Mistakes

“If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

Mary Pickford, 1892-1979
American Actress

Who? Me?

Was at the farewell party for a German intern student recently. He had been attached to our lab for close to 6 months and this was his first trip to South East Asia. During the gathering, he mentioned a number of amusing and somewhat memorable incidents of his brief stay in Singapore.

Perhaps because I am already very Singapor-ised, or simply because I am familiar with a number of Chinese dialects, I must admit such incidents rarely happen to me, even from my first days in Singapore. Well, here is one which clearly stuck in my head.

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Make mistakes

Bob Carr, the premiere of the State of New South Wales in Australia for many years, has recently resigned his post. He spent his last afternoon as Premier teaching teenagers the art of speechwriting, the importance of joining a political party and the downbeat truth that life is never perfect.

Some things he said really struck a chord with me.

Never be afraid of pitfalls: “Make as many mistakes as possible – make a fool of yourself, and out of that, make something of yourself.” Furthermore, avoid striving too hard for excellence: “Life’s a reversal – a rough cut. Nothing’s ever perfect. If it is comfortable enough, that’s probably as good as it’s ever going to be.”

Hear, hear…

Email just for old people?

When I saw the title of the most recent WXPnews e-zine, I was kind of shocked! Is technology progressing so quickly that I am already out-dated?? I mean, I use emails for work, for keeping contacts with family and friends, as well as for social arrangements. However, it is interesting, as mentioned in the article, to observe that different age groups seem to have preferential modes of communication, where speed of delivery seems to be the key – my own conclusion. Does this mean we live in such a fast-paced world that everyone – the younger generation specifically – wants to have instant gratification!? Bit of a worry if it is indeed the case.

Host hunting

EnhancedHost, the webhosting company that I have been with for the past two years, was recently sold to another, larger company. That and the fact that there seems to be more and more hosting companies out there which provide much more web space than my current plan and at comparable cost – which is quite perplexing – which got me started on looking for a new hosting company to host my site. By the way, I am currently only using about 300MB of my allotted 600MB but I do expect to upload more higher-res photos in the near future.

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