Inspiration

I apologize for my blogging delinquency. Besides briefly hosting one of my newly made BAC friends when he came to stay in the city for a weekend, I've done shamefully little worth blogging about in the ten days that have elapsed since my last post. Frankly, life in the city, after a brief and expected honeymoon period of adjusting, exploring, and playing, has become uninspiring. In prior years, I probably would have attributed this to the environment itself: the unfriendly locals who always seem to be pressed for time, the narrow muggy streets constantly filled with tourists and taxicabs, the lack of any landscape besides buildings upon buildings, etc etc. And I bet anybody from LA (or the west coast in general) would have agreed with me.

And yet, if I'm to be completely honest with myself, I can't just blame my surroundings. I admit that I have been lazy and misguided in my search for personal satisfaction this summer. I've sat around my apartment on the nicest of summer weekends, electing to browse the web rather than go for a run through the Village or read a book (from my ever-growing summer reading list) at the local park. I've lapsed on my vow to cook for myself and instead resorted to eating out or munching on cereal, fruit, and sandwich meat for most meals. Worst of all, I have yet again begun to search for my identity in aspects of life that are ultimately temporary and fleeting.

I must have the worst memory ever. How else do I explain the fact that I currently find myself wondering if I should work more hours to earn overtime money, or be more ambitious with my future career goals, or network wantonly with as many bankers as possible, when in a personal blog entry just a month ago, I recommitted myself to fully trusting in God's plans for me? Why do I bother memorizing Philippians 4:6 when I fail at both supplication and thanksgiving? Sometimes--no, oftentimes--I'm seized with the fear that someone will call me out for talking the talk without walking the walk, and yet a part of me secretly hopes that it'll happen so that I'll get shaken out of complacency. Is there any hope for a basket case like me?

I derive comfort from Paul's encouragement to the Romans: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Yet I've matured enough to know that this freedom doesn't give me license to live however I please and only return to God when I've had enough, like a child that only stops eating candy and chocolate when he gets a terrible stomachache (or maybe an ulcer). In recognition and gratitude for the new life that I've been given, I must sacrifice my own ambitions and (re)discover my passion for live for Him. This is paradoxically the most difficult and the most natural thing that a believer is called to do.

So I conclude with a declaration. New York, I dare you to tempt me with your worldly pleasures, your fast-paced lifestyle, your urgings to revel in my youth while there's still time. Because I know of something better than all that. It's called eternity.

Abbreviated

There's a lot I'd like to say, but I've come down with a terrible case of writer's block in the past twenty minutes, so a list will have to suffice for now. My apologies in advance.

• I still haven't explored the Village yet, much less the rest of Manhattan. Time to put my thirty day unlimited metro card to use.
• My work hours are starting to suck. I have to go into the office tomorrow to put together a document checklist for a deal closing on Tuesday. Oh well, just earning my keep I suppose.
• Matt Kim (PC '09) treated me out to 자장면 and Pinkberry yesterday. And he said he'll invite me to his wedding if he ever proposes. Bless his heart.
• Speaking of yesterday, it started raining in the afternoon but the skies were definitely clear and sunny. The weather here be straight up trippin'.
• Express subway lines are the most useful invention ever.
• I found out today that ING employees get steep discounts to a lot of NYC attractions, including restaurants, Broadway shows, day cruises, and museums. Yay for clicking around randomly on the intranet home page.
• I've been learning MS Excel shortcuts by the dozen to improve my work efficiency. Some of the most useful ones: Ctrl+Page Up/Down, Alt+Page Up/Down, F2/Esc, F9, Alt+=, Ctrl+Shift+4, Ctrl+9/0, Ctrl+Shift+9/0, Ctrl/Shift+Space.
• I miss playing guitar and bass. The calluses on my right index and middle fingers (from bass) have long since disappeared, and the calluses on my left fingertips are slowly fading. Farewell, farewell.
• Everything at Yakitori Totto in Midtown West is delicious, even the runny egg they give you to mix with your rice.
• Since when do people actually celebrate Flag Day?

Maybe I'll elucidate some of these bullet points later. Good night for now.

Om nom nom nom

I think I've discovered my new favorite restaurant in the city. Actually, that's not much of an accomplishment, since my former favorite, Kunjip, was basically the only one I'd go to whenever I visited the city prior to this summer. Anyway, the restaurant is called Ogawa Cafe and it's in East Village on 4th and Bowery. I found it on MenuPages (an indispensable website for anyone living in any major US city, by the way) at the suggestion of one of my co-workers, so I decided to visit today after work.

Can I just say, WOW. I had an absolutely delicious miso soup, salad, shumai, sushi, brown rice, and chicken katsu dinner, all for $12. Plus green tea ice cream for dessert. And this wasn't just a tiny scoop like most Japanese restaurants give--I'm talking a big bowl with two huge slabs that I could barely finish. The only downside to Ogawa is that it's a little small (max capacity ~15), so I can't bring a lot of friends at a time, but that's a small price to pay for such exceptional value. I'm definitely planning to go back multiple times a week this summer.

