Author: Andrew

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 290 – The Late Edition

The week has gone by very fast. It felt like the week started not too long ago and we’re now coming to the middle of the week in a few short minutes. At least, in my opinion, I had a productive week so far.

Work has been ramping up pretty quickly for me. The company is fetching and is trying for quite a few external projects and I’m being roped in to help in them. For a moment, I felt as if I’ve been thrown into the deep end of the pool yet again. But I surprise myself. I used to feel very lost and stressed when I’m faced with such situations. But today, I just tell myself, “Rise up to the challenge!!” Yes, I still feel stressed and lost but I guess I’m handling it all differently now. I take it in my stride and tell myself that it’s all about stepping out of my comfort zone and doing the best I know how. And I take comfort in knowing that I have colleagues and friends whom I can turn to when I need the help. I’m used to managing projects in the IT world, but this is a whole new ballgame and I intend to step up to the challenge, since I’ve decided to go down this route.

This week has seen me going under the weather as well. Perhaps it’s because of the fickle weather. Blocked nose, frequent sneezing and feeling hot. I think I have a fever that comes and goes. A teeny bit of sore throat as well. I pray and hope that it’s not one of those cases where I fall sick badly (*touch wood*).

My Mac has been serving me well. Exactly one week old today. And the mouse hung on me today. Keyboard was working fine and the applications and operating system were humming along. Just the mouse decided to hang. Over-complicated drivers for the multi-touch stuff? Perhaps. It was so bad that I couldn’t get the Mac out of sleep mode when I came back from a meeting. I had to resort to pulling the battery. Oh well, like a friend said, Mac or Windows, it’s call created by humans. And I’m typing this blog entry on a Windows 7 x64 virtual machine running on the Mac. Cool eh?

This has been my longest entry in a while. Guess I’m in the writing mood. Tomorrow, there’s a high-key meeting at work that I’m supposed to participate in. Hope if there are questions that come my way, I would be able to answer them. God, really need your guidance and favour on this one. Want to be at my best for the company and for You!

That’s it for now. By the way, typing on this keyboard is such a joy. But I think the experience is hampered somewhat by the keyboard protector that is over the keyboard. But all in the name of protecting the investment.

Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 289 – MBP

I had a friend ask me this week what is MBP. I had mistakenly thought that this was a pretty synonymous acronym that people would know. You know, acronyms like MRT, SBS, TCS, SBC, etc. But apparently, I think MBP is only known to gearheads. In other words, computer nerds.

So WHAT is MBP? It stands for MacBook Pro. And why am I blogging about this?

Because I am now a proud owner of one. Thanks to my new company subsidizing the cost, I purchased a MBP for work. Have always wanted to own a Mac, and finally I have one in my hands. Didn’t take long for me to get used to a Mac having used one in the office prior to purchasing my own notebook. But I still feel that some stuff are better done on Windows. In short, I’m happy with it.

But one disappointing thing. A day after I received my MBP, I read on the Net that Apple has quietly bumped up the specs of the MBP. So now, the model I purchased actually came with a 2.66GHz (mine comes with 2.53GHz) processor. Sigh… Who wouldn’t be disappointed? But then again, it’s only a 0.13GHz difference.

So know the whole world knows what MBP stands for, or at least the readers of my blog. Until the next time, cheers…

PS: I gotta figure out how to get that accented “U” that looks a smiley on a Mac.

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 288 – Morning Prayer Meetings

And so I attended all the morning prayer meetings last week. Okay, 4 morning and 1 evening. To say that it was tough is an understatement. Struggeled with waking up and staying awake. But it was definitely worth it. Even though I struggled a bit to stay awake, the amazing thing was that I was functioning at almost peak efficiency. Got my work done on time and never did once feel sluggish. Praise the Lord for that!!

Valentine’s Day this year was quite a boo-boo because I didn’t plan for it, and coupled with the fact that it landed on a weekend. I gotta start getting off my lazy laurels and make things happen. The rest of this year WILL be different.

