Unpaid Holiday

The paid holiday came to the end with the end of September 2008. Making it exactly two years since first arriving to Singapore to take on a full time post as a teacher..., and more importantly to travel around.

At the time when the teaching job came to an end, I was already a student again for a month, giving me something to do, and with it, the ever needed feeling of purpose. I was to successfully complete the three subjects during the one semester at NUS, and subsequently my way-overdue-degree. But it wasn't to be. I failed one subject - and since my home university gave me the strict condition to complete ALL the requirements for the degree by the end of the year, or lose it all - I lost it all. Beyond stupidity: Seven years of invested effort, time and money that went towards the degree got flashed down the toilet due to submitting one last assignment, for one last subject, one week too late; all thanks to my old companion, the procrastination. I failed miserably - or so I thought.

About half way through the semester I had some very positive job interviews with the IT consulting company, HC. I was expecting I'll start work in December, just after completing the NUS semester. Eventually, all that happened was that I wrote another letter trying to recapture their attention in order to get yet another interview. I failed. No interviews were to take place any more - or so I thought.

So there I was: degreeless, jobless, ...less, and considering the current economic situation, with no hope of finding an industry job any time soon. Though, luckily it took only few days for me to go from feeling sorry for my (lucky) ass to get back to best enjoy the situation that I was in. It was a conscious switch that took only seconds, but made a world of a difference to my attitude: I went from unemployed, to HAPPILY unemployed.

From then on, it was all about the fun times on the unpaid holiday...!

Indonesia: hop-overs

Back in September 2008, I had two quick weekend trips to Indonesia.

One just a nice resort place that's more like a Singaporean playground. Bintan is about one hour boat ride from Singapore, providing for a nice getaway from the big city routine. I spend few pleasant days there, eating and enjoying the beach with Dr Love, Irene and her mum, Auntie Vicky.

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The next was the trip to Lake Toba with the American boys. That was some crazy fun as we got to enjoy some nice herbal products of the kind that is very hard to find in Spora. The trip would have been even better if I could have gone there as originally planned at the same time as Dan and Greg and climb some volcanoes for few days. Unfortunately Kevin and I had to change our departure date, spending only the weekend on the lake. I had to change my one because Prof Henry of my Globalisation class could not bare me missing yet another session. Of course, I gave him a nice excuse, teaching related, yet he did not budge. Moreover, to make things 'better', later I failed that class (eventually it all turned out for the best - as it always does). None the less, though the trip was short, it was indeed very sweet...!

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Ps: since the Lake Toba trip I stayed in Spora on the social pass (tourist visa) as my Employment Pass expired it was taken by the customs. Three months later, this led to the abrupt departure when I did not get the extension for the social visa approved. I ended up in Iran.

Hope vs Gloom

There is a saying that goes something along the lines of: every hero needs a villain. Judging by the size of the one we created for ourselves, and named global warming, it looks as though we really like to play a hero role.

Al Gore presents gloomy news, whereas hopeful ones are provided by Ray Anderson who's calling for "More happiness with less stuff... It's possible...!"

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Small Planet, Big Problems

It was Earth Day a week ago... - a nice little initiative for me to get a new post up on this blog after a while. On a similar occurrence of lateness, I'd usually say better late than never, but in this case - Earth Day - I think every day seems late, thus one can't be late...

The bleak outlook comes from looking at the problems outlined in this nice-must-see little presentation titled Miniature Earth.

Also, today I watched the movie from 1980, The Secret of Nikola Tesla given to me back when I first started work as a teacher at NP by an ex colleague, Weelian. It's disturbing to see that 100 years ago Tesla was concerned about pollution and the lack of sustainability of then current - and sadly still current - energy resources. He also seem to had been dreaming of transmitting 'everything' - what we call today (wireless) Internet -, and wireless power transmission - what we're still dreaming of...!

Ps: Credit to Murray for pointing to the presentation.

- Bill Clinton's promo for his foundation is another nice presentation on issues.

- Also my posts on water and e-cars.

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Obama the Saviour

If it wasn't already clear from previous posts, like a big majority around the world, I am a fan and believer of the hopeful change that the 44th US president will bring about from this day onwards.

Many things have been said about the man in the past year leading towards the inauguration, but in particular I like what NY Times had to say describing his character: 

"It’s not willpower or self-discipline he shows as much as an organized unconscious. Through some deep, bottom-up process, he has developed strategies for equanimity, and now he’s become a homeostasis machine. 

...At every challenging moment, his instinct was to self-remove and establish an observer’s perspective. 

...He doesn’t seem to need the audience’s love. But they need his. The audiences hunger for his affection, while he is calm, appreciative and didactic.

...And it is easy to sketch out a scenario in which he could be a great president. He would be untroubled by self-destructive demons or indiscipline. With that cool manner, he would see reality unfiltered. He could gather — already has gathered — some of the smartest minds in public policy, and, untroubled by intellectual insecurity, he could give them free rein. Though he is young, it is easy to imagine him at the cabinet table, leading a subtle discussion of some long-term problem."

Wouldn't it be nice, if the only negative that the article had to say about Obama - "Far from a celebrity fad, he is self-contained, self-controlled and maybe even a little dull." - stays as the only true negiative remark eight years from now as well, when the 45th commander-in-chief is sworn in.

To the tune of the presently predominant theme, let's

hope...!

Ps:
And the man is a baller :)



Worth reading is the Time's Person of the Year interview, and the list of 50 facts, where you can also find the interview with his wife, Michelle.

PPs: SuperObama image source. 

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New Year, old tune

While back in Melbourne, enjoying the time with the family, I also tried to resurrect my degree from the ashes. There is some hope it might happen. It's very slim, but worth a shot. During the meeting with the representatives from the UniMelb's Science Faculty, I was told that they will take my request into consideration...

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Dear A and D,

Thank you for seeing me on the last Friday.

As discussed, I was able to successfully complete the two out of the three subjects listed below, and hence humbly request approval to enroll into one more subject in order to finalize my degree.

As you will know, during my time in Singapore I had full time employment lasting all the way through till the last quarter of the semester. Since my residential visa, apartment and the laptop were tied up to the job, I had to invest time and effort to sort those logistical issues. In addition, I looked for a new job and went to three interviews. Lastly, out of the three subjects, I was most unsure of receiving the approval for the 'Mapping Global Economic Change', leaving it's major assignment the last. This resulted with the submission that was one week overdue. The assignment was heavily penalized for lateness, resulting in the failure.

Also, please take into consideration that though my leave of absence has been prolonged, I have initially requested to enroll in two NUS modules (one per semester) after one year of leave of absence.

The next semester at NUS runs from January till May, with deadline for adding subjects on the 19th of January. With your kind approval, I would like to enroll into one more subject from the NUS's School of Computing.

Please find attached the page from NUS admin system showing the results. I will send you the original transcript as soon as I receive it.

Thank you,

Z
(student Id)

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I am asking myself, will I ever learn... Doing the same mistake over and over again... and again... Thinking of the lessons I 'learned' - or I should say: taken with me - from the previous failure, and yet failing to act upon them - stupid...!

Happy 09

Wishing you all the best in the new year! For all of us I hope we can enjoy some extra luck, as this seems to be something that we could use more so then usually in the following, what is expected to be, (economically) though year.

Cheers...!

Ps: thanks for all the warm wishes!