anyone still reading this?

i have neglected this blog while i was busy preparing for the exam which took place on 23 june. the preparation process felt really long. swapping story books for notes was difficult. having the discipline to sit down every night and study for an hour didn't come easy. all well worth the effort when i received the email notification that i passed.

i'm almost done with what i set out to do this year. while running yesterday night, i began to wonder what to do next year. what other skill set do i want to hone? what other knowledge do i want to acquire?

and so, the first book i have finished reading after the exam was barings lost. barings and nick leeson are somewhat history but this case awakened the whole concept of rouge trading. much of it fuelled by greed; people blinded by the mere pursuit of profits, which coincidentally (or uncoincidentally) is correlated with risk. professionally you call them traders but in truth, they are nothing more than gamblers. do you believe jp morgan's recent loss arose merely from hedging transactions? i can smell the whiff of speculation in it like durian in a room.

let's see. time to get on some work for mummy. next book up is the rape of nanking. i'm always kept busy!