Short Update

There have been lots of ups and downs this week. Glad that it’s started with down period and end at the standard level (I’m not Citibank share price although it sounds like that).

The whole week of work can be summed up as one word. Frustrating. It’s not the amount of work that I’m complaining. It’s the gaps between my effort and the result which I’m expecting. What do you feel when you know that what you have done for the past three days (plus OT) are total useless and you have to redo them all, despite the tight schedule of the current phase? What do you feel when people throw you the whole week task to be done last minutely, and question your ability because you can’t done them all? I was demoralized.

This Saturday marks my first time going to office on weekend. Almost are my team members are there, and my gloomy mood was somehow healed only by seeing how they work and perform as a team. I suddenly realized that they have been covering me from a lot of emergencies that they are having. How selfish am I to be thinking about my ownself without looking at it from the team level perspective?

My moral was back, but I’m still tired physically. Haha. I’m expecting this thing to continue for at least the next two weeks… so now I shall sleep.

Oh yes, the NATAS fair was good :) We won a trip to Korea for 4M – 3S, equivalent to 4 minutes 3 seconds. Haha.


A blink trip to Korea - Winter Time

Korea.. Japan.. Taiwan... Gold Coast... ZzZz,
ED

The Outliers

I completed Malcolm’s Outliers this week. (Didn’t feel very complete as I failed to solve the IQ Quiz on Page 78 even after I dreamt about it, but I have to move on)

In summary, the book stresses the importance of hard work. The famous people; the outliers; are really the creation of hard work + opportunities. My two favorite’s takeaways are the 10,000 hours rule and the birth theory.

The 10,000-hours rule defined the minimum hours to be spent by anyone to be an expert, regardless of the profession. In the examples, he quoted how Bill Gates steals computing time from University of Michigan, how Mozart composed his masterpiece only after more than 10 years in music world, and how Beatles use to perform the whole night – everyday – for almost 3 years. Hard work. This is one of the two parts of success.

The second part is luck. It talks how every successful people are born in the right timing for the specific field… Bill Gates, BlackRock founders… and he even included his family as the own example.

This is his third and latest book, yet this is the only book I read from him. Not sure if his style of writing is all the same, but it’s an interesting book overall, packed with facts and interrelations between each example. The examples themselves are only a handful, but in every chapter, he reveals more and more interesting facts, which engaged us until the end of the chapter.

The book actually makes me think further about how my own luck brings me to what I’m right now. If only my eldest sister wasn’t in Medan, I would not have been studying there for my high school. If I didn’t study at Medan, there is little chance that I will make it to overseas. If only my BINUS exam card wasn’t stolen by the robbers, I might now be in Jakarta and works there. If I didn’t pick my internship at Apple; I might not be able to get the sponsored trip to WWDC (and if only I slept outside of the Moscone West, I might have got the chance to meet Steve Jobs hehe). And of course, if only I choose other courses in NTU, I might not get the chance to enjoy all this graduate training program experience.

These are all the opportunities... the encounters… the luck if you want to call it, plus the hours I have spent in dunno-where, which determined what I’m right now. But if you want to dig further and question what determine the opportunities… I totally have no idea. I am a believer that opportunities came randomly. If I can do it, I will take and live to it. As simple as that. Frankly speaking, I can’t remember what is the hardest decision I have made… guess this is another effect of being born as the youngest in family… you are not trained to make decision. Hehe.

Should I continue or sleep now? I choose the latter! :D
ED

... Forgot to include a short summary of what has happened this week...
This week is full of late night sleeps. Full week of OTs, ended with a Saturday OTs until 4am. Had a team dinner on Friday at Vila Bali which served superb grill chicken. Had a lunch at Mahattan with Calvin Rina Winson @ Central Clark Quay.

RCHN Committee 13th - Comms and CIP Gathering

Had a KTV Session with SCE-ians @ Party World Liang Court. Had a lunch session at IMM with YX and gotten jealous over his trip pictures. Had a nice swim on Sunday morning which is forcing my eyes to close now.

The first time being in Party World - the moments worth the every single cent :)

Happy Birthday, Indonesia!

Tomorrow is the Independence Day. And I have to work :( Guess I can only celebrate it with my own way then… maybe by wearing red and eating KFC (figure out yourself of how does KFC even related at all)

This week has been short and sweet. Monday was a holiday and I went to Bugis for praying and KFC. It has been quite long since the last time I touch Bugis. Thanks to Ryoma, we managed to catch a glimpse of Zai Zai as well, the cool guy in Meteor Garden. I watched him promoting his new movie for several mins.. and then deciding to sit at Starbucks and take pictures.


The two die-hard fans

Tuesday to Friday was a normal working day. I can see quite a lot of new faces in the office, but can’t really figure out who are they. My team never leaves before 9pm anymore. All worked so hard… and I hope it pays.

On Friday evening, I went to Abhinav’s party @ Iguana Café. Great food, great ambience, but I guess I drank abit too fast and too much :( I reached back home at 11pm and totally passed out once I touched my bed. I awake on the next hour, then turned on the air condition, and dozed off again until one. Only after that, I woke up, showered, and had a proper sleep.

My beauty sleep couldn’t last long. I set my alarm to woke me up at 5.45 as I have promised to go for trekking at Sungai Buloh. Lucky that I didn’t encountered the same dizziness like last week. Wew.

