My Digital World

Today on msn when I chatted with Sing, he said that our manager Gabor is fired! I thought he was kidding, but it seems that it is real. Martijn, who had worked there for many years and who was graduated from TU and also got an offer to be a manager in Albumprinter, is also fired. What happend in Amsterdam??!!

I do understand that Gabor is being fired. He is really a bad manager who has really no skill in managing, socialising and having a sweet mounth for talking. In contrast to Martijn, I personally think he does not deserve to be kicked out. The reason why Martijn is fired, is because he has other opinion than (probably) the managers. Working in Albumprinter is like putting a timebomb in your body. Without any valid reason, you will be punished. So, that is also happened to Wampie and many others. Anyway, I wonder how it will be coming Monday. A start without Gabor.

This week, I was busy with doing simulations for my readout electronics. I really hate software that does not function well. Although it is cracked, it has a lot of bugs which give me crap results. Anyway, I finally find a way to solve this kind of very irritating problem.

Studying in Delft requires a lot of effort to get your resource. If A plan does not work, you should have B,C and maybe D plan. Also, the provided information is not sufficient, which means you have to spend time on looking for more info. The most annoying part of studying in Delft is that you have find your way to understand all the programmes they want you to use.

Well, well, well....life is not easy. My photography business tires me. I think, physically I am very weak since I just recovered from my sick week. Since there are many things should be arranged and because I have to keep contact with many people, plus I do not rest very well, I feel very tired this week. But weekend starts now. I will use these 2 days to rest out, while I try to finish my report as well.

Today, when I was on my way to Groningen, there is another big problem with the train. The hell started at Monday already when I took the train from Groningen to Amsterdam in the very early morning (6AM!!!). The train stop in Zwolle since there was kind of rail jam. So, passengers are asked to travel to other cities first to get to Amersfoort and further.
Today, the train was broken when it hits Utrecht. I think in the dictionary of NS, words as being-on-time does not exist. Today's delay is more than 2 hours!!! I left in Delft at 16:15h and I was at home at 22:20h.

I have been sick for 4 days. The fever started at Monday. I felt something strange while I was working. Then at Monday's night, I felt very unwell. I got very cold. The next day, I woke up at 10:40h which is not an usual time for me. My cousin called me as well, since he was asking me for help. He noticed that I was sick too. After his call, I decided to go back to home.

I hate being sick, since I lost a lot of my time. I had planned to do shooting for Yuan Duo, which was my gift for her leaving to China. Because of my bad health I have to cancel the shooting. Also, I promised to give graduation pictures to a guy. It was a paid assignment.

Today, I feel much better. My body is really weak, since it takes more time to recover than usual. I haven't been sick for a very long time. But it does not mean, I need such a long time to recover.

While I was sick, I watched Bleach on youtube. It is a very nice anime. The first part (I think till episode 1 - 70) is the most interesting part than the second part (which is from 70 - 109). I didn't watch them at once. The most meaning part of what I have seen in Bleach is in episode 109. It starts from 15:15min in which you can see how ghost-life is. Bleach is not only about fighting till your sword breaks, but in that episode attention on our after life is painted as well. I like the mainperson who shows his careness to the ghost very much. He brought flowers to the passing little girl. This small thing in Bleach, shows the good heart of the writer.

Anyway, today I also talked to my buddy On Yi. She seems very being very stressed, because there are a lot of work she has to do before she flies back to Holland. She teases me again. This time, she asks me who is the prettiest on the photo. At the end of the chat, she wishes me a Happy Chinese New Year and she asks me for angboa! I said "I give you one, if I have a girlfriend." Then, she says "You finally wanna have a girlfriend?! I will search one for you." I joke "I want to have one that are at least as good as you." While I said that, I expect she would say that no such a girl will exist. But she said something about her bad characters, which I apparently do not discover yet, luckily.

Recently, I have heard many broke ups in relationship and many marriages. The most surprising broke up is my friend's relationship. I do not expect that that will happen to her, since her relationship seems be very steady.

Anyway, I always wonder why there are "so many" broke ups in relationship. I do not know how they feel if one day, when they start their own family and when they go shopping and meet their ex-bf's/ex-gf's. Imagina, that you regularly meet your ex in anywhere you go, how will you feel?

The main question is, why do people want to start a relationship? I think people will say that they like each other and that is why they want to be together. But do they ask themselves if they want to be together forever? Some people said, they never consider it or they are scared to think about it, since they do not want to stick to him/her for their rest of life. So, what is the meaning of starting a relationship then? Or, why do you like to be together?

