the last lecture
February 28, 2008While channel-surfing the other night, i came across this guy on Oprah who was giving a talk/lecture of sorts. i just caught the last several minutes of it; but luckily, it’s on youtube to be viewed in its entirety:
The speaker was Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and the lecture that he was giving was a reprise of a much longer lecture called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", which he delivered in front of an audience of 400 in CMU. It was a part of a series of lectures called "The Last Lecture". The premise is: What if you knew you were going to die? What wisdom are you going to impart to your students/audience in the last lecture you are going to give? For Randy Pausch though, it was not a hypothetical situation because in August of 2007 he was told that the pancreatic cancer, which he was diagnosed with the previous year, had metastasized to his liver and spleen. He was given 3 to 6 months to live.
As it plays out, the talk is like an extended version of something like The Desiderata… or Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)… or Everything I Needed To Know, I Learned In Kindergarten. It’s a nice and inspirational talk, and you can’t help but just respect and be amazed at this guy. But the thing that gets to me the most is that last part of the video above. He says "It’s great that so many people have benefitted from this lecture, but the truth of the matter is that I didn’t even really give it to the 400 or so people at the Carnegie Mellon who came. I only wrote this lecture for three people…" he then proceeds to switch his presentation to the last slide, which shows a photo of him carrying his three little sons, and as his eyes start to well up, he finishes his talk "…and when they’re older, they’ll watch it. Thank you."
As of today, around six months from the time he was told that he had3 to 6 months to live, Randy Pausch is still alive and in good condition. I’ve done a good amount of browsing about him and found that the entire lecture he gave at CMU is actually also available for viewing on youtube, the transcript of the lecture is also available on the net, and he has an entry in wikipeida.
Amazing guy, imho.
so i got me a new lens…
February 26, 2008… and here are some photos from it:
This is Mayer’s Photo Store in Quiapo where I ordered and purchased my Sigma 10-20mm F4.0-5.6 EX DC HSM. I immediately fell in love with its 102.4 degree field-of-view, and I’ll have this almost always at 10mm ^_^
Our humble little home. Ang sarap gamitin nito to photograph interiors. just find a cozy corner and snap a shot. Voila!
I took this for the weekly theme on pentaxforums, which is "Vanishing Point". Sakto nga eh, it’s so easy to take a vanishing point photo using the lens. ^_^
Vanishing point din? This is LaSalle (street) cor. Aurora Blvd. Took this on the way to work on a Sunday (flashes "L"-sign on forehead).
Yeah, alam ko bawal magshoot ng photos sa MRT station, but hey I got away with this. Hehe.
Inside the MRT. Damn you person in the black jacket who’s occupying a third of the frame. Ganda sana nung kuha… Bawal pa din ba tong pagpi-picture sa loob ng tren? ^_^
Dela Rosa walkway on a sunday. Not a soul in sight (flashes "L"-sign on forehead again). I was supposed to submit this as the vaniship point entry instead, kaso nakapagsubmit na ako and I didn’t think the bus photo was half-bad. This one still look pretty nice for a VP photo eh?
My second home. Hahahaha. No really, this is my work area sa office. There’s my chair with the green jacket… by black and white striped pillow… my coffee mug with the stress ball inside… and then there are the workdesks of five other officemates who share the area.
Anyway… more about the lens:
I didn’t exactly buy it outright. The plan was to wait for the bonuses and then consider buying the lens. (some plan that was) Sometime last week though, my mom presents this idea to me where she sponsors my purchase of the lens and they I just pay her in installments. So it got me thinking:
PROS: i get the lens now… the payment scheme is more convenient…
CONS: what cons?
In hindsight though, medyo na-excite ako at impulsive yung pagkakabili ko ng lens. Good thing it turned out to be a fine purchase though and I can’t wait to use it on landscapes! Apparently, I got a good copy too. Sharp daw. But I still love my original lens and I’ll still be using it more than this new one. ^_^
Oh, and while trying out the lens, sabi ko kay Mau: "I-limit ko kaya ang sarili ko to one lens a year?"
She just laughed. =p
i am 11:59am
February 24, 2008saw this meme on cami’s blog.
interesting. so me. except for the no worries and no priorities part. although i do wish i had no worries. i actually started to highlight in bold the parts that i found to apply to me and i ended up bolding almost the entire thing.
"i am late-sleey relaxation… i am that cozy spot under the covers…" i love it.
although… like i said… if only if i had no worries.
You are late-sleepy relaxation, the half-awake moment when you realize it’s morning, but you don’t have to get up, because there’s no place you have to be.You are that cozy spot under the covers where everything feels temporarily perfect, even if you know you’ll eventually have to wiggle out and start the day. Maybe you’re the artistic type, who doesn’t function well on a normal schedule. Sleep’s important to you, and you like the freedom of sleeping as late as you want (especially since that is closely related to the freedom to stay up as late as you want). You like to roll out of bed, put on some comfy clothes, and get a laid back start to the day. If not everything on your list gets accomplished, no worries. Your only priority is having no priorities. You just want to take things at a slow, mellow pace.
lost in translation
February 22, 2008i really should learn to keep my mouth shut much much more. keep my mouth in in check… my fingers (for chatting and texting and blogging) in check… all-in-all, to just say much much less than what i am doing right now.
(aha, but isn’t this blog entry in itself a contradiction of that first sentence? heh. i really am a walking contradiction.) anyway…
make a mistake once; then fine, you get knocked down and learn from it. make the same mistake again, then you start to question what the fuck went wrong nanaman?? make the same mistake thrice… my god… is there something wrong with me??
as far as i’m concerned, i just have this uncanny ability for being misunderstood. don’t get me wrong, this is not the same "misunderstood" like you’re mad against the world because people just don’t get you. this is literally being misunderstood. you say one thing, then somewhere in-between your lips and the other person’s ears, the meaning gets turned and twisted around until the next thing you know, you’re getting berated for saying something wrong. you text something, then somewhere along the airwaves, he meaning gets turned and twisted around until the next thing you know, you’re getting berated for saying something wrong.
although i understand that it basically comes down to a matter of perception, which is why i have no problem with apologizing for accidentally hurting the feelings of another person. if i say something and the other person is somehow offended by it (even without me meaning to), i think it would be best to apologize. parang naglalaro ka ng basketball sa kalye, then you take a shot, the ball takes a weird bounce off the rim and errantly hits a bystander in the head… diba dapat lang humingi ka ng tawad kahit di mo sinasadya? however, taking that analogy further, there’s nothing wrong with you throwing the ball into the air to take the shot, so why apologize for shooting the ball?
in the same way, in those scenarios, i also don’t see anything wrong in saying what i said and meaning what i meant because i meant no harm. somehow i just get misunderstood.
it’s a conflicting feeling… being misunderstood in that way…
a part of you is sorry that you hurt someone else, especially if that someone is someone special.
a part of you is also hurt because it casts a reflection of your personality that holds no truth.
a part of you is angry and frustrated: first at yourself for not communicating efficiently, then secondly at the other person for not being able to see that you meant no harm.
ultimately, it’s just a sad situation for a rift to be created just because something was lost in translation.
situations like this are just so draining. a certain line from a radiohead song immediately comes to mind. on the song "fake plastic trees", there’s a part where thom sings "…it wears me out…" over and over again and you could really feel the weakness and frustration in his voice. the song itself has nothing to do with anything, but just that part… wow… i can releate.
fickle minded
February 20, 2008pfft. i’ve written, published and deleted several blog entries over the past several days.
labo.
