Hey, to everyone who’s been keeping tabs with my blog, I’m going to have to put it off for a while. I’m now in Taiwan, the purpose of me being here is to attend the funeral of my late grandmother.
There are actually lots of things to write about, but I just can’t muster the mood to do so.
For those who has been keeping tabs with what has been happening to me lately, you would be aware that I’m not in the best of times.
In fact, yesterday, my grandmother died. That is enough to ruin a month that’s supposedly filled with hearts, chocolates and roses.
But out of the blue came a good news.
I passed the ADTX examination. That was completely unexpected too.
And once again, I am reminded of my experience with Ateneo’s Entrance Examination.
Going back to school these days have been quite a saddening experience.
Few years ago, I would be greeted by a lot of familiar faces whenever I set foot within our campus. Now, nobody knows who I am and I have no idea who everyone is.
Part of me want to warp back to that time that, when I want to learn new skills, I can still rely on people rendering teaching services. I want to warp back to that time when I can still leave everything through the course of nature and still have everything turn out well. I can spend saturdays being idle and say "Hey, I need a break every once in a while."
Nowadays, things are different. Way different. I can’t just walk out of my house expecting to randomly see people whom I recognize, and reconnect with them. To meet them, I have to make prior arrangements. Most of whom I know are just too far away, or are just preoccupied with other things. Sometimes it’s the combination of both. I don’t even have any idea what would happen when, next week, I get the chance to see a person I haven’t been seeing for a long time.
I can’t just slack off at Saturdays and say "I need to relax." Have I not relaxed enough during the weekdays seeing as how I’m still job hunting and most of the time, I’m just procrastinating the stuff I should have been doing?
Additionally, just a while ago, I had an exam with ADTX. I am expected to see the result next week but, frankly, what am I to expect? I hurried in problem solving, guessed some answers in technical section, and couldn’t finish 2 out of 4 items in programming section. I can keep on praying for "miracles" or "pardon" to happen, but why should I merely rely on God to rectify my shortcomings?
It saddens me because it made me realize how lackadaisical my mind has been functioning lately. Outside occasional cursory glances to some of my old textbooks, I haven’t exerted much effort in reviewing what I have been taught with. Now, I feel as if my 5 years of hardship are slowly drifting into oblivion. I couldn’t even set straight what function a diamond, a square and a parallelogram is in a flowchart! I must be getting really rusty right now.
Most of all, I get really frustrated these days about not keeping with
my plans for the week. Every Monday, I would list down things I want to
do for the week. Some of them end up half done. Some totally neglected.
Why am I being so unproductive lately?
Therefore, I have to start being strict with my plans. If I want to work as an ECE, I study my subjects. If I want to take GRE, I need to brush up on my English. If I want to work and study in New York, I need to have work experience. If I need to become the coordinator of the next summer camp, I need to start preparing the schedule and the activities. If I want to gain knowledge in programming, I have to start reading my programming books and maybe enroll in I.T. Training courses. Lots of responsibilities, expectations and ambitions, all lost in the morass of bad time management.
Solution? Manage my time better. That’s what I need to be strict about next week. So I request everyone, nag on me until I learn to stick to my plans.
If you live in the Philippines, you’ve probably encountered (and at one point in your life, bought) pirated DVD’s. When one gets too lazy to get his ass off to the theatres and are too miserly to spend the actual money for the (overpriced) original DVD, one resorts to bootleg/piracy.
I’m not here to preach about moral dilemma (or is it tri-lemma) one has to face in buying pirated dvd’s (choice 1: I don’t watch movie, I get bored sick. choice 2: I buy original DVD of movies I’m not sure I’ll like, and I’ll tear my hair off for spending huge money on a bad movie. choice 3: I buy the cheap, pirated version, knowing I’m practically "stealing" but is staying on the pragmatic track).
What I’m about to ponder is how fake some of the advertisements are. Seems almost every (fake) dvd’s that need an audience have a critic’s testimonial, some of which I suspect to be fake, from Roger Ebert. For example, few days ago, I saw some vendor selling Devilman and You’re Under Arrest Live Action Movie, both of which have Ebert’s 4 star plastered. I’m not about to be a judge, but since when had Ebert become an otaku? Also, Devilman received such low ratings at IMDB. Although not always taking the conventional route, would anyone actually believe that Ebert would start extolling movies with tremendously B-movie quality plot? Last I checked, he cavilled almost 3/4 of the movie he reviewed, even those that received high ratings from him (such as Lord of the Rings)!
