Assalmu'alaikum.....
I got this from my friend Linda, it's so moving that I thought it would be nice to share with other people.
THE BRICK
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," He pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It's my brother, "he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him
back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. "Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy! push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: "Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!" God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Assalamu'alaikum....
So it's been a week since the unfortunate Group Incident. Yet I'm still getting questions from classmates other curious people. Comments and questions ranged from "So what happened there?" to "I knew something was gonna happen". I tried keeping my answers as vague as possible 'cause I don't want to explicitly embarrass anybody, but I guess the incident was public enough that people came to their own (correct) conclusions. Oh well, whatever, man. I'm just glad that things didn't drag on until the end of the semester.
Speaking of dragging on, I'm still unsuccessful in the whole internship department. I got a nice lil' rejection letter from Xerox (I'm guessing because I don't have a lot of design experience, and it was a User-Centered Design internship). I'm dissapointed, of course, but there's nothing much that I can do about it aside from wait for other opportunities to open up.
Linda and I are actively searching for an apartment for next year. It's kinda hard because 4 of us have cars (!), so we need four parking spots. On Central Campus, parking is a rare commodity. What I am happy about right now is the fact that whatever apartment we get, the overall cost is definitely going to be cheaper than living in University housing, even if they do ask me to pay the lease contract fee. I'm excited to try and live off-campus for the summer and next year. Granted, I haven't had to live with anyone since my sophomore year, but hopefully everything goes well and all of us can just get along.
The apartment hunt is going fast, but not a lot of stuff fits our requirement. So in a way, I haven't found anywhere to live yet for the summer. I'm actually thinking about going back home for then whole 3 months... until I remembered that I would be bored senseless 'cause all my friends would be working. Dammit.
Okay, my lunch is ready. Gotta eat and get back to work. Ciao!
Wassalam...
So it's been a week since the unfortunate Group Incident. Yet I'm still getting questions from classmates other curious people. Comments and questions ranged from "So what happened there?" to "I knew something was gonna happen". I tried keeping my answers as vague as possible 'cause I don't want to explicitly embarrass anybody, but I guess the incident was public enough that people came to their own (correct) conclusions. Oh well, whatever, man. I'm just glad that things didn't drag on until the end of the semester.
Speaking of dragging on, I'm still unsuccessful in the whole internship department. I got a nice lil' rejection letter from Xerox (I'm guessing because I don't have a lot of design experience, and it was a User-Centered Design internship). I'm dissapointed, of course, but there's nothing much that I can do about it aside from wait for other opportunities to open up.
Linda and I are actively searching for an apartment for next year. It's kinda hard because 4 of us have cars (!), so we need four parking spots. On Central Campus, parking is a rare commodity. What I am happy about right now is the fact that whatever apartment we get, the overall cost is definitely going to be cheaper than living in University housing, even if they do ask me to pay the lease contract fee. I'm excited to try and live off-campus for the summer and next year. Granted, I haven't had to live with anyone since my sophomore year, but hopefully everything goes well and all of us can just get along.
The apartment hunt is going fast, but not a lot of stuff fits our requirement. So in a way, I haven't found anywhere to live yet for the summer. I'm actually thinking about going back home for then whole 3 months... until I remembered that I would be bored senseless 'cause all my friends would be working. Dammit.
Okay, my lunch is ready. Gotta eat and get back to work. Ciao!
Wassalam...
Assalamu'alaikum....
My life.. when it's boring, nothing happens. Nothing. When it gets interesting, it got to be a little too interesting for my liking. Take for example, my Evaluation of Systems class. See, I LOVE that class. Before this, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. But now I know. I'm not that good at designing from scratch, however, I AM good at figuring out when something is easy to use, or when something needs to be fixed. I love learning and reading about Gestalt principles, usability testing, cognitive psychology...... these are the things that really makes sense to me.
