I for one love christmas...

I love Christmas!!! Back in Belgium... the whole crew is here now... had our first christmassy lunch... presents are wrapped, laughs here, laughs there... christmas music... I love the optimistic, happy attitude people have when it comes to Christmas... Was down at Carrefour shopping some more beer this morning and everyone was extremely friendly.. overly friendly if you will... and I'm the kind of person who likes when everyone is happy, even if its artificial for one holiday... I'd prefer one day of super happiness to no days anyday :-)

Don't want to write all too much, will post some pictures in the slideshow you can see on this page... but will even add one or two to this page... :-) The one where I'm wearing a purple shirt is taken today... the one with a green apple is taken yesterday:-)

Have great christmas and see you next year when I have a JOB:-)

Back in Belgium...

Have to find my last xmas presents today and then its finally done.

I'll write at least once more before xmas...

Did I hear that right???

December is notoriously a really bad month for job hunting. Strategy has to shift towards preparing for January / February when everything picks up again. Setting up meetings etc... meeting a recruiter on Wednesday, follow some other leads as well this week

Nevertheless weekend came and went as they always do... and the most interesting event occured on Sunday when I went down to Spitalfields market to do some Christmas shopping/browsing...
was walking around munching on a Ultra Chocolate Brownie (mmmm chocolatey...)... when i walked by this little girl and her mum... next thing I know... the little girl (maybe 8-10 years old) looks up and says "Mum, I think I'd rather be a man"... and the mom was like "But honey, why?"... unfortunately I didn't get the answer but that kind of genuinely innocent statement is absolutely fantastic... It would have been great to hear her explanation, is it because she was on her way to the toilets and the queue was longer for the womens? Or perhaps it was the fact that she saw a guy with a funny tie and wanted to wear funny ties... Or maybe it was because she just saw a guy eating an "ultra chocolate brownie" without worrying a second about his weight?


It was surprisingly calm at the markets, not too much pushing, no majorly stressed a-holes barging around... maybe its cause there's still quite a few weeks left to find that special something... and when I bought something, I started trying to work out what these people must earn ... obviously Christmas is the best time to sell cause people are all looking to get things, but some of the things that people are selling don't cost all that much to produce, and there are plenty of people willing to buy something novel... and boy was there a lot of novelty stuff... lots of creativity and smart ideas... most things would never be able to be mass-marketed and sold but every now and then a little idea might... its great to see that entrepreneurial spirit in one of the most competitive environments in the world... there can't be many cities with as many markets as London... Beijing maybe? but they're selling something completely different:-)

so it was an interesting sunday at the markets and I was only there for a short while but I definitely suggest going there if you're in London. They are closed on Saturdays but otherwise open every day... its nice when there's lots of people though, get that markety feel (and its all under cover so no need to worry bout the London weather.:-)

Tea break...

Thursday mornings I like to go out and sit down with my laptop somewhere where I can access a wireless network and preferably for free.


Here's me at the café... with a cup of tea... striking isn't it... both the guys working at this Cafe.. called Coffee just off of Old Street have crazy hair cuts and moustaches... thats probably why I like to go... to this place on Thursday mornings... it makes me smile...

There's always business meetings going on in the cafes I'm in... whether its starbucks, random cafes called Coffee or whatever...

another thing that I saw for the first time today was a christmas tree, hanging upside down from the ceiling as decoration...!!!thats a first :-) for me at least... but apparantly thats the new fashion these days...:-) Have you seen any upside down hanging xmas trees... ??? imagine everyone hung their christmas tree upside down one year, it would be quite comical... where would the presents lie then? would you have to glue them to the ceiling?!?!?

Speaking of christmas presents!!!! its about time to start shopping but its always nice when you're on a limited budget... means that you feel yuo need to put far more effort into choosing :-)

Strangers...

So today I had an arranged meeting with a complete stranger for coffee... Not that strange of course but... here's how it came about...

