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Last day at ZDNet

   
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And in a blink of three years, I had come to my last day at ZDNet Asia. Most of it passed in a haze, the prospect of clearing my desk lingering in the backdrop of my regular work routine. 

"This will be the last story I'm writing at ZD, but it feels less momentous than i expected," I tweeted.

And when it came time to hoist up my bulging bag and leave, I expected a quick and clean goodbye, but instead was greeted with a card, a box of gifts and tears at the door (which really turned on the waterworks for me as well).

My season parking ran out that day, so I had plans to take the MRT home. But at the last moment, I decided to take the bus instead—something I hadn't done in years.

Sitting on that bus on the way home, everything started sinking in. I'm not sure if it's the different mode of transport, but everything suddenly felt foreign. I was about to walk right into change, that old friend I'd tried so hard to avoid. Did I make the right choice? Why was I feeling all beat up about leaving?

Oddly, the only thought that started to distract me from all that was the realisation that after three years of getting used to U.S. spelling, I would have to go back to U.K. style. (Just as well—this blog is kept strictly to the latter, anyway.)

More importantly for now, I have a couple of weeks' break. So here's the plan:
  • Stop biting my nails. Since I only do that when I think, this will be a period of zero thinking. That ought to fix it. 
  • Finish Red Dead Redemption and relive the days of 10 hour gaming binges.
  • Complete one book.
  • Finish a song composition.
  • Complete the rest of a song arrangement that's been sitting dolefully on my desktop.

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Filed under  //  bull   office  
Comments (3)
Posted 27 days ago

How to keep someone with you forever

Intermittent gratification is the most addictive kind there is. If you know the lever will always produce a pellet, you'll push it only as often as you need a pellet. If you know it never produces a pellet, you'll stop pushing.

 

But if the lever sometimes produces a pellet and sometimes doesn't, you'll keep pushing forever, even if you have more than enough pellets (because what if there's a dry run and you have no pellets at all?). It's the motivation behind gambling, collectible cards, most video games, the Internet itself, and relationships with crazy people.

This great write-up on lousy relationships and workplaces really struck a chord with me, especially in regard to relationships with crazy people.

I've tried explaining the process or concept of such to people who have had the rare fortune of never dating anybody crazy. Even people who are in current crazy relationships won't be able to grasp the concept if you explained it to them, because they are suspended in a state of on-the-verge-of-happiness-ness.

So I probably wouldn't have been able to understand this write-up a couple of years ago either. Right now, however, it's crystal clear how a cycle of exhaustion, emotional-involvement and occasional rewards works so well to bind you to an unhealthy relationship.

And seeing how two very different people, in succession, were able to carry out their unique brands of this cycle only makes it more powerful, because it's hard to recognise the pattern when it can put on different cloaks of disguises at each turn.

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Posted 1 month ago

Twenty-six

I didn't realise how much older 26 would feel till filling in some forms recently, I had to check the next age bracket.

Thinking back on the last year, I can't say I've learned many life-altering, earth-shattering truths. But to distill what's stayed with me:

  • Don't be with someone just because you think their occupation is cool. (Yes. Not everybody needs to learn this the hard way.)
  • People don't change except for going through hellfire and back—and do you really want to go through that with them too?
  • Comm—wait for it...unicate.
  • "If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow." (I'm still trying to internalise this one, but going by demonstration, it's a worthwhile one to aim for. Also, the Internet says this is a Chinese proverb. Can anyone verify this?)
  • Nobody will be in the office when you are early.
  • Everybody will be when you are late.

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Posted 9 months ago