Price, You're Priceless!

So a mildly disturbing thing happened to me this weekend. Last night was Paddy’s birthday. We got dinner in Luigi Malone’s and then headed up to Capital. I was drinking Heineken. Bottles of Heineken. A fiver a throw. Instead of being disgusted at the price I was actually happy. I thought to myself, “that’s so convenient, I don’t have to worry about shrapnel blocking up my wallet and ruining the line of my jeans”. So I gladly paid €5 for a bottle of beer. There was a time not so long ago where I would have turned on my heel and got a pint instead, but not now.
Then today I went into town to get myself a nice shirt or two. On the way to Grafton Street, I stopped into Specsavers to see about getting a pair of clear glasses with that special CPU coating for using with computers all the time. I‘ve been getting a lot of migraines recently. I ended up dropping €300 on a pair of Hugo Boss glasses and a pair of Quiksilver spares. I spent €300 impulsively on something I don‘t even use that often. Then I went into Brown Thomas. I’ve never bought anything in the new BT’s. I went looking for a nice shirt. I was going to get a Canali. In my head I figured €110 wouldn’t be too much on a shirt. Eventually I didn’t do it. But they are beautiful shirts. I then saw a sale rack marked “up to 70% off”. The shirts were by Truzzi and priced originally at €500. There was one reduced to €225. I was willing to buy it. I could justify it in my head. Fucked up.

Meanwhile I’ll describe work by describing my two best mates in the place. Rob is an Andrews boy, lives on Park Avenue in Sandymount, long term ambition is to get into the Oil Industry because that’s where “the cash is at”. His icon is Ken Lay. No irony here. It’s for real. When he died last week he was distraught. He make jokes about AIDS a lot.

Fabio is an Italian Londoner. Formerly worked for BGC (formerly Cantor FitzGerald). Very slick dresser, every shirt has cufflinks. Always turned out very well. Wants to be trader because “that’s the life”.

I’m back reading American Psycho again. I bought it in the states in 2003 but dropped it after about 150 pages because I just didn’t get it. I started it again today. It makes perfect sense. I can relate completely to the life described in it.

What the hell has happened to me?

By the way, if you want to get a good night’s sleep in New York, the Ritz Carlton is the place to go. The pillows are just to die for, apparently.

Holy Hell

I'm after seeing the new and controversial Haka performed by the All Blacks against the Aussies this morning. Terrifying.

Apologies...

It's been I don't know how long since I updated this. And a lot has happened in the intervening time. So for the benefit of all you readers out there, if there are any, here's an update of what you've missed....

In January I left that very untrustworthy Bank and moved to a major Airline that has seen better days. Working in Dublin Airport, it was the guts of a three hour commute every day to do a particularly boring job in an office that held approxiamately 30 people but was occupied by only 10 or so. It was mind numbing stuff. I had to get out.

Fortunately, I did.

Before I started with the Airline, I was out of work for a couple of weeks. During this time I developed a habit of staying up on the internet for all hours. One night, about 2am, I applied for a position with an American investment bank which had offices here in Dublin. I didn't expect it at all but was called for an interview. I really enjoyed the interview, it was the only time an interviewer had asked me about my hobbies.

I started with the investment bank after three weeks in the Airline.

It's worked out damn well. I deal with New York business. The job has opened up a whole new way of life as well. It's somewhat surreal to be in a conference call and here people recommend someone stay in the Ritz Carlton at Battery Park because "the pillows are just incredible".

It's that kind of place. And I love it. I feel weird, kind of, I don't know, bullish....