***TOO GOOD TO WAIT FOR MONDAY***


OK, fuck the breathalyzer pen, HERE is what I want for birthday/graduation/sign-on bonus, whatever. It also happens to have just replaced "Joe vs. the Volcano" as my favorite movie. OH MY FUCKING GOD THESE ARE HOT!

CHECK IT OUT!

One of the things I have always loved about INSEAD is the warm, non-competitive environment. Students share study aids, work in groups, and, from my experience, take no actions to advance their own academic performance at the expense of their peers. It may happen, but I have yet to see it. Many times, after review sessions where I asked questions which revealed my painful ignorance of cash flow analysis or the CAPM, someone, be it from my group, section, or just a random person, would offer to stay after the class and explain the problem to me. At first, I would demure, saying I’m sure they wanted to go get lunch or something, but they would often insist, excusing their generosity on the grounds that by teaching it to me, they would better understand it themselves. And, of course, you’ve already heard about Mr. Melmed’s coming to my rescue, in a profoundly selfless way.

So, how far does this go? I ask because, quite innocently, I recently sent an email to a classmate asking about an interview he had with a company with which I will be interviewing. And then it hit me: it may have been extremely inappropriate for me to do that. I mean, if we’re both interviewing with the same company, then theoretically we could be competing for the same job. Now, in this case, I find that highly unlikely, as I think I have an idea of what this person’s geographic preferences are, and I think they are different than mine, but nonetheless the possibility exists.

This was not a close friend I emailed. While it is someone with whom I have had a lot of contact, particularly recently, I have never spoken to them on the phone, or even sent an SMS. For that matter, I do not even have a phone number with which to do so. So that leads me to further believe I had maybe overstepped my bounds. They were very polite and vague with his responses, and never said anything like “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why do you think I would ever help you get a job that I want?” In retrospect, that’s about the best I should have expected. But I wonder for all the people doing all the consulting and finance interviews, is there a point where the generosity stops and the competitiveness begin? Or do people help you right up until the end, even when you’re vying for the same position?

So Pangkil pics are up.

View the pictures on flickr

I felt like a little kid trying out the new waterproof camera. Bought, sadly, to the replace the non-waterproof camera that ended up in the Andaman Sea just before I got to Singapore.

My head is feeling so fragmented right now that I don’t have any idea where one part of my consciousness ends and another begins. I sit down in the library, and before I know it I have 30 things going simultaneously. Chats, papers, spreadsheets, 6 tabs open in Firefox, editing photos in Adobe, and still trying to finish my Bangkok videoblog. This is the fourth time I’ve returned to writing this entry since I first opened a new document. And it’s only got six sentences so far…that 1.5 per effort. Not encouraging.

My occasionally cited Word of the Day email service sent me a long (and by long I mean longer than just a word and a definition…may 3 paragraphs) archery analogy about concentration (which it took me several attempts to get all the way through, ostensibly told by the editor to her daughter when she was having trouble focusing on her homework. Essentially the message was if you’re shooting at the eye of a clay bird on a tree, when you’re aiming, the more things around the bird you see (tree, forest, whatever) the more places you’re allowing your arrow to go, reducing your accuracy/effectiveness.

But the way I feel right now, if I were to carry that analogy along, is that when I’m aiming at my target, I look down and realizing instead of a bow and arrow, I’m holding a pineapple and a tuba. If you catch my drift…..

I don’t even know how long it’s been since I posted, but I know it’s been way too long. Sorry guys.

Most of my time since last post has been spent thinking about decidedly more serious things than Singapore and terrorism. For example: “Is it time to switch from beer to cocktails?” and “Should I have a morning or afternoon massage? In the treehouse or by the pool? Is one a day REALLY enough??? DAMN! TOO MUCH STRESS!” Yes, Pangkil Island is no place for an indecisive luxophobe like myself. It is, however, a place where a simple group of 25 people can have an amazing time together, and where people’s dreams of singing Roxette songs at the top of their lungs to unsuspecting Indonesian ferry goers really can come true.

But it hasn’t all been fun and games. I actually got invited to interview for a job. Which I didn’t even know about. Or attend the presentation for. Can you believe that? I think it’s hilarious, but I’m secretly excited (SHHHHH!). I’ve never actually had a real job interview before, so I’m really curious what it’s all about. I’ve even started preparing! I get such a kick out of myself…

I just want to quickly thank my partners (or, really, supervisors) on the SFTM project: Iain, Will and Erik, and my colleague Pauline. I had a blast working on that and really hope everyone enjoyed it. If you were offended by anything, Will wrote that article.

Laziness takes many forms…

So my post a few days ago about the inconsistent/repressive feel of Singapore generated a great many replies, and, in typical fashion, rather than coming up with anything new or original, I’ll post a few of them. A particularly interesting one, especially in the context of laziness, comes form a mystery source. You see, my dear friend and Creativity in Business co-conspirator Paawan Kothari often reprints posts from my blog in her INSEAD blog on Business Week…and usually takes credit for them (no….). One response SHE got to that piece was the following:

“Chris has asked very thought-provoking questions **(hasn’t he though? What a guy!)**. New York, London and Singapore are among the world’s top financial centers and targets of terrorist threats or criminal conspiracy. In a post 9-11 world, it is no wonder that law enforcers are a bit more trigger-happy compared with those in other cities. I believe that administration and law enforcement get really tough on crime as a reaction to the callousness of previous administrators. The price of a heavy-handed approach is the harassment of a few innocents. However, as long as the administrators in a democratic society act quickly to rehabilitate the innocents, most people will not commit crimes against the administration out of hate.”

I hope a) this person is right and b) “rehabilitation of the innocents” is happening much more than I’m aware of. Personally, I find that it is not simply the harassment (or even killing, as in the Diallo case) of a few innocents but in fact systemic discrimination as a matter of departmental strategy, which feeds into the press and the psyches of those who do honestly believe that the law is protecting them (ie: not those getting “harassed”) and that this creates gulfs between different members of society.

Another tack was taken by Nick “Pure Energy” Gray:

“I completely agree with you mate but the thing that I would comment on (far less elegantly than your good self) **(isn’t he sweet? And what taste!)** is that the big difference between here and the US is that the people here generally seem far more happy to be controlled. There seems to me to be an underlying contentedness with the system as it appears to work well for most people living here and very rarely do Singaporeans feel genuinely threatened… what is particularly funny for me is that if you look around there are constantly adverts (on tv and on the street) that warn you of pickpockets/terrorist attacks/car thieves and the such which I feel is the governments clever little way of keeping the peoples minds focused on their need for vigilance and security… and fear! Why so much security is needed in this country is beyond me but it is again a sign (I find) of the underlying fear which the govt likes to keep the people under so that they are subservient… obviously the ex-pats and foreigners are keen to tow the line simply cos they do not want to get publicly flogged or hung!”

These are interesting points. While I can’t claim to have been here long enough to have a finger on the pulse of your average Singaporean (if such a thing exists), what I would say is that, whether or not we see any serious threats to its national security, Singapore cannot afford any vulnerability. Much like Israel's no-tolerance stance on a nuclear-armed Iran, any major terrorist threat (and this is NOT to say that I consider Iran a terrorist threat. In fact, I do not at all. It’s merely an analogy) to Singapore is truly an existential threat, ie: if a large scale attack/natural disaster/what have you occurred here there is no other city to support Singapore (unlike, say post-Katrina New Orleans being able to rely on economic support etc. from the rest of the US). The city IS the country, so if something major happens, Singapore could quite easily cease to exist. While I’m aware of no major event since the Singapore Airlines highjacking in 1991, given the stakes, a certain degree of “prudence” is to be understood. So….buckle up for safety….?

Well, at the risk of (once again) making myself look like a complete jackass, I have a story, which I think ought to be told, because had it happened to anyone else, I would enjoy reading it. That’s how selfless I am. Really. So if you don’t enjoy it, please don’t tell me. That’s how selfish I am.

Last Friday night, I was out and about. I had gotten a message earlier from a British woman on aSmallWorld who was in Singapore for work who wanted to meet up. Strangers on that site have always received me very hospitably, so I said sure why not. Being a male, I checked her photo. Very soft focus, which I took to be a bad sign, but there are many reasons to hang out with a girl on a Friday night, right?

Anyway, she keeps sending me updates about where she and her colleagues are, and it finally ends up that they’re at Attica, where we were planning on going as well. So I wrote, “How will I know it’s you? Will you be wearing a red carnation?” to which she replied “I’ll be sitting on the couch in VIP wearing Chanel.” So, at this point I know this chick is going to be a fucking trainwreck, but I’m going to the club already. I get there, and as I got to the upstairs section (VIP is a total misnomer) I saw a fairly wretched girl wearing what could possibly be Chanel leaving, and thought that I had dodged a bullet, but no, soon my phone rang. My good buddy BC was completely curious to see how awful this girl was, so I was encouraged to go meet her. Never being one to shun academic research, I agreed.

We went to her table in the back of the club (admittedly it was the best table in the place) and did the introductions. Apparently she was an oil trader in town for a few days. She was reasonably attractive, if not on the soft-focus side of heavy, but she was completely obnoxious, jabbing a Singaporean guy with her stiletto heel (no doubt Manolo’s) within minutes of me sitting down, and when he gave her a dirty look saying something to the effect of “If they think the Triads are tough they should see the Russian Mob.” I have no idea what the fucking point was, so I just gave a meekly apologetic look to the guy and stood up. Fortunately, she and her group were very tired, and excused themselves within a few minutes of our arrival, leaving us the end of their bottle and a sweet table.

Within minutes of us commandeering the table, two women came and sat down next to us. Of course, first thought was “working.” They introduced themselves (well, one in particular, her friend was quiet) and said she was a hairdresser from Bintan who liked to come to Singapore to go out on weekends. Fair enough. She asked me for my number to get in touch when they came in the future. Why not? BC left shortly thereafter, as he was needed back at the ranch (as it were) and I stayed and chatted to this girl about Indonesia and finished my free Belvedere.

After a bit, we each go our separate ways. I got a call from an unknown number Sunday around 11. The conversation went basically like this (it’s transcribed accurately...I have no idea if it’s offensive to represent someone who doesn’t speak very good English as someone who doesn’t speak very good English, but that’s what I’ve done. Apologies if you find that inappropriate): “Hi Chris? It Elly (the girl from Friday, in case you hadn’t figured that out)” “Oh hi, how are you?” “Oh, I in trouble...last night I go out, and I go to the bathroom, but I so drunk I leave my bag” “Oh, that’s terrible” “Yes, and now I want to go home but...” “(Me, catching on, and detachedly amused) Oh, your passport was in the bag?” “No, I leave passport in hotel” “And you still have your phone” “Yes” “Where’s your friend?” “Oh, uh, she go home yesterday” “Oh, that’s too bad.... hmmm, I’m love to help you, but I have a friend in town from Japan and I don’t know when I’ll have any free time. Good luck!”

I have an image of her in an office with a headset on running down her list of numbers from the weekend. The sad thing is, of course, despite the fact that what she’s doing is not really that cool, the fact that this is what she feels is her best option isn’t very cool either. So, while I can be momentarily amused by the ridiculousness of it, I end up feeling bad regardless. Fuck. I hope you at least enjoyed the story.

Every once in a while, I actually read my “word of the day” emails, and, in even fewer cases, I really like the word. Today is one such day, so allow me to share. If you were already familiar with this term and its etymology, gloat away.


--Pyrrhic victory (PIR-ik VIK-tuh-ree) noun

A victory won at too great a cost.

"One more such victory and we are lost," exclaimed Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, as he described his costly success in the battle of Asculum in Apulia. With those words he gave us a metaphor to refer to a victory so costly that it's barely better than defeat.--

I think about this sort of thing often when I am in Singapore. I guess after my superficially gushy post yesterday, I want to swing the other way a bit. As I focus a lot of my study here on innovation and creativity, and identifying processes by which to encourage innovation, and what to do to realize commercial/societal successes from innovation, I am fascinated by the dichotomous climate of Singapore. On the one had, it has done an excellent job of creating an attractive environment for business, and compared with neighboring countries/cities, the standard of living here is undeniably high. But I wonder about the cost, and some of the incongruities of the system, and who it is ultimately there to benefit.

One can’t help but be reminded of the glowing treatment of Bernard Kerrick’s success in reducing crime in New York City in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point (which some of you should be reading right now I imagine…I know it’s only suggested for LO, but I would highly recommend it). I was always a bit outraged by the praise showered on Kerrick and Giuliani for “turning that city around” both because I think that it needs to be acknowledged that the impressive drop in crime rates coincided with the most meteoric stock market rise in history, but also because I think that while Giuliani and Kerrick’s “broken window” approach to law enforcement (to not allow any criminal artifacts to be tolerated in a city-from broken windows and grafitti, to turnstile jumpers and traffic light squeegee men) was partly responsible to a drop in crime rates, it was largely responsible for a dramatic increase in the polarization of the city along economic and racial lines. Racial profiling, which led to the Amadu Diallo and Abner Louima tragedies, became the norm in law enforcement, and continues today, which I think in the long term will lead to an escalation of crime, and crime motivated more out of hatred and malice than economic necessity, which is far more difficult to combat.

While I’m still learning my way around here, one thing that leads me to believe that similar forces may be at work here is that, while you and I are encouraged (by way of threatening fines) to wear our seatbelts, poor Chinese and Malay day laborers are legally shuttled around highways at speed in the back of uncovered, unprotected pick-up trucks. I suspect there are many more such examples.

A question that I hope we all ask ourselves often, and not just in connection with the places we live: Economic prosperity yes. But at what cost does it become a defeat rather than a victory?

Big weekend in Singapore. Yes, that’s right, IN Singapore. While much of my class was in KL for the F1 (how hip I am with my abbreviations?) or in C for a GT (OK, Cambodia for a good time doesn’t lend itself to acronymization the same way), I had my friend Keddins in town from Tokyo…an old friend from NYC who I hadn’t seen in a while, we had been planning a reunion when I got to Asia. He used to DJ a lot of parties in Bali (that’s his job) so when I got here I wrote to find out when the next one was. He replied “what are you doing this weekend.” So I thought “Sweet! Party in Bali!” But then I didn’t get details. So I wrote saying I needed info so I could buy my plane ticket. And he calls me saying actually he was thinking about coming to Singapore to hang for weekend. Great, now I have to entertain HIM. Not the way I had things pictured.

But it’s been cool. A lot of eating in Geylang (if you’re in Sing and you don’t know Geylang…or only know it for the hookers…then you’d better ask somebody. That’s where the food’s at). Saturday night there was a great INSEAD crew at a great band at the Esplanade. Don’t be surprised if you start hearing Si*Sé getting played at more parties around here. They tore it up, and, in true INSEAD (but apparently not true Singapore) fashion, we were the only ones rocking the dance floor. Too bad, those beats were too good to pass on. After that, it was an Attica mission with the band (Keddins knows the singer from way back in NYC…although she did not come along), and lo and behold, another 5:30AM trip to a new and exciting SGP food stall, this time for boiled ribs in garlic broth. Yummmmmmmm.

Today, we went a little more hoity-toity, with the Four Seasons brunch. Oh Lord. We have a winner. I don’t know if it was the sushi, the fresh Bretagne oysters (flown in first class), the Peking duck, the soft shell crab, the vanilla-infused white wine poached figs, the crispy pork, the all-you-can drink martini and fresh juiced bar (juice of the day: pineapple strawberry), or the 8 zillion other bad-ass dishes they had, but I left a satisfied man. Once again, if you haven’t yet, you might want to get on that.

Well, I better sign off…I have a busy week of THREE FUCKING CLASSES. Two on Tuesday, one on Thursday. Amazing. Was going to go to Bali Tuesday, but we have this private island rented starting Friday, and I just can’t get from one to the other efficiently. Anybody up for a surfing day-trip to Bintan on Wednesday?

Oh, and I expect many sympathetic reactions from France. Starting……now

Yo yo yo!

This going to be an exhausting two months (or however long it is).

I have to say, everyone from my promotion said that you became a lot closer in Singapore. How the fuck is that possible???? Everyone’s always in other countries, and there are none of the regular parties (Fleury, LVM, Le Viv etc.) that keep people interacting and mixing. I met zillions of P1s in FBL-in fact, I would say that I hung out with them as much if not more than P3’s (when those were applicable descriptions)…granted, there only 4 P3s in the Bleau.

Here, had I not sent out my quasi-desperate arrival email and been rescued by Helene and Ronald and whisked away to the P1 Sentosa jammy jam, I don’t know if I would have met more than 2 or 3. And even the ones I met I never see, except this really tall nerdy one who’s always in the library.

This is long overdue, but as application season gets into full swing, I need to post an email Udi sent me a while ago, which highlights an important thing that many people seem unaware of.

“Up to a few years ago, there used to be a bell on the wall next to the bar (in Fbl).
The tradition was that if you'd get a ding *(meaning a rejection) from a recruiter, you'd go into the bar, ring the bell, and the person closest to you had to buy you a beer. Now that we're more than half way thru, we need to think about our legacy...”

I’ve noticed a gong by the bar here in SGP, which I can only assume is the bell’s Asian counterpart.

Well, just to get the ball rolling, since I missed my chance to bang the gong, that Fellowship I told you about? Not happening. DOOOOOOOOOOONG! You may now all buy me a drink.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/sets/72057594081901623/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/sets/72057594081894799/

Let me do a little Bangkok wrap-up for ya…
…but first, you have to know something: my mom is listening. “Huh?” you say. That’s right. “But your mom doesn’t have a NV account.” Right again. “Wait, does that mean that…..” It does indeed. I’ve taken this baby to the street. From now on, you can read this [still poorly formatted…. for now] blog at http://www.si-si-ay.blogspot.com. All the archives are up, and it gets updated when the NV version does. Just for my mom. And maybe yours (although why you would do that to your mom is just beyond me. Doesn’t she have enough going on already???).

So Bangkok was a lot lot lot of fun. Although I went there alone, I didn’t do any of the things that single men typically go to Bangkok alone to do. This prompted Vlad to (quite rightly) ask “so why the hell did you go to Bangkok alone?”. Fair enough. I just wanted a lively city, that was close and doable, and it seemed to fit the bill.

A brief word about the whole sex tourism thing: it’s become such a cliché, you can’t help but think about it…. all the time. It’s strange. You (or I) become sort of uncomfortable looking at or talking to women, because you think you reek of predation. It’s sort of like how I first responded to the m/f ratio at INSEAD. It became such a charged issue, that I felt that just saying “hi” to a girl would be received as “why don’t you lift your skirt up and bend over.” Anyway, whatever thoughts one might have about sampling any Thai female delicacies can be eliminated, I think, by just looking at the all the fat, sad old white guys leading their mute, petite little playthings through the city, thinking that they can impress them by which restaurant they take them to or what drinks they buy. Thinking that they can be impressed, or that it matters at all. Maybe I’m going overboard, and shouldn’t generalize so much. All I mean to say is that it took away my appetite on this particular occasion.

A BIG thank you to Brendan for his hotel recommendation, which I now pass on to you (NB: without taking credit for it). The Davis. It’s a silly nice boutique hotel in the Sukumvit area. It’s not right by the Sky Train, but they run a regular free shuttle via tuk tuk (those kick-ass little motorcycle cars a la Indian rickshaw). As I mentioned they were out of rooms for Saturday, so I booked a suite on Saturday, and a regular room (for half the price) on Sunday. I use ratestogo.com for last minute hotels-it was the only site that allowed me to book that hotel same day, and they gave about 60% rack rate. Anyway, the suite was so pimp I can’t even tell you. The shower stall was like half a cubicle. I’ll post pics (just to be super tacky). Anyway, Sunday, I was so smitten with it, I called up to ask if I could keep it at the same price. They said no, but I could keep it at the rate of the room I had booked for the night. Ummmmm…..thank you.

As for the city, I went to the weekend market, which was overwhelming, but cool. I particularly enjoyed the guy selling friend bugs and scorpions from a cart. Walked around the Nana area, which was interesting…there was a nice Shishah/restaurant that had the most slamming chrome/b&w art deco façade, further blinged out with rows and rows of shiny hookahs…I couldn’t resist. I also bowed to the tailor temptation, but didn’t go the suit route, rather had my favorite jeans (which are a pretty unusual cut) copied in denim, some linens, and seersucker (and I had striped shirting cotton pocket lining put in those…looking forward to see how they turn out)…given that I have only 5 t-shirts, 2 bathing suits, 2 pairs of shorts and those jeans, they’ll come in handy. Still no word on the items shipped from FBL that were supposed to be here last week.

Well, that’s enough for now. Let me work on getting pics up, and we’ll do part 2 later.

Good morning INSEAD! Sitting in Changi airport on 2.5 hours of sleep, getting ready to board a plane to Bangkok. Didn’t get my passport photo in time to turn my student card application in, the upside of that being that I still have my passport, and therefore need to travel. I couldn’t find anyone to come with me, so I figured I had better go somewhere I could cram a bunch of walking around in by myself…Bangkok came highly recommended. A little market, a little temple, maybe a river cruise, and just general street-hitting. Hustle-and-bustle sort of deal. Lord knows having just left the Andamans less than a week ago, I don’t need to return to tranquility. I also have to admit to going to the other end of the luxe spectrum for this trip. Brendan “4FoW” Collins recommended a sweet looking hotel in the ‘kok, but they were all out of rooms. They did, however, have a 90 sq meter suite…..

So far, Singapore is quite a mixed bag. First the pluses: Great campus, great weather, good food, walking has re-emerged as the dominant mode of personal transportation, the airport really is gorgeous, and fast, everybody looks happier (and, quite frankly, better than they did in the woods), and it is convenient as hell compared to France…it’s almost as though businesses here have some sort of interest in serving their customers, but I could be misinterpreting something…

As for the negatives: My apartment really couldn’t have less charm…the new galleries in FBL have more character. Maybe people will disagree with me, but you really feel like someone is always watching you. I get a giddy adolescent high when I jaywalk. This is the only city (or country or whatever) where the taxis are the slowest most deliberate cars on the road…being all owned by the government, their drivers cannot afford to slip up. It compels you to spend money (I’ve been toying with “spendapore” or “comsumapore”…not sure, let me know). There is maybe the craziest fucking store I’ve ever seen in little India. It’s called Mustafa, it’s open 24 hours, and it sells everything from Rolexes to condoms to flashlights to toys to shoes to computers. At 11PM Friday night even the second basement level was so packed you could barely move. 8 months ago if you have put me there, my first thought would have been “fuck, this is crazy. How are you supposed to find anything?” but now, mid-MBA, my first thought was “fuck, this is crazy. How are you supposed to find anything? And how the hell do you do inventory at a place this big, with this much stuff, which NEVER CLOSES?” I don’t have an answer to either question.

Oh, back to the Big Brother (to use a term I couldn’t be more sick of) effect, you are not allowed to smoke on the dancefloor of clubs. You are not allowed to drink on the dancefloor of clubs (although you are allowed to dance on the drinkfloor). All of your movement is pretty well regulated when you go out. There is no room for “negotiation” with anyone. I would imagine getting your 10 NA “no’s” would be a breeze here. Just go up to any security or law officer anywhere, and say “can I…” and you’ll probably get a “no” before you even finish your sentence.

I’m pretty sure the hotel has internet…..I’ll try to drop a line from Thailand. Adios.

ARCHIVES

OK-This is probably the longest blogger post in history. It goes back to my very firest week opf INSEAD in August of 2005, and has almost one a day since then (ignoring weekends and holidays) so if you missed those.....you'll never get through it all.

March 8 2006

WHAT THE FUCK’S THE DEAL SINGAPORE????


Actually, I don’t have any idea. I’m flying (Chennai to SGP) over what appears from this height to be a whole lot of water…perhaps a lake or ocean of some sort. Anyone’s guess, really. Whatever it is, it’s heavier than the fluffy white things above it. Regardless, I do hope to land soonish.

I have some reasonably vague instructions about finding my new home upon arrival (Dover represent!) and then I may have some classes or something. Sadly, my China mini-course has become an impossibility, as I believe I’m missing 25% of it as I type this, which is an automatic drop. It’s fine with me really, as almost every class (and apparently even more so in SGP) is part China mini-course. It’s just a question of whether to replace it with another mini (game theory maybe?) or go for a full…between that, my extra .5 in P3, and Leaders Quest, P5 will be more of a formality than anything…although I guess the best strategy is to take any classes you want (or at least audit in P4/5). More important, of course, as all the other shit that’s going to happen in P4. Job search, biz-plan creations, finding a match for P6, and of course, Operation Asian Exploration.
While Rajat and I toyed briefly with the idea of forgoing an apartment completely, and living in Chengi airport, some research (“Hey Melvin, do you think it would be possible for us to live in the Singapore Airport for 2 months? Fuck no? Ok, thanks!”) led us to the conclusion that might be a bit ambitious, and more than slightly ill-advised. So now, we’re planning a week, which I think is totally doable. Why? Well, my primary motivation is the same as with so many bad ideas I’ve had: I’ve never done it before, and this is an opportunity. Not to open up old wounds, but if there’s one thing I’m not, it’s an MBTI “J”.
Another thing about it that would be awesome is that when I’m coming back from a trip to Cambodia or Thailand or Japan or wherever, as soon as we touch down, as everyone else is pulling out their cell phones to see if their cab or sister or whatever is there to pick them up, I’ll already be home. How sweet is that? And there’s no question (even though I won’t actually have seen it for another 2 hours or so after writing this) that Chengi is much more spacious and well appointed than any residence which I could possibly afford.
OK, well, I’m going to sign off and figure out all the destinations Jet Airways flies to from Singapore (if any outside of India) and begin planning trips to each and every one of them. Am I crazy, or is this the only airline still committed to the lofty ideal of hiring only young and attractive flight attendants? While I guess haven’t been paying quite as much attention men (I can say they seem young), the women on the 3 Jet Airways flights I’ve had in the past week are out of hand. They look like they were all grown in a lab, mixing every Asian trait (east/west) in various strengths and combinations. I don’t think I could guess the lineage of a single one. They also happen to be exceptionally friendly and helpful. And the food is really truly good. As someone more used to US carriers, you can understand my appreciation.
Which I suppose raises the question: How was India? How were the Andamans?

Come say hi. I’ll tell you all about it. I don’t want to find myself using the same words to tell the story in person that I use in this blog. You all know what a jackass I sound like when I do that.


