Guys,

I’ve officially transferred my blog from tblog -> textMalaysia

Please refrain from visiting tblog from now on. Instead, u should constantly check out lionel.textmalaysia.com for more recent updates.

For those who still haven’t port to textmalaysia, I sincerely urge you to seriously consider it. There’s been a lot of changes and improvement made. some of the promising features are:-

-    & nbsp;   &n bsp; allowable on-site attachment

-    & nbsp;   &n bsp; automated archive system

-    & nbsp;   &n bsp; categorizing your blog entries (which I believe will be added soon)

-    & nbsp;   &n bsp; and much more ……

Just received my 2005 focal review yesterday after a come back from a 2 days leave. I reached office at around 8:30 am. Making myself a cup of hot white coffee, and started running thru all the 670+ emails I’ve received for the past 2 days. I came across an email which was sent out by my boss to all members in my team. The content was somehow heart striking. It says that we have 2 promotion this year, and they are so-and-so. Of course my name wasn’t there.

It was a hard time for me to accept it. All these while I’ve been waiting and was so confident of getting a promotion to Senior this year. My boss even hinted me several times during our 1-on-1 that he will show some returns in my hardwork. Anyway, to say that I was depressed was somewhat an understatement during the hour. It was like I’ve been waiting for ages before my boss invited me into a meeting room for 1-on-1 at around 11am.

Anyway, we had a open-hearted discussion. He told me that he they actually did propose on my promotion this year, just that the top management in S.J. turned it down. I somehow buy what he says. He asked of my expectation for this year’s increment, and I told him that I expected something around the same number as last year, around w%, or maybe a bit more, x%. Well, y% was something I never expected. Anyway, that was an acceptable number J The next thing was stock option. Before showing me the numbers, he forewarned me to expect a little reduction in numbers as top management has by far reducing all stocks options for this year by around 70%. Well, my number was xxx. To be honest, I somehow didn’t feel anything about the options. Anyway, the whole session seen my boss kept on telling me to be patient, patient and patient as things will get better next year, he PROMISE. As a guy with no initiation of negotiating with superiors, and one that doesn’t like to discuss much on facts that have been laid down, I showed him my acceptance, and that’s all I can say.

Anyway, the 1-on-1 session ended within 30minutes, just in time for lunch. While having lunch with Mut and Pimp, and even after that, my mind kept on telling me to overcome the sadness, but I just somehow needed more time. Anyway, it’s all about your mind playing tricks with you. I reread the focal review carefully, and more in depth. In the Strength & Weaknesses page, it says that my weaknesses are “Meeting commitments and follow thru”. I somehow think that it’s quite true. As a support team member, we have tons of scripts to maintain. When I am into something, and when some guys from other department kept on calling me on the phone, I will always shut them down, and reject answering the phone call. Yeah. That’s me. I think I’ve not doing my job up to my responsibility level. The other 2 on my team who got promoted wasn’t actually having an edge on my on their skills or whatsoever, but when it comes to job responsibility and follow ups on supports, I dearly respect their achievement on this part.

Anyway, after getting my mind set, tricks are gone from my mind. I felt anew again. Refreshed and Reborn. I sincerely congratulated my 2 counterparts who got promoted, and set a new target for myself, to be a better support team member, and be more attentive to customers’ request and complains. I’ve been always an optimistic guy (as what others always say that is how I perceived myself), and well, I believe I am truly are J Hahahahaha :D

The past 2 days have been quite an interesting and fulfilling holiday for me. As a avid photographer since his teenage years, his 2 sons joined in his footage. Not wanting to be left behind, I took up photography as well. Hahahaha. And so here we stand, me taking 2 days annual leave accompanying my uncle (Ee Cheong) and his youngest son, Simon for a 2 days photography session.

The first day saw us visiting 3 places
- Khoo Kongsi in the morning (which we have to pay some waramashit RM5 / head)
- Coastal highway (trying our luck on Penang Bridge)
- opposite Inventec (picking on some boats pix)

Outside Of Khoo Kongsi Temple


Inside Khoo Kongsi Temple. Seen here is an urn hanging in the middle of the roof top.


Coastal Highway. The guy in front is Simon. Hehe.


Fishing boats parking along shore of Coastal Highway.


Here comes the main object. The Penang Bridge. Fak those indonesians. Haze made this pix looks blur.


Opposite Inventec. This beautiful boat has been seen parking here ever since i started working. Finally i have the chance to capture this beautiful piece of art.


Some fishing boats seens parking near the fishing village opposite Inventec.

The 2^nd day visitation goes like this
- morning at Botanical Garden
- Lunch at Penang Swimming Club
- Dinner at Midland’s Mei3 Lan2 Ge2.

Camelion taken in Botanical Garden.


The last shot which i manged to capture right after i changed to my 70-300mm, and right before it vanished into the bushes.


