Sunday, July 31

The Apprentice and School Life

Watching The Apprentice on TV expounds on severals facts of life - working with people ain't easy. Even though we human beings live in social environments, all of us have our own way of getting a task done and have our own personal opinions.

The more vocal ones may make their views more prominent but not all are good. While the quieter ones slink in the background, great ideas pouring from their heads, not every idea is leveraged upon. Hence, the difficulties in making a team successful. A team leader, cool-headed and decisive is needed to run the show.

Such a leader needs a level of technical expertise but more importantly, excellent emotional intelligence. Failure in the latter would lead to splinters in the team work, causing rifts to form among his team mates and ultimately, not getting the task accomplished.

Many a times, we are put into situations where we have to work in teams. Each team member contributing to a joint effort, complementing each other's flaws. And at the end of the day, success would be sweeter when it comes.

Today, I was told about how life would be like in school. It sounds a little like living through an extended episode in The Apprentice, projects to hand in, play time to enjoy and grades to mind. And perhaps, a shadow of doubt looms in my head. I wish for people who can cover up my inabilities while I help them along with my strengths. No longer will projects be like in junior college or secondary school where we can just sail along. And I do hope that I might myself a good team to work with. After the stint in the army, I have realised many facets of my personality and I understand where my weaknesses lie. I know where I want to head to and I know what I want.

This ephiphany is the summary of 2 years spent reflecting upon my actions and observations of people around me. How many of you know where you want to be? How many of you have a slight idea of your strengths and weaknesses? How do you see yourself as a cog in a giant machine called the economy? Everyone plays apart but how effective do you want to be? Some food of thought for everyone out there.

May you find yourself in this journey of life.

Friday, July 29

Rush....

Just completed the main layouts and the php scripts that basically run the whole site for my client. Took half day leave tomorrow to discuss the project with him(my workplace is really nice about letting me go whenever I want!). It's looking good and I hope he loves it. Really put in a lot of effort into this site; learning php and leveraging on my knowledge of SQL (learnt during temp job).

Somehow, I don't really want to go to work because right now I am just tying up loose ends and I have embarked on the documentation for administrators. Gosh, I'm only like at page 27 and less than 1/3 through the whole shit. Writing a manual is harder and more boring than it seems. Still, it was a good opportunity for me to learn new things.

Perhaps I will even consider a second degree in information systems if I get selected at end of year 1. 3 more weeks to school! And of course, more business for me!

Thursday, July 28

Bird's Eye View

Those having troubles parking their cars or worry about crushing things that they cannot see will be happy to know that in the near future, those fears will be gone.

Recent models of Nissan cars already have rear view cameras installed but the company has been researching on cameras that can give you a bird eye's view around your vehicle.

Many may decry the loss of driving techniques but it would definitely be a boon to millions around the world reversing and trying umpteen times to parallel park on a busy road, irritating the other drivers behind.

Wednesday, July 27

RSS, more RSS!

At work, I rigged my workstation with a RSS feedreader. And the overwhelming amount of information coming in is crazy.

Feel like helping someone answer a question? Give an answer and then post your own question at curio.us. Pretty interesting huh?

Or take a look at wordcount - an interactive presentation of the 86,000 most frequently used words. Not surprisingly, "the" is the number one word.

Maybe take a peek behind the scene of Adobe Photoshop. Some of them have 5 LCD monitors hooked up! A tech geek's dream job huh. (I have been using Photoshop since 4.0! Now it's on CS 2 or version 9.0)

I really should be getting back to work. Lol.

Tuesday, July 26

Lust....

And I have an unnatural lust for things curvaceous and pretty.

I absolutely adore the previous. 1.5ghz. 15" LCD screen. Wireless capabilities and compatibility with the piece of shit I work with right now. And I bet I would be able to attract my fair share of attention amidst the crap school is offering. Maybe it's because most people in school don't really need high end shit but I do.

Thus it has been decided. I am getting the Powerbook.

If only it came with a free IPod.

Monday, July 25

Robots and Sad Little Kids

Found this gem while searching for some reference materials.