Tuesday Feb 28, 2006 01:00:48 CET
OK, time is limited, and I’m still fucking packing, but I have to get this out there quickly: Yair Melmed is the fucking man. Two nights in a row, this dude has driven over to my house, and shaken me out of my packing/studying paralysis and taken me through practice exams step by step until it started working for me. While last night I feel there was a good give and take, tonight was a wholly humanitarian effort on his part.

I feel it’s appropriate to thank him here because a) you’re all either studying or drunk by the time you get this, so I can write about whatever the fuck I want, and b) Yair is one of my “blog friends” which is to say our first conversation happened when he rang me up on skype to discuss one of my rants about the campus exchange system. When someone I meet like that becomes a good friend, it really makes me happy…and more than a little stunned. Anyway, I know that the last thing that would ever happen at any other business school in the world is that, at the height of the stress, someone would show up at my house uninvited and unannounced with a bottle of wine, and stay until he saw that I had a grasp on the material. It’s unbelievable, and yet, is totally the way things ought to be.

To my classmates, GOOD FUCKING LUCK. You’ve got it. Breathe in, breathe out, supply=demand. Just follow that money, baby!

To everyone else, GOOD FUCKING LUCK on your exams coming up. A lot of people ask me what the exams are like, and the best thing I can tell you is that, with the exception of LPG, none of them last over 3 hours. So that’s as bad as it gets.


Monday Feb 27, 2006 01:12:30 CET
Study? Pack? But I have a blog to write!

OK, the last exams are upon us. Macro, IPA, here we go.

I usually try to put in something inspiring, something entertaining, something to get us over the hump. But we’re fine. OK, they won’t be a cakewalk, they won’t be fun, but really….are they going to be worse than UDJ? Are they going to be worse than CFP? No way. It’s all pretty soft, and, although I know how you like to hide it, you have a very soft side to you. Stop blushing, you know it’s true.

It’s been an interesting period, with lots of new people, and, for many, new places, so in a way this whole period has a different energy, and many of us now find ourselves preparing and commiserating with a new group of people, and relying on different people than in the previous two periods. And it still works. We still feel like we’re in the right place, and we made the right decision coming here. I think that’s a nice way to look at these exams.

But, that doesn’t mean we can’t use a little something. We may seem stronger, more experienced, more confident. Maybe a bit more independent. But I’ll bet we could all still use a hug or two. Be it a sweaty Singapore hug, or a much more chilly and layered hug here in the forest, we’ve all done a lot to support each other academically, and enrich our understandings of all our respective cultures (unless of course you’re from Africa…apparently according to INSEAD that continent doesn’t figure into a relevant discussion of the current global political landscape), how about we get down to the basics, and just say “I’m glad you’re here” with a nice big hug. It worked in P1, let’s not abandon it now.

I guess this is going to read pretty weird for those of you who weren’t around for our hug movement from last year, but suffice to say, sometimes “les bis” leave something to be desired in the whole “feeling like your greeting is actually conveying emotion” department.

Anyway, do it. Do it well, and, most importantly, do it in 3 hours. After that, I’ll see you at the bar. If Christine were here now, I think she’d say “IPA, you’re my bitch.” And she’d be right. Besides, if history is really over, then people have stopped paying attention to what our grades are…and I tend to subscribe to that theory…in this case.


Oh, and thanks for the music! Keep 'er comin'!

Saturday Feb 25, 2006 18:39:22 CET
Well, it’s exam time again. I can’t believe how much people are still getting into this whole “studying” thing, with only two tests! Wow! Rasha told me I need to post a new picture of myself, as it is a habit at the end of the period. Ok, I’ll do it…but not right now…look for it tomorrow I guess.

After much haggling and finagling, I have a visa to visit the great nation of India, or as I like to call it, INSEAD II. Between Thursday and Friday, I went into Paris 3 times. Thursday morning was a long wait at the Embassy, only to be told a) I have to come back Friday afternoon to collect my visa (how convenient!) and b) they no longer issued visitor permits to the Andaman Islands since the Tsunami. I’m not sure why everyone thinks Indians have an amazing IT culture, because the Tsunami was in 2004, and their website still says that permits can be obtained at the embassy…..but I digress. To cheer myself up after that slightly unsettling ambassadorial escapade, I went to a brasserie in Les Halles for lunch. My father recently sent me an article from the NY Times about Oysters in Paris (my father’s communiqués with me when I’m in school have always been newspaper articles…in undergrad, I would get packs of clippings with my initials stuck to them with Post-its, which his secretary would round up and send off….now I get emails) which inspired me to seek some out before I get my Asia on.

As Hemingway recounts in A Moveable Feast (and the article reminded me) … he was feeling aimless and unfocused, having just completed a short story. So he ordered some wine and a dozen Portugueses. "As I ate the oysters, with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans."

How could that not induce you to have a bi-valvey lunch? So I sat down and ate 24 Fine de Claire #4’s and washed them back with a lovely demi-bouteille of Sancerre. In between my first and second dozen, I got a text from Rajat (who I had called in a panic from the embassy) that passes were arranged and waiting for us in Chennai. I too, felt happy, though to be fair, I had already made plans.

I had to return to Paris that evening for the Depeche Mode show, which, again was excellent. I was disappointed, though, because originally, my friends were supposed to spend the night in Pairs, giving us some time to hang out, but when I arrived to their dressing room, they told me they had changed plans and were driving to Copenhagen that night, in order to have some free time there while it was light out before the next show. Oh well. Also, apparently there was some beef between them and Depeche Mode because of a drunken bottle-throwing incident involving a crew member from each band…I won’t get into details, but when we were watching the show next to the stage, and security saw the band’s name on the pass, we were rather rudely relocated….fortunately to seats with a better view, ultimately, but it was still a drag.

ANYWAY, study hard, eat well, and FUCKING RELAX! If you have over a 2.2, you really have to struggle to bring it down below 1.8…and let’s be honest, 1.75 isn’t getting anybody in any trouble…..


Wednesday Feb 22, 2006 19:06:10 CET
OK, I’ve really been shit this week…I can’t even make any excuses, other than the fact that FUCK THERE’S A LOT to do right now. I mean really…it’s getting ridiculous.

I’ve been having plane ticket nightmares. I’m leaving for India next week, to spend a week in the Andaman Islands before continuing to Singapore, but then I found out Monday that I got the Leader’s Quest elective, meaning the plane ticket I needed was Paris->Chennai->Singapore->->Johannesburg->Paris. Not as common a route as I would have thought. I called American Express travel service that I get with my card (I always am suspicious that I will get the best rate using them, because the audio prompt is something like “Press 1 for our Villas Program. To reserve a private jet, press 2……..for regular economy tickets, press 98,846”) and they were able to find something for around $7,500. It struck me as a bit high. I ended up buying an astronomically overpriced (but less so) ticket last night on Opodo, which left me stranded in Johannesburg, and would have required me to leave my Macro exam 30 minutes early. It also cut my trip in India short by a day, and all my flights were 26+ hours through Dubai. I had serious buyer’s remorse. I was not psyched at all.

But then, I got lucky. I got an email back saying that opodo required some information to be faxed to them in order to process my order; otherwise I would lose my reservation. Woo-Hoo! Lose it! So anyway, I managed to find a much better flight to India and Singapore, and will figure out Joberg later…I have a bunch of SAA miles that are expiring between this year and next year I can dump I guess.

It really hit home at last night’s LVM (which was superbad by the way. They just keep doing it over there…gonna miss that) that I am leaving. It’s fucking nuts….really really nuts. First of all, it means I’ve been at this shit for 6 months now, which is really tough to believe. I mean, I still don’t know where half of the amphis are. I also means that there are only four months left, which is even more fucked up, because when this is over, I’m going to have to do something else….I think we can all see how problematic that could be. Nonetheless, graduation is going to happen whether I like it or not, so if you want to get me something classy, I would recommend the following, maybe with a nice engraving:

http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/the-only-pen-a-drunk-could-ask-for-155663.php


Saturday Feb 18, 2006 16:33:44 CET
Guess what? It’s a weekend, and I’m in Fontainebleau! Radical…

Not as radical as last night’s “Local Week Party” at the fabled Bizon. Damn, THAT was a good time. To all of you who made it: Thank you. As moronic as it makes me sound, ever since the first time I set foot in that club way back in September, a little dream has been growing inside me: a dream of getting really drunk, and going to the Bizon with a whole bunch of INSEAD students. Why? That’s just how I dream, OK?

I’ve come close before. In November (I think) we put together a pretty solid 12-14 person effort. And it totally kicked ass. Then, this year, the post WW night certainly had a lot going for it.

But last night was most definitely in a different league. We smashed through the 30 person mark, and it was all that I hoped it could be. I’ve already received many emails from people who couldn’t come because of other engagements…so fear not, it will happen again (though for me not until I return in P5).

Another momentous occurrence this past week was a tacit acknowledgement on my part of the necessity to consider life after school, and its commensurate responsibilities/requisite attributes: I applied for an Acumen Fellowship. Basically, it’s a brand new Fellowship administered by the Acumen Fund, a Social Entrepreneurship Fund based in NYC which takes debt/equity positions in firms tackling issues related to water, food, and housing, and India, Pakistan, and Africa (not sure which countries). The fellowship involves 2 months of training in New York, and then placement in some sort of management position at one of their supported ventures (in one of the above locations) for 8-9 months, followed by some sort of debrief/placement process. Sounds pretty fresh to me.

So now I can just sit back and assume that all will go well with that, and ignore further searches unless something interesting lands in my lap. Sweet.


Thursday Feb 16, 2006 02:51:52 CET
I guess this week is just going to be “relationships and related topics” week. This next submission I really like a lot. The different lenses with which people here view the opportunities offred by this program are truly fascinating….and stuff.

Enjoy, and keep ‘em coming…and of course, start getting psyched for the Bizon!
“My question is how is it possible NOT to have problems in a relationship while at Insead? I keep asking people around, and still haven’t got an answer.
The problem is when you start seeing that you have changed since you came here. And for people who come from a long relationship, that’s surprising!
You are doing things differently than the way you used to, and it feels so good! It’s about plunging into the ‘bubble’ and wanting to take the most out of it. It’s ONE year only, and you don’t want to stay on the side and watch! But then this intensity does change people and it feeds on the time you spend with the people back home…. (Is there a balance? If so, can somebody have a lecture about it? :) )
Some friends told me it’s a matter of choice – you choose to plunge without looking back…. Why not see it as a good moment to re-define a relationship that might have too many things for granted? And really taking time to see the other and yourself as you really are?
It’s a rollercoaster ride, with ups and downs….. It’s painful, takes a lot of time and talking to figure out an answer to all the changes and questions, and you might realise the magic is not there anymore…. Or you can simply fall in love with him and live happily ever after …. (…. until the next time apart, and then you’re back on the rollercoaster :) )”

Wow. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that people here have a lot of interesting thoughts that don’t get shared enough.


Tuesday Feb 14, 2006 19:43:23 CET
HAPPY FUCKING VALENTINE’S DAY INSEAD!!!

So I asked, and I received, and thus, the world continues to turn. I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, cheery, and lovely Valentine’s Day. You all mean a lot to me, and I’m thrilled to share today with you (virtually or otherwise). But we know that there are more serious implications to today, and we know that romance is never easy, but even harder here at school. I want to share the thoughts that some of you wrote in (special thanks for the P1 participation. Please keep it coming!) about this important and sensitive topic. I hope you all enjoy.

The first piece is from someone whose relationship did not survive INSEAD:

“…breaking up with your girlfriend even though you've tried everything under the sun to keep it together sucks, unfortunately the INSEAD experience and the inability of a partner to live it with you has a way of amplifying every insecurity, issue, non-issue that a relationship can have.

ever need to feel like a nomad, live in a bubble, party your ass off and fuck with your mind? come live the experience at the Business School for the World.”

And the other side of the coin:

“Happy to say, I’m still going strong with XXX!

Pre MBA 9 months together.
Currently, 15 months solid.

For once, I am on the right end of the statistical curve! ;-)

Tricks:

Talk 30 min everyday, longer on the weekends.
See each other once a month (she arrives tomorrow for 4 days)
She’s in Vet School (85% Women/15% Men), I’m in B-School (85% Men, 15% Women)

Challenges:

For me: Every single hot chick in Paris or Singapore that I’ve met.
For her: I don’t even want to know.

Advice:

Fish or cut bait! There are no prisoners in this game called love. Go big or go home.”

Got that, sports fans?

And now, the more theoretical:

“Faced with an MBA program that barely gives us time to sleep, I find it easy to take people for granted, especially those that care about us the most. We're so entrenched in working on our assignments, cases and CVs that we often forget to work on our personal relationships with the people that we left to pursue the degree. The partner, the best friend, the family, whoever it is that is important in our lives; lack of time is already a big hit on the relationship, add the time difference and the distance and it balloons to a zillion times worse. WORK ON IT; it takes effort: the same as you’d put into your next cover letter.

So please, take time to remember, what is truly important to you. Yes, MBA is important, the friendship and whatever else you get out of it is also very important. But those that are sitting at home wondering how you are doing because they have cared for you for the past n years of your life are also VERY VERY important.”

And finally, a ray of hope:


“All I have to say is that whatever did not work, was not supposed to from the beginning….and the most important thing is that when it happens, you feel it in your stomach….it has happened to me, some days ago, I am so happy, and nothing has happened yet but only the possibility of it makes me smile alone while I am writing you this.

I am in love.

The randomness of Insead can create love, can destroy it also, but it can definitely create love.”

So there it is. Please keep the submissions coming. Stay warm, stay safe, and stay true. You all fucking rock!

-c


Monday Feb 13, 2006 21:18:34 CET
OK, I have some requests:

P1s: I’m ready for some input. What’s on your minds? What do you like? What don’t you like? What confuses the hell out of you? What the fuck’s going on???? Drop me a line, write a piece, whatever. Anonymous or not. We’d all like to get a take from the new torchbearers.

The other piece that it’s time to write is the relationship recap piece. We all heard what a disaster INSEAD can be on existing amorous couplings when we got here. How has that held up? Obviously, this is mostly for P3’s, but all views would help. So:

If you were in a relationship when you got here (and didn’t bring that person with you) how’s it going? If it ended, why (or, sort of why)? If it’s still going strong, what are the tricks, what are the challeneges, what’s your advice?

Come on people, bring me the goods!


Monday Feb 13, 2006 00:33:02 CET
***to subscribe to this blog add me as your buddy in NetVestibule. Archives available on my profile page***

Hey Gang-

Just back from Barcelona. Before I get into that, let me just acknowledge that there have been a shitload of birthdays recently…you know who you are. Happy Fucking Birthday!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/98838812/in/photostream



Barcelona is the new World Capital of Chance Encounters. I went to meet a few friends: the one from NYC who I did the dating book with (James), and our friends from college who are in the band opening for Depeche Mode. So I met James at our hotel and we went out to walk around and get some food. While there, I ate every single ocean dwelling creature there is. Sorry.

Anyway, after lunch, and strolling around, we ducked into the Dali Museum (how come I had never heard about how worthless that museum is?) and ran into the other friend I went to see. Weird. Then, after the Friday night show, we were taking a cab to a restaurant for a late dinner. I knew Alona was flying in to see the show, but had missed it due to flight delays. I called her to ask where she was. Guess? In a cab with her friend going to THE SAME RESTAURANT. Weirder. The next day, after a full bag of Barceloning, my friends and I were walking back towards out hotels. We walked by a café and looked in, guess who was there? Alona, and her friends. Weirder still, right? Well, get this: I got Alona and her friend tickets and backstage passes for the Saturday show since she missed the one on Friday. I went with them, because James had seen the show 3 times already and wanted to take a break. So afterwards, I went out to dinner with them, in a completely different neighborhood. After dinner, I walked out of the restaurant into the street (which was more like an alley with no traffic on it) to call James. He answered the phone and said “take your hand out of your pocket.” I looked across the street at the only other restaurant on the block. James and my other friends were sitting at a table by the window. They were the only people in the restaurant. HOW FUCKING WEIRD IS THAT????????

Seriously.

Pics of the trip and the concert are at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic


Thursday Feb 9, 2006 02:48:30 CET
Wow…well, it’s been non-stop since I got back from the hills. Last night’s LVM was really something…to my knowledge, it was the first INSEAD foam party for quite some time. Pictures coming soon.

It was great to see some of my Singapore cats during the satellite link for Colin’s show (which was, of course, awesome). You guys look good! Who knew what a little sun could do? Colin and I were talking about doing another “onesead” event around exams, so if anyone has any ideas for what form that might take, give us a holler.

British/Irish week also seems to be going strong. I checked out the football matches tonight (Can Am represent!) and it was fucking impressive. I’m hoping to join in the pub quiz tomorrow….look out trivia world!

Life is definitely easier now that two of my classes are over….and I have my second 3 day weekend coming up. Ah the trials! I have some friends who somehow managed to get the job of opening for Depeche Mode on their European tour, so I’m going to Barcelona to lend my support…haven’t seen Depeche Mode since the Violator tour when I was 13, so I guess I’m due. And, as it turns out, “Enjoy the Silence” is a dance favorite of several of our ranks. Who knew?

Hope you’re all well. It’s warming uo in the woods. And that can only be a good thing. Dig it.


Monday Feb 6, 2006 18:45:02 CET
****to subscribe to this blog, add me as your buddy in NetVestibule***

Here it is: My first remote entry. Although, it doesn’t really count, because, although I may be writing this on Saturday morning in Megeve, I’m sure I won’t be able to post it until I get back top the Bleau on Suinday evening. But the spirit is there; you’re getting this live and direct from my brain to the keyboard…to my hard disk…to my bag...to the floor…for a day…then to the car…you get the picture. There is a computer with internet in our hotel, but it’s awfully pricey, compared to free, so I think I’ll skip that adventure.

---That was two days ago…as you can see, the remote thing sucks. Megeve, on the other hand, on the whole, kicks ass. We had quite a wide range of experiences.

The skiing was good. Not great, but sunny, with no wind, so while the snow was crusty in the morning, it softened up during our two-hour lunches on the sundeck…I think some of my best meals in France were on that mountain, which contrasts sharply with the bratwursts and super pretzels which characterize US resorts.

The nightlife, was, well, different. When we got in Thursday night, we went to a spot called Palo Alto, which seemed on the clubbier end of things. It was favored by teenagers. We didn’t last long. The next night, after starting out at a place called cocoon, which was…well…weird (English pub meets bad house party…sort of like Au Bureau on some nights) we headed to the Jazz Club Rue 5, which had quite a reputation. The inside was very cool, but the crowd was, well...I don’t know. Let me just describe a few highlights: 1. Band played a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody for their finale. 2. DJ Played a Grease medley (what the fuck is it with French clubs and Grease???) while three 40+ year old women undressed an 18 year old boy whose necktie ended up wrapped around his head. I could go on…but I’m scared I’ll remember more than I want to.

On our last night out, after dinner at a restaurant with a kitty litter floor, an opne fireplace, and little tabletop grills where we cooked our own meat (and a highly incongruous no-smoking policy) we headed to La Ferme de Mon Pere, which is one of the hottest restaurants in France (apparently) hoping to have a cocktail. We were greeted first by the smell of manure, then by a man with a St. Bernard (Simon astutely noticed that it was probably not a friendly St. Bernard, as it lacked a barrel of brandy on its collar) who told us that we would not be having a drink with them. He recommended thee Jazz Club. We got the message. So where did we end up? At the bowling alley, with one of those tall beer-dispensing tubes, watching the youth of Megeve disco bowl, and remarking that we were probably the only people ever to drive straight from La Ferme de Mon Pere to the bowling alley. And we were totally cool with that.

Maybe you should just check out the pictures of the skiing (along with recently added pics from my party): http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic


Thursday Feb 2, 2006 16:49:56 CET
I need to dash something off here….been a slack week, I know. Fuck. I won’t bore you with the whole “man it’s been hectic around here” diatribe, but…welll…it has.

The party last night was a blast. I think one thing that really worked was that it felt like a nicely integrated group. P1’s, P3’s, Singapores, Faculty, Staff, and Local, all together, drinking, in my living room. I thought it kicked ass.

I actually thought it kicked ass at 1:30, when it “ended.” But then, when the LVM crew showed up at 2:30 and started taking their shirts off, wrapping themselves in toilet paper, and dancing with my rolled-up rug, I knew it kicked ass.

Now that I’ve finally realized my dream of traveling every weekend in a period, I’m not sure if it was the right goal. Last weekend was great at the 3 Valleys. Leaving in a few hours for Megeve. Next weekend, Barcelona to see my friends open for Depeche Mode, and after that, the Olympics. But all the energy I put into meeting people seems to imply that I should stick around for at least a day or two here and there. Oh well…..

Big cheers for all the P3’s who just finished ISM….that’s a load off! Also big cheers to Theo for coming out to celebrate the end of his class with us.

And, last but not least, HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY CAMERON! Do we have the phone for YOU! (SPSD joke…funny for only about 8 people. Not even. Oh well).

Have a great weekend…not sure if I’ll have coverage in the mountains. Get geared up for Colin’s show on Monday. I’ll be posting some pics of my trips soon as well, but as always, pics are at www.flickr.com/photos/angellic


Monday Jan 30, 2006 13:08:01 CET
Well, Monday’s continue to kick ass, don’t they? I mean, what a day! It has everything:

1. Resistance to motion and consciousness.
2. A somehow always-colder-than-Sunday climate
3. Not one, not two, but 3 core classes!
4. New, witty anecdotes about the weekend.
5. And of course, Indian food at the cafeteria.

Speaking of witty anecdotes about the weekend, I spent 17 hours of my weekend driving. Which is more time than I spent skiing, ostensibly the object of my trip. At first, I was pretty disappointed with the Alps. We were staying in Courchevel, which I heard had good skiing, as well as being something of a winter playground analogous to Aspen in the US. So when we arrived and I saw a shopping mall covered in neon, sporting a kids’ center with a bowling alley (((don’t misunderstand me, I LOVE bowling…was in a league deep in Brooklyn for a while after college, I do not associate it with the private-jet-set))) next to the lift instead of a Chanel boutique (Aspen) I was a bit puzzled. Then, the next day, when most of the lifts were closed due to winds, I was a little disappointed.

Saturday night, though, I started to see the luxurious reputation in action. Well, not so much luxury, as just really really expensive. 29 euro raclette, for example (although here I must pause to give my congratulations to my tablemates from Singapore, who put back a full quarter-wheel of cheese. It was truly awe-inspiring….and fucking gross.) I had also heard about some amazing nightlife in town….and the recommendation seemed to be Les Caves. It was quite a place…unfortunately, at 12:30, when I got there, it was empty, and not expected to pick up for another hour. Sadly, that was incompatible with…well…skiing, so I decided just to enjoy a finger of scotch (for about twice the price of a bottle…even in France) while a middle-aged French woman with dyed blonde hair, (and goateed guitar and synth accompaniment) belted out some Bob Marley covers. My friend, perhaps inspired by the warmth of the music, ordered a pina colada which cost slightly more than the per capita GDP of Mexico. But was apparently quite tasty.

Our decision to cut the night short was, fortunately, rewarded by my first blue-sky day on the slopes this year (while I can’t say I prefer that to the one foot/day of powder I got over New Year’s, it was perfect for this trip), which allowed us to range a bit more, and really explore the scale and variety of Courchevel, Maribel, and Les Meunieres (Val Thorens was still battling wind) which was fucking impressive.

Not nearly as impressive as me making it back to FBL in under 6 hours, however. Never buy a used car in France if you know it was leased to an INSEAD student.


Thursday Jan 26, 2006 13:44:01 CET
It’s official: I’m over the hill. I thought it might take until I had kids, or at least was married, or at the VERY least, had turned 30. But sadly, it has already come, just weeks after my 29th birthday.

At first I didn’t realize it. I felt the same, looked more or less the same. Nobody reacted to me any differently. But then, as P3 progressed, I started to notice the signs. First of all, my language began to seem dated and irrelevant. While I still called them “cubicles”, the P1s had already abbreviated them to “cubes.” Since when do I get beaten to an abbreviation? Losing my grip…
So I decided to adapt. I decided to adopt. I tried using “cube” too. First of all, P3s looked at me like I was crazy. “What the fuck’s a cube?” they asked. Losers. But worse, when I listened to myself, I sounded phony. Like a 60 year old describing his new mustang convertible as “bitchin’”. The P1s weren’t fooled. They haven’t started calling me “pops” yet, but it’s coming, I can feel it.

Then, there’s me at parties. There have already been some really good offerings this period. Two solid shows from LVM, a nice re-boot of the Fleury dinner series. Some Tavers and Pleasure Palace action…lots of initiative. But what do I find myself doing at these parties? Whining about the “good old days”. Like an overweight athlete continuously reliving his past glory, much to amusement and appreciation of no one, I reminisce with the scant minority of P3s also out and about: “If Gabi and Colin were here, people would be dancing naked already.” “If Will were running the show, that table would be slammed to wall, and that guy would be chugging vodka out of an acorn squash” “Since when do people not like 80’s music?????” I’m already that old guy who starts every sentence with “back in my day…..” It’s pretty sad. I don’t know, when I saw the dancefloor empty at LVM with “Eye of the Tiger” blasting on the stereo, I couldn’t help but feel something was amiss……

Actually, I’m basically exaggerating. Things are fun. It’s hard for some of these houses to pick up where “they” left off, because in fact they’re starting from scratch, with a whole new cast. And I’m holding them to standards that, not only did they not set, but they aren’t even aware of. This, plus the fact that basically I’ve had fun everywhere I’ve gone. As I’ve said before, this school really does an amazing job of recruiting a fun, interesting group of people. I guess some are just a little crazier than others. And those people are all in Singapore. And I kind of miss them. Bisous, mes amis. That picture of you guys in the pool didn’t help, by the way.


Monday Jan 23, 2006 18:28:15 CET
***to subscribe to this blog, please add me as your buddy in NetVestibule. I have no control over its distribution***

OK, while the comments on SGP vs. FBL continue to pour in, I’m going to wait to hear from some of the people who have made the reverse trip before I add any fuel to that fire. For now, it’s enough.

I’m instead going to talk about a few things that I think will make (or have made) all our lives a little bit better, so again, I ask all of you current readers to try to sign up one or two new ones, as the more this stuff gets around, the more valuable it is.

