While You Were Sleeping

Was checking out the new location map of SoC, then I saw the label "LT27" and was suddenly struck with an unexpected nostalgic feeling. =) Ah, I've been seeing that building for years, and now we will be quite a distance away.

(Though one could easily say, how big is NUS campus really, or for that matter, the whole Singapore town?)

I have surely forgotten that I once missed the CELC at the old Admin building, the old NIE park, or the old KR hall (I suppose it's part of RVR now?) just the same.

Thufir Hawat said, "Parting with friends is sadness. A place is a place."

I can tell you many things I miss about Singapore as a place: the fresh air, the manageable size (long live Street Directory) and even more as an environment (the lack of all those things one would be fined for doing)... but I guess the core of it all is a matter of familiarity.

And we humans can adapt very well. The air quality has not improved in Beijing, but my dissatisfaction about it certainly has.

I've been so comfortable with my life back then, with all its ups and downs, with my semi-static circle of friends, even with all that my personality lacks, with all the shortcomings that attack my conscience from time to time. I accepted the offer for this temporary posting in Beijing because, simply, the opportunity was there. Minutes from the so-minimally-prepared departure, I was thrown to the discomforting realization, "Oh no, I will have to make new friends soon?"

By now I know there'll be bits of the same bittersweet feeling towards these new friends when I leave this city, as what I felt when I left for it; as what I still feel once a year on that taxi trip to my hometown airport.

And yet, it might just be a subdued sentimental recollection one year from now.

Much as it may sound anti-romantic, feelings do pass... or change, and I think that is perfectly all right, 'cause I'd like to think that romance lies, in contrast, in all the effort we spend on the feeling while it lasts.

Now is that mushy or what? =D

Searching

First laid-back weekend after a while. =) This blog will have jumbled things I've wanted to say for some time, so it's unlikely to be coherent..

First, a link: The Keropok - Singapore Daily Photo

I guess partly because the photos are well taken, partly because I'm rather tuned to sight-seeing mood recently, and partly because I'm currently away... I thought, "Eh, Singapore is quite a beautiful country too." =D (Over here all they say about Singapore is "So clean!")

Hope I will still think so when I'm back in a few months, so I'll make time to look around the few places I've never really explored before. Eka, would you be up to it? As an alternative to our movie weekends. ^^

The photoblog by the way was found through a "Google query chain" for "NUS School of Computing relocation", when I needed to find out the new location of my lab, to re-apply for the expired IT resources. I'm working on something related to web search these days, so these search stuff mean a little bit more to me now. =) My browser starts on Google, and I always have an open tab for on-demand googling the whole time I'm working at a terminal. Now, occasionally I'd feel like I should contribute to my own datapool by using MSN Live Search instead. =D

As for the browser, I've been using Mozilla Firefox back home, mostly for its convenient tabbing. (It is supposedly more secure, too, but I never understand much about computer security, so. =P) Now that IE7 -- pre-installed on my lab machine, while Firefox is not -- has tabs too, I've switched sides.. for now. =D IE's tabbing feature feels slower in response, but this comparison is on different machines. Any of you have the experience?

Before the trip to the Redmond campus, we met up with our General Manager Hon Hsiao-Wuen, during which I asked him if, being "Microsoft people" (of which sense I don't have enough yet), we should be careful in revealing our preference for competitor products to these people we were going to meet (within/outside the lab/company). He said that, they would actually encourage us to experience other products and provide feedbacks and criticisms, but please make sure to convey it respectfully. =D

I did miss the powerful built-in/shell tools I'd been using on SoC Linux servers, and once gushed to my project leader about them. =P Hopefully that wasn't too... er, enthusiastic-for-the-wrong-side. The researchers I work with are very young and the team shares a much more casual interaction compared to the professor-student relationship I've had in campus, so it's easy to reveal those kind of things in conversations. =D

Things are moving at a faster pace for me here, being in a team, compared to doing my own research in the uni. My prof gave me a lot of time to explore ideas; we met once a week; I have life outside school. ^^ Here we have concrete targets and are eager for progress; we meet twice a week, plus occasional sync meetings with another department; I don't have much to do outside the lab.

