.
* I actually don't think it's a good investment. The interest rate is 5.25% at the moment. I'm not convinced I can beat that, with a risk premium. People get excited about house prices doubling. But for the record, at interest rate 4%, it takes 17 years 8 months to double your money. At 5%, it's 14 years 5 months, 6% it's 11 years 11 months and 7% it takes 10 years and 7 months.
* I would find it personally negligent to make such a huge financial decision without appropriate information. Say I spend 2 hours trying to find a $100 dress. To spend $300,000 I'd need to spend the proportionate time or at least a huge chunk of personal time, that is, hours and hours. To get enough information to comfortably make this decision, I'd need to look at something like 50 properties, spending numerous hours doing so. I would not enjoy this. I suppose I could employ a property buyer.
The upside of buying property
* Tax avoidance because your principal place of residence is tax free, as opposed to interest. But I hate the tax system for the ability to avoid tax, so again, I don't buy into this. I haven't checked out the Henry tax reform details, but hope it stops this distortion in the system. This absence of tax might mean investment might go elsewhere and house prices could go down.
* You own your own thing, and can pretty much do what you want. But problematic neighbours could be an issue.
Nelson Bay and Ritual
Four of my friends and I rented a house in Fingal Bay, near Nelson Bay at Port Stephens this weekend. It was $400. It took 4 hours to drive there on a Friday evening, counting a Maccas stop at Wyong on the F3 and getting out of the Sydney traffic.
The Saturday was Sydney's hottest day on record, so we managed to avoid that and spend it on the beach at Fingal Bay. We spent a couple of hours walking all around the bay, mostly in the water and playing with lots of hermit crabs. I love the sea wildlife and hope it doesn't disappear. It's a beautiful bay with quite white sands, whiter than Sydney, but not as white as Jervis Bay.
For dinner we managed to get a table at Ritual Restaurant. It is a molecular gastronomy restaurant, and it was a lot of fun. We started with a garlic fairy floss on a rosemary stalk. There were numerous small items to taste from collecting spoons off the wall, as well as three main courses. The dinner was based on the Dorothea MacKellar's poem 'My country'. To select each main course, they gave you two spoonfuls of flavour to taste and depending on which spoon you like, that is the main course you get. Some examples of tastes: strawberrry spritz, strawberry sheeshah, pork crackling and plum, blue cheese. Tom yum soup encased in an egg shaped gel with a prawn inside. I had parsley sorbet as a palate cleanser, and the after dinner mint was a frozen scoop of sorbet.
We shared our courses so we could try both of them they had on offer. The entree was pork with cherry, with eel crackers, chocolate sauce and smoked eel on a cracker. The other one was kingfish with different tempura coatings, with different fish roe in circles around the plate. The main was rabbit roulade with root vegetables which was very tasty. The other main was a stuffed lamb chop, a strip of lamb, organic lentils with finely chopped mushroom - again very tasty. For dessert, my flavours were harissa, cardamon and rhubarb. There were a few flavoured 'gels' ie agar jelly, and some biscuits, creamy stuff. The other dessert looked spectacular! A lolly pop coated in coconut. A
I haven't had matched wines before with a meal. I didn't get much of a sense of how they matched the wine, but definitely enjoyed trying new wines. This was a really fun experience, and really, what is better than sitting around for 5 hours eating and drinking with friends? We spoke to the chef and he told us his wife who is scientist encouraged him to cook in this creating style, and will experiment with engaging mores senses in the future. The restaurant sits 16 people - very labour intensive. Initially the restaurant was a risk venture. I was inspired, in future I won't be afraid of trying new flavour combinations in future, if only 2 or 3 flavours.
The Saturday was Sydney's hottest day on record, so we managed to avoid that and spend it on the beach at Fingal Bay. We spent a couple of hours walking all around the bay, mostly in the water and playing with lots of hermit crabs. I love the sea wildlife and hope it doesn't disappear. It's a beautiful bay with quite white sands, whiter than Sydney, but not as white as Jervis Bay.
