of iPad

You know it’s true when something exceed your ability to understand how it works, it sort of become magical. – Jony Ive

I like how Apple started the iPad video with this sentence delivered by the charming Jony Ive. [Sidetrack: Somehow I find him voice very calming and the ability to let others listen to what he wanted to say. I’m smitten! ]

So what’s with the iPad anyway? Quoting Steve Job, it’s [iPad] so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone'.


Personally, I think that the iPad is a pretty thing and I hope to get it when it reaches Singapore’s shores. I love how institutive it is and the magnificent screen. I also love that Apple is rolling out its own online bookstore, iBookstore, that can be used to download books straight to the iPad. The book-flipping movement is so cool!

But I have this nagging thought in my mind. is it really necessary?

It’s funny how the marketing folks can shape the way we live our life. In the past, most companies are marketing that ONE thing that lets you do MANY things. And now, maybe they realize that they have run out of things to sell, they decided to try selling MANY that makes you do that ONE thing.

So much for simplifying our life.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against technology. In fact, I worked in the telecommunication industry. I’m just not sure if technology actually helped us to save more time or make us waste more.


Just a thought.

Have a happy weekend!

of the man in the arena

While during some research for my job, I came across this great profound speech that I like to share with you all.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

– Theodore Roosevelt 1910

Of What Could Have Been?

We received a traumatizing SMS from our Pastor last night that one of our peer, a trainee vocalist, has passed on on Monday. After receiving the news, MArk and I sat in silent throughout the journey home.

I don’t know what he was thinking but for me, I was prompted once again of the fragility of our lives. One moment, we are embracing life and the next we could be gone. Just like that.

I just saw her facebook profile, it’s still there. But she is isn’t, not anymore.

We heard that she has taken her own life. Whenever that could prompt her to do that, it must be really painful and unbearable for her to have made that decision.

I can’t helped but wonder what could her future have been if she hasn’t do that. She has such melodic voice. She has such beautiful smile, She’s 21.

What could have been in store for her?

Now, we’ll never know.

of a Perth-fect holiday

Many say that Perth is a boring place. I'll let you know if that's the truth when I'm back.

Yup, I'm going to Perth in late March! Will be going with Juli and meeting Yan Ping over there.

Researching and drafting my travel itinerary now. Ya, I'm kiasu, so what!

The last time I went Australia was to Sydney for 14 days. That was 3 years ago and it was my 'so-called' graduation trip.

Talking about trips, I think I haven't post up my entry on the BKK trip with MArk.. :)

Of dd/mm/yyyy

Did I forget to mention that we have nailed down our wedding date?

5th March 2011: Church solemnization

6th March 2011: Dinner banquet at Grand Copthorne Waterfront

Oh, now I remember why I haven’t mentioned that.
I thought that it is safer for me to let the cat out of the bag in 2010.

Now I can safely say that I am getting married next year without sounding far-fetched.

Most importantly, some friends and relatives will FINALLY stop asking me “Huh, why so long”?

I have sorta run out of excuses for them since they conveniently dismissed my reason that there is no suitable venue for us end of this year.

Anyway, next step for us will be to secure a suitable church and a reliable bridal studio.

Heard that Julia is quite good? Any to recommend?

of Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

For last year Christmas (sounded like eons ago which in fact is just a couple of days before), Xueli bought me a novel by one of my favourite author; Jodi Picoult. I was so excited that I read the book that very night. Thanks gal!

“Handle with care” by Jodi Picoult is her more recent work after ‘My Sister’s Keeper”.

Thought it isn’t as much a tearjerker as the latter, it is nonetheless still a good read.

To me, both books have very similar theme but crafted so differently.

In “My Sister’s Keeper”, which by the way is one of my favourite book, it explores the controversy of ‘designer babies’ and their social, emotional and mental implications. Will a mother compromise the life of a child in order to save another dying child?

While in “Handle with Care”, it breaks the barrier of medical ethics and personal morality. It’s about a mother’s love and protection over a disabled child at the expense of losing her own family and betraying her best friend.

Both book that a recurring theme of “How far will you go for someone you love”?

Spoilers ahead!

Charlotte O'Keefe’s baby girl is born with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), or brittle bone disease. Like an irony, her family name her Willow just like the willow tree so that she will bend and not break. You see, Willow will suffer hundreds of broken bone throughout her life. She could easily break a bone while sneezing or by turning in her bed. In another words, it will be a lifetime of pain and suffering. As her family struggles to cover astronomical medical expenses, her mother Charlotte decides to file a wrongful birth lawsuit against her obstetrician for the compensation which might ensure that she can fund a lifetime of care for Willow.
But it means that Charlotte has to testify in a court of law that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she'd known about the disability in advance. It would mean that she has to testify that she had rather Willow has never been born.
But that’s a lie because Charlotte has never loved another person as much as she loved Willow. At the same time as Willow brought her inconvenience and disrupted her life, she also brought Charlotte joy, love, sunshine and the strength she never knew she had. But will Willow know that Charlotte is lying in order to give her a better life? At a young age of 5, will she know that sometimes loving means you have to lie? Does her husband and her teenage daughter that for a fact?

To make matter worse, the obstetrician she's suing isn't just her physician - she's her best friend.

Faced with the accusation from local media that she is a gold-digger, betrayal of her best friend, separation from her husband and teenage daughter, Charlotte still choose to continue the law suit for Willow’s sake.
In the end of the court battle, she won the case at gotten 8 million dollars for compensation for the “wrongful birth lawsuit”.

The story ends with a final chapter written from the perspective of Willow. It is 2 years after the law suit and she is alone at a frozen lake, or so she thought. Suddenly, the surface of the ice break and she has fallen into the water. As soon as it breaks, the ice started to freeze again and trapped Willow in-between. This time, she thought: “Finally, I’m not the one who breaks”……