A friend of mine knows a girl, who knows a girl, who has a sister who works in Sports Event Management... and it is this person I met for coffee at a Starbucks near St. James Tube today... without knowing who she was nor how she looked, I turned up a little early and ordered a tea... (perhaps sacriligously at Starbucks)... with 10 minutes until the time we were supposed to meet, a woman arrived outside the starbucks... and was looking around and looking at her clock impatiently... it was clear she was waiting for someone, but it was not clear if she knew who she was waiting for or not...time went and the person i was waiting for had not arrived, the person she was waiting for had not arrived either and she had been walking around just outside the starbucks looking rather impatient... so I got up and walked outside and said, "excuse me, you don't happen to be Holly do you?" and she replied "Oh no... no.. i'm just waiting for someone that I've never met" and I laughed and added "so am i... "... ends up she was waitin for someone different and i met up with the person I was supposed to shortly after...

The person I was going to chat to works and has worked in an Event Manager type of role for 4 years at a sports agency and the 30 minute chat was extremely interesting and rewarding and she promised to help me out as best she could...

it is precisely this that gets one a job these days... its networking, its meeting people, its putting yourself out there and risking ... build build build build build... perhaps not this meeting, perhaps not the next, but it will come good... its character building and its important... i received great information from her so we'll see where that leads...


Following the coffee I went to meet an old high school friend of mine for a drink near Waterloo station and i walked past the Houses of Parliament and across the Westminster bridge... as I passed the Houses of Parliament Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer) drove out just in front of me in a rather normal looking opel or ford or some basic car... interesting...

While walking past Big Ben I took a picture on my old school phone... might be interesting for someone out there... :-P
I'll leave you with that picture...

I will survive...

Rather fitting song... and dance huh:-p

Let me tell you the story...Today I went to a Conference event called Event Forum 2009. Companies in the Events industry exhibited here with everything from venue companies to experiential and fun gimmicky things companies...

Originally (and primarily :-p) I went there because they had a CV and Career Advice Surgery. It was interesting. But the funny thing was that their tips for interviews didn't mention "Be yourself once". They pretty much insisted on you being someone other than yourself.. obviously they have to say things like, sit straight, look them in the eye, bla bla bla bla bla.. but what if you're not like that, isn't the ultimate thing in an interview to portray who you are... quite entertaining.. Anyway...

After having spoken to some recruiters about opportunities in the Sports Event Management business, there were a lot of exhibitors showing different things that they offer at Corporate events that make things a little more fun. One of which was Dancing Heads... And now for the main event:-) Watch this clip :-)



Feel free to comment on my performance. :-) :-P

That was all for today...

you gotta have some fun while you look for jobs too:-)

Laughing

Which of the following do you think are funniest?




A legend being silly?



A fat guy getting hit in the balls?



There are a lot of things that can make us laugh out there... If you truly laughed (not only smiled but really laughed) at any of these take the poll on the right :-)


While waiting for the Northern Line from Kings Cross earlier this week, I heard a strange high pitched squeel coming from just beside me... when I turned and looked, I saw a man with his teenage son in yellow reflective vests. The young teenage boy I soon found out by what it said on his vest was autistic. Before anyone realised this, people were moving away as they didn't know what was going on. Once the train arrived and he got a seat on the tube and made high pitched squeels, the whole train were looking at him, but looking around, everyone was smiling. Some were smiling because you could see in their eyes that they were happy that the boy was happy (which you could see on his face). Others were smiling because its unusual hearing someone with no "social constraints".... nobody laughed... but a lot of people were smiling. From the fear on the face of the woman standing next to him on the platform to the smiles he was receiving in the train carriage (even though everyone couldn't see what the reason for his sounds were), it was an interesting turn around.

It was an interesting experience not only because it made one think, what is it that makes one smile? These clips are only a few ... some related to others happiness, some to silliness and some to others pain...

Now that the weekend is here, I can sum of the week gone by as one that was very productive. I have set up a number of meetings with people next week, as well as one the week after that. I have initiated talk about some work experience with a few different channels. Almost all of these leads I have received from friends... they have sent an "introduction" mail to people they know... It is incredible what people can do for others and I hope one day to repay the favours...

Fingers crossed i get some more interesting information these week from the different meetings I have. These meetings include two recruitment agencies, one sports event management agency and one charity.
Continuing to step in the right direction.

a few chosen words from Paul Arden...

One of Mathilda's flatmates gave me an incredibly interesting book to read the other day following a deep and meaningful conversation.

Today, I would just like to leave you with two pages from the book... (its not a conventional book so this is really TWO pages:-)



I Wish.

