Content is paramount.

Animotion
Vroom

losir logo

She sat, tears streaming down her face. She had always been one of her Granny's favorite. Maybe it was the perfect toes inherited from her, or that line at the left edge of her mouth whenever she smiled or frowned. Whatever it was, her Granny loved her best, and that was that.

She wrote a letter that even touched someone cold and stone hearted such as I. I'm not reprinting it as much as I'm paraphrasing. It goes:

Dear Granny,

I'm sorry that I could not keep my promise. I'm sorry that you cannot laugh with me as you once did. I'm sorry that I did not find a job quicker; my promise to treat you to Dim Sum once I got my first paycheck was never fulfilled.

Here is a little bit of money that I have earned in my first paycheck. See, I finally did it. I got a great job. I'm sorry you and I never got a chance to share this, but I'm still going to include it here so that you can be proud of me. I wish we had more time together and I could have listened more of your storied past; how you struggle to leave China, how hard the war was on you especially. All that is buried with you now, and I hope you're more happy in Heaven than when you were here.

Goodbye Granny, I hope to see you again someday. I love you.

....Mah Mah, I miss you lots too.





posted by losir at 2:10 AM

Here's an interesting article posted reported by Popular Mechanics in their April issue (2001.)

Drinkers Do better on IQ Tests
....Men and women who define themselves as being "moderate" alcohol drinkers scored an average of 3.3 and 2.2 points (respectively) higher than teetotalers on an IQ test....

As if that wasn't enough, 2 weeks ago, 680 News reported that a study performed on people born in the 1930s shows that people with higher IQ averages tend to live longer.

So, you put one and one together. Drinking raises IQ; high IQ lives longer. Need I say more??

I think they do live longer because they tend to do less stupid things. Take me for example. When I was about 4-5, I picked up a pair of scissors and stuck the tip in an electrical wall socket. It created a huge spark that actually blackened the tip of the scissors (the end bit was broken off too), and it left the wall socket smolder for a good 15 seconds. Now you tell me, would a smart person do that? Of course not. They know better to stick metal objects into wall sockets. Of course, my age may have been a factor, but smart kids don't look for ways to die. I just wanted to see what would happen. Smart I ain't. Curiosity kills the cat, afterall.

....If drinking raises IQ, I shoulda been a mathematician by now. Instead, I can only add my paycheck together, and trust me, it need only fingers and toe. Not even plural. *sigh*
posted by losir at 3:55 AM

So, I had Dim Sum with the boss yesterday, and his wife (who's also now working here), along with a few other friends/co-workers. Nothing special, somebody who worked here before came back from abroad, and thought it would be nice to touch base.

During the course of the meal, I jokingly mentioned that "Poor me. Having to sit outside of the manager's office, everyone feels sorry for me... yada yada." Everyone laughed, I winked mischievously, had some ha gwao (shirmp dumpling), and drank some bo lay tea.

=====
Today
=====

Boss: Hey, you're moving in two weeks to two isles down.

Me: oh? Really? It's not because of what I said yesterday right? RIGHT? You know I'm kidding....

Boss: You're moving because your team should sit together.

Boss' wife: No, you're moving because you're stinky.... we want you as far away as possible. I'd move you farther, if they'd let me. That's what happens when you make trouble.

har har.

....everyone's a comedian. Thank gawd he had enough humor (cruelty??) to hire me. *blink* *blink* posted by losir at 5:12 PM

I have found the perfect sleeping pill. It's called "Windows Assembly Language and Systems Programming". Oh joy. No more sleepless days near the computer. No more staring for hours on end at the monitor with fear of not getting any rest. One chapter from that book, you'll be snoring your way to a peaceful unproductive afternoon of slumber. Make sure you don't piss off your cube mate though....Now read with me as we both drift off into la-la land.

Actually I'm pretty comfortable. Since I'm using another one of my favorite book "Assembly Language Step-by-Step", as a pillow. Now all I need is a blanket made from source code printouts, and I could rent out my cubicle to any wayward traveller in dire need of rest.

My eyes are so heavy, I feel like I'm a power lifter in the Olympics going for gold. Forget jerk and lift, I need superglue to keep my eyelids up. Where's steroids for staying awake when I need it? And no, caffeine has no effect on me. Sucks, don't it?

....and you don't even want to hear about my first code review. Trust me. posted by losir at 7:57 PM

[To the tune of "The ants go marching..."]
I love my bike, I love my bike, hurrah, hurrah.
I love my bike, I love my bike, hurrah, hurrah.
I love to ride, I love to ride
If I could not I'd rather die
So out of my way, and move that cah-ah--ah. (car)

hehe. Yeah baby. I am so loving my little 929. Picked her up this morning from the shop. Oil change and 2 recalls later, I'm back on the road. Don't hate, play-ah! What what!

