Moments that take your breath away

Date: 2-Apr-2009
Time: 7:15pm
Location: Overhead bridge, Boon Lay Way


You had to be there to appreciate the view of the sunset - my Sony Ericsson camera-phone simply does no justice to it.

The Last Lecture

Hypothetically if you had one final lecture to deliver before dying, what would you speak on? That's the idea behind the "last lecture" series, a tradition in Carnegie Mellon University, meant to provide the speaker a moment to reflect on what truly matters in life. Randy Pausch, a computer science professor who was actually dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his lecture on "Achieving your Childhood Dreams", which was later published as a book.

In this book, Pausch shared his childhood stories and dreams, his principles, and lessons he's learned in an inspirational, touching and humorous way. Despite living out his last 3-6 months at the time the book was written, you could still sense his optimism and zest for life - and he does point out that he is not in a state of denial. Rather, I think it's a state of acceptance that enabled Pausch to truly live out everyday to the fullest and not let a single second go to waste worrying on things that cannot be changed.

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

What I liked about the book is the way the stories are told, in an entertaining and not excessively sentimental way. You may have stumbled upon some of his philosophies elsewhere, but Pausch's sincerity in sharing his insights is evident in his delivery that you won't be bored re-discovering it again.

The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle states that every employee in a corporate hierarchy tends to rise to a plateau of incompetency. In this book, Dr. Laurence Peter takes the reader through the inadequacy of organizations as a result of promoting the competent employee to a higher position. It reveals employees' unhappiness due to feeling incompetent in their promoted position, and the harsh fact that organizations are kept functional by the many competent employees who have not crossed the threshold to be promoted, yet.

The basic assumption behind this principle is that employees are promoted based on their competency in their current position, and not based on the capability to take on higher responsibilities that comes along with a promotion. The Peter Principle is weaken the moment this assumption is removed. Hence, although this book provides a different insight into the evolution of hierarchies, we should not be particularly concern over this if we are able to work around it.

Nihon-ei ikimas!

I finally entangled myself from the procrastination web and made plans to go to Japan. A plan remains a plan until you make the first move. And I'm already one step ahead of that - the air ticket has been purchased. I'm now fully committed to the plan.

Siem Reap, however, has been put on hold. But all is good.

Now, I just need to brush up on my Nihongo, at an insane speed, so that I can say "wakarimas" more than "wakarimasen" when I attempt to speak to the locals in Japan.