I wish means: wouldn't it be nice if...

If you always make the right decision, the safe decision, the one most people make, you will be the same as everyone else.
Always wishing life was different.



I want.

I want means: if I want it enough I will get it.

Getting what you want means making the decisions you need to make to get what you want.

Not the decisions those around you think you should make.

Making the safe decision is dull, predictable and leads nowhere new.

The unsafe decision causes you to think and respond in a way you hadn't thought of.

And that thought will lead to other thoughts which will help you achieve what you want.

Start taking bad decisions and it will only take you to a place where others only dream of being.





This comes from the book... Whatever you think think the opposite by Paul Arden.

What makes this so puzzling to me is that I seem to have everyones support... its the decision most people around me think i should have made... :-) everyone keeps saying "go go go go"... Will i face different decisions in the future where others will no longer be with me and instead say No and will I dare go on? Thats answer can't be determined tonight..

Office life v. home...

Kinda struck me today that life in an office (with others around) is quite different from sitting and working alone at home

Today one of my sisters flat mates worked from home and was sitting at the same dinner table as me the entire day. The dynamic of working in the same room as someone else is interesting and its interesting to see how it affects work...

The social interaction or the occasional 30 second dialogue is often just the break necessary when you are concentrating on something... of course not when you are deep in concentration on a special project and are deep into it... but its important to realise that its not good to concentrate on something for 8-9 hours a day straight... Even with a lunch break in between its bad for the mind to sit there and think about the same thing for 8 hours in one day... without many breaks... a little walk is one form of break but unwinding for that split second with communication is a nice way to allow the mind to wander just for a while and relax...

its probably quite rare that you get 8-9 hours for yourself at work (impossible if you ask me)... concentrating on one thing, day in day out for 16 days... definitely not healthy.. so when looking for work its important to try to put yourself in situations where you at least some of the time (but definitely not all of the time) get some social interaction WHILE you work... as long as you are disciplined this will just end up being minimal .. possibly 10-15 minutes of chatter but enough to make a big difference to your mind... it makes the stuff you are getting done of a high standard... otherwise the brain needs to day dream to try to get that mental break it needs...

This evening I went out to go shopping for the weekly supplies... £18.32... now thats not gonna last for an entire week, but not far off... only need to buy some bread and maybe one/two more dinners and it'll be set... not too bad... anyway.. while shopping at Sainsbury, these two girls walked past discussing random things as people do... I was picking out some shower gel at the time and the conversation these two girls had immediately made one realise a few things... they were students; they were from Rich families... they were at a different stage of life...

Girl #1: Oh god, I absolutely hate buying my own toiletries and basic things like salt and stuff... and I hate having to think about buying things like milk. I mean I don't have the money for these things. I want to buy pretty things... and I just like want those other things to be there when I need them.
Girl #2: Oh I know, its terrible. Whenever I go back to my parents place I normally get them to buy all my supplies but it means I have to go back quite often. Like everytime I need toilet paper...

thats where I left the conversation... but quite funny to listen to people ... these two were obviously students (freshers.. first year students) who had just moved in in Oct. ... still coming to grips with the issues... I think that a lot of people felt during their university years or whatever had that ... "gosh, before these things were always just there... " moment... and of course a lot of our parents wanted to help us through the first years at university in different ways... and to different levels... but these girls had obviously not seen the light yet... and one only hopes that they realise the value of things like tiolet paper, shampoo, milk... in the future.. i'm sure they will...:-) but its interesting what you hear when you're out n about...

A change of scenary...

This morning I headed off bright and early to a Starbucks café where I was promised free wireless access. So equipped with my laptop I wandered to the bus stop... Five busses passed... fully rammed with people... the busses didn't even stop... and so I thought to myself.... heck, its not like someone at Starbucks is gonna say "Hey Rich, YOU are LATE..." where you been... so I decided to walk... a nice 15-30 minute walk to Angel... and a starbucks... Seemed to have entered during rush hour..... around 8.30ish... as the queue was long.. and the dudes behind the counter were spitting out Laté's like it was ice hockey pucks... :-)

turns out you have to pay for wireless access at starbucks... and it comes at a cost.. 5£ for 60 minutes... thats a rip off if I ever heard one... so i decided against it... instead I took out my old school pen and paper and started jotting down different ideas, different things I could do to get a foot in the door... etc.... stayed at starbucks an hour.. and when I left it was empty... one thing that struck me was that 85% of the people that came in were Women... !?!?! Do women drink more coffee than men? Do women need coffee more than men? Was it a coincidence? I'll leave that with you...