Okay, so I just said I love the class. However, we were assigned a group to work with on an evaluation project, and I wasn't liking the issues that was happening in the group (the fights, arguments, blame... let's just say things weren't going well). As much as I would love to rant and go into details, I'm not gonna. Simply because I don't want a written proof that I just went off on a specific person/people. I'm not gonna embarrass him/her/them like that. Of course, I also don't wanna get sued down the road after I become famous (how will I be famous? Dunno, haven't thought that far yet. )
I am, however, going to generalize. I have too much anger to just let it sit and simmer. Hypocrisy, no matter how much all of us try to avoid it or deny it, lives in all of us. And yes, I do mean all. Try and count the times that you have said one thing then did the total opposite, or when you criticize someone for doing something but then found yourself doing the exact same thing. I know I've done it, and I've seen all of my friends do it, too (how do you suppose people find topics to gossip about?). Now while hypocrasy is a universal trait, there's a diference between that and being a full-blown hypocrite. A hypocrite doesn't recognize he/she is a hypocrite. Hypocrites tend to impose their opinions on others. Worse of all, what they say tend to hurt and in some cases, have a long lasting effect. And in my experience, hypocrites also tend to be able to talk their way out of a lot of things, or make it seem like what they say or do is totally right and in reality, it's not.
Certain things, you just shouldn't do. You shouldn't make jokes that hurt feelings (then try to pass it off as "he/she's too sensitive"). You shouldn't embarrass people in public. You shouldn't steal. You shouldn't discard people's ideas all the time in favor of our own. You don't gang up on people and then pretend that it's okay, it was "for their own good". You don't attack a person when their down. You don't impose opinions on others. You don't pretend you're doing work when you're not. These are some of the stuff that all of us shouldn't do, we know this; yet one time or another, we caught ourselves red-handed doing one of these Unforgivables, and the only way to make things better is to repent and apologize if you had hurt somebody.
Sometimes even that doesn't work. Although I try not to let it consume me, I still find myself getting angry time and again over a mean word a friend said, or a mean thing someone did, or being bullied in school. The thing that calms me down is to remember that most of them don't mean to be cruel, and to also remember that somewhere out there someone else might still be hurting over what I did, too. Of course, that doesn't stop me from breaking friendships whenever I feel like I couldn't take it anymore (it's a vice of mine, not good, I know. I'm not the best role model LoL).
Sometimes when things don't work, it's better to part ways. And that's exactly what happened to my class poject group. Some of the group members had to split ways with others so that the yelling would stop and the work could be done. It's not the most ideal situation, but at least it's a step to a better direction. You can't treat people poorly and not expect repercussions. There are times to pick battles, and there are times to just shut up. There are ways to get around annoyances without airing out your (and our) problems in public. People aren't meant to be perfect, that's a given. But we are given the choice to not appear as jackasses. So why choose to be one?
At least the group issues are pretty much resolved. And I learned an important lesson: to not be afraid to admit when a situation isn't working. I thought I learned that some time ago, guess this was a "refresher" course then. If it doesn't work, and you've given it your best shot, then it just doesn't work.
I'm starting to babble, and I need to pee really bad, so I'm just gonna sign off now. Ciao!
My life.. when it's boring, nothing happens. Nothing. When it gets interesting, it got to be a little too interesting for my liking. Take for example, my Evaluation of Systems class. See, I LOVE that class. Before this, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. But now I know. I'm not that good at designing from scratch, however, I AM good at figuring out when something is easy to use, or when something needs to be fixed. I love learning and reading about Gestalt principles, usability testing, cognitive psychology...... these are the things that really makes sense to me.
Okay, so I just said I love the class. However, we were assigned a group to work with on an evaluation project, and I wasn't liking the issues that was happening in the group (the fights, arguments, blame... let's just say things weren't going well). As much as I would love to rant and go into details, I'm not gonna. Simply because I don't want a written proof that I just went off on a specific person/people. I'm not gonna embarrass him/her/them like that. Of course, I also don't wanna get sued down the road after I become famous (how will I be famous? Dunno, haven't thought that far yet. )
I am, however, going to generalize. I have too much anger to just let it sit and simmer. Hypocrisy, no matter how much all of us try to avoid it or deny it, lives in all of us. And yes, I do mean all. Try and count the times that you have said one thing then did the total opposite, or when you criticize someone for doing something but then found yourself doing the exact same thing. I know I've done it, and I've seen all of my friends do it, too (how do you suppose people find topics to gossip about?). Now while hypocrasy is a universal trait, there's a diference between that and being a full-blown hypocrite. A hypocrite doesn't recognize he/she is a hypocrite. Hypocrites tend to impose their opinions on others. Worse of all, what they say tend to hurt and in some cases, have a long lasting effect. And in my experience, hypocrites also tend to be able to talk their way out of a lot of things, or make it seem like what they say or do is totally right and in reality, it's not.
