Finance + IT = Me (For Now :P)

At the office this afternoon, a vendor was trying to ask for clarification on the difference between committed and non committed Foreign Exchange (FX) deals.

Here's the dilemma.

The vendor is a specialist in IT and system, while we, are specialists in Finance.

We used to live completely different lives in our past lives, speak different languages that are not interpretable to each other.



However, thanks to the paperless era, (almost) all of the manual operations the financiers learned in school are now obsolete. Like it or not, we have to adopt technology to facilitate our trades. Hence the beginning of our very complicated relationship.

It was an arranged marriage of some sort.

A marriage that produces issues after issues -a result of mixed marriage between I.T. and finance.

Hahahah

I should know, because my current job requires me to support financial operations riding on these systems. And I remembered how them vendors had to repeat and explain everything to me over and over (and over again) as I remained clueless, eyes blinking repetitiously.

"Deamons!" they'd say.
"Devils in the system. No wonder it's so difficult to understand!" I would joke.

Slowly but surely, I begin to understand how the system is designed and structured to facilitate trades. While us financiers know our desired financial outcomes, these desired outcomes need to be matched against the system's capability - and it's a journey of discovery all together.

Coming back to the story. The conversation went as follows:

"Are committed FX deals a forecast or a real amount?"

"You enter into a deal today to pay X amount at T time. It's a forecast because T is in the future, but it is also the real amount because X has been agreed and contracted upon. Like it or not, we have to pay X at time T."

"If you know that X is the real figure, why don't you key in X as the real figure at time T. What is the purpose of forecasting an exact figure before time T?"

One after another tried to make the poor vendor understand the difference between a real amount and a committed amount, realized and non-realized transactions - but to no avail. There was a short silence, and then came one voice.

"It's like when you proposed to a woman. You already commit yourself to marry her, but you are not married to her until the big day arrives."

Not surprisingly, the whole room was filled with laughter. Blessed are those who can simultaneously humor us and explain things in layman terms!

The factors influencing a commitment....well, that's a different story altogether ;)

My Favorite Tent

I should retire and start building dream-like tent.

Like Sophie and Olivia's tent in The Holiday.

The Story of a Certain Diory.

Titts got me this, as a super duper late birthday present :

The color is actually dark green but I dunno why it looked even nicer in pictures! *jumps in joy*

And this deserves a post because :

1. I've been looking for a green top for AGES.
2. I wanted the top at first glance but couldn't bring myself to sign the check because obviously, fresh graduates with minimum wages go for Chanel, Prada and nothing less. Heheh.
3. It's my current favorite top!
4. It's her first ever, birthday present to me in our 12 years of friendship. Hahahhah. (Okok, I kid...it's actually her 2nd :P)

When I jokingly told her "OMG, This is your first EVER birthday present to me Titts!" She laughed the hardest and told me to shut up. Obviously she didn't remember the first time she gave me a birthday present. So Titts, meet Diory, the first birthday present I received from you half a decade ago:

Diory

It was Saturday night and we went to Victoria Institution with Yaya and her then boyfriend just to watch some boys knock some drums and blow some stuff. Heeee. (You can guess who's the loyal Victorian who managed to persuade us to celebrate my birthday in a school compound!) Later, we drove to Naili's for dinner.

Titts wore a white sleeveless with green cropped cardigan, while I....well, lets not get to my fashion disaster days. Hehe. Whatever I was wearing on my 18th birthday, I'm pretty sure it's something weird, with horrible color combination and a little glitter here and there HAHAH

And on our way to Naili's, she gave me a fake Dior wallet and I was soooo excited that I didn't even realized it was fake.

"It's actually fake you know?"
"Who CARES??? You freaking gave me a birthday present! This should go down the history of mankind!" I replied.

Realizing her trick did not work, she laughingly pulled out Diory from her handbag and my jaw dropped to the floor and never returned. Heheh.

I wore the wallet for years, until the color turned grey and I sadly realized it was time to move on as I embrace my new wallet and keep Diory in my drawer.

Half a decade later, it's still there, tucked safe in my drawer as the perfect birthday gift to my daughter when she too, turns 18. In my head I could imagine myself telling my daughter, "Diory was given to me when I was 18, and you will pass this to your daughter too when she turns 18. Hopefully, the color completely changes to black by then so it could be, in a way, brand new." Hahahah.

Five years down the road, she will surprise me with another birthday present but until then, I'm pretty sure nothing beats Diory.

Just One More Day :)

I was so angry at my GPS today for being the worst co-pilot on Planet Earth.

All I asked for was for it to lead me to Bukit Damansara.

My GPS refused to be helpful and decided to test me to the limit. It brought me all the way to Perhentian Pudu, and something that looked like Tropicana Mall, and then to Taman Rama-Rama Malaysia (????!!!), and before I knew it I was miraculously led to Muzium Negara, heading towards Bangsar.

One and a half hour in the car....just to get to a destination which was supposed to be only 6.5km away. Grrr.

So I got home all tired and grumpy until....

My parents called to let me know that London is snowing! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Just one more day to escape sunny KL and be in Europe! In the arms of my family :))))

It was eons ago that I last get to catch snowfalls in London. So yess, I'm very excited beyond words. London is one of those annoying cities that is terribly cold to the bone, but snow just wouldn't drop by and flew straight to Himalaya instead. Hehe.

I imagine London will soon be something like this :

Magical

As I gaga over one of the most fashionable city in the world, my parents decide to bring me back to my roots and visit a country known for its Islamic Architecture and beautiful small villages - Morokoko! (We've been best friends over the internet, hence the pet name heheh)

I'm looking forward to the days to come, definitely!

