i finally bought the book by Randy Pausch, the dying computer science professor who gave the famous 'The Last Lecture" and appeared on Oprah Winfrey show...
http://silvergandalf.blogspot.com/2008/03/i-want-to-be-tigger-dr.html

...only to find out on Wiki that he had passed away about one year ago.

i've read half the book during my journey from malacca back to sg. While some parts of the book tug at the heart-string, especially where he recounted the moment he found out he had 10 tumours in his pancreas and that his days were numbered, other stories made me smile. His courage and optimism is truly amazing. Read the book not because it was written by a dying man, read it because we all need some lessons in life.

This is four months after my last post.

This is also nearly 14 months into the job, 16 published books, 8 published journal issues and 4 book-of-the-month awards later.

i've since move to a new house, my hair becoming straight again, and well, everything else stay pretty much the same.

Life goes on. But i miss writing, or rather blogging. i need to channel my thoughts, or i'll ended up talking to myself, and risk incurring stares from passer-bys when i do that in public.

Will definitely write more, if my dearest lappy of 4 years old does not fail on me. i think it's giving me hints that it needs to rest now. ta-ta.

I'm moving to wordpress!

Does anyone know how to transfer all my backlog from blogger to wordpress? Some advice would really help!

The reason i'm moving to wordpress is because one of my authors has spoken so highly of it so i decided to try it out. The author must be the most tech savvy author i've ever had. He records his own podcasts, hosts his own website(s) and try to generate publicity from them. i've never even done some of those before..

All the rushing, the splitting headache, even the re-copyediting is definitely well worth it...

...because the book below won the February book-of-the-month in my company. :)

The managing editor of one of my journals came to Singapore and so we had a one and a half day intensive meeting and discussion about the different aspects of the journal. By intensive i mean real intensive. i would reach the office 8.30 in the morning, went to meet the professor, and only get to go back to my cubicle at 6 in the evening, when most people have already left the office. T.T

And this journal is only one of my projects. =.=

i want to go Cameron Highlands again. :(

i had my first book launch in NUS!

It was held in conjunction with the Faculty of Science's 80th anniversary bash at the UCC so there were a lot professors present, and i saw some old familiar faces among them. We had booth there, with copies of the book on the tables and the authors sitting down and ready for book signing. Before long, we have people queuing up to purchase copies of the book and for the authors to sign. It was better than we expected. =)

The book launch was on the same night as The Company's D&D. The dinner's theme was 'Around the World' and we're suppose to wear 'country costumes'.


So i was all dressed up and attended my book launch (yes i fondly referred to the books i produced as mine), which invited stares as i was obviously overdressed for the event. After that it was rushing to Fullerton Hotel for the dinner, as i was late for a good one hour plus. i was told i arrived just-in-time as all the speeches have ended and they have just started to serve the food. By then i already have symptoms of an impending major headache.

i barely remember how the dinner taste but the MC of the night was absolutely hilarious so that was the only saving grace. i got home late and konked out.

And that was supposed to be the most exciting event in my work life lately. A blog entry that started with exclamation but slowly going downhill after that. Mirror of my life lately. i was look forward towards weekend, thinking that i will be able to have a breather, recharged my battery and ready for another week ahead. But i always ended up bringing work back home on Fridays. Work which i never get around doing during weekdays as there are always other more urgent, more important priorities to take care of.

i always dread Monday mornings when i turn on the office computer and see tens of emails slowly trickling in my inbox. There will always be queries from authors, commands and orders to fulfill and work to do. i think i've slowly grown accustomed to stay overtime, just to catch-up with my work. At least there won't be any phone calls, meetings to attend and internal paperwork to do.

Only the never ending work. Which piles up on my table. i used to pride myself for having a clean and tidy table but now i think sooner i won't even remember what is the colour of my desk, with all the proofs, manuscripts and files stacked all over the place.

i'm just trying to keep my head above the water, trying hard not to fall back behind schedule; trying, not to keep abreast of my deadlines, as i am content just to stay side-by-side with them, just to keep up. i feel like a hamster on a running wheel.

i am grateful to still have a job during these trying times. At least i like what i'm doing, even though the workload can drive me up the wall sometimes. i pray to God to give me the strength to forge ahead, to stand up again after falling down and to keep going, to keep swimming.

Donald Trump says, "The harder you work, the luckier you get." i need to think how to get lucky then.

Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim.

Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.

Please let me pull through this week and settle the outstanding matters soon.

i received a new year present in the form of an sms saying i'm eligible for grey shirt-volunteer. i'm taking it as a good and auspicious sign for 2009. :)

So yup, i'm no longer a Tzu Ching. But i do believe 'once a Tzu Ching, always a Tzu Ching.'

The very third book --- mentioned in the post below, also won me the Book-of-the-Month prize in my company! And i got two free tickets to Golden Cinema. :)

Fourth and fifth book were subsequently published. As i see my list of books-in-production in the system getting shorter, a couple of new manuscripts are coming in and the whole process starts all over again. New books, new authors, new relationships to form and new bonds to tie.

A few urgent projects as well. The Jan issue of my chem journal, a conference proceedings and a plant book, all to be printed within the February month. o.O

i've been staying back late, camping at the cold and much-deserted office eating my hot Tzu Chi instant noodle for dinner, and having the resident overtime colleague as companion.

Life is grand.