Coffee Mania
A flatmate who used to work at Starbucks introduced me to the world of coffee. It has since been a part of my daily schedule (I limit my consumption to two cups a day, and usually have green tea in the evening as substitute). Ethiopian blend is my favourite so far, and I plan to sample more beans from different areas by the end of the break.
Job Hunting
Continue tussling with the ‘gruelling and soul-destroying’ market to land a job in management/economic consulting. The track record so far is pretty depressing: lots of rejections, a couple of unsuccessful interviews. Recently received interview invitations from two top companies (Gosh! time to prove myself). I plan to post a detailed entry after the process is over. It’d be interesting to see how my application statistics evolves (it’s already pretty impressive now).
Body Rhythm and Productivity
There would probably be lots of activities and distractions during Christmas and New Year, thus provide my other-self with lots of excuses not to work (even my rational self would probably want to do something different as well). Knowing this, I figure I should use my time as best as possible now (ideally should do it always). With a few experiments, it seems like I’ve discovered my body rhythm and hence a more productive way to use my time. So far it has worked pretty well for me. I’ve reviewed econometric coursework and working on Macro now.
Here’s how a typical day looks like:
7:00 Wake up, study for an hour
8:30 Breakfast, coffee, check mail, RSS feeds
9:30 Continue studying coursework
12:00 Take a 30 minutes nap, lunch, and stretch
2:00 Work on maths, problem sets, or past exams
6:00 Dinner, online
8:00 Business reading, interview & case preparation
10:00 Extracurricular reading, miscellaneous impulses, reflections
1:00 Bedtime
*The schedule (especially the nap) tends to shift around a bit, depending on how I feel.
Extracurricular reading lists:
Knowledge and the Wealth of Nation—David Warsh
Unended Quest—Helmut Kohl & Karl Popper
Lateral Thinking—Edward de Bono
Inside The Economist’s Mind—Paul Samuelson & William Barnett
Exit, Voce, and Loyalty—Albert Hirschman
Life of Schopenhauer—William Wallace
The Philosophy of Schopenhauer—Dale Jacquette
Finished the first two, now reading the next three items, and hope I could finish the rest before school begins. For Schopenhauer, I mainly want to see his views on art and music.
Ryu's Blog 
Dearest Ryu,
Your daily life is sound so productive and effective…Keep it well! You will succeed what you want. Hope you can reach your satisfactory point. And for your job hunting, keep fighting!! To be rejected so that you can get accept for a better job ngai. I believe, the result will worth for your effort, so be patient~ Don\’t feel discourage na kaa…. 😉 Wishing you the best!! Lastly, (warning) ;P don\’t work & put yourself too hard na kaa! Try to do some fun & relax your mind too! Well, take good care as always na ja…
Have a Heavenly Holiday Season,
Shiori
P.S. This year it seems like we will celebrate our X\’mas together by continue fighting with our works right…From this day until X\’mas time and beyond to Dec. 29. I\’m probably spending all of my times without any other choice accept only try to enjoy myself doing my Boutique Hotel Design Project with my partner at her house (now, i\’m already migrant to her house). We will celebrate our X\’mas time by working 24 hours a day with two of breaks (lunch & dinner time) until our project this done. Oh…it\’s gonna be funnn…(o. <\’) and memorable time, for me! No more "Santa" there will be only "Pandas" Well, Cheer~
Gosh~~~ your schedule was damn productive, cant actually believe you spend your day like that. Compare with your schedule i feel my schedule is so lifeless…=_=… i just slep for 15 hours last night.. after the week\’s hustle, from 18:00 until 9:30 the other day… anyway, dont be discouraged by the rejection, as i always believe failure is another type of success.. Anyway… not gonna talk much, just wish you the best in your road of finding jobs and happy christmas and happy new year my pal… lets keep in touch…
oh my gosh! I feel bad about myself now. You will be my role model, kun lung >_< I need to be more productive and give myself a schedule. Otherwise, I will keep doing non-sense stuff and regret after -_-
Gambatte for your job-hunting na! I know it is tough but once you get through this, you will be very proud of yourself. I will gambaru also! Merry Chirstmas and Happy new year in advance na! dont drink too much coffee though. mata!