Ever had a dream which you wanted to go for and fulfill, but seem to be thwarted at every turn, and with every step you take?
Well, that’s kinda how I feel like right now…like everything I do seems to hit a dead end…or, you know those pictures of a wooden pier sticking out into a body of water with the end shrouded in thick mist and fog? I can’t see where I am going, and if I walk far enough, I might just end up in the water…
*sigh*
I think God is teaching me patience…and trust…
Remember those cartoon clips or comics with some hobo holding a sign declaring “The end of the world is nigh”? Well…this is not quite that, but I was walking past someone who was talking loudly in public on his cell-phone today, and it got me thinking about how things that were considered weird, out-of-the-ordinary, or publicly unacceptable 10 to 20 years ago (or even five), are now commonplace. I mean, if you saw someone not holding a cell-phone, and talking to himself and gesturing wildly, you would think he or she wasn’t all there. Anyhow, I decided to compile a little “sign of the times” list of my own, but feel free to add on…
You know that the times they are a-changing when…
1) You see people talking to themselves on the street, gesturing wildly, and you don’t bat an eyelid anymore…because they are talking to someone over the phone on their bluetooth headset.
2) You see people with brightly coloured hair, heavy make-up, nail polish, tight-fitting revealing clothes…and you think it’s normal.
And the girls are even worse.
3) You think it is perfectly acceptable to pay three times what you’d pay for a plate of rice for lunch, on a cup of “designer coffee” for a morning break.
4) You are driving into town and hear a beep every few hundred metres…and your heart jumps in tandem. With pain…not joy.
5) Instead of exchanging phone numbers with someone you have not seen for a long time, you exchange Skype contacts…or Facebook…or Twitter…
6) Instead of keeping details of one’s personal life private (in a journal or diary), sordid and/or mundane details are now broadcast for the world to read on blogs, Facebook and Twitter…regardless of whether other people want to know or not.
7) Pple cant spell, write or speak properly anymore bcos dey r used 2 typing lik dis on their fones everyday, day n nite. I juz dun see how e pple who do sumting like dis can be taken seriously. Rite? Okie?
Smileys or emoticons are used to convey emotions and feelings better than through face-to-face conversation.
9) One uses email or instant messaging to ask the colleague sitting at the next desk whether he or she wants to go for lunch.
10) One has more “friends” and contacts on one’s mobile phone, Facebook account or email list than one has in real life.
Of course, this is not exhaustive, so please feel free to add on!
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Afternote: I just realised (after viewing the final published post) that point number eight became a smiley wearing sunglasses. How apt. Here’s another sign of the times…one cannot use close parentheses anymore without one’s computer thinking you are trying to smile.
You know how every now and then, you really come up with some real gems without intending to?
Anyhoo, I was minding my own business in the office today and doing my stuff when a colleague called me over to his desk. He had clicked on a link in an email, for some course that was sent by our HR Exec.
It was organised by some Internet/dot com company, and the link opened to the company’s website. It was a pretty normal looking site, except, there was a woman like a Sales Exec or something, in the bottom right corner, addressing you, the user. Not sure what technology was being employed here, but it was pretty spiffy, and below the woman were the usual play, stop, pause, rewind, and forward buttons. I presume this meant you could stop the “sales pitch” at any time. So when my colleague hit the ’stop’ button, the “Sales Exec” stopped moving and talking.
“Now that’s what you call a perfect woman”, I deadpanned. He laughed, gave me a ‘i-can’t-believe-you-just-said-that-you-sexist’ look, and I went back to my desk. A couple of minutes later, he popped his head over the cubicle wall, and quipped:
“You know what, it’s like a real woman after all. Once you turn her off, you can’t turn her on again.”
Was helping my aunt set-up her newly bought laptop (ok, not so new now) when I encountered obstacle, after obstacle, after obstacle.
Finally, the last straw came today, and I have had enough! Don’t know if my attempts to give feedback were being thwarted, but I was not to be denied!
Will keep you all posted if there are any updates to the saga!
(Warning: Long post ahead!!)
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Dear Manager, Customer Service,
I would like to give some feedback regarding my recent experiences with Acer and its products. I must say that these experiences have been extremely frustrating, to say the least. Read the rest of this entry »
Way before EA Sports, EIDOS, and their respective multi-million dollar, ultra-realistic, super-star endorsed football video games franchises FIFA 09 and Championship Manager (respectively) became popular, there was Subbuteo.
Subbu…who?
Well, if you don’t know what Subbuteo is, you probably are too young. Not that I am that old…but I remember wanting to own a set ever since I was a kid, and create epic games with ‘Roy of the Rovers’ type storylines (Roy of the what?) with 22 miniature plastic footballers and a green mat. Kids these days have it easy…they just flip on a couple of switches, pop in a disc, wait for the game to load, and select the scenario they want to play (Liverpool vs AC Milan at half-time, in Istanbul? Man Utd vs Bayern Munich in the final two minutes at the Camp Nou?). Where’s the imagination??