For dinner we managed to get a table at Ritual Restaurant. It is a molecular gastronomy restaurant, and it was a lot of fun. We started with a garlic fairy floss on a rosemary stalk. There were numerous small items to taste from collecting spoons off the wall, as well as three main courses. The dinner was based on the Dorothea MacKellar's poem 'My country'. To select each main course, they gave you two spoonfuls of flavour to taste and depending on which spoon you like, that is the main course you get. Some examples of tastes: strawberrry spritz, strawberry sheeshah, pork crackling and plum, blue cheese. Tom yum soup encased in an egg shaped gel with a prawn inside. I had parsley sorbet as a palate cleanser, and the after dinner mint was a frozen scoop of sorbet.
We shared our courses so we could try both of them they had on offer. The entree was pork with cherry, with eel crackers, chocolate sauce and smoked eel on a cracker. The other one was kingfish with different tempura coatings, with different fish roe in circles around the plate. The main was rabbit roulade with root vegetables which was very tasty. The other main was a stuffed lamb chop, a strip of lamb, organic lentils with finely chopped mushroom - again very tasty. For dessert, my flavours were harissa, cardamon and rhubarb. There were a few flavoured 'gels' ie agar jelly, and some biscuits, creamy stuff. The other dessert looked spectacular! A lolly pop coated in coconut. A
I haven't had matched wines before with a meal. I didn't get much of a sense of how they matched the wine, but definitely enjoyed trying new wines. This was a really fun experience, and really, what is better than sitting around for 5 hours eating and drinking with friends? We spoke to the chef and he told us his wife who is scientist encouraged him to cook in this creating style, and will experiment with engaging mores senses in the future. The restaurant sits 16 people - very labour intensive. Initially the restaurant was a risk venture. I was inspired, in future I won't be afraid of trying new flavour combinations in future, if only 2 or 3 flavours.
Weddings, Sydney, Australia circa 2010 - 2011
Weddings are an interesting social phenomenon. There are some observations and trends I find quite interesting.
Engagements, hens and bucks parties
*Engagement parties are a good excuse for a party, and fairly casual.
*As for hens and bucks parties - anything goes! Recent examples of activities for hen's parties include: wine tasting, lingerie party, high tea.
Invitations
*Most people like to do this themselves these days with the availability and ease of desktop publishing. It has allowed for a lot of personalisation of invitations.
*People are mainly expected to respond by email, by phone or in-person these days for convenience, and sending RSVP cards with the invitation are probably about to stop all together.
* Invitations about three months before the wedding, but will inform you of the date as soon as possible when they have they have picked a date. Invitations may be sent out with more notice in future as Sydney people get even more busier.
The marriage ceremony
My observation is that having a ceremony in the park is still the most popular, avoiding the heat in the middle of summer or the cold in the middle of winter
*The couple selecting their own vows is popular
*Generally, there are two bridesmaids
*Church weddings are out, celebrants are in
*People still opt for 'traditional' rings, a diamond for their engagement and a plainer band for the ceremony
*Brides wear white or there-abouts. My Chinese relatives often do a costume change to something red at the reception.
The reception
*No-Asian Australian women do like to personalise or colour theme their wedding reception, in contrast to Asian weddings which I think don't value wedding individuality in the same way.
*My Chinese relatives still tend to have their wedding receptions at Chinese restaurants.
*Wedding cakes have become very simple, with a plain butter cake or chocolate cake, 1-2 layers only, plain white icing and a simple decoration on top.
*Dancing is not mandatory - slide shows are more popular
*Wedding cars are still in, but not essential, the same as for decorative flowers.
