Thoughts

“我希望许过的愿望一路生花，护送那时的梦抵挡过风沙”

“I hope my wishes are followed by flowers, safeguarding the dream from sandstorms”

— 宋普照，温奕心 《一路生花》 灵感李锦堂读博就业视频

7List of resources: A4 clipfolders x2, A4 pukka pad x1, pencil case.

 

Block 1: Subject 1 (08:00 – 10:30)

1. Learn: Gemini notes in ACADEMICS notebook

2. Practice: Do problem sheets

Block 2: Subject 2 (11:00 – 13:00)

1. Learn: Gemini notes in ACADEMICS notebook

2. Practice: Do problem sheets

Block 3: Review (14:00 – 17:00)

1. Can attend problem classes

2. Make sure everything is done

Block 4: Career (18:00 – 20:00)

1. Application: Risk/Quant + IB/S&T

2. Learn: Courses + projects

7:00 – 8:00 Wake up + Morning Routine + Breakfast

8:30 – 10:30 Block 1

10:30 – 11:00 Break

11:00 – 13:00 Block 2

13:00 – 14:00 Gym + Lunch

14:00 – 17:00 Block 3

17:00 – 18:00 Dinner

18:00 – 20:00 Block 4

20:00 – 22:00 Flexible Period

22:00 – 22:15 Stretch

22:15 – 22:30 Night Routine + Sleep

Gym routine (weekly)

Mon: Back and Abs

Tue: Shoulders and Chest

Wed: Casual workout

Thu: Back and Abs

Fri: Shoulders and Chest

Sat: Back and Abs

Sun: Rest

Stretch:

  • Thigh stretch
  • side leg stretch
  • front leg stretch
  • cobra stretch
  • cow stretch
  • buddha stretch
  • pigeon stretch
  • curled knee stretch
  • wall stretch

ABS:

  1. Abs crunches
  2. Leg raises

CHEST:

  1. Chest press
  2. Inclined chest press
  3. Chest fly

SHOULDERS:

  1. Shoulder press
  2. Reverse fly
  3. Shoulder raises

BACK:

  1. Pulldowns
  2. Pullups
  3. Rows

Food routine (weekly)

Breakfast: Oat cereal + 2 eggs

Lunch: School cantine 

Monday and Tuesday: Broccoli + carrot + prawn 

Wednesday and Thursday: spinach + cabbage + beef

Fri and Saturday: pepper+ mushroom + chicken breast

Sunday: Soup

LeisureHub

HSBC: Reliable backup

Monzo: Savings pot and current account

BOC UK: useless

Xingye: Card in China, can take out money in canary wharf ATM

Trading212: 3.8%AER

””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

Routine

Tracking: End of each month download monzo Statement, track IN + OUT + BALANCE based on categories

International transfer: parent -> Xingye -> physical cash ATM -> HSBC -> monzo

Year 1: Pass, join societies, settle in

Year 2: Career – (sw, summer, events), Academics – 60%+, hobbies – gym +badminton + hiking

Year 3: Apply Masters (oxbridge/ic AM/tsingbei) and graduate jobs, 60%+, get gf

Preface

I remember when I was reading the book “The courage to be Disliked” it said that all the troubles in life (apart from physical problems ofc) stems from people-to-people, specifically, comparisons. Then I thought to myself if all troubles are stemmed from people, then by the same logic, all happiness also stem from people. That is the praises, the confirmations, and the feelings of I’m better than you. This leads to 人生装逼论.

I suppose this lies in social sciences hence outlooks on life obviously vary from individuals, unlike scientific theories they cannot be disproved to be false or proved to be correct. It is simply an interesting thought, just like belief in God, it is what people live by. 当代哲学家，弗洛伊峰，曾经提出过具有突破性的理论 – 性压抑论，人生一切的驱动力来源于刻在基因里的性压抑。Evidently, this cannot be proved. Just like my theory of 人生装逼论。

””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’

Defining 人生装逼论

人生装逼论：一切的人生动力，包裹但不限于爱好，成家立业，娶妻生子，努力学习的源区动力只有一个 – 想装逼。想让外人或者家人认为自己很牛逼，能支棱起来。而且那些所谓的默默做事，好事不留名的行为只是为了满足自我内心的优越感，装“圣人”的逼。本质上是没有区别的。

””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’

Do I follow the said belief?

