situation vacant

knew it! i'm in the totally wrong profession!

Your Dominant Intelligence is Spatial Intelligence

You've got a good sense of space and how the world around you looks. You can close your eyes and "see" images. You have an innate artistic talent and an eye for color and shapes. You are also a natural designer. Since you think in pictures, visual aids and demonstartions help you learn best. You would make a good navigator, sculptor, visual artist, inventor, architect, interior designer, or engineer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

iBought iT!

i have surrendered to the forces of Coolness and have purchased a mac! :)

an iBook G4, to be exact.

been itching to make the purchase for a long time, and the sight of the promotion bundling in an AirPort Express sealed the deal.

also obtained a USB-powered massage device which came as an 'xmas free gift' courtesy of the shop.

actually, TWO USB-powered massagers (another 'xmas free gift' since i decided to also purchase AppleCare).

so, if anyone wants the use of some massage devices.. (they look like a cross between shower heads and lotus seed-pods).. well, you know who to look for.

it figures

after 60 hours of eating, sleeping and breathing financial statement analyses, all i have to say is..

.. boy am i GLAD i'm not an accountant! :P

there was much progress, considering that we took four gruelling, tiring, excruciating, [insert similar adjectives] days to complete 95% of a project most other groups took weeks to do so. (though after a fresh look through the report over this weekend, i wouldn't be surprised if we'll have to restate the said figure to a lower value!)

whatever happens, two things are certain for now:

- it's scary that at by the end of the course, i may start talking like a lawyer and an accountant all in one. (though i can't guarantee i will be able to cook your books AND make it legal..)
- i'll be counting sheep in PE ratios of 4 decimal places tonight.
- at the end of this, we'll all be really good CPAs*.

* Copy & Paste Artists.

the Abyss speaks, amidst gulps of syrup and sticks of satay

one really should have an emergency wardrobe of clothes one size larger to cater for these gastronomically-rewarding festive occasions.. (on this remark, a muslim friend reasons: "aha, that's why we fast for a month before we go head-on into a month of open-houses!")

the deepavali and hari raya open-houses during the past few weeks have been nothing short of fabulous (free flow of satay!! need i say more? :)) and, needless to say, rather generous on the waistline!

and guess what, there's a malay wedding coming up next week. the gastronomic odyssey continues!

open season

the essay season is here!
econs!
statistics!
marketing!
trips to the library!
hut! hut! hut!

runnin'

you know you've got a bad case of the sniffles when...

- you can't smell the freshly cooked dish of belacan & petai in front of you

- you can't hear what people around you are saying unless they turn it up a few decibels

- your pals start to fuss over you and start changing group-discussion plans to suit your fragile disposition (dang, i thought i could skive discussions for once! :-D)

- the customer service lady on the phone addresses you 'Sir'

"1984"

ever seen Apple's earth-shattering "1984" ad which ran only once during the Super Bowl but which was phenomenally influential?

To quote a description from somewhere on the Net (cos I'm too lazy to paraphrase):

"In the third quarter of the 1984 Super Bowl, a strange and disorienting advertisement appeared on the TV screens of the millions of viewers tuned in to the yearly ritual. The ad opens on a gray network of futuristic tubes connecting blank, ominous buildings. Inside the tubes, we see cowed subjects marching towards a cavernous auditorium, where they bow before a Big Brother figure pontificating from a giant TV screen. But one lone woman remains unbroken. Chased by storm troopers, she runs up to the screen, hurls a hammer with a heroic grunt, and shatters the TV image. As the screen explodes, bathing the stunned audience in the light of freedom, a voice-over announces, "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce the Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984." "

our Marketing lecturer made quite an impact on the class describing the above ad (which half the class was not really aware of since they were still screaming kids in the year 1984). the guys seemed particularly interested in the description of a leggy Brigitte Nielsen in tight-fitting white t-shirt and red shorts [yes, such detail.. see the impact of the ad?] running in with a sledgehammer. a copy of the ad was downloaded from the Net, and the guys were rather disappointed to find that the 80's perception of a voluptuous leggy 6-foot blonde didn't quite match their current expectations. ha ha. anyway, if you're a george orwell fan AND a mac addict, you might identify with the ad. (there's a streaming version in the above link.)

canine capers

sparky's "I'm a Cute Pup with a Warm Fuzzy Nose, So Feed Me" pose, caught on camera - giving the close-up-of-nose 'The Dog' graphics a run for their money!

coming soon:
the Howling-at-the-Old-Newspaper-Van stance (if i can ever sneak up on him before he realizes he's being caught on candid camera!)

pests

a PEST analysis of people who should be banned from Earth:

