I need you to need me

[austin_dern]

I'd mentioned going in to Manhattan for a Contact At Singapore event which tried to drum up enthusiasm for the idea of working in Singapore doing Financial Services, whatever those should prove to be. As you might expect many curious little things caught my eye, such as that during one of the ten-minute videos about the quality of life one could experience in the nation they mentioned the variety of food four times. My mother, told about this, asked if they said anything about the quality of food. Her experiences are maybe unduly influenced by her, on the two-and-a-half days she spent there being taken to an actual hawker center, with the rather cheap food served in not-really-enclosed centers, which was an experience she didn't like. She's always been skeptical of outdoor dining, and she retreated to more formal restaurants the rest of her short visit.

During the panel session, too, there were a few questions which got to being specific enough to become amusing. One Columbia University graduate student -- who did not identify herself at the start of her question, even though the instructions were to, since nobody did that -- wanted to know what were the hottest genres of financial servicing right now, which clearly took all the panelists by surprise. You'd think at least the employment agency folks would have had a credible sounding answer; the eight people talking eventually admitted that there were good prospects in stocks, currency, bonds, derivatives, and commodities. I should hope so. Another man -- who didn't stay by the microphone for his whole question, because nobody did -- wanted to know about retirement plans. I encountered him later on and he explained he's arrived from Miami just for this event and was going back right after this. The Singaporean he was chatting with asked if he came by bus.

I proved to be quite the aggravation to people waiting in lines for contact information because I kind of knew deep down there wasn't any recruiter who really wanted me -- while I'm interested in financial mathematics it's in kind of the same way I'm interested in highway design, that is, unimpaired by anything a person who just watches a lot of Discovery Channel or who reads William Poundstone books wouldn't know -- so I wasn't too clear whether the lines were. Several people asked if I was on line, and were not happy with my honest answer of ``I don't know''. The woman who'd asked about what was hottest was quite agitated that I didn't know if I was on line. Finally I stood on a line just so I could have a clear answer and learned that while the Monetary Authority of Singapore -- roughly, the Federal Reserve equivalent -- has kind representatives they have no idea what I could possibly do that they want.

Trivia: Guglielmo Marconi's father Gieuseppe provided -- after prodding -- the £300 necessary to cover legal expenses in securing the 1896 patent for wireless communication. Source: Signor Marconi's Magic Box, Gavin Weightman.

Currently Reading: The Right Hand of Dextra, David J Lake.

Comments

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I hope you'll get back to Singapore.

Have you thought of trying to join the Singaporean military? They've a reputation for being professional and competent, and most modern militaries can probably use the odd mathematician.

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

And Austin is as odd a mathematician as you can get. :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Well, I do try, but I am only one ... which suffices, really.

Actually, I do as much as I can without being Hungarian.

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

The world is not ready for 2 austin_derns!! :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Three, though, would at least get us back to normal oddness.

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

I don't know...3 might wreck the universe. :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Well, not on purpose. It's just this story sort of spins out of control is all.

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

Class and Goofiness; that is all things coati. :D

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

It really does happen to other people in the family. My sister-in-law says her life's gotten filled with more surreal little things since she married in.

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

That is because she is now Coati too ;d

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've never given any serious thought to joining any kind of military. I doubt my personality would shine in a body with that strong a sense of organization.

[orv.livejournal.com]

I would think positions like that would be hired on the civilian side, not recruited as enlistees. But I could be wrong about that.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Undoubtedly and I'd expect they would hire civilians as consultants or advisors or whatever is a satisfying term. (Something like a fifth of the workforce in Singapore is foreign talent; I can't see how the Armed Forces would avoid it.) But I expect that it'd be culturally pretty much the same.