Just a while ago, I bought 13 Going On 30. Now I know this movie is generally well-received by critics and casual viewers alike, but an absurd testimonial, again, went on the cover. Accordingly,"13 Going On 30 is this year’s best romantic comedy" says Ebert, whom the DVD states work for USA Today.
There’s something completely wrong in this picture. 1.) Anyone who reads Ebert’s reviews knows that he rarely give out categorical, absolute praises or critiques, such as best or worst, to any movie. Any 12 year old can do that. 2.) Chicago Sun Times should sue their ass off if they ever chance upon this advertisement. Roger Ebert DOESN’T WORK FOR USA TODAY! 3.) After seeing this movie, which I enjoyed to an extent, I have great doubts that Ebert would dub it, word-for-word, as one of the year’s best romantic comedy. It’s good, but FAR FROM PERFECT, since it has the unoriginality of imitating Tom Hank’s "Big" going on everywhere.
And 4.) Ebert never actually said so! Geez, talk about placing false advertisements.
It’s that time again!
I’m referring to
Valentine’s Day, also known as the most dreaded day for singles. Valentine’s
Day ranks side by side with Christmas as one of the most expensive holidays.
Shades of red inundate tourist spots and shopping malls. Patrons rock the
houses along Sta. Mesa. Local and international performance artists queue to
make it big by singing ballads (some of which are cheesy or lame, or both) at
the malls/clubs/coliseums/KTV lounges nearest you. Politicians (most of whom
embezzled votes to “assimilate” authority) pose to be some loving
husbands/wives when the cameramen (or camerawomen) are looking. Although
during Christmas one typically buys great many gifts to families and friends,
it’s during Valentine’s Day when one shells extra money to impress his/her
significant other.
Which makes me a little
bitter, because 1.) I don’t have so much money, which is fine, and 2.) I don’t
have a significant other, which isn’t fine. 22 years of celebrating Valentine’s
Day and I still have not tasted the “professed fruit” of dating at this
“special occasion”. I have only given flowers, but never received kisses (save
Hershey’s) on this day. Worse still, I know that I’m one of the few remaining
alumni from 2001 graduates of Bacolod Tay Tung High School who still have not
found a significant other. There’s also no one within proximity who I can ask
out. Don’t be under the impression that I’m desperate for romantic love,
though, because I’m not. However, it feels very bad to be a single when each
year, there’s a day when non-singles impute singles as “people who have no
life”. I have often been on the receiving end of such tirade. Yeah, laugh, guys, cause ’tis be a good opportunity to try to act funny!
In other news: while
couples are ready to profess lots of love to each other, fundamentalists have
to resort to violent upheaval upon publication of Mohammed’s caricature. That’s
also a paragon of love at work, but I bet couples are too oblivious to even care about how
many morass of debacles occur each day, fore fronted by stigmatized politicians,
stigmatized journalists and stigmatized extremists.
“What’s Going On”, sang
Marvin Gaye. Couples strolls along Manila Bay, smooching while ignoring that
song’s poignant and trenchant lyrics, and also practically ignoring the world
around them.
Well, at least I can use
that as a pretext to not care about dating in February 14. That, plus the fact
that February 14 is not a weekend day, assuages my bitterness of still not
having found the one.
Anyone else here belonging to "The Lonely Heart’s Club"?
P.S. I’m going to be out of town, again, 2 Saturdays from now. I’m not looking forward to it.
P.P.S. Remember my comment about no one being within proximity who I can ask out? Well, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone cute nearby.
Today has been a really bad day for my computer, which kind of equal a bad day for me as well.
Just this morning, my computer showed the condemned blue screen, stating that it’s BIOS has failed and that I have to do something to fix it. When my computer skills fail me, I am left with no choice but to get my CPU fixed somewhere else. Funny, because I thought fixing my CPU is analogous with getting someone to the ER (where you don’t “shop” for the right hospital anymore) when in fact, it’s not. Also, like surgeons, not all computer technicians share the same competencies with the “knife”. I always thought only someone truly maladroit would resort to reformatting when there’s clearly a viable alternative just so s/he can hide is ineptitude.
