Well, for an update I am still working in same company till now. I have been working there for more than 6 months and so far so good. As a matter of fact, I like my job, if not love it. At very least, my job is related to what I have learned in school. More than that, I am doing a little bit of everything. It is challenging and exciting at the same time, and for sure there are lots of thing that I need to learn.

So, what is the meaningful thing that I want to write here? what do I mean with the title above? Well, I believe that when we are doing something that we like, we will do it better and eventually get some rewards from it. It is actually too short to get the reward in six months, and what I have obtained is actually not quite significant. But still, it is not so wrong to celebrate of what I have achieved below :

Hopefully, the next six months, I will get something more than this, which is a promotion… hahahaha…

Anyway, I was just coming back from a reunion dinner+supper with my long lost junior high school friends and it was fun. Well, it was so amazed me thinking about what we were and what we are now. It is like yesterday when four of us using a blue and white uniform and now we are in our early 20s, and for my case I can consider myself in my mid 20s starting this year.

Maybe I shouldn’t be worry about anything. Just follow the flow of life, do what I want to do and have the best time of my life… No worries kind of life is sound fun, isn’t it? ….. Yes it is…. but after looking at the right down corner of my laptop, Sunday 3 am which mean tomorrow is Monday, and Monday is equal to dragging my self to the office…  Do I really have no worry? Hell No….!

The song is from Tipe-X, with fancy ska music, the lyric below with lousy translation:

Lepas semua angan tinggi melayang / Let all dream fly high
Coba menghindar dari kenyataan / Try to escape from reality
Mikirin hidup yang nggak karuan / Think about chaotic life
Malah bikin bingung nggak pernah ada jawaban / Confusing, never find the answer
Semua menjauhi lelah hati terus begini / Everything run away, exhausted  heart, stay the same
Jenuh mencoba putus asa  / Fed up, try to give up
M’rasa diri seolah nggak punya arti / Feel like unworthy

Tapi teringat nasehat nenek / But remember grandma’s said
Orang hidup harus punya tujuan / People must have a goal
Nggak perlu malu hadapi kenyataan / Don’t be ashamed to face reality
Jangan hidup ini cuma jadi beban / Don’t make life just an obligation
Ternyata nasehat nenek benar / In fact, grandma’s right
Nggak boleh malas / Don’t be lazy
Ternyata semua harus dikejar / In fact, everything need to be pursued
Dan matahari pun bersinar / And the sun will shine
{2x}

Na na na na na na… na na..na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na na… na na..na na
Na na na na na na… na na

klick : http://www.esnips.com/doc/ca4e7ee0-856d-44f3-b26f-2512191cb91b/Tipe-X—Angan if you want to hear the song….

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YOU ARE THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

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Hahaha, well, I never know that I am that lucky; anyway it is just a test, nothing real. Having said that, I indeed am lucky, at least if I compare with so many unfortunate people in this world. I maybe am need to thanks God more often….

But, written there, as Irish proverb said: "The only sure thing about luck is that it will change". So I better be careful.

Prior to that, she responded my comment in a very rude way by writing that she was not discussing those particular issues with me. Well, I seriously have no idea if I was not invited there, however as far as I understand, when someone put a writing online, everyone can read it and put comment on it, unless we make it private or put comment on approval. But I had written that I am sorry if I was really not invited there.

But then again, I also have no idea why in that particular writing, she didn’t expect my comment, coz I have given some comment in her blog before, and she was OK. On top of that, I really think that there was nothing offensive in my comment. But later on, she made that posting private, and she said that she actually made it private from the beginning. Well, we never know…. Even though it quite hard to understand how, but I prefer to believe her…

Other than that she also put comment in my another old blog, questioning my other intention. Again, I didn’t understand what she was talking about. After having a thought about it a while, I knew that she thought my comment was to offence her. She maybe thinks that I support the guy that she was against with. Just to make it clear, I really have no intention to offence her, what I put in the comment is purely to clarify if she was making a typo error. There was a sentence in her blog which was quite confusing and could lead the reader to interpret it wrongly, but she got me wrong.

