June 2009

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Drink

June 30, 2009 in Ramblings | No comments

It was one of those nights where he and her were having their usual drinks in their usual haunt. The usual conversational topics, the usual laughter, it was one of those familiar nights that they both shared since last year.

She asked him if he will ever drink with his bosses. He paused for a while and replied that drinking to him is a very personal thing. He only drinks with people on the same frequency as him, and that he is comfortable with. People who he can relate to, and whom he can open his soul to. And there is not a lot of people on this planet that fits the requirements. It is like those Chinese wuxia novels where people drip blood to be brothers and then celebrates it by drinking alcohol from bowls.

And when he is finally alone, he wonders the exact point in his life when drinking became a very personal thing to him.

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Fuel For The Soul

June 29, 2009 in Ramblings | No comments

“One ought, everyday at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and speak a few reasonable words.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The words had stopped. The spark of creativity is long extinguished. I find it harder and harder to write.

The last book I read was months ago, and it was a biography. Everything seems to just dried up. All I think about is work, the only words I type are for work, and the only items that I strike off my to-do lists are all work related. Why is my life revolving around work?

I need to find fuel for my soul, I need to read, I need to write, I need to ignite the spark of creativity, and find back my passion. Passion for life. A reason to live. Something to make feel me alive.

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Twitter Weekly Updates

June 28, 2009 in Tweets | No comments

  • Why does the family above likes to slam their doors so hard? #
  • After watching Transformers 2, I am getting more and more interested to go Jordan for holidays. #
  • Why can't people be more socially responsible? If you are sick, don't go clubbing, don't go church etc. Go see a doctor immediately. #
  • How ridiculous can this get? http://tinyurl.com/n7kyjw #
  • They are playing MJ song on the radio. Will not be surprise they will play it the whole day. #
  • There is now a total of 315 H1N1 cases in Singapore. http://tinyurl.com/kqyefq #
  • RT @nytimes: Michael Jackson, Pop Icon, Is Dead at 50 http://bit.ly/ToLlu #
  • You will be forever an angel, Farrah Fawcett. #
  • ESPN snaps up English Premier League TV packages. Does that mean no more crappy Ch27 and back to good old Ch23 now for Starhub for 09/10? #
  • Just found out that Chili's is back in SG. Already drooling at the pictures of the food. http://tinyurl.com/nn3tue #
  • Subway trains collide in Washington DC. http://tinyurl.com/kp4ves #
  • Watching Paul Potts : By Royal Command. Gosh, these so call opera critics are one group of snobbish, highbrow bunch. #
  • Suspicions behind Iran poll doubts. http://tinyurl.com/kwwbde #
  • RT @nytimes: Iran Admits Discrepancies in 3 Million Votes http://bit.ly/pJ1iu #
  • How can they say they are unbiased when their TV channel is like a war headquarters? -Iran Foreign Ministry.(I fail to see the connection?) #
  • Got a call that said I have been selected to win 1 pair of air tickets to Finland. Only catch is I have to go down personally to collect it. #

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The Words Stop

June 23, 2009 in Ramblings | 1 comment

Somewhere along the way, the words stop. And he knows the exact point.

Because in the same exact point, a big part within him died.

Twitter Weekly Updates

June 21, 2009 in Tweets | No comments

  • All the taxis in city area only appear after 5pm. #
  • Hope the rain cools the weather down. It is like in furnace for the past few days. #
  • RT @mrbrown: When you young, hair cover part of your face then is cool. When older, hair long enough to cover your bald top can already. #
  • iPhone 3.0 installed, up and running! #
  • WTF? Network connection reset twice when downloading iPhone 3.0! #
  • Hello 3.0! Downloading now! #
  • Ahhhhh! The eternal battle between the sales guy and the IT guy. #
  • RT @gssq: Singapore is trending on Twitter because people are hyped about the iPhone OS delay. HAHAHAHA #
  • Wonder if they sell jitterbug phones in SG? I want to get one for my mum. http://tinyurl.com/8mful8 #
  • Social networks spread Iranian defiance online. http://tinyurl.com/nvwad5 #
  • A low impact woodland home. http://tinyurl.com/y572ls #
  • Daily fix for puppy pictures. http://tinyurl.com/y9edle #
  • Twitter client for Commodore 64. http://bit.ly/EB4Aq #

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Management Lessons From WoW – Lesson #1

June 15, 2009 in Ramblings, World of Warcraft | No comments

After leading a guild in World of Warcraft for quite some time, I realised there is a lot in common between leading a guild and managing in work place. As I am getting more and more management responsibilities, I find that it is helpful sometimes to apply what I have learnt from leading a guild. I decided to put down it in words, and perhaps it might be interesting to revisit these in the future and see whether the lessons learnt are still valid.