Alas, my computer got reformatted. What makes this worse is that it all came without a warning. I lost all my files. The entire year of assiduous documentation of my last year of college, my stint with Intel, my life outside school and work, my frustrations, my vocabulary library, my angst, my game-walkthroughs, my evaluation of members from the youth seminar I coordinate, all gone! What’s worse is that last year I had drastic improvement to my writing skills (they’re still not perfect, mind you, but it’s way more perusable than my writing from 2004 and earlier), only to have everything I’ve written from that year expunged. The only backup documents I have are from year 2004 and earlier. Please spare me the agony of having to squirm at them whenever I read them!
I could’ve:
- Backed up all my documents and my pictures
- Not needed to reinstall my scanner, my modem, my printer, my spyware-remover, my browser (I don’t use Internet Explorer), my dictionary-by-the-tray (Wordweb), and my essential software (i.e., Microsoft Visual Studio, Photoshop, Flash MX, among others)
- Not lost my entire vocabulary list I acquired since last year
- Not lost my mp3’s, which include some rare jazz tracks from the best artists, which includes John Coltraine, Sonny Rollins, David Brubeck, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, etc.
- Not been so angry the entire day
Starting life all over again does not sound like a bad idea, but reformatting your computer surely is. This is especially true when you later find out that there could’ve been a different way by which your computer could be fixed, which just so happen to be the case with my computer. So for those who are reading this blog, remember to back up your documents right now. You never know when the ingenuity of Bill Gates will start to suck out the resources of your computer. And to think he’s dubbed by Time Magazine as “People of the Year”…
I just read a blog from somewhere (link) and it inspired me.
For those too lazy to go to that link, here’s the run down on what can be found there. That blogger listed things she wanted six months ago, and the time she wrote that entry she says that, although she hasn’t come close to achieving all of them, she’s grateful for what she has.
Now I’m going to do the same thing. Then I’ll come back to this blog maybe six months later and see if, by attaining or not attaining some of the wants I’ve listed here, I actually become happier than I am now.
My list of wants:
(Warning: This entry is controversial. So drop your angst, err, opinion at the comments page)
Some time in the last few
months, I overheard repeated conversations of two engineering students. They
were talking about the latest video codec, the most recent microprocessor, and
the fastest possible speed of their DSL cables.
I don’t know about you, people,
but I find this kind of discussion - especially when repeated nth times - to be
incredibly boring. I mean, sure, it is essential that we understand the basics of
a computer, perhaps even the advance concepts when computer is your field of
study/interest. As an engineer, I can never overstate how important computer is
in aiding us to do certain tasks. And for having been using computers since I
was grade 3, I can say I know a decent amount of computer skills.
Regardless, I think with
great conviction that there is life outside even the biggest LCD monitor. Don’t
let this rub on you the wrong way. I like computer just like the next guy: just
maybe not as much as the two I’ve previously discussed, but for good reasons.
While I certainly acknowledge the importance of computer, most especially in
the information technology age, which is now, I also think that to compromise
other hobbies/interests just for computers is to steeply decline the FUN/LIFE
in your existence, even if you may have the latest graphics adapter, insane
amount of RAM and million Gigabytes of memory to play the latest first person
shooter in your overpowered computing machine.
These two engineering
students will most certainly never waver in terms of keeping tabs with the
current computer technology, and hey, that’s cool. But what’s not cool is that
they don’t seem to have any life outside computers. They don’t appreciate arts,
music, literatures, movies, philosophies, psychologies, sociologies, and
theologies, except of course when they are rendered in 3D and/or involve
something that showcases the trendiest digital photography or some
nanotechnology. As a consequence, none of their discussion falls outside the
technology radar. Heck, they never even speak to each other about beautiful
girls, even when the heartthrob is staring at them. Instead, (their discussion,)
it’s always computers, broadband, wireless LAN, fiber optics, bandwidth, MPEG,
integrated circuit, silicon wafers, windowing, compression, analog-digital,
transmission, protocols, etc. One of them doesn’t even watch movies on cinemas,
and both of them refuse to go to malls with their friends. Don’t even ask me
whether or not they have ever went to KTV, attended club events and community
seminars, watched the trendiest (even though they might be crappy) artists do
their gigs live, and attended any UAAP games in Araneta Coliseum, among others.
