My mission today was to get a pair of dark blue jeans. Really dark ones, almost Navy Blue. And why do I need a pair of blue jeans? Well the story starts like this:
For the longest time I had 4 pairs of jeans which I bought in US/Canada. All of them are regular blue levi's and I got them dirt cheap, US$50 bucks or less a piece. One pair remained the color that it was, cos I haven't really used it. Those were my work jeans for Concrete canoe, and came with epoxy stains. They were baggy so I could climb up and down without overstretching. Other than that pair, all 3 remaining pairs kinda lost their color after repeated washings. And yes, I do mean lost their color as in they were so used that their blue has almost become white. Apparently it is not the fashion in town to be walking around with blue jeans that are practically almost white in color! Everyone's been commenting about why I buy such weird light color jeans. To which I respond, "no they are worn out, isn't worn out the in thing for jeans?" And I get an "oh". Well worn out jeans are in, but only if they are worn out and patchy, not evenly worn out ya know? Like those dark ones with white patch in the middle where they are stretched. Anyway, dark jeans are in and I have a semi-dark G2000 Blu and a recently bought black Levi's (which cost a bomb), so its time for a pair in the "dark blue" range.
First stop: Espirit. Espirit jeans don't come cheap, so why Espirit? Cos I got Espirit card! Espirit card is the coolest clothing card ever, cos you get discounts on top of whatever discounts are currently available. And most of the time I'm looking for something, they have it. So I walked in and lo and behold they only have one design for dark blue jeans, perfect! Size 32 but I'm swimming in it, these guys need to get their sizes right, I'm a 33 yet I cant get into 32. Anyway they didn't have any smaller size, so...
Well I was wearing G2000 Blu when I went out today. So next stop was G2000 Blu. Guess what? They don't sell jeans there anymore!!! :(
Alright, by now I was kinda flustered that I can't seem to get my jeans. Next up, my favorite shop Fox. But I only get tops at Fox, never tried their bottoms and its not like they have many of them. Design was good, but not my tried and tested and I'm picky on pants. So perhaps try Giordano first.
Giordano only has sizes 32 and 34, they don't have odd sizes. Fox too. For some reason people don't like 33's so I need to slim down. Giordano's 32 was so so tight I couldn't even slip into it, ouch! But their 34 was so big I couldn't put a belt around it! Whoa! That was a really huge disparity in sizes, I think they need to do some quality control here, that 32 was so not 32. My waist is 33 but I can wear 32, just a little tight, not so tight!!! Sigh...
So it was back to Fox. A little skeptical, but their 32 is just nice, fit right in. Heheh, so I bought it. What's most important though: their size is right. I can't imagine what factories in China these other guys get their goods from. A 32/33 is a 32/33, you can measure it with a measuring tape, how can I be swimming in or not able to pull up a size 32 pants?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Moneyness
Today's blog entry has nothing to do with options despite the title "Moneyness". I actually want to talk about money, and the word moneyness sounds cool, so I thought the title was apt. Don't worry I'm not about to rattle off about the Black-Scholes-Merton model or the greeks (delta, vega, theta, rho). Hey I know my greeks okay, don't mess around with me!
Anyway, people often say money is not important. It's not the most important thing and neither does it rank anywhere up there. As someone who could do with a lot more money right now, I take offense at that. How often have you known people from your school days who are socially inept, totally no street smarts, psychological freak, probably can't ever do anything successfully; yet because they have a lot of money they are actually getting along much better than you ever would? Yeah that's right, even the part about being totally out of place in this society, be it arrogant, uncivilised, poor grooming what have you, but they seem to get along with the world just fine, perhaps even better than you and me.
Just think about the guy without streetsmarts but with a lot of money who needs to get married. The rest of us would be hella stressed with the rings, wedding preparations, which HDB flat to ballot for, what to bargain the car dealer for, how to make sure the contractor is not cheating you on renovation. Hell you gotta be pretty streetsmart to survive all that and make your whole wedding process spectacular right? Well, if you have money, just buy the biggest rock (ring), get an expensive wedding planner, pick whichever condo in Bukit timah, and forget the car dealer, you can afford those rims without any free gift or loan anyway. Oh and contractor? Well you can just hire an interior designer to kick ass for you. That solves the problem.