Certain things, you just shouldn't do. You shouldn't make jokes that hurt feelings (then try to pass it off as "he/she's too sensitive"). You shouldn't embarrass people in public. You shouldn't steal. You shouldn't discard people's ideas all the time in favor of our own. You don't gang up on people and then pretend that it's okay, it was "for their own good". You don't attack a person when their down. You don't impose opinions on others. You don't pretend you're doing work when you're not. These are some of the stuff that all of us shouldn't do, we know this; yet one time or another, we caught ourselves red-handed doing one of these Unforgivables, and the only way to make things better is to repent and apologize if you had hurt somebody.
Sometimes even that doesn't work. Although I try not to let it consume me, I still find myself getting angry time and again over a mean word a friend said, or a mean thing someone did, or being bullied in school. The thing that calms me down is to remember that most of them don't mean to be cruel, and to also remember that somewhere out there someone else might still be hurting over what I did, too. Of course, that doesn't stop me from breaking friendships whenever I feel like I couldn't take it anymore (it's a vice of mine, not good, I know. I'm not the best role model LoL).
Sometimes when things don't work, it's better to part ways. And that's exactly what happened to my class poject group. Some of the group members had to split ways with others so that the yelling would stop and the work could be done. It's not the most ideal situation, but at least it's a step to a better direction. You can't treat people poorly and not expect repercussions. There are times to pick battles, and there are times to just shut up. There are ways to get around annoyances without airing out your (and our) problems in public. People aren't meant to be perfect, that's a given. But we are given the choice to not appear as jackasses. So why choose to be one?
At least the group issues are pretty much resolved. And I learned an important lesson: to not be afraid to admit when a situation isn't working. I thought I learned that some time ago, guess this was a "refresher" course then. If it doesn't work, and you've given it your best shot, then it just doesn't work.
I'm starting to babble, and I need to pee really bad, so I'm just gonna sign off now. Ciao!
Monday, March 13, 2006
Assalamu'alaikum....
Omigosh, this thing is the funniest ever!! Meet Isolatr, the thing that helps you tell other people you don't know to get the f*** off your site. Perfect for those who wants their privacy on the web. Now, just in case you think Isolatr is a real thing, it's not :) . While it's real easy to opt-in on the web to get newletters and stuff, it's really hard to opt-out. Hence why we keep getting SPAM everyday. There's also the issue of social computing, which pertains to the issue of "networking" sites, like MySpace, Friendster, facebook and countless others. Seriously though, people, how many networking accounts do you need? Yes, you have 500 people on your "friends" list, but do you really KNOW any of 'em? Do I HAVE to get thosse insidious friendster emails everyday saying "So and So has updates his/her friendster blog". Honestly, I don't really care if he/she updated her blog or not, in fact, I barely care if I update my blog or not.
So until the whole process of opting out gets easier, I think I'm going to refrain myself from registering with any more social networking accounts. Oh, the pain of trying to remember all the passwords... It's enough to drive a woman mad. Mad I tell you!
On another note, I'm feeling much better after a one week demam-fest, right now I can actually do work without wanting to puke, sleep or bash my brains out. Oh, wait... I still want to do those stuff, but at least NOW it's all in my head instead of actualy physical ailments. Ah, my head. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in there. I can sit in front of the TV, complain that there's NOTHING to watch and yet then realize I had just wasted 5 hours of my life watching ads and junk. Like the M 'n' Ms commercial goes.. Amazing.
Omigosh, this thing is the funniest ever!! Meet Isolatr, the thing that helps you tell other people you don't know to get the f*** off your site. Perfect for those who wants their privacy on the web. Now, just in case you think Isolatr is a real thing, it's not :) . While it's real easy to opt-in on the web to get newletters and stuff, it's really hard to opt-out. Hence why we keep getting SPAM everyday. There's also the issue of social computing, which pertains to the issue of "networking" sites, like MySpace, Friendster, facebook and countless others. Seriously though, people, how many networking accounts do you need? Yes, you have 500 people on your "friends" list, but do you really KNOW any of 'em? Do I HAVE to get thosse insidious friendster emails everyday saying "So and So has updates his/her friendster blog". Honestly, I don't really care if he/she updated her blog or not, in fact, I barely care if I update my blog or not.
So until the whole process of opting out gets easier, I think I'm going to refrain myself from registering with any more social networking accounts. Oh, the pain of trying to remember all the passwords... It's enough to drive a woman mad. Mad I tell you!
