Talking about the weather is one way to start a conversation. Or a blog post.
So yes, it was a sunny day today, unlike the rainy past 2 days.
It was so sunny today that some people even had to use an umbrella at the bus stop.
Crazy woman.
Q: What do you do when the internet dies, and you can’t do any work because of that?
A: You go watch a movie.
* * *
Many people have asked me about the Matriarch’s reaction to my announcement that I’m quitting.
She was surprisingly supportive.
Maybe it’s because I announced it to her quite a few weeks before the official resignation (everyone else does it when they’re handing in the letter). I wanted to do it early so that it wouldn’t disrupt her plans to badly, and to give her enough time to mourn over me. And she appreciated it.
I’m looking forward to the new place. Should be fun .
I’ve been thinking a lot about Christmas lately. But not in the usual way.
For some reason, Christmas seems to be the favourite holiday for most younger people here in Singapore, not just among Christians, but among the heathen as well. Even though a lot of young Chinese like Chinese New Year (thanks to ang pow power), Christmas is special. Only Christmas gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Only Christmas brings you that romantic sense of happiness. Only Christmas makes you feel that misty sense of well-being, that life is still worth living, at least for another year (until the next Christmas).
I think it only has a little to do with the story of Christmas itself, the story of one who was born to save the world in sacrifice. Sure, for Christians it’s a big deal, but non-Christian folk don’t bother about this.
Maybe it’s the music that you start to hear come December. Unlike the jarring cacophonous noises you endure during Chinese New Year (they claim it’s music), the silent nights, where all is calm, and all is bright, where people dream, of white Christmases - the music of Christmas may have a somewhat calming, and possibly sedative effect on many.
Or perhaps it’s also because of the nice cool weather of December which makes you want to ignore the alarm clock feature on your handphone and perhaps you can actually sleep on for once because you have excess leave which you need to clear before the year is over.
Then maybe it’s also because it’s the end of the year where things can wind down a little, and combined with holidays and festivities and the leave you’re clearing (and your boss is clearing and your client is clearing), the stressful work so common here in Singapore can afford to wait for once.
And unlike other holidays, it seems like more people change their MSN nicks to reflect the season. Like this girl whom I noticed put “30 days to go!” for her nick. Then “29 day to go!” (You get the picture.) It was something like “6 more days to go!” before it dawned on me that she was counting down to Christmas. Less interesting and more predictable nicks included “Merry Christmas”, “I [heart] Xmas”, “Christmas is my favourite festival!”, and so on.
Then there’s this guy with “Merry Fucking Xmas”. I didn’t ask him if he meant the second word literally - if he did, then he probably meant the first one literally as well. Otherwise it must be that he wasn’t quite a fan of Christmas, at least this one.
And really I don’t see why that many people should be a fan of Christmas.
Christmas is the time when you have to do your Christmas shopping. And it’s terribly packed at Taka and OG and Robinsons and everywhere else you go and you’re not sure what to buy for your 10 or 20 or 30 friends who are also worried about what to buy for their 10 or 20 or 30 friends and every shop is screaming XMAS SALE!!! but you can’t figure out which one is screaming the truth and good luck to you if you’re working at Taka and OG and Robinsons and everywhere else people go to do their shopping. Ho ho ho.
And then if you’re some popular guy like I am *cough* you’d get invited to so many Christmas parties that you don’t know which one to attend and which one you thus have to miss and thus disappoint or offend some people. Or if you’re like me, you end up deciding to miss all of them and you stay home instead and blog about Christmas.
And while you’re trying to blog your deep insights about Christmas, your trains of thought keep getting derailed by the phone vibrating in your pants (the pocket) because you just got an SMS which tells you to have a merry Christmas but you’re getting cheesed off instead because you’re trying to blog but your trains of thought keep getting derailed…
Where was I?
As part of my camwhore research, I’ve had to put my picture in places such as my MSN Messenger account.
Reaction from some friends were swift and ruthless:
Jim: i’ll be damned is that your pic?
Jim: you must have been drunk like in your pic when you put it up!
Here’s another:
Andrea: i can’t believe u put ur picture on
Andrea: i prefer the weasel
Andrea: or whatever that was
Andrea: change back!
Me: i’m now a camwhore
Andrea: oh fuck
Just one more:
Min: y did u decide to put a pic of your own on MSN???
Me: i’m now a camwhore
Min: camwhore??