Oh man, I'm so tired from playing V-ball tonite, I think I'm just gonna leave it at that, and go home.

...latah. posted by losir at 9:09 PM

So this is what it's like working on the second floor.

Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. (This goes on for about half an hour). Then a smattering of foreign language. I've heard Mandarin, Russian, Polish, and sometimes, even English! Then Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. for a little while longer, then one big TAP! Dead silence. One minute later, I hear swearing, then CRASH as the fustrated worker throws his keyboard/mouse halfway across the cube. More swearing, more tapping. Repeat.

Pretty cool, and they said my last job was noisy.

....Now I know why then invented those little squeeze ball thingy's. It's for throwing at people to shut them up. posted by losir at 5:28 PM

He sat in his chair, slouched; a little bewildered, a little dumbfounded. "How did I get here? How did I let myself come to this?"

Staring at the once warm computer, its exposed innards now stood, stopped. Its harddrive, once spun happily, now sat silent - as grey as the case's inner walls. The power supply fan no longer hummed re-assuringly, it too laid dormant. The computer was lifeless, cold, neatly turned off.

The three 21-inch monitors that surrounded him also were blacked out. The only picture offered were the reflections of the man sitting in front of them, and his immediate surroundings. No longer were there inviting browser windows or excruciating documents haphazardly tiled across the desktop. Now they sat, as dark as he felt.

With a heavy sigh, the man pushed himself backwards and up, feeling as if the weight of every computer printout in the world had stacked between his weary and aching shoulders. The strain of the pressure was evident in each facial tick, every flicker of his eys showed anxiety, and a sense of grieving. A chapter of his life had now closed, and even his computer equipment echoed his sorrow.

It seems as if his electronic friends had deserted him. They did not want to be associated with this man. Their whole life had been given to him. Every neutron, every nuance of pixel have been spent for him alone. They toiled with him, without complaint when he suffered through another late night of overtime. They shined for him when he snuck in a game or two of Quake. They shared his hopes, his dreams, his internet shopping. They were even there to witness the continual creation and metamorphosis of blogs.

"You hurt us." accused the blackened monitors and silent hardware. "You said you would love us with the pivot of your mouse and tapping of your fingertips. Now you leave for mere pittance. Judas."

He looked up, no words in defence. He too felt as if he had sold them out, felt like the traitor that they had branded him. How could he leave them with so little thought? How could he pick up and leave all his comrades behind? For what, money?

Well, not just money, although there was that. He left because he needed a challenge, he needed a change, he needed a breath of fresh air. As much as he enjoyed his work, it was stifling his creativity. Pigeonholed into a position, he wanted to be free of misconceptions and misgivings. "Show me a man who's too content with his work, and I'll show you someone who no longer cares."

So he decided on a drastic plan, as the catchy sitcom theme song goes: "....Movin' on up, to the East side." Where the grass was greener, and the pasture more lush. It wasn't so much that he was leaving his past, but he felt it to be a birth of sorts. Reborned into what he should have been, if first he had realized what he could be. "I wonder," he thought, "Do butterflies regret no longer being catapillars?"

The occasion was not supposed to be a parting of friends in sorrow, but rather a heart felt gratitude and gladness for the three years that they had together. Both sides have learned a great deal about themselves and each other, and are the better for it. "Cherish that," he said to my electronic companions. "And it will keep you more warm than an overclocked motherboard with no heatsink or cooling."

They sat there, unmoving, unrelenting, still uncomprehending. The man sighed; a little fustrated, with a hint of pity. There was no more he could say. Nothing that could make their logical yet naive transistors understand. So instead of angered rebuttal, he gently patted each monitor and CPU in turn, wishing them a long and productive life. "May you be as stable in Win98 to the next user as you have me."

With that, he got up and left; flicking off the lights as he exited. Heart heavy and pounding. Yet, there was hint of springiness in his steps. There was a slight jut of a smile at the edges of his mouth. For he knew that come Monday, the challenges would pour on, but hard. He wasn't afraid, wasn't scared, just a little eager, like a yearling waiting for his first practice race in the stall.

So farewell mine old computers, ye have served me well. I will miss thee, as I would miss any other friend. Thou hast truely made a better man of me, and I pray thee to run as quick in future as ye would after a HDD defrag. Mine life has been infinitely enriched by thy unwavering loyality. Thankst.

....My new job will start Monday. I hope I don't get canned. posted by losir at 2:26 AM