The gift
This for me is one of the most fascinating parts of the wedding thing! These days, cash as a wedding gift is king again. My family is Chinese and am used to giving cash, because it pays for the wedding and is practical. Non-Asian Australians use the euphemism 'wishing well' if they want cash and include a poem about the wishing well on their invitation. I thought this 'wishing well' was metophorical, but saw a physical wishing well at the wedding reception. I think it will take 5 years before couples won't need to put a poem on their wedding invitations to ask for cash.
Couples often have a gift registry while still asking for cash. This is because there are still a fair proportion of people still offended by being expected to gift cash. I expect the proportion of people to be offended by cash to drop significantly in the next few years.
I'm not expecting to see Myer and David Jones gift registries from here on. For decades people would have been happy to furnish their house with goods from these two department stores. As we get wealthier, and want to be more unique with the availability of internet shopping I think internet gift registries with anything and everything will be the only type.
The guests
*Guests try to dress as the style of the ceremony and dictates, eg garden weddings tend to be more casual
*Black for women is an acceptable to wear
*Guests are expected to eat, dance and have fun, drink but not get too drunk
That's all I have to say about weddings.
Engagements, hens and bucks parties
*Engagement parties are a good excuse for a party, and fairly casual.
*As for hens and bucks parties - anything goes! Recent examples of activities for hen's parties include: wine tasting, lingerie party, high tea.
Invitations
*Most people like to do this themselves these days with the availability and ease of desktop publishing. It has allowed for a lot of personalisation of invitations.
*People are mainly expected to respond by email, by phone or in-person these days for convenience, and sending RSVP cards with the invitation are probably about to stop all together.
* Invitations about three months before the wedding, but will inform you of the date as soon as possible when they have they have picked a date. Invitations may be sent out with more notice in future as Sydney people get even more busier.
The marriage ceremony
My observation is that having a ceremony in the park is still the most popular, avoiding the heat in the middle of summer or the cold in the middle of winter
*The couple selecting their own vows is popular
*Generally, there are two bridesmaids
*Church weddings are out, celebrants are in
*People still opt for 'traditional' rings, a diamond for their engagement and a plainer band for the ceremony
*Brides wear white or there-abouts. My Chinese relatives often do a costume change to something red at the reception.
The reception
*No-Asian Australian women do like to personalise or colour theme their wedding reception, in contrast to Asian weddings which I think don't value wedding individuality in the same way.
*My Chinese relatives still tend to have their wedding receptions at Chinese restaurants.
*Wedding cakes have become very simple, with a plain butter cake or chocolate cake, 1-2 layers only, plain white icing and a simple decoration on top.
*Dancing is not mandatory - slide shows are more popular
*Wedding cars are still in, but not essential, the same as for decorative flowers.
The gift
This for me is one of the most fascinating parts of the wedding thing! These days, cash as a wedding gift is king again. My family is Chinese and am used to giving cash, because it pays for the wedding and is practical. Non-Asian Australians use the euphemism 'wishing well' if they want cash and include a poem about the wishing well on their invitation. I thought this 'wishing well' was metophorical, but saw a physical wishing well at the wedding reception. I think it will take 5 years before couples won't need to put a poem on their wedding invitations to ask for cash.
Couples often have a gift registry while still asking for cash. This is because there are still a fair proportion of people still offended by being expected to gift cash. I expect the proportion of people to be offended by cash to drop significantly in the next few years.
I'm not expecting to see Myer and David Jones gift registries from here on. For decades people would have been happy to furnish their house with goods from these two department stores. As we get wealthier, and want to be more unique with the availability of internet shopping I think internet gift registries with anything and everything will be the only type.
The guests
*Guests try to dress as the style of the ceremony and dictates, eg garden weddings tend to be more casual
*Black for women is an acceptable to wear
*Guests are expected to eat, dance and have fun, drink but not get too drunk
That's all I have to say about weddings.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Future skills
I'm going to have a look into the crystal ball here and think about what I might be future career might be like based on demand and supply (me). I'll have a look on the supply side first, ie me. I have an undergraduate degree in Resource Economics and a Masters in Health Services Management. I now have 6-years post graduate work experience in the health, government and NGO sectors, one of which was in SE Asia. I don't envisage myself doing a PhD, but may consider doing another university degree or further study with my professional college if I can see a demand for this. I enjoy working both in health, and am willing to work in the government, NGO and private sector. I have the potential to use my skills in economics more.
