Friday turned out to be a very intellectual day indeed. And somehow the gloomy rainy weather seems to have an effect what's been going on. I went grocery shopping that afternoon and when I went back home I bumped into my pastor. He's waiting for something so we chatted for awhile in the cafe just around the corner from my place. Talked about football and such but mostly on the subject of photography. Like I said in my previous post that I have an issue with regards to self-confidence and I think even more so in this area. After talking to him, although he hasn't answered any of my self-confidence questions but there is this assurance coming from him about my issues. And oddly enough, that actually gave me some confidence to what I do. I'm sure my friends have been doing that waaay earlier than him but it is just something else when the same words come from an older wiser person. Words of wisdom just flowed from him and you just can't help it but absorb it all. Because at the end of the day, I am an intellectual person and that is how I operate. There are reasons for what I do, why I do things and how I approach it. For me, that short-but-feels-like-a-day 1.5 hour conversation ticks all the right boxes.
As though today were part of a play, there's the intermission. He later went to Hertz to grab the car he was going to rent and after the person at the counter ran through him with some of the options that he can have for the rented car, my pastor went on to call his wife to discuss a few things. I was at the counter just looking after his stuff. Then the guy at the counter said to me, "Is he your dad?" I told him no but I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing. Told my pastor after that on what had happened and he thought it was funny. We people in church have been making fun of his age, his hair etc so it seems that some people outside of church seem to think so too =P Well, it's either that I really look that young or that he is...well, wiser. Lol.
After OCF the intense conversations resumed, first starting with a bunch of people asking me to explain the Monty Hall Problem. Some have said that they have been thinking about the problem for 3 days and still don't get it. That just opened up a whole can of worms. From the topic of probability we strayed to issues of mathematics, statistics, economics, finance, neurology and physics to say the least, and in that order. I think I have overloaded my word quota for today and tomorrow man. So geeky right?
Day 5 of trying to boot my netbook with a USB and I'm deciding to just throw in the towel. I think maybe this is a sign that I should stick to Linux and/or Mac. *shake fist*
たぶん自信がありませんでしょうか？
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
at
5:42 PM
Things to do:
1. Massacre first paper tomorrow Well not really a massacre but not bad
2. Upload pictures for criticism
3. Cut my seriously long hair Bad bad bad cut
4. Buy a decently sharp knife with sharpening block
5. Buy container for own kitchen utensils (no sharing with sister)
6.Buy netbook (or Macbook if someone gives me another $1,200) and sell my current laptop
7. Go out shooting either on film or digital
Well it's been an interesting exam period. I'm just glad that this semester is over because some of the more boring subjects for this course are all lumped into this semester. I think this just goes to show that I'm really a technical person and I cannot stand doing business and/or management side of things. For example the last paper is pretty much about drawing diagrams and on project management. Boring. Ironically this semester I wished that I had managed my time properly because right at the end of the semester I had monster assignments to hand in all at the same time and I think I nearly paid it with my life.
I think I should start finding for good diary apps for the iPhone. Since blogging has been few and far in between, there have been many things going on in my head and I keep telling myself I should take note of this when I blog. Obviously not a good idea since with time everything decays even memory (you can pretty much thank that to the Second Law of Thermodynamics =P).
I'm not sure whether I'm going through some sort of identity crisis of my own. Everywhere I go, where ever I am that I have some sort of a remote interest in, something happens or someone says something that just says "You're nothing. You don't know what you are talking about/doing. Seriously." And I'm sure that dozens of friends and/or people have been telling me that I'm actually doing good but somehow I somewhat don't believe them. For one, they are in my opinion seriously waaaay better than me in any way possible. I have been overly cautious and try to be humble whenever some one says that because (1) Some people are just saying that I'm doing good just out of courtesy or politeness which I think is just really shallow and (2) Even if they really mean it, I do not want to jump ahead and eventually lose my head to ego. I think that sometimes people are hit with a combination of the above and cause them to be deluded of the main point or what the context is about and I might say that some have gone to the point of no return until they will eventually crash and burn in some way. I guess what I'm saying is that I lack discernment and self-confidence in whatever I do. I used to think that self-confidence equals arrogance and therefore I will avoid anything to do with self-confidence for no one likes an arrogant person. It is perhaps this misunderstanding of what self-confidence means that had led me to live a rather timid life. Afraid of criticism, afraid of confronting my peers about my interests/skills, afraid of standing up. How does one undo years of living a lie? A lie that I think is fundamentally at the core of most of my problems in life? Just as Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his inaugural speech in 1932, "The only thing to fear is fear itself", I'm in fear. Fear of myself and others.
