Recently, I read an entry from one of my friend’s private blog. It is kind of private because I promise her long time ago that I wouldn’t make a link into her site. She said, six months have passed and she still doesn’t know what she wants to do. And she has another six months to figure that out.
That inspires me to think: August is here, what have I done so far? My friends ask me what happens to my band and I go … erm. They ask if I still write songs and I go … erm. What happen to that association? Do you still paint? I haven’t seen you for ages, what have you been doing?
Erm.
I update my Facebook status often. Often on what I plan to do. I reckon if I write something in public – like in here or in any social networking site – I am committed to something. And there is a higher chance that something gets done, which is better than always thinking of doing something that never get done.
So from now till December 31, I am committed to do the followings. All of the followings. Items one, to seven.
1. Do up my MySpace page and put a song or two inside (est. effort: 40 hrs)
I love my band. If it was up to me, I would set up a practice or recording session every weekend. Maybe we shall have a summer break and a Christmas break. But other than that, we should meet up regularly and jam. Because I believe that any serious hobby warrants a once a week practice. Like my Spanish lessons. The reality is, we meet only once in two months, three months.
And if it was up to me, I would like to do some decent recording and share with the public. But my [lower] standard is not the same as some of my band mates. I am a blogger. I produce contents on a near daily basis. I am happy to share the demo musical works with my readers regularly. Keep the engagement going. To hear some feedback, and to grow. Especially when that CD quality band recording seems so impossible to attain given our pace. Time to do some solo works. More like an incubator of for the band, at my personal turbo pace (everything in life is relative).
2. Finish digitalizing my CD collection (est. effort: 24 hrs)
As of today, I have already digitalized 11,127 music tracks. Just keep going! Don’t stop!
3. Clear the photo back log (est. effort: 75 hrs)
I would love to visit the Singapore Zoo and take some pictures but I don’t feel like doing so. Because I have such a huge back log to clear. The good news is that I have established some kind of Sunday rhythm to spend some time with the photo processing and categorization work.
4. Properly tag my 1,100+ blog entries (est. effort: 24 hrs)
Tagging is a new concept for me. I put my entries into fixed categories, year after year. Recently, I discover that there is something called tagging, alongside with categories. I may be messy in real life. But I love structures. So I will have to go through each entry one by one and tag them nicely.
5. Spanish! Onto Lower Intermediate and read a Spanish book (est. effort: 24 hrs + ?? hrs)
After 20 lessons of Beginner level, 20 lessons of Elementary level, Cynthia and I are heading to the Lower Intermediate class. The date is set: August 25th. But there is a catch. We have to pass the examination on August 22nd. That is hard! Super hard! I am really not good at the language department. But I will try.
About that Spanish book … we shall see.
6. Quick recording of all my 158 songs (est. effort: 158 hrs)
Year 1994, I wrote my first song. I reckon I still remember most if not all my 158 songs. However, I know one day my memory may fade. And some of those songs may be lost forever. Now, that’s sad. In view of this rather probable rather depressing reality, I have always wanted to record all my work. It’s not as easy as it sounds. I tend to spend time rewriting the parts that didn’t work, readjusting the key of the song, and on top of that, being a perfectionist, I wanted to do some decent recording. That project didn’t last.
So now, I have reset my goal. I need some quick and dirty recording. Get it over and done with. Some sort of documentation. And then, I can pick ones that I like and do a better job. Have them posted to MySpace (see point #1) for public sharing.
7. Seek direction on that blogger association I am associated with
I have to find an answer to that question: Where are we heading? I am looking forward to seeing a new team. Either way, my 1 year tenure will be up, after this year end. A toast to all-good-things.
* * * * *
Wow, a total of 344 hours span over the remaining 20 weeks. Now you know why I need a more balanced working life. And unlike some of you, I am not inspired to work that extra hours for the big bucks plus promotion (otherwise, why would you trade more time with the same amount of reward?). If I can complete all of the above before 2009 ends, I can start 2010 with a much lighter load.
On a separate note, one day I was really excited setting up my N97 as a web server – a future looking solution from Nokia Beta Labs. What is more interesting is how people react to this ‘concept solution’. One friend listened with interest and immediately, you can see his mind was working fast and he nodded: this could be useful. One friend cracked some jokes on the potential applications, kind of similar to my initial dramatic thought that involves a striking long legged spy and her N97 (you can activate the phone’s camera remotely via Internet anywhere in the world amongst other bizarre things you can do). Another friend, a Nokia non-supporter said: It is kind of pointless eh?
Life is full of pointless little things, I think. At times I wonder what is the point in spending time with those social networking sites. Recently, I looked into the periodic table via a free application called “Elements” from the Nokia OVI Store. Did you know that there is an element called Einsteinium (Es)? Its existence, from what I read, is pretty pointless. Named after you-know-who. To artificially create Einsteinium, first you need to irradiate plutonium-239 inside a nuclear reactor for couple of years. Then mix the resulting plutonium-242 isotope with aluminum and further irradiate this mixture inside a nuclear reactor for another year or so. The result is a mixture of Californium and Einsteinium that can be separated.
So, what’s the use of Einsteinium? It could be pointless to some. Or as an intermediate step in advancing scientific research to others. I wonder if it would be safe to drink from a mug made in Einsteinium.
