Building Castles In The Air

I recently read a quote by Henry David Thoreau which was quite interesting. It goes something like "If you build castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

People have always been saying "don't build castles in the air" or the equivalent "stop daydreaming". But not much people have actually told anyone to work on those dreams. Which makes me wonder why. Aren't dreams the precursors of reality? We would not have airplanes today if the Wright brothers did not dream of flying. We would not be travelling in space today if someone did not dream of walking among the stars.

Difference was that these people dared to work on those dreams. They dared to lay the foundations to their castles in the sky. No doubt, many people would have scorned and scoffed at these individuals but they did not let that stop them

I personally have built that castle in the air. I have spent many years building it. This quote by Henry David Thoreau has given me the inspiration and courage to lay the foundations under that dream. I hope that it would do the same for you

On another note, something more finance-based, is another quote: "Obvious prospects for physical growth in a business do not translate into obvious profits for investors." Eg, Airline industry expanded rapidly in the 1970's but this did not translate to additional profits. This is just something I wanted to put down here to remind myself

PS. Referencing the two quotes, you should be able to find out which book I am currently reading. =)

Heading Up?

So the stock market has been generally going up for the last few days, in Singapore at least.

The STI just went up the 1,500 mark again. Seems like it won't stay below 1,500 for long. In particular, I was watching CapitaLand's stock last week. It went from $1.79 last week to close at $2.13 just today. Let's just say if anyone had bought 1000 lots at $1.79 and sold them all today, they would have made $340,000 in less than 7 days.

According to its CEO, Citigroup has been turning in a profit for the first two months of 2009. This news sent Citi's stock soaring last week.

Are we seeing the end of the crisis? I really wouldn't know but I highly doubt so. I believe we need to wait for the first quarter 2009 reports to come in before making any guesses. Jobless rates are still very high all over the world and Australia seems like it is just headed for a recession.

Ah well, we will have to wait and see. Anyways, I've been super busy with projects this past few weeks. Got a deadline this Friday, then two the following Monday and another one 3 days after that. Not forgetting the lecturers are not easing on the quiz. Really.. Drowning in the workload.

Interview has been postponed to next Tuesday because the interviewer got tied up with something else. Also applied for REIP today. Have to secure an internship this holiday so really keeping my fingers crossed. Otherwise I will probably look for some part-time jobs and go for summer school overseas. Either Canada or Germany. Still, internships come first.

Wish me luck! =)

Living in Scottsdale, Arizona

The following is a sponsored post.

Ever wondered what it would be like living in Scottsdale, Arizona? Granted, that city is not really a well-known city in this region of the world but it is something of an upscale tourist and shopping destination.

Having a population of about 240,000, I’m thinking the city should be pretty small and have a tight community where everyone knows everyone. Singapore has a population of about 4.8 million so we can pretty much throw the everyone-knows-everyone hope out the window.

The weather in Arizona is about 27 degree Celsius, which is roughly about the same as Singapore during the night. It is usually around 32 degree Celsius in Singapore during the day so the weather would be pretty enjoyable. Click here to find out more about Scottsdale.

A lot of people have the impression that the Scottsdale Arizona weather is pretty dry and warm but I reckon 27 degrees is pretty fine. Good enough for a lovely afternoon stroll in the park without getting all sweaty because of the humidity. Good enough for a picnic lunch without having to worry about any mosquitoes.

Well, given the current economic situation, property prices might be cheap in the States now. No better time to start looking for places I guess. =)