Instead of heading home.. where the flat cleaner was busy tidying the place... I headed off to the British Library.. I must say... I'm impressed.. its a very nice library... and i didn't even get to go in to any of the rooms with the books because I couldn't register (due to the fact that I don't have an address in England). Nevertheless there were many seats in the library which you could sit at and with free wireless internet service I sat there and hunted jobs... among other things lookin at a social networking site called Sports Crowd at Ning.com :-) Product placement, hells yes... now give me my money:-)

Stayed there until lunch when I made my way back to the flat... taking the tube from Kings Cross to Old Street at midday, its strange how there were delays due to signalling failure, probably sat in the carriage 10 minutes before it moved.. this happens all the time in London it seems.. signalling failures are common... someone surely can improve the signalling :-)

the afternoon went as a charm and by 18.00 i had once again left the flat to go to an alumni event for the Manchester School of Business that I attended... a great deal of different interesting people, the majority in banking/consulting... had a good chat, and the word on their mouths was obviously the looming recession but everyone i talked to were extremely positive.. and they called it "Interesting" rather than worrying... they all envisaged huge possibilities... :-) thats how i view it as well:-)

On that note its time for me to head off to bed, its been a fairly dry account of my day... but i hope nevertheless you get a little view into whats goin on day to day in the life of RICH....

picture tells a thousand words

Describes my day nicely...

frustration, ineffectiveness, worthless...

You just gotta realise that some days its just not gonna happen for you... and pick yourself up and carry on...

A good kicking...

Good day today... started quite poorly, wasn't in much of the mood to do anything. Was a bit down and unmotivated. Stressed by the fact that there doesn't seem to be any progress made... at least no concrete progress... decided to take a 15 minute break and tried to unfocus on the job completely... ... tried to tell myself to get a hold of yourself... this is your opportunity... go for it... you've got nothing to lose... when I came back I made a list of what I wanted to get done today and that was send off two CV's with accompanying cover letters... and I got that done... :-)

so now when I'm about to finish up for the day I feel quite good ... somethings bound to happen :-)


So that was the "job hunting"... yesterday there were two guys that (seperately) came around to the apartment I'm staying in to look at a room that is becoming available at the end of this month... two of the apartments occupants were to interview the dudes and seeing as my sister is in Gabon this month I decided to act as her deputy interegator...

Now I've interviewed people for jobs before and now I've sat through the ole... "so are you going to be a good flat mate" kind of discussion... its quite funny the kind of predjudices you have with people, based on very little information really... how they look, where they're from... what they do... how they sit, etc etc etc... "He's fat, so he must eat a lot meaning he needs more space in the fridge" or "Not single? Maybe he'll bring home a lot of ladies" or "Receeding hairline... ooo... he won't steal as much of my shampoo" .... in my situation I was just interogating and ultimatily the decision shouldn't really affected me assssss much as I don't live in this appartment more than just temporarily, but its still interesting to be part of the process...

If nothing else it gives you a perspective on how people view you and how every little thing you say when you are meeting people that are judging you will be exaggerated... its interesting and thats the way the world works... but often time its all about "the gut instinct".... isn't that funny, the gut instinct... what the hell is that??? when the hell did you develop a gut instinct... did you get the "gut instinct" at the age of five when you suddenly thought to yourself, "no i shouldn't put this dog shit in my mouth, something tells me its not good for you"... or have you always had it... whatever the case its important to remember when you look for new work, when you meet new people who for one reason or another you need to impress...

an interesting thing that struck me though is some people put them through this rather akward and stressful situation more than others (ie. me)... and why the hell is that? Others (quite a few people i know but not pointing any fingers cause its not negative) go through year after year with this happening minimalistically... its the uncertainty of the foreign object that obviously causes these predjudices... but even for someone who has been in the situation a hell of a lot (the position of being judged), you find yourself returning to this gut instinct...