On another note, I'm feeling much better after a one week demam-fest, right now I can actually do work without wanting to puke, sleep or bash my brains out. Oh, wait... I still want to do those stuff, but at least NOW it's all in my head instead of actualy physical ailments. Ah, my head. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in there. I can sit in front of the TV, complain that there's NOTHING to watch and yet then realize I had just wasted 5 hours of my life watching ads and junk. Like the M 'n' Ms commercial goes.. Amazing.
Friday, March 03, 2006
PROGRESS REPORT: DAY 4 AND 5 in DC
Assalamu'alaikum.....
Omigosh, I can't believe it's my last day interning at the LOC!! I mean, a couple of days ago I was still trying to get used to the fact that I'm an "intern" and today we're already taking pictures of our last working day here in DC. I'm so sad :( . I like being in DC, the work has been tough but I've had loads of fun at the office and of course seeing all the beautiful buildings. This is probably the first time I go somewhere and not buy a whole bunch of touristy souvenirs, which is just as well because we're spending major cash in terms of eating.
Last night me, Tonia, Nancy and Linda went Jaleo, a Spanish restaurant on the corner of 7th Street and E (I think, or it D?). We ordered a whole bunch of tapas (Spanish hors d'ouvres) and had a Spanish coffee drink (cajillo) and dessert (Basque cake and lemon-lime ice-cream.... yummy) to end the meal with. Total cost per person: a cool 25 dollars.... just for dinner. And it wasn't even a special occasion, it was just... dinner. After work. After the 10 bucks I spent on lunch, total spending on food, just for yesterday, was a cool 40 dollars, not including Metro tickets. Oh.. my.. bug. I think somewhere between the tapas and coffee, I must've caught something 'cause today my head feels a wee bit heavy and I feel like I'm coming down with something. Bleurgh.
My digital camera is busted (it fell and the case broke open, buggy bug bug), so I have now discovered the wonders of disposable, one-time-use cameras. There's pretty easy to use, and decent enough but I do miss being able to zoom on things. However, I have now discovered the new wonder of technology: disposable digital cameras. Observe, the CVS Digital One-Time-Use camera with Picture Preview:
What you do with one of these thingamajigs is:- Take a picture
- Preview the picture by pressing on the "Display" button
- Keep the picture, or delete it by pressing the delete button twice
- If you get confused, refer to instructions on the camera.
- The camera can only be processed at a CVS center, where you get a free CD with digital prints along with (paid) hard copy prints.
- The camera can only delete the last picture that was taken.
- There is no way to turn off the automatic flash, which is pretty bright that it even made my tan skin look a litlle wash out (this jusdgement is based on the display image only, not the actual prints yet)
- No way to download the images into your computer, the only way to get the digital prints is to send it in to CVS.
I hjave to say this before I forget: I love the food in Washington. Firehook Bakery and Coffee House is my favorite breakfast place (a cafe near the LOC), and of course there's Penang and Malaysia Kopitiam, and Jaleo, and Kramer's Books and Grill (the crab rigatoni is so good, so is the Chocolate malt milkshake). Linda and I are gonna check out Teaism today, which is supposed to have all kinds of tea (hence the name) and of course, food. Reminds of Bubble Island, except on a more posh scale. The only funny thing that I noted was that the map I bought before coming here showed an abundance of McDonald's and Burger King, but we only saw one Burger King and No McDonald's, and the only place DC have an abundance of is Starbucks. There's one in every freakin' corner, sometimes 2!
Okay, I need to take a walk to clear my head and warm myself, I'll pen in again when I get to AA!
Wassalam...
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
PROGRESS REPORT: DAY 3 IN DC
Assalamu'alaikum....
It's close to 3 pm right now, and my brain is slightly out of whack right now. I just had a huge cup of vanilla capuccino to keep me awake, but alas my lunch today cost $9.25, so I'm in a bit of a shock. I mean, I've had dinner that cost me more than that, but lunch??? I need to pay at a different counter the next time, yesterday the cashier was kind enough to waive the 25% price increase for non-LoC employees because I'm an intern. Today I wasn't so lucky. Darn. Oh well, no use harping about it, I guess what I can do is buy something near my hotel tonight and just heat it up in the office tomorrow. Seems like a good enough plan, heheh.