It is unbelievably hard at times to be scientifically technical person especially when you don't have that many scientifically technical friends. The hardest people to talk to sometimes but ironically the best people to talk to are the arts students/people. Maybe it is just me but there is a lot of things that I would like to know in the world of the arts, media, history, marketing and advertising etc and just this little curiosity into the littlest corners of the human subconscious hit by these areas is something that I can take interest but have no reason to pursue it any further. The kicker comes in when the conversation starts to veer the other end of the spectrum. Any slight technical jargon that flies out of my mouth and the dams in their ears shut tighter than a unopened jam jar. And then the poking starts. Sure I know that it's all for fun but there are times where enough is enough. This whole thing makes me feel like us science-y people can "stoop down" (for lack of a better phrase) to the arts but not the other way round. Is it due to attitude or something else? Don't get me wrong, some of the best, meaningful and intellectual conversations I've had in my life are people who want nothing to do with science and I'm grateful for them but it wouldn't hurt to be just to be slightly inquisitive about the sciences. Normally most of us would be able to give something in layman's terms (most of the time we really understand these things from our lecturers/books from layman's example anyway).
Ok enough negativity, heer teh niuz:
An approval matrix of several events. Quite funny some of them eg. bottom right quadrant about South Korea and the World Cup, top right on long newspaper articles and demanding more pictures of cats and a mention of the Serious Eats Food Lab column (thought it would be higher on the scale). The bottom left quadrant is just wrong.
There are plenty of Easter eggs in all of the Pixar movies if you just look hard enough. Time to start collecting.
This is possibly the root issue for all the problems we've been having in Malaysia since it's independence. Short sightedness of the Malaysian leaders perhaps? Worse still taking pot shots at our southern neighbours? Not cool man.
Interesting, Australia is the 4th safest country to give birth and yet more mothers are even more anxious about their pregnancies.
Some historical and cultural info about one of Melbourne's not-so-obscure laneway.
Although I'm not strictly in these category of men, I feel some of the things that they feel.
Sick. A 1W laser available to the public. 1W may not sound like much but in one of the physics lab that I've visited in my undergrad years had a 10W laser at their disposal. This 10W laser is enough to melt your eyes before you can even blink.
A little too late for Sony but let's not cross them out just yet.
If this is true, then technically I've not hit my teenage years =P
Hmmm, what we are doing to our dogs seem to be a reflection of what we are doing to ourselves?
Apparently being fat makes you more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases even though they are getting waaay less action in bed.
This can get rather ugly in the future.
Hahaha, Darth Vader has borderline personality disorder.
Beware Calvin Klein cologne wearers. Beware.
2. Upload pictures for criticism
4. Buy a decently sharp knife with sharpening block
5. Buy container for own kitchen utensils (no sharing with sister)
6.
7. Go out shooting either on film or digital
Well it's been an interesting exam period. I'm just glad that this semester is over because some of the more boring subjects for this course are all lumped into this semester. I think this just goes to show that I'm really a technical person and I cannot stand doing business and/or management side of things. For example the last paper is pretty much about drawing diagrams and on project management. Boring. Ironically this semester I wished that I had managed my time properly because right at the end of the semester I had monster assignments to hand in all at the same time and I think I nearly paid it with my life.
I think I should start finding for good diary apps for the iPhone. Since blogging has been few and far in between, there have been many things going on in my head and I keep telling myself I should take note of this when I blog. Obviously not a good idea since with time everything decays even memory (you can pretty much thank that to the Second Law of Thermodynamics =P).