Anyway, enough about my foodie tendencies. Today was the start of my second week of work, and I'm happy to report that I'm still not bored. Granted, things get a little slow at times, but that's usually not due to the nature of the work so much as my having a question and not wanting to interrupt my boss in the middle of a phone call or meeting. Besides, since the ING intranet blocks blocks anything that might be considered even mildly entertaining (i.e. no more YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, etc.), I've been spending a lot of my downtime on Bloomberg or Yahoo! Finance, which means I've been keeping pretty up-to-date with recent market trends and economic/financial news. That's never a bad thing, I suppose.

Also, now that I'm wrapping up my first project, which was just an annual review of one of the group's clients and thus not particularly interesting, I'll probably get to start working on an active deal. That means I'll be learning cash flow modeling, loan documentation, risk rating, the whole shebang. (Of course, I'll also have actual deadlines and consequently actual banking hours, but I can't really complain after a week of chillaxing and, well, being an intern.) One of the more annoying aspects of job so far has been my lack of access to some of the software that ING uses for financial analysis--you'd think they'd have the foresight to register my account before I arrived--but apparently that's in the pipeline so it shouldn't be a problem soon.

And now, to completely throw off any semblance of chronology: this past weekend was both entertaining and relaxing. Friday night was Andy's little farewell get-together at Park, and it was great to see some old faces in a new setting. (It was my first time clubbing in the states--oh the wonders of being 21.) Then, after sleeping, reading, and lounging around all day Saturday, I met up with a bunch of old UCWers for Faith's birthday dinner at John's. Naturally, I was grilled about my newly updated relationship status, but I like to think that I kept my cool. B] Before heading our separate ways, we also ate dessert at a little bakery called Veniero on 11th and 1st. I initially had my doubts since it seemed like they kept their pastries and cakes on display all day, but the strawberry shortcake was delicious. Sunday was uneventful: I woke up with a massive headache and really dry eyes, so I went back to sleep and woke up again around dinnertime, feeling much better but sad that I had missed church. Alas. I have a pretty good track record of not getting sick during summer break, and it'd be unfortunate to break it now.

Hmm. I've been pretty negligent on the photography front. Given how often I'm out and about, it's almost unconscionable that I still don't have any photos from outside the Village. I think part of it has to do with not wanting to lug my D100 around and look like the biggest tourist ever. Oh well, I still have eight weeks. In the meantime, here are two routes that I've been following for my evening runs so far. I intend to explore a third route that passes through Washington Square Park soon. Yay for cardio.

East River Park is really pretty at night.

6th Ave. and 23rd St., not so much. But still a fairly nice run.

And off to bed I go. My sleep schedule is so healthy compared to at Yale. Who would've thought?

Commencement

At the risk of sounding naively optimistic after just two days of work, I really enjoy commercial banking, at least as far as what my group does can be called commercial banking. (Why is finance jargon so loose anyway? Bankers would do well to learn from physicists--a technical term should have a technical meaning.) I'll spare the details since I doubt anyone wants to hear them; in any case, I'm happy that I'm not bored already like I was with research last summer.

And now, the real point of this entry:

Lessons I've learned in the workplace

• "We should get lunch" is the office equivalent of "We should grab a meal sometime." You know, that thing you say half-heartedly when you bump into an acquaintance you haven't seen in a while. Only, if it's a co-worker, breakfast and dinner are impossible because you probably live halfway across the city from each other.
• If you ask for more work, you're gonna get more work. This is perhaps an obvious point, but I should definitely take it to heart if I don't want to burn out in the next two months.
• Coffee is liquid magic.
• Work is not like college--though curiosity is encouraged, you can't ask a question wherever and whenever you want, as my MD reminded me fifteen minutes into my internship. Oops.

Lessons I've learned in life

• When buying perishable solid foods like meat and cheese, get the resealable packages. Okay, so cheese isn't really perishable, but it turns rock hard after a couple days of exposure apparently. Sadness.
• Green bananas are the way to go if you don't want them turning old and spotty and mushy after a couple days.
• Milk is arranged such that the further away the expiration date is, the harder the bottle will be to access because of all the blasted soon-to-expire bottles.
• Not all dry cleaners are made equal. Never go to the nearest dry cleaner purely out of convenience, because the owner just might be a lazy money-grubbing meanie.
• On a positive note, small meals of fruits/veggies, whole grains, and lean meat every few hours have been doing wonders for my digestion and overall health.
• Orange juice with pulp is actually yummy. Does this mean I'm getting old?

And now, the REAL point of this entry: more photos! I realize that my pictures so far make it seem like I never leave Greenwich Village (or my apartment, for that matter), but I assure you, I've been making my way around Manhattan. Maybe a photography expedition this weekend is in order. Anyway, enjoy.

Lots of books to read.

Just a sofa. Or is it?

Nope, it's also a bed! Okay, this is actually the other sofa bed in my apartment, but same difference. Notice the mess. And my panda. Her name is Xiongmao.

Fairly small kitchenette, but it serves my purposes.

And finally, the coffee table turned dining table turned laptop stand. I use my phone as an internet tether, so don't call me while I'm facebooking please. =D

And now I'm off to go running for the first time since I arrived in New York. I hope I don't get hit by a taxi driver. Wish me luck!