Getting rather stressed out over work lately. I need to find time to take a short break and gather all my energies!

Sunday, July 24

Thoughtless

              What would it be like
          to float away?
      in the endless skies,
    chasing clouds of dreams,
  catching rain drops your mouth?

Saturday, July 23

Aches and Pains

Came back from the orientation last night and I knocked out after doing some washing and dinner. Now my whole body is aching after all the carrying of people and stuff during the camp. Overall, it was better than I expected and I enjoyed it. Was good to see new faces and meet old friends. Although I had a few embarrassing encounters when people came and say hi and my brain drew a blank. "I know you?" The world is so small!

And true to my ah beng roots, it was hard for my more intellectual side to show. Lol. Relied more on my brawn throughout the duration of the camp. And drawing on my sardonic sense of humour, I brought some laughter here and there.

(My frigging phone bill is here! Daylight murder man. They charged me close to 90 bucks for half the trip there! And in my next bill, I will receive the other half. Argh!)

Will go scan photos from my trip soon. Gotta go hang out my clothes to dry.

Tuesday, July 19

Sleepy at Work

Why do we feel sleepy after meals?

From Dietitian.com:
Large meals, carbohydrates and an amino acid tryptophan induce sleep. After a large meal, blood pools in the gastrointestinal tract to pick up the nutrients from the meal. Excess carbohydrates work the same by increasing blood sugar levels. (Aside - some new research does show that about 50 gm of glucose - about 10 teaspoons which can be found in 12 oz soda- can improve memory in rats, but 100 grams or 25 grams have little effect on memory.)

So maybe I should curb the amount of carbohydrates being ingested each day at lunch but I would only be craving for a snack or two during tea-break.

Reading digital life during lunch break, I realised that I would never be a celebrity blogger because I am not weird enough nor do I post saucy pictures of myself online. I have major privacy issues yet I want to be a fame whore. Maybe all I need is a pyschiatrist for the myriad of issues I have. lol

Monday, July 18

This is Not a Gripe

It seems like recently, I sort of lost much of my social life. I have been extremely preoccupied with work either at my workplace or at home for my client(s). I have missed a few parties (birthdays and such) and I feel really bad. It seems like I have almost disappeared from my friends' lives. I'm really sorry to be a no-show so often. I need better time management perhaps. And it's not like I am earning big bucks or what. I just do what I need to do. With the upcoming school camps and assortment of activities, I expect my life to get even busier.

And all I wanna do is to wake up late at home, go for breakfast at the coffeeshop, ruminate over my teh-o and then spend the rest of my day reading.

I'm afraid I'm not much of a social animal but I guess somethings gotta be changing soon.

Sunday, July 17

The Shrinking World

This morning I woke up and I stared at the world map across my room from my bed.

Picked up my copy of Pico Iyer's Falling Off the Map and the wanderlust just grew and grew. And then a deep fear struck me, at the rate globalisation is going, very soon those exotic places untouched by the forces of economy will be very much homogenised like everywhere else. The urgency to travel and to see these places before they become yet another replica of America became unbearable.

So perhaps, when school break comes next year, I will go on a trip through Cambodia and Vietnam, heading north across places in China like Yunan and the assortment of towns, to Tibet or Mongolia (depending on how the planning goes) and then a plane ride back. And I wonder if I play my finances right, I would be able to go on this epic journey - a trip to discover the world and more about myself.

Thursday, July 14

Skive

Did not turn up at work today. The trip did bad things for my body and I am feeling under the weather. So I stayed home and worked on my commercial project. I have so much on my hands now, I wonder when will I ever complete them. One ends and another arrives. At least my wandering mind is kept busy and don't fall into a depressive hole.

Maybe later I will do some housework. I am too lazy to go for my run.

Here's an interesting palmistry site. The future holds much for us at this crux; where the wind blows us to, we would not know. Just float and perhaps we will land on somewhere safe.

Wednesday, July 13

Transitions

I cannot find my first webpage online anymore. It has been 8 years since I last updated it and angelfire deleted everything on it. Somehow, I feel nostalgic; my corny animated gifs and the looping sound track in the background. I spent much of my youth tinkering with html and now I am making a pittance with the skills I have garnered.

