Polaroid Sydney

I'm barely sleepy and its 1.00 am. So I played with http://www.rollip.com/start -- created a bunch of polaroid images. And ended up compiling a sort of goodbye-for-now-sydney-see-you-when-i-see-you kind of album. The one year I spent there was a rollercoaster, literally. The ride is always up first, followed by a huge slump, then jumpingjacks, twist-and-turn, all in all, only to go back to the same place I was a year ago, square one (with an extra Master Degree in Commerce though). It wasn't all sappy. In my own words, it was rainbow-ish. I got all the colors. There were some great moment as well. I guess when I have time, I'll narrate each of the photo. For the time being, enjoy. =)

See the full gallery on posterous

Appreciate (The Wisdom Of No)

Have you ever been in any of this situations:

CASE-1
You applied for a job. This is one of your top-five most wanted job. After posting your application, you waited those long hopeful hours. You stared at your cellphone day and night until it finally rings! You just won an interview. And you gave your best, you were one of the first arrived, you conquered all the questions tactfully. You gave everything only to find that three weeks after the interview, not a single person inform you (not even a phone call or text message) whether you are accepted or no.

CASE-2
Wednesday, noon, lunchtime. You are munching your chicken wings dipped in terasi-sambal-sauce. *ringring A customer calls you. You say to
your colleague "Ah, let them wait, its the only time of the day I can relax". But the phone keep ringing. And as a professional salesperson your heart couldn't resist anymore but to answer, hoping there'll be a sales lead. So you spend the next 15 min explaining your products, forgoing your decent meal. And another 20 min to write a proposal complete with price quotation and terms of payment. All is done only to find that your proposal e-mail is never replied with anything.

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Been in any situation with more or less similarity? Maybe the examples are a bit business-related. Let's try something simple. You asked 5 of your friends if they can make it for a quick dinner today. You called up early in the morning. Everyone's answered simply "hmm, i'm quite free, but im not too sure, i'd let you know if I can make it or not". Fast forward to 6 o'clock. Nobody replied. And you're already in the diner. As expected, nobody show up either. Gantung. Hanging on a string. It just bothered me. And I reject to blame this on "well it is the eastern-culture". NO! If something contains no positive value, should we continue it as a culture? And NO it is not culture. It's just us. And you can improve if you decide to.

The culture of late stuck with me for some time before, but it all changes when i start coming to my local church, JPCC who always start on time. When they say 12pm. Then the door is closed 11.45. After getting an uncomfortable seat for two or three times, I learned the hard lesson. Thankful for that though. We say its Indo-culture, I refuse that! Shame if we did nothing and accept it as it is. Coming on time means you appreciate people's time.

The same thing applies with the above example. Why let people uninformed and confused? Are we afraid of saying "no" to ineligible applications? Are we afraid of hurting others feeling when we reject a proposal? That is no excuse. I've been applying the opposite thing for quite some time. Whatever it is, whether I accept a patner's proposal or not, I inform them. Letting them know what our decision is -- yes or no -- that's appreciation to their effort. Imagine you are the company in case #1 would the candidate promote to a friend the products of the company (your company) that didn't inform anything to them? Hey, your company might also lose a potential candidate 5 years after when you make another opening. Would you care to answer another phone call from a neglectful partner? Or from another point-of-view, would anyone care to accept your phone call if you are that neglectful partner?

Sometimes even though its a "no", its much more appreciated if we let people know, rather than left them hanging on a string. You gain the person's respect and you let them know you appreciate them as well. It also represent your value -- professionalism, something that represented as your track record. A "no" can be a wise move to make. Especially in a long-term perspective.

I'D LIKE THAT! (a lesson from uncle john mayer)

These are the words of John Mayer from the live performance DVD - Any Given Thursday, enjoy and tell me what you think. I think it’s got some reality in it. As for the message, I rely it on you to entertain yourself. =)

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I was thinking about relationship as it pertains to songs about relationship. It occurred to me. I figured out a key to a relationship and how to make it work.

See, when you first meet somebody you find out they like you first of all. A friend of a friend of theirs tells you he or she really likes you. And it kills u, force you and sends you on the grounds. Then somehow you got her phone number. You call her up and start talking and at the end you say "well, thats a great phone conversation, can i see ya sometime?" and then they say this, they say "i’d like that.."

"i’d like that" makes u fall on the floor again, your heart about to stop. Nothing feels better than "i’d like that". So now, you blood presssure going, you are six feet off the ground, you can’t sleep because of "i’d like that".

So you’ve been hanging out for a while and you’ve been calling and talking on the phone all the time and then you drop the bomb or what feels like the bomb. You say, u know what … "i’ve been thinking about you a while". And she just went speechless and then you say "what?"… and she said "i’m sorry i’ve just… i’ve.. just.. i’ve been thinking about you too." BAM! higher than the sky. But now, "i’d like that"..DONE! Now you are up to "i’ve been thinking about you.. "

"I’d like that" doesn’t work anymore.

And then a few months past , whatever weeks, whatever makes you feel comfortable you say "I gotta tell you something.." you say this…. " i’m in love with you…" and nothing in the world sounds better than i’m in love with you and maybe she starts crying.

Now what doesn’t work? "i’d like that" and "i’ve been thinking about you"

Now fast forward you start saying "i love you a lot", six weeks, six months, now you are like… "i wanna marry u, i wanna impregnant u with my love, damn! words just doesn’t work anymore..". and then you say this line, you know you’ve used this line before "i just wish they put a new word in the dictionary bigger than love because love just doesn’t describe what i fee!."

And so then now he/she start asking "do you love me?" and you start going "of course i love you, i’ll say it twice, i’ll say it three times", and then you cross a really interesting point where all of the sudden comes "i hate you, i hate you". And they are saying "i hate you a lot" and she’s goin "we’re over!!" u say "no we’re not!"

Now the words do not work at all, completely meaningless, it doesn’t work anymore, you are throwing punches under water and you know you are done.

You know what the moral of the story is? If there’s any… Never ever underestimate the power of "i’d like that"!
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