(PEST, in the context of business strategy, refers to Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors. The acronym happens to be quite fitting of the topic!)

on Political factors:

- George W. Bush

on Economic factors:

- telemarketers who tell you they will only take 2 minutes of your time. [this results in misallocation of scarce resources (i.e. time)!]
- an extension of the above - telemarketers who call your home, find out that you're not in, and then coerce the poor person at home to giving away your mobile number by saying that they are your "friend".
- direct-selling salesmen who tell you they will only take 2 minutes of your time..
- come to think of it, any unsolicited salesperson (with apologies to all you irritating sales people).

on Social factors:

- it used to be people who asked when i would get married. it's somehow evolved to people who ask when i will convert the empty room in the house into a nursery. and by the way, i'm not even married yet.

on Technological factors:

- people who forward you a ludicrous virus warning (you know, the stuff that wipes out your entire C drive, deletes all dll files, the existence of which is confirmed by IBM, AOL, Intel, Netscape and Microsoft) and when gently told it's a hoax, indignantly reply "sure, that's what they say, but there is no harm in distributing these warnings - you NEVER know! better safe than sorry! prevention is better than cure!"
- people who forward you an email with six pages of old email headers and the long-awaited actual e-mail content reads "this is a good luck charm... "
- people (of any age) who refuse to touch a PC [if my once PC-illiterate retiree dad can now check stock quotes online and engage in online discussions with automobile interest groups, YOU have no excuse! ;-) ]
- the people who, when told "Help, MyDoom has infected this PC", reply, "Your what?" [i know i've repeated this too many times.. i guess i still haven't gotten over it ... :-D]

votw

'the voices of the women" - stars of the show!

encounters

not a terribly good day.

the company we're doing a study on returned our pre-interview questionnaire with incomplete answers, signs of possible reluctance to divulge much info, signs of possible misunderstanding of questions, and, to add to that, criticism of our questions, as if the person answering it had something against us. We value the comments, and there was certainly some room for improvement in some of our questions .. but even with some of those comments, they could have still answered our questions but instead, the person took a "you guys don't seem to understand what you're doing, I'm not even gonna attempt to answer this question" approach. Team members are now totally demoralized, and we have a face-to-face interview with these people this Friday. i'm getting the "this company must think we're a bunch of incompetent kids" and slight tinges of the "i'm gonna totally fail this subject" feeling right now.

and, at 11.10 pm, after post-rehearsal supper, i spent a good 15 minutes blaring my car horn in backwater brickfields in hope that the driver of the car parked directly in my way out of the parking lot would move it out of the way. nothing happened, and the mamak patrons were probably turning deaf with all the noise i was making. i created such a racket that some guys at the mamak decided to come over and help direct my way out of the parking lot thru an extremely narrow bit of space on one side. yes, i DID figure earlier that i could try and squeeze my way out through that narrow space, but i really didn't feel like going through the struggle.. what with the dim lighting, the narrow road, the large number of visually-challenged pedestrians in the area and the wide 4-wheel drive i'm driving which side mirrors don't retract properly no more. and, hey, the blinkin' Proton WAS directly obstructing my path out of the parking lot (i was in a stress-induced "it's a matter of principle" mode). just as i had finished the arduous task of backing my way out of the lot with the help of the 'traffic wardens', the driver of the offending car appeared. let's just say i created a bit more noise pollution before finally driving off.

and on the Sprint highway on the way home, i was looking in the rear-view mirror while changing lanes and i saw (or i thought i saw)... a riderless motorcycle dragging closely behind it a car with no headlights on. the otherworldly vehicle finally passed me on the fast lane - it was a blinkin' Trike* scooter. it had a huge rear carriage, which gave the illusion of a "car with no headlights on", and, because the rider was leaning back and the height of the rear carriage extended above the driver, you couldn't see his head in the dark while looking thru the rear-view mirror. dang thing bloody freaked me out for a while...

* www.motortrike.com - tho i don't think there's a photo of the model i saw on the Sprint.

opening the dusted case

contrary to what i feared, i CAN still play the violin! *yay*
them left fingers just need to be re-stretched..
and will need to replace the bits of rubber-coating on the feet of the shoulder rest which have somewhat disintegrated..

time, and the [perceived?] lack of it

time passes very, very quickly when you're a student. and being a full-time postgraduate means...

... a lot of hours need to be put in - to start with, each lecture is 3 hours long (undergrad lectures lasted an hour). and for at least two modules we have a weekly case study to be discussed as a group (we were told not to complain because if we were in Harvard or Oxford, we'd be having two case studies per night). to add on to that, 5 out of the 6 modules have assessed coursework. so group discussions happen on a regular basis. so regular that we don't seem to have time to read up the material before a discussion comes along.

