Leap Musing

It took me 21 hours later to register in my mind that today is 29th Feb 2008 which is supposedly “significant”. I remember the DJ mention Leaplings which I just acknowledge as a common phrase.. guess I was busy.

Then when I came back, my friend had mentioned something about the leap year which I replied him instinctively while watching Linger…

Only when I was searching for the blood donation advertisement print and chanced upon this paragraph

In Irish Tradition, the Leap Day is the only day that women are allowed to propose a marriage to a man. It is because the Leap Day exists only once in 4 years. Besides, today if a man is ever asked by a woman for a date, the man is not supposed or allowed to reject the date.

Then suddenly it hit upon me that today is a significant day. I got curious to know what I had blogged 4 years ago. Unfortunately I did not blog anything. Feb 2004, is my last sem of my undergrad years. It is a coincidence that 4 years later, I’m at my last sem of my postgrad years. Haha I might have skip school one week to go Australia with my family that time as I remember there wasn’t a term break for that sem because the school actually thought we do not need a break. Luckily the SU make a fuss and got back the term break in the following academic year though by then, I grad already.

Hmm but seriously I don’t feel any significance. Just glad that I managed to rekindle back some fire and clear some stuff. And grateful for the term break. And worried that I might not be capable enough. And aching and sleepy due to my cough that interrupted my sleep and hurt my back. Zzzzz

p/s: I still cannot find the advertisement. Hmm wanted to comment about it and share about the XBox ad.. too bad!

李冰冰 - 只有回忆

只有回忆
-李冰冰
Theme song for Linger

总是在 消失了才看个明白
手一松心就会期待
总是在 静下来心跳如钟摆
在无处可逃要对自己坦白

可惜在往往尝透了悲哀
才更懂什么是爱
快乐总存放于未来
忘记了抚摸现在

遗憾在 念念不忘受过伤害
才怀疑 那是因为爱
遗憾在失去了沉默的关怀
才醒悟感情原本无需表白

可惜在要把一切放下来
才感到 曾经存在
纠缠时眼睛睁不开
清醒时只有无奈

遗憾在 念念不忘受过伤害
才怀疑 那是因为爱
遗憾在 失去了沉默的关怀
才醒悟感情原本无需表白

遗憾在 发生过的不容修改
眼泪是 为过去还债
最遗憾在 爱总是来不及明白
只有回忆能证明真爱何在

Who is Rich? Who is Poor?

One day, a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the countryside so he could give his son a glimpse of how poor rural people were..... They stayed one day and one night in the farm house of a very humble farm.

At the end of the trip and back home, the father asked the son: What did you think of the trip?

The son replied: Very nice Dad

Father: Did you notice how poor they were?

Son: Yes

Father: What did you learn?

Son: I learned that we have one dog in the house...and they have four.
I learned that we have a fountain in the garden and they have a stream that has no end.
I learned that we have imported lamps in the garden; they have the stars. I learned that our garden goes to the edge of our property; they have the entire horizon as their back yard.

At the end of the son's reply the father was speechless. His son added: "Thank you dad for showing me how poor we really are."

Author’s comments:
I had gotten this from an e-mail quite sometime. Sometimes, there really is a different way of seeing things. Last night’s conversation made me realised that I have been focusing on the wrong thing. Truth is I know what I should focus, but I did not listen. Luckily GA was patient with me.

Actually I feel a bit guilty, because there is something I did not say. But it is hard to converse with someone whose mind is preoccupied. I believed as long as GA knows I appreciate it can already.

It is a different way to see a certain matter. And I cherish what had happened on Tuesday even if nothing fruitful turns out. At the very least, I did try to grasp the opportunity. Whatever happens later, will depend entirely on THE PLAN. Most importantly, at that point, I felt that GA had replied me, and promptly. For that, I’m very grateful.