Work-wise, it’s all good. I’m still not a very independent worker yet because there are still plenty of things to learn. But I do hope that I’m gradually moving towards there. I want to come to a stage where I’m assigned a job and then can get it done without asking too many questions. Not that asking questions is bad, but I feel that as an independent worker, one should be resourceful and with enough knowledge such that the task can be accomplished efficiently. Definitely wanna move in that direction….

The 2nd month of 2009 is approaching an end. Time really does fly, whether you’re having fun or not. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 287 – Chinese “牛” Year Eve

Well, that’s the pun that has been played by plenty of people for this CNY, so I thought I’d tag along.

I’m back in Penang to spend the New Year’s with my family. Unfortunately, it’s an incomplete reunion this year because my sister is stuck in Australia doing her thesis. But nevertheless, we’ve just finished a fantastic dinner (pictures to follow, no Photoshop to edit) and am now sitting right in front of the tube watching some CNY programs and sipping champagne. Ah… Life….

A short aside… I was reading a newspaper article a few days ago that was reporting on the ongoing project to provide free WiFi to the island of Penang. Good initiative right? But guess what… People are actually protesting the move. Why? Because they claim that the radiation produced by the WiFi hotspots will be detrimental towards health… I was like, “What the……..???” Free Wifi still don’t want. I can still remember how excited I was when Wireless@SG was announced. Can’t understand people sometimes… Sure will have things to complain one…

Anyway, back to the festivities. Tomorrow will be a whole day of visitation to various relative’s places. Hope the weather will be cooperative and be like today; cloudy. Pray for a good “harvest” this year. Haha….

Well, that’s all for now. Here’s wishing one and all a Happy Chinese New Year. May God bless this year for you and your family. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 286 – Post Bali

Almost a week has gone by since I returned from Bali. Yes, there are plenty of pictures but I haven’t gotten around to completely processing all of them  yet. When I get the chance, I will post some here or on some photo sharing sites.

Enjoyed Bali a lot. Nice hotel, nice beach, great sun, and definitely fantastic company. The part that I enjoyed the most is definitely the 2-hour spa session. And the food… Oh, how I miss Indonesian food. And no matter where we are in the world, we will stumble into a Starbucks and have a cup of refreshing coffee. Bali is definitely a place I would go back for a second visit. The whole idea is just to stay in some resort and get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Now that I’m back in Singapore, I’m full swing into my new job. First full week and I’ve attended some meetings and had a couple of late nights. Work is definitely picking up pace. So have to shift quick into high gear and get out of the end-of-year/start-of-year slow mode. All in all, I’m adjusting well to my job. Still learning the ropes, but I’ve been able to keep pace. So all’s good.

Looking forward to a wonderful 2009. And in case I don’t post in time for CNY, here’s wishing everybody a wonderful CNY!! Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 285 – Happy New Year

And so I welcomed 2009 in a very different way this year. Instead of staying at home, or going to some countdown party, I was with a group of friends from church. And we crossed the new year by spending time with God. I guess that’s as good a start as anyone could have. I mean, what could be better than starting that?

I haven’t had the chance to sit down to do some real reflections but here are some quick ones:

  1. 2008 started out with me still working out of Taipei. To me, this is a love-hate thingie. From one point of view, it was a fantastic opportunity to learn and experience new things because the working environment is totally different than sitting in an office in Singapore. But on the other hand, my relationship with Debbie turned into somewhat like a long distance relationship. But I’m glad that God gave us the strength and determination to make things work.
  2. Highlight of 2008 was Asia Conference. I took a week off from work for this one. I was given a chance to be part of the production and I think my capacity really expanded. In short, I was running around multitasking like I’ve never done before. I helped in producing some motion graphics for praise and worship songs, helped in troubleshooting editing problems, dumping out videos to XDCam discs, and directed. It was tiring, but definitely worth it.
  3. Career change. An opportunity with Xtron came about and after much consideration, I decided to go ahead with the change.
  4. Financial blessings in the form of bonuses from my company.

A quick one that I can remember at the top of my mind, but definitely will spend time to reflect on deeper thoughts.

So I say farewell to 2008 and all the achievements and setbacks, and I look forward to a fantastic 2009 and all its challenges. Here’s wishing everybody a Happy New Year!!!