Min: y degrade urself?
Min: camwhore?
Min: haha
Me: my computer makes it so easy
Min: oh yar
Min: so I will be expecting more pics of u lohz
Me: i’m doing research into the psyche of a camwhore
Me: it’s all for science
Min: oooooo
Min: interesting
Me: i’m finding out why pple camwhore
Min: oooooo
Min: so wat have u found out??
Me: slowly lah
Me: these things take time
Me: cannot rush one
Anyway I’ve been told that I need to post more pics to qualify as a camwhore. This is hard work.
Self-portrait #54, taken in my cubicle. Yup it’s always dark at my office (I disable my florescent lights). Recognise what’s on that poster behind me?
After getting my new MacBook Pro, with its built-in iSight camera and PhotoBooth software, I found that taking gratuitous and unwarranted self-portraits has never been easier.
But despite the iSight camera waiting longingly right above my screen, becoming a camwhore is simply impossible for me, being the raging intellectual who views camwhoredom with contempt and disdain.
But of course there are exceptional situations and circumstances (let’s be reasonable about it) - situations like that very first time when I was merely testing the iSight + PhotoBooth feature, just to see how things work.
I’m pleased to report that it worked fine. Very user-friendly - just a few keystrokes to start PhotoBooth, and you can immediately click the button to capture your onscreen image.
Perhaps “very user-friendly” is being rather mild, since I found it so convenient that I took a couple more shots. But of course, those few shots were still considered the first time, so that didn’t make me a camwhore, any more than finishing a can of Tiger beer makes you an alcoholic.
If the shoe fits, wear it, they say. If the water is there, drink it. If the… well, you get the idea. If the iSight is there above your computer aiming right at your face, well, what else could you do? What else should you do?
But of course, being the intellectual that I am, camwhoring is definitely out of the question for me. Unless… unless of course it’s part of an intellectual activity with intellectual outcomes.
So yes, I soon decided I should study and delve in to the psyche of the camwhore. And how could I do my research effectively and with intellectual honestly without taking on the role of a camwhore?
Self-portrait #18, with glow effect, selected because it doesn’t look like me.
Just a totally unnecessary post…
Just a totally unnecessary virgin post from my new MacBook Pro.
muahahaHAHAhHAhAHAhhHAHAhHAHAhH!
It’s pretty light for a 15 inch, but it’s a bit too long for the bag I usually carry. I’ll probably get the 13 inch MacBook if they don’t release the rumoured 12 inch MacBook Pro soon.
Update: I think I better get used to the 15 inch. Time to go shopping for new bags.
The irony is that this new computer arrives only 2 days after I announce my intention to leave the company. This means I’ll only get to play with this baby for a only a month. Talk about short-term relationships.
I’m typing this on my Apple iBook (which I’ll soon replace), and the first computer I ever used was also an Apple - the Apple II.
I was still a tiny kid then, and the only command I can remember from then is “CATALOG”, which would display the list of games on the diskette. No mouse and windows then - everything was in text. Green text.
And I would remember the nights watching my dad open up the plastic casing of the Apple II and do stuff with the motherboard. And I still remember the green motherboard with neat rows of microchips.
It would be many years later before I learnt about the genius behind the design of that motherboard: Steve Wozniak.
As I learnt more and more about Woz from different sources, including hearing and even attending some of his talks, it was hard not to admire him - he’s one of the best hackers ever (the good kind of hacker).
So when his autobiography appeared, I had to read it:
Turns out that we have quite a lot in common. (Okay, he’s a lot smarter than I am.)
Besides being a geek (a few leagues above me), he’s also a major prankster.
Like one time when he made this device in 12th grade that looked like a bomb and made a ticking sound and he put it in his friend’s locker.
He was soon hauled into the vice principal’s office
I knew I was in big trouble, and finally they sat me down with the principal, and the vice principal, the counselor, the dean, and two police officers. And the principal starts telling me how the English teacher, Mr. Stottlemeier, had heard a ticking sound in the locker. The principal, Mr. Bryld, told me how he opened the locker, clutched the device to his chest, and then ran all the way out to the football field and dismantled it!
I started laughing, even though I was trying not to , so then I tried to cough to cover it up. But I couldn’t even do that, because I knew that I rigged [it so that it would] start ticking faster when someone opened up the locker door.
Reminds me of the times I got hauled to the vice principal’s and principal’s offices. But that’s another story.