How about in a social setting? Surely one will not hang out with total jackasses just because they are rich? Time and time again I'm proven wrong. Some total idiots who don't know how to say the right things at the right time, offend everybody, dress inappropriately (say singlet and shorts at a church wedding!!!), still get to be overwhelmingly popular and snag all the babes as well. And those girls are actually there to stay, not just down for a one-night stand (what are they thinking?).
Sure money is not everything, wasn't that Maslow's hierachy of needs or some shit that said that? Well I've actually looked at the real table (of sorts) by this Maslow guy. It says that money is not everything ONCE YOU HAVE IT!!!! Human beings firstly need food and shelter. And once they got that they need money, materialistic goods etc. Only when they reach the top of the food chain then they clamour the well being of others and want to love others as much as they want to gratify themselves. Well, I'm not even halfway there yet, so I think I need the money before I can even think about saving the world....
Perhaps that's why people who have thoughts about politics, economics, society, etc dun really gain popularity as easily as some rich nutheads. Okay correction, my point was you don't even need to be "rich". You just need enough money to show off. Perhaps these people have $0 left in their bank account after all their shenanigans, but who cares? They can ride on the coattails of their admirers.
But then again perhaps this is mostly just Asian society and its nuances. I would like to think that in more developed countries people who have great minds and great thinkings are equally or more admired than those who flaunt their wealth. Indeed, Bill Gates is admired more for his vision than his money, so is Steve Jobs.
Moral of the story? If you want to be successful and popular in Asia its much easier to do so by having a lot more money than the average middle-income Joe than any other way. That way you can be a total jackass and still be loved, embraced and get all the cute girls.....
Anyway, people often say money is not important. It's not the most important thing and neither does it rank anywhere up there. As someone who could do with a lot more money right now, I take offense at that. How often have you known people from your school days who are socially inept, totally no street smarts, psychological freak, probably can't ever do anything successfully; yet because they have a lot of money they are actually getting along much better than you ever would? Yeah that's right, even the part about being totally out of place in this society, be it arrogant, uncivilised, poor grooming what have you, but they seem to get along with the world just fine, perhaps even better than you and me.
Just think about the guy without streetsmarts but with a lot of money who needs to get married. The rest of us would be hella stressed with the rings, wedding preparations, which HDB flat to ballot for, what to bargain the car dealer for, how to make sure the contractor is not cheating you on renovation. Hell you gotta be pretty streetsmart to survive all that and make your whole wedding process spectacular right? Well, if you have money, just buy the biggest rock (ring), get an expensive wedding planner, pick whichever condo in Bukit timah, and forget the car dealer, you can afford those rims without any free gift or loan anyway. Oh and contractor? Well you can just hire an interior designer to kick ass for you. That solves the problem.
How about in a social setting? Surely one will not hang out with total jackasses just because they are rich? Time and time again I'm proven wrong. Some total idiots who don't know how to say the right things at the right time, offend everybody, dress inappropriately (say singlet and shorts at a church wedding!!!), still get to be overwhelmingly popular and snag all the babes as well. And those girls are actually there to stay, not just down for a one-night stand (what are they thinking?).
Sure money is not everything, wasn't that Maslow's hierachy of needs or some shit that said that? Well I've actually looked at the real table (of sorts) by this Maslow guy. It says that money is not everything ONCE YOU HAVE IT!!!! Human beings firstly need food and shelter. And once they got that they need money, materialistic goods etc. Only when they reach the top of the food chain then they clamour the well being of others and want to love others as much as they want to gratify themselves. Well, I'm not even halfway there yet, so I think I need the money before I can even think about saving the world....
Perhaps that's why people who have thoughts about politics, economics, society, etc dun really gain popularity as easily as some rich nutheads. Okay correction, my point was you don't even need to be "rich". You just need enough money to show off. Perhaps these people have $0 left in their bank account after all their shenanigans, but who cares? They can ride on the coattails of their admirers.
But then again perhaps this is mostly just Asian society and its nuances. I would like to think that in more developed countries people who have great minds and great thinkings are equally or more admired than those who flaunt their wealth. Indeed, Bill Gates is admired more for his vision than his money, so is Steve Jobs.
Moral of the story? If you want to be successful and popular in Asia its much easier to do so by having a lot more money than the average middle-income Joe than any other way. That way you can be a total jackass and still be loved, embraced and get all the cute girls.....
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