Cheers…. :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 284 – Christmas….

After going through so many Christmas drama rehearsals, and watching the rehearsal DVD, I just feel that we’re back to square one in terms of shots. It’s very different watching from a makeshift stage and watching when the dramatists are on the actual set. Camera angles change, more cameras become available for use. And when that happens, I feel lost. Well, we just have to buck up during the rehearsals tomorrow.

Recently, I don’t know why but I started learning PHP. That’s a scripting language use for the web. And my first project as I’m picking it up is to create a management system for the TV ministry. Actually, I wanted to use the language that I’m good in, which is Java, but it seems much more complicated than a PHP-based website. So I’m taking this opportunity to work on one and to pick up a new language. Hope this steam that I have to work on this will not die out… Haha…

Don’t know why, but recently there seems to be nothing to blog about. Maybe it’s been really a slow month. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 283 – Slow Month

Yup, it has been indeed a slow month. Actually, it has been a slow couple of months. I’m talking here about work. Majority of my project has been completed and we spent about half a month waiting for it to be put into production because of some changes in schedule and scope, which is another story of frustration in itself….

I’m glad my parents came down for a week. Gave me an opportunity to spend some time with them. Highlight of this trip: home-cooked meals. Even though they were simple fares, I totally enjoyed the meals. And I miss my mum’s cooking. Got some pointers from her on how to cook simple stuff like soup stock, delicious pan-grilled salmon, and chicken chop with a fantastic gravy. Am already thinking about how I can modify the gravy. Suffice it to say, it was a wondrous week. Also helped that I had an ultra long weekend that stretched from the afternoon of 5 December all the way to 9 December.

Christmas is coming up… I hope that it’s not another year of the no-Christmas-mood Christmas. I shall be attending my first Christmas drama rehearsals tonight. Can’t wait to see what the story is like this year. The title sounds catchy enough, "Operation Save The World". I’m sure the story will be just as catchy…

Okay, back to work now. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 282 – First Service After Asia Conference

It felt very very very very slow. No pre-service rush. No last minute announcements to dump out. No last minute playback tests to do. No rushing in and out of the control room to grab a bite in between the playback tests. Just the good ol’ pre-service setup, colour balance, briefing, service and the debrief thereafter. Sure feels weird…

It definitely feels different after running on high gear for a while. Everything definitely seems slow, and at times, one may feel very lost. But I guess, after going through Asia Conference, we have been stretched. And when the pressure is let go, our capacity has been increased. We have learnt from our mistakes. We have learnt new and more efficient ways to achieve the same results. We have learnt to think under tremendous pressure and on our feet. Suffice it to say that Asia Conference has certainly been a learning experience, if not for all, as least for myself.

And it’s time to get ready for Christmas. Seems very low-key this year, but we have still got to make things happen. Not a lot of rehearsals and hopefully the drama will be technically simple, yet with a very rich story and substance. And I believe it’s going to be a great time.

Until the next time, cheers…. Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 281 – Post Asia Conference

asia_conference

It has been a very busy and hectic week. All the rushing of videos, last minute dumping out of videos, running around to make sure that crews are ready and last minute requests have ended. But it was all worth it. Asia Conference was definitely a success, even with the glitches here and there.

Personally, I’ve never ever run, or helped run a production of this scale. I thought Emerge was big, but what Pastor said was true. After Asia Conference, Emerge will look like chicken feet. But I took something away from the past week. Learning how to keep one’s cool under all the pressure is a must, as well as being able to think fast on your feet.

The crew has been fantastic as well. There were a few who were there practically everyday and from early hours as well, even though they were not on duty. My appreciation goes out to them. They are the faithful and will go the extra mile. That said, every single crew is appreciated and they have definitely contributed to the success of the Asia Conference.

Just received the rehearsal schedule for Christmas 2008. Just reading the email made me feel a bit tired. But it’s the last lap and I’m determined to finish this year well. 6 services for Christmas this year; 3 in Jurong West and 3 in Expo. Hope the drama is not a complex one.

Time to go get some sleep. Still trying to recover from the lack of during the past week. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