Another story which make me snigger uncontrollably was how he manipulated people using a device that could interfere with TV signals. Read the book to find out more.
But he’s really a good guy - one of those rare people who don’t turn evil when there’s money involved. Like how he sold many of his Apple shares cheaply to those who contributed to Apple’s success even though they weren’t with Apple when they went public - it was the largest IPO ever then.
Although I really enjoyed the book, I’m not sure if everone would appreciate it as much as I did. I suppose you need to be interested in Apple and computer history. And a few parts of it can be quite technical - you need to know computer engineering to fully appreciate those parts (I’m not exaggerating) - especially when he tries to explain the elegance of his engineering designs.
Then again, if you want insight into the mind of a playful genius with a good heart, this might be worth checking out.
Since that car ride, the Matriarch seems to have become a little more maternal and motherly towards me. Or is it just me?
Anyway, I asked for a short meeting with her today.
Where I informed her that I’ll be resigning soon.
A friend of mine told me that she would be sent to attend a course in Applied Linguistics.
“Applied Linguistics! That would be fun!” I exclaimed.
She gave me the why-not-you-do-it-for-me-instead look.
“Linguistics would help you understand how languages work,” I offered, hoping that it would excite her a little.
She gave me the why-not-you-do-it-for-me-instead look.
“Linguistics will help you understand English better,” I offered, hoping that it would appeal to her love for English.
She gave me the why-not-you-do-it-for-me-instead look.
Fast forward a few weeks, before I finally managed to find a good illustration to show why linguistics is relevant, and so I tried it out on her over coffee.
“You know in English, you can begin some words with the ‘in-’ prefix to indicate the negative right?”
“Right…”
“Like ‘inflexible’ or ‘intangible’ or ‘incorrect’.”
“Okay…”
“But how come the negative of words starting with a ‘p’ always begin with ‘im-’ instead of ‘in-’? Like ‘impolite’ or ‘impossible’ or ‘imperfect’? It’s never ‘inpolite’ or ‘inpossible’.”
I could see the gears churning in her head as she tried to find ‘p’ words that could be negated by ‘in-’ instead of ‘im-’. But of course she couldn’t.
“So do you know why?” I asked her again, barely suppressing my superior smirk.
“Well, it just is,” she declared.
“So you’re saying that you don’t know why right?” I had to force her into admitting defeat first.
“You mean there’s actually a reason?”
“That’s where linguistics comes in,” I said triumphantly, while trying not to be too obnoxious about it. “Linguistics can explain why. Actually, this applies to ‘b’ words and ‘m’ words as well, like ‘imbalance’ and ‘immature’. You won’t be able to find negative words starting with ‘inb’ or ‘inm’ or ‘inp’.”
Of course she couldn’t.
“So are you gonna explain to me why?” she said impatiently (not iMpatiently, not iNpatiently), interrupting my victory lap.
I cleared my throat in preparation for my lecture.
“This has to do with a branch of linguistics called ‘phonology‘ which deals with the sounds of a language. And this actually has to do with physics as well as psychology and perhaps even sociology.
“When you say out words beginning with ‘b’, ‘m’, or ‘p’, your lips actually start in the same position - your lips are closed together or pursed. [In linguistics, we classify these 3 consonants as bilabials, which literally means 2 (bi) lips (labia).]
“Because of that, it’s actually physically more difficult to say ‘inp-’ or ‘inb-’ - try it yourself - it feels weird right?”
She started mouthing ‘iNpossible’ and ‘iMpossible’, comparing the two.
“The ‘im-’ words actually started as ‘in-’ words, but eventually the ‘in-’ starts sounding like ‘im-’ when followed by those 3 consonants, especially when you say it fast.
“And because it’s physically easier to say ‘im-’ instead of ‘in-’, eventually with enough people saying ‘im-’, it became ‘im-’. [I think the linguists call this the regressive assimilation of consonants. Whatever.]
“It all makes sense right?” I asked her.
She had to agree.
Well, she’s still not terribly excited about attending the course, but at least she’s seeing some relevance. And now she knows why it’s iMpossible and not iNpossible.
[Of course, the conversation was reconstructed and modified. I don’t have perfect recall.]