After spending my half day in trekking, I continued going out with Inche, and ended with the Hangover movie. There movie was funny. There were a lot of laugh in the cinema… but I guessed some jokes are too specific to guys and I just didn’t get it T_T

Anyway, Sunday was lazy as usual. Sleep for half day and continue with weekly routine. I have watched Ice Age 3… it’s good but I don’t understand what it so special that people watch it again and again. I hope I haven’t lost my sense of good movies…

A lot of good movies coming up… But I am particularly preying at Sherlock Holmes only for the moment :p

12 o’clock now. Happy Birthday Indonesia :) Now it crosses my mind that I should have written a more patriotic entry. hahaha. Irregardless, You will always be in my heart :)
ED

Happy National Day!

Does anyone know how long has it been since the last public holiday? Leave alone the golden long-weekend. The last one was on 9th May. 3 months ago! Everyone seems to be so used with the rare holidays; to the extend that they didn’t even realize that Monday is a public holiday. I myself realized it only like 3 days ago ^^;

In office, I moved to a new desk. I got a new computer, and the new seat is closer to my team member. I’m so thankful that the computer is faster. Now I can access the application and do testing much faster than before. It makes such a big different, seriously! But I still go home late T_T… Can’t be helped, this is the critical time for the project. I really don’t know when the developers slept. They seems to be there 24/7.

Friday night, I stayed at office till 9pm, then chilled out at the Smoothies near the office (2 mins walk). The ambiance was good. They have a live band performing the hits song (including David Archuleta – Crush!), and it’s not crowded (who would come except those work nearby?) It closed at 11.30, and I reached home at almost 12… Then dozed off until 1.30 the next day :s I’m such a pig.

After showering and late lunch, I showered again (huh?) and headed to Vivo. Sabrina was throwing a party for her ‘housewarming’, and I intended to get something for her. In the end, I met her there and finally went shopping together ^^; The party started at 8… and didn't end until morning, I guess. I left after 12, but can hardly sleep at the night. Don’t ask me why.

So, on Sunday, I wake up at the amazing 7am (the earliest record for the last 2 months), visited my restaurant city, went swimming, and started my day. I’m still waiting for a call from my friend coming from Indonesia… who said that he will contact me once he reached Singapore… but seems like I’m forgotten T_T

I finished the two seasons of IT Crowd after 3 months (6 episodes / season. It’s my speed). The last episode was disappointing, but still not a bad show altogether. Now I’m indecisive of the next series to watch. How I Meet Your Mother, perhaps? Or Coupling? Hmm…

Alright, 5pm now. What a lazy weekend. time to do some house cleaning and get ready for dinner =)

Tomorrow is a holiday. Yay, yay yay~!
ED

Happy Wedded Life!

I didn’t blog last week! :( I intended to do that the day after, but time just rolled and I was never able to reach home before 10… so… here goes the belated blog. I will skip my daily grumble and go to the highlight of last week… :)

It was my IA Supervisor’s wedding last week. Ever since the first week I worked under him, I know that he is a perfectionist with a long term plans for every major events in his life. Back to 2007, he talked about his plan for further studies and laughed while saying “maybe next two years” when his boss asked about his marriage plan.

Now is 2009, he is holding an MBA, and has just exchanged the marriage vow to the love of his life. I’m really impressed. I think I asked him before if there is any plan that he failed to achieve. He told me the hardest one was to gain weight. Jezz, I would love to have that in my plan list. Achievement guaranteed.

… Back to the topic. I got his invitation 2 months back. As I was looking at the invitation, I feel so glad that he still remembers his humble IA student, and then put it at the back of my mind as the time is still two months away.

All in sudden, the time is here and I prepare nothing. Alright, not like I have to prepare a lot like the newly weds, but I can’t even find a red packet on the day itself! T_T lucky that he is a perfectionist indeed and the packet is available at the reception. Hehe…

I attended the Holy Matrimony, which is nothing less than wonderful. The participants were doubled from expectations, and they had to put in more seats. You can tell how popular the couple is :p After a brief praise and worship, the weeding vow was spoken, the ring was exchanged, the candle was lighted, and the story was revealed. They have been dating for 4 years, the chasing went for one year, and the guy was asked to wait for one month for the answer! But it was definitely a worthwhile wait. The ceremony ended at 7.30, and we proceed to the dining at the main ballroom of Shangri-La hotel.


The first time I saw a Thank You gift arranged on your plate

The wedding was grand, and the most important is, it’s really THEIR day. It’s quite different from the normal wedding I attend back in my hometown. It is not because I know the couple this time while the rest I just went for the food, but I can feel the blessings in the air. The normal wedding I attended consisted of at least 80% of parents’ acquaintances, with around 1 or 2 tables for the couple’s friends. This is the total opposite. Almost all the events are organized by their friends. The band, the singers, the MC, the show, the receptionist, the video, the songs… they literally have an executive committee for their wedding preparation. I especially loved the Mac and PC parody by his bosses. Can you believe… his ex-bosses perform for his wedding! And this is the most diversified wedding I ever attended… I can see Japanese, Korean, Indian, Westerner, Singaporean and (definitely) Indonesian everywhere :)

Enough said. In conclusion, I enjoyed the wedding (and the food). As the bridesmaid said, I too wish my own marriage can be as meaningful as theirs :)

Best wishes to both of you!
ED