... the office will call once in a while when someone needs help on some files which i had previously handled. the first week of my sabbatical (which was also the first week of classes) was a bit of a nightmare because i kept worrying about the progress of certain files at work while trying to adjust my brain to think in a different discipline ("stakeholder" in the legal sense isn't the same as "stakeholder" in the business sense - no wonder the merchant bankers in the recent deal were confused when the legal team insisted that "protecting the interests of the stakeholders" was "too vague"!). anyway, am glad to have finally 'officially' handed over my files to the new recruit who has taken over my portfolio.

... you don't get to take advantage of the free laser printing in the office anymore... haha, just kidding... not.

... you would have thought that you'd have a more 'flexible' timetable, not realizing that the reality is that it's just a disguised version of 'irregular working hours'. i wonder how much of my list of 'possible things to do with free time' will still be done:

. teach art to kids? (still haven't gone around to checking out the nearby centre)
. teach english? (ditto)
. teach piano? (can't bring myself to sacrificing my weekends yet)
. work towards the FTCL? (this means i gotta go for classes. not for the unemployed! :-D)
. guitar? (progress: i've cleaned the case)
. violin? (progress: i've cleaned the case)
. update my website? (progress: at least i've put SOMEthing up on the 'home' page. today.)
. peddling my perceived web design skills to unsuspecting pals? (progress: a possible freelance designing job coming up! which is why i had to put SOMEthing up on the home page. sample, lah.)
. clear up room? (progress: don't ask.)
. oh yeah. wedding planning. (progress: grandma has sent me the almanac for good dates in 2005.)

... suddenly legal research and drafting legal opinions seemed so easy. it's hard to break out of what you've been used to and grown comfortable with, to venture into different fields. but that's the only way to improve, no?

... you have assessments and exams to worry about. wonder why this wasn't so apparent when i was applying for the course. :-D

in the wee small hours

things not to do at 2.40 a.m. :

#1 - drafting a publicity poster for a concert. may end up giving very strange directions to the city.

#2 - attempting to sight-read the piano part of a Christmas medley that starts "steady and soulful, with some freedom" and continues a few pages later with "hip shuffle". just waaay too early in the morning to go telling funky rhythms on the mountain, over the hills and ev'rywhere.

the sandman calls. hallelujah.

digest this!

never understood why it is that when i eat absolute rubbish at the stall at the dusty road by the grubby open drain, my tummy doesn't give two hoots about the filth entering it, but i get the worst cases of stomach upsets and virus attacks from what appear to be benign meals at hotel functions, pizza places or the neighbourhood steakhouse.

possible hypotheses:

(1) guess what? your classy hotel, favourite pizza joint and neighbourhood steakhouse may look clean, but in reality the stall by the drain is far more sanitary than their kitchens!

(2) i eat more than most women or men (friends and family will testify to this) and thus, according to the laws of probability, it is more probable that i will catch any contaminants which may be present in the food being consumed.

(3) i've got what people have started to sympathetically refer to as a "sensitive stomach".

HEY, i used to buy those bright-coloured drinks that ol' Pakcik dispenses from grimy containers amidst clouds of smoke from environmentally-unaware school buses that traverse busy jalan bukit bintang, and i lived to tell the tale.. who ya calling sensitive, huh? then again, if hypothesis (1) above is correct, the likes of Pakcik's stall are in fact the cleanest food joints around..

what EXACTLY is a "sensitive" stomach anyway?

(4) as a friend recently eloquently put it, "aiyaa, your stomach needs the nonsense laa. you cannot eat at classy places laa."

(NB. Hypothesis (1), if correct, would also disprove this.)

(5) what the heck. it's just my luck.

more random shots

... government offices must consume a lot of tea leaves, sugar and milk. but you know that already, don't you. it appears though that some have started to have 'minum' (i.e. tea breaks) at 9.30 in the morning.. oh sorry, was that still breakfast? i had read the newspaper from cover to cover and probably memorized the entire Carta Organisasi on the wall and the officer was still at 'minum, lah'. on the other hand, it could well be the case that the officer was in fact in a bona fide meeting and the guard outside only said "minum, lah" because it's almost an irrebuttable presumption that if an officer was not found in his room/cubicle, he would be in the pantry having tea.

... and, speaking of government offices.. wonder what the interior of the new government offices in the new federal administrative capital look like. some of the facades are nothing short of impressive, e.g. that of the federal treasury. would they have retained the tacky yellow leather sofas, polystyrene organization charts and crackly radios playing strains of Ella (not Fitzgerald)?