 I would like to say no. I believe as humans there is something more superior, grander than simply satisfying the frivolous desires of external validations. However, reflecting on myself, I am not someone who is materialistic since I’ve always prioritised quality over brand names and goes to lengths to reduce physical things ie see the post about minimalism, yet I also want to be successful with the benchmark of earning more money. Hence I could say, noting the potential for it to be incredibly naive, that I simply want to 装逼。Furthermore, I believe earning any money extra than for survival is three reasons, buying time, buying space, 装逼。

Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

Defining minimalism

Allowing everything to be just right, at the perfect balance.

Reducing physical objects (keeping only items that I deem as useful), mental burdens (having streamlined workflows so that I don’t have to decide what to do) and seeking to maximise time efficiency. 

 

How it works in practice

Physical: I would only buy things that fits inside my structure, ie clothing list or I would adapt my structure to suit the things I possess. I would be really pleased seeing my room all tidy, no redundant objects and the floor all swept, and seeing all the stuff being where they are meant to be at.

Mental: I love designing routines, it gives me a sense of control, (but doesn’t mean I follow it since I am lazy). Also social-wise, if someone constantly adds burden to my emotions by pissing me off, I would try to distance myself away from them, I like peace.

 

Benefits

1. More time and emotional freedom: Buying things require time (looking at products, deciding what to buy, deciding where to place it, deciding how to integrate it into workflow) all of that takes time. Even earning money takes time, its a constant trade off between time and money. You could earn less but you would have more time. Working longer hours -> no time to cook so order delivery -> more expensive than cooking -> spend more money. I would rather use that time to cook my food, time could be spent doing more meaningful tasks.

2. Flexibility: With less physical objects and a streamlined workflow, I could instantly be on the move. I can pack everything I need for a month into a little suitcase + backpack within 30mins. I can pack everything I need for a week into my hiking backpack. P.S. Cotswolds Way made me realise how simplistic mankind are, we just need Food and water, Technology (for navigation), Sleep, Toiletries, Identity documents. Everything else I can think, its me and my mind.

 

Downsides
1. Lack of flexibility: Time taken to figure out how to integrate an object into the workflow, sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.

 

I am going into year 2 Imperial Maths, I have decided to scrap lectures entirely. One shouldn’t worry about “wasting money”, one should seek to do what’s best for them.

  1. Inefficient use of time: Lecture is too fast -> not understanding/misunderstanding a concept/proof, since content is scaffolded, the rest of the lecture is prone to not understanding/misunderstanding. Lecture too slow -> not time efficient.
  2. Spaghettied lectures: Content are taught based on how much lecturers could race through in 1-hr period rather than by module, ie lecturers don’t teach one subtopic per lecture (as what would deem reasonable, just like in high school or any forms of teaching), instead they would race through as much content as possible in one hour lecture as they feel pleased, often meaning one subtopic is spread over 2 lectures. Making it harder to build structured understanding and content are harder to grasp. Since “forgetting” exists.
  3. Poor teaching: Lecturers simply don’t phrase things and structure lessons in a way that is easy to understand. Ie huge chunks of maths scribbles with no formatting or structure.
  4. Cramped space: Lecture tables are tiny, not for understanding/taking notes let alone a laptop as well, since it is designed just for resting your arms. 
  5. Environment not designed for deep focus: People and things going on around you. Go with friends -> chatting. Go without friends -> social anxiety.
  6. AI exists for answering questions: What one used to need to go to lectures in person is for asking questions, either asking friends or lecturers. Now AI exists, on a vast scale, teaching trumps that of both.
p.s. Talking with my friend Leonardo Wang solidified this decision of not attending lectures at all to prioritise my academic results.
Y1 could’ve been better, I am confident that year 2 will do me well.