They have not. I even remember that time when one of them went abroad in
partial fulfillment of a certain course’s curriculum. Guess what he was
looking? I was told that he was comparing the technology of that country to
ours! Last I checked, the real purpose of travelling is to look at tourist
spots, those that are unobstructed from computers, can’t be seen elsewhere and, no matter how hard one
can try, whose beauty can never be truly imitated by smothering it with a 3d
Render? It would be an overwhelming understatement to label these
people lacking in social life.
What’s sad is that both
these people are smart; they have higher CGPA’s than me, and both of them just
graduated with high distinction. That means they would have great capacity of
thinking, if wisdom were to be equated to one’s IQ, which shouldn’t. It’s also
quite sad because I clearly saw one time that one among these two was actually
carrying with him the Rick Warren’s bestseller “Purpose Driven Life”. Clearly,
even only after reading just one chapter of this book, it would’ve been made
very clear that there is life outside computer. One doesn’t need to be a Ph D
to know that, nor does one need to read bestsellers to grasp the meaning of
life. One of my friends even asked them whether they know of anything unrelated
to technology/gadgets/computers. The answer, as I expected, is no. Shouldn’t
they even be doing something about it?
So once again, I repeat
this. I will continue to have interests in computers and I will keep on using
it until my eyes decide to break on me (which I hope happens after I die). But
I will turn off the CPU, shut down the monitor and go outside just to breath
some real fresh air, not some air-conditioned one, and experience the beauty
the simple things in life have to bring. One that doesn’t include lots of
circuitries and hardware complexities, but simply a few magical moments, chance
encounters, intellectual conversations and unobstructed smiles. Most certainly
these are the things that people talk about during night talks around the
fireplace, which also happens to be the title of the book whose premise is
simply the stories and discussions told in, well, night talks around the
fireplace.
Those stories and
discussions are beautiful, such that they are translated to different
languages. And guess what? None of them are about technologies, science, or
computers.
Back when I was in high school, a lot of my classmates griped about how unimportant the Chinese language is, that’s considering that they have Chinese surnames such as So or Uy, and that they’ve enrolled in Chinese school. I beg to differ. Chinese is as important as all other (probably fancier) languages like Korean, French and Yiddish. A recent experience of mine just further proves this.
Just last week, our school had a job expo. This is an opportunity for Lasallians (and even non-Lasallians) to find the company where they could start their career. I, being an ECE, have my eyes set on mostly Technology, Semiconductor and I.T. related companies. Yet, one experience I won’t forget is my application for LTW Technology.
I submitted my resume to this company without knowing what it is, what it does and what products it offer. The "Technology" appended to the name is enough to catch my eye, much the same way as something written in my resume is enough to catch LTW’s H.R.’s eye. Specifically, they took notice at my language skills, one of which includes conversational proficiency with Fukien and Mandarin (both are Chinese).
On the spot, I was given the examination. I was completely unprepared since Job Expo is normally just the application process, not the screening. Right there, the company’s H.R. screened me, a priviledge not given to others. What’s funny is that I thought I totally blew my chance of getting hired, seeing as how I’m unable to answer SO MANY QUESTIONS given in the examination (which asks so many chemistry-related question, a subject which I didn’t suck but didn’t rock at either). THat’s just the first part of the quiz. The second part really racked me off. It was a translate Chinese-to-English quiz, and it completely hit me in the gut by reminding me " I really blew it this time!" This really reminds me of my experience with Ateneo Entrance Examination.
I can’t actually proclaim to have good Chinese. In fact, for a Taiwanese, my Chinese is subpar (moreso than my English, which is above average, maybe excellent, in Taiwanese standards). But, my admitting of this being much to my chagrin, I have had experience translating Chinese to English. So I used my technique (or my Kung Fu, if you will) (OT: Try to imagine me speaking that sentence a Hong-Kong dubbed English) by seeing the entire Chinese document as one big picture, and translate it to English. I don’t have to translate everything word for word.
The remaining of the test I did well, but I really don’t find them memorable. Right after I finish the exam, I was ready to move elsewhere and take this exam as "an experience" or a "lesson learned". Surprise, surprise. The H.R.’s went through my answers and asked me to sit down. They perused my resume and were much impressed by it (I really don’t know why besides the fact that I know Chinese). I was given the interview, right there. And after that, I was given the contract for the job offer, right there.
You read that right: I got a job offer merely because I can speak Chinese, even though I don’t actually excel in it. Never mind that I refused the offer (due to personal reasons). What I’m trying to get across here is that, this experience itself answers all nagging doubts that pertains to the importance of Chinese language.
