Change

By fate and luck, I was given the opportunity to attend the biggest youth event in southeast Asia. Great people like Sir Bob Geldof, Biz Stone and Tony Fernandes were standing in front of my very eyes, giving speech. We even got Donald Trump speaking to us through video, live from the Trump Tower.

And of course they were Garry Kasparov, Dr Mamphela, Nando Parrado, Randi Zuckerberg, David Magliano, Yashwant Sinha, Long Yongtu, Lorraine Hahn, and Narain Karthikeyan.

Many of these names, I shamefully admit, I didn't even heard of before. I am such an ignorant person, I know. But not the youths. I tell you, they were amazing. They were aware. They seems to know what they want in life, what they will be doing, and what are their goals.

Usually on most seminars that I attended to, when the moderator opened the question sessions to the public, I can only hear silence. But these youths, they were queuing! And most of the questions were a clever one. Perhaps the most remembered would be - "Randi, are you single?" :P

The Speech

Sir Bob Gedolf - The most moving and inspirational speech. When he talked about the suffering kids, it really brought tears to my eyes. Sir Bob Gedolf truly deserves the standing ovation.

Biz Stone - He was the one that I am really looking forward to see, well since I am a technology guy. He's a cool guy, with humor every here and there (I won't forget the YouTube's "buffering..." joke xD)

Donald Trump - Mr Trump was very energetic in his speech, and it seems like every word he said was taken out from a book or something (he is a writer, after all). But it tends to get repetitive (most probably because he wasn't ready, since he was called to replace Amitabh Bachan's absence).

Tony Fernandes - Every sentence he blurted out, would ended up with laughter and applause from the audience. He was very funny, down-to-earth and honest.

Randi Zuckerberg - I couldn't see much 'youth', 'southeast asia' or 'change' in her speech. It was just slides of Facebook's growth and features. Well, she is from marketing anyway.

Narain Karthikeyan was a humorous guy too. And I find that David Magliano's speech was a bit boring, but Khadijah like it. Garry Kasparov too, but Khailee like it.

And Lorraine, you were gorgeous.

The People

I met people. And they were awesome. Any attempts to describe their awesomeness with words will fail because they were so... awesome.

The Words

Michelle told me, "Your job should not define what you are".

Because if your job is the only thing you possessed, when you strip it all away, you would be left with nothing.

Be a wonderful person to others. Even if you are not a rock star, a billionaire or a living legend of chess, you are still a wonderful father and a wonderful friend.

And I've been telling Khadijah how I dislike being such an ignorant person, of being unaware. And what she answered was so simple, yet so true: "Do something"

Yeah, that's right. Stop complaining. I know that I have been "doing something" for a while before. But somewhere along the way, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.

No worries. Don't give up. Try, fail, and adapt. Let's continue to change.

Kesayangan

Good Working Practices

Master the art of asking.

They are two types of newbie - 1) The annoying one who bugs you for every little syntax he's stuck on. 2) The one who stuck but still trying to RTFM his way through, afraid that his questions would be labeled as too noob-ish, as he is trying hard to impress the superiors.

Well, try not to fall into any of these categories. Keep it balanced between striving to solve the problem yourself, and not hampering the overall productivity. If you have already RTFM, researched and busted your way through all the possible methods, yet still stuck, you know it is the good time to ask.

When you ask, ask it cleverly. There is no question such a stupid question, I know. What I mean is, be sure that you 'know' and 'understand' the situation that revolves around your problem, the big picture. Don't just ask blindly.

Throw away your ego, if you have any. Thoughts like "This question is to noob-ish" or "It would make me look bad" are not going to get you anywhere. Remember, you are learning, you got nothing to lose.

What got you stuck for days, might be solved within minutes.

Don't be disappointed if the answers or ideas are not the one you are looking for, because it happens only as often. Be grateful, don't give up, and keep on asking. Sometimes, just by talking, we'll get the "ah-a" moment ourselves, the other parties are just there to listen.

You have to know everything.

Often when you are given a task, either the instruction is too short and vague, or too long and exhaustingly descriptive. They are some areas that you aren't clear of, but you care too little to ask. You assume everything is going to be fine as you go along, that you are going to figure it out later.

Later never comes. The longer you delay yourself an explanation, the more furious your superior will be of your ignorance. If you have something to ask, ask it right away.

Get out of you college mindset. There is no class nerd, group leader, or lecturer for you to rely on.

If the instruction is too much for you to consume, at least ask for the big picture. Something for you to Google on later.

And remember, work for the fun of it! :)

Week One

In the morning, it takes about one hour to get to the office. 8 is a safe time to go out, but it is better if I am earlier to avoid the train rush. On the first day, I was so early that I have to wait for one hour before the office to open. Such enthusiasm, I know :p

Being early is important because they are less people, which means shorter queue to wait, and more seat to sit so I can read books while commuting. And when you read books while sitting, one hour doesn't feel long at all.

At night, the time it takes to get home doubled. This is primarily due to the waiting. I have to wait for a bus to get to the LRT station, and another bus to get to my house. Sometimes, the bus is late by an hour. Usually, I arrive home at 10.

They were a lot of days with rain. And it makes my shoe and socks wet. If I still have some energy left, I will wash the socks, dry the shoe, and do some laundry. While eating instant noodle, because I am too fatigued to cook or buy outside.

Then I try to stay awake so I can do some studying (there's a lot to catch up on Rails, Subversion and everything), but eventually it was the MacBook who do it all by herself, while I dozed off peacefully with hands on the keyboard.

But I'm cool. Because I know, this is my decision. My fate. My path. I am going to get through this just fine.

P.S: I miss Kak Fa and Kak Haidah already.
P.P.S: Thank you very much, Kak Fina. You've been such a great guardian. I never feel alone :)

Padam

Saya dengar bunyi 'pop' dan PC pun padam.

Pasrah je la menunggu hari esok. Tak study apa pun lagi RoR.

Perihal Hati

Kak Fina kata, bila kita dah pergi, baru kita tahu siapa yang betul-betul rapat dengan kita.

Saya dah tak kisah dah.

Sebab bila seseorang tu dah ada tempat dalam hati saya, dia akan duduk di situ sampai bila-bila. Biarpun tak berjumpa, biarpun tak berhubung. Tetap dalam hati saya.

***

Betapa mudahnya saya suka akan seseorang, begitu mudahnya juga saya akan jelik dengan seseorang yang lain. Atau mungkin dengan orang yang sama.

Ini sikap yang perlu diubah di tempat baru nanti.

Judge not, and you would not be judged.

***

Tiap kali saya hendak berasa sedih akan sahabat, rasa tersisih, terasing dan sebagainya; ingatlah bahawa itu hanyalah bisikan syaitan.

***

Mungkin kerana dah selalu sangat melihat maksiat di depan mata, kita jadi lali.

Sehingga kita pun dah tak malu melakukan maksiat, walaupun hanya dalam hati. Maksiat hati.

Dah semakin jauh dengan Allah.

Kak Fa

 

Hai Kak Fa.

Ini nota pendek.

Nak bagi tau yang saya sayang Kak Fa.

Ok.

Maintain lawa. Dan sengal. Tau.

^_^