Reflection: Dawned

Breaking Dawn Cover

Its been a long time since I read any novels and for some reason, I was drawn to the twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I have Just finished with the 4th and last book of the series, Breaking Dawn (768 pages.. story didn’t feel long enough though…) which was released on August 2nd, 2008.

I liked the way the story has been presented in different perspective. There are three parts to this finale, with 2 of them written in Bella’s perspective while the remaining part written in Jacob’s perspective. it sorta reminded me of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, who had written his book in such a way that first part focuses exclusively on Mariam, the second and fourth parts focus on Laila, and the third part switches focus between Mariam and Laila with each chapter.

I actually feel sad that this series has ended… Unlike the Harry Potter books, which was a huge relief at that time…. Probably this was due to the fact that, I can identify with the characters of Edward and Jacob in this twilight series, especially the decision Edward made in Book 2, “The New Moon”.

This may be random, but I had suddenly thought of this question as I was reading the book..:

你会为了一棵树而放弃一片森林吗？还是会放弃那棵树来探索那片森林？
(Translation: Would you be willing to give up a forest for a tree, or would you give up the tree to explore the forest?)

(I posted this question on my blog before.. It can be found at http://fusedthought.wordpress.com/2008/03/17/decisions/)

At that time I posted…

Its a question that only we can answer for ourselves… and I don’t think I have an answer to that yet.

I couldn’t really answer that question at that time.. However, I guess I can answer it now.
Stupid as it may seem, when the time comes for it:

我会愿意为了一棵树而放弃一片森林
(Translation: I would you be willing to give up a forest for a tree)

…but I know it will be worth it.

Decisions

When you come to the crossroads, many things occupy your mind. Outside appearances may not change, but inside appearances would have evolved.

I heard this question over the radio…

你会为了一棵树而放弃一片森林吗？还是会放弃那棵树来探索那片森林？
(Translation: Would you be willing to give up a forest for a tree, or would you give up the tree to explore the forest?)

Its a question that only we can answer for ourselves… and I don’t think I have an answer to that yet.

Lost as I am, I know that:

Opportunities come and go. However, it is our decisions that lasts a lifetime.

And it is because of this mindset that makes a decision hard to arrive at.
All I can do now is to pick a choice that seem right now, smile =) and hope that it will still look/feel/be right in the future.

A Year on Wheels

Its been a roller-coaster year. The end of school, the major exams and the crossroads I mentioned in the post/article before this.

With the start of the new year, I have also received a new web design project. Pressed for time now, I’ve got to finish it before I start on fulfilling my national service.

Taking the focus off myself, 2007 saw milestones in the entire technology front.

Global:
The web is now progressing quite a bit with more and more focus on semantics and content. However, there are still fractions where biasness exists. One example, the “too cool for IE” campaign is still in existence. Web Standards should be promoted, but not in a way which will alienate most of the web’s users. It is undeniable that many people would still be using IE6 and its less than perfect rendering engine causes headaches for developers. However, we shouldn’t sacrifice general accessibility to fuel this biasness.

The DVD format war between two formats: HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVD is also heating up. This is marked by the recent hacking attempt on the official Blu-ray website, which resulted in people being redirected to a rival HD DVD site upon visiting the Blu-ray website. Luckily the hack was discovered an hour after (according to the newspapers) .

Focusing on Companies:
Microsoft Vista is about more or less than a year old and it has yet proven itself to be best operating system. All this time, other non-conventional Operating system has not lost momentum. In fact I think Microsoft does recognize the fact that the use of Windows XP is much more widespread and popular.

At browser front, it proves to be a more exciting time ahead as Microsoft announced on the IEblog that IE8 now passes the Acid2 Browser Test. I have covered this in a previous article: “IE8 Standards Compliant?“.

Apple also had a successful launched of the iPhone and it is one of the most sought after gift for christmas even in my home country. Apple is also starting to target the Windows Platform, with the ongoing beta testing of their Safari Browser on the Windows Platform.

Home Country
In Singapore, the National Broadband network completion date seems to have been delayed from 2012 to 2015. However, tenders for it are finally open and would really look forward to it. Even before that comes, the current broadband war is also heating up between the two major internet service providers. 2007 saw the companies dangling juicy gifts like iPod Touch, iPod Nanos, HD Television Sets and Computers to woo customers to their stable. The current target is now the 25 per cent of home users who are not yet on the broadband bandwagon.

2006 has seen the IT industry hit revenues of $45.4 billion. Forecasts are for it to have double digit growth the coming year.

With such a extensive 2007 report card (many of which are not mentioned above), it is with interest and expectations that I enter this new year.

p.s. For those who did not see this on my previous blog, sometimes its quite a novelty how people think of ways to earn an extra bucks. Here’s a fake thumdrive:

Cheers….
…. so this marks the first day of 2008.