Train Talk

I took the public transport home again yesterday. And it's the first time I was actually hitching a ride during peak hour.

Oh, the horror!

The queue seemed endless, and it was almost impossible to flood into a train that's already flooded with people.

The worst part for me as a woman was to be sooo physically close to strangers in the train. I tried to take things lightly, messaging my best friend that I'm having an ass rubbing experience with strangers, but I just couldn't take it after a while.

I actually felt like crying.

I HATED the fact that my back is pressed against a stranger's body, my face merely inches from another man's face. I don't think any girl should ever be THAT close to people they don't know, especially considering the nature and contours of our body.

The government should really step up with the public transport. They keep on saying that we have 1st class facility but 3rd class mentality.

I beg to differ.

It's not enough to have first class facility in place. We need first class system and first class execution as well. When people could not rely on the system, they switch to depend on their survival skills. And the pushing begins.

There is a reason why projects go in phases. It is to identify loopholes and improve prior to larger implementation. Extending the railway to Subang Jaya and making LRT more accessible without addressing the density problem first is like calling a MAYDAY.

The 5 minutes interval between two train is ridiculous. Trains need to be more frequent during peak hours because every time a train arrives, only TEN people per line could smash their body into the pool of mankind. Hundreds more are lining up, and the queue just gets longer.

Maybe the Prime Minister should make it compulsory for ministers to take the LRT ride home once a month. And then we'll see who's pushing who :P

Petrol Me Not

There are not many things I will admit to the whole world but this, is an exception : I am the best driver on the road.

The type that drives 20km p/hour on a highway, reluctantly tries to change lanes, makes abrupt breaks, honks a little too much and, ah well...you get the picture.

Because I am the most considerate person in the whole world, as much as possible I try not to drive on my own. (I know how annoying it is to have drivers like me on the road, thanks.) On a more serious note, I realized my incompetent driving will endanger not only myself but also OTHERS on the road.

So do I stay home 24/7 immobile, jobless and paranoid of the roads?

Well well lucky me, I have a set of wonderfulllll friends.

Introducing Mr T and Mr K who relentlessly drive me to the office and send me home in one piece almost every day.


Also, Bubbs and Bloss who were always trying to meet up somewhere convenient for me to drive i.e. within 5 km radius from my home.


Of course, these people are not imaginary friends, I just thought these pure, sincere souls would not want their good deeds publicized. Heheh.

But they too have their own life to live, and granted, I am no where near the top priority list. Heheh. That's how I learn to know of LRT, MRT, ERT and every other TTTTs in the world. I got to know some nice taxi drivers along the way and forge a close friendship with my pakcik, the one with the car key of course! ;)

However, there will be days when no one could offer me a ride home, my body feels sick and cramming with hundreds other people in the LRT feels very...unattractive. Today was one of those rare days.

Hence, I tried my luck with a new found friend, or better still - a new found neighbor today. Set aside my pride and asked if he, (whom I've only met three times really) was nice enough to give me a lift home just this one time.

Who could say no to a girl with no ride home?

It's the best trick in the world! I was happy to leave the office early, not knowing what was in store for me.

New found neighbor, Mr Z was only starting the engine when he laughingly told me the car's petrol alarm is already up and blinking. I looked at the indicator - "35kms to go"

"Our neighborhood is less than 15km away but you might as well fill up the tank lest you will have to do that early morning tomorrow"

"It's okay I can always do it on any other day" he insisted.

Two minutes down the road, we were talking and laughing with the air cond on full blast and the radio playing typical fly.fm songs.

"Oh my God, look at the traffic!"

"I told you, better fill your tank today!"

15 minutes and 5 laughters later...

"You know, we're still where we were 15 minutes ago!"

"Oh my GOD! 15 KM?!!" I pointed to the petrol indicator. The car can only travel 15 kms more before it comes to an abrupt STOP. This is Armageddon for me.

"Howw..what..whyy..where...WHATTT?!!" I stammered.

"Switch off the aircond, drive carefully, start driving to the side of the road, look out for a petrol station in the GPS, DO SOMETHING!!" Before long, I was the commander in chief. Heheh.

We took a left turning to Jalan Dang Wangi and parked our car just in time when the petrol indicator hit "0 KM to go".

Lucky luck luck.

We walked out of the car, slightly embarrassed and humored, having had to ask strangers for the nearest petrol station in the drizzling rain. We made our way to the petrol station and had a light-hearted chat with the cashier before Mr Z decided to walk away with 10 litres of petrol WITHOUT paying.

"Excuse mee, where do you think you are you going?!?!" says uncle petrol station, loud and clear for the world to hear.

We looked back - bottles of petrol on both hands, confused.

"Money!! Money, you haven't paid!!!"

Thanks to Uncle Petrol Station, the whole crowd now think we're desperate burglars! We walked quickly back to uncle, made the payment and walked off - this time for real, laughing at how silly we were the whole time.

It was my longest journey home, but it was one to remember definitely. I feel very heroic already, capable of joining Fear Factor, Amazing Race and the lot!

Just need to find a partner capable of doing the dirty work for me. Hmmm.

A Short Post

What is a secret, anyway?

The moment we tell our secret to one person, and tell him (or her) "This is a secret, please don't pass it around", aren't we betraying our own words, already?

One can't help but wonder.

What we asked of others

What we did unto ourselves

We, human beings are funny that way :)

Xx.