Which jersey?

Dear bloggie,

Wonder which jersey looks better on me?



[Note: Jerseys designed using http://www.teamworkathletic.com]

After a long 1 1/2 month wait, finally get call for 2nd interview from iCIMB. However since I haven't received any formal black and white offer except verbal "Yes, I ticked recommend this candidate" from the hiring manager, I went for some other interviews just in case (and to spend some of my time at least doing something). Last week, I happen to go for an interview for a post in SWIFT. Think I perform okay in the technical test and slightly below average on the interview with the hiring manager (Never could do well in interviews with foreign hiring managers, *Sigh*). My headhunter told me feedback was positive but still need wait at least till mid of this week to know results. I was quite certain on my top choice since I rejected a lot of other offers while waiting for iCIMB but now a bit undecided on which offer to take if SWIFT does indeed offer.

So why iCIMB you ask? Well, the main reason is because I have yet to work in a banking environment yet. My buddy, Daniel also works in IT banking and I heard it can be quite okay work environment. And not to mention the godlike employee benefits (Annual Leave, Insurance, Dental, Optical, Bonus, EPF 16%) from banking sector. Technology wise, I understand they will be using Struts 1 + 2 (Struts 1 is a bit turn off). Workload I was told most projects are internal one, hence dateline won't be as rushed as front end banking systems. I also was kind of looking forward towards working in a mix environment (people, race, role) where I get to socialize with other people beside my nerd IT pack. Since iCIMB is a big organization, I also look forward towards company event like annual dinner, team building, etc which I DO value despite my introvert nature. The only thing I hate is the work location at Plaza Damansara which is not only far but I predict jam-prone (I'm from Bah Kut Teh Land aka Klang). My major concern is only how hectic workload can be considering most people told horror tales of working in IT Banking sector. Hopefully not too hectic so I can split work from life. Minor concern, no personal growth working here since Struts is rather old already.

Now why was my resolve (which saw me reject 8+ other offers) sway after attending the interview with SWIFT? Well for starters, SWIFT implements a more modern IT culture such as flexi hour, working from home and SCRUM. Can anyone blame me for drooling on the prospect I don't need to waste 2 hours of my life on the road everyday to commute to work? Also the technologies they are using seems to be more interesting, mainly Spring alone is already worth the mention. The team itself will be consist of 3 locals developers while the others are based on USA. With this element in the equation, we local developers will have the opportunity to go for an one shot 6 weeks "training" in the US to pickup the culture and knowledge of the US team members. Pretty cool I have to say but having said that, having 1/2 of the team in the US does brings up some concerns for this job. First of all, the 13 hour time difference between US and Malaysia (which is why the flexi hour practice in implemented in the first place). Expect very early morning or very late teleconferencing meetings. Second, implementation of SCRUM with this geographical and timezone difference would indeed pose some challenge. Lastly, I do have some concern on how well we locals can mingle with foreign work colleagues. As MFR said to me, will the foreigners look down on us like how we look down at foreign workers here?

Personally, I tend to favor working in the more dynamic work environment in SWIFT but feel iCIMB is the safer bet for a more balance in work life. So what will I choose? Frankly speaking, I'm still undecided at the moment...

Let it be

Dear bloggie,

"Music is the only thing that makes sense anymore, play it loud enough it'll keep the demon at bay" - Across the Universe

 

Wolf Children

Dear bloggie,

Just watched the hyped "Wolf Children"...

My feedback? Well worth the hyped indeed... While still not at the level of "Spirited Away", I rated it as a better movie compared to "Summer Wars". Compared to animated movie released in 2013, 2nd best only to "Frozen", easily beats other movies like "Despicable Me", "Monster University", "The Croods", "Epic" (Which wasn't really epic) and "Stinks 2 Smurf 2".

The premise of the movie resolves around Hana, whom get conned by falls for a Wolfman, and their union gave birth to 2 half breeds human + wolf. The wolfman dies while trying to hunt for his family, hence Hana is faced with the mammoth task of not only being a single mother but to raise 2 half breeds without exposing their wolfish side to the society.The hardship as well as beauty of a loving mother raising her 2 child/cubs is at the whole core of this movie.

