“I never win anything.”
Does that sound familiar? Yup, yup. Because I’ve been one of them, too — you know, those people who’d whine about never winning anything.
HTC Desire Android smartphone (click photo for bigger view)
Until last week, that is. Because last week, I received an email that seemed too good to be true. But it was true! I made it as one of The Chosen Ten to review the new HTC Desire Smartphone, thanks to Maxis, my mobile phone service provider. The ten of us have been given the chance to test-drive the HTC Desire until 20th June, 2010 and post our thoughts about and experiences with the latest Android smartphone to hit KL’s shores.
Hence, from now until the 20th of June, in addition to the regular programming here in my little corner of the bloggerverse, I shall be writing about the HTC Desire every once in a while.
Technically, I haven’t won anything tangible just yet — the phone is just a test unit, which I have to return after 2 weeks — but I’m already ecstatic about the chance to try a brand-spanking-new, drop-dead gorgeous gadget for free…in addition to the fact that I made it to the Top 10 Reviewers list and — get this! — I’m one of the only two (!) women who made the cut.
And did I mention just how jaw-dropping gorgeous the 3.7-inch AMOLED screen is? The colour, the clarity, the animated home screen are so exquisite, they’d put the iPhone 3Gs’s display to shame.
Comparing the HTC Desire to the iPhone is inevitable, given that you scroll up and down the screen by swiping down a finger on the screen as you would on an iPhone, zoom in and out of a pic using pinching motions just as you would on an iPhone, scroll through pics by swiping across the screen with two fingers just as you would on an iPhone… You get the drift.
Anyhow, to kick things off and to whet your appetite a bit, here’s a short movie on the beginning of my mission: my quest for the HTC Desire.
Watch it on Vimeo…
Mission (Possible): Mi2’s Quest For The HTC Desire from SleeplessInKL on Vimeo.
….or on YouTube.
When my family and I were in Kemaman, Terengganu last weekend, I got a lot of people all excited over a photograph that I uploaded in Facebook and Twitpic, which I captioned as baby ’sand turtles’ heading back into the sea. This was the pic, one that I shot with a cheap but handy-dandy Nokia 2700 Classic:-
When people started commenting about what an unforgettable experience it must have been for me, only then did I realise the implications of the photo. I was in Terengganu, afterall, where turtles are known to lay eggs and where baby turtles do hatch from those eggs and head back out to sea. Only that wasn’t exactly the circumstance under which I took that particular pic.
Now look again closely. See what happens when I zoom in on the ‘turtles’ (click on the pic below to see a larger version):-
The turtles weren’t real! I made them out of sand :P
My apologies if you found my photo misleading. I never had any intention of misleading anybody. It was just a sand sculpture of sorts that I did using a plastic mould that came with my children’s beach play set. I made it while my children were building their sandcastles a few feet away from me.
So there. The truth is out. Sorry to disappoint you, Lola! ;)
Click here to find out more about turtle-watching in Terengganu.
Horseback riding in Johor (Nov 2008)
Last weekend, en route to Kemaman, Terengganu, OnlyGirl was commenting on how babies and children somehow seem to gravitate towards me and like me a lot.
“Really?” I said. “Why do you think children like me?”
She replied, “Because you are kind. And caring.”
I smiled. “But I am strict. And garang (fierce).”
“But you are kind. And caring,” she insisted.
“And funny,” she added, smiling that special smile of hers.
I smiled back and hugged her, tears clouding my eyes. Juggling a career and motherhood’s not easy but once you strike a balance, it makes it all worth it!
You can easily tell you are in Malaysia simply by looking at the motorcyclists on the road. For one, the law requires that everyone wears a helmet.
This law is strictly enforced in the cities and major towns, failure to comply with which entails a hefty fine. Unless you go into the kampung (villages), where such law is openly flouted, where even teenagers and pre-teens drive motorcycles! But that’s another subject altogether. For now, our focus is on the style.
Where were we? Ah yes — the helmets. See the little one? She’s got a helmet, as well.
But it’s not really the helmets that define that incomparable style of the Malaysian motorcyclist. Check out the photos once again. Can you see what sets them apart from other motorcyclists elsewhere in the world?
Look again closely…. See it yet?
YES!!! It’s the jacket! Worn backwards! :D
What are YOU looking at? Why are you staring at me? Why are you taking my pic???!!!!
