Learning Series (2a)

To continue on learning mini series, I am summarizing an interesting article from Le Point (a weekly French magazine) by Professor Stanislas Dehaene of the College de France. He offered 10 advice on the subject of learning. The first 3 are as follows: 1) Learn by playing games: Making the subject interesting by utilizing games […]

A Fairer Portrait of Marseille

I visited Marseille last weekend. Marseille does not have a good reputation in particular among the French themselves. Some of my French friends frowned at me or looked slightly in shock when I told them I went there. Yes and my verdict – as suggested by the title of this blog, I don’t think the […]

Learning Series (1)

Recently I have read a few articles from different sources on a subject close to my heart – learning. Let me provide a quick summary for each other. The first one is taken from the book called “The First 20 Hours – how to learn anything fast” by Josh Kaufman According to the book, the […]

Don’t Pay More Than the Face Value

Don’t pay more than the “face value”. Sometimes when an unpleasant incident happens, we let it affect us emotionally and psychologically longer than the mere incident itself. To me (someone from the finance background), in such case, we are paying more than the face value (the price required – essentially overpaid). For example, if I […]

Gratitude 1-2-3

Recently I have attended a life coaching seminar and the speaker has strongly recommended an exercise developed in the U.S. This exercise was proven to be very useful and effective to lighten up one’s mood. The exercise is by the end of each day, write down 3 things that you are grateful for. The items […]

How Strong Are You?

A remark came up during a recent conversation with a friend: “I feel like ‘so-and-so’ is stronger than me.” That is not an uncommon feeling that we sometimes do feel like someone is stronger than us. However, on reflection, what does it mean by “stronger”? Perhaps we can look at the word “STRENGTH” which is […]

In Support of Macron

Though I am not French, I am a strong supporter of the economic reform led by Macron. It is currently a full-on “face-off” between the Macron-government vs. the unions in France, in particular the SNCF (train) union. I will spare readers of (in my opinion and many others) the “out-dated” employee benefits of the train […]

A Part of Veal

Yesterday I went to a French restaurant in Paris for lunch. When I surveyed the menu quickly, I saw “Rognon de veau” on it which looked interesting. I asked the waiter what it was. He replied with confidence, “It is a part of veal and it is very good. You should try it.” Then I […]

The Choice of Water

Last week I invited a friend over for a coffee to catch up. I asked him if he would like to have instant coffee with or without coffee mate (I ran out of milk on that day). After confirming that there are no other choices of coffee available, he in turn asked for a glass […]

Grace under Fire (3)

To conclude on this topic, I am going to be a bit unorthodox and controversial here . I hope that it won’t cause too much of a turmoil among my circle of friends and family. I would suggest making peace with the person who (in your opinion) has wronged you if all possible. Firstly, it […]