tell me about yourself
Friday, July 18, 2008 (1:01 PM)
i just had an interview this morning and it was with a caucasian. probably american. i used to not prepare much for interviews especially since you don't really know what the interviewer is going to ask. afterall, what question about myself can't i answer? but soon, i realised the possibility of preparing because every other cat along the street knows what questions are going to be asked.
1) tell me about yourself
2) what are your strengths and weaknesses
i used to think these questions are pretty dumb because it has become a go-through-motion kind of thing. whenever i tell them about myself, they appear uninterested. they either talk among themselves or if there's only one of them, s/he'll be busy reading through the form i filled in 20 minutes earlier. i realised these people don't even know the purpose of asking these questions. they just know that everyone else asks these same questions, so they just do it without thinking.
true enough, it can be observed. the disinterest shown in the expression and the movement of the jaw made it obvious the questions came out as if they were programmed to do so. they don't know why they are asking these questions. i've even gotten people who tell me they are just buying time for themselves to read through our resume. if i make the effort to send you my resume early, please make the effort to read it before my arrival. let's respect each other.
but my main point is, despite my effort to prepare magnificent answers for the above 2 questions, i had no use for them because this interviewer didn't ask a single of those 'normal' questions. he only asked what he needed to know and told me what i needed to know instead of playing charade like a clown.
i like this guy!
commencement 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 (12:38 AM)
seems like the best day of my uni life went by pretty good and pretty not good. when people say 戴方帽子, i'm sure it's not just a mere expression. but guess what? i took lots of photos but none of it with my mortar board. not very smart for a graduate i'd say.
my camera was really bad. the few pictures i took were too bright and thus, i gave up the thought of using my camera in the end. and also the people who offered to help take the pictures always had their hands full before i got my camera to them, so i was a bit paiseh to hang another gadget on their hands, what more a 3.2 megapixel camera which was only as good as my cybershot phone. and my phone actually produces better pictures than the camera. it might've been the setting though.
so i didn't get to take pictures with quite a number of the honours people. though we weren't exactly from the same batch, we did take a few mods together and i think they're great people. what's more, we're supposedly the same batch prior to uni. at least with the guys. haha...
the profs who went up the stage in their doctorate dresses made me feel like i was in hogwarts though prof shih was a mini-sized dumbledore. the pictures we took in the dresses minus the mortar board really made us look like wizards. and for some reason, when carmen went up the stage, she reminded me of hermoine.
and no, i am not a harry potter fan.
review
Wednesday, July 09, 2008 (1:12 PM)
first, a review of hp2133 mininote.
pros
----------------
- lightweight and compact
- loud and clear speakers
- not too glossy screen
- good keyboard layout in spite of the size
- comes with MSOffice
- sleek design
- 120GB SATA HDD
- 2GB DDR2 RAM
- bluetooth
- WiFi
- packs all the necessary ports in one small machine
- webcam
- affordable price
cons
----------------
- screen is way too small for the kind of resolution it can display
- touchpad use is a bit problematic due to the surface
- no cd-rom drive causing difficulty in installing desired programs and creating recovery discs
- gets hot way too easily. it burns faster than my acer.
- only comes in vista. providing XP would be a good offer.
- default partition of 108GB in the C: drive and another 9GB in the D: (for fuck?)
- 2 USB ports located at different ends of the base causing problems when external harddrives require 2 ports to power
- confusing colour code for WiFi and bluetooth
next, a review of my health.
following a 3-month discomfort in my heart, i decided to go for electro-cardiogram and it showed an unspecified ST elevation in my heartbeat. at the point where the chart is supposed to go up, mine went down by a bit. according to the doctor, it's minor but i had better not do strenuous exercises now in case i suddenly die of heart failure like what has been happening to people who have appeared healthy recently.
am i sad? no. in fact, i feel happy that the chart revealed a slight problem because if i feel that something is obviously wrong with my heart and yet it can't be detected, then it's a greater problem. at least the problem is identified now and we can work at solving it. am i worried? yes. heart leh. don't play play.
fate's wide wheel
Tuesday, July 08, 2008 (4:30 PM)
finally found it.
imeem really has everything!
enjoy!
when your boss gives up...
