Lunch with Julian

Sometimes, I'm like an ostrich. I tend to cycle between a what I call an anti-social mode and a normal mode. When I'm in the anti-social mode, I refuse to log on to MSN or answer my cellphone. So I hid from some friends for a couple of days. Finally, I was forced to come out of my shell when my mom passed the phone to me on Saturday. It was a phone call from my good friend Julian. He has been working at Safeway for 2 weeks and would like to share share his experiences with me. He also wants to discuss with me his financial plan and wanted some advice.

So on Sunday, I met up with Julian at Tri-Ty. I'd call it a posh Taiwanese restaurant. When it comes to Taiwanese food, I do trust Julian. His girlfriend Jess is from Taiwan.

*I'm noticing that I ramble on extensively and sound like a broken record - I will get straight to the details.*

So here's what we ordered:

*Shit, blogger's upload tool isn't working - I will fix this later*



Here's Julian's "three cups of alcohol pig's knuckle's" for about $8.95. His order comes with 4 side dishes - a small squid with chili sauce, a piece of tamago egg, a slice of pickled cucumber and an additional item

Notice the half-liter glass of orange liquid to his left. It's a glass of refreshing CYP inhibition. Cost - $5.00.

Here's my Unagi on rice at $9.50. To be honest, the dish of reheated vacuum-packed eel looks better than it tastes. Suffering from a chronic eel-addiction - I suckered for this dish.

Our total before tips came to $20.00.

Two hours later, we were at the personal finance/investing section in the Chapter's across the street. Julian chuckled as he skimmed through on my recommendations - Lies about your first job. He must have identified with a lot of the lies mentioned in the book.

I flipped through Andy Sham's recommendation - the Wealthy Barber. While imparting his wealth-building wisdom upon a young couple, the Barber shares a story of his own. Back when he was young, the barber had no problems managing the finances of his shop. However, he was frustrated with his personal finances. Later on, a mentor provided the barber with good advice. The barber was able to manage his store's successfully because his shop only had needs. However, the barber failed utterly in his own finances because he has both needs and wants. The barber, he said, must only spend on his needs (goods and services he actually requires to survive) and not his wants (goods and services he desires).

These questions immediately came to my mind:
"I drive a corolla, but do I really need a better car?"
"I will need a girlfriend/wife eventually, but do I really need her to be hot?"

15 minutes later, the two of us wandered to the classics section. A helpful employee pointed us to where the Iliad was held. Julian liked the Penguin version of the Iliad. Unfrotunately, the price - 26.90 - was out of his budget. I grabbed a novelty minibook titled "the Quotable Oscar Wilde". Interestingly enough, the first quote I flip to said:

~ Oscar on Life: "It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating." ~

I was somewhat tempted to buy this book, until I flipped to a second page which read:

~ On the Importance of Being Oscar: "I can resist anything except temptation." ~

I had a good laugh at myself, then put down the $6.95 item.

Julian and I ended our stroll shortly. I asked him for a CD of our grad photos and also the Canadian Business Textbook I lent him. I guess he must've been stressed out (having been home alone for the past week and under a lot of stress from at his workplace). Anyhow, I'll get those things from him next time.