Now I'll consider the demand side. I will stay in the health sector because it is growing sector where work will be available. Plus I like working with people, I know it well enough now and know the people. Aged care will increase in the future, and maybe when it gets to a stage where it's big enough to hire more support/ corporate people that's when I might work - 15 years maybe? I think people will demand more information, eg from websites and the ability to write well will be important. Communicating this way still has a lot of potential for productivity eg admissions and discharge information, where people can log in and view their health information. I may be directing this in future.
I think as Australia becomes more populous and even wealthier, people will demand more health care, medical and surgical procedures like in the United States. This may not be my favourite thing to do, but would enjoy doing this temporarily. There is a chance that as developing countries become wealthier, they may need some advice from overseas, which I might be able to provide. The more populous the country, I'm not sure whether we'll have the issues of drugs and crime maybe related to social disconnection. I hope not, so I predict I won't be working for decades on end in this sector. I think with the communication and organisation tools available on the internet that assist with productivity, it is important to keep up. Otherwise it would be very possible to be unproductive compared with your younger colleagues.
The conclusion? So I suppose my future career is likely working in a support role in aged care or hospitals. Probably more likely to be in the private sector than ever. Now what should I do? I need to work on using those electronic tools that assist with productivity and discovering new ones, and keep my communication and information management skills up-to-date with the times. I'm learning to micro blog at the moment. It's probably good to keep up-to-date with politics. I think the way we use internet that there may be a general drop in the level of people skills and therefore more valued. I'd better keep those up too. I would like to become an expert at all of this and become a consultant toward the end of my career, hopefully with friends/ peers who I enjoy working with in the industry.
I'll have to look back at this for years to come to see how much of this is right or wrong.
Now I'll consider the demand side. I will stay in the health sector because it is growing sector where work will be available. Plus I like working with people, I know it well enough now and know the people. Aged care will increase in the future, and maybe when it gets to a stage where it's big enough to hire more support/ corporate people that's when I might work - 15 years maybe? I think people will demand more information, eg from websites and the ability to write well will be important. Communicating this way still has a lot of potential for productivity eg admissions and discharge information, where people can log in and view their health information. I may be directing this in future.
I think as Australia becomes more populous and even wealthier, people will demand more health care, medical and surgical procedures like in the United States. This may not be my favourite thing to do, but would enjoy doing this temporarily. There is a chance that as developing countries become wealthier, they may need some advice from overseas, which I might be able to provide. The more populous the country, I'm not sure whether we'll have the issues of drugs and crime maybe related to social disconnection. I hope not, so I predict I won't be working for decades on end in this sector. I think with the communication and organisation tools available on the internet that assist with productivity, it is important to keep up. Otherwise it would be very possible to be unproductive compared with your younger colleagues.
The conclusion? So I suppose my future career is likely working in a support role in aged care or hospitals. Probably more likely to be in the private sector than ever. Now what should I do? I need to work on using those electronic tools that assist with productivity and discovering new ones, and keep my communication and information management skills up-to-date with the times. I'm learning to micro blog at the moment. It's probably good to keep up-to-date with politics. I think the way we use internet that there may be a general drop in the level of people skills and therefore more valued. I'd better keep those up too. I would like to become an expert at all of this and become a consultant toward the end of my career, hopefully with friends/ peers who I enjoy working with in the industry.
I'll have to look back at this for years to come to see how much of this is right or wrong.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
More money, more what?