Conclusion: OT. =D

(Of course a portion of these OT periods is utilized for emails, blogs, chats etc, like now. Search data are huge so experiments have long runtimes, and so I have sort of excusable in-between idle periods, har.)

I'm working on a photo blog for recent happenings, will post the link here when it's ready. I wonder if the amount of photos I'm putting up is giving you the impression that I'm on a long vacation trip instead of an internship? XD Somehow I feel obliged to post them just because my usual folks (family and friends) aren't here to experience it with me.

Last-last week my parents were here in Beijing on an invitation to attend the MSRA Intern's Day. My father has always wanted to visit China (the "knowing your root" thing) so despite my normal paiseh attitude I worked out the courage to ask the management if I could invite them. Glad I did, because they approved. =)

So by now I've visited the Badaling Great Wall twice and the Summer Palace twice, but still I would like, someday when my mood has recovered from this touristy overload, to hike the Simatai and to go all the way to the hilltop of the Palace. ^_^

But aside from the general feel-good I'm probably losing the enthusiastic edge with all that happened in my life, though when casual acquaintances asked I'd surely say they were exciting, just so it wouldn't sound as if I were disappointed with anything, which I indeed wasn't. I am still aware how fortunate these were for me, so I could at least not appear ingrate. =D

But still I feel that I've been giving a whole lot of "it was all right" answers, which were honest, because the amazement did not stay with me for long. Now that I'm analysing this to write about it, it might be because I sort of know what standard to expect once I get into certain situations, so it wasn't as impressive when they came to pass.

Does one become like this when too many pleasant surprises came in a row? It seems like I got lucky once, then one unexpected thing comes after another; and suddenly I look back at all these "high-end" experience that were amazing as I name it but not so much as I feel it... if you get what I mean.

I guess the biggest weight was that I think of it as an "undeserved favor" (Hady's term), and it really is a favor in more than one sense as various parties have kindly made room for me -- those breaks from my regular obligations, less work accomplished because my time was divided for the preparations -- so, for one, my mind was not entirely free to enjoy it, and there's also this pressure to justify this good turn by, in some way, earning the rights after-the-fact.

I kept thinking "I really should be more excited about this!" but you know when you think that you should feel something, it just means you shouldn't, because you in fact do not feel it. Am I making sense? =PP

Yet here I'm faced with an offer for another weekend++ trip to Shanghai with a group of foreign interns end of this month. I tend somewhat towards the negative decision: I'm rather tired of the sight-seeing business after all these weeks; this trip is expected to be exhausting, plus it's going to eat a day into the work week and I don't want to ask for another leave. It's also a bit of a bet, because I'll need to decide (and pay) on Monday so we can book tickets, but I cannot be sure what to expect from the trip as we do not have a solid itinerary as of yet.

The decision comes down to: I'm totally okay not to go, but I'm wondering if I'll regret it later if I miss the opportunity, considering that I'm already in China right now. Classic, eh. =P

By the way, the title came about as I tried to connect these jumbled parts.. and you might notice I've highlighted the relevant words using the color of this text. **PLUG** It is also the title of one of our Soracco songs from the Passage of Time musical, which we're going to restage January next year, and which I might as well promote here. =D Stay tuned!

Not Quite Home

Back from the trip. =) Not in the mood to write yet (and it seems like this will continue for quite a while =P) so just a few of my favourite photos here for now.

The blue sky of Seattle.

The "aquarium" at the MS Museum.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

That's us. =)

The central library at University of Washington.

1905 UW entrance exam.

And the sunset on the way home (but not quite home for me yet).

Weekend Excursions

Uploaded all photos up to yesterday's adventures. But time spent on these trips == less time for blogging, so here are some teasers, and please go to the link for all the photos -- un-selected and un-captioned. =P

First week

Second week

Visited the Tian'an Men (天安门) Square last week. We actually wanted to go to the Forbidden City (故宫) first, but we sort of lost our way around the Square =D so we thought might as well finish touring the Square first. Then our cameras ran out of battery and mine ran out of storage space on top of that.. so we decided to leave the Forbidden City till next time.



