Happy New Year, even though it is already half way through January . I hope everyone is having a fabulous 2009 so far! I have been busy with my job (it just never slows down). And interestingly, I will be moving to a new condo in February!

Moving to a new place has always been in my mind. Until last December I finally took some time looking at some apartments. One impression I got is that they are getting so expensive. You can't get away with paying $900 a month for renting just a small bachelor in downtown nowadays! Then I thought to myself: Why don't I spend a bit more for renting a condo? Then just before Christmas, I found one really good real estate agent from Kijiji. She helps people find condo rentals, especially for people who have pets. So I emailed her and she called me back. Since it was near Christmas, we didn't schedule a viewing until early last week.

We did the viewing on a cold Tuesday night (Why did I do it to myself?). We went mainly to Yonge/Bloor and Spadina/Front areas. The first one we saw was a very neat 1-bedroom right at Yonge/Bloor and we instantly loved it. Firstly, it is right at the PATH. So basically, I can go down to the subway and go to work and come back home without even going outside everyday. Secondly, there are starbucks, the Bay, shopper drug marts, food court downstairs. Again, I don't have to go outside if I don't want to.

The subsequent ones that we saw were not as good as the first one. Therefore, I decided to put an offer on the first one. After a flurry of paperwork and going back and forth, I will be moving to this nice condo in February. I am just so excited!

Now the hard part...moving! Oh how much do I hate moving, especially in winter! Fortunately, I don't have much furniture so it won't be a problem. But still...oh I don't want to think about it now!

For weeks I tried to start writing on my blog regularly but I just don't know where to start and eventually I gave up.  My work has been occupying me 70% of the time and it has just been quiet down for a little.

As the play Rent said: "How do you document real life when real life is getting more like fiction each day?". This is exactly what was happening over the last couple of months. I had started my job for just one month when the market started to crash in September. Even the most experienced traders could not believe the severity of the downturn. The downturn is not only unprecedentedly deep but also rapid. I am still amazed how I survived the stress I went through during the week when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and AIG got bailed out, and all the subsequent events that moved the markets. Luckily, it seems like a series of these event created a lot of opportunities that are in our favor as we are relatively well prepared for these crises compared with most US and European banks. My heart aches when I hear there are hundreds of thousands of people in the Finance industry have lost their jobs due to these events, but on the other hand, I feel really fortunate that at least I still have a job.

Anyhow, on that note, my parents came to Toronto to attend my graduation ceremony two weeks ago. I am glad that they came to visit me. The ceremony was held in the convocation hall in U of Toronto. Compared with the one at UBC, this hall was way smaller and older. But I enjoyed the whole experience very much as this is probably my last graduate ceremony (I swear to god I am not going back to school again!). After the ceremony, we took loads of pictures.