Back to the chat, after figuring out what she was talking about, then I told her that I have no intention but to clarify the typo error. However, all of the sudden, she closed the conversation by telling me that she need to go. Actually, at that time, I really thought that she was impolite, coz she started conversation which was judging me for something that I was not doing, but she stopped it before we made it clear. Again, I prefer to believe her that she really had something very important which gave her reason to neglect politeness.

So later on, I saw her online again. Considering that there was something unclear between us, I asked her if she had something to clarify. But she said that she had nothing, or to be precise, she had no more “mood” to discuss that matter with me. Well, what I thought that time was that, I even had no “mood” to start it from the very beginning. However, she had started it, even with some prejudice about me on it, so she owed me an explanation.

However, what she had done was running for that obligation. It was simply rude and impolite. I am saying this not because I am her senior. I actually oppose to seniority, especially when we have already graduated from that school. However, impoliteness that she had done is applied in general life. It is about a manner in our interaction with other people.

But after having some thought and watching her acting toward other people, it made me realize something. It is crystal clear that she is nothing but a kid. Well, as a kid, it is expected for her to act in such a way. As adult we need to be responsible of our action and what she had done was running for that responsibility. It simply shows her egocentric. Seeing another action she did in responding others critic also show how defensive she is, which is also another characteristic of immature person who afraid to lose. But actually by doing so, she lose even more.

Hopefully, as she is growing up, she can realize what she has done was wrong. My advice to her is that, please don’t be defensive, otherwise, people critics regardless right or wrong, wont make you grow up as a better person, but instead will hurt yourself… though you maybe think that you don’t need it, but I wish you all the best and I really do…

That quote distracted me quite a deal when I read it, coz it reflects what I feel know and what I was. Well, I was young and green (though I am still young now but I was younger and greener before ) Looking back to myself few years back, make me feel a bit shame, but most of the time it make me laugh to see how laughable I was. I was so full of myself, but the most laughable thing is that when I thought that I know everything.

Well, I don’t know what made me think I was on top of the world. Maybe, I just saw a very tiny part of the globe and thought that was the whole universe. It was very easy for me to judge people just based on the assumption. I thought that I can analyze everything; especially I was thinking that it was very easy for me to analyze people, which is completely wrong.

I remember that I told one of my friends, my junior in fact, that she didn’t suitable for the major that she had taken. Just based on my assumption on how unconfident she was with herself. But later on, knew her better, I admitted that I was wrong and I said sorry to her. Well, human capabilities are very complex. Maybe I was right that she lack on one factor which is not suitable for that major, but indeed she had many other factors that made herself able to overcome every obstacle she faced on it, which had been proven now.

Finally I realize that it surely needs time to understand other people, or maybe we will never really capable to know everything about other people. There are some examples, such as a couple who had lived together for so many years, but in the end realized that there were some secret they didn’t know about their spouse. Again, human are very complex, we never really know what other people capable to do. Nothing is more wrong than thinking that we know everything about someone so that they know nothing about themselves.

Having said that, it needs time to understand ourselves as well. Well, now I can say that I was wrong, but not before, when I was younger and greener and thinking that I know everything. Now, I realize that I don’t know everything, I can’t analyze people easily by assumption or a very little sample of behaviors; I can’t judge people good or bad; I can’t tell that someone is completely mistaken and I perfectly true; and most important thing is that I can’t think that other people are so wrong which make them need my help to fixed them 

At least, I know something now. I know that I was wrong and hopefully I can take lesson to be a better person. Because maybe, that’s what growing up is all about; to know what mistake we have done, not repeat the same mistake, and in the end of the day, we will be a better adult. In this case, I glad that I have some people who can give me constructive advice, to make me think and evaluate myself without turn out to be defensive. Otherwise, I am now still a boy in a man body and don’t realize that I am just a boy. Well, the most terrible thing in life is to become old too fast and wise too late, someone said. Hopefully it doesn’t happen in any of us….

But maybe what makes that problem happens is not because people is not understanding each other, but maybe because we are too confident that we understand other people. We are assuming that we know what they think about us and we know what their intention toward us. But, is that enough to make misunderstanding occur? Well, actually that is not enough. Sometimes, life is just like a chemical reaction. When two insignificant substances are combined, it can become a very significant new substance, either useful or dangerous to human life.