The past few days had also been queer in a least expected way. My pet project was down on Wednesday’s noon due to technical issues. Because of it, I ended up mailing my suppliers, something I did not really want to do because it will create a commotion. But the site refused to up after a few hours had passed and I had no choice but to send out the 400 emails. Naturally I spammed my own mailbox because of the read receipts and the undelivered mails received. And today, I had to send another email to inform them the site is back in operation. Due to this event, my phone became the hotline, which isn’t really good news because I don’t have much voice to entertain haha. But I ended up making them aware of my pet project once again, especially to those inactive users. And they started asking me for userid and password. In some sense, I felt at least something positive and fruitful happened due to this downtime. Afterall I always wanted my suppliers to make use of my pet project if possible, to try to eliminate paper waste haha.

星星王子： 不安定的男友

Source: Sina

人说双子座的男人最花心，射手座的男人最不安定，其实对女人而言，她所遇到的那个男人就是最不安定的星座。

双子座：

他不是不想安定下来，他只是太喜欢站在舞台上，享受众人的掌声，爱上他的女人请变成他的舞台，而不能只做个追星族，记得适时给他掌声。

巨蟹座：

他非常害怕被背叛，看上去愈是冷静的他愈危险，他会花很长的时间来观察你，他很容易躲进壳里，你一定要搞清楚他逃跑的原因，爱上巨蟹男，需要非比寻常的耐心，请勿心急。

狮子座：

他其实是最有家庭观念的星座，是传统价值观加诸男人的典型，他总是要做强者。你做狮子座的红粉知己，不要成为他另一个敌人。

处女座：

没错，他对爱人的要求一样那么完美，爱他要很专心，因为他永远不会巴望一段不确定的恋情，所以你要比他还专心、还确定，铁了心的爱他！

天秤座：

温柔而任性的天秤，是兼具危险情人与哲学家的恋人，他的不安定是天生的使坏，３０岁之前的他是抓不住的，爱上他，你要有置死地而后生的准备，不要一开始就告诉他：我跟定你了。

天蝎座：

他们是很过份的，专门欺负比他们软弱的人，他们本身很安定，非常擅于等待，他在你身边并不一定就表示承诺，他最爱的还是自己。对付他只有一个办法：以其人之道还治其人之身。

射手座：

这是据统计最多女人喜欢的星座，他们的不安定还真是有口皆碑，那是因为好奇和对自由的憧憬，想留住他就放他走，他累了就会回来，如果他的未来没有你，劝你及早抽身，爱上射手，宁可心碎，也不能心软。

摩羯座：

他们绝不是那么容易了解的人，爱上摩羯会有一种无力感，他的问题你看得到但解决不了；他的优点你看得到却用不到，爱情和面包？不用怀疑，他一定选择面包。所以要爱情，先做他的面包吧！

水瓶座：

他对这个世界充满好奇，水瓶男人成熟得很晚，对爱情的体认也比较晚，与水瓶座相爱是技术层面的问题，你最好设法成为他的初恋情人或是当他最好的朋友。

双鱼座：

这是一个专门混淆女人感觉的星座，他非常的害怕寂寞，你不妨去请教专家，如何跟双鱼斗智？你要比双鱼更了解双鱼，更有耐心。他需要你给他时间和爱心。

白羊座：

这个男人有点无理取闹，你不知道他到底要什么？他的不安定是连自己都不知道为什么？如果你爱上男羊儿，必须了解他的英雄主义，他接受单挑，不接受倒追。

金牛座：

他的不安定其实是因为他太愿意安定，所以他不是早早婚就是晚晚婚，斗牛的要诀是要让他看到希望、实际和未来，给他安全感，千万不能若即若离。

Bflygal's comments: Koped from Y.E.S 933 DJ Jiafa's blog actually... Because I really like this phrase "其实对女人而言，她所遇到的那个男人就是最不安定的星座。"

Actually there is another reason why I posted this.. but.. only GA knows my thots bah.

Queer Monday Musing

It had been a queer Monday for me.

I had been expecting a particular news, a particular fear this year. And it had finally materialized. While I willn't say anything about it, I find life queer at times. (And that I'm not sure if I strive to be balance or I am balanced.) Because I was both happy and sad at the same time. I do think it is a good piece of news, just not that good on my part. But timing wise seems appropriate thankfully.