Its something I've thought a lot about but not really placed before... am I a person who people generally get a good gut instinct about the first time they meet me... or am i rather a person who can build relationships up over time... (which is not as good for interviews but is great for networks)... I'll never know myself but its an interesting question... its one thing to make friends, its another to put yourself up there for Jobs, for Apartments, for any responsibility...

whatever the case... lets hope the gut instincts of all those I meet in the future are good :-)

Tomorrow I'm meeting an old flat mate from my second year at university in Manchester. Haven't seen him for at least 4 years. Should be good times.

Positive thinking...

Today I read about further redundancies at Citibank to name just one company...50,000 globally... on all the newspaper stands I walk past I read, "10,000 laid off last week." or "5000 to go from ______" ... for the past two months every day there is articles on how the world is going under... Recession hits Japan, Recession hits the EU... Recession is coming to the UK.... Yes... yes it is... but is a 0,1 drop in the GDP for two consecutive quarters REALLY... that bad???

Yes, of course it is... coupled with the credit crunch and general state of consumer and business confidence ... rock bottom .... its gloomy times... thousands and thousands out of work... and what does the world want to hear... yep... MORE bad news...

Is it to keep the people who have jobs happy for the time being because its reassuring to read about that they at least are fine... warn them that they should stop spending because the world is going to end and you need those two dollars and fifety nine cents that a hot dog costs when you are in whatever comes after the end of the world... I bought that hot dog today and I'm not earning and I'm quite confident I won't see the end of the world...

What the world needs less of right now is negativity, and it needs more optimism, positivity... more SMILING... things aren't as gloomy as they may seem...

THINK ABOUT THIS ONE....
all these bankers being laid off ... they all have gathered enough wealth by working 20 hour days and getting a nice compensation package of in some cases up to a year... they hardly spent a fraction of all that money for many years as they were working all the time ... whats happened now is that they're probably going to go on a LONG nice holiday... and spend their well-earned cash and relax... this will put the money back in circulation and press-do... soon we'll all be happy again...

and for this reason, it is now my goal to offer my services to any and all bankers who are looking to travel.. I'll carry their bags while they're on vacation... heck, they only carry around 50£ notes ... at least thats what I've heard :-P so opportunities are ripe... times are a changing... and with 99% of the world looking at it negatively... couldn't you be one of the ones that are looking at it positively...!!!

do me a favour ... at least think about thinking positively...
oh, and one more thing...
SMILE:-)

Sleezy guys...

After a quiet Friday night spent relaxing and chilling, it was once again time to go out on the Saturday night into an unusual warm November night... this time I was to meet a good friend of mine from my time in Bratislava in Covent Gardens ... but first... my first training session towards winning Olympic Gold in 2012 in Males Badminton... yes, you guessed it.. BOWLING... a perfect start... After hours of stretching and mental preperations we played at All-Star Lanes at BrickLane... very kool new place... was like an American Diner, old school... A good game of bowling indeed... all the necessary ingredients: beer, exciting finish, ooh's and ahh's from the elated spectators/participants and last and least... sexy bowling shoes...

Once the physical exertion was done it was off to the Roadhouse near covent garden...

Sitting 6 people in a tight little booth originally made for 4 europeans or 2 americans or 8 japanese was nice... and the food was good... without even ordering dessert we got the perfect conclusion to our meal... a big burly trucker/lumberjack looking man... probably around 190 cm, with a thick red beard, and a long braided pony tail... probably around 110-120 kgs.... prances in in front of us as the live band plays, looking out every now and then... is his date... a tiny little Japanese woman... both of these characters have muchos muchos energy.. and a positive happy spirit... they then insist on giving us, and the rest of the dancers the show of a lifetime... HARD-CORE-dancing... one at a time... starting to graze their bodies against a red tape that seperates our food booths with the dance floor... they weren't hired by the club or anything, but these two opposites in size and figure... were sooo similar in personality.. was great to see...

at the same time (or all throughout dinner)... there was a couple... pressed up against a tv screen literally examining eachothers throats... this went on for maybe 90 minutes while we ate... As we finished eating and treaded out onto the dancefloor, one thing struck me... (while not in a sober however not overly drunken state)... there are some hideous guys out there that have the strangest, sickest "hunting" techniques .... my favorites

1) Without doubt the most common one yesterday....