So conclusion, gals don't fall for the "handsome mysterious" wolves, cause u might just end up being a single mother like Hana. Jokes aside, go watch this great movie... Won't make it to our Malaysian shore, but they are already fan subs + a dubbed version online, go find it!

Thor

Dear bloggie,

I receive tis interview invitation via email and found it rather amusing...

Esok I will tanya "Mana tukul kilat ku?"

Bye bye facebook

Dear bloggie,

I still remember back in 2008 when I first open my facebook account. "WTF is facebook?" I asked MFR. MFR who was more hip compared to me back then explained to me it's another social network ciplak of Friendster. I wasn't really a fan of social networking since I wasn't really a fan of any form  of networking to begin with. However, I was back then involved in a work related project that required me to have a facebook account so I write a facebook message spammer application for that project (IBM Websphere Portal project, Sith Spit! The memories of using that technology alone is enuff to make me shiver).

5 year fast forward, facebook has become tightly coupled into my life. From simple tasks of getting the latest fads, news, rumors, keeping updated with the latest happening of my friends, classmates, contacts... And not to forget the greatest stalking tool in the internet at the moment (Their security policies, search function, graph search is f*ckin fucked up)...

Anyway, yesterday at around 12.30am I decided to deactivated my facebook account. While I always have been trying to slowly ween out facebooking from my daily routine, I often find myself automatically typing in "facebook.com" into my browser's address url whenever I open my browser. A muscle memory thingy that sorta showcase my addiction to facebook...

The tipping factor that make me take this drastic action however was from the movie "Secret Life of Mitty Walter"... There was a scene at the beginning where Walter wanted to send a "Wink" (eHarmony dating website) to a gal he was interested in. Before he could press the keyboard button to confirm the send wink action, he was in a internal struggle to take the leap of faith. That moment, while some people in the cinema was laughing that scene actually reminded me of myself... Yes, I been there and done that before. At that moment, something inside me just told me "Once I come back home, I'm gonna close my facebook account".

To be honest, I think my facebook account never had any interesting post or exciting photo that worthy of 1,000,000+ 10+ likes compared to other peoples... And why should it? Should I be compel to post a selfie of myself conquering say for instance Mount Everest (No, never conquer any mountain nor woman before)? Now that I think about it, shouldn't I be more focus in enjoying the moment at the top of Mount Everest than thinking "Gotta get a nice selfie of myself at a nice angle at the peak so I can post at facebook"?

While it's great to have a stream of information at the tip of your fingers in facebook, but sometimes it just annoy me how retarded + shitty some post are, ranging for stupid senseless rants, political rants, stress releasing rants, lame@$$ so called funny pictures, etc (I admit I'm guilty of this as well, since this blog itself is my emotional b*tcin pillow, but atleast no one is forced to read it noes?)...

My biggest problem with facebook however lies at how it make me feel when I use it. Seeing most people posting "happy" photos, comments, etc makes me feel more f*ckin depressed then I already am. As if I'm a epic failure in my life or I don't have the "happiness" gene in me... I just f*ckin hate this feeling. I know well enuff "The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows." but these portrayals of their life is as if "...and they rode into the sunset and lived happily ever after...". Envy is a very accurate way to express my emotion when I see other people facebook profile...

People get marry and have child, congrats... but why do I need follow this norm?
People appears as bigshot in newspapers, poster, seminars... Clap, clap, clap... but why do I need to feel compel to compete against their success?
People buy big house, big car... rich f*ck! but why do I need to slave like a slave so I can "afford" these things to obtain "social status"?
People go holiday at Euro, Japan, etc... Wow! but why holiday there when I always valued the real local colors over dyed tourist attraction thing?

Maybe it's just me, but I don't need these shit... Never needed em, until I felt I need them thanks to facebook. Looking at the positive side of things, by closing my facebook I now got more time to dedicate to this shitty blog and not to mention maybe trying something real in my life....

I'm closing my facebook account so I can detached myself from the society views on how they live their life and think for myself how I want and ought to live my life.

Life is a merry-go-round, ups and downs, ying and yang, real and fake, happy and sad, success and failure, good and bad... It's the journey not the destination that matters... This marks the end of my journey in facebook... For all the sadness you brought to me, there's an equal amount of joy you brought to me, and for that I thank you and ending this blog entry with the same way I started this blog entry with

"Bye bye facebook"