Lovely scene of Waterfal from Botanical Garden? Hahaha.... it's actually some kinda drainage system. Serious !!!


Lunch at Penang Swimming Club. Man.... the whether is very pretty today. Look at the nice blue sky with the white clouds.


Shore of Penang Swimming Club.


Another one, with different angle and different perspective.


Family Dinner at Mei3 Lan2 Ge2. First dish <The 4 Season>


Yummy Yummy, My favourite, <The Suckling Pig>. Are you dripping Saliva, Kokidi ? Hahahah.


Suckling Pig with Family photo, missing were the 2 photographers, Me and Simon.


3rd dish, <Cod Fish>. Not as nice as i expected. Tasted a bit fishy.

 

Last nite was a terrible nite. The bus was too cold. Me and Dan just hardly could sleep. And some more, the usual stuff, my nexk hurts like hell. Anyway, good thing is, we managed to reach Yong Peng quite early, around 5am. We waited for around 1 hour till Dan’s parents arrive with their new Toyota Vios 1.5G. Wow …. This was also my first time traveling in a Toyota Vios J

Anyway, we headed straight home, rejecting all the invitation from Dan’s parents of having breakfast, and took a long sound sleep. We were later wakened up by some noise which comes from the constant high volume  conversation in the kitchen. Apparently, Dan’s relatives have slowly arrived. Anyway, we then decided to take a bath and wake up at that time. (I really dun quite remember what was the time right then…. Hahahaha)

Preparations for a wedding ceremony is not easy. Dan’s aunties all were participating in some cooking or food preparation in the kitchen. As everyone was busy having something on their hands, me and Dan took the opportunity to get to know the new pet dog, which we named him chang chang due to his longer-than-normal body length J

Anyway, Dan was so happy with the gathering. I could see it in her eyes, although we came back around 2am and we was so tired.

Well, the day has come where we have to say goodbye. It’s been a fascinating experience for me and Dan for being able to participate so closely on a real wedding ceremony. I believe this has brought us in understanding the whole meaning and procedure of how the whole thing actually looks like.

We were reluctantly woke up by Dan’s papa at around 6am. Toke a morning bath, had a last greeting with chang chang, and off we go for breakfast. Let’s cut the crap on the breakfast part. Breakfast sux. Food was worse than average. Anyway, the only nice one was the fish ball noodles ordered by Dan.

The journey from Kluang to Senai took around 1 hour +. Throughout the journey, me and Dan was holding each other’s hand. The feeling was good. I felt as if our relationship has gone a step higher. I felt closer towards her. Maybe it’s because of the long break that we both had after such a long non-interval working hours. At least, this weekend gave us some good quality time that I believe we’ve spent together. Sometimes all it really needs is just to let 2 hearts rest together side-by-side to replenish the love in between.

Anyway, we reached Senai airport around 9:00am. It was still early. Our checking time is 10am, and so, we me and Dan did some walking around the airport. This airport really amazed me with it’s nice environment. Although small, the cozy feel and beautiful surrounding makes up for its short coming. This was our first time that we’ve came here. And this was also our first time that we patronized AirAsia. As usual, as a more observant person, I used to notice that Dan’s mother’s eyes would be extra shinny every time this moment arises, probable due to the extra moist accumulation on her eyes. Nevertheless, we moved in to the check-in section, and I gave my future in-laws a last goodbye wave.

We look for a nice seat on the waiting lounge, and as I was about to invite Dan for some nice photo session, I was abruptly approached by a huge sized malay-looking guy, around mid 40s. He brought with him a Canon ViewCam. He came with a nicely understandable English slang  and asked if I speak English, he asked for help on setting up his ViewCam’s date and camera. I was somewhat shocked at first, but as a guy which likes to help, I gladly accepted his challenge. I asked for his user manual, and he threw me some Dutch, Italian, Spanish etc manuals. I finally asked for an English manual. We both go thru the manual, and finally found the section. As the viewcam required the user to set the time zone, I therefore seek for his originality, which to my surprise, he answer, ”I’m from Middle East, Bahrain”.

Oh yeah. No doubt I was kinda freaked out for a moment. I believe this is due to the how the public media puts up the impression on those people in the country. I was like “WTF!??!?! Am I really gonna go in the same plane with a Middle Easterner?” . But the next thing happened denies all my accusations. His son came up, and was talking with him in some Arabic language I believe. He then talked to Dan on some English, which we could hardly understand. His father then told him something and then faced back on us and said, that was his son, Hassan, and he was trying to ask u how long are you gonna stay in Penang. That was sweet, isn’t it ? J

Anyway, I kept my composure, and guide him thru the settings. We couldn’t find BadRain in the selection menu, and so, he opted for Dubai. Within a few minutes, we’re done, and he tried a few shots and showed me what he took. There she was, his wife, sitting together with his 2 sons and 1 daughter. As the accouchement from the PA system kept on urging passenger to start boarding the plane, we therefore parted goodbye.