First off is a much-anticipated revival (Encore? Doubling down? Hit em two times?) of Colin Mutchler’s “Free Culture Tour”. For those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure, Colin is one of my fellow “non-traditional” MBA’s, who started with us here in FBL (where he first presented the FCT to INSEAD) and is now exploring the wilds of Asia. He writes:

“For those P3s that missed it (and all the P1s) I'm doing a version of my Free Culture show on Monday Feb 6th at 7:15pm Singtime (12:15pm de bleu), and I'm setting it up so they can do the video/link think across campuses. Even though I'm sure many of the France folks will probably have class (I could possibly delay the show until 8:30/1:30 if we could be sure that many more France folks would come), it might be a cool shared experience if we can create some interactive elements (like a slideshow of P1/P3 cross
campus photos that I could freestyle to).”

Video conferencing? How very au courant!

Let me be blunt: His show kicks ass. Apart from being a talented musician and multi-mediatician, Colin really manages to take an issue which essentially was just one that he was curious about, and weave it into a highly compelling and balanced narrative, flecked with insight, humor, and a beautiful resolution that I won’t ruin, except to say that it really leaves you with a different feeling about the human side of electronic collaboration. DON’T FUCKING MISS IT AND TELL YOUR FUCKING FRIENDS.

The other piece of news that keeps finding its way to me is some sort of smoking-quitting alliance that has formed largely among Singapore students, but which people are trying to bring to Fountainebleau as well. If you’re at all interested, I’ll put you in touch with the people involved. To those out there sticking to their plan, you can do it. You fucking rock, and you will now rock longer, and with better skin and breath. Well played.

As a longtime heavy smoker who has been smoke-free just over 10 months, I know how hard it is. Now, some people have commented that since I quit smoking cigarettes, I’ve spent a significantly greater portion of my time in Amsterdam. To these people I answer: I don’t see what hookers have to do with it.

Bisous.

cca
SIGN UP YOUR FRIENDS! I NEED MORE P1s AND MORE SINGAPORE COVERAGE! MORE READERS=MORE WRITE-INS=LESS ME WRITING=BETTER FOR EVERYBODY!!!!!


Sunday Jan 22, 2006 19:16:20 CET
***to subscribe to this blog, please add me as your buddy in NetVestibule. I have no control over the distribution list***

Before I get onto today’s main topic, a hearty shout out to da Bleau’s P1’s for their social efforts this weekend. Keep it up. For all you P3’s who didn’t make it (by which I mean all but 5 of you), come on. The word of the period is integration. Get on it.

Now:

I thought it was over. I thought we’d moved on. I considered it a fait accompli. I even pretended to know what a fait accompli was. But you JUST KEEP DRAGGING ME BACK IN.

So, by popular demand, here is the continuing saga of FBL vs. SGP. Two campuses enter, one campus leaves. Or not.

I should have known I was on the right track when I received the following comment from Oscar, who always seems to be a step ahead of me in terms of evaluating the relevance of my writing:
“Great mail!! And not a discussion about anything really! Cheers!”
It’s like he has a sixth sense….
But many others had more to chime in with, and, since there are a growing number of P1’s reading this (not growing fast enough, I might add…come on people, get the word out!) who may use your comments to influence their own campus exchange decisions, I include a few more now. The first, and perhaps most important, is a review of an establishment mentioned earlier in this same forum, nicknamed “Four Floors of Whores”, from now on abbreviated 4FloHo. Here is the latest from our still-anonymous man (or is it?....ok, it is) in the field:
“Imagine, if you will, a tacky shopping mall. The usual layout: escalators in the middle of a square, central courtyard with shops surrounding. Fluorescent lighting abounds. Now imagine the shops aren’t shops at all. Rather than shops, the facades give way to a variety of bars and clubs. It is a fascinating study in market segmentation. There’s something for everyone. It’s like an inverted version of Dante’s Hell; as you ascend, it gets nastier and nastier. 1st floor bars contain “real women” out for a fun night dancing in a variety of bars containing both live music and DJs. 2nd floor: a mix of working and non-working girls or at least working girls working the front of being normal girls. 3rd floor: clear working girls. A stage and a pole seem to be prerequisites for operating on Floor 3. Being male (or once male) seems to be a prerequisite for working on Floor 4. Short skirt: check. Nice curves: check. Protruding Adam’s apple: check. Uh oh.
In addition to the bars, the inner courtyard on each level is abuzz with the sounds of the honey trap. “Hi there, you wanna go dancing?”
Just a fascinating spectacle. I’m not saying I condone it, but it certainly makes for an entertaining evening of people watching.”
Right…..people watching...At the risk of actually expressing a real opinion, I will say that, while seedy, it sounds to me much more attractive than Amsterdam’s fabled Red-Light district (my thoughts on which can be found in an earlier post….I think somewhere in early October) in that at least here the working guys/gals have been introduced into the social fabric, rather than simply presented as spectacle (and, in my opinion anyway, further objectified).
Next, a fellow blogger comes to Singapore’s defense!
“With all this Singapore bashing, I feel I must say something positive. A good introduction to Singapore is the description Lonely Planet gives "At first glance, Singapore appears shockingly modern and anonymous, but this is an undeniably Asian city with Chinese, Malay and Indian traditions from feng shui to ancestor worship creating part of the everyday landscape. It's these contrasts that bring the city to life."

Of course, we are not comparing 2 places, but rather 2 campuses. The fact that Singapore is so alive does impact campus life. All of a sudden, there are multiple choices available for everything, food, things to do, places to visit etc. Just one illustration:
What would you do if you had 3 hours between 2 classes in Fonty? A) go to the gym, B) sit by the bar C) go to the cubicles or the library.
In SGP, you have the added choices of getting a pedicure/foot massage, shopping for designer sunglasses, reading by the pool instead of in the library ( I could go on, but you get the picture).
Heritage/Dover may not be like the big houses in Fonty, but it is like a resort (really!). I guess the disadvantage there is to force your mind to think this is not a vacation, P3 is quite grueling. The best thing that I like about being in Singapore is that I no longer feel I am living within a bubble. I actually feel connected to the outside world.

I certainly don’t regret starting in Fonty (how else could I have met so many wonderful people), but anyone not doing the campus switch is missing out on a great experience and certainly a great opportunity to experience a bit of Asia. This more than makes up for the lack of hot coffee at school or the time spent waiting for your change at a bar.

It seems like your all anonymous writers who miss Da Bleau/Fonty miss more than anything their "chateau lifestyle". To them I would say, "Welcome back to the real world". “

Nicely summarized, to which I reply: Good point….but I still have at least 6 more months of “Fuck the real world” scheduled in my planner.






Friday Jan 20, 2006 12:47:58 CET
OK, I think it’s time to wrap up the Singapore/FBL week, with a few last comments (we can always revisit it a little further down the road, and, of course, when I’ve actually been).

“Your latest blog and anonymous contributor captured the mood perfectly. Basically, EVERYONE who changed campuses in P3 is having separation anxiety, regardless in what direction they went.

So while both campuses have some appeal, I've been most surprised by the local Singaporean lack of freedom that appears to have infected the student body. By far the most common SGP P3 comment to seeing the [CanAm] calendar has been "you might get arrested for even having that here". (***For those of you STILL unacquainted with the calendar, first of all, you’re fools. Second of all, there are a few left. Get in touch).

All being said, the academic experience is similar, so unless you have a burning desire to work in Asia, here is my final analysis:

The Real Reasons to Come to Singapore
- Cheap Asian Travel
- Extremely available sex (i.e. Asian locals and Air Crew imports, and I'm talking about both of our teams. Lots more info for you here. :-))
- Good gym/pool/tan time between classes
The Real Reasons to Not Come to Singapore
- A typical Fonty party would get you expelled and likely executed.
- Chateau parties are replaced by average medium-sized city club experiences. Zouk/MoS are world-class, but nothing you can't find in London.
- You will spend thousands more $$$ to get far less drunk. Raise your budget significantly, I've already spent more than in all of P1/P2.
- Expensive drugs that can get you killed. See above points.
- Less insanity. (Goodbye creative costumes, random nudity, PDAs. Hello Big Bother Aministration.)


Good Recap!

And, for the other side of the coin:

“I only disagreed with one comment of your anonymouses… the coffee over here is much better than in Da Bleau..
…
PS I STILL HAVE NOT GOT LAID SINCE I STARTED AT INSEAD!!”

YIKES! Sorry dude…..you should talk to the guy who wrote the stuff right above yours.

So there you have it….sort of. Let me give my FBL perspective: It’s fucking awesome here! The campus is new and getting more beautiful (read: they’re putting in more sod) daily. It’s cold, but not freezing; daytime temps between 3 and 10 degrees. There is ample parking and study space…and the library is virtually empty most of the time. The new class is, [apart from populated with lots of attractive women (it almost doesn’t feel like a strange man-planet when you walk around now)] pretty great. In contrast to the SGP who says they have met 5 people, I meet like 5 people a day, and I’m pretty sure I like them.

LVM is off to a decent start, blowing a speaker, some successful stage-diving, and drunk people in a bitter-cold Loing. Tonight we’ll check out Pleasure Palace’s vodka-champgne offering, and tomorrow night, Tavers welcomes us to the jungle. Long live Chateau parties!

If there’s one thing we can all agree on across campuses, it’s that the people who exempted IT are the luckiest people of all. The end. Have a great fucking weekend!


Thursday Jan 19, 2006 00:13:47 CET
Well, yesterday’s post didn’t generate quite the reaction I expected, in the form of outraged letters from women in my promotion…guess I know who hasn’t been reading (Driscoll, Lazaric, I’m looking in your direction right now).

What it did generate, however was some pretty interesting reviews of the Singapore vs. Fountainebleau scene, excerpts of which I share with you now.

“Singapore is...well it's different. I think initially all the fonties (**note: while I neither use not approve of the whole “fonty” thing, I reprint it here out of a feigned sense of journalistic integrity) were super excited to be here, especially given the invasive quality of our arrival on this campus - I mean my classes are all 80% fonties and it's hard to even pick out the sgp-eans. It's been a consistent shift in mood for most of us though - I think starting with a really weak welcome week ending with the Bain party at a club - completely a different scenario from our experience. I mean I didn’t know if I was talking to a P3 or a P1 and most of the time it ended up being some shit-faced expat trying to get a piece. Not so initimate and definitely lacking the charm of having a chateau at our disposal. If this was meant to be an integrating experience, it's lacking in some respect - I've met 5-6 new faces in my time here.

I don’t know - maybe it was the slide show with pictures from our last four months in Ftbl at the Student Government presentation but definitely a wave of nostalgia and longing (who would have imagined!!) has hit the fonties. I was at a barbeque the other night and pretty much 30 of the 40 people there couldn’t stop from wistfully, well, whining about how much we all miss FTBL. Not to mention - the other night at drinks the sgp-eans mentioned they'd never had house parties like this - say what??!!!! No chateau dinners, no super-hero costume parties, no dancing to 80's music at LVM to finally end up naked in the river. This is a very different INSEAD from what I've experienced and last night a bunch of us decided perhaps its more disruptive than useful to break your time this way across two very different (and I mean physically and culturally) campuses.”

Wow. Thank you, anonymous writer. That’s quite a recap!

Next:

I miss a couple of things about Fonty. Thought I could share them with you, to make life more bearable:

• Beer, it’s around but it’s expensive, so people don’t get drunk that much. This is also because ordering beer here can be a painstaking task. On average, it takes 7 minutes before you can order a drink and another 5 minutes to get your change back. Handing over your credit card doesn’t speed up this process.
• House-life (dinners, parties etc.), there are houses here (obviously, people have to live somewhere), but you don’t visit each other and there are no house parties.
• Coffee, it’s around but either you have to order it from the bar or you have to be lucky enough (and quick enough) to get it from two coffee canisters at the bar.
• Cubicles, also around but called “break out rooms”, which just doesn’t feel right.

To compensate for this we get better weather (in general), a pool, girls in skirts, cheap taxis and lots of interesting places to go over the weekend. All this in random order, obviously.


So there you have it. It may be colder here, but life is still sweet. Not that I feel sorry for them over there…..

Well, you know what I say; SGP or da Bleau, you all fucking rock. Enjoy it.


Tuesday Jan 17, 2006 21:19:20 CET
First of all, I want to start by apologizing to the lockers…I came down on them too hard, too quickly. I mean sure, the physicality of a key is nice, and yeah, it was a pain in the ass when I accidentally changed my code and locked it OPEN, but the advantage of people being able to leave stuff in their lockers for me (or vice versa) and simply text the code is pretty huge. Certainly helped with storing all the VIP stereo gear and bar materials. And that’s important shit.

Second, P2 grades. What can I say? I’M STILL HERE. And, most likely not going anywhere at this point. If strategy and CFP couldn’t knock me out, I’m solid.

What’s up Singapore?????? I’ve been hearing from some of you individually, but wanted to give you all a collective shout-out. I will reiterate that things here are not the same without you…we have a new shitty airport/nice bus terminal on campus, we have new lockers (have you heard about those yet?) and we have a BUNCH OF FINE WOMEN on campus….seriously, you wouldn’t recognize the place. Ok, without going overboard, there is a MARKED difference in the composition of the P1 class….you guys seeing that over there (or does Four Floors of Whores pretty much make that a moot point?). They seem spunky, they seem fun, they seem like….Insead students, I guess… Who knew?

Gabi, Colin (and, technically, any Villecerf guys), tonight is the first LVM jammy jam. Themed “Fire and Ice” I am fiercely curious about how they end up putting it together. I am optimistic actually, because there were a lot of people throwing up at the Bain party. What, you don’t see the connection? Now you’re just lying.

Alright then, party people. See you in the river.

VIP4LIFE,
c


Friday Jan 13, 2006 01:02:28 CET
I'm sorry. I had such a good time today, I was looking forward to writing tonight...but I'm afraid that mood has been sucked out of me. Hope you're all well wherever you are. Tomorrow is another day.

Wednesday Jan 11, 2006 14:43:09 CET
Sorry guys, fell off already. I meant to write something last night, but was out in Paris ‘til about 5, and barely made it back for class…had to make a few last minute “arrangements” for our trip this weekend, and I am happy to report that we are locked and loaded, if you know what I mean.

Liking the Singapore additions so far…seems like a lovely group of citizens.

Forgot how much I missed some of the bullshit here while I was gone….it seems like now that they have a fresh, captive audience, certain people (not naming names of course) are trying yet again to advance their ridiculous agendas, counting on the P1’s trust to obscure their judgment. I’m sure it will all fizzle out again, but it’s really aggravating. We only have 10 months here. Why waste it?

I’m liking all the emails coming from my homelices and slicettes over in tha S to tha G to tha P. Keep telling me about the rain suckers! Actually, don’t. I’m already bored by the rain stories. I prefer emails like this, from an anonymous Canadian who used to work in Private Equity in London and sat next to Elon in the back of Amphi O (shhhhh) “Singapore is way far out. Going to a bar tonight whose nickname is “Four floors of Whores”.Will report back."

Take note, my dears, Now THAT'S my kind of email.


Monday Jan 9, 2006 23:23:56 CET
Wow. Classes, huh? Way far out.

I don’t know about you, but I miss my old amphi. I pretty much had shit figured out there. Now I’m starting all over again. And it’s not a great amphi to begin with. Fixed seats (no NASA seat mobilizer arms), steep, narrow….no, I’m not really that into it.

Also, I’m in the front row, which doesn’t suit me for a whole host of reasons, but one of them is actually legitimate. I tripped a professor today. Just like that, 0% class participation grade, and I haven’t even raised my hand yet. There is really nowhere for me to stick my feet. And this guy’s a pacer. So it was only a matter of time. And, if not stopped, I’ll do it again. In the back middle, however, I would be neutralized and pose almost no physical risk to anyone. Even less in a recliner in the aisle. But I’m reasonable.

I also miss small, tightly packed lockers, with keys. I’m not into the code, because I always get very self-conscious about having to choose passwords and numerical codes. I always end the process feeling like I messed up somehow. I have no idea why the fuck I do this. Also, I’m whatever the opposite of claustrophobic is now when I open my locker; I feel like I’m opening the curtain to an exhibition. I didn’t bump into a single person. It just wasn’t clicking for me. Oh, and they’re amazingly ugly, but wonderfully spacious…which is a feature I value highly in a locker. And thank whoever, I don’t have a bottom one…middle’s not great, but it’s a LOT better than bottom.

To all my P1s out there, hope you’re getting along OK. If you need local information, or anything that someone who’s been here for 4 months might be able to help you with, definitely give a shout. I’m planning a “let’s hear what a P1 has to say about it” guest feature soon, so if you can think of anyone good for that, let me know please.

As always, to subscribe to this blog, add me as your “buddy” in NetVestibule, and all referenced photos are at www.flickr.com/photos/angellic


Monday Jan 9, 2006 09:15:44 CET
WELCOME THE FUCK BACK!

Hey People! What’s up 2006??????????

Well, da Bleau is a different place altogether. A lot of additions, a LOT of subtractions, and a new cheap-airport/nice bus station on campus (depending on your point of view). I’m all pitter-patter with back to school adrenaline. Oh, and they already dismantled the downtown (HA!) ice rink. What the fuck?

I was out trying to meet some of our new crop last night, and was talking with one of them, and someone came up to us, pointed to the guy I was talking to, then me, and said “You’re P1 and you’re P3, right?” I thought that was amazing. I definitely agree that the people the from the recently departed promotion definitely had something about them which made them seem older, even the ones years younger than my classmates and I. I didn’t know that it was automatically conferred on you as a matter of course.

Big shout to the people over in Asia. Get it crackin over there, and let us know about it.

More soon.


Monday Jan 2, 2006 23:51:04 CET
HAPPY FUCKING NEW YEAR!!!!

Hope everyone is safe and wonderful and grand and no longer too hungover. Deep thanks for all of the New Year’s / birthday wishes from all of you. I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m sorry, I will get to them all personally, but am still stuck in the sickest powder that the US has to offer, and can’t tear myself away from the mountain long enough to write that many emails.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/81148661/in/set-1733554/



I hope all of you are having wonderful holidays; for those of you heading (or already there) east, we’ll miss you in FBL. Get things warmed up for me will ya?

For those of you Francing it, I’ll see you soon. Stay safe (or at least drunk) until then.

Hollllllllllllllllllller!

cca


Monday Dec 19, 2005 21:42:59 CET
I’ve had a few requests to try to make some sort of sense of the CFP exam. People are really affected by this (obviously, if they’re writing me about it). My first reaction, of course was: What does CFP stand for? Followed closely by: Exam? And then the inevitable: Who are you?

But seriously, I think Faraz said it best: “I came in hoping for a .5 relative score…I’d be happy with a .5 absolute.” Look, I know some of you didn’t have much trouble with it, and that’s cool. It’s important that some people understand that stuff (but don’t ask me why). And I know some of are more in my camp….I used my calculator more on the Strategy exam.

But that’s in the past. Let’s look ahead. To tomorrow. I have been holding back my favorite little piece of exam advice (a repeat, don’t worry) because I have been saving it for this exam. Once again, from her royal highness Christine “Solid Gold” Driscoll (aka April Showers):

"Personally, when I start an exam, I like saying to my test, "You're my bitch." Try it!"

The other little golden nugget I can add to that is that when you write pom in all lower case, if you’ve been studying all day and your vision is going, it looks a lot like porn. So just remember people, that porn exam is totally your bitch.

Oh, and one more thing.





AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


Monday Dec 19, 2005 00:18:14 CET
Well, this one goes out against any sort of better judgment I ought to have, because I am FUCKED for Finance….I am so counting on his assertion that no matter how much I hate him tomorrow PM, I’ll love him in January. And believe me, in this situation, my love is CHEAP! (Oh, who am I kidding, when isn’t my love cheap?) I am only just now seeing the flaws in my P1 strategy of shooting for as close to 1.8 as possible: The lack of a cushion in P2 (why didn’t I learn about slack earlier???? But we’ll leave my bitching about POM for tomorrow).

The library was awfully quiet today, which I hope means that most of you were at home recovering from a whiskey-and-meth binge weekend, but something tells me that’s not the case…..bitches. I myself can only hope that my 11.5 hour flight (well, the 11.5 hour 1st leg) passes as quickly and uneventfully (and with as little lasting impact) as did my study efforts.

So, there it is. Another useless ramble to [hopefully] distract you from your studies. Stay warm, stay strong, and keep it country. Go get ‘em tiger!



Friday Dec 16, 2005 02:03:15 CET
I think I must have received 1287 LinkedIn requests today. Glad I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get enough studying in!

I actually left the library in frustration today, and missed out on the impromptu dance party. Damn!

My reasoning was that I would get more done at home, for once. And I was right! While I didn’t study any more than I would have in the library, I did 3 loads of laundry, fixed holes in 2 sweaters, and started packing for the break. Efficiency thy name is Christopher Angell!

Don’t worry everybody, the weekend is so close I can smell it! And it smells like pasta and highlighter. MMMMMMMMMMMMM!


Thursday Dec 15, 2005 00:29:21 CET
PRE-EXAM BLOG

Well, as they say around here, it’s that fucking time again.

Before lamenting our testing situation, I first want to extend a really really heartfelt and sincere thank you to everyone who showed up and supported this blog at last night’s awards. While it seemed doomed from the start, up again 4 other movies, all by P5’s, and being judged by a group of people who HAD NEVER READ IT, it was still an honor to be recognized by you, and, while it may just be in my head, I could have sworn that the roar of applause you guys gave me was louder than for that of any other film. Whether or not that‘s true (in the so called “real world”) is irrelevant. What matters is that, as I’ve said before, you guys fucking rock.

So, back to exams. I know that you all turn to me not just for moral support, but also for evidence that I pulling the z-curve left. Well, while I don’t have any photos for you right, perhaps the fact that I spent all of yesterday either ice-skating or sitting at the Cabaret. What about today? More ice-skating, a bit of study, and then late-night shopping so that my group will have pastries and juice during our LO exam. It’s a tradition started by my groupmate Pierre which I believe warrants upholding. It’s our last hurrah together, so I want it to be nice. So, while I don’t know if any of them still (did they ever?) read this, I want to give a big shout out to group E1-1 (or the G-Wonder, as we like to call ourselves) for making the first 2 P’s group work a total joy. I can honestly say there’s not a thing I would change about it. Olesya, Pierre, Guendalina, Anant, here here! Let’s go get ‘em.

And to my dearies in E1, and the rest of the July ‘06s:

GOOD FUCKING LUCK!!!!


Monday Dec 12, 2005 20:20:53 CET
I want to share a little email, from my lord and master, Oded:

Chris, please write a blog about the Cabaret and ask people to come and vote for you.
There's not enough Julys coming.

Indeed, Oded, indeed.

I think one of the main reasons that our promotion is not coming to Cabaret is not, as has been suggested, because we have exams coming up. Rather, I believe it has more to do with the fact that…wait, hold on a minute…what the fuck is Cabaret?

If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re not alone. As a nominee, a filmmaker, and a presenter, I also have no fucking clue what Cabaret is. Obviously, it is organized by our dear departing P5s. But, since they either think I am a)talented and relevant b)attractive and charismatic and/or c) a sucker who will do their work for them, I clearly support their efforts wholeheartedly, and urge you to do the same.

Actually, there will be quite a few participants/presenters from our promotion, and this is one of those times when we get to see our classmates do things besides calculate IRR or complain about the weather. And whenever we have that opportunity, we should seize it!

As the countless amphi stormings, campaigns, class social days, costume parties, and, dare I say it, chronologically inclined printed materials have borne repeated testimony, our class, nay our entire school, is more than a bunch of brilliant, dedicated number crunchers and analysts. We are also a bunch of drunk, irreverent, inspired, and creatively powerful people. Just as an OB class is enhanced by having perspectives from 30+ countries, so (I hope) will this performance/video based spectacle be so much the better for having the voices of hams from across the world joined in tireless attempts at cheap laughs.

I hope you’ll be among those laughing. Oh, and if at all possible, vote for me. Because I’m going to write an acceptance speech anyway, and we all know how said it when someone writes an acceptance speech and doesn’t win…and then subsequently denies having written said speech….which I will also do. Thank you.


Sunday Dec 11, 2005 20:25:11 CET
Hey guys. Sorry I was MIA for Can-Am week, but I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

So- I need a favor. Someone out there (you know who you are) has nominated this blog for the school’s best documentary, to be judged at Cabaret on Tuesday. I want to represent it well, but am not so good at banging my own drum, so to speak.

If any of you would volunteer to let me record you reading a favorite passage (basically, it would just be you scanning the screen, and then I would record your voice to se as an internal voice, complete with sarcastic reactions to what you see on screen) I would be most appreciative. I’m in the library right now, btw, if anyone wants to get right to it.

On a completely unrelated note, I’m starting to really realize that I won’t be seeing a lot of you too much more…at least until March. That sucks. So, in the little time we have left, let’s hang out? It’ll be sweet. Otherwise I’ll miss you even more. Don’t do that to me! Come on!

Last week of classes tomorrow. Get into it.


Tuesday Dec 6, 2005 18:55:48 CET
It seems like ever since the administration worked whatever magic it was that they worked to clear the Singapore waiting list, that no one is complaining about it any more. So I’m going to pick up the slack. (because apparently slack is good. I want it) What the fuck? So just because everyone wants to go to Singapore, you let them? All they had to do was whine a little and over you topple? COME ON!

What about me? Before, I was stuck here yes, but at least I wasn’t totally alone. Now? I just checked the list to see how many students from my promotion will be in da Bleau for P3. Guess. 17! Can you believe that? 17 people? Come on! Not to mention that there are NEGATIVE women. Seriously. The stampede east was so fast and furious, that it created a vacuum, and the first three women from my promotion who come to FBL will get sucked in and disappear. So that should be sweet.

OK, not really. Actually, I wanted to say that in the midst of all our complaining and subsequent redemption re: campus exchange, I heard precious little praise for the people who obviously went to great lengths to rectify a hecticly problematic situation and try to give us what we [think we] want. Granted, the argument could be made that they created the problem in the first place. But nonetheless, they have gone above and beyond expectations in mitigating it. I mean, if we had been told up front that 15 people would not get their choice, we would have considered that reasonable. Well, they just took and 80+ wait list and turned it to zero. Come on, for all the effort we put into a bitching, we could say a thing or two about how nice it was that they were able to do that for us…..errr…you. Don’t forget to buy me a drink before you go.


