wandering the wide world in search of wonders
I wish I were a gundam meister.
The new Sunrise adaptation of Gundam Wing – Gundam 00 (pronounced double-oh) – is my most awaited series each week. It isn’t just the high-definition animation quality or the giant space robots that make it so wonderful, but its presentation of current affairs and contemporary issues through the lens of science fiction. I examine Gundam 00 through the lens of international relations theory.
– November 25, 2007
As I wonder where my life is going, I look to where others ahead of me have been. I love reading the profiles of the incoming Lauder class of 2009, or Columbia’s Chazen fellows, or the 2008 Acumen fellows, or the Echoing Green fellows, because their life stories chart paths of achievement that inform not just where one can go, but how to get there step by step. I was inspired by Rory Stewart’s ‘extreme MBA‘ in postconflict Afghanistan in the new HBR issue. But at the same time, these role models seem so far ahead of me that it is sometimes hard to see how I could follow in their footsteps. Their first steps are like marathons for me.
Posted in Bildungsroman, Business, College Life, Development.
– November 18, 2007
I will be attending the BT International Conference at the Hyatt this weekend. As it turns out, Geoffrey and I are in the same case study group (Starbucks). Unfortunately, with my various papers due today and my takehome midterm and problem sets to do, it is unlikely that I will be an asset to the group because I don’t have time to research anything on Starbucks… but I have been assigned to some of the best executive seminars!
Posted in Business, College Life.
– November 16, 2007
The romance between Jay and Xiaoyu (Kwai Lunmei) in ‘Secret/不能说的秘密’ is so perfect… it really is a simple love straight out of Jay’s 简单爱, or pretty much any of his early songs. And this MV by SY-sempai is set to my favorite piece from the OST. But my heart goes out to Qingyi’s (Alice Tseng) disappointment, and the sorrow behind her forced smile – it must be so painful to pine from afar, but even more so to keep that longing… secret (LOL).
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– November 12, 2007
Rüdiger Frank from the University of Vienna came to Weatherhead to talk about North Korea’s transition to a market economy. Frank was a visiting scholar at Columbia from 2002-03 and I read a few of his papers written during that time in preparation for my term paper. Charles Armstrong introduced him as the ‘last product of East Germany’s Korea Studies program’, as he was an exchange student at Kim Il Sung daehakgyo in 1991, just after the reunification of Germany – which I suppose is when the exchanges ended. He talked a bit about his life as an exchange student, apparently it was mostly “drinking a lot of johnny walker mixed with coke” and getting on the nerves of the authorities. Also, he says NK beer tastes better than Hite, but that isn’t saying much. He also had hilarious stories about life under communism in East Germany and how the waiters were really rude because their jobs were secure and how people fed pigs subsidized bread because it was cheaper than feed. He is a powerpoint genius and I wish he was still teaching at Columbia!
– November 10, 2007
I attended the Center for Japanese Economy and Business talk on comparative models of corporate governance by Todai professor Iwai Katsuhito, which I found pretty interesting, although for some reason my friends did not find the topic particularly compelling. I got there early to sit in front, and next to me was this oba-sama in an audrey hepburn hat laid her designer bags on a pink cloth, as if the floor of the classy business school lecture hall would soil them, and it looked like a little accessory tatami. I couldn’t help thinking that she epitomizes the Japanese economy – wealthy but aged by a lost decade, Western/modern yet culturally traditional. Anyway. I love business school talks since the food is always good, and sometimes, there’s an open bar.
– November 10, 2007
Is 978-2-940401-00-0. Which means I now have a Chicago-style journal citation in addition to a newspaper citation to my name.
Posted in Economics, Essays & Writing.
– November 4, 2007
Why is my reflection someone I don’t know?
— Mulan, ‘Reflection’
I participated in a pilot career guidance program run by to b-school alums now at Mckinsey, and one of the program requirements was to do a self-assessment to describe myself in five adjectives from a list, and to compare that assessment to what a select group of 3-5 close friends picked. The point is to 1) externally validate identified strengths and 2) work on identified problem areas and 2) any discrepancy between self-image and the one that people see. But the problem was that I couldn’t really come up with five adjectives on my own, because it was very difficult to mentally separate who I am, who I would like to think I am, and who I want to be. Also, I couldn’t think of anyone who could do this assessment – I have few close friends on campus and the people from home who used to be my close friends haven’t seen me for ages. So I asked both.
Posted in Bildungsroman, Business, College Life.
– November 1, 2007