GUY: Stretch out hand and nudge a girl, whenever and wherever you want... and just make eye contact... don't say a word... just give them the sleeziest look ever...

Intended result? Well what I can gather is that most of the guys expect this technique to convince a girl to immediately jump on this dudes lap as she screams that she wants his kids and wants to be with him forever...

Result? Girl looks at guy with a "WTF, were you born retarded or did it happen when you inhaled all the gas at the petrol station?"


2) Less common but still heavily used yesterday...

GUY: walk by girl and stop behind her, just stand there looking at her neck

Intended result? Obviously she's supposed to sense that he's behind her as she has eyes in the back of her head... turn and round and throw her arms around him and proceed with whatever he might have in mind...

Result? She takes a step forward away from him, and he takes this as a chase.. so he takes another step towards her, until she turns around and gives him a "WTF, get away from me you maneour devouring scum" look... he doesn't get the hint immediately but once it registers that this might not be a good way of doing it.. he instantaneously starts cursing her... "ugly bitch" or something... which ultimately says something about his own taste...


The examples continue... but obviously some were successful cos there was a lot of "happiness" going on around...

As you can understand, its been a while since I've been out to a dance club, and even longer since I've been out at one in the UK, which isn't too much different than in Sweden of course, but it has its own little distinctions...:-)

I write this also obviously cause I miss Anne muchos muchos much... while its fun to dance, its better to dance with the person you love...:-) then for some reason you often ignore all the sleezy guys (and I must add girls too but in less sleezy forms) ...

All in all it was a fun night... lots of dancing, lots of laughs...

A day of networking

Let me tell you about yesterday... the day I went to the conference focusing on Sports Event Management...

Its extremely exciting entering a foreign world... a world which many people have been working in for many many years... in some ways it feels as though you are trespassing in somebody elses party... in some ways it feels like coming to a new country, to a new city, to a new school... but its exciting and without doubt the day taught me a lot...

Attending the conference was well worth the financial sacrifice made, without a doubt... where else can you meet people who breathe the work that you want to do in the future. Where else can you listen to all the trends, all the hype, all the buzz words... what would have taken me weeks to research by myself on the internet, took me 10 hours during a conference... having met a lot of interesting people and observed how it all works, I'm pleased to say I feel I got my money's worth...

Did I get a job out of it yesterday? Not immediately but I'm quite confident that the experience and what I learned will pay itself off in the future... :-)

Sitting with the CEO of this and the CEO of that, people that on a regular basis meet the prime ministers and presidents of countries and are in senior positions, its interesting to see how they differ... they differ in their ability to talk, they differ in the messages they try to send out, they differ in age, they differ in cultural background... but what they all share is that in some way, they are successful... and are experts

It was interesting seeing a proper traditional old "Right Honorable" British minister speak ... all he does is speak for a living, talk is a politicians weapon... and there are few politicians in the world that can speak as eloquently as British politicians... incredible

It was interesting to see a Sheik offer his view... his perspective and way of speaking differed greatly to the ministers... his message and form of communication was far more in form of "teaching" the audience something... without doubt an experienced speaker but something tells me that he might have been a little out of his depths... in no way was it obvious as he was extremely talented and knowledgeable but there was something...

Or the Russian CEO who referenced to Vladimir Putin a great many times... his speech was powerful, I couldn't help but think many times throughout the speech that it had been written by some of Russias most intelligent speech writers. The Russians CEO's delivery was truly fabulous... but for some reason it seemed scripted ... something that could only be noticed in very brief moments...

Or the way with which different presenters used Powerpoint, and the strength of the powerpoints... some read every single word off of the powerpoint... obviously having not had time to prepare as much as others... others speaking for 40 minutes without so much as a piece of paper... there were 30 year olds who clearly have been able to speak their entire lives as the way they spoke could not be learned in 10 years, but must have been born with...

All in all the presentations were very well done... and extremely interesting... with laughs coming few and far between but when they did, they were extremely good.


These conferences are always interesting events, everyone spying the name tag to see who they are and who they are working for... everyone looking confused at my name tag as all it said was Richard Strom... and no Company... who was this guy?