Linda, Andy and I walked to the LoC today. Took us freakin' 30 minutes again. I'm not exactly happy about coming in to work at 9am because that means I have to leave at 6pm (if I have a one-hour lunch). Technically I wasn't late, because we can come in anytime between 8.30am and 9.30am, but I'd rather come early and leave early so that I can see more of DC. So instead of taking my usual one hour lunch break, I cut it back to about 40 minutes, not an easy feat considering that the cafeteria is in another building and it takes 10 minutes to walk there. Somehow I managed, heheh. However, the walk to work was really nice, 'cause we got to see more of the Capitol Hill area, which is very pretty. Linda and I are gonna walk home in a couple of hours so that we can take pictures near the US Capitol. Hopefully we'll have more time later tonight to go and see The Mall as well as visit the Smithsonian.
There's so many things that I want to see while I'm here, 5 days really isn't enough to go around DC especially when you're working normal 8-hour days. I love going on the Metro and navigating through the streets of DC, I think I would be really happy if I get to intern here again for the summer (if they have any openings). Last night Linda had to go to an alumni meeting, so me, Tonia, Paul and Woo Yong went to Penang for a nice Malaysian dinner. I had Paul try the roti canai, while the rest of us traded entrees of koay teow, mee goreng and nasi lemak. Yumm... However, I have to say the DC Penang is somewhat dissapointing, the service wasn't that great and it didn't feel anything like eating in a Malaysian restaurant. The ambience just wasn't there. However, there's a Malaysian Kopitiam next door, so since Linda hasn't tried any Malaysian food yet, we might go there tonight.
I'm loving my time in DC, I guess the fact that our hotel is smack dab in the middle of everything plays a huge part in why I'm loving this trip so much. Yes, the food is expensive but considering I'm only paying 5 dollars per night in a $85/per night hotel, I would say it's well worth the food cost. And I love the work I'm doing at the LoC.
Okay, off to work again! :) ... Maybe I'll have time to pen in again tomorrow
Wassalam.....
Assalamu'alaikum....
It's close to 3 pm right now, and my brain is slightly out of whack right now. I just had a huge cup of vanilla capuccino to keep me awake, but alas my lunch today cost $9.25, so I'm in a bit of a shock. I mean, I've had dinner that cost me more than that, but lunch??? I need to pay at a different counter the next time, yesterday the cashier was kind enough to waive the 25% price increase for non-LoC employees because I'm an intern. Today I wasn't so lucky. Darn. Oh well, no use harping about it, I guess what I can do is buy something near my hotel tonight and just heat it up in the office tomorrow. Seems like a good enough plan, heheh.
Linda, Andy and I walked to the LoC today. Took us freakin' 30 minutes again. I'm not exactly happy about coming in to work at 9am because that means I have to leave at 6pm (if I have a one-hour lunch). Technically I wasn't late, because we can come in anytime between 8.30am and 9.30am, but I'd rather come early and leave early so that I can see more of DC. So instead of taking my usual one hour lunch break, I cut it back to about 40 minutes, not an easy feat considering that the cafeteria is in another building and it takes 10 minutes to walk there. Somehow I managed, heheh. However, the walk to work was really nice, 'cause we got to see more of the Capitol Hill area, which is very pretty. Linda and I are gonna walk home in a couple of hours so that we can take pictures near the US Capitol. Hopefully we'll have more time later tonight to go and see The Mall as well as visit the Smithsonian.
There's so many things that I want to see while I'm here, 5 days really isn't enough to go around DC especially when you're working normal 8-hour days. I love going on the Metro and navigating through the streets of DC, I think I would be really happy if I get to intern here again for the summer (if they have any openings). Last night Linda had to go to an alumni meeting, so me, Tonia, Paul and Woo Yong went to Penang for a nice Malaysian dinner. I had Paul try the roti canai, while the rest of us traded entrees of koay teow, mee goreng and nasi lemak. Yumm... However, I have to say the DC Penang is somewhat dissapointing, the service wasn't that great and it didn't feel anything like eating in a Malaysian restaurant. The ambience just wasn't there. However, there's a Malaysian Kopitiam next door, so since Linda hasn't tried any Malaysian food yet, we might go there tonight.
I'm loving my time in DC, I guess the fact that our hotel is smack dab in the middle of everything plays a huge part in why I'm loving this trip so much. Yes, the food is expensive but considering I'm only paying 5 dollars per night in a $85/per night hotel, I would say it's well worth the food cost. And I love the work I'm doing at the LoC.
Okay, off to work again! :) ... Maybe I'll have time to pen in again tomorrow
Wassalam.....
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