To zhu and situ, now that you have left for greener pastures with your guitars, hopefully your musical careers will take a turn for the better.

I remember how they used to claim that they could play seemingly every song in the world, and this video proves that it is not that difficult after all :)

From the axis of awesome (not sure whether you have seen this but yehmin showed it to me)


Playlist

You're beautiful by James Blunt,
Forever young by the Alphaville (covered by Youth Group),
I'm yours by Jason Mraz,
Amazing by Alex Lloyd,
Wherever you go by the Calling,
Can you feel the love tonight by Elton John,
She will be loved by Maroon 5,
Pictures of you by the Last Goodnight,
Cigarettes will kill you by Ben Lee,
With or without you by U2,
Fall at your feet by Crowded House,
Am I not pretty enough? by Kasey Chambers,
Let it be by The Beatles,
Under the bridge by RHCP,
Horses by Darryl Braithwaite,
Down under by Men at Work,
Waltzing Matilda,
Old Australia's funniest Homevideos intro,
Taylor by Jack Johnson,
2 become 1 by the Spice Girls,
Take on me by A-ha,
When I come around by Green Day,
Save tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry,
Africa by Toto,
If I Were A Boy by Beyonce,
Self Esteem by the Offspring,
Apologize by One Republic,
U + Ur Hand by P!nk,
Pokerface by Lady Gaga,
Barbie Girl by Aqua,
Kids by MGMT,
Scar by Missy Higgins,
Thats all it takes to be a star by Axis Of Awesome


Ok I do know that some of the songs do not follow the exact same chords. But very interesting vid nevertheless.

bye sg, hi london

wads up with the lemon theory. go check out the lemon law. go watch how i met ur mother. lol.

anyways, i've been in london for a week now. and other than my stupid guitar being damaged by the changi airport crew, i'm feeling fantastic! london is great. weather is freaking good right now. an entire week of uninterrupted sun. seniors told me that this kind of weather never happens at this time of the year. apparently it only happens when handsome ppl go to london. i have a bad feeling that this good weather will come to an abrupt end when jenhan (who touched down today), ghin hoe and gerbert finally gets here.

jokes aside. first of all, i really appreciate everyone who came to send me off. true frens ftw. anyways for gerbs and ghin hoe, my uk number is 07512 327785. drop me a call when u reach or need help or anything at all.

the ppl at london are really friendly. everyone smiles at each other. u can even chat with random dudes in the toilet. i'm serious. and u dun have to be shy with chatting up with hot chicks. they are damn friendly and will only be too happy to let u treat them to a drink at the bar. its so unlike (no offences) singaporeans girls who think they are so zai and reject guys who approach them. i was walking along the street today, then there was this group of ppl who were giving out free hugs. it was reli funny. this cute girl came up to me and jus shouted "free hugs!" before i could react, i got a nice warm hug. even thou its pretty random but it puts a smile on ppl's faces. real nice.

gawd i miss singaporean food man. laksa, xiao long bao, mee siam, nasi lemak, hokkien mee, bak chor mee, whoa list goes on and on and on and on. its only been a week. i cant imagine how much more my cravings for good singapore food will get in the near future. maybe one day i cannot tahan i jus fly back and eat to death or something.

end

The Economics of the Dating Game

And the Lemon Markets in School

And now for somethign a little more light-hearted...

Someone once remarked that it is unusual for there to be so many unattached people leftover in year 3s. And looking around me, the alarmingly high number of single people do seem to run counter to the common saying that the expiry date of a college student is her third year. For if so, then everyone would have expired - and happily so as well.

As i begin observing the two extremes - one pool of happily-attached-but-also-happily -switching-partners pool and the other of the swinging singles - it became apparent that a lemon market exists within the dating pool in my school.

And no wonder. As proud disciples of Adam Smith's invisble hand, we are all highly driven individuals powered by self-interest.

For the non-economists, the Lemons Principle states that in a market with information asymmetry, the presence of low-quality goods will drive the high-quality goods out of market.

How it works is this: if you as a buyer do not which cars in a second-hand car market are good (the plums) and which are not (the lemons), you will rationally only pay the average price for any given car. But this price, weighted downwards by the lemons, is beneath the reservation price of the sellers of the plums - who will then withdraw their cars from the market.