... anyway, won't have to deal with government offices so much anymore for a while, so i should stop griping. and anyway, CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON!!

random shots

... the office moneyplant is home. the 2-dollar Ikea plant in a beige Ikea vase which has thrived on plain water, fluorescent light and dust from files for three years, and has since grown into a forest in its own right, is home.

... I used to loathe britpop when it was overplayed on Trent FM every morning. now, after resurrecting my BBC Top of the Pops 1998 CDs on the car speakers, I'm actually missing the stuff.

... I know it's way too early, but CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON! now, if only the weather was chilly, the days were getting shorter and there was a chance of snow...

... I volunteered to play for Christmas. I'm not even sure I remember the feeling of how my fingers should be positioned on the piano.

crossing the line

It's not exactly in line with the local culture to stop for pedestrians to cross the street. However, on the odd occasion, one does fall into a lapse from the local mindset, and decide to help the poor laptop-lugging pedestrian get to the other side in once piece.

Which leads to some interesting observations in respect of the subjects of this kind gesture...

Regular Joe

Your average nice person would probably offer a smile or wave thank-you as they cross. He would at least be considerate enough not to make your hair turn grey while sauntering across at 0.1 km/h. You drive off feeling you've done a good deed for the day.

Road to Perdition

You stop. They get off the conversation on their handphones momentarily to give you the "Yeah, that's what you ought to do, I have the irrevocable right to cross this road unobstructed" look, and then recommence the tête-à-tête while taking an eternity to cross.

The Jackass Jaywalker

In the mornings, streams of vehicles pour into the bowels of the 30-storey office building where I work, while pedestrians are forced to wait at the sides until the traffic lights turn red. As I was in a kind mood that morning (and wasn't running late for once), I decided to stop for the bloke to cross.

Observation: The Jackass Jaywalker will take a few ages to swagger across all of 5 metres of tarmac. But there's more.. the catwalk act also comes with a wink and a sleazy smile.

The Eternally Grateful

Wouldn't say this is a usual occurrence. I've only encountered an Eternally Grateful once. Many many moons ago, I was in Mom's car cruising along Jalan Pahang when we noticed from a distance that an old lady was trying to cross the dual-carriageway near the hospital. Mom stopped for the old lady to cross.

Ah Poh was so touched with the gesture that she stopped in front of our car and started uttering strings of praise and verses of thanks in Chinese while earnestly patting the bonnet.

This was followed by a castigation of the rest of the younger generation in general - all those lazy good-for-nothings who no longer respect or care for their elders. She wrapped up the emotional address with words of praise yet again for a rare gem amongst young punks who wouldn't give two hoots about old Granny trying to cross the busy road.

I guess it was supposed to be a feel-good moment.

But it was so strange.

The Stunned Strider, a.k.a. The Paranoid Pedestrian

They can't believe a car has stopped for them. In fact, although they seem to be looking straight at you, they don't realize the fact that the automobile that was earlier heading towards their path is now absolutely stationary.

So there you are, waving your hands madly through the windscreen and/or tooting your horn as politely as possible in an effort to say..

"Yo man, I've just stopped. For you. You may cross now. Yeah, seriously. Cross. Please."

.. while your eyelids tremble and you start sneezing all of a sudden - a sign that the other motorists in the line of traffic building up behind you are cursing at you..

*Pic above taken on Hollywood Blvd from somewhere near Grauman's Chinese Theatre, July 2004.

and the sorting hat says..

You are a RAVENCLAW! As a Ravenclaw and as an NFP, you are imaginative, idea-oriented, and value intelligence. You may be a non-conformist, and are probably good at seeing new ways of doing things. You are insightful and perceptive, and as an empathic person who highly values harmony, you usually try to avoid conflict. Of course, you may enjoy participating in heated debates - but only as long as they remain on an intellectual level and not a personal level. In general, you are open-minded and curious, and set high standards for yourself.

Hogwarts Sorting Hat: Based on Myers-Briggs Personality Typing
brought to you by Quizilla

/note/ apparently "NFP" is a reference to iNtuitive, Feeling and Perceiving (see e.g. this site and this other site)

/rambling/ look out, world! here comes the curious non-conformist!

cold cape cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it ...

Random howler from the Science Joke Archive:

Chemical engineers do it in packed beds.
Chemists do it in test tubes.
Chemists do it in the fume hood.
Chemists do it periodically on the table.
Chemists do it reactively.
Chemists like to experiment.
Electrochemists have greater potential.
Polymer chemists do it in chains.
Toxicologists do it till they're half-dead.

and there are unbelievably long lists on how physicists and mathematicians do it.. (sorry, i chose chemistry only because it was a favourite subject in college..)