I remember reading a while ago about some Quick Tips for Networking by Bernard Leong on Singapore Entrepreneurs (which I don’t follow):
I think there’s much to be learnt from the post - it’s a good thing to go up to people to talk to them, to get to know them, but I remember feeling a little uncomfortable reading this - a competition to see who can get the most namecards? Come to think about it, it’s no better than the game of insecure guys who compete to see who can get the most phone numbers in the club.In all networking events in the US and UK, typically for entrepreneurs, we usually have a private competition to see how many namecards you get. Typically in Singapore, most of the students I mentored cannot get more than 5. My typical hit rate even in Singapore is about 50 per event.
Then recently I read this post on Networking by Fredd Kambo (via gapingvoid):
Now this is so much more real, and makes so much more sense to me.… I absolutely, positively hate networking. Even more, I avoid networking events like I avoid bad music. With all my heart and with my full conscious effort.
My biggest problem with these things, is that most people tend to see them as an opportunity to acquire as many business cards as they can. There is rarely a thought as to whether they themselves are really adding any value. So what ends up happening is that you get a room full of people trying to use each other. And of course, that also means that there is very little authentic and meaningful conversation. […]
I don’t bother “networking” anymore, instead, I try to build relationships with people I find interesting, and who I think are doing interesting things. And I make it my mission to help them in any way I can to achieve their mission. I find this much more satisfying, much more honorable, and much more fun. And this is the cool thing about people….When you help them out in this way, they help you out. Not because it’s a tit for tat deal, but because both parties are engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship that extends beyond the next favor.
Anyway, I’ve met a number of people in the Singapore entrepreneurship circle which Bernard Leong is associated with, and if I had to stereotype and label them with one word, it would definitely be “mercenary”. And no, I don’t trust most of them, nor do I like them.
Here’s more from Bernard Leong:
If I ever meet Bernard Leong in person, maybe we’ll exchange namecards (I do give out my namecard quite often when I meet people), but I’ll be glad that I won’t need to spend more than 10 minutes with him.How many people did you manage to talk to in the event?: I try to spare 5 to 10 minutes per person and move around the area.
Except that there are a lot of other people like him.
So I’m now sitting here at Starbucks Holland V working.
Well, intending to work anyway.
But it’s noisy as hell, with people talking loudly cheering shouting jingle bells jingle all the way I can’t even blog properly and that’s because I was thinking that there would be that free wireless internet access thingy called Wireless@SG but the connection is intermittent so it’s hard to do stuff and it’s noisy because it’s crowded and it’s crowded because they are giving out free tall drinks from 5 to 7 I think and I only found out about the free tall drinks at 4:55 which was about 17 seconds after I paid for my Frapuccino and that’s only because I asked the cashier why there are so many staff around today.
So much for a change of environment.
For some reason I felt strongly compelled to take this quiz:
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast
Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak. |
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| Philadelphia |
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| The Inland North |
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| The Midland |
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| Boston |
|
| The South |
|
| The West |
|
| North Central |
|
| What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes |
|
Even though I don’t speak with an American accent.
I’m sure all Singaporeans who speak with an American accent, however they acquired it, would greatly appreciate this quiz. Now they can tell people “I speak with a Boston accent!”
So when I arrived at the seminar, I got a lot of knowing smiles from my colleagues who were already there.
That’s because I arrived together with the Matriarch.
And yes, I rode in her car. I had little choice, since everyone else had already left the office, and both of us were the only ones left who were going to the seminar. I had no choice!
But she was all nice and motherly during the car ride, asking me about my aspirations, my plans, and even about my personal life. So when she was done with asking me about my family, I decided to return her the favour.
“So do you have kids?” but I already knew the answer.
“Yes, I have 2 daughters. One is 26, and one is 23.”
Ahhh, and my sources tell me that they are pretty!
She goes on to tell me about their jobs.
“Oh, so does she like to write?” I asked, after she told me what her 23 year-old does.
“Yes, she does! She writes for her church newsletter as well.”
“Does she blog?”
“No, she doesn’t, I don’t think.” I could hear her thinking, wondering if the daughter blogs without her knowing.
“Well, blogging is a good way to improve your writing,” I tell her, before explaining to her the reasons…
Even though I’m not into festivities, if she invites me to her place for Christmas or Chinese New Year, I might even consider dropping by! (But only if the daughters are there of course.)
“Are you sure you want her to be your mother-in-law?” a colleague solemnly warned me after I wistfully related the incident.
“Yeah, you do have a point…”
*Sigh* Why must everything in life come with a catch?