Anyhow, I never got a set when I was a kid. I finally got my first set when I was around 20-years-old, thanks to my then girlfriend who knew I had always wanted one. It was really sweet of her…she managed to get a second hand set online, cos the shops no longer had them…*sigh*…and, in lieu of a Subbuteo set when I was younger, I did what any kid at my age would do. Improvise.
I somehow got hold of a large piece of green flannel, used cardboard to cut out 22 miniature footballers, made goals out of more cardboard…and voila! Well, it wasn’t as polished as the real thing, but hey…it worked, and I had hours of fun making up epic on-pitch battles (off-pitch battles didn’t really exist then…it was a simpler time, you see).
Anyway, you can see that I am really bored in the off-season…and so, while waiting for the new season to start (and because I don’t have one of those Xbox thingamajigs with the latest installment of the FIFA series), I dug out my good old Subbuteo set and once again let my imagination do its thing.
And, while YOU wait for the new season to start, check out the rest of the pics below…of the players “modeling” their new kits, and taking part in an exhibition game.
"George Best" lining up to take a free-kick just outside the opponent’s penalty area…
Woah…i’m taking a breather from pigging out these past few days, to post some pics.
Here’s what I’ve been feeding my face with recently…
Thursday, 18 Jun – International buffet at ‘The Line’ (seafood night some more!!)
Friday, 19 Jun – Birthday party at friend’s place
Saturday, 20 Jun – Burgers (with the works) at my place for above-mentioned friend
Sunday – Popiah party at another friend’s place
Anyway, I must mention that the chocolate fondants in the pics below were made by my friend’s sister. They were really good!
Sigh…so much for losing weight…
…and about time too, especially since Apple announced that it would be available on 17 June (got delayed worldwide by one full day), and since it was first mentioned on this post. I’m downloading it now as I type. Started downloading a couple of minutes after 1.00am (Singapore time). Had some initial problems, but everything is a-ok now.
This was definitely worth staying up for!
Finally…can copy and paste…as well as do other useless new features that every other phone on the planet has. Quoting a user ‘Steve’ on Engadget…”Never been so happy to be able to do so little!”
Here’s a clip of the updating process…of course, it took longer than one and a half minutes…
(Oh, and another thing i realised about the Flip…there is a minimum focusing distance that MUST be maintained…sigh…)
I just got me a new toy…it’s the Flip Ultra HD “pocket camcorder”! Ok, that’s not what the makers call it, but I think it’s a rather accurate moniker. So it’s not perfect, but hey…how many US$200 HD camcorders are there on the market?
Anyhow, I tested it out when a friend was putting together a birthday surprise for her sister, to replace the old sofa bed she was using. It was kind of like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, except that this was the “not-so-extreme” bedroom edition (although we did move around the furniture in the bedroom quite a bit…)
Check out the video below (yes, it’s a little “Blair Witch”, but that’s what you get with no image stabiliser and shaky hands).
The interesting thing is, the software to import/edit/manage the clips are all on the Flip itself, so there is no CD or software to install on your computer. The video was put together with the very basic editing programme that was included. Of course, if you want more Hollywood like editing and effects, you have to use something more powerful such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro. I have not tried it out yet, but i think the .mp4 or .mov files generated by the Flip should work on those two video editing programmes…
Anyhow, looking forward to putting more clips online!
Testing video upload using YouTube…so that I won’t be constrained by 90 sec of video…
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It works!
(although personally, i find Flickr’s video player sleeker and more understated than YouTube’s…ah well…you win some you lose some, unless you are willing to pay for it)
Anyhow, just to explain, the song in the video is a traditional Japanese folk song called ‘Hana’, or ‘Flower’ in English. It is a really beautiful song with meaningful lyrics, and the translation of the song is as follows (i found it here, but made some minor edits).
Hana (Flowers)
Where does the river flow?
Where does man go with the river?
When he arrives somewhere,
I would like you to bloom like a flower.
Cry more, when you feel sad.
Laugh more, when you feel happiness.
To bloom a flower in your heart someday.
What are your tears shed for?
Where does your love go with the tears?
I hope you will accept these tears as a flower.
Cry more, when you feel sad.
Laugh more, when you feel happiness.
Someday, a flower blooms in your mind.
Flowers blooming, sometimes look like they smile
On the other hand, people sometimes shed tears
But all of these are the same natural nature (?)
May a flower in your heart bloom someday
(Does anyone have a more accurate and grammatically correct translation?)
