Life as a working parent

When you’re not worrying about work, you’re worrying about your kids, their health, education, upbringing…

But what do I know

I used to think that doing projects is about getting things done so that we cam deliver the system and close the project. This project is very much about accounting for delays.

Bluetooth push advert

At the bus stop opposite Ion, waiting for the bus to bring me home, I noticed an advertising billboard promoting a certain skin whitening product with a bluetooth icon at the top, with a message telling me to switch on my bluetooth to receive a special offer.

Out of curiosity, I switched on the bluetooth radio on my phone and within seconds received 2 messages from that billboard. A picture which I can show the cashier to get a free gift with my next purchase, and a video evangelising the benefits of the skin whitening product.

It is a busy bus stop, one of those selected to trial the new service that forecasts when the next bus would arrive. Thousands of passengers would have passed by this stop on the bus of on foot. When a bus stops at this stop to pick up passengers, if it had a few passengers who had their bluetooth switched on, would they be within range of the advertisement and find the messages pushed to them? They might not otherwise have noticed the advertisement at the bus stop if it had not found its way onto their phones. It’s an interesting way to increase the reach of the ad.

Now my bluetooth is usually switched off to conserve the battery life on my devices, but maybe I should start switching on my bluetooth for a few days to see if such push technologies are more widespread than I thought.

Gemmell on demonoid!

I’m amazed to find a torrent for what seems like the entire David Gemmell collection. Yes, demonoid.com is amazing. Long live demonoid.

I’ll be perfectly happy supporting those who create legendary intellectual property, such as this guy who is regarded by some as the best fantasy writer, or Rumiko Takahashi, who created the Maison Ikkoku series I’m still drooling over. But most of the earlier books by Gemmell are not in circulation locally. And it is always useful to keep a softcopy even after I get a hardcopy.

And now back to finishing Fall Of Kings from Sunny Bookstore.

Going through MI… again!

This is the 3rd time that I’m going through Maison Ikkoku, as well as the 4th time. My first time was when I was in uni, the second about a month back and I’ve started on the 3rd time with Sunshine. Today I bought the manga to start on the 4th round. Obsession? Sure looks like it.

During my 2nd round, I would stay up late at night watching the anime on my PDA, never mind that I had to work the next day. I would take the bus to work so that I had time to catch an extra episode. Some time during the 96 episodes I realised from reviews by other fans that certain scenes from the manga had been left out of the anime, which led me to uncover the online manga scans so I could see for myself. Other fans who were more obsessed (and more importantly, more talented) reviewed their favourite episodes and compiled their own performance of the various theme songs from the anime. I’m glad to know I’m not the only person who thinks this is one of the best romance stories ever.

Looking back at how I started on the first round, it was when Kyoko started playing tennis and Godai’s rival appeared to spice things up. That was when Godai started fighting back and started growing up and became more likeable. If I had started watching while he was a total loser in episode one, I doubt I would have continued watching this spineless, unmotivated and lecherous young man going crazy over a woman much better than he is. The proverbal toad lusting after swan flesh, and with no better chance of success. But he grows up with each challenge that he had to face, and I found myself wishing him success. And along the way, Kyoko’s attitude towards him changed from being merely courteous and cordial to being genuinely enjoying his company.

Sunshine is a fan of Hong Kong drama, and certain Korean dramas capture her attention quite well too. She had never been an anime fan, but this is one of the few anime that she enjoys watching. We have reached episode 40 now. If she can last this long, it must be pretty good.