How is life without…
April 23, 2008 at 2:12 pm | In Life, Technology | Leave a CommentTags: appointments, dependency, internet, mobile phones, promises, schedule books, Technology
Wow, it has been quite a while since I have last posted here. Have been busy with the final project submission(s) and examination(s). And right after I’m done with all that, my internet was down till recently. Hahaa~ Is that coincidence or what? Well, because of that, I’ve come to realize how dependent we are with technology. How is life without….
… internet connection?
1) Unable to watch shows online, but to spend more time on watching TV programmes and those available on external hard drive;
2) Unable to check e-mails;
3) Unable to chat with friends, much less able to make plans for gatherings;
4) Unable to surf websites to search for jobs online;
etc.
BUT I felt “freed” from all those obligations =D
… mobile phones?
So happened that I was to meet a friend for a course on Sunday, and because we had been able to meet during course time (which so happened to have ended the previous week), we had been fixing our meeting time and date via MSN. Hence on Sunday, I was quite worried that we might not be able to keep to our agreed time and it was made more uncertain as we did not have each other’s mobile number (how genius we were :p).
And because of that, we have come to realize that people of the past do not need to be worried about last minute withdrawal or not turning up. Everyone will keep to their promises and appointments, hence they just need to come to a consensus of a time and place and everyone will turn up. Maybe it’s precisely because we have this tendency to cancel our appointment at the last minute because “something has cropped up”. How frequent does such “unexpected circumstances” happen in your life? Are we really that busy now that we can’t even keep to agreed appointments?
… schedule book/PDA?
Well, I guess most, if not all, of us are so busy that we can’t simply agreed to fix a date and time offhand anymore. We rely quite a lot on our schedule books/PDAs in order not to make false promises. Is your schedule book filled with appointments and reminders too? =D
Oh well, just to name a few. :p
Trapped in the lift experience
April 9, 2008 at 10:50 pm | In Life, Technology | Leave a CommentTags: lift, mobile phones, Technology, trapped
For the first time in my life, and first incident in the 13 years of my living experience here, I was trapped in the lift (last Thursday). Nevermind why and how, but after the incident, I was filled with thoughts about this incident would have been different if it had happened, say, 5 years back.
This time round, when we entered the lift and it refused to move nor open, we sounded the alarm, and at the same time used my mobile phone to call the lift maintanance company for assistance immediately. Help arrived in 5 minutes. Woah! Fast isn’t it? Apart from the fact that help was near, I would like to attribute the speedy arrival to the use of the mobile phone. Let’s say this happened a few years back, and when mobile phones were not yet so handy and popular, what could your pagar help in this situation? You will probably have to wait for help to come after you sounded the alarm, and not knowing how long you might have to wait (especially if this was in the middle of the night or something when none of the residents could be awake and hear it).
That’s probably one of the plus points for the use of technology and of its advancement. =) For emergency uses, it’s really a beauty. I remembered watching this on Meteor Gardens (ya ya, that show) whereby one of the characters used the quick-dial button on his mobile to alert his buddies that he was in danger (he was “kidnapped” by his mother). Good way to ask for help eh? =D
However, there are down-points to this super good function too. Just the other day, I was sleeping, and I must have heard the notification that I’ve a new sms, so I replied to it and held on to my phone while I drifted back to sleep. And the next thing I know, I saw a sms from one of my Indonesian youth (living in Indonesia right now) asking me why I called her because when she picked up the phone, no one answered her. GOSH~! That must have been me hitting the quick dial and called her accidentally in my sleep. hahaa~ =D So embarrassing.
Twins – Knock Out
April 7, 2008 at 2:21 am | In Life | Leave a CommentTags: personalities
When I first know of this song, I didn’t quite like it because it was rather loud. =D However, after I came back to Singapore, I happened to listen to the song again and came to like it more and more. Especially the lyrics set me thinking.
Sometimes, we do feel that there are two sides of us [just like the workings of an angel and a devil within us] which will influence what decision we make. Like in the lyrics, when we are pondering over a matter, one side of us will discourage us and keep reminding ourselves where we had not done correctly and why we should just give up while the other side of us will want to fight the negative side and help us regain self-confidence to fight on. How many times did we feel tired to fight within ourselves? How strong is our determination?
Actually, I have thought of myself having two different types of personalities, especially with the linkage of my name. I had seldom, if not never, used the name of ‘Keris’ until I entered University. I could sense the difference in me when I used different names; one was the more playful and more daring personality while the other was the more sensible and more conservative in her decision-making. Of course, when I am in one situation which would have been better if I’d used the other side of me, I might make decisions which I will come to regret in the future. And to be very frank, at times, I do hate the other side of myself.
Funny isn’t it? It’s the same you yet having a dilemma within yourself? It’s not quite about split personality but more about coming to terms with identifying with yourself. Just like how some youths are obsessed with another identity online, so much so that they slowly forget that they are living in the real world and not just on the virtual world. This is why they are so willing to take up another identity online so that they can mould it the way they wished they can behave in real life. Many times, both sides of us are speaking at the same time, trying to convince us.
Which side of you is winning?
Clash of interest?
April 4, 2008 at 4:23 pm | In Life | Leave a CommentTags: births, families, transport
Well, apparently I was thinking about this problem these few days because I was more frequently on the road than ever before due to my relatives’ visiting in Singapore. You know what, when I was waiting for a bus last Saturday, I happened to see this family which had been “rejected” by two taxi drivers because they were a family of five people (adults and children). So in the end, the poor dad had to try to wait for a bus or the alternative is to take another cab all by himself.
Which brings me to the question of how big our families (size) should be. If I’m not mistaken (or at least the last that I heard was), the current birth policy goes something like “Two or more, if you can afford it”. Which goes to somewhat signify that married couples are encouraged to have 2 more or children. The thing is, maybe you can argue that when the kids are still young, taking a cab together will not be much of a problem since the 3 kids can squeeze with the mum at the back while the dad sits in the front. But hey, you know what, children do grow up! It will probably come to a point when the policy will see them as teens or youths and ’sorry, the taxi can only take up 4 passengers’.
What’s the best argument when you hope that the citizens won’t be too eager to purchase their own family car but to take public transport; you wish the number of births will increase else the greying population is becoming a threatening number; and yet you have a rule that a taxi should not take up more than 4 passengers (okay, for the maximum comfort of the commuters and for road safety); all these don’t see eye-to-eye that much really.
What is it that we really want? *confused*
ps: okay, must be fair too — there are some taxi these days, which are slightly larger and so can cater to those with bigger than a family size of four people now, but still, how many of these do we really see? If we aren’t in a rush at times (or for convenience maybe due to elders in the family or young children), the train and buses work fine of course.
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