Korean Madness!

Saw this from another blog. I'm probably the last person to have seen this. But I was laughin so hard at 2am in the morning (even after watching this repeatedly).

By the way this has nothing to do with my Korean craze ok :P Enjoy!

Developer Evangelist

A few days ago I was on the MRT with some former colleagues and acquaintances. We were all talking about work when suddenly the question "What do you do?" went into roulette.

"Systems analyst"
"IT specialist"
"Team lead"

Then it was my turn. (I hate it when it happens).

"Developer evangelist"

That raised a few eyebrows. It always does.
Yeah yeah we "pray while we're coding" whatever :P

Some pics to bore you... (pics courtesy of Joel our professional in-house photographer who attended this session)

Dang's Birthday Celebration and Some *Revealing* Pictures

Some pictures from last night, courtesy of Joel's ultra-high-tech-and-expensive Nikon professional camera.

We went to Billy Bombers in The Central, Dang's treat! (Dr Pepper's again hehe!)

Hermes, Rica, Dang, and me in Clark Quay. If you look closely at this picture, somewhere in the middle..

Joel showing off his prowess in shooting wild moving subjects..

The mirror pic, with some dude..

What's so funny? Rica looks very happy last night.

In Coffee Club, Clary Quay. The guy on the right looks VERRYYY happy :P

"... so there we were being chased by dinosaurs and aliens, I knew I was dreaming but..."

"Eh? Stop taking pictures of me man.."

"Ok one more.."

That's all folks!

NDP

After contemplating whether I'd be going back to the Philippines this coming NDP (and drag Friday along with an MC) to fix my life take a short vacation, I found out this Monday that I can't, because something is happening on Friday which is related to work..

work.. woRK... WORK

..but I actually try to find time for other things even if there's truckloads of work.

Like drawing myself drawing..


You can't see it but I look very tired and wasted. The left hand is supporting my head lol.

I also went out with Mediacorp artiste Felicia Chin a few hours ago. Here's a picture of us waiting for the train to the moon ;) ..


She is unusually shy and quiet. I didn't dare ask her about Vitagen because I haven't tried it yet. It seems to be a face cosmetic product now. Open one and splash over your face. Look energized and revitalized like Felicia Chin!

Anyway, watching the NDP from the floating stadium would've been great, but I'm too lazy to go. I was able to record the rehearsal from our office's pantry though last weekend. (uh, yeah I was working). Here's a part of it..



I am still depressed. Maybe acupuncture will help me.

(to be continued..)

Falling

Thanks to Rowena for these pics from the Banda Fantastika gig..

(So this is what I look like with red hair dye bwahaha)

Last week was the most exhaustive week ever.

Try sleeping at 12am, then waking up at 3am to finish some demos (software, not songs!). Going to the office at 8 to do conference call. Attending a meeting at 10. Continue with the demos until 2. Getting lost in the biggest university in SG at 2:30. Walking in late for a big meeting attended by around 30 academic professionals and school officials at 2:45. It wouldn't have mattered that I was late if they weren't waiting for me, but they had to because I WAS PRESENTING (technology presentation, not music!), 2:50pm. Took a taxi that's supposed to take me back to the office, but instead I ended up in Suntec because the f&$*@ taxi driver had something up his sleeve while I was dozing off and must've thought that I thought he misheard the destination. 5pm. Had to take off at 5:30 to go to another meeting. Meeting started at 6, and ended 8:30. Went back to office to get my stuff. Went home, sapped.

The weekend was great though!

And now it's Monday again DOH!

What Drives You (By Caltex :P)

Wow Jeremy (from Songcraft) painstakingly cut, edited, uploaded to YouTube, and commented on each of the songs in the Songcraft blog! I have very high regard for Jeremy for having this much dedication to the group. Here's a picture from that night by the way..

(that's not me holding the guitar, that's Betty. I took this picture)

(huh????)

Sometimes we can only watch in awe and be inspired by such people like Jeremy. He, by the way, pays for the room that we're using to hold the sessions (am I right?). He brings the keyboards, a guitar, an amp.. well it helps if you drive a Beemer lol. But Jeremy is a good inspiration to us all at Songcraft. And I think we are to him as well, which is why he started this group in the first place. Keep it up man.

Speaking of inspiration, I've been meeting a lot of high-ranking people both from the public and the private sector lately. They range from long-time educators, CEOs, entrepreneurs, innovators, etc. It's been a humbling experience so far, and everytime they start talking, describing what they do, I always ask myself, "What did these guys do to be in this position?" One could argue that they were at the right place at the right time, i.e. bailing out of the dotcom bubble, crossing paths with an upcoming trend, etc. But after a while of brainstorming, I think the right question to ask should be "What kept these guys going?"

Most of these guys (and ladies), have things in common to when they talk about their job descriptions..

• "I've been in this field for years.."
  
• "..the industry is constantly evolving, but we try to adapt.."
• ".. oh yes! I know him we collaborated on a project way back.."
• "..hopefully to encourage and keep the spirit of it going.."

And as always, their voice always has that tinge of excitement when talking about their field of expertise, and none of all that ego crap. There's no need for the latter anyway. They can trumpet their way throughout the conversation but I promise you it won't strike you as something with a boastful tone.

These people had "staying" power. Consistent in what they do. And as I've always mentioned here, they have the passion. Yeah yeah I've used the term like a gazillion times in this blog lol. So for guys like Jeremy, and all the people out there who do what they do because they believe in it, cheers to you all.

So I was pondering on myself, and wondering where I stand in all of this. Being a low lifer that I am, and hoping for an ego-boosting fix, I asked my girlfriend what she liked about me. (At this point I was expecting an answer along the lines of "you're handsome", "you're cute!" ...)

"You have drive."

Disappointing!... just kidding lol! Anyway she went on to explain that not many can have that consistent drive for something. She may be right though, but there's a problem right there, the word "something". We both know that I do not know, until now, what that something is. And yes, she is right that I have drive - it's driv-ing me crazy that I do not know what it is lol!

I do take comfort in knowing, that I am not alone. I am pretty sure that you, my dear reader, are most likely on the same situation. If not, then good for you. I envy you. Please stop reading my blog you contented piece of s... haha nah!

I think my point here is, we may not know what it is yet, but in the meantime, it's a good idea to be inspired by other people. Hear what they have to say. Take mental notes. Start that fire inside. And from there hopefully we'll find a path for us. (Wow so deep).

Everyday is tiring for me at work. That's a fact. I can even hear people's minds saying "How much is he paid in Microsoft anyway???" (Yes, I have Professor X's Cerebro you numbskull. And if you have to click that link, shame on you for not knowing lol). It's not something that I can boast about, that's for sure.

It is important to note though that I am working with a bunch of aces. They inspire me. It makes me feel proud working with these guys. Meeting other inspirational people along the way is another added bonus. So yeah you can imagine that fire in me now. I do my best with the best. I do feel confident when I say that "I'm on to something here." As I've said, as long as we're inspired, and we aim to find that path, it's more valuable than anything.

Fortunately today though, I got the chance to leave work early... 9pm bwahahaha! :P This morning we went to Far East Square for a colleague's farewell lunch. I didn't know about the place before, it's got lots of restaurants! So I planned to return there ...

like tonight lol!

12-inch Pesto Chicken Pizza.... oh yeaaaaaaaaaaa..

My drive.. is Pizzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa