Life - What a notebook could teach you.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
wondering what brought me back to blogging? do read on if you want to know why a smile is not going to return to my face for a while.
the song above is 雨爱 by rainie yang in her latest album. it is unique cos I typically like faster songs and this is one of the few times I like a slow song so much. you might want to play this while reading this long, long post.
the melancholic and rainy feel of the entire song is totally rubbing off on me in my current state.
if you hate to know more background about the issue and just want to know the "lessons" from my notebook, you can skip to the fourth section.
==
my mood is at one of the lowest points in quite a long time, my heavy heart dragging the body along on this ride that I didnt sign up for. whizzing through this ride that is marked by more downs than ups, the influence of my mood pushed the brain to reflect on my recent life.
just early this week, I was in a point much higher than I am now. the first of two BCOMM table topics assessment (preparing a 3 minutes speech with only 3 minutes preparation time) was over, both IEF and SOM reports were safely in the hands of the respective tutors, and PMKT is an obstacle that will unleash its true form only a week plus later.
I bought tickets to the Y.E.S. 93.3 anniversary show, had plans to idle my long thursday away and to go on my regular day tours into Johor Bahru with Melissa on friday.
well, they did materialise eventually, just that I went through the motion in a different mood and frame of mind.
==
when I reached home on thursday, my notebook failed for the seventh time. for the record, the first time its the screen, second and third times the hard disk, fourth the latch, fifth the power adaptor, sixth the motherboard (which caused the screen to go fuzzy and unusable no less).
I am pretty much indifferent to having the notebook fail on me by now. whatever promises then about paying premium prices ($2264 to be exact) for Fujitsu's quality had flown right out of the window when my hard disk failed twice in a row a day before my CATS final project deadline. I was the only holder of the compiled data and video then and we had to plead for a deadline extension.
that happened one month plus after they replaced my hard disk for the first time. my life was in a total mess as I was left without a notebook for a whole week and had to take notes by hand.
any other failures since then became a part of me. I told myself that if I had more money, I would get a new notebook and hit the current one with a hammer, stamp it under my feet, throw it against the wall a few times and set it on fire. I am not exaggerating, especially under my circumstances now.
==
the hard disk has failed for the third time.
the notebook has been pretty well behaved since the motherboard replacement, and I thought it has finally learnt its lesson after changing a major component of the notebook.
wrong.
but because of my own complacency, I hadn't been making backups as regularly as year 1, when failures were as common as having thunderstorms in singapore.
I just sent my notebook to a reputable data recovery company. they are still evaluating it even though it is supposed to take only 6 hours or so.
charges will begin from S$500 to as high as S$3000.
in order to make time to fulfill my promise to mel, we took a cab down to Changi (don't bother asking how much that cost) to send the cursed notebook in, and took the Changi Business Park shuttle bus and transferred to 168 to reach the customs at 3.
because the evaluation is taking so long, I am prepared for the worst. the very same heart that brought my mood to a crashing low alternated between worrying about whether the data can be gotten back (since there is no guanratee when it is a physical damage) and the cost of getting it back if it is possible.
after recovery (if possible), I will need to send my notebook in to Fujitsu and demand an explanation for all my loss of productivity. they better have some fucking great reason for this phenomena.
I probably won't be able to get my notebook back running till late next week at the very earliest. so I will be falling back on pen and paper again?
it is three weeks plus from final exams and some lecturers are beginning revisions. how do I note what to focus on when I don't even have my notes of this semester?
the original IEF notes probably had only 5% of the actual lecture material which I had noted down but since gone. how do I prepare for (probably) the most difficult business module in NP?
marketing project is due next next week. how do I work without a notebook?
==
my notebook has dealt quite a huge blow to me since I value my notes a lot, which is made worse by the urgency of this ending semester.
I daresay I am in a state of daze since thursday. I havent gotten much proper sleep from worrying about the damage evaluation that just doesnt come and its cost.
I think something inside me changed. this isn't exactly the most appropriate life-changing event, but it set me thinking about giving and receiving.
if recovery costs prove to be too exorbitant or if its impossible to recover the data, I would have to seek my friends' assistance in lending me your notes.
I believe I had been trying my best to offer what I could during lectures and tutorials to all of you sa well. I may appear impatient at times to do so, but I nearly always deliver in the end.
I wonder what kind of crisis I am going to be in right now if I had chosen to succumb to my selfish side and not help others when they need it. I may not have been the most helpful person, but I do try my best.
also, never just listen to what the majority agree upon. most Fujitsu users have zero failures, some once or twice, mine has failed me as wonderfully as the seven colours of the rainbow.
I use my notebook less often than my friends. I dont use it at home since I have a desktop. it is practically idle during the long vacations unless I have work to do. I nearly don't play games on it. it is protected by antivirus and constantly patched against new vulnerabilities. I housekeep and reinstall Windows before a new semester and I wipe it physically at least once every two days.
compared to most others, I think my notebook had a good life. the only thing might be that I bring it to school daily while others may do so only once or twice a week, but that is what half of the tertiary students do as well!
I can say with confidence that I know enough about technology to make sure my computers are well maintained. so why is this happening?
is this karma from my past life? or just plain luck? I don't know.
the thoughts about karma and getting back what you had gave has taught me to be more kind. a few personal friends who talked to me yesterday and today may have noticed that my advice is slightly different now.
in life, what goes around comes around. if I harbour selfish thoughts, it is only natural for others to do the same unto me. likewise, being more understanding does not mean I have everything to lose. that is the most important lesson I am taking away from this incident.
finally, I hope to seek your understanding if I dont appear especially upbeat over next week. it isnt easy paying at least half a grand to recover data when your family only makes enough to get by life without starving. to everyone who managed to read till here, I sincerely thank you for sharing my sorrow and do back up before its too late.
the song above is 雨爱 by rainie yang in her latest album. it is unique cos I typically like faster songs and this is one of the few times I like a slow song so much. you might want to play this while reading this long, long post.
the melancholic and rainy feel of the entire song is totally rubbing off on me in my current state.
if you hate to know more background about the issue and just want to know the "lessons" from my notebook, you can skip to the fourth section.
==
my mood is at one of the lowest points in quite a long time, my heavy heart dragging the body along on this ride that I didnt sign up for. whizzing through this ride that is marked by more downs than ups, the influence of my mood pushed the brain to reflect on my recent life.
just early this week, I was in a point much higher than I am now. the first of two BCOMM table topics assessment (preparing a 3 minutes speech with only 3 minutes preparation time) was over, both IEF and SOM reports were safely in the hands of the respective tutors, and PMKT is an obstacle that will unleash its true form only a week plus later.
I bought tickets to the Y.E.S. 93.3 anniversary show, had plans to idle my long thursday away and to go on my regular day tours into Johor Bahru with Melissa on friday.
well, they did materialise eventually, just that I went through the motion in a different mood and frame of mind.
==
when I reached home on thursday, my notebook failed for the seventh time. for the record, the first time its the screen, second and third times the hard disk, fourth the latch, fifth the power adaptor, sixth the motherboard (which caused the screen to go fuzzy and unusable no less).
I am pretty much indifferent to having the notebook fail on me by now. whatever promises then about paying premium prices ($2264 to be exact) for Fujitsu's quality had flown right out of the window when my hard disk failed twice in a row a day before my CATS final project deadline. I was the only holder of the compiled data and video then and we had to plead for a deadline extension.
that happened one month plus after they replaced my hard disk for the first time. my life was in a total mess as I was left without a notebook for a whole week and had to take notes by hand.
any other failures since then became a part of me. I told myself that if I had more money, I would get a new notebook and hit the current one with a hammer, stamp it under my feet, throw it against the wall a few times and set it on fire. I am not exaggerating, especially under my circumstances now.
==
the hard disk has failed for the third time.
the notebook has been pretty well behaved since the motherboard replacement, and I thought it has finally learnt its lesson after changing a major component of the notebook.
wrong.
but because of my own complacency, I hadn't been making backups as regularly as year 1, when failures were as common as having thunderstorms in singapore.
I just sent my notebook to a reputable data recovery company. they are still evaluating it even though it is supposed to take only 6 hours or so.
charges will begin from S$500 to as high as S$3000.
in order to make time to fulfill my promise to mel, we took a cab down to Changi (don't bother asking how much that cost) to send the cursed notebook in, and took the Changi Business Park shuttle bus and transferred to 168 to reach the customs at 3.
because the evaluation is taking so long, I am prepared for the worst. the very same heart that brought my mood to a crashing low alternated between worrying about whether the data can be gotten back (since there is no guanratee when it is a physical damage) and the cost of getting it back if it is possible.
after recovery (if possible), I will need to send my notebook in to Fujitsu and demand an explanation for all my loss of productivity. they better have some fucking great reason for this phenomena.
I probably won't be able to get my notebook back running till late next week at the very earliest. so I will be falling back on pen and paper again?
it is three weeks plus from final exams and some lecturers are beginning revisions. how do I note what to focus on when I don't even have my notes of this semester?
the original IEF notes probably had only 5% of the actual lecture material which I had noted down but since gone. how do I prepare for (probably) the most difficult business module in NP?
marketing project is due next next week. how do I work without a notebook?
==
my notebook has dealt quite a huge blow to me since I value my notes a lot, which is made worse by the urgency of this ending semester.
I daresay I am in a state of daze since thursday. I havent gotten much proper sleep from worrying about the damage evaluation that just doesnt come and its cost.
I think something inside me changed. this isn't exactly the most appropriate life-changing event, but it set me thinking about giving and receiving.
if recovery costs prove to be too exorbitant or if its impossible to recover the data, I would have to seek my friends' assistance in lending me your notes.
I believe I had been trying my best to offer what I could during lectures and tutorials to all of you sa well. I may appear impatient at times to do so, but I nearly always deliver in the end.
I wonder what kind of crisis I am going to be in right now if I had chosen to succumb to my selfish side and not help others when they need it. I may not have been the most helpful person, but I do try my best.
also, never just listen to what the majority agree upon. most Fujitsu users have zero failures, some once or twice, mine has failed me as wonderfully as the seven colours of the rainbow.
I use my notebook less often than my friends. I dont use it at home since I have a desktop. it is practically idle during the long vacations unless I have work to do. I nearly don't play games on it. it is protected by antivirus and constantly patched against new vulnerabilities. I housekeep and reinstall Windows before a new semester and I wipe it physically at least once every two days.
compared to most others, I think my notebook had a good life. the only thing might be that I bring it to school daily while others may do so only once or twice a week, but that is what half of the tertiary students do as well!
I can say with confidence that I know enough about technology to make sure my computers are well maintained. so why is this happening?
is this karma from my past life? or just plain luck? I don't know.
the thoughts about karma and getting back what you had gave has taught me to be more kind. a few personal friends who talked to me yesterday and today may have noticed that my advice is slightly different now.
in life, what goes around comes around. if I harbour selfish thoughts, it is only natural for others to do the same unto me. likewise, being more understanding does not mean I have everything to lose. that is the most important lesson I am taking away from this incident.
finally, I hope to seek your understanding if I dont appear especially upbeat over next week. it isnt easy paying at least half a grand to recover data when your family only makes enough to get by life without starving. to everyone who managed to read till here, I sincerely thank you for sharing my sorrow and do back up before its too late.