Thus, there will be more lemons than plums in the market. As an astute buyer, you will further revise your offer price downwards, driving the semi-plums out as well.

So at the end of the day, wha results is a pooling equilibirum in which there are only lemons on sale or no transaction at all.

And the Lemons Principle is exactly what I am seeing now.

The good eligible guy will think he is too good to go after just any other girl. So he decides to withdraw until a real plum comes along. And the good eligible girl plays it coy because she is cynical of the quality of suitors. Why would a good guy go all out for her if he isn't a lemon right? So the interest gets misread/read as desperation which plainly reeks of lemon.

Then what about the lemons with low reservation price? They've got to be doing something right?

And precisely because they are lemons, they go all out to try and secure - another lemon.

Because the guys daring to try and the girls willing to try are both very eager to try - a relationship, that is - they both end up with each other - lemons that may not necessarily be right for them. Not to say this people are bad or social misfits, but in trying too hard to get attached, they may just end up with the first guy/girl or who comes along and this person may be wholly unsuitable for them afterall. Which is perhaps why, at the slightest prodding from a new lemon, they drop the old one.

Yet these are still the people who are still willing to try again. But their reputation as flirts and playboys send out a strong signal to the silent plums to stay away. Confined to their same old lemon pools, they have no qualms of swapping partners which is exactly what i am seeing today(you shoudl really listen to some of these stories...), while the boring plums remain as aloof/single as ever.

So the moral of the story really is....
The old adage of judging a man by his action may well be complicated by the lemon's problem. A man who does too much may well be as terrible as the man who does nothing. And a girl who seems to take no effort may not stay with you beyond three months.

So guys what you gonna do?

That said, good luck guys. And i wish you love. =]

------
Haha. Congrats on making it this far. I'm bored with microecons hence my new 'theory' on dating which is utter hogwash. Peace laugher fun and joy everybody.

Farewell Season

So Long, and thanks for all the fun!

Good question Jenhan. Why am I so emo lately? Well i think that would take another separate blog post to answer. Suffice to say the last 3 to 4 months had been one helluva rollercoaster ride that challenged every assumption I had made about life. And when i thought i had found a new equilibrium, things took another turn again so that I have not quite figured what i should make of life now.

It did not help that my many pillars of support were slowly being removed from me - from my sis to my 'bro' and then to my other 'bro'. And now it seems as though my life is moving towards a new equilibrium - one that is perhaps filled with less fun and laughter as I watch the class guys leave to pursue a brighter future.

I dont think I have mentioned it before, but i really owe much to the class guys for cheering me up when I was down, and for really treating me as a member of th class. I never had to disguise my emotions around you guys because frankly, your crazy antics simply crack me up, regardless of my crippled leg, stress or emotional wounds.

But beneath the endless jokes and same old stories - yes fajoo's donut and ghin's paimia - i can sense the maturity and sensitivity in knowing when not to probe too far or push too hard.

And yes, anyone with half a brain would have foreseen this coming. Two years after we first met, everyone was clamouring for a place in an esteemed overseas college. And as the days in NS wore on, more and more guys secured scholarships and placements in new universities. By last year, it was pretty certain that half of you would have been gone.

But still, that does not change the fact that after Sept this year, i cannot sms Zhu or Gerbs to whine about losing yet another internship and trust in them to cheer me up. Nor can I experience the same kind of effeverscence when all of you get together to decipher which among you belong to the club of awesomeness or whose presence will drag down the average look of guys in London.

And although the class was slowly drifting apart - and i am partly guilty for always being mia because of a punishing wokr schedule - it still does nothing to lessen the impact. Especially when i reflect on all the hilarious moments we've shared.

As Alan Alda said, "The best things said come last. People will talk for hours saying nothing much and then linger at the door with words that come with a rush from the heart."

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for all the fun, laughter, memories and joy. I wish you all the best with your studies and future, which, without a doubt, will be bright and successful.

And you know what? I am seriously considering getting Fb jsut to stay in touch. But just give me some time to gather enough courage to actually start an account. That, plus a non-descript name which doesnt scream taitai/me.

Good luck people. And I'll see you in 2010 Sept Europe.

PS: To the US dudes, sorry i had to pangseh this year. But you know what? I might be in 2011 for my grad trip or in dec 2011 for my first official trip as a proud new member of the singapore workforce. =]