I'm not sure whether I'm going through some sort of identity crisis of my own. Everywhere I go, where ever I am that I have some sort of a remote interest in, something happens or someone says something that just says "You're nothing. You don't know what you are talking about/doing. Seriously." And I'm sure that dozens of friends and/or people have been telling me that I'm actually doing good but somehow I somewhat don't believe them. For one, they are in my opinion seriously waaaay better than me in any way possible. I have been overly cautious and try to be humble whenever some one says that because (1) Some people are just saying that I'm doing good just out of courtesy or politeness which I think is just really shallow and (2) Even if they really mean it, I do not want to jump ahead and eventually lose my head to ego. I think that sometimes people are hit with a combination of the above and cause them to be deluded of the main point or what the context is about and I might say that some have gone to the point of no return until they will eventually crash and burn in some way. I guess what I'm saying is that I lack discernment and self-confidence in whatever I do. I used to think that self-confidence equals arrogance and therefore I will avoid anything to do with self-confidence for no one likes an arrogant person. It is perhaps this misunderstanding of what self-confidence means that had led me to live a rather timid life. Afraid of criticism, afraid of confronting my peers about my interests/skills, afraid of standing up. How does one undo years of living a lie? A lie that I think is fundamentally at the core of most of my problems in life? Just as Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his inaugural speech in 1932, "The only thing to fear is fear itself", I'm in fear. Fear of myself and others.
It is unbelievably hard at times to be scientifically technical person especially when you don't have that many scientifically technical friends. The hardest people to talk to sometimes but ironically the best people to talk to are the arts students/people. Maybe it is just me but there is a lot of things that I would like to know in the world of the arts, media, history, marketing and advertising etc and just this little curiosity into the littlest corners of the human subconscious hit by these areas is something that I can take interest but have no reason to pursue it any further. The kicker comes in when the conversation starts to veer the other end of the spectrum. Any slight technical jargon that flies out of my mouth and the dams in their ears shut tighter than a unopened jam jar. And then the poking starts. Sure I know that it's all for fun but there are times where enough is enough. This whole thing makes me feel like us science-y people can "stoop down" (for lack of a better phrase) to the arts but not the other way round. Is it due to attitude or something else? Don't get me wrong, some of the best, meaningful and intellectual conversations I've had in my life are people who want nothing to do with science and I'm grateful for them but it wouldn't hurt to be just to be slightly inquisitive about the sciences. Normally most of us would be able to give something in layman's terms (most of the time we really understand these things from our lecturers/books from layman's example anyway).
Ok enough negativity, heer teh niuz:
An approval matrix of several events. Quite funny some of them eg. bottom right quadrant about South Korea and the World Cup, top right on long newspaper articles and demanding more pictures of cats and a mention of the Serious Eats Food Lab column (thought it would be higher on the scale). The bottom left quadrant is just wrong.
There are plenty of Easter eggs in all of the Pixar movies if you just look hard enough. Time to start collecting.
This is possibly the root issue for all the problems we've been having in Malaysia since it's independence. Short sightedness of the Malaysian leaders perhaps? Worse still taking pot shots at our southern neighbours? Not cool man.
Interesting, Australia is the 4th safest country to give birth and yet more mothers are even more anxious about their pregnancies.
Some historical and cultural info about one of Melbourne's not-so-obscure laneway.
Although I'm not strictly in these category of men, I feel some of the things that they feel.
Sick. A 1W laser available to the public. 1W may not sound like much but in one of the physics lab that I've visited in my undergrad years had a 10W laser at their disposal. This 10W laser is enough to melt your eyes before you can even blink.
A little too late for Sony but let's not cross them out just yet.
If this is true, then technically I've not hit my teenage years =P
Hmmm, what we are doing to our dogs seem to be a reflection of what we are doing to ourselves?
Apparently being fat makes you more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases even though they are getting waaay less action in bed.
This can get rather ugly in the future.
Hahaha, Darth Vader has borderline personality disorder.
Beware Calvin Klein cologne wearers. Beware.
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comments
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Yes It Would Indeed
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
at
3:51 PM
So far I've been crashing quite badly thanks to the sleep debt that I've accumulated over the past few weeks (note: the validity of sleep debt is debatable but I don't care. Yet). But it feels good to be able to have some ample rest but on the other hand also not making me calm down that my first exam and possibly the most unpredictable of all my papers is tomorrow. Hopefully I don't decide to crash again tonight. Anyway, managed to clean my room after it was hit by the assignment storm a few weeks back. I normally draw the line when I see dust bunnies the size of bunnies on my table but I had to let it slide. Everyday, the dust bunnies seem to be multiplying as well [insert bunny stereotype]. Now everything looks pristine and somewhat in order.