Friday Dec 2, 2005 02:21:07 CET
Wow. I can't believe Russian week finished last. I really truly can't. It seems to me like a real shame. I know it's hard to say this sort of thing, because it's not easy to say that there's any other group you'd rather have finish last. But Russian Standard parties are world famous, and show up in the local press wherever they're thrown. Why wouldn't we want that?? We live in the woods! No one else is beating down our door to throw us world class parties! Anyway, I won't harp on this, other than to say "wow".

I want to say that the show of energy and enthusiasm around the whole National Week bid was phenomenal, and that, along with the amazing time I've had with my Can-Am cohorts, has really made these (otherwise rather oppressive) last few days a real joy. I know I've been plugging the calendar very tackily on here, and I promise I'll stop [once we sell out. which we're amazingly close to doing] but beyond the product itself, it's amazing to me that I am at a business school in France where I find nothing wrong with heading into the woods during my lunch break with two other students (who I've barely known for three months), to take our clothes off and figure out a variety of poses which we think might help us raise money to benefit hurricane victims in Louisiana. A little surreal on a number of fronts.

Anyway, keep you heads up during the home stretch here. Stay healthy. You all STILL fucking rock.

oh yeah, and BIG FUCKING UP TO AFRICA! Stealing the #4 slot with less than 1% of the student body. Charlize, here we come!!!!!

Thursday Dec 1, 2005 03:56:10 CET
This blog is more of an apology really. I’m so fucking busy with these calendars and other US/Canada week hoopla, that I can’t put it together. And I have stuff I want to say, too. Important stuff.

Oh well……

Happy Birthday Demis, National Week bids all kicked ass, and I think it’s shitty that there is one loser out of a group of 10. Seriously. I know I’m not supposed to pick favorites (unless I have a stake in it) but I say Africa week is just too fucking necessary to ignore. For real. Get Africa Week to happen, and you won’t regret it.

That’s it for now, BUT.....

I WANT ALL OF YOU TO BUY 3 CALENDARS. RIGHT NOW. EMAIL ME,PAY PAL ME, WHATEVER. BUY A FUCKING CLENDAR.

THE RED CROSS THANKS YOU IN ADVANCE

CHECK OUT:
http://activefreemedia.com/canam/


That is all.

WHAT: BUY CAN-AM Week calendars. Featuring 13 of the least modest and most photogenic North American students (6 gals, 7 guys), shot on location in and around INSEAD/Fontainebleau. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll beg for more. Seriously.

WHY: Because we wanted to offer something different and special for our National Week. And we wanted to raise money for charity without breaking any INSEAD rules (unless they have a minimum dress code....haven't read the code of conduct for a while). And because it was fun as hell to do.

HOW MUCH: After they're printed, the calendars will cost 15 euros. That's a little over 1 euro for each photo. We think that's an amazing bargain. BUT: We want to sell as many as we can before printing, so we can be assured to have some money to give away before the period ends. SO: We are pre-selling at 10 euros. It's what we like to call "the deal of the century."

WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THEM FIRST: It's not because they're no good. In fact, it's the opposite. They're so good we don't want to deny you the thrill of opening yours up and paging through the hard copy, seeing the pictures for the very first time. I'm so not joking.

HOW MANY CAN I BUY: As many as you want, but they are being printed in a limited quantity...because we have to put up the money. Pre-ordering ensures adequate supply.

THEY MAKE GREAT HOLIDAY GIFTS, STUDY AIDS (finish this chapter and you can look at July for 5 minutes) OR TREATS FOR YOURSELF. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG!

GREAT! WHAT DO I DO: Email hiti.singh@alumni.insead.edu or find your favorite Canadian or American and ask them for help.



Tuesday Nov 29, 2005 01:55:07 CET
It's not what you THINK!

just kidding.....I'm not touching that one!

So, have you guys heard any of these rumors about some sort of calendar? It's a little difficult to sift through everything that's going around, but I hear it's pretty racy, and it features all INSEAD students? Do you know what I'm talking about?

There may be some sort of connection with Can-Am week, or it may just be that it's all Can-Am students. I'm pretty sure the proceeds go to an international charity though. In fact, I think it's the Red Cross.

The other thing I heard is that they're taking pre-orders for them, so that they can try to guarantee a break-even before printing, so that they know going in that money will in fact be raised for charity (i guess because of the way national weeks are funded out of student contributions to the student government, you can't use national week funds to support charity fundraising, so the can-am students who are part of the project have actually put up all the money themselves. or so I heard).

Now, I know some of you reading this are in Singapore, or haven't started INSEAD yet. Well, we (I mean they) don't want to exclude you. You may email me with the number of calendars (at the amazing bargain of 10 euros each...ask about bulk discounts) you would like, and you can either send a convincing IOU or pay me with PayPal, and I will ship them to you at [insead's] competitive postage rate. Email for quotes. It is the perfect holiday gift, for the man or woman who has everything.....except for HOT photos of your north american classmates.

But it's just a rumor. Let me know if you hear anything else.......

Friday Nov 25, 2005 22:04:09 CET
**remember that to receive this blog as an email, just add me as a buddy in Net Vestibule. All photos referenced here available at www.flickr.com/photos/angellic **

I’m going to close this week off with another INSEAD woman’s voice. I wanted to save it for Friday, so that you have a nice long weekend to read it over, as she really put a lot of herself into it. I don’t want it to just get a 30-second glance before class.

I also want to thank all of the ladies who sent in their thoughts this week, and to once again encourage those who did not to give it another thought.

Hope you all have glorious weekends. I’ll see you on Monday.

Dear INSEAD,
There was an inspirational sentence written on the blackboard of a Women in Business event, where prominent Mc Kinsey female consultants were kindly and brilliantly helping us with their advice and insights on how to climb the ladder being smart and confident about our value, without neglecting life outside the office. It read:
“Find a supportive husband”
Insead was touted to be a great hunting ground for that, since one of the ladies was married to a former MBA colleague from Insead….
I feel that we all share similar characteristics at Insead, men and women, but specifically women. We should in theory be women with not only high IQ but also a long list of impressive accomplishments, but also intellectual curiosity, broader view of the world, tolerant attitude towards diversity and, why not also say sensitivity, that generally give us a competitive edge towards men since that comes with our gender.
What strikes me at Insead is that I find more sensitive men than women. I find more support in men than women, and I can assure you that they are not pretending to be supportive to get inside my pants. They are really great friends, and while they sometimes make my cry with their assertive style,without any doubt they are always honest and committed to contributing to make me a happier person. Is it not the sole purpose of friendship? To be there when times are good, to party and stuff but also to be there when times are really bad...
Well, I do not think it is a ratio based issue. I think women at Insead are even more competitive than "regular" women. Since we do represent a statistical insignificance (if we compare the ratio of MBA women to all women) we tend to be over confident and sometimes arrogant. We single women tend to be even more confident and arrogant with regards to our bargaining power with men at Insead, since we are so few and so much "more interesting" than average women. At the same time, we feel social pressure to find a boyfriend, to be appropriate, to fit well in the system, and to protect our image or reputation.
This is unfair. And this is not real life.
Love is not predictable and it can not be scheduled in P1-P5 timetable, it can not be found using marketing segmentation strategies, it can not depend on job search priorities or location preferences. It can not be found using the search tools and NetVestibule.
Love is going to be the safety net throughout our lives, professional and personal life. Finding and managing love is challenging when you do not have time even to buy frozen food, but it is especially challenging if you find constraints on the number of attempts. The intention is really good, and is human. It is to be happy. It is to follow instincts, to listen to the heart, the poor heart that does not find space to breathe in an environment of readings, assignments, cases, grades and Z-curves. And I am not talking about sex. I am talking about love.
Yes, it is a great opportunity; men here are as special as we are, but love takes more than the similarities that the selection process force among Insead MBA students. Love takes authenticity, honesty, openness and commitment. It is not a game.
I wish for you all to find happiness, by investing in yourselves, in whatever makes you really happy in the long term, and not by classifying "find a supportive husband" as a task in your personal organizers while at Insead. This puts way too much pressure in our time here, and most of all on the friendships we build, and on the way we "behave" or "don’t behave" at parties.
Insead expands our minds, our souls, our hearts….and even our bodies with some extra kgs due to French gastronomy…
It is all about expansion, not about limiting….let's not limit ourselves !
Be who you are. We already love you for that. And this love will last forever, along with our memories.
Because, as Chris says, we fucking rock.
And if some of us find love, this will be a wonderful accomplishment also, and we hope to be all invited to the wedding…


Friday Nov 25, 2005 02:38:22 CET
I want to share a Thanksgiving tradition with you, dear readers. Unlike the tradition of fresh oysters on the half-shell, which I shared with a wonderful group of North Americans at dinner tonight, I am going to share with you a piece that gets read at my family's dinner every year. It is not about Thanksgiving per se, but more about traditions that we hold dear, the passing of time, and, ultimately, our place in the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. It was written by EB White about his wife, Katharine Angell (ironically the name of my sister, although no close relation). A clear departure from the children's fictions such as Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, or, my favorite, Charlotte's Web for which he is better known, this is a piece which never fails to touch me, and I hope that you all find some beauty and enjoyment in it as well. Happy Fucking Thanksgiving.
love,
cca

When Miss Gertrude Jekyll, the famous English woman who opened up a whole new vista of gardening for Victorian England, prepared herself to work in her gardens, she pulled on a pair of Army boots and tied on an apron fitted with great pockets for her tools. Unlike Miss Jekyll, my wife had no garden clothes and never dressed for gardening. When she paid a call on her perennial borders or her cutting bed or her rose garden, she was not dressed for the part—she was simply a spur-of-the-moment escapee from the house and, in the early years, from the job of editing manuscripts. Her Army boots were likely to be Ferragamo shoes, and she wore no apron. I seldom saw her prepare for gardening, she merely wandered out into the cold and the wet, into the sun and the warmth, wearing whatever she had put on that morning. Once she was drawn into the fray, once involved in transplanting or weeding or thinning or pulling deadheads, she forgot all else; her clothes had to take things as they came. I, who was the animal husbandryman on the place, in blue jeans and an old shirt, used to marvel at how unhesitatingly she would kneel in the dirt and begin grubbing about, garbed in a spotless Cotton dress or a handsome tweed skirt and jacket. She simply refused to dress down to a garden: she moved in elegantly and walked among her flowers as she walked among her friends—nicely dressed, perfectly poised. If when she arrived back indoors the Ferragamos were encased in muck, she kicked them off. If the tweed suit was a mess, she sent it to the cleaner's.
The only moment in the year when she actually got herself up for gardening was on the clay in fall that she had selected, in advance, for the laying out of the spring bulb garden—a crucial operation, carefully charted and full of witchcraft. The morning often turned out to be raw and overcast, with a searching wind off the water—an easterly that finds its way quickly to your bones. The bad weather did not deter Katharine: the hour had struck, the strategy of spring must be worked out according to pla1. This particular bulb garden, with its many varieties of tulips, daffodils, narcissi, hyacinths, and other spring blooms, was a sort of double-duty affair. It must provide a bright mass of color in May, and it must also serve as a source of supply—flowers could be stolen from it for the building of experimental centerpieces.
Armed with a diagram and a clipboard, Katharine would get into a shabby old Brooks raincoat much too long for her, put on a little round wool hat, pull on a pair of overshoes, and proceed to the director's chair—a folding canvas thing—that had been placed for her at the edge of the plot. There she would sit, hour after hour, in the wind and the weather, while Henry Allen produced dozens of brown paper packages of new bulbs and a basketful of old ones, ready for the intricate interment. As the years went by and age overtook her, there was something comical yet touching in her bedraggled appearance on this awesome occasion—the small, hunched-over figure, her studied absorption in the implausible notion that there would be yet another spring, oblivious to the ending of her own days, which she knew perfectly well was near at hand, sitting there with her detailed chart under those dark skies in the dying October, calmly plotting the resurrection.
—E. B. White

Thursday Nov 24, 2005 02:15:10 CET
Continuing with the boundless wisdom of INSEAD women series, here's a piece by a P5. The fact that she still reads this blog should not automatically cause you to disregard her opinion. In fact, some might even say that....ok, fine, no they wouldn't. But it's a rosy, optimistic, snuggly view of INSEAD from someone who has lived it. So pay attention:

Checking into INSEAD back in January, there was a lot of chat about ratios. I thought, no big deal and, I’d say it again in my mature P5 status, no big deal. I think that is the case for most girls –except for those who went to the Viking party in P3 where anything of even vaguely female form became the object of grope for the swaying male hoards.. Stating the palpably obvious, the ratios are not what God intended for us honest folk. BUT we’ve had a ridiculously good time mostly because people here are essentially cool and fortunately for the guys, life can be sporadically un-warped from the forest by excursions to Paree or longer escapades to Singapore. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet/live/dance/work/twirl with some amazing people and that’s my Key-Take-Away, prof.

See? It's all good! Girls leave happy, there is sex to be had in Paris and Singapore, and anything goes as long as it's under the aupsices of Viking Law. And, apparently, we get to twirl! Sweeeeeet.......

Wednesday Nov 23, 2005 01:22:45 CET
OK, as promised: Here is the first in a series of anonymous posts from INSEAD women, since they are all sick and tired of reading me misrepresent their postion on essentially every issue I cover.

Drums please!

The ladies in P2 have noticed a distinct change in male tactics. At the start of P1 there was a definite nutella spreading of interest. In fact, if you weren't being strongly sleazed over by at least 10 men every party you probably smelt bad. Or worse. However, with the apparent increased web of communication between the men, it seems that the targeting has now efficiently (?) focused on those who either proclaim themselves to be single or subscribe to the man-in-every city approach. The first effect of this is that those lucky soles who are practically married have been able to breathe somewhat clearly in the Insead hungry men smog. The rest of us have been smothered in the drool of men who haven't had sex in far far too long and resort to utterly ridiculous chat up lines in order to somehow turn their poor lives around. Here's my saturday night selection: "you're really cute when you're so aggressive" and "you look like an xmas present I'd like to unwrap you". Hhhmmmm tempting. And these are from the guys on the nicer side of the curve. 2/10 please try harder!


So, I want to leverage this lovely tale into a push to compile (and of course eventually publish) the most outrageous/fantastic/courageous lines you've heard here (unless it was from me). I DO NOT want to know who said what. Just what was said. This way, I doubt anyone will be embarassed, because the good ones people probably don't even remember saying. For those female readers uninspired to write whole piece, this will still allow you to get in on the action.

Grand up to French Week! Bonsoir!

Tuesday Nov 22, 2005 01:04:59 CET
Great response from some ladies....very much want to post, but will wait until I have collected a few more of the *promised* pieces. You guys are totally in for a treat.

In the meantime, I have this exciting offer:

LIVE WITH ME!

That's right. You did not misread that. The chance to actually share a bathroom (ok, now I'm exaggerating. I have my own bathroom) with your favorite writer has just passed before your eyes. Pinch yourself if you want, but it won't change the facts: Both of my housemates are abandoning me for warm weather and cheap massages.
Why am I not joining them? Well, for one thing, I don't really like them very much. But also, we cannot sublet our place unless one of us stays, and, since I was on the waitlist, and don't really need to be here for job search in P4-P5 (job search? huh?) I'm gonna stick out the winter. I've renamed the period Ski3 in my head to make the thought bearable.
Anyway, here's the house:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/44798747/in/set-1026538/


It has two bedrooms available, both on the same floor as mine. I cozy fireplace for those long cold Fontainebleau winter nights. Cuddle with you? Well, ok! Laundry machines in the house (no, you can't keep my underwear just because they MISTAKENLY ended up in your dryer load). And it's at the end of a beautiful private road in the Fontainebleau forest, off of Rue Grande in Barbizon, the finest town this side of the Mississippi. Private parking, right next to my car, and our food would sit next to each other in the refrigerator. So, if you've been trying to figure out a way to get to know me better without seeming like a stalker, this is totally your chance. I won't suspect a thing! And my housemates will be thrilled too. So, at the end of the day, everyone but me wins. And isn't what this is all about?

I'm waiting for you........

Sunday Nov 20, 2005 17:15:36 CET
So remember how I posted that excerpt from my article for the Alumni newsletter? A lot of you wrote to say you liked it. Thank you. Well, it was deemed by the newsletter people inappropriate for alums to read, you see “I do need to edit it in some areas and will do this and send it back to you. We need to be a little careful about what we say about women at INSEAD.” Well, they didn’t send it back, so essentially, they published part of the article, and it made no sense without the rest.

But the bigger should be: why do they have to be so careful? If I’m being hit up for money in 10 years (or 10 months, more likely) I don’t think I should be insulated from the opinions of students. If there is a pervasive sense that the ratio here is a problem, and that’s something I’m interested in, then I want to make that clear when earmarking my contribution. If there are new issues then that I’m unaware of, I want to know about those. I think we should be confident that INSEAD alums are smart enough to detect my sarcasm, and separate it from the issues driving the sarcasm. By just publishing one line about the ratio (as they did in my case) it becomes trivialized to the rant of one single man, which eliminates the discussion about the broader implications it has on student relations, never mind my big pat on the back for our class in describing how we’ve transcended that tension.

Anyway, this takes me back to my call for guest voices on this blog (alums have been given the link and passwords, and I really hope some of them will come and check it out or subscribe). A brunch today, some of the ladies (you know who you are) were talking about writing a thing or two. I REALLY hope you do. I think it would be awesome.

Also, it was a while ago, but I finally put up some pics of Berlin, including this awesome outdoor ping-pong table.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/62803613/in/set-1356381/



Wednesday Nov 16, 2005 10:04:18 CET
Ok I'll try again. This is the third time in two days I've tried to pst this. Apologies for the delay, because this edition is SO FUCKING SPECIAL.

Remember how I said we would have guest writers, and you said I was full of shit? And then I agreed with you? Well we were both wrong.

Lo! A writer appears!

Here, for the first time on this or any blog, please welcome to the screen, a man who needs this introduction, Villecerf's Canadian Ham, the one, the only, Brendan "Get it Done" Collins!

Another particularly bleary-eyed Tuesday (thanks Tavers crew!) and the mind wanders to what this INSEAD experience is all about. As a P3 Singapore-bound dude in the fat part of the Z-curve, I realise this will come across as a bit rich, but please bear with me:

I think it's time to Kick it up a Notch.

I'm not talkin' 'bout increasing the party volume. Parties are plenty rockin'.

I'm not talkin' 'bout increasing the blood alchohol level. That's plenty elevated.

I'm not talkin' 'bout hitting the books with great frequency-though we could use a little more of that.

Here's what I AM talkin' 'bout.

I propose a new P2 topic of conversation. We've laid to rest the "Man, there are no women here" convo. Now it's time to move on from the "What did you do before INSEAD?" line of questioning.

We've examined where we've been. Let's look to where we're goin'.

Let's try this for an opening salvo:

"Where do you want to be after INSEAD and how can I help you get there?"

or

"Do you have a business idea that you've been mulling over? Maybe I can help?"

Please note the selflessness of the question. I'm serious. This is about helping our new friends Kick it up a Notch. As Colin (and JFK) once said, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Speaking of rising tides, see you at LVM.

Brendan


Tuesday Nov 15, 2005 03:19:33 CET
wow. we totally overestimated the desire to post-grade party. whoops.

Monday Nov 14, 2005 01:11:13 CET
Well, not to toot my own horn (who me?) but it would seem my last post struck a chord, or dare I say, a nerve with a lot of you. There were lots of comments, and they represented both sides of the issue. I want to repost just a few, anonymously of course, given the charged nature of the debate, and encourage more of you to voice your opinions.

-I could not agree with you more and would even be more pessimistic. Betrayed is light compared to how I feel about this.

-While I also sympathize, we are all intelligent people. Everybody I talked to in the last few weeks was aware of the over-subscription and its possible consequences. So I don't see where the devastated people are coming from - 44k Euro tuition isn't an excuse for being unrealistic…

-It’s absolutely depressing, and being high up on the waitlist, I don’t know whether to remain hopeful or just feel jaded having been on this side of the fence. It’s just a really awful vibe and while no one really wants to feel resentful of our friends, I know everyone is just livid at the school for pulling this shit. Altogether a really bad wake up call to say hey you wont be seeing a lot of the peeps you got close to for another 4 months AND you get to freeze your ass off in FTBL to add to the misery.

It’s tough. Clearly, there is no way to accommodate everyone. We must all agree on that. So, what if they hadn’t pushed so hard for people to do a campus exchange? Then maybe they would have been under capacity (ok, doubtful, but certainly possible). So what do you think? Were we given unrealistic expectations? Was the school as up front and realistic with the picture it painted of the nature of campus exchange and the likelihood that our preferences would be accommodated?

They never ever guaranteed that they could meet all demand; that is for sure. And they did, up front, do what they could (adding a full section of core courses) to accommodate anticipated interest given their existing resources. But again, this obviously shows that there was an awareness of excessive interest, and I think the real disappointment comes from the fact that this was not fully communicated to us, allowing false expectations to develop (and subsequently be dashed on the rocks of misery and despair….ok now I’m just going overboard).

Other people have expressed disappointment with the mechanics of the system. By allowing everyone to register without consequence, there is no way to tell whether the people selected want to go to Singapore more than anything in the whole wide world, or whether they don’t mind having the option (had I been selected, I admit that I fall closer to the second category than the first). Does it really make sense that we should have to demonstrate a greater level of commitment to a mini-course(through bidding) than to our geographic location? I think it does not, and the reason I say this is because of how the waiting list works: It allows people to cancel their spots even after the elective bidding has happened, resigning those people admitted off the list to whatever dregs of electives are left. This (at least to me) implies that in fact geographic location should take priority over elective selection. This, as I’ve just said, is in opposition with the campus selection policy. To me, this is a serious inconsistency.

Again, I would be most interested in opposing views to my logic. My goal here is not to champion one side or the other, but to explore the issue to its logical conclusions, as it is clearly of the highest importance to our class at the moment.

Yours in curiosity,
cca


Sunday Nov 13, 2005 01:52:30 CET
Sing[apore,] a sad song.

Wow. What a way to end the week! It was kind of like the first week of school, except, instead of asking “where are you from” or “what did you do” people are now asking “Are you going to Singapore?”. And some people are NOT happy about their answers. In fact, they’re dejected, and, in many cases, really upset with the school. And I can’t really blame them.

Before commenting, some disclosure: I am on the wait-list (43) for P3 in Singapore. I originally didn’t want to go for P3. I had been planning on doing the Advanced Entrepreneurship Program in P6, so was going to go for P5 and P6. Then I talked with a P5, who said a few things about that program that made me a little unsure about it. I’m still very interested, but will have to do some more investigation before I can commit. So, I figured I should try to have the option to go in P3. But I had missed the deadline to fill out the form (I knew no one was going to want to go in P5, so I didn’t bother) so I emailed the woman in charge and she put me into the system before the lottery was conducted. So, while I’m bummed with my place on the list, I’m not devastated. I’m still planning on going, now I just don’t know when. This is the position from which I try to [somewhat] objectively assess the situation.

Some people are devastated. They even feel betrayed. We were told that 95% of people get their first choice regarding campus selection. We were also encouraged strongly (by students, teachers, deans, EVERYONE) to participate in campus exchange. At no point were we told “A lot of you will not get your fist choice” or “if you can only go to Singapore for P3, maybe campus exchange is not for you.” But, for the people numbered 40 and higher on the wait list, this is what it feels like now.

I suppose one response from the administration could be “How could we have known the demand would be so high?” to which I would say “Ask.” If we had been polled a while ago, then they would have known before the selection process that there was going to be demand that clearly surpassed supply, and we could have been prepared. People might not have gotten their hearts so set, might not have already planned who they were going to live with, all the fun they were going to have etc. It wouldn’t have solved the problem, but it would have helped a lot. The thing is that campus exchange, as a critical feature of INSEAD, is something we are all paying for, and we are told that “anyone who wants to go to Singapore can and should.” Technically, it’s true, anyone who wants to miss graduating with the good friends they have made here are free to do so, and anyone who wants to commit to spending four months in Asia, even though they want a job in Europe, may elect to. But for some people, their 44,000 euros buys more than their classmates, because a computer selected them first. I think some students are having a tough time swallowing that, and I sympathize. You have to feel like something’s wrong when the wait list for something at a school like this is more than 25% of the (FBL) class. I mean, that’s as crazy as not having enough seats for everyone who registered for a company (like Google, for example) presentation! (I know I’m digressing, but I just got an email from our CMS rep saying that recruiters have been less than impressed by some of the things they’ve seen at INSEAD this year…I can imagine that forcing us to sit in the aisles and violate fire capacity blew them away…)

For those of us resigned (or happy) to being here for P3, now we know we’ll be stuck with a bunch of really depressed classmates who wish they were at the beach with their REAL friends. It sucks really. I mean sure, we’ll have more parking and free cubicles, but if you have been planning on being on another continent, taking a specific class, living with specific people, that’s little comfort. To all of you who did not get your first choice for campus exchange, my sincere condolences. I think you have every right to be upset and feel a bit misled, and I sympathize with you. While I know, practically, it is true that it would be impossible to accommodate all of us, I really question why we were so strongly encouraged to participate. It’s totally acceptable that they have physical capacity restrictions. But a more accurate picture should have been painted. Those of us who have had to suffer both a partially functional Fontainebleau Campus and miss out on Singapore have to be feeling like our tuition buys a lot less than that of some of our classmates.


Thursday Nov 10, 2005 14:49:06 CET
So I'm getting this outearly today, because I just don't think the 3AM distribution is working for me. And, if I get home at 3 tonight, I just want to go to bed.