That news and the fact that 2 of my friends are currently in dating stage and the news of some weddings got me thinking - Did I move forward or did I retreat or did I stay stagnant or...??? I have been looking for a particular poster that I saw years ago with Pte. At that time, I was fascinated by the picture and the quote, "The only constant is change". Queerly I had that same thinking in Nov 2006 as quoted in my previous post. Gosh is this a déjà vu? A cycle? And Pte had mentioned that I might have been in a cycle.. which actually come to think of it, is true. Because I had went through that news before, sad that I have to go through it again. But I must emphasis, I still want that to happen, and that it MUST happen.

Anyway I just couldn’t find the poster online. But this poster caught my attention.

Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.

As mentioned it is a queer day today because after that, as the day progress, something queer happened too. On one side, my colleague was collecting money for something worth celebrating. On the other side, another colleague was collecting money for a death event. 生死一线之差(roughly translated as life and death is just a string’s distance away which means there is not much difference between life and death.. I think.. ). It reminds me of those TV shows you watch on some hospital scenes where you see a baby crying past through the protagonist and then seconds later a sobbing family clinging to the bed past through the protagonist. Life.. and.. death… (Darnz, am I too balanced that I keep seeing a balance in life?)

Oh by the way after many attempts, I finally found the book I wanted. End up I had to finish a little book because I maxed my borrowing quota. Maybe I should sign up for the premium services but I rarely use it. Perhaps after I graduate..

Maybe because I read something in the library, I came home and ended up slacking again. Watched Cashback, which is about a male protagonist who can freeze time (note he mentioned one can speed time, slow time, freeze time but can never undo time and reverse what had been done) and appreciate still beauty. In it, I found 2 quotes interesting:

Crush. It's funny how the same word for the feeling of disappointment can be used for the feeling of attraction. The Oxford English Dictionary states one of the meanings for the word crushed as "a strong and unreasoning, but transitory attachment."

-- > Err 1 word, 2 extreme meanings? Oh no, I really have a penchant for such stuff.

Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it.

-- > Out of the whole movie, I think I only like this scene. The snow, the 2 leads, it was romantic.

And yupz the whole show was just.. hmm one can consider it an artsy film I guess. It’s a rather slow paced movie, which I like as it allows me to multi-task though I did not really do anything. I had wanted to finish up my readings and query my lecturer. But I ended up falling asleep. When I next woke up, I saw my group mate asking for information on another module.. so I ended up doing that instead. And being a girl with no sense of priority, my next activity was not sleep, not readings, but blogging. Haha.

Still not sure if I want to sleep or not as I will be woken up 2 hours later. Oh ya the only “cool” point of Cashback is that the male protagonist suffer from insomnia. I’m not saying suffering from insomnia is cool, I’m only saying that he realised he suddenly got an extra 8 hours to spend, as if his life has been extended by one-third. Yes, I wish to have an extra 8 hours to spend too, then I can read all the stuff I want to read (which is what the male protagonist did) and watch all the stuff I want to watch. But I have the tendency to zone out.. err so I wonder how much will I still achieve…

Hmm queer Monday … Oh but it had been a good Monday too because I cleared a debt.. Yeah, as mentioned, I really do appreciate the term break that falls nicely on ... this week. Thanks!

Happy Note

Yeah I finally found my Rubik's cube keychain. I went Comics Connection last Friday but had only found the big Rubik's cube. Today, to make myself happy, I decided to go Toys"R"Us and find the keychain version. Walked a big round before realising it is actually near the cashier counter. Hmm Toys"R"Us seems such a happening place that I couldn't help smiling.

Actually my area was bustling with activity this Sunday too as there was a Total Defense exhibition. And the kids were happily claiming their stamps for redemption. I overheard a mother commenting that this year games seem so much more fun. That's good news for the organisers. Unfortunately I did not have a camera and the phone was down so no photo-taking hmm...