The seats in the A360 was in such a way that it was 2 columns, with 3 seats on each column. Me and Dan settled for a nice window seat, and after a few moments, what a coincident. We were talking about that guys that we just parted goodbye just now, and regretted for not getting his name, and to our surprise, he actually came from behind, and seated his family in front of our seats. When he turned back, he was too surprise to see us, and of course, I invited him to have the seat beside me, and asked for his name.

His name is Waheed, and we quickly exchange name cards.

The conversation during the journey to Penang enlightened me a lot and brought some senses to me. We had some nice conversation and view exchanged. I asked him about his work back there, and he told me that he works in this ManTruck company which deals with trucks, vehicles, constructions, cements etc. He said he works for 7 days a week, 7am till 8pm everyday. I was somewhat stunned, and Dan asked him that was it a norm to work for 7 days a week back in his country. To our surprise, this was his story:-

“I have been working for 16 years for this company. I started of from zero, nothing, until what I have accomplished today. I appreciate the opportunity the company gave me, and so, I do my best to pay back to the company. Our country view Friday as a public holiday. Government organizations has a holiday on Saturdays as well. Our company is a private one, and I have to go back on Fridays not less than 4 hours to make sure that all procedures are flowing smoothly. As you know, I don’t have much time spent with my family, and for this, I do my best to make up with giving my children and family a nice and enjoyable travel at least once a year. I love my job very much. And so, for all the negligence throughout the year, I try to compensate it with this so that I could spend more time with my family.”
 
I was somewhat touched by his words. Although he looks like a normal blue color worker, deep inside, he has a lovable heart which is much more sensitive than what others claim to be. He then took out his whole holiday schedule, printed out on a piece of A4 paper and showed it to us. He told us that he would love to bring his children to all those places where his children could actually enjoy and have fun, and he asked for my suggestion. He said he will be staying in ParkRoyal.

I told him that that’s a nice 5 star hotel, and he said yes it is, and the reason why he chose to take a suite in ParkRoyal was that he misses the homely food so much that he wanted his wife to cook home food for his family for the 4 days he is staying in Penang. We told him to spend more time at the beach there if his kids like to play with water, and he said his kids really do love swimming. He told us about stories on how they spent their time in Sunway Lagoon last week, and with that, he drew out his FujiPix Digicam and slowly browse thru each pictures while telling us the stories behind each of them.

We asked if he is fond of food, and he said “Who doesn’t like food?” hahahaha. And so, we added Gurney Plaza to his shopping list, and Gurney Drive to his next stop. We introduced him to Butterfly Farm. We introduced him to Genting, and he said he was there for 12 hours, which he personally thinks that it wasn’t really enough for his kids.

We asked for his kids’ age, and he said his sons were 10, 7 and 5 for his little daughter. There was a slight silence before he carried on with his conversation. “You know, Hassan, my eldest son? When he was born, we didn’t know that he has a hole in his esophagus (the paip which serves as the breathing tunnel as well as the food channel). He kept on vomiting every time after having his mother’s milk. He face would turn red, blue, and then purple. Every time I see that, I was so scared. We sent him to the hospital, and the stuff there told us that there’s nothing they can do about this. Well, I called my friends and relatives, and I studied myself on what’s the cause of this and everything I could, and I finally decided to bring Hassan back and took care of him myself. I even signed the letter stating that whatsoever happens to him is on the sole responsibility of myself. I bought some chemical cleaning machine, and cleans his room everyday. I took some hard food and make them soft, but not too soft, and feed them down his throat, so as to make sure that those food will not have him choked. I make sure that I change him, and prepare his food and feed him every morning before I go to work at 7am. When I came back around 8pm, I would again change him and feed him myself, and then put him to bed. I did that for 7 months, from the day he as 10 days old, and slowly, the hole patched, and he is as healthy as what he is right now.”

At this time, our conversation was interrupted by the flight attendants. Waheed kindly asked his kids what they would like to have, and to my surprise, he insisted on buying us drinks. His sincerity was too hard for us to turn him down, and so, we finally decided to take 2 bottles of orange juice.

It wasn’t long before we landed in Penang. I couldn’t have the chance to say goodbye to him as he was moving fast catching up with the taxi waiting for them at the arrival hall. I think to myself, I would really want to send him an email when he is back in BahRain, to keep up our friendship.

I personally gain quite a lot from the interaction with this simple yet loving man. I could see from his gestures that he is a loyal man. Loyal to his company. He is a loving husband and caring father, the loves his kids more than anything in this world, and could sacrifice for them in any way. He reasons with his children whenever they do wrong. And he is a responsible man. A respectable husband, father, friend.

This is the prepared text of the address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, who spoke at Commencement on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my patents promised that I would someday go to college. And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together. I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle. My third story is about death. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that your are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now. This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much.