It's again the time of the year where I need to do and/or buy stuff since the end of the financial year sales are coming up. I shall get into it after my first paper because after that the rest of the papers aren't that bad anymore. I think.
Things to do:
1. Massacre first paper tomorrow
2. Upload pictures for criticism
3. Cut my seriously long hair
4. Buy a decently sharp knife with sharpening block
5. Buy container for own kitchen utensils (no sharing with sister)
6. Buy netbook (or Macbook if someone gives me another $1,200) and sell my current laptop
7. Go out shooting either on film or digital
I haven't done item #6 in a loooooong time. Especially on film. I've yet to use the ISO 1600 black and white film that I bought in Singapore early this year. And that relatively cheap expired Velvia that I got some months back. Think I'm losing my touch as assignments and exams slowly eating my time away. Must. Go. Shooting.
I've recently played around with an iPad and I have to say this is mightily impressive. People think it is like an iPhone on steroids but I think it is a bit more than that. Having that bigger screen really does make a big difference to what your application solutions to be. Apps that are bundled with any iPhone have been redesigned to suit the iPad and seriously changes everything. Though I didn't get to play games on it (since that unit was for testing purposes for business) I would really like to see how it is with games since the iPad is meant to revolutionize mobile gaming. Awesomesauce.
There are very few songs that I will never get sick of listening to. Even the mounds of CDs that I have, only a few songs are addictive enough for me to listen over and over again. Examples are like the whole Wicked Broadway soundtrack, John Mayer's Battle Studies album, Ginny Owen's This Road and Simply Love You tracks etc. Rarer still are songs that have been covered or remixed by other people. No matter how good a job in making the original better or quirky, so far none has gotten the status of "Addictive" yet. Until now.
You may have heard of the drummer Cobus Potgieter who have been doing some drum covers of some songs.I think I've mentioned it here somewhere but can't seem to find it. Check him out, some of his notable ones are Bomfunk MC's Freestyler and his Michael Jackson series and a few rather embarrassing pop songs but I guarantee you he undoes all the embarrassment. The two songs that have reached my "Addictive" status are his versions of Ke$ha's Tik Tok and Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You. Now I never really did super liked Tik Tok but like some of the comments on Youtube have said, Cobus has a way of making songs that people don't like to like them. One actually said he does a good job at ungaying a gay song.
That's great but the next song I actually like, even without his cover. Has somewhat the same energy from the Since U Been Gone in the Breakaway album that I really like. So how on earth did he make this song such that I cannot listen to the original version the same way again? Watch after the jump.
He does some crazy things from the word go. At 0:50 see him twirl his drumstick in the midst of playing and then after that he just went crazy after 2:30 with his crazy footwork and climaxing from 3:00 onwards. And you can tell that he is having so much fun playing that song with the occasional smiles he flashes in the video. That is something that you don't generally see much of when seeing other people doing covers of songs. The song is soooo catchy with that insane drumbeat that it is hard to ignore it. Some of the comments for that video are quite hilarious citing anything from the usual "omg." to the more explicit version of it. The people there seem to like it so much that they actually keep track of the number of people who dislike the video, dissing them in the process. Addictive I tell you. I think I've played this song as least 20 times already.
Paper in 24 hours.
And now the news:
Ever wonder how chefs can be so creative with their food or where did they get these crazy food ideas? Well seems that it comes from the same source as music bands, drugs.
Self-control is a finite resource and a finite level of replenishment. This changes everything.
Stories like these make us guys feel like nothing is impossible.
Heard about the fabled Black American Express card? Well it's no longer a myth and you can get too. All you need is to spend $250,000 a year on the credit card.
I don't know, what do you all think about girls proposing to the guy, complete with ring and all?
Can we haz 4-dei skul wik?
Looks funny, but like everything, need to take it with a pinch of salt.
Apparently cough syrup helps in getting you pregnant.
Sorry coffee addicts.
Another extraordinary story from rags to riches, all having one just one attribute. Loyalty.
According to Steve Jobs, the iPhone was an afterthought.
Several decades later, we are still learning so much from Einstein himself.
Interesting quote, "Fame is like rape".
Another hypocritical statement from a celebrity.