Oh ya, I headed to the library after that to find materials for my case study. But no matter how many times I scanned through the shelf, I couldn't find the book. I decided to borrow other books in the end. But I couldn't accept that I cannot find that book that I ended up asking the librarian about it. And I realised the book is in the Singapore collection. Hmm.. the title was "E-Government in Asia", I seriously would not have thought that it will end up in the Singapore collection.. but.. I guess it is their way of cataloguing. At least it taught me 2 lessons
1) Next time I should find my books in the Singapore collection too.
2) I should not give up so easily in finding a book. Because of this book, I had to go out of library to “book drop” one of the book as there is no self-returning counter inside the library before borrowing it. Quite dumb I guess but well the person who had drafted the process flowchart must have been focus on cost efficient than user-friendliness.

Hmm was supposed to either read my book or take a nap, but I ended up whiling my time on “No Reservation”. Thought was some culinary show, but I ended up crying more for the little girl who lost her mother.. sighz..

Tired.. feel like sleeping… think I gonna lie on the bed soon. After last sem, I kinda realised the more effort I put in for my studies, the worst it becomes. And my health is deteriorating this sem because I practically don’t eat dinner anymore… I’m quite tired to the extent I’m letting go the reins already… if that would make me happier…

p/s: Hmm my brother messed up the Rubik and I can't fix it... Help!

Random Musing

I had finished watching TOB. 42 episodes... Maybe because I know the ending is sad, which suits my mood.

I kind of give up already. Even though I still send an email to TA to ask for clarifications. I guess I will only do the tidy up next Saturday already. I need to settle other stuff that I kept postponing already. Besides keep going to lab makes me sick...

Anyway when I left the lab, I had to go to the lib to get a book. And I passed by the bus stop which had an accident yesterday. 2 guards were there, maybe to inspect something. Maybe because it was dark already, maybe due to my mood, but seeing the bus stop, I couldn't help feeling sad. After I finish borrowing my book, I walked back to the bus stop just as they walk back to their office. And I overheard them saying maybe it is fate. I guess so. As mentioned, life is indeed fragile. Who will expect a freak accident to claim 3 lives. And it is indeed true that bus stop tends to have students waiting for internal shuttle bus. Guess it is pure luck that no students were there at that time. Seeing the fallen trees ... sighz

I remember yesterday's article in MyPaper by Anna Thomas - “Busy? It’s just a great escape”. She mentioned that "I’m busy” are the rudest words in the English language.

Claiming to be busy implies that one is capable of utilizing time, but that time is reserved for issues more important that the person one is speaking with.

Guess one should not keep claiming to be busy, in view that life is fragile.

He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good.
- Tagore

I just want to finish my tasks come Monday... I'm grateful for the term break.

Quotes of the Day

It does not make you a bad person to desire someone else's love, even if they do not love you. However, to truly love someone, you must let them be free. It is selfish to blame them for your feelings.

- Wikihow
>> It took DK 2 days of mindless wanderings to figure out that maybe he should care for himself more to better understand his situation.. hmm... "You must love yourself before you can love another.".. it should be that theory bah...

It is hard for you to realize that your low are most other people's highs and that the best remedy for feelings of failure is to count your blessings.

- Numerology

Kid, you will never give up. Find a way. Because that is what winner do

- Surf's Up
>> watched this today. I always treasure my days when I can reach home early. And days like that, I will tend to slack.. haha.. Don't know why I chose this movie either. Because weirdly, yesterday I had been pondering if I should give up. Then I met the TA yesterday. I can only hope this Saturday I will figure something out again...

Venture Funding

Source: Seeing What's Next

Our research suggest that the source of money is not a critical determinant of success for recent disruptive ventures. Storage maker EMC was self-funded from its beginning. Cisco only attracted venture funding after it had developed a profitable business model. Bloomberg launched its disruptive terminal using funding from Michael Bloomberg and Merrill Lynch. Charles Schwab couldn’t find a venture backer for his discount brokerage model in the 1970s.