Lesson #1 – Motivation

Motivation in WoW comes in many form. This is especially evident when in a raid. Different people raid for different reasons. Some raid because they find it fun, some raid for the loot, some raid for the comradeship, and some raid because they like the idea of working in a team to defeat the bosses. Knowing why each and every single guild member’s reasons to raid will give a guild leader a pretty good idea to motivate the guild member to turn up for the raid.

Getting guild members to turn up for raid is make even more difficult by the mere fact that the guild leader has no control over the members’ actions. The guild leader is not their boss who is the one doing their performance evaluation at the end of the year or paying them a monthly salary. As such, playing hard will not be a good idea to ‘force’ the guild members to come for raid. Motivation is the key. And knowing why the guild member raid will give the guild leader a pretty good idea on how to motivate this guild member.

In work place, it is slightly easier given the fact that the manager usually has some kind of authority over his subordinates. However, being too hard on the subordinates will sometimes create resentment, and subordinates may just do the bare minimum if they feel that they are being mistreated. I find that motivation works much better than actually imposing one’s authority on the subordinates.

It may be just a meal, or it may be just be a praise, knowing what drives one to work harder, better, and longer, usually gives me a pretty good idea on how to motivate someone. I also discover that for the same person, different motivation is required at different times. It could be just the promise of a free lunch this time, but the next time, it could be a challenge issued for him to get the system to work better.

Motivation works on myself too. Understanding what drives me allows me to motivate myself in various situations.

Thus conclude this lesson. I will write the next lesson when I feel like it.

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Twitter Weekly Updates

June 14, 2009 in Tweets | No comments

  • 'Jamming' on Guitar Hero : World Tour is how I destress. I can be what I wanted to be when I was a teenager – A rock star. #
  • Dell makes 3m from Twitter sales. http://bit.ly/bBA9T #
  • Penny Arcade last 2 comics were absolutely fucking amazing. http://bit.ly/qUTGL and http://bit.ly/g2zVc #
  • I survived my Hell Week. Now to finally get some sleep after unable to sleep for 2 nights. #
  • WHO raised swine flu level to full-scale pandemic. http://bit.ly/rBUle #H1N1 #
  • 80m pounds for a player. WTF? #
  • Generation Kill reminds me so much of my NS days. #
  • RT @screenrant First Look: Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2! (hi-res version) http://bit.ly/NTgun #
  • RT @gamespot: NEWS: Sims 3 sells 1.4 million in seven days, a new record for an EA PC game http://tinyurl.com/mjqhsz (I bought one too) #
  • Singapore is the most liveable city in SEA. http://tinyurl.com/lp2bkj #
  • If the most powerful man in the world can have date nights with his wife, so can you. http://bit.ly/xJhIq #
  • 3 phones to choose from now : iPhone 3GS, Nokia N97 and Palm Pre. Or I just ignore them all and stick with my current phones. #
  • 59M pounds for a player. Where do they get that kind of money from? #
  • Wonder what will be announced at this yr's WWDC. #WWDC #
  • Why would I be interested to play a console game with my body? If I want to play a game with my body, I will go outdoors and play a sport. #

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Don’t Choke

June 13, 2009 in Ramblings | No comments

I just went through a week that I labelled it as ‘Hell Week’ for me. Last week I was told that I will be the person to be presenting a full day demonstration to the client when I thought I was just going to sit in and listen. And on top of that, it was for a product that I have minimal knowledge of.

The team that was responsible for setting up the demonstration, and to their credit, did one hell of a job. After going through with them on the whole setup in half a day, I could see that they were well prepared, which does not necessary settled the butterflies in my stomach. The next day was a full day dry run in front of my big boss, who was very helpful in giving the team constructive pointers. So one and a half day of preparation. Definitely not going to be sufficient for me.

On the actual day of the demonstration, I woke up feeling nauseous and tired. I had not sleep well for a few nights, and the feeling of wanting to vomit was not helping. I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t choke. Don’t choke.’, but I was still feeling thoroughly sick and really nervous.

