Thursday, August 04, 2016

Personal Update

Just a short personal update :

a) Completed my internships

I have completed 6 week of internships first with a Criminal Legal Aid Scheme then subsequently with a legal department of a technology consulting firm. 

While it's probably safer not to discuss the work I did during my internships, I would say that seeing the law in action is a much welcome personal development. As I've spent 30 months without a pay check, it would interesting to note that the transition into employment has not as smooth as I thought. 

My schedules are all fairly lenient work schedules where I can return home on the dot. It took about 3-4 weeks for my body to get back to a 6 hour sleep cycle and I even fell sick for a few days. 

Things only started improving after I cut down drastically on carbohydrate intake, then I was able sleep and wale up without the use of an alarm.  Another way to make the work experience better is to combine coffee intake with one cup of green tea. This way, you can be alert without becoming too edgy and nervous. 

b) Financial Markets

There has been no developments in the market until a few days ago when the CPF board is making fairly substantial enhancements to broadening the investment options of fellow citizens via LRIS and allowing CPF Life to have payouts which appreciate with time, I will leave the work of explaining to the bloggers who have spoken on the issue. 

The major themes of the local market is that it is largely bullish after Brexit, but there are some looking risks in the horizon for us yield investors. Industrial REITs will face some downward pressure with a looming oversupply and retail looks quite dismal. I spent some time roaming around Marina Square and Suntec on weekdays and it seems quite bad to be a landlord in orchard road these days. Perhaps with rents trending down, we can see some new ideas emerge.
Another team is the dissolution of Swiber. I think Swiber is just a the beginning for O&G stocks. Fortunately, I don't have these counters in my portfolio. 

c) Books

The most exciting book I've read recently is Sarong Party Girls. Otherwise, I have been reading aggressively on Blockchains and Smart Contracts. I've gotten quite into Blockchain technology with my aim of becoming an expert over the upcoming semester, I'm in the middle of going through the literature but expect to do some hardware hacking and mining contract purchase over the next 3 months. 

This is a very exciting time for me as I've found something which touches on my IT, Finance and legal background. It's something I hope I don't screw up on over the next few months. Nevertheless expect me to write a lot more about my foray in Blockchains over the next few months.

d) Back to school tonight

As I have chosen to take on the super challenging International Moots module, I actually go back to school tonight and may even spent the whole day back in University tomorrow to read up on public international law. This will form the main part of my struggle over the next 2 months : taking a completely alien area of law of Public International Law and privately nurturing an obsession with cryptocurrencies and smart contracts. 

Interestingly, I was given an invitation to attend a business lecture next week which is unrelated to my current legal course. I will be hobnobbing with the top academic authorities on blockchains.
   
Hopefully by this weekend, I would have something more interesting for everyone. 

 

 



   

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