Me and the Old Men

The beach yesterday was amazing! It was pretty overcast here in Kowloon, but by the time I got off the 40 minute bus to Clearwater Bay the skies were bright blue and sunny! Surprisingly, there were actually a sizable amount of people at the beach for a Tuesday afternoon. I guess they're on the unemployment plan as well. I swam out beyond the orange buoys but still inside the shark netting and there are probably 10-15 sixty + year old men swimming laps. It's just me and the oldies swimming back and forth, back and forth. They would occasionally stop and look at me, I'm clearly the new guy here, but then just kept on with it. I had one guy stop and smile at me at every end; he's my favorite. But, man, swimming is hard work even with the amount of salt in the water. I swam a solid 45 minutes, 6 laps, and called it a day. I sat on the beach enjoying this lovely book, Life of Pi. It's about a boy who's ship wrecked on a lifeboat with a tiger. The whole thing is about all of the things in the water that are trying to kill him. It's all a little disconcerting while I'm swimming in the ocean. Good book though.

I followed up on some of the billion jobs I applied for and turns out, none of em want me. One guy even told me "in all honesty" it's a bad market, hard times for jobs right now. He even told me I wouldn't qualify for entry level because I'm not fresh out of college. Awesome. I'm not defeated, I just need to put more focus on skipping the recruiters and spending my energy looking for risk and credit positions where I have more experience. I would LOVE to work in derivatives, but I guess banking is not hiring these days. Especially for someone with no experience in banking. My favorite response yesterday was from Prudential.

Prudential: "Do you have your working visa?"
Me: "No, I just got here."
P: "Well, you need a working visa to interview with us."
Me: "How do I get a working visa without a job?"
P: Click

Today= internet, newspaper, running, gym, library (internet/ Economist), grocery shopping, clothes shopping, happy hour. Busy Busy Busy