A really striking image... Richard Strom followed by BLANK... that blank is clearly what I'm in the process of filling in... and the conferenc was a great step in the right direction!!!

No picture today... :-) I'll try to offer a good one tomorrow

Good day

It's late...

I've just gotten back from the event...

and I haven't got the energy to write what I wanted to write...

so instead... the funniest statement of the day... delivered by the CEO of the London Marathon....


"the oldest participant of the London Marathon is a 97 year old man... he's been running the marathon since he was 76 years old... his reason for starting....... 'because he wanted to spend more time with his father' "

HAHAHAHahahaha... get it????
more about the conference.. tomorrow!!!

A tiny break??

A crack in the ice? A tiny step in the right direction? A glimmer of hope? A ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds? Whatever you want to call it, I'm pumped. I'm Excited. I'm ready to go.

The first thing I found last week when I began looking for opportunities was a conference specially held looking at Sports Event Management... held in London on November 12th. Wow, I thought to myself... am I lucky or what... but when I noted what the delegate fee was I thought to myself "eh..."... So last week I called the event organisers to see if there was any chance that I could work at the event ... any unconventional way of getting in but not feeling the extent of the corporate delegate fee. Any way at all that they could help an aspiring young future sports event manager learn a little something... the response was positive and to get back to me next week

As the event is being held tomorrow, I wanted to call "last minute" so I called this morning and talked to one of the organisers. We came to an agreement. :-) Though it has resulted in a significant dent in my wallet, I was happy with what I could arrange with the guy. I am fully aware that sometimes... it's gonna hurt to find a job... and this time it was financial... its gotta be seen as an investment... heck, if i'm really in the positive mood I might just say go as far as saying I'm doin my bit to help in these hard financial situations by still consuming. :-) My money is now out there circulating, 1 penny might show up in the hands of a homeless guy in Düsseldorf , 100 SEK to a 15 year old teenager as allowance money.. another 223 in somebodys loose change Emergency Piggy bank. :-)

So my hard-earned cash is working hard out there.. tryin to save the economy...thanks bucky, thanks todd (don't we all name our money?)

and tomorrow its my turn to work it... Networking networking networking... thats the name of the game... and hopefully some fun stories to share...

wish me luck!!!

Today's picture wasn't taken by me... but its from the website of the conference... wonder why these men all chose to sit there in front of the sand??? what sport event might they be fighting for front row seats for???

Elvis and friends

Yet another wet and rainy day in London town... and today it was just Elvis and I in the apartment... romantic eh?


My two weekends here in London have so far had one red ribbon ... Good friends of yesteryear. I feel rejuvenated having had the chance to sit down and talk to them. It reminds me that although you are not working currently and might start questioning your talents and abilities, you are the same guy who has accomplished and achieved a wide variety of different things and that if nothing else, has been able to establish some great friendships.


The moment of the weekend

Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the weekend was going to what Jorden and I would find out was a high-risk Championship football game between QPR and Cardiff on Saturday. Jorden and I met in Beijing in 1990 and I worked out that he is my oldest friend. (defined as the friend that I have known for the longest that I regularly keep in touch with and not as the one who has spent the most amount of days on this earth.) He was visiting London for the weekend and as we had spent so many days playing soccer together in the yard what better way to spend the afternoon than to go see a game.

Here are two old friends that only see eachother approx. every 5 years... sitting in the stands laughing and joking... Who would have guessed we would be sitting next to one another 15 years down the line in London watching footie in the rain. One thing struck me though...

There is a frightening contrast between the privelged upbringing that both Jorden and I were fortunate enough to experience growing up and the one that many kids in the crowd were experiencing. Instead of the sweet angelic sound of "Come on QPR", we repeatedly heard "You worthless c#~£, your so %&£@£$@ $#/[." The words came from two 10 year old kids. What more, as we turn around we saw their dads approvingly tapping them on the head saying "good one son, he's a $£$£€£€$£ $€£@$€@€"... I didn't even know what a c#^£ was when I was 16 nor that the word existed... its a sad reality though and one most definitely not only unique to football stands in London... ironically though it is organising sports events that I wish to do in the future... Rich Strom... providing the platform for kids to scream profanities since 1928...

I'm glad that there aren't 10 year old kids screaming insults at me as I'm sitting here hunting jobs. Somehow I don't think I'd be as productive...

