russell

the weather was stunning yesterday. crystal clear blue sky, light breeze and bright sunshine from morning till evening. today its the first day of the week and its about 10 degrees cooler, slate grey skies and drizzle. fair enough i suppose, and i would rather it was like this whilst i was at work, but its still shit. the month of may begins at the end of this week and we really do need the weather to get better on a consistent basis as opposed to a few days of sun and then a few days of cold and rain. it just gets you down even though its just weather. 

am currently reading a book called liars poker which is about someone working at salomon brothers in the mid 80s. some of it sounds quite familiar although i don't think people are quite as brash and conspicuous with their wealth at banks these days and they are also slightly better behaved.....though completely contradicting that last statement, the brother of a  friend of mine, works for a big european bank and last weekend he picked up his brand new white lamborghini. looks like someone got a decent bonus last christmas. what creadit crunch?. some people just live in a different world to the rest of us.

every single person that i have worked with in an investment bank has one or more of the hobbies or traits. they have multiple games consoles (xbox, PS3 Wii), expensive watch (rolex and tag heuer are most popular), European car (bmw, merecedes, audi), plays golf and/or goes skiing. i think every single person i have met has or does at least one of those things. you would have to be a freak to not do at least one of those....ie me. no console, casio watch, bicycle, no car, i play  football and i hate the cold, so why the fuck would i go on a plane and travel to somewhere where its snowing. i had nothing in common with any of them. 

anyways back to the current job, there was a new guy that started in the messaging team who sat on the next bank of desks from me. he was a contractor. anyways, just heard overheard a couple of people who were discussing him, and it sounds like he didn't work out and was asked to leave. yikes!. it does remind you to be on your best behaviour and not screw anything up. actually i am not even sure he made it through 2 weeks. it may have been less. have seen it happen before. i got my first job at a japanese investment bank because they got some guy in and after a week he didn't work out and they got rid of him and got me in, in a bit of a rush. weird how shit pans out like that and hopefully its an opportunity for someone else. 

today i have mostly been listening to russell brand. he is a bit of a controversial character here but i think he is very funny. this is a clip where he talks about the death threats he got after he hosted the MTV vma's in the the states last year. 

take care V.