Photos taken from a moving van with my ageing but still trusty Nokia N82, at the twins’ request: “Mama, take a picture lah! Orang tu pakai jaket terbalik!” (Mama, can you please take a picture? That man has got his jacket on backwards!)
There’s a Malay proverb that goes “Lain hulu, lain parang; lain dulu, lain sekarang“ which roughly translates to: just as the handle of the keris is very different from its blade, what’s in the past is very different from the present.
Nowhere is this more evident than in today’s youth: children start schooling at a much earlier age; learn about the facts of life way before puberty; get more technologically adept than the average adult; dream bigger dreams than we dared dream when we were their age.
To illustrate the last point, just take a look at my children’s ambitions:
- MyEldest: astronaut-scientist-engineer
- OnlyGirl: teacher
- RoundBoy: marine biologist
- Twin1: fighter plane pilot
- Twin2: mechanical engineer
What a contrast from my ambition way back when I was about 7 years old and tasked with a writing assignment that started with the line “When I grow up, I want to be a…”
Me, playing the lead role of St. Catherine in a school play. It was an all-girls school, so the 'priest' beside me was a girl, as well.
Believe it or not, I actually wanted to become a nun! The idea of devoting my entire life to God just appealed to me somehow. That, plus the fact that I’ve spent my early years surrounded by Catholic sisters.
It did not take me long, however, to figure out that I couldn’t be a nun if I wanted to have children. Because I may not have always known what I wanted to do in life, but I’ve always known that I wanted to be a mother.
So I decided to change my ambition from being a nun to being a teacher. Afterall, both of my parents were teachers. [NB: My mum is still teaching at 67 years old, mind you!] I loved the idea of molding young minds and making an impact on people’s lives.
Then as I was growing up, I found myself increasingly drawn to the medical profession and found myself longing to become a doctor — an obstetrician-gynaecologist, to be exact. I was so ambitious that I didn’t want to be just any doctor working in a hospital or private clinic somewhere; I wanted to join Medecins San Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders).
I was very close to achieving that dream when I qualified for the INTARMED program of the University of the Philippines in its Manila campus. INTARMED is an accelerated comprehensive medical program that shortens the path to a medical degree by 2 years, i.e. 7 years instead of 9 years. Normally, a student in the Philippines who aspires to take up Medicine must take a four-year pre-Med course initially (such as BS Biology, Medical Technology, and other medical-related fields) before taking Medicine proper, which takes another five years. INTARMED covers both the pre-med and Med proper courses with its intensive 7-year program.
During my time, only 26 students — 13 boys and 13 girls — from all over the Philippines were admitted into INTARMED, so you can just imagine how enthralled I was to have qualified for the programme.
Unfortunately, it was also during that time that UP decided to implement a new tuition fee scheme that made it impossible for me to pursue Medicine. As I said, both my parents were teachers and teachers in the Philippines do not earn much. On top of the tuition fees, there were so many other things to think of, such as pricey medical textbooks and my room and board in Manila. So to make a long story short, I had to turn down INTARMED and opted to go to Ateneo de Manila University, where I was granted me a full scholarship plus a loan to cover dorm fees. [NB: Dorm = hostel]
Fast forward to some 20-odd years later, I now find myself in the manufacturing sector. My interest in Medicine never waned though — I devour novels with medical themes; I savour all movies and TV shows that have anything to do with medicine, such as ER, Grey’s Anatomy, House, even CSI; I relish articles on the human body, diseases, medical discoveries, and all things scientific. Heck, I’ve even learned enough medical jargon to make doctors think I’m working in the medical sector.
And by interesting coincidence, many of my friends are also doctors, including Z, my best friend since we were 7 years old. Z is one of those few people who have always known what they wanted to do and ended up doing it, unlike people like me who ended up doing something entirely different from what I’ve dreamed of doing.
I’m not bitter or sad by any means. My job has fulfilled my childhood dream of seeing the world; it has gotten me to places that used to be just names on the map. My job has also allowed me to give my children the opportunity to do things that I have not been able to do when I was young and for that, I am very grateful.
I guess the bottom line is that no one really knows how our lives turn out in the end. We chase our dreams, give it our best, but in the end, it’s God who determines where we end up.
Tags: about me
