December 13, 2025
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Videos to share October 25, 2011
Today's entry is supposed to be a long speech. However, I gave up. Eventually I've just chosen three videos to share. The first one is from Apple's event to celebrate Steve's life, in which Jony Ive spoke touchingly of Steve.
The second one is also from the same event. When preparing for the "Think Different" campaign right after he came back to Apple, Steve tried to record the script himself. The ad eventually adopted someone else's voice, because Steve thought the ad should be dedicated to all Apple employees, to cheer up their morale, rather than implying himself as a genius. But now that Steve's dead, hearing him saying those words is kind of ironic. It's like as if Steve already knew he would die early. And as we listen to Steve saying those words on his own, we have a sensation that Steve is a true genius. He'll be missed.
The third one is from Faye's concert, again. 彼岸花, a really nice song. I think in terms of the music taste it's even higher than that of 償還 or 約定, which I already love very much.
The strange world October 23, 2011
Kevin, do you believe in God? Yes, I do. Because many times, the world works in a bizarre way that no one is able to comprehend. From disappointments and sufferings to excitements and triumphs we see every day, most of them are not within our comprehension. God sometimes gives you a series of sufferings, and when you're left with no options and is finally ready to compromise, new options surface. However, one may not really be ready to accept that new option, because those new options may turn into new sufferings, which may be of an even greater magnitude.
It's always understood that the greater risk you take, the greater chance you'll receive happiness. If we don't go further, we may not get hurt, but we won't get happiness either. So which way should we choose?
One more thing. Our popularity index at this moment is 79070. What does that mean? Well, since we now have over 1000 visits every month, in less than a month we'll see the 80000th visit. Thanks!
A problem of timing October 9, 2011
Timing is important for everything: cooking, executing projects, love, you name it. When timing is wrong, things can go badly wrong. I've become a victim of wrong timing of late. But let's not talk about my deplorable situation. Because something of an even more lasting impact occurred this week -- the passing away of Steve Jobs.
Steve died last Wednesday, Oct 5. So it's a bit late to talk about his death. And all of us are overwhelmed by opinions in the papers and on the web. All people are taking this opportunity to say something about the "greatness" of Steve, making themselves heard; few are truly expressing their condolences. So I'm not going to talk about how great Steve is -- we all know that. I'm going to talk about how Steve has affected me as a person, and how I see things.
What has hit me the most is how early Steve died. At the age of 56, he died of cancer. This is what all of us feel really sorry about. Ignoring the Mac in the 80s, in just 10 years, from 2001 to 2011, he shook the world three times, with the iPod in 2001, iPhone in 2007, and iPad in 2010. We all wonder, had Steve had 20 more years of life, how would the world be shaped by this genius?
Yes, geniuses' lives are composed of imperfections. Thomas Edison and Beethoven were deaf; Copernicus met great opposition when he proposed that the Sun, not the Earth, was the centre of the universe; Mozart died at the age of 35; Stephen Hawking is disabled… Despite their setbacks, these geniuses' minds were free. Nothing could deter them from seeking greatness. Right now, we're still young, and we all see obstacles ahead of us. I see two options here. One, continue to seek greatness against all odds; but for the mere mortals, we just have to love who we love, and be happy. But there's only one way that leads to these two options: getting rid of those obstacles. Only after we get rid of those obstacles can we continue our journey to seek greatness or happiness. This is easier said than done. But geniuses, like Steve, have shown us how.
Steve, it's nice to have you. Thank you for changing our world, and created better ways for us to further create greatness or seek happiness. What you have done will not be forgotten. But what I really hope is that, some time not too far from now, we'll see more geniuses, who're even more talented, who're able to surpass what you've done, for we all know that excellence is what you want to see.
Tragic irony October 3, 2011
We were always told that year 5 is a year for relaxation. There would be not much classes, not much to learn, everything is just a repeat of what you've done before. This is only partly correct. Yes, everything is a repeat, but also a reinforcement of the previous pain. Time flies so fast these days that no one is able to adapt. I simply can't find a suitable way to live my days in a normal way.
On the other hand, just as I thought things would only get better starting September, the contrary happened. Things have got worse and worse. It's totally against my expectation. But the question is, what, or how, should we place our expectations? I've said this before, whenever there's a discrepancy in expectations, tragedies occur. Yes, humans are social animals. We simply need to rely on each other to achieve, and to make happiness. But why should human need to be social animals? Is there a better way of living? I believe there is; sadly, it's difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.
Are what I said too abstract? Putting it in the simplest terms, I'm unhappy. And I've lost every single possibility to be happy.
PS There were (78327-76930) 1397 visits in September, or about 45.1 visits per day. Thanks.