Before going up to the main building, we found a garden at the side. It turned out to be the Sun Yat-Sen Park (中山公园). I'm glad we made the detour, because the park was full of very interesting trees, and I should say I enjoyed this part more than the actual Tian'an Men. =P




Third week

Great Wall! =) Angie happened to be in town, so we went together.. or more exactly, I hopped into their rented car. =D We took the easier path, Badaling Great Wall (八达岭长城) where we took the cable car up to Haohan Po (好汉坡), hiked for a bit, played Spiderman as Ben put it.. then took the cable car back down.



In the afternoon we continued our journey to (a small part of) Summer Palace (颐和园). The place is huge!

Explanation courtesy of Peter: the number of animals carved at the end of the roof signifies the rank of the resident in the imperial household. Interesting!

After the sightseeing business, we met up with Rong Hui and Wei Lie, BF members who are studying in Beijing University.



The university itself is almost a tourist attraction, it has such wonderful sceneries and you can find souvenir sellers at the side of the road. Here is the library, one of the three major places as I was told. The other two are the lake and the pagoda.



I got treated to a mini tour, then a nice dinner with Rong Hui and Mei Ying, another BF member. It was the closest to home dishes I've had since coming here. =D

I peeked into their dorm rooms, or slums by their terms... and for a good reason, poor thing. =P Made me quite thankful for my small hotel room. Got many a tip and language crash course from them too. =)

Seems like I talked quite a lot after all.. Next weekend I'll be on the trip to the Redmond campus for a 5-day visit, so the next post will be much delayed, especially since we have homework before, during and after the visit. =P It's hard work to be lucky!

Something So Right

Heard this song on the plane here. (That reference to China is surely just a coincidence.)

Loved the rather haunting atmosphere; have since checked out the whole album (ahem).

---

Something So Right
Vocal: Annie Lennox
Album: Medusa


You've got the cool water
When the fever runs high
And you've got the look of love right in your eyes
And I was in a crazy motion
'Till you calmed me down

It took a little time
But you calmed me down

Some people never say the words "I love you"
It's not their style to be so bold
Some people never say the words "I love you"
But like a child they're longing to be told

They've got a wall in China
It's a thousand miles long
To keep out the foreigners, they made it strong
And I've got a wall around me
That you can't even see

It took a little time
To get next to me

If something goes wrong
I'm the first to admit it
The first to admit it --
But the last one to know

If something goes right
Oh well, it's likely to lose me
It's apt to confuse me
Because it's such an unusual sight, oh

I can't get used to something so right
To something so right

Some people never say the words "I love you"
It's not their style to be so bold
Some people never say the words "I love you"
But like a child I'm longing to be told

They've got a wall in China
Hm, yea..
And I've got a wall around me
Yea..

It took a little time
To get next to me

First Week in Visuals

Here be pics. Mostly for Eka, who requested. =)

By a roughly chronological order, this should go first:

Cool motto, huh.

The large-sized dinner. The guy in the back was a Japanese intern (the one whom I talked to about J-rock and anime =D -- see previous post). Quite ex (each of us spent around 100Y), since they follow the international standard, I suppose. Service charge was 15% (!) ...owwie.

But on that note, only foreign-brand restaurants here would have service charges (as far as I've seen, at least). Local ones are mostly family-style, cafetaria-sized, with no service charge. My roommate (from US) was wondering if we should give tips and how much the standard is. I frankly don't really care since I don't plan on giving any =D *cheap cheap* but at that time I was perky enough to ask the waiter (bwaha) who told us, nope, no need.

Back home of course I never have to worry about this, Singapore is so practical they decide everything for you. But since it mattered to my roommate I suppose it might be useful info to put up.

Next, here's the view from our hotel room that I took one night when I was bored.

Nothing magical about that cube of light; it's the reflection of our lit room.

Thought they were nice colours. I was intrigued because the lights in those "blocks" kept coming on and off in brisk succession. Still haven't figured out why. As for the "rays", they were not planned. Those are actually the window curtains. ^^0

I did some search and asking-around about the type of electrical plug to bring, but still wasn't sure about it before I arrived. =P So here is a pic for whoever is planning to come. =) It fits many types, how convenient. The two-round-legged (pardon the non-terms) standard plug we get in Singapore or Indonesia, the parallel two-flat-legged, the triangular three- or two-legged (i.e. just fit the bottom two).