In a relationship, one can hurt other with or without purposes. I see that communication is very and very important in relationship. Some of the messages that are misunderstood, might lead to break up. I do think it is great pity that some of my friends' relationship have an end....

Anyway, yesterday, I called Xiu Wen. I notice that she is grown up. Her way of talking just likes his mom, thus my prettiest cousin. She made a lot of jokes. But one thing still remains: she is still the boss over all other children. :P

On the phone, she always said "表朻， 我很忙的!". I do not understand why people in Asian are always busy. I want to bring Xiu Wen to look around. But I think I will not have that chance when I am back in Malaysia.

This Monday when I arrived in Amsterdam and when I checked my e-mail, there is
something that kind of shokcs me. My manager Gabor sent me an e-mail with the
subject "Beoordeling karfee2008". The word "beoordeling" which means review,
is in my dictionary a very negative thing. Later, when other colleageus come
in, they also have a kind of "beoordeling" of their own managers.

There are minutes in my mind that say "Karfee, you will be fired!". On one
hand, if that is true, I am kind of happy that I will be fired, since I do
not like working there anymore. After quitting plus one year later, I might
start business that is related to their business. But mine will be much better
organised, much better take care of every customers and give them much better
products.
On the other hand, if that is true, I lost my monthly cash flow. Although, it
is not a very big money, but it is enough to buy some of my gadgets. I can use
that money for my holiday too.

After working, I went to Rotterdam. After I have bought some food, I went to
Sing's place to get my new 1TB Samsung harddisk and 2GB SD card. I want a new
harddisk since I want to Vista64 on my Intel Quad Core system which is now
pretty old, but never uses his real power. My prupose for the new O/S is for
optimizing my computer power and besides, I want to install Adobe Premium
Master Collections on this O/S. From very soon, I will work with Adobe latest
products. All photos will be editted and stored at the new harddisk, which I
have split up in three parts: 200GB for Vista64, 400GB for photos and 350GB
for music/videos.
After installing Vista64, I notice that everything went smoother than on XP32.
I think that Vista64 does have a better support. Also, it uses my best DDR3
fully: the 4GB DDR which was the fastest among all kind of DDR3 at the time
I bought.
While I did not run Vista for hours, there are things that annoys me. First,
the grapical interface and the security procedures in this new O/S system.
All the fancy stuff and the "smart" secure can be taken out. Anyway, I will
test thie system later when I use my Photoshop CS4 on it plus Nikon Capture
NX2.
The SD will be put in my plasma TV for displaying my best shots. I test some of
my pics on my TV. The result is very amazing. The picture are tack sharp with
rich of color.

The Tuesday morning starts with a sms of Rahmat. He asks me to do a
photoshooting for his friend's MSc graduation. The shooting will be paid. Rahmat
gave me his contact when I called him for more details. On the phone as in real
life, the fresh new Engineer from Aerospace falculty is a very kind guy. He is
from Indonesia, but his father does look more a Chinese. Anyway, since he is
only a student, he is not able to pay me of what I want to have in my mind. I
accept his offer at 60euro for 2hours of shooting. This money is very little,
but it is more about adding my skill in ceremony photography.
When I arrive at U, I chatted with Zhoaduan about our business. He finds some
companies for me that can design a complete customized website for my
portfolio. However, the price is too shocking. They easily start at around
250euro for a static HTML web. The more advanced you want, the more you have
to pay. I want to have complete flash web, which they start offer me for
2500euro, which I think it is too ridiculious. I prefer to spend that money on
my friends than give it to others.
Later this week, they do give me some offers. But, I have to come with a detailed
disciption of how I-like-my-flashsite-should-be first. The next day, after I
played badminton, I work till 1AM on my design of my website. Hopefully, the
cost is under my estimation.

Yesterday, I went to Salsa. Ya, if you read this, you should not miss your
chance to buy a lottery, since I do not like moving my bips and swing my hands.
So, why did I go to Salsa? The story starts in December. Xiaowei asks me to
go to Salsa with her. After alot of bilibala, I can only promise her that I
will bring her there. BUT I did not say I will dance with her. So, I keep my
promises and that is why you could find me at Salsa yesterday.

This week, I have been really busy with setting my small business for my
photography. Many and many things should be arranged. I do appreciate Zhoaduan
to help me alot. I also see that money makes money. But many will ask "how
to get money if you do not have money?".

I did not expect that my spendings are so huge in the past two weeks. I simply went for shopping and just now, I checked my bank account. I am suprised that I have less than 200euro on my account. Where did all my money go to? Let me list here things I bought.