Throughout the whole demonstration itself, I was lucky to have the whole team of colleagues and my bosses helping me. It went pretty smoothly. I set down in a daze, let out a huge sigh of relief at the end. I was pretty satisfied with myself, and how the whole session went. The few feedbacks we managed to gather at the end seems to confirm that.

The most important thing for me is that I did not choke.

**choking refers to a decrease in performance due to perceived stress. First came across this term when raiding in World of Warcraft.

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Twitter Weekly Updates

June 7, 2009 in Tweets | No comments

  • It is Sunday. Tomorrow will be the start of my Hell Week. Hope to survive. Can’t imagine how I will feel by Friday night. #
  • E3 Booth Babes. http://tinyurl.com/owlyr3 Eye candy as usual. #
  • RT @feliciaday: Um, Star Wars MMO Video: Gasp! http://bit.ly/10E8Rf #
  • Australia’s H1N1 cases up to 876 confirmed cases. http://bit.ly/VKunp #
  • R.I.P David Eddings. You will be missed. http://tinyurl.com/qd8sq7 #
  • The Palm Pre review is out. http://bit.ly/rUzCj #
  • Twitter addicts bring down NYT computers. http://bit.ly/1llxI #
  • H1N1 confirmed cases now up to 11. http://bit.ly/IA15Y #
  • Just found out that one of my fav fantasy author, David Eddings, has passed away at the age of 77. You will be missed. #
  • I am asked to get myself certified. As if I have any time to attend any training/course. #
  • RT @FluSingapore: SG has confirmed its 9th case of H1N1. http://bit.ly/4dOhJ (The number is climbing.) #
  • The game that I wasted too much of my life on is now 25 years old. http://bit.ly/GToxl #
  • RT @GameSpot_E3: NEWS: New Super Mario Bros. Wii due this holiday – http://gamespot.com/6210802 #E3 #
  • Has always been introspective after midnight since uni days. Still the same after so many years. #
  • Next week will be Hell Week for me. I don’t know if I can survive through it, as such, I will take it cool this week. #
  • I always believe if I don’t know, I should open my mouth and ask. I may not get the answer, but at least I asked. #
  • RT @mrbrown: http://bit.ly/o0Cl8 Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer. I think I just ****** in my pants. (Ditto) #
  • WWF is having exclusive movie preview ‘Trail of the Panda’. Proceeds go to WWF for its panda efforts in Sichuan. http://bit.ly/hJoFl #
  • RT @mashable: Bing Opens Up. It’s Live.com, Wrapped In a Prettier Box. – http://bit.ly/Eb2Vy #
  • The planning is done. Instructions have been given. Now it is execution, and that is out of my hands. I look forward to the results. #
  • Irresponsible? http://bit.ly/gAo7k #

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David Eddings

June 4, 2009 in Ramblings | No comments

A quick glance at my Twitter and something caught my eye yesterday.

‘David Edding has passed away.’

It was a name that I was familiar with, yet a name that I have not come across in years. It brought back the memories when I was still schooling, and when I actually read books.

I remember the first fantasy book that I came across was back in Secondary 2. A classmate recommended me the book Magician by Raymond E. Feist. Before then, I knew nothing about fantasy books, but within a few pages, I was hooked. The idea of a small boy who went on to become the most powerful magician in two worlds somehow appealed to me. Perhaps deep inside the boy I was then, I was hoping to be like Pug, that small boy, hoping that when I grow up, I will be somebody.

David Eddings, Tolkien (way before the movies came out), Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis, and other fantasy authors, I read their books again and again. The stuff of my day dreams then were made of powerful wizard battling against the immense might of the dragons, to save the beautiful elven lady captured, or a beggar boy growing up to be a knight in shinning armour, riding a white unicorn and leading an army to overthrow the evil King, and other fantasy inspired dreams. Looking back, I think reading fantasy books help to develop the creativity side of me.

However when I started work, the time spent reading books gets lesser and lesser, and then one day it just stopped. The only non-work related stuff I read are what is on Facebook, Twitter and Google News. It is sad really.

After thinking about it, I told myself that no matter how busy I am, I should start reading books again. One of my friends told me before that while food is the source of nourishment for the body, books are the source of nourishment for the brain.

So thanks David Eddings for everything. Not only you were partly responsible for how I am today, but also you were part of the wonderful memories I have now when I was much younger. I hope you are now beside Aldur, enjoying a tankard of ale and giving yourself a pat on the back for all the wonderful books you have written.

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