RIP Steve Jobs

I think it's fitting that I started writing this post on my iPhone, and that I'm now completing it on my MacBook Air.

Because this is the legacy that Steve Jobs has left behind.

He made extraordinary technology accessible to, and useable, by commoners like me.

How he was an amazing person and all that has been canvassed by better writers elsewhere. Suffice to say that I found him to be a charismatic, intelligent business leader. A bit of an egomaniac, but so are most great men. I actually talked about him as a business leader I admired during my last interview, which was on the date that he stepped down as CEO, funnily enough.

So I'll just talk about why his death has affected me somewhat more strongly than I would have imagined.

I got my first iPod waaaaay back in Year 9. It looked a lot like this:

In fact, you could argue that it looked exactly like that. 

The first generation iPod mini.

It was wonderful. The build quality, the ability of it to store a bazillion songs on it, the click wheel, the colour, the cool factor, the headphones. Keep in mind that this was off the back of having owned a Sony Walkman. Which, as things go, wasn't too bad. But this was a whole new level. 

I remember that it also cost a gazillion dollars. Now that I look back on it, it was really expensive. And I got it a week before the second gen came out for a hundred dollars cheaper. 

But I didn't care. I still think this is the best-looking iPod, apart from the one that I got next, after this was no longer fit for my needs. 

 This, too, was awesome. It let me listen to music in colour.

But seriously, it was great. 

The best thing about these things was that they bring back such memories. They went places with me. They made my otherwise interminable train trips in the mornings that much more bearable. They blocked out the noises of squealing babies, squawking schoolgirls, squabbling adults and general noisiness. 

Sadly, the black fella didn't last as long as the blue fella. It died one day after leaving it in a car that was a bit too hot. The blue fella still works though, which I think is quite an achievement. 

Anyway, I'm now on to an iPhone and a MacBook Air, and I love them both. The iPhone because it's so easy to use, and allows me to do everything I need it to. Yeah, Android, blah blah blah. I'd rather have a good-looking, operational phone and user interface. I don't need my phone to be able to fly jet planes. 

Funniest thing is, even those that berate Apple and their products, use Apple products to do it. I read some Tweet by some person today, screaming that Steve Jobs was evil and such like. I'll let the picture do the talking.

My MacBook Air, I love because it weighs practically nothing, looks beautiful, boots up in 10 seconds flat, has almost zero lag, has a full size keyboard, and a five-hour battery life. Pretty amazing if you think about it. 

Steve Jobs, with his creativity and superb market and financial intuition, made all of these devices possible. I loved using every single one of them, and I don't think it would be too hard to see that those devices, along with others that you might have heard of (this little thing called the iPad), have changed entire industries. Music, movies, computers, phones. 

Further, I think almost everyone I know has had an iPod at some stage. It's not every day somebody creates something that pervasive, that iconic, and that awesome. 

Oh yes, and Pixar. Absolutely love Pixar films. Every single one, except maybe Cars, is a masterpiece. Seriously.

I can't speak for everyone, but the products that you created have  left a lasting, and, I hope, positive impression on me. A life cut far too short. At 56, he probably should have been in his prime.

Well done on a successful life, Mr. Jobs. Rest in peace.   

Word of the Day: Jobs

On the improve

Hard to believe, but this day was even better than yesterday.

It was particularly hard to believe this morning. The rain was pouring down, and I'd had a good day yesterday.

However, it turned out to be fully maddogz.

So the first lecture was boring enough. During French culture, talked to Monique a bit. Next lecture, sat next to my homedawg, Kanji, who I haven't seen in quite some time. Boring lecture, but at least Kanji was there. Then, during my European studies tute, I won an EU keyring for what effectively amounted to being awesome.

See, my other group members were harping on about something crazy that I had no idea about, so I just assumed that they were operating on a higher plane than me. So they'd all thought they'd found the thing which the tutor was after, and I just kept it quietly to myself, because I thought I was wrong. Turns out I was right, and I won my first something for a very long time. Yes, it's a silly little keyring, but I like silly little things. Also, one of my group members asked my name while I was leaving, which made me feel pretty close to spectacular. That hasn't happened to me in a long, long, long time.

If that all seems a bit confusing, it's because it is.

Then, in French culture (again), I managed to talk properly to Taylor Swift. Finally. Much less awkward than I had anticipated, owing to the fact that she wanted to talk to me, and that she was quite a nice person. Oh, and Irene of course. I like to think it was mostly me. Jaykay. It probably wasn't.

Or was it?!

And just to top it all off, the sun came out at the end of it. And my iPod played only happy songs on the way home.

Word of the Day: Improve

Car-ed

At long, long last, I have obtained a vehicle.

Yes, this time around, I have really obtained it. It's sitting in my newly-cleared-out garage right now.

The Corolla (I really need to think of a more creative name for it. 'My car' doesn't really quite cut it either) accelerates like a beast. Or as beasty as a small car can get. It's has absolutely no problems accelerating.

And the colour. Oh man. I'd forgotten how good the colour was. During this past week, I'd been sort of regretting choosing this colour, even though I didn't have much choice. It was either black, or this, which is a no-brainer. Black cars get dirty and hot very quickly.