So Calvin asked me to submit a piece about campus life for the alumni newsletter. I (imagine!) chose to highlight some of the more interesting (to me) dynamics created by our famous dude/chick ratio (to use the official term). I thought that, since al of you have alumni email adresses, youmight also enjoy reading it. So, without further ado, and excerpt from my alumni newsletter piece:

I think the campus/social life at INSEAD is fascinating. It is the result of a number of factors, which I think none us have experienced simultaneously before (and perhaps some of them never) which really creates a unique environment. The main contributing factors are, in my mind, the ethnic/geographic diversity, the sudden flight from (in most cases) demanding jobs in high-energy urban environments to the space of relative quiet of the forest, the generally high level of motivation of the student body, and the shamefully low number of women, much less single ones.
This last point is interesting because of how it affects not just male/female relations, but how it affects male/male relations. Men are essentially each other’s sounding boards/partners in commiseration vis a vis the relative lack of romantic opportunity, as well as each others’ confidantes in terms of interest or, gasp!, success. But they are also in close, vicious competition with each other. Any group of single male friends, who are looking for anything in that department, are going to have some (probably entirely) overlapping objects of desire. So it’s a very delicate line to walk. On the one hand, you don’t want to close your friends out of that side of your life. On the other hand, imagine the situation where four guys, all friends, are sitting around talking, and one says “Wow, I just can’t get over Miss X” and the next says “Yeah, me too actually” and then the next says “I feel the same way” and the fourth says “Well, I went out with her last night.” Awkward? Hell yeah!
From the females’ perspective, things aren’t as rosy as one would think (as I’ve been told OVER AND OVER) either. First of all, when you know that you are such a rare entity, it’s tough not to view any advance with a grain (or 50) of salt. Second, there are continuous advances (or stares or some reminder that they are always being sought to varying degrees). Third, I think there is an effect somewhat opposite to that experienced by the guys. While we jokingly use terms like “INSEAD cute” or compare a girl’s “absolute” attractiveness to her attractiveness “on the z-scale”, I think women’s standards are in fact raised due to the apparent surplus. Knowing that there is so much variety makes it harder to find any one option extremely compelling. And this is borne out in the fact there are essentially no visible couples here that aren’t couples that existed pre-arrival.
The amazing thing about INSEAD life is that, given all of the above, you would expect a lot of tension, with no shortage of unrest and even suspicion and bitterness. But I don’t see it. I mean none. And believe me, I look. Any explanation I could offer as to why will undoubtedly be overly simplistic, with a pinch or two of just plain wrong, but I will say that the heavy amount of work and partying creates such a strong sense of shared experience, and leaves so little time for brooding over issues like these, that we end up focusing much more energy and attention on what we share than on what we can’t.


Thursday Nov 10, 2005 02:43:16 CET
I'm entering a world where I feel like I need to be out on the "scene" in order to gather new material, but then I come home so fucking tired from doing my "research" that I'm too tired to "write" and as a result, rather than being "awesome" this blog ends up "sucking."

Tonight was yet another night out...this time dressed in white, (after labor day, I might add, which apparently doesn't exist in France) eating mexican food in a french chateau. Totally congruent. I did all of my homework before going out, which seemed like the right strategy at the time, but now I'm not so sure. I mean, it would be a waste to sleep through class now.

I also have a CV workshop bright and early. I think I'm supposed to bring a CV, but find the chances of that happening to be low:

Career Objectives: To go back to bed and wake up with a perfect career, an even tan, a good working knowledge of thai cooking, a fleet of pinstriped Skodas, a harem of 6-foot tall love robots, and x-ray vision. If I could piss Cristal Rose, that would also be cool. And tingly.

Career non-objective: To have any of the jobs in any of the cases we have read thus far. Except maybe Steve Jobs. Or Erik Peterson. No, wait, that's right: I'd rather shoot myself.

Experience: Not much, but I've seen them do it in movies, and it seems pretty hot.

Education: VERY expensive. And getting colder.



Wednesday Nov 9, 2005 02:54:37 CET
Another tuesday, another late post LVM entry. A lot of you came up to me last week and said "wow, I didn't know about that party. It sounds like fun" and I said "uhhh...yeah?" and you said "I should check it out" and I said "duh!"

And then guess what? You didn't. What's up with that? I mean, for real?

Well, you missed another scorcher. I was captain of the one's and two's (or an iPod), the crowd was hot, and there were many naked bodies in the ice cold Loing. Cuz that's how it gots to go down, ya heard?

Why am I typing in such a weird dialect? I think the US/Canada week meetings are starting to get to me. I would say more, but I'm like sworn to secrecy and shit.

Anyway, back to LVM. Basically, it doesn't take much to have a really kick ass party, and, much like a totally competitive market, the costs of entry are low. A loud sound system, room to dance, a bit of a crowd (any INSEADers will do) and the will to succeed (i.e. hosts dancing on tables/leading the naked charge into the river). And me of course...you need to invite me. Which has the added bonus of me coming, writing about how awesome you and your party are, and then having lots of people tell me they will come to the next one and not show up. You just cant beat that offer.

Tuesday Nov 8, 2005 03:07:14 CET
So I got home not that long ago from some swingin eats and drinks, celebrating Dutchness in all its glorious forms. Big up to Le Vivier and its many guests.
So, when I got home, what did I do? Homework? Nope...have my medical exam mid-day, so I'm leaving off where I finished earlier. Bed? Clearly not. Food? Pay attention! I just told you I was at a dinner. Jeez.

No, when I got home, I had an inexplicable and overwhelming urge to shave. I normally don't shave very often. I've never needed to be [regularly] clean shaven for work, and my skin gets irritated if I shave too many days in a row. So I say fuck it. When I get real itchy, I shave.

I bought some clippers before I came here, to keep the facial hair at a shorter-than-itchy length, without the constant lathering/rashing. They died without warning or cause after less than 2 months.

Usually when I shave, it's in the morning after a shower (softer beard and all that jazz). I do it in such a rush, that I never really get to enjoy shaving. Perhaps one of the greatest luxuries a man can experience is a shave from a truly skilled barber. The hot towels, the excessive lather, the sounds of the super-sharp blade against your skin, and the absolutely extraterrestrial smoothness of your face when it's all over. Nothing even comes close. The problem is that out of all the shaves I've had, two were great, and only one was exceptional. To sit through that whole process is fun, but you lose the whole calm when, after to leave, you find evidence of unevenness and some stray stubble.

So I do my best to replicate that experience at home, with hot washcloth, a jasmine pre-shave oil and, thick cream, and two razor cartridges. I use whatever is on the razor to get off most of the hair, and then I re-lather and use a fresh cartridge to go against the grain and really get shit smooothed out. Tonight, I had almost finished the first step, when my razor broke. I guess the part the blade clips onto was held onto the handle with a super-glue type adhesive. I wasn't thrilled to find that out. Or to finish the shave holding the cartridge in between my fingers. But I have to say....my face feels pretty fucking good right now.

Yay student government! Now let's talk pardons.....

Monday Nov 7, 2005 01:42:25 CET
Another wild weekend at the ‘AD. Or so I heard. I had to leave right after the superhero party to return my invisible man costume….they charge by the hour, and believe me, that thing was NOT cheap. The only place that would accept the return on a weekend was Berlin. So, that’s where I went (what choice did I have, really?). It was my first time there and it fucking rocked. Wow. I was thoroughly impressed. I could go on and on, but there is something more pressing which has to be tackled now. Yes, that’s right: Student Government Election Day.

I have been approached by several candidates to help them spread their message. Apparently, they think people read this. As you might imagine, flattery works exceptionally well on me.

But, at the end of the day, I don’t think it makes sense for me to use this forum for that purpose. I feel bad saying this, because some of the people running are my friends, and I want to help them out. Really I do. But at the end of the day, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Can I comment on the character of people I know? Yes. Can I compare it to the character of people I don’t know? Unfortunately not. So I don’t want to overstep my bounds. Some of you will receive personal messages from me regarding certain people/issues, because I am comfortable talking to people I know about people I know, but this just isn’t the place. Sorry guys. What I will say is that I do believe that it makes a difference who gets elected. So if you aren’t sure, (as with any election) don’t throw your vote away. Talk to the candidates. Talk to me (if you give a fuck about my opinion) or others who know them. We can all see room for improvement around here. Our time here is short, but not so short that we can’t reap the benefits of conscious, invested, compassionate, and effective representation. If you don’t know who fits those categories, I urge you to try to find out before casting your vote.




Friday Nov 4, 2005 03:06:29 CET
normally, i don't correct this, but i misspelled "right" as "write" and feel like an idiot. sorry.

Friday Nov 4, 2005 03:03:21 CET
Well, free (delicious) alcohol is not the best thing for my writing proficiency/quality. Clearly, I'm no Hemingway. Or Capote. Or Williams. Or Kerouac. Or (insert any good writer's name here, regardless of the their drinking habits).

Russian Standard has a few positive things going for them. 1. vodka 2. caviar munchies 3. mad tall sexy chicks. 4. ice sculptures. Put 'em in a chateau, shake it up, and you have a respectable thursday.

I totally have serious stuff to say...I want to put my two cents in about the upcoming election for student council, I want to go on a long-anticipated social commentary which was reheated yesterday. But instead, I'm not going to.

Recently, frequent [oral[ contributor Bib Billy T, in a continued effort to get the film rights to this blog, has begun vocally advocating a guest writer feature on this forum. I agreed, on the [I assumed to be understood] condition that I maintain editorial control, which essentially boils down to the write to laud/ridicule said guest writer without any regard to the actual quality of their piece. So, if anyone would like to particpate on those terms (or wants to take a shot at negotiating new ones) write on in and let's get it popping. If you don't, Billy gets the first slot, so......

Everybody, tomorrow's the day. How super are you? Now, this isn;t true of all my readers, but it is true of you. I heard some of the V'Cerf guys saying that they didn't think you had what it takes to polish off the 3 remaining (of 1500) cans of Peroni they got from the sponsors. I said they were full of shit (I got your BACK homes) but you'd better come correct anyway and prove them wrong. Don't make me look like a sucker.....errr.....more of a sucker. Thaaahhhhhnks. 5K.

Thursday Nov 3, 2005 04:10:50 CET
well, it's 4. can I get away with "yay champagne!" just this once?

Wednesday Nov 2, 2005 02:36:45 CET
What's up Fontainebleau???

So tonight was the first Vieux Moulin party where I didn't go swimming. Was it because Gabi has exams? Could be. Was it because no one even tried to get people in the water? Possible. Was it because it was so fucking cold? Hell no.

I don't know how many of you reading this have yet to come to a Le Vieux Moulin party, or even to check out the house, but you need to get on the ball. If you're waiting for an invitation, don't. It's not that kind of scene (I can say that; I don't live there). Dinners, sure, but after 10:30 I think all parties are fair game. This one for sure. Bring a towel (and, as always, just to be safe, a costume) cuz it's laid out like that. If Villecerf is Madison Square Garden, Le Vieux Moulin is the knitting factory. Ok, so I only really have New York analogies for this...how about, if Villecerf is Wembley, LVM is Royal Albert Hall? Maybe you get the idea....maybe I'm an idiot. History (by about tomorrow morning I'd say) will decide. Maybe, if Villecerf is Chateaubriand, LVM is a foie gras wonton. And I'm spent.

I've uploaded some more Lisbon photos, including a riveting shot of me on the phone with a orchid foreground, and a giant hanging advertisement in a mall with an extremely visible nipple. Between the two, I have a tough time picking a favorite. It's kind of like having the best of both worlds really. Oh, and there some pictures of local architecture, mosaic sidewalks, and the wing of my airplane at sunset. Blah blah blah.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/58768982/in/photostream



I hope everyone's putting work into their superhero costume. I've been staying up nights working on mine. I've called some friends from my performing arts days in New York for some help with fabrication/materials. I don't know why, but I really want to get this one right. I'm sick of playing second fiddle to Nick and his minimalist costume genius. I'll get you yet Gray!!! (for those of you who don't know who Nick is, go to Heaven+Hell and/or Roman Ruins pics on my flickr page, and find the topless guy. That's him).

So, I'm loving being back, thanks to all you sexy sexy and did I mention sexy? people. Kepp doing what you're doing and don't ever fucking stop.

Gabi, since you didn't the benefit of it last week, GOOD FUCKING LUCK!!!!!!
ya heard?

Tuesday Nov 1, 2005 02:51:56 CET
Another perfect Word of the Day:
(from the "words that don't mean what you think" collection)

parisology (pa-ri-SOL-uh-jee) noun

The use of equivocal or ambiguous language.

What a great word! How perfect for INSEAD men....

"So, how was Paris?" "Well, we went to a club, there were mad chicks there..." "Yeah? And....?" "Well, you know, we grooved a bit, there was heat for sure....a few honeys were beaming..." "And?" "Well, you know how it is." Indeed. Don't we all.

Speaking of Paris, if not parisology, I snuck in for a little bite tonight. Got out of class at 7, jumped in the car, went home, changed, on the road at 8:10, parked at the friend's hotel at 9, bar at 9:10, and made the 9:30 reservation. Dinner till 1:30, back here by 2. It's nice to have friends who travel on fat expense accounts. Delish dinner on LVMH? Mer-ci! Ten euro tip to the hotel valet who handled my car=well worth it. The moral is, expense accounts or not, weekday dinners in Paris are totally doable. SO DO IT. And invite me.

Well, break is over. Already? I know. Mine was so relaxing it's embarrassing. I decided to make it a stimulant free break (no caffeine, herbal vitamin energy whatevers, no meth, no crank, nothing) so I could recover from the hectic exam schedule. The result? I didn't go out once in Lisbon. One dinner lasted until 2, but I did not go to a single bar or club. I slept so fucking much it was insane. Naps in the hotels, in the car driving to Sintro/Cascais, everywhere. I was like that fucking dwarf (Sleepy, I believe his name was) only a lot taller with much lamer facial hair.

I guess I'll post some pics of the trip on www.flickr.com/photos/angellic

Here's one...over all, you won't be interested, because you're not in any of them, you narcissistic bastards (and, to a much lesser degree, bitches).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/58285122/in/photostream



I have more to say, as you can imagine, but we all have a lot going on, what with new classes, new professors, and (a lot of) new haircuts.

I do want to quickly acknowledge and welcome the new December 06's on board, and reiterate: if you find anything here useful/entertaining/relevant, it's a total accidcent. Ask anyone. But congratulations on getting in here (as you can tell from reading this/looking at my pictures, it's REALLLLLY hard). Seriously though, get ready. This shit is nuts and completely flies by.

So....welcome back mes enfants. Good night. Sweet dreams.

Tuesday Oct 25, 2005 23:37:42 CET
A little cultural uprising going on tonight. In the last couple of hours I received:

The middle east is totally not covered in your BLOGs
-Nir

Chris! I feel betrayed, no ArabiSH???
-Rasha

Fortunately, just in time came this from Canan:
We don’t say “Good fucking luck!” in Turkish. But if we were to say it it would be something like:
Iyi sikiyim sanslar (the first s needs something underneath to make it sound like sh, so the pronunciation is more like shanslar)

Thanks for saving my ass.
But the best reply for a long time had to be from Solid Gold Christine Driscoll:
"Personally, when I start an exam, I like saying to my test, "You're my bitch." Try it!"
I did. It totally works.
Well, I’ve gotten a lot of comments about the decline in my quality during exam week. Mostly from my professors. HA! But seriously…I know. This has been a little weak. But so have I. I spent 45 minutes tonight perfecting my cheat sheet for tomorrow’s OPEN BOOK EXAM. Now do you understand?

I did, however, get quite a lot of [VERY much appreciated] positive feedback on my last picture set, so I’ve decided to beat that horse to death…or however the expression goes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/sets/1215173/



All the best for tomorrow. Don’t take no mess from no FMV exam.


Monday Oct 24, 2005 22:05:49 CET
I’ve had a few new “subscriptions” today, which I can only rationally attribute to the fact that people want more than just anecdotal evidence and hearsay to convince them that there are people out there less prepared than they are. They want hard proof. Well, I can assure you, you’ve come to the right place.

Where are the photos to show how much time I’ve wasted? Where is the evidence that you will actually do better than I will. I’m afraid I don’t have any today. Sorry. But if you have aspirations higher than not repeating a class, rest assured that I am here to help you achieve your goals. And,while they’re not photos, I have some proof. Below are more multilingual expressions of encouragement from your classmates.
MIERDA!!!
BOA FUCKING SORTE

But, feeling like I was still leaving some people out, I decided to ask Bablefish to translate “good fucking luck” into as many languages as it could. Below are the results, with my continued best wishes. (oh, and yes, I know they’re all wrong. I’ve used babelfish before….)

Chinese: 好该死的运气
Dutch: goed fucking geluk
French: bonne chance foutue
German: gutes fucking Glück
Greek: καλή fucking τύχη
Italian: buona fortuna fucking
Japanese: よいとても運
Korean: 좋은 지독한 운
Portuguese: sorte do caralho boa
Russian: хорошее fucking везение
Spanish: buena suerte de mierda

I fucking sorry if your language is not (poorly) represented here. Feel free to submit your own translation.

Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em


Monday Oct 24, 2005 00:10:20 CET
It's about that time:

GOOD FUCKING LUCK! BON FUCKING COURAGE! BREAK A FUCKING LEG! INSERT YOUR COUNTRY'S EQUIVALENT FUCKING EXPRESSION HERE!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: You all fucking rock.

And no matter what happens, I'll never think any less of you because of your accounting grade. No matter how high it is.

ps-just as a little something extra to boost your spirits, since graded on a curve: this is what I did all day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/sets/1199412/



Sunday Oct 23, 2005 00:55:27 CET
so I'm indulging my oprah fetsih a little bit by altering the NV picture. of course she does it once a month, but I never claimed to be as lazy as oprah. Actually, I sort of forgot that my pic went out with my posts, but when I was reminded of that fact today, I realized that MUST be the reason why people turn away from me when they see me on campus. They're just so sick of seeing my face head on. I guess it can happen to anyone evenutally.

Well, we're getting there. Bon courage and all that jazz. See you in the library. You bring the shots, I'll bring the piñata. Meet in the job resource center around 3.

Friday Oct 21, 2005 23:14:46 CET
It's not that I don't love you, because I do. But I need some "me" time. I'm going to bed now, with a novel (remember those) and setting my alarm for 9. Ah, sweet sweet 9. (6:30, you dirty whore). Sweet dreams. If you're up and bored, and were counting me for to entertain you, first of all, you need help. But6, because I'm so flattered, I'll give you a bedtime story from Dating New York:

It had been almost a year since I’d been on a date and all my friends agreed that the time
had come to take the matter out of my hands and into theirs. They all compared notes,
tossing out names, searching high and low for the perfect guy to set me up with. I had
only one request: that he not be anything like James, the guy who had broken my heart
only a year before. That meant that he couldn’t be devi lishly charming or interested in
exactly the same things I am. He couldn’t dress better than me or have a degree from a
more prestigious school or be well connected. For all intents and purposes, he must be
decidedly not my type. My friends, like the fools that they are, accepted the challenge and
insisted that not only should I start dating again, I should start dating men that I never
would have considered dating before and what better place to do it than in New York
City. Including older men. It took the m two weeks to come up with the perfect guy,
someone they met randomly at an art opening. He is almost 50 but looked not a day older
than 42 and bears an uncanny resemblance to George Clooney my friend Sarah promised.
His interests actually did align with mine, said Sarah’s boyfriend Michael, but not so
much that it would bother me. We planned to meet for drinks in Chelsea and then take it
from there. I showed up 20 minutes early, wearing the royal blue jacket I had told him to
look out for and had a prepar atory vodka tonic, watching the door for any signs of
George Clooney look -alikes. I turned away from the door for less than five seconds to
gaze quizzically at someone vaguely familiar who I thought I might have gone to high
school with when someone tapped me on the shoulder. ‘Excuse me, are you....’. I turned
around, prepared for Doug Ross and got.... Doug. James’ father. Apparently, My friends
don’t offer to set me up anymore.

Thursday Oct 20, 2005 21:12:48 CET
I know I’m sending this out earlier than normal, because I’m still in a relatively good mood from the oh-so-delicious crepes I had for dinner. You’ve seen the sort of filth I can send out a little later in the evening…With all the pre-exam work going on, I’m on campus from 8ish until they kick me out of the library after 11, so that 45 minutes for dinner feels like the one part of my day where I’m at least partially in control. So even though it’s not as easy as the [don’t get me started on the food in the] cafeteria, I try to allow myself that one little indulgence. I know a lot of you know about Ty-Koz, but for those of you that don’t it is a marvelous little creperie in da Bleau. Sweet, savory, all that shit. Run by an old man and his old wife, it totally kicks ass. They don’t have official hours, so if you are unsure, the # is 01 64 22 00 55. I don’t know of that many places to grab a fairly quick (although not fast food) delicious bite in town, and these days, you need a few. Please send in a recommendation of your favorite if you have one.

I found a great quote that I think really captures the essence of what we’re all going through, and puts this experience in a highly illuminating frame:

Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
- James M. Barrie

So, basically, we’re working our fucking asses off. Thanks, Peter Pan. At least he didn’t recast this as “nothing is really work if you’d rather be doing it than what you’re doing” because then I’d be vacationing as a bathroom attendant between p1 and p2. Looking around the library, I’m not the only one.

BUT, as I’ve maintained all along, this isn’t as bad as it seems. I’m not going to lie and say we’ll be looking back and laughing about it (not because we won’t get over it, just because…well…what the fuck’s so funny?) but if we’re all really as stressed as it seems, then the release we’re going to feel next Wednesday is going to be so fucking awesome (tension-release. It’s a recipe for success) that we won’t look back on it at all. Until next time, by which point we’ll realize that we all did better this time than we think we’re going to now, so we won’t stress as much, and then we’ll do worse, and not care. Get it? Sweet.

I’ve had a lot of suggestions from people recently about topics for this week, ranging from an advocation of abandoning the traditional [on the move] “how are you” greeting with something more random (and perhaps sincere) like “squirrel” or “toaster” (it’s ok to wave or give the thumbs up when you say these things), to a discourse on the need for more sex (specifically oral) in the library. While I agree that there may be merit and discursive potential in both these, as well as other suggestions, I leave them to you to discuss on your own. I will happily publish a consensus.

Don’t look now, but I think he/she is checking you out. Don’t look! Ok….NOW! Turn around! Damn. You’re so sexy. And smart too. Really really smart…and well prepared. Get on with your bad self. I’m out.


Thursday Oct 20, 2005 00:14:11 CET
The word of the day is FUUCK. Tomorrow it will be FUUUCK. The next day: FUUUUCK.

I’m sorry, I totally had plans to write funny, inspirational, uplifting ditties this week to keep morale high. But fuuck. I can barely stand…nothing I write will be as funny as just looking at me the next few days. Don’t point and laugh if my shoes end up on the wrong feet.

My so called muse sent me a link the other day, saying she didn’t think anyone here would appreciate it. But, after careful review, I’m inclined to disagree. Maybe a few of the subtleties will be lost, but overall, I think there’s plenty of value for a non-american audience. And since I’m too [fuucking] beat to come up with my own material, I offer it to you on one condition. You will view it with SOUND ON. Even in the library. Especially in the library. Or amphis. Or tutorials. Wherever you happen to be. If there’s anything in it that needs clarification, I, as always, am here for you.

Rock the fuck out: http://www.lohanfreestyle.com/

Ps- thanks for the hugs


Wednesday Oct 19, 2005 06:45:14 CET
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/53949548/in/photostream



as long as you have to be up anyway, isn't it nice that at least it looks like this?

Tuesday Oct 18, 2005 21:27:27 CET
You can really see the change around here…eyes are redder, voices are hoarser, libraries are fuller, costumes are fewer, there are more cars with red license plates parked near the forest to the north…

So what are you doing for break? Cool! No, really, that sounds like a lot of fun. Uh huh. Uh huh. No, I don’t know what he’s doing. Oh yeah? No, I’ve never been there. Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard. I know, me too.

Oh, sorry, I was just having a conversation. Didn’t mean to leave you out. What’s that? Oh, you’ve already HAD that conversation? Really? With 50 people? Wow.

So, everyone feeling good, feeling strong? I consider it a bad sign that my group has started ditching me for meetings. We set up a meeting time and place, and then I show up, and no one’s there. So I think maybe they’re just running a little late. So I wait a few minutes. Don’t want to hassle anyone, I mean, we all have full plates. But after ten minutes I call. Nothing. So I call someone else. Nothing. Hmmmm. Could I have the time wrong? Oh well, I’ll just go to the library and see if I see anyone or they call back. Two hours later, a message “Oh Christopher, so sorry, we were in the cubicle behind that place and we thought that…anyway, we’ve done the cash-flow don’t worry.” Essentially they have decided that if it involves any software other than Word or iMovie, I probably don’t need to be involved. **(to any prospective employers reading this, I’m TOTALLY joking)**

Speaking of feeling just a tad behind, I got this lovely little tidbit at the end of a [supposedly] cultural newsletter this week.

Random Tangent
18-29 year-olds have sex an average of 112 times per year, 30-39 year-olds an average of 86 times per year and 40-49 year-olds an average of 69 times per year (Piccinino, Mosher)

Oh well, at least I started here in September and not January. I’m reminded of that chart they showed us in UDJ comparing the monthly rainfall in Singapore and France…..

Well guys, it’s the home stretch. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other. We all need a few extra smiles, a few more HUGS, and whatever little lifts we can give each other between now and Wednesday. Keep up the good work. Have I told you lately how fucking hot you are?


Sunday Oct 16, 2005 22:18:53 CET
As promised:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/53113359/in/photostream



The rest are in photoset Heaven and Hell
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic

Enjoy, and sleep tight.

Sunday Oct 16, 2005 20:39:26 CET
Oh god. I am SOOOOOO hungover. Seriously. A few too many different families of alcoholic beverages were duking it out for pride of place in my head/stomach/liver last night. On the whole, I really haven’t been drinking nearly as much as I was before I came here; workload and driving responsibilities have done an excellent job as limiting factors in that sense. The downside to viewing those things as reasons why I’m not drinking is that when I find myself in a situation where I a) have spent the whole day working b) have a designated driver and c) spent 30 euros to go to a party at someone’s house, justified largely by the existence of an open bar, let the games fucking begin. Somehow, I managed to forget that a splitting headache and crippling nausea do not constitute getting your money’s worth. That being said, I had a pretty good time, and was not too annoyed by my alarm going off as I got into bed.

Oh also, saw a girl there who I went to high school with, who now lives in Paris and dates a guy here. It’s noteworthy because my high school had less than 120 people when I went there, so to run into someone from it 4000 miles away and 10 years later is rather odd.

Looking through my pictures from last night, it seems as though I posed with every single person (and two of the goats) at the party. Sorry. And in all but one or two shots, I look a LOT worse than the person I’m posing with. Once or twice, ok, fine, but after shot 20, I began to get worried. I thought I remembered seeing other people drink too. There was always a crowd at the bar. What am I missing????

Anyway, I’ll get pics up before I go to bed (so, if you want to see yourself posed next to a really drunk me, chances are you’ll be able to soon). Would love to stay and chat, but I have to put the finishing touches on my LPG paper, and drink a cup of tea. Ta ta.


