move!

awrites! with this, I am moving to wordpress, so head on over to:

http://karchan.co.cc/blog/

and I will keep writing from there!

will still keep this blog though, *just in case* of anything.

learning a new language

Been spending the work week so far turning myself into a rookie iGeek:

1. Finding space on my desk to set up my new baby at work - a Hackintosh (Mac OSX on a Dell Mini) dual-screen mode. The 2nd screen is a 19-inch Samsung which is connected to a really shitty power socket - so much as an accidental nudge can kill the power. Talk about preserving the balance of the force.
2. Linking my current setup (a Fedora 13 desktop) to this new setup (as per no.1) via Synergy.. took me a whole day for this, I stupidly forgot to open the port to allow the app to connect to my Fedora. Well after I finished this, I can now use the same mouse and keyboard on my Fedora to tinker with the Hackintosh, which is the *awesomely cool* XD
3. Learning up on how to program iPhone/iPad apps.

• First attempt: tried the Javascript version via Appcelerator Titanium. I have to admit the interface is pretty and all that. But when it comes to the real nitty gritty, this doesn't agree with my insides cause the API is pretty vague, for one. And for two, looking for tutorials on this thing isn't easy (well either that or I've been really failing spectacularly at using Uncle Google)
• Second attempt: After unsuccessfully not learning much on the first try, I resorted to an e-book using Objective-C via XCode and Interface Builder and tried coding from there. Ok *now* alot of things made sense. Firstly, on my first try I was trying to do something pretty damn complex (multiview) instead of starting off simple (single view) so I'm not really surprised I failed. Secondly this is *so* much easier to get help on, and the API is better explained. Not that I read through all of it but I feel much more comfortable with it. So I made my test Bananarama app and I'm pretty proud of myself! XD yakjiuyakjiu! Next step is to figure out the JSON/XML bit, and creating multi view apps. Oh yes, and deal with the accelerometer and stuff =3

Loving the steep learning curve (but not my high rate of fails!), but I'm getting places! *moero!*

*beep*

short post here, I'm in the midst of moving my blog to wordpress. It's almost like going to work after work =P

there's heaps to tweak =3

phew

Thank goodness it was nothing more than some really bad sprain.. Had to ferry the fatty all over the place just to make triply sure, but it was worth the effort. So careless lah you!

Had to drive around for abit looking for a clinic near home that was open so late at night (at the time it was close to 10PM so go figure! gawsh) Thank goodness we found out there was a clinic not too far away that was 24hours and part of the approved company panel clinics.

All of us were thinking it was something as severe as a fracture, really freaked us out then! Even the doctor at the clinic feared the worst - I suppose that's what they're trained to do, to expect the worst? Haha I suppose, we were thinking likewise - having to go to UH and wait for a couple of hours, then take half day emergency leave and have to fetch ti to uni... wah that would be a *very* long night for me. @_@

Just kinda glad he's the easygoing type not to compound on the situation frantic with needless phobia.. but also not helping if he thinks that others are gonna worry *for* him so he doesn't need to. It's all about the balance I guess?

So he's staying till the weekend, at least during the more crucial part of the recovery we're around to help him *lah*.

道

I consider myself to be extremely fortunate - I face my own challenges, some I've conquered, some I've yet to conquer.

Life is just too short to be miserable, and afraid. If you make the jump, and you need us to catch you, we'll try our best.

Love yourself. And always know that somewhere out there, someone loves you, even at the moments where you feel you're not worthy of yourself.

I think we're constantly caged by some notion, some unmentionable fear that prevents us from reaching out to what we really want, so we make do with what's in the cage. It keeps us far from happy, but it keeps us feeling safe. And maybe once we get used to it, we form the idea that we can be happy in the cage - even though what we really want is so much more, outside it. We try to bury the desire deep within ourselves, so that we won't feel miserable. This in turn, causes us misery and we try to bury it with more white lies we tell ourselves. I guess it's a cascading effect, so much so that we believe our own lies and live with them.

The original desire? Buried deep, deep within and under the stack of lies. The only way we can really dig it up is to sacrifice the safe net that we form around ourselves, and reach for it. And the only time we can do it is while we have the energy and means to do so - when we're young.

I cannot imagine living a life filled with more regret than it is filled with accomplishment. Kinda depends what we define as accomplishment - it doesn't have to impact the entire world, just our world. This is what people we care for will remember us by, and will live past our time.

Talk about mid-twenties crisis. We're at the point where the world is ours for the taking - but what do we take from it? And what do we give in return? But what I give up I must choose with care, for some things I cannot regain.

I've also been fortunate in the sense that I have a positive outlook on life, most of the time. Either I'm content with where I'm at, or I aspire to be at a better place. I've been encouraged by and have seen people who have done it (or are continuing on a great journey ahead) and I want to be like them. Doing what they want, working with like-minded people, and have a tremendous passion for it - rarely regretting their decisions and are ready to face the consequences, both good and bad. Takes a great deal of strategy and bravery, that.