Consider the creation of the personal digital assistant (PDA) market. Whose money helped create the market and whose money hurt? Corporate money seems not to have been helpful. Apple’s efforts to create the PDA market are a well-studied flop. It invested more that $350 million in creating its Newton product. Apple tried to use a bevy of new technologies to create a miniaturized version of a personal computer, but the product never performed well enough to appeal to customers. Venture capital money didn’t help a whole host of would-be disruptors. Kleiner-Perkins backed a start-up called GO Corporation that spent $75 million and then WENT. All told, these companies and venture capitalists invested more than $1 billion trying to crack the market.

On the other hand, Palm was venture funded. But it was not spending its venture capital money that helped Palm find its foothold. Palm spent less than $3 milliong developing its Palm Pilot. Backed by venture capital funding from Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre and Sutter Hill Ventures, Palm first created a product called Zoomer PDA, which according to Fast Company “did lots of things, most of them badly.” Like the products launched by Apple and GO, the Zoomer failed. But Palm had stored up enough cash to develop a second generation. It decided to find out what the handful of Zoomer purchasers actually thought of the product. It stumbled onto a surprising revelation: People did not want a replacement for the computer; they wanted a complement that was limited but simple to use. Palm came up with a relatively simple device that was limited applications such as an electronic Rolodex. It forced users to use an intuitive, simple writing style instead of relying on complicated handwriting recognition software. The Palm Pilot seamlessly synchronized with a user’s computer, allowing the consumer to have a consistent repository of data. This was a disruptive innovation – simple, cheap, and limited, but positioned squarely on a job that delighted users.

Armed with its winning idea, Palm sought additional VC financing. But purse strings had tightened after the recent explosion of hype surrounded the handheld market. Finally Palm decided to contact U.S. Robotics, a leading modem manufacturer, who decided to acquire Palm for $44 million in stock.

Palm started the PDA revolution, which created massive amounts of new growth that many believe will ultimately culminate in a product that disrupts leading computer manufacturers. Which funding source should we credit with starting this revolution? Categorizing money as venture capital versus corporate is cutting the world the wrong way. Good money providers are those who help a company spend a little and learn, until it has a viable strategy and business model.

Bflygal's comments:
Extracted this article from "Seeing What's Next" by Clayton M. Christensen for stressor to read haha. This book has a few interesting chapters though I had been too tired to really read the book. But the author has some interesting pointers. I'm also not sure why I typed this extract out.. but just found it interesting that sometimes funding needs not means success.

There was another chapter on healthcare that was interesting too. It was about rabbit test and pregnancy kit haha. Hmm maybe when I'm less tired, I shall read the book again and the author other series.

Mark Gungo - Tale of Two Brains

Source:
Youtube
Multiply - I uploaded too since I have the video

Saw this video this morning... Tale of Two Brains by Mark Gungo.. Highly hilarious, entertaining and yet thought-provoking. Here's what I caught from the video:

Man's brains are made up of little boxes. Boxes for the kids, boxes for you. And the rule is the boxes don't touch. When a man discusses a certain topic, he only opens that box and discuss what is in THAT box. At the end of the conversation, he will close the box and make sure carefully, that he did not touch other boxes.

Woman's brains on the other hand is make up of a big bob of wire. Everything is connected. (You should see his reaction haha). It is like the Internet. And it is driven by an energy we call emotion. This is one of the reason why woman tends to remember everything. Because it reacts with the emotion which will burn into the memory. It happens to man too but not very often because man don't care. Woman, however, tends to care about everything.

There is a box in a man's brain that a woman don't know about. It is the Nothing box. And it is his favourite box. If a man has a chance, he will just go to his Nothing box everytime. That's why a man can do something completely brain dead for hours e.g. fishing. In fact a study discovered that man has the ability to think about absolutely nothing, and still breath.

Woman cannot do it. Their mind never stops. And they don't understand the Nothing box. And nothing drives a woman more crazy or makes you feel more irritated than a man doing Nothing.

Oh man! Suddenly I feel so enlightened.