Another factor, as bang Aussie said, is that, our tendency to see other people, in the way we see ourselves. Bang Aussie gave an example, an honest person. An honest person can be wrong if they think that everyone is honest, cause to be real, not everyone in this world is honest. As result, he maybe will get bullied many times, or get cheated all the times. In contrast, dishonest person also have tendency to think that other people will act dishonest toward them. As result, they will be always cheating all the time. Why those thing happen? One explanation from bang Aussie that I think is quite logic is because; human capability is limited. It is impossible for us to understand everything, especially when it is related to human behaviors. Then what we are doing is taking an easy way out, that is by reflecting ourselves to others and sees others in the way we see ourselves.

So how can those two combinations of human behaviors cause misunderstanding among them? Or even when those combinations occur, as long as we keep ourselves in a circle of good people, (if we think that we are the good one), everything is just going to be fine, isn’t it? Well, again, to be real, as I said earlier that no one is a truly an evil, at the same time, no one is truly an angel. As human, we always have two sides, good side and a bad side. That is why God create evil and angel, and it is ours to choose which one we want to follow the most.

So when human have a good and a bad side, then what? Well, game theory has its part here, that is why it deserve a noble price It is like a prisoner dilemma every time we deal with other people. We know that we have a good and a bad side; we can be honest and dishonest. Then, we will try to figure out what others people think. As I mention above, we tend to see them as us, which mean they can be either bad or good. By game theory principle, if we think that they are good, but in the end they are actually bad, it will cost us a lot. We tend to take a safe move by assuming that other people are bad, so that we will not be defeated as much as otherwise. Then the first tendency occurs that we are think that we know what other people think. Final result, we are confidently assuming that other people are bad which can lead to misunderstanding among us.

So, there are three factors combine here, our tendency to see others as the way we see ourselves, our tendency to assume that we know what other people think, and the principle of game theory which take place in human interaction.

Well, anyway, above are just my own theory that I figure out from the discussion last night. It is not necessary right, but I just like to make a theory  But, I think it can explain some misunderstanding that happen among people, even though it can’t be applied for all cases. Those tendency is also not always occurring, because maybe there are others factor like trust, experience and many others thing as a result of ours interaction with other people who we trust or distrust completely.

For me, figuring out this simply just make me more aware and be careful in my interaction with other people. Maybe by knowing this I can avoid someone got me wrong or myself got other people wrong. Wise word said, "don’t assume, get the fact", other said "don’t judge too quickly". Easier said than done, but realizing is the first step of acting. Hopefully, better world can be created without misunderstanding…. And I really looking forward for this…

Now, when I am very near to become completely a working adult, I appreciate Peter Pan story even more. It was more than just a children story, but it was probably, the battle that has to be faced by everyone as they are growing up to become an adult. Peter Pan story is about the refusal of becoming an adult. Refusal of all the responsibilities that have to be taken as an adult such as earn money for living, need to pay for the monthly bill, need to settle down, buying a house, buying a car, form a family and many other things that even only think about it can make my head crash. Well, by accident I find this writing about resigning of become an adult. I found it in many websites, so the original author is unknown:

Tendering My Resignation

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year old again.

I want to go to McDonald’s and think that it is a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle, skid rocks across the mill pond and make a sidewalk with rocks. I want to roller skate and play ball in the street, play ‘Rover Red Rover’, ‘Hide and Seek’ and ride my iron wheel wagon down the hill.

All I knew was to be happy and I was blissfully unaware of all the things that should make me worried or upset. I want to sleep in a tent in the back yard without worry or fear. I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good. I want to believe anything is possible.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, kind words, truth, justice, peace, dreams, imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow. So here is my check book and my car keys, my credit card bills and all my statements. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you’ll have to catch me first, cause…

See Later… Alligator

Well, interesting. Fastest, in the next six months I’ll be officially registered as a working adult. So should I resign? I don’t know. But I realize that I need to enjoy the next six months to the fullest. That is for sure.

When we are discussing about romantic movie in the place that I live now, the first type of movie that will come out is definitely Japanese or Korean drama or movies. Most of my friends are the J-drama and K-drama freak. I am definitely not a dorama freak, not even a fan of this type of genre, but I did watch some dorama or the K&J movie. In my opinion, the strongest part of dorama is in the story. The story is very strong so that it can make you flying with love or even drowning in tear. On top of that, as Asian, we can identify ourselves more on Asian movies coz we, more or less, have the same way of doing something, especially in term of building love relationship. In simple, we easily identify “shy-shy” love rather than straight-forward love in western movie.