Friday Oct 14, 2005 00:58:28 CET
Well, first and foremost, hats off to Colin for his performance. It was really great. I was psyched to see so many people turn up as well; with everything else that's going on right now, it's a real comfort for me to know that so many people prioritize that sort of thing. Rock on.

Another week drawing shut. Fuck they fly....

Starting to have party anxiety. Have already selected and subsequently rejected two costume ideas, and am sitting on a blank slate. Clearly, for me, nothing could be lamer or more derivative than going as an angel, except perhaps going as a devil. Then what are you left with....there's always the challenge of balancing creativity, relativity, budget, and relative attractiveness. I was lamenting my dresser's block (you have a better term??) and my friend Amit (i know... I'm supposed to be more discrete about naming names) suggested a web search. Because he is lazy and not genuinely interested in helping. So I did one, hoping to have good ammunition with which to chide him for giving me useless advice. The second link I got was to a site called penilefitness.com. Jackpot. Its editors recommended being creative (as only penile fitness experts can???), and adapting your costume to reflect your own personal vision of heaven or hell (think outside the box, people). The suggestion for heaven was to tape a picture of a personal sexual fantasy object (presumably a model/actress/singer) to a blow-up doll and affix the doll in such a way that you appear to be fucking her for the duration of the party. It was well reasoned enough to suggest that you consider carefully which position you want to represent, as some carry greater potential for "knocking shit over." Duly noted. But their true creativity shone through in the hell costume, which was THE EXACT SAME THING but with an ugly girl's face taped to the doll. Thanks Amit. You're my go-to guy.

I couldn't be more amused that one of the biggest [perceived] draws of this party is the presence of "women." I don't argue that it will get people's attention, but, unless you just care about selling tickets, you have to be mighty fucking confident in your NIW crowd to hype it like that. As they say, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. That being said, I'm looking forward to the party, and I totally applaud the ambition.

So I'll leave it there. I want to welcome all the new readers from this week. It was a strange one, looking back. Oh well.....For you casual browsers, you can subscribe to this (and to my continued befuddlement, people do) by adding me as a buddy from my profile in NetVestibule (where the archive of these rambling missives is also located). Photo archive is http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic
10-4 Good buddies. Over and out.

Thursday Oct 13, 2005 00:21:33 CET
OK…not as happy with the pissing story as I suspected. Fair enough….maybe you had to be th……never mind, if you didn’t like it, you didn’t like it. Why belabor the point? I’ll give you one more, a happier, funnier, more hygienic one at the end, but first a very important announcement. Tomorrow evening at 6, Colin Mutchler, my partner in being completely confounded by you people ad your so called “numbers” will be giving the performance of the year (in Amphi A anyway). If you know Colin, you know he’s very talented and very engaged in a lot of interesting issues regarding intellectual freedoms and the sharing/remixing of cultural entities/creative projects, and he addresses many of these issues in his performance. For those of you who don’t know Colin, what better chance to start. Here’s a repost of his email for those of you not on his list. I really encourage you to come, even if you’re busy (you can now play his podcasts right from my blog window in NV if you want):

Hey all,

Hope to see you at my "Free Culture" show on Thursday from 6-7 in Amphi A. I promise you it'll be worth your time.
Also, I posted the latest podcast, which includes some "Songs from the Commons," highlights from my trip to a Sustainability Conference in Greece, some INSEAD moments from UDJ and Accounting, and another freestyle song.
http://activefreemedia.com/podcast/activefree_podcast6.mp3


Keep up the good work. So looking forward to the P1/P2 break....
Colin

I also want to start hyping some t-shirts that Colin and I developed together. Right now, he’s just finished the final logo design, but as soon as we find a place that will print them on shirts whose origins we feel comfortable with (hopefully American Apparel) we’ll let you. Feel free to write now and reserve one from the first batch.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/51975773/



And I’ll close with a happy tale of love, as always, where you least expect it:

My first date with Dawn began simply enough. Meet for some wine, chat, get to know each other. I should have known. I should have known when she told me her name was Dawn. Dawn was that girl you knew in High School who seemed sweet enough, but was later caught stalking the captain of the baseball team, and ended up sending him her severed pinky toe in a blue Tiffany’s bag as a token of her love. Or maybe that was just my High School. Regardless, I should have known.
No more than five minutes into our date, Dawn removed her large puffy coat to reveal a sizable silver locket, worn outside of her black sweater. Bait thrown, and I, stupidly, chomped down hard. “That’s a nice locket,” I said. Pause. “Thanks,” she replied, turning her eyes to the floor. “Is it an heirloom, is there someone’s picture inside?” I asked.
Pause.
“No.” Pause. “I should...I guess I should...”
Pause. Fear slowly begins to creep up my spine.
“I should probably tell you,” she begins. “I had a fiancee.” Bad
start. “He was a pilot.” Uh oh. “He was killed in a plane crash last
June.” Oh God.
“And these ARE HIS ASHES.”
Now there are any number of things that go through your mind in a
moment like this. Check please, being the first. Not a very big guy,
was he?, coming much later when you’re drunkenly retelling the story to
your friends. But in this moment I just stood there silently and
listened to her retell the tragedy of her lost love, wondering how soon
I could get out of there.
Five Manhattans later her story was a distant memory and inviting her
home really did seem like a good idea. Until she was lying on my bed
completely naked. Except for the locket. And thus began the most
awkward threesome of my young life.



Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 10:11:04 CET
OK-pics are up
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/51813273/in/photostream



the whole set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/sets/1124169/



posting one of myself just so no one gets upset (besides fernando, but he'll get over it).

Big big thanks to the hosts. When you've got it, you've got it.

So, anyway, as I was saying, the reason I felt compelled to push the boundaries of what constitutes a sensible tuesday evening is that I got a call from a friend/business partner in NYC and our book on New York dating just received strong interest from the first publisher we sent it to (and this without an agent). Basically, he said the stories in our treatment were "incredible" and he wants to see the whole manuscript. Far from a done deal (since we don't EXACTLY have a whole manuscript...well, we might, it depends...), but very encouraging and enough to put me in a good mood. So I actually want to ask any of you who have been on a date in NYC, if you have an amazingly good/bad/funny story that you would like to tell me to get fame/laughs/revenge, I'll consider adding it to the package. But it has to be SOON.

I figured I might as well give you guys a taste of the material because I'll bet a lot of you haven't heard a date story for a while. Some of you may have even forgotten what a date is.

An Exceprt from "Dating New York" (working title) edited by Christopher Angell and James Duffy

Well I went out on a date once with a guy that worked at the Starbucks that I went to
everyday because it was right near my office. It was one of those things that you think
will never happen but when the fourth Saturday night comes around and I didn’t have a
date again, I thought it was past the time of desperation. So I asked him out and he
basically set up the whole thing and told me we were going to see some German
independent film at the MOMA. I wasn’t really into that but whatever, beggars can’t be
choosers. So I went, and this guy was pretty average looking; nothing too spectacular, he
had brown hair and brown eyes and a pretty trim body, again nothing too spectacular he
just looked normal. So we’re sitting there watching the movie and I was trying to keep
up with the subtitles when he leaned over and started kissing me. I was a little surprised
but then I was like, “Ooo this is nice.” So we were kissing for a while, luckily there
weren’t many people in the theatre so it wasn’t like we were making out if from of tons
of people, but then he started to grab the back of my neck, you know, like to give him
head, but I don’t go that far in public places, but then, I don’t even know how to explain
this. He asked me to swallow his urine. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes and
then just peed, and then he heard it hit the floor and so he looked at me, and I think I just
had this facial expression of disgust and he said, “Oh sorry, I thought you’d be into that.”
I was so shocked, this guy did n’t even know me, what, just because I order a caramel
macchiato everyday doesn’t mean I’ll swallow your piss! So, yeah I never went out with
him again, and I started going to a different Starbucks for months until I found out he
wasn’t working at the other one anymore, so then I went back.

I know you love it. No go forth and multiply, you sick bastards, you.

Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 03:20:50 CET
Well, a very late post again....this is getting incriminating. But I had to celebrate a little. My plan was to say why, but now I'm too tired. If I have time before class....

That and hospital pics....they're sick.

Monday Oct 10, 2005 23:19:37 CET
A few little uninteresting tangents which I’ve meaning to riff on for a few days but haven’t gotten around to yet:

1. INSEAD, from Institution to Intuition. I’m starting to wonder why we needed Gmats, GPA’s, recommendations etc., when apparently what is most important is our intuition. It seems to be the guiding light of a good business education. Some people suggested I keep a running count of daily uses of the word, but I rejected the idea on the grounds that it was both boring and required substantial quantitative reasoning on my part. But their point was well taken. Nobody ever asks for an “example” of something in class, they ask for “the intuition behind” it. Call me crazy, but I always thought that the “in” component of INtuition was a fairly important one. I don’t think I want anyone to be able to give me INtuition any more than I want to see any of my INternal organs anywhere but on a CAT scan. But maybe it’s just me….

On a kinder and more generous note, I want to add to my new-agey diatribe on hugging, and urge people to be generous with compliments as well. I was always taught that women love compliments. And it’s probably pretty true. But it is a deficient lesson for one major reason: it ignores men. I have been having trouble (not quite struggling, but certainly not breezing) with my quantitative workload here, and, since it’s mostly quantitative work we have, I can get tired of feeling intellectually inadequate all the time (I don’t think any of us are used to that feeling). But I gave an LPG presentation today. And afterwards, a lot of people (very unprompted…it was well after class had ended and they were under no obligation to talk to me) came up and said how much they liked it, because it was so different (my group and I had worked hard to make it interactive and use PowerPoint only as a reference skeleton…you’ve all read my feelings on too much PowerPoint). And it was the first time in a while that I actually felt like my non-numbery background was an asset in my studies here. And going into finals week, I needed that. Thanks guys, really. Thanks. SO: If someone does something that you appreciate/are impressed by, between now and the end of the period (at least) let them know. We’re all going to be tired and cranky and overworked and quite possibly sick (sniffff), and a few kind words, (especially from someone you don’t know well enough to suspect insincerity from) can go a long way towards boosting someone’s confidence, energy, and/or immune system. I know you can do it. You’re all fucking awesome. Yes, even you.


Sunday Oct 9, 2005 23:04:55 CET
Wow. Hectic fucking weekend! I am BEAT.

Paris was nutty. Maybe a little too nutty….or maybe NOT. You need a little bit of that from time to time. There is more to life than the forest.

Dutifully attended tutorials on Saturday, and retained none of it…my FMV final is looming large and scary….if you have no objections to looming and scary used together like that. No? Whatever, you’re not even paying attention. It’s pretty redundant.

I got to my hotel and dropped stuff off late afternoon after getting pretty lost (it was my first time driving around the Arc de Triomphe….that shit is fun). That’s how I learn my way around. I refuse to be too mappy (or viamichelin or mapquest or whatever site you like) dependent. Psychological dependencies are one thing; map dependencies? That’s just sad.

So, met my childhood pal, and strolled around for a while, catching up, before meeting some French people for dinner. My friend had done a year in Paris during undergrad, so we met his “host brother” and fiancé and some of their friends. I had the veal. It was delicious. It’s kind of hard to find veal in America…people are embarrassed to serve it because of what it is, but I think you either eat animals or you don’t, and trying to make moral differentiation beyond that is tricky. I went 10 years without eating meat. It was worth doing. I respect that lifestyle choice. I also think veal is yummy. It’s difficult to reconcile the two.

We made a brief stop at a French birthday party near the ever-kickass Eiffel Tower, another to say hi to a pal in from New York at a shmancy do at the Plaza Athenee ( a little much….watching the 55 year old men leaving trying to figure out the best seating configuration for the three 20 year-old girls in their Ferraris), and then off to La Suite for a fashion week wrap-up jam. The spot was nice, but PACKED. Too packed to stand around…you were constantly getting jostled. So we got a table with some pals and danced and sipped champagne and pretended not to be students for a few hours. It was luuuhhhhhv-ly.

After they started to kick us out at 4 (and our magnum was bottom-up in the ice-bucket) half the group headed out, while my friend and I met 3 INSEADies who had JUST arrived from da Bleau (so fucking hardcore) and got in their car to search for another spot. All the places in the 1st were closed, so we decided to get down and dirty and head to Pigalle for a little La Locomotive action. Cheap drinks, loud music, and French teenagers having sex in the corner. We were happy customers. Closed it down as well, breakfast on the Champs Elysee, and to bed just before the sun was fully risen.

(You would think I have a lot of pictures to post. But I don't.)

So if I look well rested and bright-eyed during my LPG presentation tomorrow, you know why. Shhhhhh………


Saturday Oct 8, 2005 00:13:20 CET
Even though my post yesterday about the traffic light party was [mostly] a joke, I have to include one response I got (Anonymously, of course) because I just think it’s hilarious.

“Regarding traffic light…oh please, women wear green, girls wear white…..reds are just taken. It is that simple.”
I love it. I absolutely love it. And it's from a woman. (And, by the way, totally agree.) Thanks, anonymous sender. You’re awesome.

I’m very bummed to be home writing this instead of kicking ass in the Bollywood dance competition, but let’s just say that one of the competitors made it…worth my while…not to enter. It’s a sad day in everyone’s life when they learn they have a price (but isn’t that what business school is allabout??), and even sadder when that price is 10 euros.

Seriously, though, I need to catch up on sleep. I’d been drifting in and out a bit this week, but yesterday I had a full on second, second and a half of non-awakeness. And it’s pretty embarrassing. Part of my problem is I don’t drink caffeine, but the real problem is that I don’t sleep. My social reps haven’t caught me on film yet, but that’s because they’re asleep even more than I am.
Seeing some old friends in Paris tomorrow…will be the first time I’ve hung out with non-INSEAD people since I got here. I’m scared that they’re going to notice a change (like if I say “value” or “market” or try to calculate shit) that I aven’t noticed about myself. Hmmmmmm.

Well, that’s it. I said I was going to bed before 2, and if I’m not winning dance contests, then I’m sticking to that.

Keep it country.


Friday Oct 7, 2005 00:28:21 CET
Oh boy. Well, I’m never going to do another one of these after too much booze…sorry guys. I still maintain that it’s a good picture, and many people agree with me, but…well…if you don’t like it I apologize. I write this here, as opposed to only to the individuals, because I don’t want all of you to be worried that if I happen to take a picture you don’t like, that it will find its way in front of the whole class. My intention is NEVER to actually make anyone uncomfortable….perhaps have a few laughs is all. If it’s clear that there’s something anyone doesn’t want viewed/repeated, it won’t be. By me anyway. Second…don’t worry, no one takes anything they see/read here seriously.

So as long as we’ve got that clear.....

Today was traffic light party day in my section. But I think I misunderstood something. I mean, I wore green, but I didn’t get laid. What am I missing? I’m pretty sure the email that got sent out promised everyone who wore green would get laid, everyone who wore orange/red would secretly get laid, and everyone who wore white would get therapy. Did something change at the last minute? Was I in the wrong amphi? Does this mean that next time I’m at a traffic light, I don’t actually have to proceed when it turns green unless I find it to be a particularly witty and charming traffic light, or unless I’m drunk? I think that this is a dangerous message, and in direct opposition to the work the posters (which I have never ever seen hanging anywhere on campus) are doing to keep us safe.

In other news, thanks to you guys, the NetVestibule system has been upgraded!

Here’s an excerpt from NetVestibule’s creator, INSEAD alum Yann Lechelle:

…our server feels the impact of each and every single of your blog update...

Hope you don't mind: I have added you to my quarterly newsletter distribution list so that you're better informed about new developments within the product but also within the company. The latest updates have indeed been prompted by you!!! One of your posts mentioned that you couldn't post pictures... and I thought about the Flickr phenomenon and buzz and decided to do something about it.
So a new wave of "reach-out" plugins have been developed to that effect:
- flickr: will extract the first picture of a stream, or the collection from a set. If the URL points to "your space", then no picture is shown...
- aim: presence indication in the profile card
- skype: one-click access in the profile card
- MP3: built-in player
- amazon: picture extraction from URL


So I have some new tools to play with, as you may have seen. One of the cool things is that I can now embed mp3’s in the blog, so from now on when I hype Colin’s podcasts, you should be able to play them directly from my profile (in fact, if you go to the archives of this blog, his previous podcasts are now playable there). So if any of you out there have podcasts, or any other audio files (personal music, high school garage band, whatever) that you would like me to link so your peers can check it out, send me the URL and I’ll get it out there. The more ideas/output I can spread around with this, the happier I am.

Well, good night INSEAD. Stay sexy.


Thursday Oct 6, 2005 02:34:42 CET
I can't believe I just got out of bed to write this. As [often] mentioned previously, I'm a fucking idiot.

Had a great time tonight. A little dinner/dancing up in the north (finally I get invited to shit in my side of Fontainebleau). Worthy wednesday.

What did I learn? Well, for one thing, while there may not be a better name for what this is, I'm really fucking sick of hearing the word blog. Especially when I get introduced to girls. I know the person is trying to be nice and flattering, but I don't think it really comes across. The words may be something like Do you know Christopher? He has the funniest blog at INSEAD . And the girl hears Hey, this dude wets his bed. Thanks. No action for me? Check.

Oh, and PS, speaking of looking like a jackass: I got a phone call at 7, from a hostess of this event. Come by for dinner. Ok, fine. Any special instructions? Nope. I show up and EVERYONE is in costume (although, in all fairness, costumes should be assumed at this point in clown school...I mean INSEAD. But which costume???). So, because it's never enough to sound like a fool, I added a convincing visual element. I know, sounds tough to believe. But it's true.

Well, I tried, but I've managed to come up with nothing witty or useful. So please, someone, tell me where to get cheap firewood. And look at this picture.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/49813318/in/photostream



Because I think it's hilarious. Why do I think it's hilarious? Pretty much because Will kept asking me to make sure to put pictures of the party in this blog. And I'm pretty sure he hadn't seen this one when he asked me that. Make it hot, baby. It's all love.

A few more pics from tonight (more to come tomorrow) and all the archives, as always, at www.flickr.com/photos/angellic

Sorry. I know this sucked. Go read some old ones. They're better. Oh yeah, and don't forget to wear green and make eyes at me tomorrow. Yes, you too.

Tuesday Oct 4, 2005 23:54:59 CET
I decided to hold back on publishing any more information related to lists. Or girls and boys. Or any of that, like, you know, stuff.

I know these things are on peoples’ minds. Like yours, for example. And I know that you look to me for guidance and inspiration in this arena (you poor things).

But I had two conversations today which convinced me to pull back. Even if just for a bit. The first was with Will Taylor (aka Big Billy T). It can basically be summed up as “Dude, we’ve really got to stop talking about girls all the time. We’re going in fucking circles.” Obviously I’m paraphrasing, and injecting my own lexicon. Will is far too proper to use words like “dude,” bless his heart. But he’s right. There’s little to be said among us men that hasn’t already been said. The last thing I need is for one more guy to say to me “You know who I’m starting to realize is kinda hot?” Get out of the forest for a weekend! Or do a jigsaw puzzle! Yes I know who you just realized was kind of hot: THE LAST GIRL YOU FUCKING LOOKED AT, RIGHT? HOW DID I KNOW????

This brings me to the other conversation I had today. Driving Oscar home, he said something (again, my paraphrase, my language) like: “Dude, your blogs aren’t ever really angry or aggressive anymore. What the fuck? You don’t write about anything that bothers you….I mean, they’re ridiculously awesome and everything, but where’s the fire?”

Point taken, Oscar. And thank you. It’s because people like you hold me to such a high standard that I’m able to force myself to pound this out day after day, despite the fact that I’m no closer to being able to calculate the NPV of an investment than I was when I was 6.

Well, for starters, please see the above tirade. I hope that addresses some of your concerns. But if that is insufficient, as I suspect it is, let me add something else that drives me fucking crazy:

When we’re in class and a professor calls on a specific student by name to answer a specific question, and while that student is formulating an answer (or god forbid looking down at their notes) one, two ten other people mumble or shout out an answer…Oh My God!!!! Are we back in kindergarten? I’m waiting for the first person who starts waving their hand like a flag going “Ooo me! I know it! OOOOOO!” Are we really so unable to take a step back and view our (in class, at least) behavior with a modicum of objectivity? Please people, we all have different backgrounds, talents, knowledge. Show some fucking respect.

Better?


Tuesday Oct 4, 2005 00:11:37 CET
Well, I had NO IDEA I was going to cause such a stir. Here’s my impression of today: “Dude, you gotta give me the list. Come on tell me something. Please!!!” “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.” “Why?????” “Because I just don’t know if it’s a good idea. If the girls wanted you to know, they’d tell you.” “how come you get to see it?” “I just do. It’s not my fault that I happen to be an emblem of trust.” “That’s totally unfair. Can’t you do something to make them tell me????” “Well…maybe.”

So here, as a gesture of good faith, is a little list of our own. What’s that ladies? Hadn’t heard about this? We’ve actually had it for quite a while, but were obviously better at keeping a secret. However, in light of recent events, the consensus seems to be that it’s time to let it see the light of day. So, without any further ado, I give you OUR list of the HOTTEST 14 girls in E1 (in alphabetical order):

Rasha Alnaibari
Eiko Asano
Guendalina Cobianchi
Tatiana Cogevina
Carrie Cook
Olesya Diordiychuk
Laurence Grand-Clement
Ghislaine Ho-Nhut
Marsha Johnson
Emily Kerr
Paawan Kothari
Liza Lee
Touko Sakuta-Shiga
Elena Zhila

Sorry to the girls who didn’t make list. I want to reiterate that this is NOT MY list, but reflects the opinion of every guy in the class (including Enrico). So please, don’t blame the messenger. Maybe now you appreciate the enormity of your own actions (yes, I know).

And by the way, thanks guys. Another day gone without writing about my Paris trip. I guess I should just accept that fact that no one cares. Oh well. It was fun. We played in a live-action videogame at the hotel de ville (“Upstream” by Isabelle Grosse) and my team kicked ass. We got like 700. Which, as you know, is a completely awesome score. Go team.

And finally: India/Pakistan, the bar was set high. But so far, so good. I’m excited.


Monday Oct 3, 2005 00:32:43 CET
nuit blanche pics up
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/48704276/in/photostream



Sunday Oct 2, 2005 17:52:39 CET
Hey there. How was your weekend? Good? Good. Mine? Oh, thanks for asking. I’ll get to that in a second.

First, a (I hope) helpful tip: For those of you who haven’t been living in France (or Europe or wherever this isn’t true…like the US for example) and who don’t already know, the emergency # to dial on your cell phone is 112. This should work, I’m told, even if you don’t have a SIM card in your phone. I haven’t tried it, but that’s what I’m told. Safety first, people.

Well, a lot to cover today. Might not get to all of it, as I also have important plans to make a roaring fire (which reminds me: special accolade and romantic favors for anyone who can write and tell me where to get cheap firewood without breaking the law. As it is, our nightly fires are costing between 8-20 euros, and that’s just not sustainable), some chamomile tea, a giant bowl of fresh popcorn, and try to watch a movie for the first time since I’ve been here.

First and foremost, the entire class (or maybe just E1+2) appears to be buzzing with rumors surrounding a little all-female gathering last week in Fleury (which I will refer to as ChickCon 05). The words “list”, and “ten” and “kiss” and “champagne” and a few others which I’m far too modest to print keep finding their way into conversations. There is much innuendo. There is much speculation. There is much confusion. The boys are being whipped into a frenzy of eager anticipation.

Well fellas I have some good news and some bad news: I have managed to secure a copy of the list from a less-than-scrupulous delegate (no ladies, it’s not who you think). But I’m not going to publish it. At least not yet. I’m still milling over the pros and cons of this decision. There could be hurt feelings, bitter rivalries. And for what? The male-female dynamic here is dysfunctional enough without my intervention.

I will say a few things. First of all, a few surprises. Second of all, a few not surprises. From my perspective anyway, but clearly my perspective is irrelevant. So I won’t editorialize. However, I think it’s safe to reveal one name, as many people already seem to know about it, and he’s kind of a special case. Also, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t read my blog. You see, the “hottest” man (as voted in ChickCon 05) in E1/E2 isn’t a student (Gasp!). He’s a professor (Double Gasp!). He’s not Jean Dermine (Triple Gasp!). So don’t be surprised if you start seeing our gals packing a change of clothes just for UDJ. As the temperatures in Fontainebleau drop, expect the hemlines in Amphis O and P to rise. Enrico Deicidue is a marked man. I tried reaching him for comment, but was told that his office hours have been mysteriously booked solid for the rest of the year. Oh well.

Gosh, I kind of wanted to talk a bit about La Nuit Blanche. But this seems long enough. I’ll post pictures later tonight (Sunday) and maybe write a bit tomorrow. For now, let me just say a bit about dinner Saturday to wrap this up:

We ate Lebanese.


Saturday Oct 1, 2005 04:00:47 CET
Wow. That Chateau got rocked from Naqoura to Tripoli. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Lebanese week=Awesome week.

In the spirit of awesome week (made awesomer by the fact that it finally the fucking weekend)I have an awesome tip. It could be the tip of the week. Probably it is. If it works out, it could even be tip of the month. Or maybe of the whole damn millennium. It comes courtesy of Nancy Latart, and it goes a little something like this, hit it:

“In summary, the Caisse d’Allocation Familiale is a government agency that will reimburse part of your living expenses based on several criteria. I was eligible for it when I came and studied in Paris when I was in college and if memory serves, it was approx. 100 euros a month.
Here’s the main website: http://www.caf.fr/”
After that she loses me a little bit with her description. I haven’t checked this out yet, but plan to quite soon. If it in fact proves true, it’s fucking brilliant. That’s funding for one or two more gigantic parties a month…..or a whole lot of cheese. The possibilities are endless……no, wait…no, sorry about that, the money can actually only be used for parties and cheese, but that’s still pretty good.
To those of you still rocking out in Melun, I’m jealous. To those of you asleep and going to the tutorial, I’m jealous. For those you going to La Nuit Blanche, maybe I’ll run into you. I’m SUUUUUUPER amped to check that scene out. Haven’t done it before and definitely need to feed my eyes with something other than fucking Powerpoint Powerpoint Powerpoint. I understand it can be useful I appreciate its capabilities. Blah blah blah. Staring at Powerpoint slides for 4.5 hours in a day is utterly mind-numbing. I need some color, I need some sound. For any of the other 40,000 of you planning on going in, I’m going to try to set myself up around the Brazilian Carnevale installation near Chatelet/Les Halles. I think. I can’t really imagine that that doesn’t have color and sound.

