Last Two Minutes

I started writing this on New Year’s eve and planned to post it before the 1st of January. Alas! I fell asleep and got a lot of house chores to do.

Went down to Starbucks this afternoon to get my daily dose of caffeine. Saw the cute barista there. She was not pretty but she has that really cute smile. Never really talked to her before except for one time when she remarked that I’m a regular customer. I did not see her for a few months. After Christmas she was back. Anyway while she was collecting empty glasses I was able to muster the courage to say hi and talk…

Alan: Hi!

Girl: Hello. What are you doing this evening?

Alan:(did not expect the question) err.. dinner with friends. How about you?

Girl: Playing mahjong with my friends.

Alan: You were gone for a long time?

Girl: Yeah. was in HK for vacation. Its my last day now working here.

Alan: Where are you working next?

Girl: Going to study. School will start.

blah blah blah

Girl: Ok see you around!

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I so blew it up. I did not ask for her number when I should have. Either I’m not really too keen on it at that moment or I’m just a bit concerned that if she says no, the whole office will know because I am with my officemate at that time.

I remember an actor saying that what wins an Oscar are those scenes that made a lasting impression, not the whole two hour of movie.  If there is any consolation because of my lack of courage and wit at least I have a good “scene” before the year ended.

Damn that smile.

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I did not know how it started but I was discussing Star Trek with one of my officemate. I’m not a Trekkie. But I do watch some Star Trek episodes and movies once in a while. The Borgs are cool. And I never knew that there were a species stronger than them until I started to read wikipedia.

After a while the conversation drifted into girls. My officemate remarked that I should not be that nerdy and all. Discussing Star Trek with my eyes lighting up like a child gives that nerdy signal. Totally unattractive to girls. I casually remarked “I won’t sell my soul”.

*BTW there is a new Star Trek movie in 2009 with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto(Sylar in Heroes) as a younger Kirk and Spock. That would be interesting.

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When it rains it pours. My latest project was a disaster. From lousy requirements, lousy execution, lousy configuration(my fault) and a lot of bad luck.  Up to the last week of deployment the directory where the application is supposed to be installed is not ready. On the day of the deployment itself the storage team needed to fix something. We deployed on the 11th hour, figuratively and literally.

It did not end there. Apparently I made a mistake in the configuration. A really big mistake. Good thing that the project was really not that critical.

Moral of the story: It does not matter if bad luck hits you one after the other. As long as you are lucky at the same time. It cancels out. Its like a basketball game wherein you just scored a point higher than your opponents. A win is a win. The score does not matter after it.

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For this new year I won’t have anything specific that I wanted to do. Except that I will work on something interesting. Geeky and and a bit work-related interesting kind of thing.

For 2009 I will just have some guidelines on how to live my life:

-As much as possible try new things. Don’t be uptight. Loosen-up a little. Don’t think that much. Just do it (and ask the number damn it).

-Be honest. Say what I really feel. Say what I want. Be who I am regardless of who I am with. If you are a jerk then be a jerk regardless of the people around you.

-Stop being conscious on what other people will tell or think. This is a bit related on the item above. But this merits a place on its own right.

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The last two months have probably the MOST impact for this year. So many things happened, from euphoria to sadness, from losing and gaining friends, from hero to goat. Its a seesaw of emotions, an oscillation of feelings. In the last two minutes of 2008, I came out alive. Scathed, but on top by a point.