_____________________

Might be a good time to reflect and remind myself of what I want to do.

I know what I aspire to be - a person that delivers an awesome web experience. Ways to process and format bullshit the internet pushes into my hands, and creating art (prettily done, useful and meaningful data) out of it. The ways to do it, the ways to present it, the ways to manipulate it. Creating systems that are easy to use, fun to use even. And definitely will get the job done the way it is intended to be done. Could be a game, could be an app, could be a library of things to organize, it could be anything that requires user interaction in a manner that they will enjoy.

Right now I'm learning more backend technical stuff, but I'm learning nonetheless. Get into people's minds on how they do it, why they want it that way, and how to make it better (could be how to code it better, or a concept that is better - albeit a different flow, but good things will stick)

what a lazy sunday.

The one thing about budgeting I find is that it makes you so aware of every penny you spend, it starts to feel miserable after abit. Things you wanna do (that requires money), things you wanna have (that requires money) and heck, things you even need (that requires money) you will think thrice before getting it. 何か sad かな。。。

________________

Sometimes I just feel like getting away from everything. I wanna go to a beach again, I miss the sea! Maybe a road trip is in order? *hinthint aichan & reeis*

________________

my hands are itching to feel a keyboard, though the sound that the clunking might produce is terrible, out of time and hitting all the wrong notes.

Jaben Malaysia @ SS15

Headed down to Jaben with hou and his girlfriend amcheong.. after he saw my tweet/blogpost on wanting a good pair of headphones (i.e. my Sibelius 2.0), he was trying to poison me to get a pair from this place. I've seen the LYN audiophile thread, the Garage Sales thread, and Jaben seems to appear quite often. I'm glad I decided to finally check it out - it was the highlight of my day!

For one thing, amcheong & hou really know their stuff, makes me feel so inferior =P Was a good place to audition the headphones, and I really learnt alot from that one trip. Despite my previous attempts at homework/research on headphone brands, some really unexpected and non-conventional brands came up (this is coming from a non-audiophile). Usually people would spew stuff like Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Bose... here I find that the gold lies in the more classic brands like Crossroads, Grado, beyerdynamics, Westone and Hippo.

Honestly speaking, the place looks simple, but don't be fooled - it's almost like a holy grail for audiophiles. Alot of technical terms being thrown around - soundstage, bright, dark, flat, noisy, dirty, warm, aggresive, sound signatures, burn-in... normal verbs with a world of difference in meaning. And the other integral part of an audiophile setup that I got to try there - the amps. Boy do these make a difference, and for each headphone/IEM there will be one amp that works better with it than the rest - chemistry? Seriously awesome stuff.

I remember grinning to myself like crazy while auditioning a couple of these headphones - and leshock! some IEMs really blew me away, and this is something coming from a person who doesn't normally swing well with IEMs due to the comfort factor - especially hated the stock earbuds that came with my iPod.

Notable IEMs:

Especially loved the Crossroad Woody, listening to classical music gives me the impression that the orchestra is performing right in front of me. I swear, these things are to *die* for! There was also another pair of IEMs that are custom-made (of which I don't remember the name/brand), that cost around RM4k! omagawd I could almost swear I was seeing my life flashed before my eyes as I listened to the music that came out of them, it was breathtakingly good. Also tried hou's UM1, he really paid top dollar for a top-notch IEM. The thing that took my breath away about all these IEMs was that apart from the sound, they were surprisingly comfortable, I always had this idea that they were going to be uncomfy after awhile.

Notable intro-level headphones:

Now, I've always been a fan of headphones. For one, the vintage look really melts my heart (and kills my wallet, I know). For two, although prolonged periods of headphone love makes my ears hot/sweaty, they're comfy from the second you put them off to the second you take them off. For three, somehow the sound seems fuller coming from headphones. I tried the ATH ON3 (uncomfy for portables), beyerdynamics DT-231 Pro (lovely, lovely warm sound, and super comfy to boot! Love the pads and the elastic band - I can imagine I will end up sleeping with these around my ears and not know the difference...), Grado SR60 (mmmm yummy yummy bass, and yes the bass hits the sweet spot with me - a classic pair of headphones, these.. although I'm not sure if I want the rest of the world to listen to what I'm listening to)

We easily spent 2.5 - 3 hours at the place just trying out all the headphones, fiddling with the amps, and oh yes chatting with walabies. He's a reaaaaalllly nice person, and (duh!) knows his stuff, and how to recommend depending on what a person is looking for, type of music... you can really tell he's passionate about it (apart from seeing the audiophiles that keep going in and out of the place) ... I is very very very sorely tempted to go back and grab those headphones.

しっかりしろう! I've got to figure out a way to plan my spending to get them.