Whatever you end up doing, have a great weekend. Get a bit of rest. Indian week awaits….sometime soon.

In the meantime, I tip my Tarbouch to Lebanon (and sadly contemplate the return to life without brass tables, plush couches, and leather stools in the bar). Fuckin A.

Ok…3 hours till Tutorials. Bonsoir.


Thursday Sep 29, 2005 23:28:29 CET
pics from dinner are up!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/47801764/in/photostream/



Wow. I'm so thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive, generous, forthcoming response to hugging. So I want to jump right into today's topic: oral sex.

I'M JUST KIDDING

Seriously though, it was so nice to have so many of you come up and tell me your thoughts about hugs. And give me hugs. And give each other hugs. I think it's the first time in the history of business school that something like that has happened, and it was fucking awesome. Keep it up...I'm sure as we get closer to the end of the period, hugs are going to become even more welcome/necessary/appreciated.

In my never ending quest to make our time together that much richer and our collective knowledge and understanding of each other that much deeper, I present you with a new tactic/suggestion: guerilla lunch table invasion (GLTI, pronounced "guilty"). Remember orientation week, when you hardly knew anyone, so you sat down with strangers and introduced yourself? Probably some of the people you met like that are some of your best friends here now. So you probably, when possible, eat with them.

Well, I discovered the other day, that you can STILL sit down with a table of strangers, or near strangers, and have a good time, and learn some cool shit. Did you know we have a Bangladeshi rapper among us? I sure as hell didn't. That's fucking awesome! He was eating with his housemates, who I also didn't know. And now I do. Better, anyway. It was a meal well spent.

I'm not saying abandon your friends...lord knows we only have so much time. Maybe try this in groups of two...just go up to a table with some empty chairs and sit down. When they say "are you just going to sit down without even asking?" tell them "GLTI." It'll all work out for the best.

Thursday Sep 29, 2005 01:21:47 CET
First, another tip. Yorgos has sent this link which he claims gives an excellent weather forecast for the area.
http://www.meteofrance.com/FR/mameteo/prevVille.jsp?LIEUID=FR77186

This will be useful for me, because I operate on the assumption that the weather will always be exactly the same as yesterday's. This is in my same family of flawed assumptions which includes that, until proven otherwise, I assume whoever I meet is exactly the same age as I am. No idea why. It just makes things easier I guess. (Of course, using this assumption, I’ve never once in my life been right)

Well, whatever residual delusions of coolness I may have harbored up until now have just been laid to waste. Ladies and gentlemen, I am blogging in bed. I would add “alone” but that almost makes it sound more acceptable, which is not the point I’m trying to make. Laptops are to be taken to bed for pretty much one reason, and it doesn’t involve a single letter on the keyboard; I’m even a failure at virtual degeneracy.

Actually, I’m in a good mood. Don’t mind being here at all. I know you guys tend to forget it sometimes (that’s why I’m here) but there’s more to life than sex….maybe even much more. No really, it’s true.

I was reminded of something tonight at a dinner party. Before I tell you about it, let me thank my hosts. The Villecerf crew has done it again, and proven [beyond a reasonable doubt] that they are not a [collective] one trick pony. I’m telling you guys, I stand by this random dinner thing. I really had some nice talks about real things with people who I knew of, but didn’t know. Good, unlabored, un-alcohol aided talks. That I would want to build on. Still with me?

I didn’t think so. So I’ll bring it back to what I was reminded of: hugs. Now, I like France, and I’m down with the whole kissing thing. It’s rad, I dig it, it works. But we have some pretty decent shit in America (Fuck Yeah!) that we call “hugging.” Essentially, it’s a greeting or display of affection that involves an embrace, and a good deal of shared bodily surface area, and, if done properly, decent arm-and-body pressure. They feel really really good. They are very affirming, and warm, and downright lovely. **(I’ve heard that the French also have some other, fancier sort of kiss that apparently involves tongues, and, if true, may be worth exploring, but I’ve as yet been unable to get any positive confirmation on this). My American buddy Will Taylor reminded me about hugs at dinner. And then he hugged me. And it really felt good. There were no abnormal blood flow shifts or butterflies (for me anyway), just a direct, honest, warm conveyance of respect and appreciation. I had forgotten about hugs a bit.

So while the kisses are cool, and we can keep them, I wouldn’t mind a bit more hugging. From guys, girls, both….I’m cool with all that shit. I’m not saying we have to become cultish about it, but sometimes instead of some other greeting, go with a hug or two. And if anyone knows anything about this tongue-kissing thing, let me know. This is information that needs to get to the people.





Tuesday Sep 27, 2005 21:38:16 CET
did I resend yesterday's blog??? fuck. I'm sorry. Here's today's:

Hey.

We start with more tips, as well as some news, from Colin Mutchler.

1. Best place to pick up Wine/Beer/Juice on the way to a Dinner Party: BP station (left out of campus, sharp right at roundabout) Seriously, it's open late, and has a better selection than you'd think.

I totally agree with him here.

2. Survival Strategies
I've been fighting a cold ever since I began classes a few weeks ago. Here are my new survival strategies.
- Vitamins (Multi, C) Daily
- 6 hours of sleep each night
- Exercise at least 2 times/week
- Drink lots of water
- Eat Oatmeal/Fruit every morning before class

Sounds good to me. This is very important. Essentially, if one of us gets sick, we all get sick. FUCK GETTING SICK! This shit is hard enough without some nasty virus. So please take some fucking care of yourselves. If not for you, for me. And Colin. Think of poor Colin.

Also from Colin: I recorded another podcast...
Highlights include a sample from a new remix of my song "More Than 2 Sides," a live improv/freestyle song called "EBITDA" and some late night voices from last saturday's Toga Party.

http://activefreemedia.com/podcast/activefree_podcast4.mp3



Also, you can subscribe through iTunes by going to the store, clicking on Podcasts, and searching for "activefree podcast." -Colin

I highly recommend this. Trust me, it’s not easy even putting together this haphazard, schizophrenic blog everyday on top of everything else, and Colin has a real polished product for your listening pleasure. Check that shit out! I’m sure you’ll all enjoy it.

In the spirit of supporting other creative elements here at INSEAD, I was thinking of starting a private flickr group open to all INSEAD students to share their photos, now and forever. Want to gauge your interest. Which means write me and tell me if you’d be interested in participating (duh).

OK, so basically I’ve had other people do my work for me on this one. But I have a little question I’ve been gnawing on for a bit…kinda feeling around, and I think it’s ready for your consumption (and I apologize to E3s and 4s). Still kind of on the (your favorite) topic of male/female equity/dynamics: Who is better professorial eye-candy, Vanessa Strauss-Kahn or Enrico Deicidue? I’ve heard some very enthusiastic support for both candidates. So, for those of you out there hot for teacher, this is your outlet (and these I will keep anonymous).

So, in closing, let me just say stay safe, stay warm, and Lebanese Week=AWESOME WEEK.

As always, you can subscribe to this blog by adding me as your buddy (tell a friend) and pics are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic


Tuesday Sep 27, 2005 00:10:46 CET
First, another tip, which I found very helpful (maybe you already know this...if you'll recall, I'm a little slow at times). If it sometimes takes you forever to log onto the wireless at school (particularly in the cafe or amphis), bookmark the fil free sign-in page, and load that right away. Makes a world of difference. If this helps you, you can thank Nick Gray. Maybe a gift certificate at a salon or something.....ZING!

I want to wrap up Amsterdam, since I had to answer so many questions about it today. To clear up yesterday's entry: I DID have a good time. Just different from what I had expected. Which is O-K.

So lemme tell you about us losing our car. Since our hotel (the Casa 400) wasn't quite as central as they claimed, we had to drive into town saturday morning.. We parked, thinking we were going to switch hotels. But then we found out we had prepaid at the casa, so we decided to put the car somewhere more long term. We parked by a canal, and set off for breakfast. Which ended up being at a coffee shop. Brilliant.

After that, we strolled a bit, assembling our day in our heads, and then took the tram from Central Station to the Van Gogh Museum. Afterwards, we ambled around some of the parks in the area (see pics). Then we had dinner, drinks, more coffee, and at around 11, decided we should head to the car, and go back to the hotel so we could get an early start on the drive back to da Bleau.

We walked to where we though the car was. This took about 30 minutes. But we didn't see the car. So we looked somewhere nearby. Nothing. We all remembered the names of the streets at the first intersection we parked at, but the second location completely escaped us. All I knew was that we were parked head in, facing a canal. Not exactly enough to go on. So we took turns "knowing" where we parked. At around 12:30 it started to rain. We were losing steam and dejected, but determined not to let this ruin such a good day.
After another hour, I was sure we had been by where the car was parked, and that it must have been towed (we neglected to pay for parking). I suggested that, but it was not readily accepted.

I have actually lost a car before, in Brooklyn, and reported it stolen, until, three days later, walking home from the subway, I found myself gazing longingly at a car that looked just like mine. So much, in fact, that it was mine. I had parked in the complete opposite direction from my house which I had thought. I learned many many embarrassing and elementary lessons from this experience, the most important of which is that it is REALLY NOT FUN to admit to police in a big city that you "lost you car". Especially when they have spent three days looking for it as though it was stolen. Your friends think it's hilarious. The cops have a different take.

So, I wasn't eager to repeat that experience. But by 3 AM, there seemed to be little alternative. We walked in, and Rajat explained that we couldn't find our car. I think that, after taking one look at us, the officer on duty found that relatively easy to believe. And was amazingly accommodating. While I passed out in the lobby of the police station (another "to do before I die" checked off the list) he called towing companies, ticketing agents, and cops in the area, to mount a fairly comprehensive search. I dedicate this blog to that man, for being so helpful, and passing up the opportunity to ridicule us in the way which we so clearly deserved. After 45 minutes, he found the car, and sent us on our way....to pay 98 euros to have the clamp taken off the wheel. Which turned out to be a stroke of luck, because had it not been clamped, it wouldn't have shown up in the system, and we never would have found it. Where we had been looking was NOT where the car had been.

This leads me to my final observation, one of my favorite things about Amsterdam: in a city so tolerant of different lifestyles and proclivities, where open-mindedness and compassion are so central to the culture, you actually feel like the police are there to protect your safety. Coming from the New York of late, to me that was a revelatory comfort.



Monday Sep 26, 2005 07:51:24 CET
***also***

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY TO ADRIAN CALVERT!!!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic/44819328/in/set-989118/



Monday Sep 26, 2005 00:18:24 CET
Hey everybody. Hope you had a great weekend. Did you miss me? I’m sorry. I missed you, too. Let me fill you in on what I’ve been up to.

Bust first, hello to all new readers (hi!) and another useful student tip (keep ‘em coming).

Udi writes: Great little shop in rue de sablons (close to the bike shop) offers several types of ground coffee & tea, great if you're into it.

Also: When going from carrefour de liberation towards the obelisk, there's a hidden left turn into Fonty just before the obelisk (at the stoplight).

So there you go. Anyone who uses caffeine (anybody??) or a car with some regularity might be able to benefit from this.

Before I get started, a reminder that pictures are still at http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic
[Selected] photos from Amsterdam are already up and awaiting your perusal/comments.

So: the trip was awesome. It was my first time in Amsterdam and my first time traveling with Akhil and Rajat. Generally, the three biggest problems a trip can have are the travel, the destination, and the travelers. Overall, we did well on all three fronts.

Consummate MBTI P’s, we left Fontainebleau with a few half-hearted mappy.com printouts, with directions but no actual map (a little odd, given the name of the source) a little after 5:30 Friday afternoon. Apparently, there is a rush hour in Paris on Friday afternoons around six. And apparently it SUCKS. It’s so demoralizing when you’re reading your [smug little fucking] mappy directions, telling you that by kilometer 87, you’ll have been traveling 45 minutes when in fact it’s been closer to 120. It’s like the paper is taunting you “Oh, going a little SLOW for you? That’s too bad. It only takes an AVERAGE driver half as long to get here. You’re not…..below average…are you?

Anyway, long drive short, we arrived in Amsterdam around 12:15, due to some aggressive driving by a member of the crew who was just dying for some coffee after a long day at the wheel, and had heard that coffee shops closed at 12 in Amsterdam. He need not have worried (as is probably evident in the pictures).

Without spending too much time talking about what we did there, one thing that did really interest me about Amsterdam, is that when you have been hearing about a place like that for so long, and have wanted to check it out for such a long time, you start forming a picture of the culture of the city which corresponds to exactly what you think you would do if you were in that city. And then you get there, and realize in fact that it has much more to do with what everyone else wants to do. I’m probably not explaining that very well, but I guess my point is that I had a really good time, because I was with people who essentially were interested in as rich and varied and full sampling of the city as was reasonable in the short amount of time that we had. That struck my as opposed to the vast amounts of people who went to EITHER see art OR smoke tons of weed OR get drunk and do hard drugs AND/OR check out prostitutes. And so, when I was in coffee shops, I felt like people around me were much more serious than I about being in the coffee shops. When I was in the Van Gogh museum, the people in tour groups were looking at me like I didn’t belong in a museum because I was dressed a little grubby (I call it student weekend vacation chic) and maybe my eyes were a little more glassy than theirs (maybe not).

The red light district was a thing unto itself. We didn’t have too much time to spend there, and none of us were shopping, so fighting the crowds for too long wasn’t really worth it, but I was amazed at how easily people are stripped of their humanness just by virtue of being in a window, and by you, the viewer, having a few people around you to condone your objectification. I thought it was going to be fabulous and exciting, and while I was fascinated, and, to a point intrigued, I came away feeling guilty for having participated the way I did. I almost think that I would feel better about the way I (and most everyone else) looked at these women if I had slept with one. Then at least it would have been genuine.

Alright, it’s late and you’re bored. More musings on Amsterdam and the story of the amazing disappearing Peugeot (with a taste of filthy hotels and some law enforcement for good measure) tomorrow. Good night.


Friday Sep 23, 2005 09:23:09 CET
***LATE BREAKING NEWS***

from Samir:
New radar camera on the N7 just south of the obelisk, heading towards Recloses and Bourron Marlotte Industrial. I think it may only be in the direction entering into Da Bleau. I hear it’s been there since last Thursday and I’m expecting about a dozen or so speeding tickets as I just noticed it this week!

Friday Sep 23, 2005 08:33:50 CET
whoops....sorry about that...copied the wrong text. Here is the real deal:

I’m a little disappointed by the dearth of tips. I know you’re all busy, but I feel like you’re holding out a little here. Even if it’s something simple like: the perch is the best fish at the cafeteria, so get it when it’s on offer, but don’t have the sauce; rather put some olive oil on it. Simple. Come on, people, give it up!

Many thanks to Ariadne, who wrote in with something for everyone:

I have a great tip for people who want to make cheap international phone calls, and can not use skype or any other similar device for any reason check out www.telerabais.com It is the price of a local call but you call your home country. It is a great deal if you do not have internet at home or do not really like or can not use skype.

Another hint, a very important one, a costume’s store in Fontainebleau…..L”Embellie….Rue de France # 64 really close to school. Expensive but makes you differentiated in the parties….

Another more, for women, a great place to do waxing, Yves Rocher….right besides Monoprix in front of the Mairie.


See? This is what I’m talking about. Anyone who saw how hot Ari looked in her Cleopatra outfit on Saturday understands how selfless it is of her to give away her source. As for the waxing place, I cannot comment on their effectiveness, but given that she’s from Brazil, I think we can assume that they’re being held to a very high standard.

Well, my Barbizon housemates and I finally broke in our house last night (taking some of my own advice). To those of you reading who weren’t there: Don’t be offended, it was just a trial run, so we totally invited guinea pigs in case it was bad. To those of you who were there: I’m just kidding about the guinea pigs thing, but I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. You guys are tooootally our best friends. Call me? Cool.

Have I alienated everybody now? Good, let’s move on.

I’m afraid I won’t be able to post tomorrow, as I’m leaving for Amsterdam just after class, and I’m not sure if my hotel has internet. That, and I’ll be so blazed that I won’t be able to form a sentence, much less write a mildly cohesive blog. No, wait, I mean internet, the problem is internet. I hate to leave you as much as you hate to be left, but it’s high time for me to get out of da Bleau for a couple days. I know you understand. Be well, tear shit up at Travers (sorry guys, wish I could be two places at once) and I’ll see you on Sunday.



Friday Sep 23, 2005 08:29:56 CET
I have a great tip for people who want to make cheap international phone calls, and can not use skype or any other similar device for any reason…



www.telerabais.com

I have included a list of the phone numbers that give access to this service depending on the country you wish to call, it is the price of a local call but you call your home country. It is a great deal if you do not have internet at home or do not really like or can not use skype.



Another hint, this a very important one, a costume’s store in Fontainebleau…..L”Embellie….Rue de France # 64 really close to school. Expensive but makes you differentiated in the parties….





Another more, for women, a great place to do waxing, Yves Rocher….right besides Monoprix in front of the Mairie.

Thursday Sep 22, 2005 00:07:59 CET

Another reminder that more photos are going up all the time (and getting better organized) at www.flickr.com/photos/angellic (sorry I can’t make that a working link…html doesn’t seem to work here). Check em out, add comments, vote for your favorites, or add others with the same tags. The more eyes, mouths, and ears the better.

Let me start out with a little welcome to all the new readers who have signed up recently (including you December 06’s). Welcome and enjoy, and, as always, feel free to share comments.

Actually, you Decembers have given me some inspiration here…I really didn’t know too much about life/culture here and had no idea what to expect before I came. On the one hand, it was fine, because I didn’t come with any baggage in that regard. On the other, of course, it’s a lot of work to get settled in a new school, new country, new town, new house, new language (sort of) and new social scene all at once. There’s a lot to figure out. And I suspect a lot of us (P1s) are still feeling that. We still get lost on the way to parties, we still forget that some places close for 8 hour lunch breaks, we still get lost around campus, and we have no idea which supermarket is the best in terms of price/convenience/selection/rollerskating employees. Ok, maybe rollerskating employees.

But you readers are smart. So let’s use that. I want you to all send me one tip, one thing that you have learned that you find regularly useful or valuable, or that somehow changed your quality of life in a positive way (BESIDES reading this. Or staring at me during class). And I’ll start compiling and posting them. It could be an out of the way shop, the cheapest gas in town, a shortcut, a hidden study spot on campus, any little thing you think might help someone reading this.

For example: when you’re driving towards INSEAD from the north, when you get to the traffic circle, if the light is red, you can go around the circle to the right and continue south, as that merge is usually a yield, not a stop.

Or: For studying on weekends (particularly if the weather is bad), parking in the visitors’ underground spaces puts you next to an elevator right next to the library, so you can get from your car to the stacks without ever being fully exposed to the elements.

Or: You aren’t allowed to leave your car in the middle of a bridge overnight and block morning rush hour traffic in Moret sur Loing. Just as a “for instance.”

What? You already knew that? ALL of those things? Fine. You don’t like my tips? I don’t give a fuck. SEND IN A BETTER ONE. Please. And thanks in advance from all your colleagues.


Wednesday Sep 21, 2005 08:36:58 CET
*****NOTE*****
As I have mentioned, I wish I could pictures in this thing. But I can't. So, for pictures, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/angellic

There are quite a few there, and they, like ths blog, will be updated frequently.

Enjoy.

Wednesday Sep 21, 2005 00:49:01 CET
I'm so beat I can barely hold my head up, much less type, but I have a quick message for you all before I drift away (for a few hours...due to construction on my road, if I don't leave my drive by 8, I'm trapped here all day. FUCK!): Random dinners. Random snacks. Random dance parties. Random hopscotch tournaments. Random shit to get random people together to have random fun because none of us is here randomly. We are all here because we are supposed to be here together.

Sunday night, I was feeling like shit, hungover, and abused by homework. Out of nowhere, while pushing through assignments at the library, I got an email: come to dinner, now, with [some] people you don't know. It saved me, and set me up with a great attitude and outlook to begin the week. Thanks guys. Then last night, worked until two. Up at 6:30 (due to aforementioned construction). UDJ tutorial, then 1.5 hours bouldering, then finishing finance and accounting cases, then 3 straight classes, finishing at 7. I was done. I could barely see. So I went to silly hat/wig dinner, and after some delicious Indian food and a hot dance party, found myself in the river sliding down an impromptu water slide. And again I feel like a new man.

PLEASE: People, meet people and do crazy shit with them!!!!! You will never regret it. There are people here, right now, who you need to meet, and haven't met yet. Don't fuck it up.

Monday Sep 19, 2005 21:06:54 CET
MBA or parade?

I can’t believe how much time I spent assembling power converters, making sure I had warm clothes, pencils, computer hardware/software, medicines, hard to find toiletries, books, music etc. before I came here. What I really should have been worried about was COSTUMES. Just between last Saturday and this Saturday, assuming I partake in all offered activities (and don’t default on Social responsibility) I will have at least 4 different outfit/costume requirements to fill. Even after paying my excess baggage fee, my wardrobe is feeling taxed. And this is week 3! I can’t imagine what it’s like getting an MBA in Rio….

Jumping around a bit now…

For those of you for whom it wasn’t apparent quite a while ago, let me let you in on a little secret: I’m an idiot. After class today, I went bouldering with Rudi and Johannes (which was great. If anyone wants to come along, send me an email and I’ll add you to our communication list), and then had to speed Johannes back to campus for the GE presentation. We got there with 5 minutes to spare. But, feeling the need to rush, I tried to drive into the parking lot behind the South Wing. Through the exit. Like an idiot (stay with me here). As you might (not being idiots. Unlike me.) guess, the exit is really not designed so much for….ENTERING. So it was tight squeeze. Until my passenger door hit the gate. Then it was a tight scrape. Fortunately, there was a group of 20 or so executives (I think that’s what they were, but really, who the fuck cares?) watching. [And I thought I looked stupid as a Roman Hare Krishna…] So, not wanting to sit there like...err…an idiot, I reversed quickly out of the way. Smashing my rearview mirror on the way out. They got a real kick out of that. I may be responsible for us falling a spot or two in the rankings next year. Get those resumes out now. Sorry. The damage to the car turned out not to be bad. The mirror didn’t crack, and the power control still works. The rear door is scraped, but not horribly. And, well, fortunately it’s not my car. But (lest you lose focus) that’s not the point. The point is I’m a fucking idiot. (Jose, that last one’s for you)

Sunday Sep 18, 2005 19:18:13 CET
While it's not the first time, today more than ever, I wish I could embed photos in this blog (if for no other reason than the fact that the sound of my typing is exacerbating my headache)...I'm tempted to mirror the text on my website, so I could put photos there, but I know that finding time to read this is probably often a challenge, and the extra step of clicking on a link would cost me half of my audience.

So, Roman Ruins=Success. Big time. I was impressed. People looked gooood. People were loud. It was très fun. Let's go over some of the lessons learned, as they will be valuable to anyone throwing a party in the future.

1. Parties without smoke machines can be fun. Not as much fun as parties with smoke machines.

2. Scantily clad women who greet you by asking you lick them and rewarding you for doing so with alcohol makes you feel welcome and appreciated. (so welcome in fact that you fail to realize, until the next morning, that you were licking the same place that every other guy at the party had licked....so basically it was like making out with the half of the guys in our class. not that there's anything wrong with that.)

3. INSEAD students are more creative than you would assume for a group of MBAs. Give them opportunity to run with it. It will look good. And Carrefour will thank you. A lot.

4. However hardcore a partier you think you are, you have got nothing on Cathy from the Camembert. Nuh-thing. Nada. Zilch. She's so real it hurts. If you're having a party, and she's not invited, you should probably call it a "gathering" or a "social" instead, but because no Cathy, no party. There's nothing more to discuss. It's that simple.


Saturday Sep 17, 2005 15:25:47 CET
***for those of you unaware, as I was, Britney Spears has given birth to a healthy son named Preston. Some told me his full name, but I forgot. With all this focus on education, sometimes the important news can slip through the cracks. That’s why I’m here***

Due to extenuating circumstances, I am forced to condense yesterday’s and today’s entries into one, broken into section (A) and (B). Don’t feel compelled to read them both in one sitting. I know it’s a lot.

(A) Well, last night was a night of heavy research. Like every other day here, I learned a lot. I started out at a dinner which had an overwhelmingly high single girl-to-single-guy ratio, and heard AGAIN and AGAIN the complaints that the situation is not what it seems to from the outside vis a vis opportunity. Apparently this discussion is far from over, so it would be foolish of me to pretend otherwise.

There were two observations which I found particularly amusing. One of the hostesses compared life here to being a contestant on “The Bachelorette.” For those of you fortunate enough to have escaped [at least some] of the US Reality TV Tsunami that has ravaged our screens and minds for the better part of the millennium, this particular gem is centered around one single gal [selected for her proficiency in Excel and ability to calculate Net Present Values] who, essentially, gets to choose a husband on TV. I think. And there’s most likely some sort of cash incentive to do something or other. And Regis is on it. But anyway, the girl is bombarded with dude after dude, until she picks one she likes. I believe the cash prize is there to incentivize the men to hit on her relentlessly, even if they are not turned on by spreadsheets. But I’m not positive. Anyway, they all hit on her relentlessly, for whatever reason, and it makes it very hard for her to make a decision, because all of these men have brand new financial calculators, and many of them are ESTJs.

I think we can see how that analogy applies.

The other quotable was an invocation of Shelley’s “Rime on the Ancient Mariner” (forgive me, as this system does not permit proper treatment of type, i.e. italics)
“Water water ev’rywhere, but not a drop to drink”

I pointed out that is not a nice thing to say when the water is in the same room. I guess they thought I wouldn’t understand what they were talking about. So, if we’re going to take the aggregate implication of these two metaphors, we arrive at: There are a lot of guys. Useless, useless guys. Thanks gals. Now we REALLY have nothing to complain about.

(B) So, feeling confident and appreciated, I parted ways with the chicas, and, along with two fellas, went the check out the much-ballyhooed Bizon nightclub, in my home hamlet of Barbizon. It is essentially the one place I can drink at, because it is within walking distance of my house. My landlord encouraged me to check it out, because his [former] Polish au pere loved it, because girls get in free Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So far, so good. I don’t really know how to describe this place, and I don’t want to give too much away, because it’s something that you should all experience in the spirit of furthering your diversity of experience. I will say that the age range is between 16 and 50, but it is not normally distributed. Fairly even gender distribution, although, like the rest of my universe, skewed male. There is an upstairs and a downstairs. Both have dance floors and multi-level seating. Ladies do get in free. Men have options, depending on how many drinks they would like to prepay. We opted for entry+2 drinks (made with ample but cheap liquor) for 21 Euros.