Sunday, July 06, 2008 (3:47 PM)
after smiling for the past 2-3 months, i finally relented and threw in $999 for a new hp umpc - hp 2133 mini note.
my boss has been asking me to upgrade to a new laptop because my laptop is:
1) slow
2) not enough hdd space
3) old
and i've just been smiling at him and not giving any answers. to avoid commiting, i always change the topic after smiling. because i feel that:
1) my laptop is only slow during login (it'll be faster when i format it and remove the nus domain setting)
2) 20gb is enough space for the work he passes me so far (i have close to 30gb free space although in 2 different drives)
3) it's only 3 years new (it's working as good as brand new)
recently, the number of times he tells me to upgrade my laptop began to lessen and i thought it's a good sign. till i realised he actually sought help from my colleagues...
"please lah. help me ask jinhan upgrade his laptop can?"
although i disliked my acer laptop because the mboard crashed within 1 month of purchase and every other acer users i know gave similar complaints of it's lifespan, i refused to upgrade.
but when your boss gives up and seeks help from your colleagues, you know it's time to give in.
this entry is entered using my trusty ol' laptop and i grew to like it anyway. it hadn't failed me since the mboard replacement other than the occasional flickering of screen which may be due to the heat and which, by the way, is not frequent. most important of all, the battery lifespan is great. i can run a mean 2.5 hours on a full batt.
how 'bout your lousy laptop?
the gay movement
Saturday, July 05, 2008 (2:33 PM)
not a happy one, definitely.
in april this year, mediacorp was fined SGD$15,000 by the media development authority (MDA) for airing a home improvement show featuring a gay couple and their adopted baby. this was their second breach of the code. but this feature was not so much an issue since the reality TV series The Amazing Race had passed broadcast laws smoothly for a few seasons while featuring gay couples in these races. what ultimately sealed the fine was the congratulatory gesture by the host which presented gay couples as an acceptable family unit.
in the free-to-air TV programme code, programmes that promote, justify or glamourise gay lifestyle are unacceptable. normalising gays is a big nono for the authorities. but i'd question this move.
gay lifestyles are not matters of choice. they are matters of nature. not allowing gays to be part of the norm is unjustifiable. for one, featuring gays as an acceptable family unit does not and will not turn non-gays to gays. being gay is not a choice, i reiterate. if one is not gay, he will not be gay no matter how "normal" it is.
while i do recognise the problem in glamourising such lifestyles - as the non-gays may try to be gay in order to be "cool" - but like how fads work, they are just what they are. when the children grow up, they would ultimately understand their sexual inclinations. portraying it as a norm and glamourising it, are 2 different matters.
not accepting (as opposed to normalising) it, however, ostracizes the gays who happen to be gay - again - not by choice. it simply makes them feel suppressed, unable to live their right to a normal life. always under the scrutiny and judgments of the heterosexuals.
this creates more problems as some may participate in heterosexual marriages in order to conform to the social understanding of a "normal" family unit. it destroys their own life and happiness. it destroys the lives and happiness of their spouse who only later come to realise that they married a gay. it destroys the lives of the children who will get mocked by their peers that their father is a gay.
but when gay lifestyle becomes more acceptable, such problems cease. the gays do not marry women. families do not get broken up. the children do not get laughed at because such relationships are no longer "weird".
i'm not promoting the normalising of gays. neither am i against it. i'm just wondering why it can't be accepted? let's just forbid public displays of affection. even heterosexual acts are frowned upon anyway.
the source of bimbo
Friday, July 04, 2008 (3:23 PM)
i'm beginning to understand the bimbo label.
stems from the activities the fraternities and sororities do.
don't blame others if you are participating in them.
in the air tonight
Wednesday, July 02, 2008 (12:01 AM)
nice version...
try checking out the version by naturally seven as well.
they did a magnificent job on the paris metro.