I have had some significant changes in income levels, and thinking take a look into what's changed in my life. Travel, accommodation, social activities, goods and services - what has changed? When I graduated and started full time work, I got a whole lot more money. I lived in Laos for a year, and my purchasing power increased. When I came back home, having had some work experience by income went up again. I don't get paid huge dollars as I've now mostly worked in NGOs, but live very comfortably and don't really need more money to keep up my current lifestyle. I'd be quite happy to keep the lifestyle I have with the same incomae.
My overseas travel, I think, has remained quite similar to when I was a student. I still backpack when I go overseas, but now I have less time I pay for Intrepid tours to help me get from place to place. I still choose Asia as a destination because I love it and it's cheap. As long as I don't have a desire to go to Europe or the US, I'll be fine. I have been able to afford more weekends away and short trips within Australia, booking hotels at Wotif.com when I go for about $100 a room, this has probably been quite a significant improvement to my lifestyle come to think of it.
Accommodation-wise, I still pay the same rent as I first did when I moved out of home, marginally more. In Laos I paid little rent, and this allowed me to have a lot more disposable income. I think this is still a good money saving strategy. Life would be very different if I had to pay off a property, hence I'm not very keen to buy one. It wouldn't suit my current flexible lifestyle, and am not convinced it would make me happier.
As for social activities, I think an increase in income has made a bit of a difference. Mostly theatre, comedy, and eating out, probably drinking more. It probably doesn't make me hugely happier, but I think my life is more interesting. Maybe I can consider doing more free stuff - I think I'd be equally happy most of the time.
I do think I have nicer clothes as a result of more income, and probably better quality stuff. I think this makes my life better. Paying for evening colleges, and sport I would have always managed to budget for, but having more money makes this a bit more manageable, and I have played more sport as my income has gone up. Massages have been a major luxury with more money, an addiction I picked up in Laos. I probably have one every month or two, and this is sensitive to income levels. With more money I would have even more.
So coming down to it, it seems my increase in income has been spent on more weekends away, with a few more social activities and better quality clothes and other goods. I'm very happy with my lifestyle and income level right now, I think my life's still pretty simple, and I think with more money I'd have more problems. With more money I'd probably start to pay for services such as cleaning and laundry, and probably more weekends away still.
My overseas travel, I think, has remained quite similar to when I was a student. I still backpack when I go overseas, but now I have less time I pay for Intrepid tours to help me get from place to place. I still choose Asia as a destination because I love it and it's cheap. As long as I don't have a desire to go to Europe or the US, I'll be fine. I have been able to afford more weekends away and short trips within Australia, booking hotels at Wotif.com when I go for about $100 a room, this has probably been quite a significant improvement to my lifestyle come to think of it.
Accommodation-wise, I still pay the same rent as I first did when I moved out of home, marginally more. In Laos I paid little rent, and this allowed me to have a lot more disposable income. I think this is still a good money saving strategy. Life would be very different if I had to pay off a property, hence I'm not very keen to buy one. It wouldn't suit my current flexible lifestyle, and am not convinced it would make me happier.
As for social activities, I think an increase in income has made a bit of a difference. Mostly theatre, comedy, and eating out, probably drinking more. It probably doesn't make me hugely happier, but I think my life is more interesting. Maybe I can consider doing more free stuff - I think I'd be equally happy most of the time.
I do think I have nicer clothes as a result of more income, and probably better quality stuff. I think this makes my life better. Paying for evening colleges, and sport I would have always managed to budget for, but having more money makes this a bit more manageable, and I have played more sport as my income has gone up. Massages have been a major luxury with more money, an addiction I picked up in Laos. I probably have one every month or two, and this is sensitive to income levels. With more money I would have even more.
So coming down to it, it seems my increase in income has been spent on more weekends away, with a few more social activities and better quality clothes and other goods. I'm very happy with my lifestyle and income level right now, I think my life's still pretty simple, and I think with more money I'd have more problems. With more money I'd probably start to pay for services such as cleaning and laundry, and probably more weekends away still.
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