Why Gore? Why?
You know, until now I still haven't watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. Timeless classic that Audrey Hepburn. But yeah for #5.
Having had time to play with the iPad, I think I might be taking Jetstar more often =P
Information technology has screwed our brains. Srsly.
Akihabara. I would loooooove to go there.
It's again the time of the year where I need to do and/or buy stuff since the end of the financial year sales are coming up. I shall get into it after my first paper because after that the rest of the papers aren't that bad anymore. I think.
Things to do:
1. Massacre first paper tomorrow
2. Upload pictures for criticism
3. Cut my seriously long hair
4. Buy a decently sharp knife with sharpening block
5. Buy container for own kitchen utensils (no sharing with sister)
6. Buy netbook (or Macbook if someone gives me another $1,200) and sell my current laptop
7. Go out shooting either on film or digital
I haven't done item #6 in a loooooong time. Especially on film. I've yet to use the ISO 1600 black and white film that I bought in Singapore early this year. And that relatively cheap expired Velvia that I got some months back. Think I'm losing my touch as assignments and exams slowly eating my time away. Must. Go. Shooting.
I've recently played around with an iPad and I have to say this is mightily impressive. People think it is like an iPhone on steroids but I think it is a bit more than that. Having that bigger screen really does make a big difference to what your application solutions to be. Apps that are bundled with any iPhone have been redesigned to suit the iPad and seriously changes everything. Though I didn't get to play games on it (since that unit was for testing purposes for business) I would really like to see how it is with games since the iPad is meant to revolutionize mobile gaming. Awesomesauce.
There are very few songs that I will never get sick of listening to. Even the mounds of CDs that I have, only a few songs are addictive enough for me to listen over and over again. Examples are like the whole Wicked Broadway soundtrack, John Mayer's Battle Studies album, Ginny Owen's This Road and Simply Love You tracks etc. Rarer still are songs that have been covered or remixed by other people. No matter how good a job in making the original better or quirky, so far none has gotten the status of "Addictive" yet. Until now.
You may have heard of the drummer Cobus Potgieter who have been doing some drum covers of some songs.
That's great but the next song I actually like, even without his cover. Has somewhat the same energy from the Since U Been Gone in the Breakaway album that I really like. So how on earth did he make this song such that I cannot listen to the original version the same way again? Watch after the jump.
He does some crazy things from the word go. At 0:50 see him twirl his drumstick in the midst of playing and then after that he just went crazy after 2:30 with his crazy footwork and climaxing from 3:00 onwards. And you can tell that he is having so much fun playing that song with the occasional smiles he flashes in the video. That is something that you don't generally see much of when seeing other people doing covers of songs. The song is soooo catchy with that insane drumbeat that it is hard to ignore it. Some of the comments for that video are quite hilarious citing anything from the usual "omg." to the more explicit version of it. The people there seem to like it so much that they actually keep track of the number of people who dislike the video, dissing them in the process. Addictive I tell you. I think I've played this song as least 20 times already.
Paper in 24 hours.
And now the news:
Ever wonder how chefs can be so creative with their food or where did they get these crazy food ideas? Well seems that it comes from the same source as music bands, drugs.
Self-control is a finite resource and a finite level of replenishment. This changes everything.
Stories like these make us guys feel like nothing is impossible.
Heard about the fabled Black American Express card? Well it's no longer a myth and you can get too. All you need is to spend $250,000 a year on the credit card.
I don't know, what do you all think about girls proposing to the guy, complete with ring and all?
Can we haz 4-dei skul wik?
Looks funny, but like everything, need to take it with a pinch of salt.
Apparently cough syrup helps in getting you pregnant.
Sorry coffee addicts.
Another extraordinary story from rags to riches, all having one just one attribute. Loyalty.
According to Steve Jobs, the iPhone was an afterthought.
Several decades later, we are still learning so much from Einstein himself.
Interesting quote, "Fame is like rape".
Another hypocritical statement from a celebrity.
Why Gore? Why?
You know, until now I still haven't watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. Timeless classic that Audrey Hepburn. But yeah for #5.
Having had time to play with the iPad, I think I might be taking Jetstar more often =P
Information technology has screwed our brains. Srsly.
Akihabara. I would loooooove to go there.
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