The day before work started we went to explore the shopping complex at Wang Fu Jing (王府井). Our first bargaining experience went rather... errr... ahaha.

By taxi from the hotel (Haidian district) to Wang Fu Jing, we passed by the Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City at its opposite. I would really like to visit these two places in the near future, but for now I've only got the distant view of them. =)



Here's (one part of) Wang Fu Jing's crowd:



This board caught my attention, ads for the 2008 Olympics at Beijing. They've even started selling the souvenirs in some of the shops. 6_6 That was Beckham, in case the resolution is not good enough to recognize him. I have to admit I needed to see the signature and the Chinese-adapted name (below) to recognize him. =$


Around that same area is St. Joseph's Church. Read from the guidebook that it's one of the most photographed sites. I realized it too late to suggest going in for a look. XP



Some random shops.. I just liked the colour scheme of this one. =D


And this one because it has that old-style door. Probably too blurred to see, though. We are still wondering, to date, whether those are fog or (polluted) haze.


A lantern-adorned shopping alley:



Nine million bicycles as the song says, not that I'm counting.. And that pavement is a nice view. They have several similar paintings further down the street.

And here's a local bemo. =D

We entered a small bookshop along the street, because we glimpsed some manga artbook there. I was so happy to see those going at 42Y each (S$8+) which would be perhaps one-tenth the price back home (depends, actually, but around that). Was about to get a Saiyuuki one for 40Y, but then I saw the cover was in bad condition, and the owner offered to get it replaced, so I'll need to return there some other time.

Should have asked for that same book for half the price =D seeing as I might not feel like taking another taxi ride there.. but we'll see. =P

Anyway, the moment we entered that shop, this was the sight that greeted us:

Cute horrrr. And he did this some more:


Well, aside from this store's keeper, I do have complaints about most shopkeepers I encountered. I put them into three categories: (1) the over-friendly ones (buggy and touchy) who turn nasty once you bargain too low or decide not to buy after all, (2) the ones you have no conflict with, either because they are polite or because the shops have fixed prices, and (3) the couldn't-care-less grumpy ones.

I couldn't decide yet if this society is courteous -- the people generally are not, e.g. they don't say a word when bumping you.. and sometimes it is even on purpose to get on their way. But a flyer-distributing guy on the crossroad quite amazed me with the amount of greetings he threw my way just while handing me that piece of paper: "Hi, this is such-and-such service from us. [I took it.] Thank you. Our store is just over there. [I said thanks and started walking away.] Thank you. Bye-bye. [I returned the bye.] 慢走." (common parting saying that literally means "walk slowly")

Some people are reasonably polite but they are just naturally loud so it's like they're yelling at you. =D I don't really have problems with these, but the grumpy shopkeepers really get to me, the way they're answering my questions like I'm such a bother.

I guess I do have a problem with this city's business system in general -- where everything is to be bargained. ^^0 This morning I helped my roommate bargain the cost for laundry -- imagine having to bargain even that. 0_0

Unless in supermarkets, the prices we see in stores are never the real price. We should really get a local to take us shopping next time -- how they cope with this system, I wonder. Most things are cheaper than they are in our homecountry anyway, but by local standards it would still be a rip-off and of course no one likes that feeling. =PP

This morning, I was walking around a nearby shopping street, and thought I might as well get an international calling card. First I entered the China Post building. Thought, civil service should be cheaper ah? Read in the guidebook that an IP card worth 100Y could go for 35Y (strange as that wording may sound) so that was the price I asked for. But the lady insisted on 50Y. What's more, she was type number 3, so I walked out on her. `_-

Later, found another phone shop; the guy wasn't sure if he had the card that matched my requirements (destination etc) so he called someone else to ask. That person probably told him the real price directly, because he simply gave me the price of 32Y, which I took up happily.

See, business-customer relationships would be so much better this way. `_'

Anyway, the nearby shopping street I was talking about is Zhongguanchun Shopping Plaza. They happened to have this African art sale, with the actual African ladies manning the place. =)


Some more pictures from around the plaza, since I quite like the glassy scenery.