Turns out I'd remembered the colour wrong in my mind. I thought it was a lot darker. Turns out it's more of a light silvery blue, rather than the dark blue that I had remembered. It's so mad. So classy, yet so much more exciting than silver.

Bootspace is massive. Like, you could fit two of me in there probably.

And best of all, I can plug an iPod in there. Oh yes. My whole music collection. None of this CD shuffling.

I'm kind of scared of driving it now though. I have no idea why my parents bought a new car in the first place. Not that I'm complaining. But insurance is massive, until I'm 25. Which I thought was a bit extreme. I mean, I'm a late starter, but I would've been driving for five years by then. But, as my father says, they clearly don't value customers in our age bracket.

But the fact still remains that I haven't driven for about 10 months. So it'll be a while before I'm burning up a street near you.

Word of the Day: Corolla

Insecurity guard

Ah, I knew this double-clash-whammy thing would always test my masculinity, make me question my own fortitude, push me to the limit, and all that jazz. But my, how even the lead up revealed so much about me. My insecurities and flaws were exposed in the most brutal fashion possible, just like a Liverpool defence at set pieces. But I also learnt about my strengths. I hope they're my strengths. Because if not, I'm more screwed up than I think I am.

First weakness: Girls. Well, I wouldn't be a very straight male if this didn't apply. So like, I was talking to my good friend David Lee, and a female friend of pretty everyone I know, who I'm not going to name because of that very reason, looked like she wanted to talk to me. See, it's that awkwardness again. That's another one of my weaknesses. She keeps like, walking in front of me and looking at me when she thinks I'm not looking at her. Cos you know, she got ditched by her friend.

This also links onto my insecurity. I'm actually still a really shy person. It's gotten a lot better, but you know. Yeah.

Anyway, I had a feeling that maybe I should've talked to her. But then I thought, nah, that'd be weird. I mean, it is me after all.

Anyway, the second weakness links back to this.

As most of you, and half the world know by now, because I've been griping about it for a while, I had a clash today, so I had a double exam, and a prisoner during the break. During the break, after the torrid time that was the French exam, I started thinking about this girl who shall remain unnamed. Because, you know, I'm instantly attracted to people that actually show an inclination of wanting to actually talk to me. Which exposed my lack of concentration. So I listened to music. Which made it worse. A downward spiral of pain and anguish then. And they suspected my iPod of being an iPhone to boot.

Third insecurity. I get scared when people stare at me. Like those damn invigilators. I'm walking back from the toilet, they stare at me. Two of them waylay me at different times. I don't know what they suspected me of, but the second one was just damn rude. At least one of them was nice. She made me coffee. Kudos to her.

Now, on to some positive stuff. I must admire our brain's capacity to cram stuff in. I pretty much memorised the whole management course in the three hour break, and spat it back out during the exam. Right after cramming French in the morning. Double crammage. Hope my technique doesn't backfire.

I thought I'd also take this opportunity to remark upon how unfair the exams today were. Surely I'm at a disadvantage. Having one exam after the other is bad enough. But not being able to leave in the break?

Now that I have free time on my hands, here's the plan:
1. Clean room
2. Work this damned right leg harder and get it working again
3. Find a summer job
4. Put my other plan into action. Don't worry, I know what I'm talking about, even if you don't.
5. Make some stuff. Star jars and all that.
6. Somehow learn guitar without a guitar.
7. Get the clarinet going again.
8. Organise my music collection.
9. Catch up with some of my homies.
10. Buy some gifts and miscellaneous items.

That's about it for the moment.

Hope everyone did well in their exams, and gluck for anyone still to do some.

Ah. Relaxation.

Word of the Day: Insecurity

Dumbledore dies...again!

Yes. Once in the book, once in the movie. That's twice.

Yesterday on the train, on the way to see Harry Potter at Melbourne Central, I discovered how annoying a train trip without an iPod is. The reason that I didn't have my iPod on me was that I didn't really expect Banh to catch the train half an hour after mine. So yeah. There were these kids that were, for some inexplicable reason, imitating baby noises for the whole train trip. There was also this woman who kept shouting down the phone in Cantonese. It was just so annoying and...annoying.

After I got to Melbourne Central and escaped the White Noise Vortex, I met up with my homie G dawgs (what you commoners call 'friends'). The simplified version was that we went upstairs to watch Half-Blood Prince.

All in all, a good effort. Much better than the last few. It was more like a real movie, in my opinion, and not just some dodgy spin-off. The acting, which was very weak in the first few, was much, much better. The whole movie was much more mature and well-shot.

After that, Nando's awaited. Funny thing was, Steven and Kishara asked me to come to this gig, and I barely got the chance to speak to them. They left when we got to Nando's. I left my scarf at Nando's, which I intend to pick up on Sunday.

Anyway. Even though I didn't get to talk to Steven and Kish much, or Orrin for that matter, Banh and I had a good chat about important life matters, such as whether a cake tin for $47 is too expensive, and how many times I've been into a cooking shop with a guy, or any person apart from my mother, and whether Flight of the Conchords Season 2 is worth downloading. Just for the record, apparently it's not, owing to the fact that it sucks.

Word of the Day: Dumbledore