We went in at around 1:30. There was dancing. There were a good amount of people (including a group of male P4s on the prowl). You will NEVER confuse it with an INSEAD party. That being said, a group of fun loving and open minded INSEAD students could have a fucking blast here. The only three songs whose lyrics I understood were Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved”, Beyonce “Crazy in Love” and Snoop Dogg “What’s My Name?” which they played during the prize giveaway. This was something new to me. In both the upstairs and downstairs, at a certain point in the night (3ish) a woman stands up on a box and starts throwing t-shirts and sunglasses and some other random stuff into the crowd. And everyone stands there with their arms in the air begging (ok, not me). It was a side of nightlife which I haven’t explored much in the past. “So, how was the party last night? Any cute girls? Good music?” “I don’t really remember, but I caught one of the t-shirts. It fucking ruled!”


Friday Sep 16, 2005 01:38:50 CET
Well the elections were a bit of a cliffhanger today. While coming in [a very respectable thank you] second, I found myself in the middle of two candidates who wished to operate as a team, and, due to the closeness of the race, and the large number of absentees, a run-off has been scheduled for tomorrow. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but with everything else I have to do, staying up all night baking cupcakes just wasn’t in the cards, which puts me at a distinct disadvantage.

So while my (or someone else’s) social contributions to the school rest on the back burner, I want to now call attention to someone who isn’t waiting for anyone’s approval to put his voice out there.

One of the ways I had hoped to use this blog to increase our interclass awareness and dynamic exchange was by doing semi-regular profiles of people in our class….either people who I knew very well, or people I didn’t know at all (the latter being a decidedly selfish endeavor, the former merely so I occasionally knew what I was going to present before I committed). Obviously, they would be nothing like the profiles you could find on these people anywhere else, the point of course being to uncover things that you might otherwise never have the chance (on desire) to know. I just wanted to wait to get circulation numbers up a tad higher (so keep spreading the word!) so that the early subjects weren’t exposed to a much smaller audience.

If I had started those profiles already, one of them would certainly have been about Colin Mutchler. One of the first people I met here, Colin is incredibly interesting and dynamic, with a wonderfully atypical MBA background. Through his website, www.activefreemedia.com, Colin has launched what I hope will be a regular (weekly? biweekly? When the mood strikes him?) podcast inspired/fueled by his life here at INSEAD. If anyone is unfamiliar with podcasts, they are essentially un-live radio programs, distributed online. I encourage you all to download (and then listen to....duh) Colin’s at http://www.activefreemedia.com/podcast/activefree_podcast3.mp3



Once again, putting off further MBTI comments, because of the barrage of testing/self-analyzing that went on for e1/2s today. But please, if anyone else has any thoughts on what sort of privacy rights you think apply to MBTI or similar test results, I REALLY WANT TO HEAR THEM.

Wednesday Sep 14, 2005 23:58:10 CET
Boy, rushing to get this in. And I barely did any work tonight! I originally had planned to post some of your responses to the MBTI questions from yesterday, ad I still want to, but not today. So if there’s anything else you want to add to that discussion, you have another day.

But I also have to write a little self-aggrandizing piece to support my candidacy for E1 social rep, which got me thinking about a few things that I thought would be relevant to this thing here. For those of you in E1, apologies as some of this will show up in your Outlook as well. I’m just one man, for Pete’s sake.

What would I do as a social rep? What social issues need addressing in my section? I know what a lot of you are thinking: escorts. Classy, pricey, willing Parisian escorts. And I know where you’re coming from. They would certainly address a tear in the social fabric, as it were. But let’s face it, there aren’t enough seats in the Amphi, and I’ve been known to have trouble concentrating on Accounting when I have an escort sitting in my lap. It’s a weakness that I’m just too lazy to tackle head on, and I apologize that you all have to suffer the consequences.

Almost as seriously, the one thing I can really think of as I sit here too exhausted to move, is that I’m not meeting people at nearly the rate that I was when I got here, and there are still a lot of people left for me to meet. I feel like we are starting to settle into social comfort zones, which is totally natural, and I think it’s a shame. I want to do a thing or two to change that, to shake things up a bit.

I don’t know about you, but the number one reason I’m here is because I wanted to spend these 10 months with all of you. Granted, I didn’t know any of you when I decided that, but compared with any other group of people, anywhere else in the entire world, I thought that the INSEAD class of July 2006 and was my best bet. I know I could have gotten a great business education at a lot of schools. And probably had better networking opportunities at certain US MBA programs. Yadda yadda yadda. If all I wanted was to learn business, I wouldn’t have gone to school at all.

So, while I really love them, I’m not satisfied with just the people I know now. I want all of you. And to those of you I know, I want to know you all better, too. Because (even though I may not have met you) I think you fucking rock.


Tuesday Sep 13, 2005 22:26:57 CET
“My type of school”

I want to start with an acknowledgement, which should have run in yesterday’s post. Christine Driscoll (you may know her as The Boston Flash) really deserves half of the credit for yesterday’s theme (the other half belonging to my word-of-the-day email service). She (jokingly? seriously? I can’t read this girl at all) said that I should name my blog “Hookers and Wild Boars.” I liked the idea, but as I have no idea how to name my blog, I told her I would name a band that instead. Then she asked if she could join the band. Sheeeesh. Nonetheless, it’s not hard to see how I would have taken it as a sign when my word-of-the-day gave me a word for a group of wild boars two days later. What are the fucking chances???? That being said, if you want to start referring to this blog as “Hookers and Wild Boars” I have no problem with it. And the Flash would be thrilled.

Sorry for the lateness of today’s entry…kind of got behind on a bit of the old reading. It’s my ENFP coming through. This segues perfectly into today’s topic.

My plan was to do a little bit on the MBTI sessions yesterday, after Will Taylor (aka Big Billy T) confessed to me that he had been “outed” in his Leading People and Groups class, for having an….underrepresented type. In the interest of his privacy (and, really, dignity) I won’t reveal to you what that type is. But the whole thing made me wonder if anyone else (and by anyone else, I mean anyone at all, because this doesn’t ACTUALLY apply to Will) found themselves with a little case of “tester’s remorse” or perhaps “type envy.”

In fact, I’m SO curious that I would like to solicit comments on this topic. So to be fair, mine:

I forgot what my score was, so I was sure that I was an ENTP, just because that’s what I remembered. Then I started reading the book, and was like “This is bullshit. I’m an F. I feel. People matter to me. I mean, sure, I think and all that, but I’m 63-76% heart, baby! Fuck you, Meyers!” Then I got into my group, and they were all ENFPs and the Professor Su put the slide up showing everyone’s type (Oh, bonus question: is it appropriate to reveal someone’s MBTI type without their consent?) and sure enough, I was an ENFP. An ENFP who felt like a total jackass.


Monday Sep 12, 2005 12:25:50 CET
A bit of a break from the current thread…Mondays are heavy enough.

In lieu of a critical observation, today I offer you a bit of vocabulary I think you’ll find useful in your time in da Bleau.:

sounder (SOUN-duhr) noun

1. A person or thing that makes sound.

2. A group of wild boars.

[From Old French sundre.]

"Yesterday I asked Bill to butcher two piglets from the sounder of
eleven the sow dropped two months ago."
Guy De La Valdene; For a Handful of Feathers; Atlantic Monthly Press;
1997.

The English language is rich in words that describe groups and collections,
whether things, places or living beings: a bouquet of roses, a flight of
stairs, a cast of actors, and so on. Even more fascinating are words - often
poetic, and occasionally descriptive - used to denote groups of animals,
such as a school of fish, a pride of lions, or a murder of crows.

What I like about language is that it is constantly evolving, due essentially to the needs and whims of given communities. “Blog” for example did not exist as a word 20 years ago, because there was no need. To that end, I would like to propose that “sounder,” given [particularly] that it comes from Old French, is a perfect term to describe the prostitutes (I call them “da Bleau’s hos”)who work the N7 and other major routes through the forest. If we all start using it, it could become a lasting contribution to the region. The power lies with you.

-your silent sounder

****if you are reading this blog for the first time, you can sign up to receive it each time it is updated (daily) by adding me to your buddy list on NetVestibule



Sunday Sep 11, 2005 15:52:02 CET
Well, a busy week necessitates a busy weekend. Out till 3 Friday and at tutorials at 9, home last night (this morning) at 4:30. Quelle vie.

Our class had a really nice little gathering going on in Bouronne-Marlotte. But where I really learned a thing or two was at the Decembers’ “Pleasure Palace” party at the Shangri La. It was like seeing into the future.

What’s that? You didn’t know about that party? If that’s what you’re saying, I’ll bet anything that you’re a guy. Now, I know that’s almost always a safe bet, but in this case especially so. Because the girls from our class were there. And not by accident.

I showed up at around 2, with a 12 pack of beer and a bottle of Orangina (my new standard party pack), one girl and 6 guys, all from July’s promotion. At the door, we were greeted by December gentlemen, who asked us for our invitation (after letting the girl in). Eventually, they said they were just kidding. After a while.

Were they just kidding? Probably. Sort of. Do I think they were being assholes? No. Did they really hope that they could swing a party with just chicks from our class? FUCK YEAH! And I don’t just credit the guys. It’s no fun being one girl to every four guys at a party either. It pretty much ensures that you will never ever be left alone. And probably seriously impairs your ability to trust anything a guy says to you (more so than in the real world even!). As the girl I went with so astutely put it “You don’t want to feel like guys are after you because you’re all that’s available. You want them to be into you because you’re fucking hot.” Here here.

While there were certainly hot girls at this party,it was like they were like zebra carcasses surrounded by hyenas, with one or two hungry predators giving a little exploratory nudge here and there, while the others bared their teeth. Anyone who doesn’t believe in evolution need only spend a few minutes at an INSEAD party after 2AM. Just as our girls might very well be justified in feeling like one of their more attractive qualities is 2 X chromosomes, men here must soon feel like endurance (and not the good kind) and perseverance are more important to develop than charm, sophistication, patience, understanding, and reasonable hygiene. Because the law of the jungle rewards only those first two.

Like I said, seeing the Decembers’ party strategy was a little like seeing into the future, for I can well imagine the men in our class trying that tactic after a few more months. I hope we can do better than that. Maybe we can get next December's AND some local girls.

***As a side note: Again, many thanks for your continued readership and support. Your comments really help me think about a lot of interesting things going on outside the classroom, and I hope that I help do the same. I want to continue to expand my readership, so I can get feedback/input from as much of the class as possible, so if you like what you read here, please try to get other people to add me as their buddy in NetVestibule, and hopefully I’ll be able to make this even better. Word. -CCA

Saturday Sep 10, 2005 11:31:35 CET
The reviews are starting to come in!

“Chris…I read your blog yesterday. If you weren’t my friend, I would have stopped in the middle”
-Oscar

“You shouldn’t be here at all. You should be writing. Leave.”
-Christer

Thanks to you, and everyone else for your support and encouragement.

Now:

What I love about INSEAD is that as soon as I put an idea out there, people immediately come to me with refinements and improvements and alternatives. That, and all they seem to be interested in is sex.

I was hanging out at a party in da Bleau last night, and everyone wanted to put their two cents in regarding the status issue. . It’s like I’m in a class of blogging consultants. To wit: the card system has been simplified and enhanced. I present it to you as it was presented to me. Based on the traffic light/Brazilian Churascaria system, the new proposal is color-based. My apologies to those of you (Nick) who already went to the trouble of modifying their nameplates.

The advantages of the color system are clear: simplicity, greater long-range visibility, and a degree of subtlety. Also, it allows for easy modification of existing materials (i.e. a little green or red star on your badge). There was discussion of whether it should be a red (taken)/yellow (ambiguous)/green (go!go!go!) system, or just red/green. Red/green was the majority consensus, because by and large, the single people here are jealous and bitter, and regarded a yellow designation as greedy. The one drawback is that this system is easy to abuse, but that’s to be expected. Use common sense.

There was also spirited discussion, particularly from the “green” ladies, about the need for a “green” party. Upon reflection, I think their enthusiasm may be a little misguided. And I think that goes back to the simple fact that men and women will never understand each other (YAWWWWWWWWN). So here it is: Ladies, if you want some, it’s there waiting for you. Just go get it. If you want to be ogled/propositioned/thoroughly objectified, throw a green party. Fellas, there are women here looking to get down. If you’re not getting any, it’s because they don’t want to get down with you. If you want to find out exactly how many women want to get down, but not with you, go t a green party.

Unless of course everyone gets super-wrecked, in which case the rules go out the window. That being said, I’ll bring the cachaca.


Friday Sep 9, 2005 15:26:44 CET
Status check-

So my friend -the one who was so unsatisfied with the INSEAD “man market”- came to me with a qualification. While re-emphasizing the fact that she has crossed European men off her list due to concerns over….complication, she amended her assertion that there were no “cute” guys available.

She just doesn’t know.

Asking around, there is a pervasive lack of certainty of the “status” of a large percentage of the INSEAD population. Sure, there are some people who are married. You can spot the women by the fact that they wear a wedding ring on the left hand, engagement ring on the right hand, and their husbands walk two steps behind them at all times carrying a gun.

But what about the people who have some sort of romantic commitment, but one that does not yet warrant external adornment?

My friend suggested status cards. I assume it would work something like this: on your badge, and, more usefully, your laminated nameplate in class, it would have (like it does now) your name, and in addition, either “taken”, “available” or “undecided/accepting offers”. If you listen to our opening ceremony speaker, everyone who decided to come here without their partner falls into the last category, but I think that might be assuming a little too much….at least for the first month.

I personally think her suggestion is a great one. As someone who just recently realized that as you get older, the amount of single peers decreases (I know, I know), I find myself now looking for wedding rings on women (in the grocery store, on subways, in prison documentaries) that I have ABSOLUTELY no attraction to or interest in. I just want to know how much more my pool has shrunk (of course, you could say that for every woman taken off the market, a corresponding man is lost as well, but I think most women will tell you that is hardly the case).

Unfortunately, I don’t really anticipate the cards happening. So don’t be too surprised if, from now on, instead of “where are you from?” and “what did you do before this?” “what’s your status” becomes a standard INSEAD icebreaker.


Thursday Sep 8, 2005 13:40:35 CET
At a party last night, people were trading gross stories, the ultimate being one involving the narrator’s mother, a taxi cab, and some…digestive control issues. It was pretty fucking disturbing. I declined to take part, because I had nothing that could compete. But for those people, and the rest of you, here’s a little tale.

I found a dead mouse outside my door this morning. Not outside the door to my house, but my room….in the hall basically. We started noticing mice in the house a few days ago (I found the first one IN our trash bag…which made him very easy to remove); I had been hearing them in the ceiling for some time more. We told our landlord, and he responded by coming over and setting poison packets around the house and in the attic. When I pointed the mouse out to my housemate Martin, his 7AM response was a simple “I guess it works.”

I guess so. I don’t feel very strongly towards mice one way or the other, but I would prefer not having them in my house. I would also prefer not to kill them. I had vague plans, after finding the first, then the second mouse (running from hall closet into the laundry room) to get some hav-a-hart traps. I don’t know if they are available in Europe. For those of you unfamiliar with them, they are traps that allow you to trap mice (or other animals) without harming them, and relocate them instead of killing them.

When I was in high school, we had a raccoon problem at my house, and so my father, a dutiful environmentalist, bought a raccoon-size hav-a-hart trap, and began the tedious but humane process of relocating the raccoons, as though instead of eating our garbage, they were preparing to testify against the Mafia. It worked, and presumably they are now eating someone else’s garbage. Most likely someone without the patience for using a hav-a-hart trap.

So now we had the trap sitting around. My brother, who was around 9 at the time, quickly learned that the trap was quite good for catching squirrels. One morning, he set the trap before school, and caught a squirrel. He was told to let it go before we left, but he had other plans. It sat in the trap all day, with our dogs barking at it from 2 feet away, until it just died, causing me to rename the device the hav-a-hartatak trap.

Normally, I’m a big fan of irony, but this case left me feeling a little low. The low feeling was compounded when my brother announced that he was going to skin the squirrel. I thought that was a bit much, but my ever-supportive mother thought it might be fun. Apparently he had just read “Where the Red Fern Grows” and was inspired. I was freaking out at her/him/anyone who would listen to me decry the injustice of skinning (as a trophy) something killed with a device borne of humane concern. Oh well.

None of us knew how to skin a squirrel (and if I had, I wouldn’t have told), so my mother called my biology teacher to ask her. She must have also mentioned my objection to the situation. My teacher was preparing for our class trip the following day, so didn’t have much time to talk, but she suggested we look in “The Joy of Cooking.” Sure enough, squirrel-skinning instructions (Oh Joy!). We didn’t have any squirrel-skinning knives, so my brother selected the sharpest paring knife in the drawer, which I used all the time for slicing cheese and apples, but again, my protests fell on deaf ears. Anyway, to make a long story short, the squirrel was skinned, and the hide tacked to a board to dry. (As a side note, when we were cleaning out our garage 2 years ago, we found it, stiff as the board it was tacked to. My brother wanted nothing to do with it).

It was brought to my attention today by several readers that my post yesterday contained a serious omission/break from tradition. To them I say: Calm the fuck down, and thanks for reading. Keep the feedback coming.

Wednesday Sep 7, 2005 12:58:21 CET
First of all, I’d like to acknowledge all of the positive feedback that I’ve been receiving, and encourage you to keep it coming.

Now onto today’s topic:
Drinking and drivng at INEAD.

I spend a good deal of time thinking about drinking and driving here, because a) I like to drink b)I like to hang out in places that are not my house c) I live too far from many of those places to get there by means other than motorized transport…generally speaking by driving a car.

So, to keep myself out of trouble, and myself and others out of danger, at least one of those three things must be suppressed on any given occasion.

I was, as I previously posted, introduced to regulatory measures concerning d&d in this area when I was stopped and tested for drunkunness at a roadblock my first weekend here. I have seen two more such roadblocks in the 10 days since. Furthermore, the literature in our orientation packets was extremely upfront, and largely convincing. I have not driven drunk (or in a questionable state) here in France. But I think the question of why?, for me and for any of you, is important.

As you can imagine, this is inspired in part by the notion introduced today that a poster-driven marketing campaign is an effective use of our skills/resources to combat drunk driving by students/members of our community.

I have trouble believing that awareness of the dangers of drunk driving is in any way deficient here at INSEAD (just as I struggle to believe that anyone here is unaware of the dangers of drinking in general, or smoking, or going 10 months without seeing a real live naked woman). We know what we get ourselves into.

That being said, I think we can all agree that none of us want to see any of our peers involved in anything which causes them harm, and anything we can do to help that, we will do. So while I support the marketing departments efforts in principle, I question them in practice, and encourage all of you to keep looking for safe rides, and offering them to your classmates. Use email/NetVestibule for a rideshare board.

Stay safe. Without you guys, absolutely no one will listen to anything I have to say.


Tuesday Sep 6, 2005 12:32:03 CET
On my way to the Bain meeting, I overheard a woman (and friend, whose identity I will protect) from my class complaining about her romantic prospects at INSEAD. At first I was shocked. Then appalled. Then bitter. Then confused. Then amused. Then furious. Then just at a fucking loss. If it’s bad for the gals, then who is it good for?? I just started learning about markets today….surely someone can offer an analysis that sheds some light on this situation?

Her assessment was that all the good men are taken and the rest are “not cute.” She ruled out Europeans on account of the former. She fortunately did not elaborate ethnically as to the latter. Or professionally for that matter but we all have our opinions don’t we?

I would have assumed that it would be like shooting fish in a barrel here for women on the prowl, what with the admissions committee already having done a lot of the work for them. Face it, the bottom line has certainly been raised here in terms of many potential qualifications. But, like so many other situations since I got here, shows what I know.

So, to my fellow fellows, take heart! We’re not the only ones frustrated by our MBA sex lives. We’re just the ones who have to deal with the fact that Aubade is apparently the only company allowed to advertise on Fontainebleau bus shelters.

Sunday Sep 4, 2005 15:50:03 CET
So?



As for the party…I have to believe that we’re one of the least awkward MBA classes out there. I also learned that in India, “Engineering School” translates to something like “Solid Gold Dance Academy.” Holy Shit! You guys fucking rock!

Thanks to Carolina and her carload of passengers for dodging the cops and delaying their bedtime 45 minutes to get lost taking me home. And Happy 31st Birthday Sonali!

Friday Sep 2, 2005 18:25:29 CET


Thursday Sep 1, 2005 13:50:01 CET
What the fuck was up with club day?

I had really been looking forward to club day. I didn't take enough advantage of these sorts of opportunities as an undergrad, and thought that there would be a rich, exciting variety at INSEAD. And, to a certain extent, that's true. All in all, however, Club Day has been my first disappointment since arriving on campus....ok, that and the fact that I'm already catching myself checking out the cashiers in the cafeteria (but that's a whole other blog).

Where does all this competitiveness/derision come from? These people have only been here 6 months, and the battle lines are clearly drawn. Just look at the flurry of Club emails today: CA$H attacking the Governemnt, the Gov responding (understandably I suppose), the British and the French still going at it, Sigma against the Fathers, and so on. I don't want to join any clubs where I'm asked to take sides against my peers based on affiliations. I was shocked and dismayed. I thought clubs were more ways for us all to grow and bond and learn together, while having fun or advancing a particular interest...am I just a naive fool, or is there something wrong here? What about these different agendas is incompatible?

In the end, I signed up(or I guess applied) for the three clubs that seemed to offer the most travel options, while at the same time promoting fun that was not had at the expense or concern of others, while matching my interests the closest: Art, Action Sports, and VIP (horrible name I know, but they were some of the nicest people in the Cafe). So we'll see. I'm already a member of the club I care most about: us. If all I wanted to do was insulate myself with people who have similar interests and proclivities, I wouldn't be here in the first place.



Tuesday Aug 30, 2005 09:23:14 CET
I was excited about today. Not only about registration, but about getting rid of my costly, cumbersome rental car for my zippy, efficient leased car at CDG, only a week behind schedule. And only an hour's drive away. After so many waits for so many things, getting this out of the way was going to be a relief. I would also have a leisurely drive back to Barbizon to get aquainted with my new ride.
I checked viamichelin.com, and consulted a map, and was confident I would make it to CDG unhindered. And I did. No sweat.
Next, I had to find the rental car return. One wrong turn, but quickly corrected. Car went back to Hertz, and I went to find TT Rentals. I called them from the terminal, and they instructed me to go to another point in the airport, at which point they would dispatch a shuttle to pick me up. 25 seconds later, upon reaching my assigned location, I called back, and got a different person on the phone, who had me repeat all of my information, and told me someone would be arriving in 5 minutes, and to please wait outside.

Thirty minutes later, I called back to find out what had happened to my ride. The woman on the phone told me that the shuttle had driven by, but I wasn't there, and to please stand in front of Avis. As I had been standing in front of Avis the whole 30 minutes, I assured her that no one had passed, and that I would be here whenever someone could come by. 10 minutes later, someone did.

From there thing went relatively smoothly, and in less than a half hour, I was cruising off the lot in my first Peugeot since the '82 505 wagon I had when I was 16.

Given that I had successfully navigated from Roissy to FB in my rental car, I was casual and carefree on my return- windows down, music loud, big grin. It was a beautiful day for a drive in a new car. Until I got lost. Utterly and completely lost. Other side of Paris residential streets lost. I looked at the map and determined that I was only about 15 minutes from Versailles, so I decided to change my destination, since it wouldn't be TOO embarassing to ask for directions to Versailles from where I was. To say I was looking for the A6 south would have people gaping at me in total disbelief, trying to figure out just what kind of imbecile could end up there searching for Fontainebleau.

I made it to Versailles without too much difficulty, parked far away from the chateau, and took some pre-reading with me for a stroll into one of the gardens, found a sunny spot, and leisurely ambled through a couple of chapters. My day was back on track.

A couple of U-turns and a brief stint on the Peripherique later, I was successfully pointed south, all in all quite satisfied.

Tuesday Aug 30, 2005 09:22:41 CET
I was excited about today. Not only about registration, but about getting rid of my costly, cumbersome rental car for my zippy, efficient leased car at CDG, only a week behind schedule. And only an hour's drive away. After so many waits for so many things, getting this out of the way was going to be a relief. I would also have a leisurely drive back to Barbizon to get aquainted with my new ride.
I checked viamichelin.com, and consulted a map, and was confident I would make it to CDG unhindered. And I did. No sweat.
Next, I had to find the rental car return. One wrong turn, but quickly corrected. Car went back to Hertz, and I went to find TT Rentals. I called them from the terminal, and they instructed me to go to another point in the airport, at which point they would dispatch a shuttle to pick me up. 25 seconds later, upon reaching my assigned location, I called back, and got a different person on the phone, who had me repeat all of my information, and told me someone would be arriving in 5 minutes, and to please wait outside.

Thirty minutes later, I called back to find out what had happened to my ride. The woman on the phone told me that the shuttle had driven by, but I wasn't there, and to please stand in front of Avis. As I had been standing in front of Avis the whole 30 minutes, I assured her that no one had passed, and that I would be here whenever someone could come by. 10 minutes later, someone did.

From there thing went relatively smoothly, and in less than a half hour, I was cruising off the lot in my first Peugeot since the '82 505 wagon I had when I was 16.

Given that I had successfully navigated from Roissy to FB in my rental car, I was casual and carefree on my return- windows down, music loud, big grin. It was a beautiful day for a drive in a new car. Until I got lost. Utterly and completely lost. Other side of Paris residential streets lost. I looked at the map and determined that I was only about 15 minutes from Versailles, so I decided to change my destination, since it wouldn't be TOO embarassing to ask for directions to Versailles from where I was. To say I was looking for the A6 south would have people gaping at me in total disbelief, trying to figure out just what kind of imbecile could end up there searching for Fontainebleau.

I made it to Versailles without too much difficulty, parked far away from the chateau, and took some pre-reading with me for a stroll into one of the gardens, found a sunny spot, and leisurely ambled through a couple of chapters. My day was back on track.

A couple of U-turns and a brief stint on the Peripherique later, and I was successfully pointed south, all in all quite satisfied.