Things change and move on. In the blink of an eye, things that were there are no longer where your memory remembered they were. And we move on with life.

And then He Returns

The six days away were hectic and did not have much sleep at all. Visited temple after temple, praying alongside my father and I wonder, do I actually believe? Rereading American Gods along the way sure injected my head with a whole plethora of weird ideas and having a cousin who deals with new age stuff for a living just made the head go a little wonky.

I was sad when I saw reports of the London bombings on BBC. Yet another major city hit by the terrorists. From the witch hunts of the past, to Hitler and his Nazis and the Cold War with the Soviets; each generation had its own "evil forces" to fight. When would it ever stop? I prayed for the safety of my family back home.

Bangkok is truly huge and I barely scratched its surface. I wished I had more money and time to go shopping though. Seemed like I left many purchases unpurchased. Sigh. All the beautiful tees and funky furniture!

Khon Kaen is the Buddhist capital of Thailand. It was a six-hour bus ride from Bangkok. I visited a few of its more magnificent temples. I participated in rituals of common folk becoming monks. it felt a little like the day I passed out from BMT. lol. I hope the pictures came out well.

Nong Khai is a border town 600+ km north of Bangkok and two hours away from Khon Kaen. More temples and a park with huge Buddhist sculptures. Small town with nothing much to do. It was the prelude to Vientiane, Laos.

Passing through customs and after much haggling with the bus drivers, we travelled to Vientiane on a private mini-bus. Visited the more prominent landmarks, saw the concrete monstrosity, Victory Monument, or so the plaque mentioned. A replica of the Arc de Triomphe. Went sightseeing and before long we were back on Thai soil and back to Khon Kaen and an overnight bus ride to Bangkok.

I wished to have more time for this trip and for it to be less touristy. But perhaps it had set something in motion deep within me. A yearning for some spiritual peace perhaps and maybe a backpacking trip next year. Will have to pick up some conversational language and some extensive saving!

The travel bug has bitten yet again. I miss Hanoi and the hills of Vietnam, the bustling streets of Bangkok; the unknown territories of Myanmar and Laos. Soon, very soon I will move another step closer to my dream of a trip across South East Asia, through the more scenic parts of China (Haelongjiang) and all the way up to Russia. Ah. The price of dreams.

Thursday, July 7

Gaiman!

It was a three hours forty five minutes wait for me and five hours fifteen minutes for my girlfriend before we got a ten second signing session with Gaiman himself. I was at a loss to what to say and could only smile like an idiot, happy to see him draw a rat for me in my copy of Coraline. I wished I had a limited edition copy to let him sign though. It was kinda disappointing to have our allocated three copies of items slashed down to two.

It must be horribly tiring for him because they had to extend the signing session to accomodate some of the people there. Those who didn't get to even see him must be totally disappointed today. But he was a totally swell and nice guy, hardly had any airs. It took so long because everybody in the queue had three more friends joining him(the worst were the whole group of RGS girls).

There was also this group of Cosplayers hovering around. The guy who dressed as Dream had a really kiam pah face though. The rest had equally irritating faces too. And what's up with the large amount of girls emulating Death's gothic eye shadow/tattoo?

In his blog, Gaiman encouraged us to make friends while in the queue and well, I wished I didn't take his advice. Lol.

Mr Mumbles was there when I arrived and half the time I was trying very hard to make out what the hell he was talking about. And I guess whatever I said hardly went in either. I tried to pick some philosophical topics to talk about but gave up in the end. Mumbles had a terific skill of mangling his words and after my huhs, whats, say agains and pardon-me's, I totally gave up. No wonder his "friend" who happened to pass by didn't want to even acknowledge him. I am sure he writes better than he speaks but goddamnit, stop having your monologue! Oh well. Hope it is the last time I will ever see him.

I am bound for an early flight tomorrow. Bangkok, here I come! Will be back on Tuesday, hopefully with some nice pics on film. Just not too comfortable with digital photography at the moment.