Career paths for an Imperial maths student: Quant (research/analyst/data science), IB, risk, software eng, teaching

Factors to decide on a career path (Akin to badminton or a chess game):

  • What are my advantages? Quantitative, decent people skills in professional setting, not afraid to speak up, fluency in both languages and cultures
  • How do I want to win (what factors matters to me)? Outsider social status, decently paying, enjoyable
  • Anticipation (How the world shifts in near future)? Prioritise people interactions, prioritise high-moat extreme technical jobs

Financial Risk Management Divisions (Bulge Brackets $ Elite Boutiques) JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, HSBC

Quantitative Risk Analytics Barclays, Citi, Bank of America, NatWest Markets

Corporate Treasury Lloyds, HSBC, BNP Paribas

Hedge Fund Portfolio Risk Millennium, Point72

 

Ideals

In an ideal society, school helps students to find their natural talents, and then would pursue a career alined with their talents. In a capitalist society, the labour market is allocated by capital (doing jobs that makes the most money), rather than a socialist society, doing jobs that is best for society (maximising inidivudal purpose and talent). 

You don’t need to worry about lazy people who take benefits and do no work, since:
1. Benefits support bare needs, to have a semi decent life you need to at least do something.

2, Lazy people will suffer from the feelings of being useless, it is in our human nature to feel useful. Plus if you do no work, you will be looked down upon.

Best part of adulthood is freedom.

You are free to choose the way you think, the people you surround yourself with, who to become.

WIth that also comes lack of control. So self-discipline is vital.

Education: Part of your success since it shows skills on how to learn + retain information (experiencing the world)

Not just for career/money money. Relevant but no causation.

Career: Make money (protect, provide and fuels life experience)

Daily clothing:

T-shirt: 2 white, 2 black

Outer: hoodie, black bomber jacket, blue denim jacket

Coat: Camel coat

Trousers: light blue, deep blue, dark blue

Shoes: Brooks Ghost Max 18

”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

Badminton/gym:

1x set Badminton clothes (shirt + shorts + shoes)

2x yonex shirts , 2x shorts

”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’

Suit:

1x suit set – charcoal grey

MEASUREMENTS:

Height: 176cm 5’9

Chest: 98cm 38.5in

Shoulders: 46cm 18in

Waist: 86cm 33.5in

Hips: 94cm 37in

Leg: 83cm 32.5in

Huawei Matebook 14

Xiaomi 13 5G

Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed

UGreen 4k 30fps UHD Camera and Mic

Levi 5034 KB7 glasses

Ipad pro M4 2024 11″

Portable charger 20000mAh

Soundcore Anker Q20i

 File management: desktop D drive (temporary) + document D drive (long term) + auto backup to google Drive

Google AI pro: £19 per month. Gemini Pro + 5TB google drive + yt premium lite

List of good movies

  1. The internship 实习生
  2. The Green Book 绿皮书
  3. Parasite 寄生虫
  4. The perfect day 完美的一天
  5. Schindler’s List 辛德勒的名单
  6. Blade Runner 银翼杀手
  7. Ikiru 生之欲
  8. The pursuit of Happiness 当幸福来敲门
  9. Facing the giants 面对巨人
  10. Wolf of Wall street 华尔街之狼
  11. The Big Short 大空投
  12. Dangal 摔跤吧爸爸
  13. Darkest Hour 至暗时刻
  14. Life is beautiful 美丽人生
  15. Interstellar 星际穿越
  16. Black Swan 黑天鹅
  17. Dead Poets Society 死亡诗社
  18. Heidi 海蒂和爷爷
  19. The chorus 放牛班的春天
  20. Little Forest 小森林
  21. The secret Life of Walten Mitty 白日梦想家
  22. Atonement 赎罪
  23. The Attorney 辩护人
  24. Still life 寂静人生
  25. Amelie 天使爱美丽
  26. Good will Hunting 心灵捕手
  27. Truman Show 楚门的世界
  28. Bucket List 遗愿清单
  29. The legend of 1900 海上钢琴师
  30. The Grand Budapest Hotel 布达佩斯大饭店
  31. The Matrix 黑客帝国
  32. Inception盗梦空间
  33. Shawshank Redemption 肖申克的救赎
  34. Forest Gump 阿甘正传
  35. Everything Everywhere all at Once 吮吸全宇宙
  36. Fight Club 搏击俱乐部
  37. Samsura 轮回
  38. Whiplash 爆裂鼓手
Movies