As I sit here on a rainy Monday evening, a fun and relaxing weekend now in the past... seeing my friends of yesteryear and feeling the support I have from everyone I hear from both near and far... there's definitely a connection with how productive I am. Today was a good day at work... my boss would be pleased... I identified some "out-of-the-box" ways to get my foot "into the door"... its this energy from you guys that keeps me going...

My only question is, if there was only Elvis and I at work today... does that make him my boss? Tune in next time to find out...:-)

Short and sweet

Friday is friday if you're in work-mode. Feels real good when 17 o'clock comes around and you know you're "free" until Monday. Important to have some free time as well... otherwise your head goes to hell...:-)

I'm heading out in a short while for some drinks and fun...

More to come this weekend...

Learning lessons...

Lesson #1 - Spending over 24 hours straight inside an apartment in London should be avoided at most costs.

------ The last thing you need to do when looking for work is confine yourself to a very small space with no windows so following an extremely productive morning job-hunting session where I was able to spew my CV and cover-letter out to a number of unprepared victims, I decided it was time to end my 24 hour self-confinement and take a short wander on the streets of London.

No matter what time of day you travel these London streets you seem to see professional looking people wandering here, there, everywhere. Businessmen in suits taking late 15.00 o'clock sandwichs in cafés everywhere. To think every one of these suits is a value-adding member of society. Fantastic! Came to thinking though that due to recent economic difficulties, the fancy schmanzy suits their wearing today may need to be worn for a little big longer than they may have liked. :-)


Lesson #2 - Patience! Only stretch yourself when you know the entire you is with

----- Taking the tube back from Kings Cross to Old Street, I witnessed the EVENT of the DAY!!!!
Hoping on the tube I grasped at the pole to steady myself for the upcoming journey. The doors were seconds from closing and a group of 3 Japanese kids had just hopped on... just then, as the doors started shutting... a woman stretched both arms forward in hopes of making the train... to her surprise though the doors shut trapping her arms at around the elbow with the rest of her torso still on the platform... she was no match for the powerful jaws of the door so she started trying to pull her arms back to towards her... suddenly you could see the fear in her eyes as she realised she was gripping tightly to a plastic bag with her purse and mobile phone in the bag and in her hands. The bag was still in the train but her body was outside. Reluctantly she released the bag staring through the doors at a little Japanese kid who was trying to help and holding the bag. The train began to move with the woman looking distressed on the platform... a little teenage Japanese kid holding the bag with the mobile and phone on the train looking at his friends wondering what they should do.

I must admit I couldn't help but giggle at this tragic situation. Really there should be no moral or lesson to this funny event, but if we decide to anyway one might say its important to make sure you are totally commited and fully behind any leaps you make take. Had the woman waited 2 minutes she would have caught the next train. Patience! In the philosophical mood I'm in right now, this is something I will keep in mind in my pursuit of a job.


I'll finish today with a totally random picture. It shows the everyday in London. No particular street, sight, person, or reason to take it other than to show that life continues as usual out there. :-)

The journey continues

The first rejection...

Moving to London without a job in the best of times might be tough but doing so when the world has gone absolutely mad with economic fright? Well one might rightly be considered slightly naive.

Deciding that you are going to "pursue" your dream career might also be considered brave when things are good, but to do so when nobody is willing to take a chance is seen in the majority of peoples eyes as down right STUPID. :-)

That makes me STUPID and NAIVE... :-) Something to put on my CV...

However...

It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.

Philip Adams

Don't really know who this Philip Adams guy is.... but as Richard Branson says...sometimes you have to say "Screw it, lets do it"... The more you risk, the greater the fall, but also the greater the rewards...

Sitting here in London, embracing my first of many "You've really chosen the wrong time to move. Nobody's going to take a chance on you", I logically start questioning my decisions! Ultimately though, if you haven't given it a go...

The hunting process is amusing because just when you thought you've found the perfect company, the perfect opportunity ... prepared your CV, your cover letter, your perfect answers, the door slams in your face quicker than you can say.. "Take a chance, take a chance take a chance"... and you question whether the chance is gone. Should I return to my safety spot? At the moment my answer is a resounding no... :-)

The journey continues and so do the dreams...