Last night I watch a very interesting Japanese movie. It released in 2004, so I suppose that many of you have watched it before. The title is “Ima, ai ni yukimasu” or the English title is “Be with You”. I think most of you will say that it is a good movie, but not the greatest, not even in the list of the best Japanese movie you ever watch. I can understand why you think so, coz in term of the story, this movie doesn’t have the strongest story, compare with another Japanese movie. But for me, this movie is on the list of the best movie I ever watch, not only in romantic genre or Japanese movie genre, but it is one of the best movies from all movies I ever watch.

Why is it so? Let me share with you why I think this movie is one of the best. First is from the story. The story is maybe not very strong but it is very well written. It felt like a very good storyteller told you a story which is ok, but because of the way he read the story, the story sound very good. Kudos for the script writer, for making a very good story line. The end of the movie was surprising, even though quite long. It filled all holes plots and made the story complete.

Another great thing from this movie is the casting. I think they did a very good job in finding the actor and actress which not only act very well, but also well-matched with the character. There are 3 main characters in this movie, Mio the mother, Takumi the father, and Yuji the son. Play as Mio is Yuko Takeuchi, not a very pretty actress compare with another Japanese actress, but indeed radiant and surely talented. As the father Takumi, is Shido Nakamura which also not the perfect actor in Japanese-actor-stereotype, but definitely did a good job. And the most outstanding one is as the son Yuji, is Akashi Takei, with his original and believable acting. They really match with the character is not only because they play it very well, but also because the chemistry between them which is so real. It really makes you believe that they are a real family. ( I just know that they got married after the movie)

Finally, the third great thing from this movie is the setting. I don’t know from which part of Japan this movie took place, but it surely can capture the beauty of Japan nature, with its forest, lake and hill. I can compare it with another great movie I ever watch “Malena” (I think I will review it another time), an Italian movie with Sicilian island as the setting. The best scene for me is the morning scene when Takumi goes to the office by the bicycle. Other than that, every rain scene is just perfect.

With great script and story line, great casting, and great cinematography I think it is not wrong for me to put it on the list of the best movies I ever watch. But still, it is not the best movie I ever watch, not even the best in Romance genre. So far, the best movie of romance genre I ever watch is Before Sunset and Before Sunrise, even though I have some subjective reason to put it on the top, but that’s the movie about, we are getting pleasure by identify our self with the movie. The main factor to put the film as the best in our list is the movie where we can do self identification the most. I’ll review that movie later, but for now, Ima, ai ni yukimasu, Right now, I’m going to meet you…

Today is one month after I came back to Singapore, 1 week after the examination result, and one day after my German exam. Time flies and procrastinate me wasting those flying times with doing nothing, regardless that I have so little time with so much to do. Well, the deadline of my FYP report submission is less than 4 months, and only 8 weeks left for the holiday.

Surely, I have to rush with my FYP, and I need not to tell you the current progress of my FYP as it will just make it worse. But actually, I find it interesting. After reading -scanning actually- some papers, hoping to find an idea which barely find till now, the way researchers around the world communicate is quite interesting or even amazing for me. They maybe never said a single word to each other, not even know each other, but they are, for sure, communicate thru their papers.

It makes me realize the importance of putting the reference list on the paper. We have already know that it is an ethic to give credit for everyone else works that you use in your project. But actually, the importance is more than that. It is remind me to the concept of collective intelligence that I’ve learned from one of the modules I’ve taken last semester. Because actually, that is the way on how researcher communicate and collaborate with each other. That’s the factor that determines on how the technologies keep progressing to create something useful for human life. When all brain, in this case smart brain I believe, working together to create something, that thing must be an extraordinary one.

Hopefully, I will keep find it interesting so that I will have a “push factor” to keep me doing my FYP. Deep inside my heart, I am still hoping that someday I’ll have a chance to do a research work. But most likely, it will not happen in the near future. For now, I really need to focus on finishing this project first. So guys, wish me luck.