Walking the Path

I was catching up on the December issue of GQ today at Munchies when I came across the magazine’s personal finance column.

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the column recently. With the financial crisis — and the fact that I was without a job for almost a month — I was, and still am trying to watch how much I spend. In the December column, the writer was complaining about how he was seeing thousands and thousands of dollars disappear from his investments. And even though this money was theoretical (it wasn’t really his until he took it out of the investment), he still felt the pain.

 The writer was also a little dismay and annoyed at the guys on Wall Street who put him in this position. So he called up a financial planner on Wall Street. Who toold the writer should have some sympathy for those Wall Street bankers. They were going through a period of really low self-esteem. Their sense of success and self-esteem was really set by how much money they made and since they weren’t really making any money at the moment, they were pretty down in the dumps. 

Well, I’m sure that a lot of those bankers will still get through the financial crisis okay (but I also know that a lot will also lose their jobs and may spend some times unemployed). I can really identify with their sense of failure though, especially if those bankers aren’t performing the way they want or if their jobs have met with the axe. I know that I didn’t really how much I defined my identity by my job until I wasn’t working anymore. I felt an extreme sense of failure even though I hadn’t done anything to put myself in that situation. I was just unlucky. 

It took me about two weeks to get my head around that fact and then after I did that I was able to really concentrate on building my self-esteem by making sure that I got another job. The day I received the offer for the job that I really wanted was probably the day that my self-esteem got to it’s highest level possible and has now settled a very high and stable level. 

I hope the bankers regain their self-esteem too.

J.

Well I can now let everyone know. I start a new job on Monday with a China business magazine as a staff writer. I’ve achieved my dream job and it only took five and a half years.

J.

Well it’s the first day of 2009 and last night could not have been a better end to what’s been a crappy last couple of months for me. I got to ring in the new year with Cold Fairyland. And they were on their best game last night — especially since they’d just returned from playing in Spain a couple of days before.

The line up has changed a bit since I saw them last at The Zhejiang Dream Factory back in April for their CD release party for Seeds in the Ground. Now the lead singer, Lin Di’s husband Seppo is playing bass (definitely not a negative). One of things I noticed this time out is that CFL’s new stuff seems to emphasize the Chinese instrumentation more — Lin Di’s pipa seems to come out much stronger and the band’s drummer can rival Hedgehog’s Atom for how hard he pounds the skins — both in traditional Chinese and jazz drumming fashions. In fact he seemed to break into a lot of drum solos last night in between songs that were just amazing.

Probably the best part about their new year’s eve show is that the band played it more like an evening with Cold Fairyland than their traditional shows. I don’t know from looking at the attendees how many people knew of CFL before the show. I think not many. Winnie and I showed up at about 9:15 (CFL was supposed to hit the stage about 10 but started closer to 10:30) and the Melting Pot was packed with people who’d come for their NYE buffet — mostly older expats and dice-playing Chinese (who kept playing dice during CFL’s set) not the typical CFL fans.

There was also, I’m sorry to say, annoying cover band called the Pilgrims opening up for them. It looked like a group of bored/laid-off European bankers who had decided to start a band for extra cash. They got very little applause when they played. But once CFL hit the stage the Pilgrim’s lead singer, who seemed like he got drunk long before he came to the bar, was giving nothing but praise to CFL. And you could tell that people really got into the music (and the contests) and I am sure a few new CFL fans were converted last night.

To me the best thing about the night was everyone was just there to have a good time and be about the music. I know that sounds cheesy but it’s true. Ruby, one of the Melting Pot’s owners made sure that free champaign was given out at midnight and was really making sure that everyone was having a good time.

Me, last night I was able to forget about my troubles and just enjoy the start to a new year. Hopefully 2009 will be a much better year for me.

J.