1. a new winter jacket and my first leather jacket
This new jacket costs me 300euro. It was originally 600euro. I was not intend to buy a new jacket. When I was looking for shoes in Rotterdam, I bumped into a store where I saw a nice jacket. I wanna try that jacket, but the size is too big for me. But I saw a white jacket and I wonder how it suits me, since I like white color for my jacket and shoes. Well, then I bought the jacket....
It has been years and years I want to have a leather jacket. I was looking around for quite along time. Finally I manage to get a nice leaher jacket. When will I dress it? Well, I will dress it when the weather is good and when I am on trip.

2. some jeans
I was looking for jeans for months. I did not go shopping since I was too busy. The week of the Christmas, I went to do some shopping and I bought some jeans. They costs me for around 200euro and I only have two of them. I even do not buy a Diesel jean, since I like Diesel brand.

3. two new pair of shoes
I recently bought new shoes. One of my old shoes was lost when I played badminton. I hate people who steal my shoes while I am sporting. That was my second time that my belonging has been stolen. Anyway, the other pair of old shoes was broke. So, I am urged to buy new ones. One for suit dressing and one for casual dressing. Guess what?! Both of them are from Boss. The price? You guess it ba.

4. some music CDs
Once a while, I will go online for buying new CDs. I like Taiwanese musics. Let them bring more nice musics to this world!

5. plasma TV
Oh yeah, I almost forget that I bought a brandnew 50" plasma TV. That one kind of hurts my wallet. I have to pay 1600euro for my Panasonic TV.

6. cables
I bought a new pair of speaker cable and some interlinks cables. Each of them are around 100euro each.

7. CD player
Recently, I bought a new CD player. I think that my almost 10 years old top DVD player lacks of quality in terms of today's standard. I do not buy a new DVD or a bluray player, since I like listen to music more than watching a movie.

8. Dermalogica cosmetics
These things are expensive. I spent more than 400euro on the products, since On Yi says they are on sale in HK. It is very nice of her that she thinks about me, even when she is on trip.

Sigh, these are roughly my spendings within a period of one month . Crazy right?! I think, I have to stop thinking of buying, buying and buying. But there are some spendings that I have to spend. These are flashes for my softboxes since they are broken. And if I want to start my paid shooting, I need to buy stuff. All about money.....

Anyway, I have spent a very nice money on a gift I bought for Xiu Wen. Her birthday is at the end of this month. It is the day before my mom's birthday. When my mom took me t shop with her yesterday, she asked me if I like to buy a present for Xiu Wen. Next week, one of uncle's friend is going to Malaysia for holidaying. He also from JB. So, he can bring the gift to Xiu Wen. :)

What did I buy for her? Well, I know she likes singing. And so far, I know she does not have portable thing which she can listen to music. So, I bought her a Creative Zen mp3 player. I took the pink one, since many girls like pinkie color, right?

This my first post of 2009. Hope that everyone had a great New Year's celebration. My New Year celebration is at my cousin's place, since her house is renovated. Later this year, our house will be hammered and painted as well.

At New Year's eve, we ordered 盆菜, instead of preparing food by own self, which we every year do. Since we want to make life easier, we ordered 盆菜. 盆菜 is a mixture of alot of different kind of meat and with a very little vegatable. It was not tasty and it is not my cup of tea. My family do also not like that food. The very bad thing is, is that I went to toilet after I get that 盆菜. After me, my family went to toilet too. :P

Maybe my family (included me) generally do not like food that is prepared in China. China food do not like Singaporean/Malaysian/Hong Kong food. In that 盆菜, there is nothing I like. The meat are too fat and they do look nice at all.

Anyway, today, I went to my uncle house. His house is also under construction too. There is a 60 years old man that does the whole conctruction. He takes everything for his own: there is no one who helps me. I asked my uncle and mom why he didn't call for help, but I think he does not trust anyone. Why?

The story of the 60 years old old man:
He has been married twice. His first wife left him and she got cancer and passed away later. His second wife cheated on him, which he lost all his money. He likes to have kids, but none of his previous wife brought him kids.
Because he has been cheated twice, I think he totally lost confidence in people. I really feel pity for him, since he has to be alone for the rest of his remaining days.
I am told that he earns money for spending his retirement days in Vietnam, the country where he originally came from. He works early in the morning and after his daytime work, he works in the evening too! He make dishes to sell to some restaurants. He is a really capable man. I appreciate his hard-working. Too bad that he does not be deserved by his wife(s).

Why is this earth so unfair? The world is under serious problem because we are sooner or later running out of our energy. Why do people let money rule the world? Because of money you have the power. Because you have the power you can change world. Hope I can make this world a little better later, starting from this New Year on.