Wednesday, July 6

Neil!

Gonna drop by Borders later for the Neil Gaiman signing. Thanks to the wonderful person who is going down early to help me reserve a place in the queue. :) I don't really know what I am going to say, perhaps just say hi.

Then I gotta rush back home to pack my bags for the trip. I have a tinge of regret that I am taking a budget airline instead of SQ. Oh well! Still gotta remember to pack a few rolls of film, foregoing digital this time round because I am afraid that I may not be able to find the correct power sockets and security issues.

I am totally bored at work. The whole thing looks like a mess and it's gonna be hell of a job maintaining the whole thing!

Monday, July 4

Shopping!

It is the Great Singapore Sale after all and I bought myself some stuff over the weekend:

1. 60L Dry Cabinet - $167
2. Yet another Zara shoe - $69.90
3. PHP & MySQL for Dynamic Websites - $31.90
4. Printed own t-shirts - Undisclosed
5. American Gods (for Neil Gaiman's autograph) - $15
6. Air Tickets to Bangkok - $150

And also I signed over $2500++ for my first term in school, plus $30 for a camp. Not forgetting the movie and the meals outside. I spent more than $3.2k this weekend. Phew! I am continuing this shopping spree in Bangkok man. Wahaha.

War of the Worlds

This remake of the classic HG Well's story as intepreted by Steven Spielberg is a gripping and thrilling summer blockbuster. The cinematography is top notch and you can't go wrong with Tom Cruise as the lead. I found the little girl to be really good too. While the Soviets in the original were replaced with the more contemporary terrorists, I would think that the plane crash scene would have sent some jolts down present day American society.

It was haunting to see how human nature would react to an invasion (be in extraterrestrial or military). The murderous mob, the "I-don't-wanna-die!" actions, the mass exodus from an affected area; all these scenes made me wonder how I would react in such a situation. And in the complete breakdown of communication, what kind of fear would set in? In the context of being an operationally-ready national service man, would I defend my family first above the nation?

In a way, the show was more than just the rehashed tale of an alien invasion and the tenacity of the human spirit. It showed us the indominatable survival instincts of living creatures; the desperation of people frightened by a power they cannot fathom; the story of a failed father finally learning to be a father and the insignificance of our existence. We could be easily wiped out like flies.

I do highly encourage this show to people looking forward to an enjoyable time in the cinemas. And do look beyond the facade of the us-against-them story. Enjoy the more subtle points that the director wants to portray.

I was greatly excited towards the end when the soldier called upon the Gustavs and the Matadors. Haha. It was cool to see the 84 in action on the big screen! Even if the scene lasted less than 30 seconds.

Pardon the spelling and grammatical errors. Surviving on just three hours of sleep. lol

Sunday, July 3

Birthday Party

Last night went to a friend's birthday party and some incriminating shots of the events were covered by Singapore's most read blog - Xiaxue. Do hope that there won't be bad comments about this crazy bunch of guys. Haha. And I do not want to see my face online too. I have got a pretty huge concern about privacy issues yet I want a little more recognition for the stuff I do. The irony of being me. But I guess I am used to living with this person who wants everything yet nothing at the same time. Impossible!

I had forgotten how it is like to hang out with the peeps and it was nice seeing them once in a while. And it was cool meeting new friends and getting to know some better. The floor is how cold to sleep on man.

Saturday, July 2

Matriculation!

Today went to re-matriculate and pay the remainder of my school fees. Got a taste of the initial orientation come-join-my-club/camp crap. Seriously, this kinda thing puts me off more than anything else. Went around the booths irritating some people along the way and I even crashed a database. Lol.

We were all told that it is compulsory to serve 80 hours of community service and I got a little agitated. It's not that I'm too much of a slacker to serve it but I just didn't like the idea of being pushed for such a thing. I mean, if you want to help somebody out, you must at least do it from the bottom of your heart. If all the students are going to help out just to complete the 80 hours, there wouldn't be much continuity would there? Especially when advocation for 'complete it before term starts' could be seen everywhere. Oh well.