That's all I have for now. =)

And oh, this is from a Beijing city online guide my roommie forwarded me:

"On the whole, Beijing is a pretty safe place. Your greatest dangers include crossing the road and paying much more than you should for your souvenirs."

The "crossing the road" part could be quite true, though Indonesian-road-trained people shouldn't need to worry. Simple Singaporean jaywalking skills also suffice. But it's probably more of a habit problem -- on my way to first day at work I was wearing formal shoes and so half my concentration went to proper walking. =D Seeing the zebra-crossing, I just walked onto it with my pedestrians-own-the-road attitude. As a result, a bicycle-riding man had to swerve very suddenly, yelling angry words at me. =P

Well, I'm getting used to things here, weather and food and roads (language is still taking some time..) that I'm actually wondering what it'll be like when I return to all the humidity and skimpy food portions back home. =DD

Unsettled Dust

the many ways
to plant your presence
in somebody's life,

the little things
to remind you
of something out of reach,

oh my,
how it's going to suck
when all this is over.

City of Nine Million Bicycles

After the most unprepared-for trip in my life so far, here I am in Beijing. =)

Will be reporting in for internship at Sigma Center coming Tuesday, and whiling time in (cheap!) internet cafes until then.

Hope I haven't missed notifying any immediate friend (i.e. whom I meet regularly) about this plan, which was decided on just one month ago. Was delaying the blog post cos I thot it wouldn't be nice if they found out about it here first, and in the end, I didn't have time for it anyway.

On the work front, there's the deadline I was still working on the evening before the flight.. minutes before packing the lab PC and heaps of printed papers into boxes, because SoC will be relocating in July while I'm away.

On the musical commitment front, there's Soracco concert just the weekend before.. and still squeezed in one recording session. =D

And personally, there's some family circumstance.. the farewell dinners.. while the movie plans all failed to survive. =P

That left the packing to eight hours before the flight. Strangely sober and still taking my time to do it, as is my operating mode whenever pressure mounts up. It's psychological immune system, I suppose? Fortunately I started my checklist way before, and it got ticked off all right, but with a bout of forced confidence (simply no time heh) I didn't recheck.

A half-hour sleep and a check-in queue later, found myself taking advices from my parents in the airport while thinking, "I'm really leaving already?" =D

Seeing Aug's much crazier schedule, I once suggested that he should learn to say no -- but even then I knew I wouldn't practice it myself, because certain things you just don't want to say no to. =D

And well, often, maybe because we're lucky, things do turn out all right after all. And of course I owe it to so many different people for this "luck". =)

Still a little work to do.. but for that I need to first attempt to install Adobe Reader on this public PC, and the download is taking forever (and gee I do hope I followed the correct steps since the pop-ups are all in Mandarin) so that gives me more time to slack. =D

Right, then, some weather report. It's hot. And they say it's going to get hotter. =D Me being a tropical creature can handle the temperature so far, but unlike the humid Indonesian/Singaporean heat, it is dry here, and my lips are protesting again. But call it a father's intuition this time, as he was the one who suddenly suggested bringing a lip balm when he helped me with the last-minute packing. =))

I do sport an umbrella when walking down the streets, and yes, it's the umbrella I brought along from Singapore. Dorky much?

Third day here, and got my eight-hour nightly sleeps very soundly so far. ^_^ Plus nap. Figures people like me will never sleep sufficiently until you take away all our usual toys, like in this trip. ^^;;;

Haven't been around much except to internet cafes, Wal-Mart (I avoid bargain-necessary places for now.. and probably ever) and Hard Rock Cafe @ Beijing last night, by invitation of my roommate, a fellow intern. Met up with a few other foreign Microsoft interns and researchers: US, Korea, and mostly Japan. Given the venue and the company, I started talking about J-rock and anime, har. =D

For simplicity, told them I'm from Singapore. (Back in Singapore I'll be from Indonesia. =D) But the history did come up in the conversation, and they have more complicated history themselves, anyway. =))

Got very few photos not quite worth posting and cannot do it here either... so that's all for now, I guess. =)

And hey, Adobe's installed, finally. =D