List of good Documentaries

Nature

  1. Planet Earth II
  2. The blue Planet
  3. The Green Planet
  4. Frozen Planet
  5. Human Planet
  6. Dynasties
  7. Life
  8. Chasing Ice
  9. Fantastic Fungi
  10. March of the Penguins

 

Human History

  1. Walking with Cavemen
  2. The Ascent of Man (BBC)
  3. Egypt: Beyond the Pyramids
  4. Ancient Worlds (BBC)
  5. Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire
  6. Story of China (BBC)
  7. The Crusades (BBC)
  8. Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
  9. Civilisation
  10. Africa (BBC)
  11. The world at War
  12. The Vietnam War
  13. Shoah
  14. The Cold War (CNN)
  15. The story of Us with Morgan Freeman

 

Society and Power

  1. The Ascent of Money
  2. Prices of the Yen
  3. 97% owned
  4. The Money Masters
  5. Inside Job
  6. Enron the smartest guys in the room
  7. Four Horsemen
  8. The corporation
  9. Life and Debt
  10. Requiem for the American dream
  11. HyperNormalisation
  12. The war you don’t see
  13. Dirty Money
  14. The Panama Papers
  15. The China Hustle
  16. The end of Poverty

 

Religion

  1. The Story of God with Morgan Freeman
  2. Religions of the world (BBC)
  3. The Secret History of Religion
  4. The Bible’s Buried Secretes (BBC)
  5. Christianity: A history
  6. Islam: Empire of faith
  7. The Story of India (BBC)
  8. The buddha
  9. Taoism: The way and its power
  10. Africa’s great civilisations (PBS)
  11. When worlds Collide: The untold story of the Americas
  12. God on Trial

 

Technology

  1. AlphaGo
  2. iHuman
  3. The Social Dilemma
  4. Coded Bias
  5. The Prize: The epic quest for Oil, money and power
  6. Engineering and technology: How it works (BBC)
  7. The Human Body (BBC)
  8. Cosmos: A personal Voyage
  9. The Bomb (PBS)
  10. Print the Legend
  11. Oppenheimer
  12. Steve Jobs

 

The Arts

  1. Jazz (ken Burns)
  2. The last Waltz
  3. Amy
  4. Searching for Sugar Man
  5. Exit through the Gift shop
  6. The story of film: An odyssey
  7. The Pixar story
  8. Lost Soul: The doomed journey of Richard stanley’s Island of Dr Moreau
  9. Hoop dreams
  10. Horizon: How we really make decisions
  11. The story of maths
  12. How to combat depression

Solutions to social problems

  1. Extremist: Deny by saying if I TRUE I would FUNNY EXTREME ACTION
  2. Questioning: Ask them a question or ask them to repeat
  1. Google AI pro £18.99: Gemini Pro, 5TB for photos/gmail/drive, Gemini in google suites, YT premium Lite
  2. 1pMobile £10: 50GB of mobile data
  3. Amazon Prime £4.49
  4. Monzo Perks £7: Finance tracker tools, savings interest boost (2.75 -> 3.25), perks (railcard/VUE pm/greggs pw, Uber One),  connected banks, credits
Total £41
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