...such stuff as dreams are made on...: A night out with actuaries!!!

Thought I'll put this post up before I forget about it... It's a week late because I have been REALLY REALLY busy at work! Anyway, I went for the SIAS annual dinner last Friday night. SIAS actually stands for Staple Inn Actuarial Society. It's basically a society for younger members of the actuarial professions - mostly students and some just-qualified actuaries. Okay, okay... I know you're probably sniggering away or rolling your eyes... you must be thinking, having to put up with one actuary is boring enough... but to have a whole bunch of actuaries at dinner?? How interesting and fun can that be??

Just look at the following cartoon:

It proves the conception that most people have - actuaries are emotionless and boring creatures!! And they are no fun at all. (I actually read this statistics somewhere, which says that the worst thing to say to someone when you're on speed dating is to tell him or her that you're an actuary!)

BUT, I beg to differ. Come on, I'm not THAT boring, am I?? :P

And a night out with a bunch of actuaries can be fun!

In previous years, we had themes for the dinner. Last year, the theme was something to do with celebrities and my my, there were actuaries turning up in Spiderman, Batman, Spice Girls (which were all guys cross-dressing, by the way!!), Marilyn Monroe and Austin Power costumes!!! See, actuaries can let down their hair - it's not all just about mortality tables, triangles and spreadsheets!!

Anyway, this year, the theme was Fire and Ice and it's a black tie event (yes,I know it's stated that black tie is optional, but everyone was going to turn up with their penguin suits!!)

I must say I was impressed by the organising committee's effort to create the atmosphere. The dinner was held at The Brewery and where we greeted with falling snowflakes on arrival! (Haha... of course, it's fake snowflakes - even though it's freezing now in London, it's not snowing YET!)

The night kicked off with a champagne and wine reception, well, we may be boring people, but we know how to appreciate the finer things in life (Yes, it's true... most qualified actuaries I know travel to other countries just for wine-tasting and they have a wine cellar or at least a decent wine collection at home!!)

To go with the theme, there were ice-sculptors everywhere and each table had a snow-like chandelier. It was indeed a pretty sight.

Nice huh? Thought it looked lovely!! And you can see all the bottles of wine on the table...

Before we were treated to a scrumptious 3-course meal, there was an acrobatic performance. (okay, I have no idea where this fits into the picture but they were good!)

Oooh... Aaaah... Wow!! I'll never be that flexible!!

And dinner was fabulous... the starters was a lightly marinated chicken salad with asparagus and fine beans... yum yum... and for mains, I had the succulent lamb with wine-infused sauce... desert was crème brulee with poached pears. All in all, it was probably one of the better British cooking that I've tasted. No offence, but I think British food sucks! My idea of fine cuisine is NOT fish and chips or kidney pie!

After dinner, the whole place was transformed from the Ice theme to the Fire theme. And there was a live band, which was surprisingly quite good! And having had a bet with someone, I was the first person to hit the dance floor! (Okay, it should be we were the first two people as I went to the dance floor with my French colleague. Well, how could I lose a bet? I'm an aspiring actuary after all and risk taking is in my blood! :P Fine.. fine, not a very good analogy here as there's no risk involve apart from embarrassing myself in front of everyone else... but hey, I got a drink for it!).

In no time, everyone was up on their feet and joining us on the dance floor, dancing to the live band! Who would have thought that actuaries could morph into party animals!