The Day I Celebrate Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving. It is the one day of the year that the Americans have put aside to give thanks for all of our blessings. Personally, I am thankful for all that has happened for and to me this year. Being able to come to the US to further my education has been nothing short of a dream come true. I am also thankful for the close friends that I have made here who have been taking good care of me. Being alone and away from home is more taxing and difficult than you can imagine. I'm truly grateful for all of the wonderful help I've been given along the way. I'm also thankful for my parents, for without their love and support, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

Dear Hater,

Yes, I'm actually dedicating a post to you. I don't understand why you choose to repeatedly post flaming comments anonymously on my blog or what's going on in your head. You need to know that:

1) I've dealt with much worse in my life,

2) so I don't care if you don't like me because I don't know who you are anyway.

3) Besides, all of the comments are moderated. Every single one of them. I simply delete the hate,

4) so if you hate me, it just means that you care enough about me to do something about it.

5) Or maybe you just want the attention?

If that's the case, do leave a name and an e-mail address, or even better, a postal address. I promise that I will keep in touch with you. Or if you'd like, I could share the information with all of my friends here. I'm nice like that.

But I'm sure you have better things to do with your time. So stay in school (or at work, if you've already dropped out of school), read more to improve your general knowledge, and do some exercise every day. It'll help to clear your head and allow you to make better decisions the next time you feel like flaming me or anybody else behind the facade of anonymity.

Sincerely,
Justin

An Open Letter To Apple

AN OPEN LETTER

TO APPLE (THE COMPANY THAT SELLS iPODS AND iPADS, NOT THE FRUIT THAT HIT ISAAC NEWTON ON THE HEAD)

February 14, 2010

Dear Apple,

As a loyal customer and fervent fan, I applaud your innovations and the constant improvements you have made on your software as well as your hardware products. I fell in love with your brand at the introduction of the iPod in the early years of the new millennium, and subsequently, have come to know and love your products: I am an avid user of the Macbook, I entertain myself with my iPod and I stay connected with my family and friends through my iPhone.

You have managed to remodel essential consumer technological products such as the MP3 player, the laptop and even the mobile phone by repackaging them as niche, simple and clean gadgets that appeal to the average consumer. That’s ok, because who wouldn’t want to walk down the street plugged in to their iPod or talk on their iPhone, having an image of superiority and sophistication? But now, you’ve gone one step further and rehashed your own product while claiming to have birthed your “most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device”: the iPad.

Yeah but…. what? When rumors of the Apple tablet started circling in the technological world, many experts theorized that Apple, the same company who came up with the industry-changing iPhone, would produce a tablet computer that would once again bring about an industry-wide ripple effect. But instead, we were introduced to an enlarged version of the iPhone/iPod Touch (depending on whether we’re talking about the 3G or non-3G capable versions, but it really doesn’t matter). How revolutionary.

Secondly, the name. What were you thinking when you came up with “iPad”? I don’t suppose that there were ladies on the project who thought that it was an odd name for the device and didn’t sound it out? I know that you probably want to keep the associative rhyme (like “iPod” and “iPhone”), but any word that is synonymous with a female hygiene product isn’t exactly ideal in making a good first impression, unless you are actually trying to break into that particular market, which you obviously aren’t.

Thirdly, iBooks is hardly a new concept (much less a feasible selling-point for the iPad). Excuse me while I attempt to refresh your memory. If you do a little search in your iTunes store, you will be able to find the “Stanza” as well as the “Amazon Kindle” App for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. These Apps work exactly like iBooks by giving users the ability to download entire books onto their devices, but I’m sure you already knew that because you probably approved of those Apps for the App Store yourself. I have henceforth assumed that the above mentioned Apps would be facing their demise (along with my collection of e-books) when iBooks is up and running, lest you prove me wrong.

Lastly, please stop congratulating yourself on innovation. You're making your fans (ie. people like me) look like douchebags. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Justin Jap

One Month Later

And here's how long my hair has gotten in the past month ;) I've been coping rather well in the US so far. It's been a trying period of adjustments, but I think my body and mind has finally been able to adapt to the surroundings here. Allowing your brain to fester for three years and throwing yourself back to the books has not been an easy task, but I'm getting there. I'm just glad that I'm not doing this alone.

I'll have a proper post up this weekend, so stay tuned.
In the meantime please be safe, wherever you are.

xx :)
Justin

Romance

“I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.” - Pietro Aretino.

Everybody wants to find that special someone that they can hopefully spend the rest of their lives with like a Disney fairytale ending. But life, however, works rather differently. Falling in love and being in a relationship requires more than just Cupid's arrow and a damn good shooting arm.

The Day I Talk About The New School Year

I'm finally back in school after three years of non-academic activities (ie. NS + Work + Idol). It's definitely a fresh start and I've never ever looked forward to studying so much in my life. Going through so much in the past couple of years has definitely helped me grow as an adult and it's given me quite a different perspective about school-life in general. I really appreciate it more now.

Although it's getting colder every day, I'm beginning to get used to it. The 30-minute walk to school, the botak trees by the roads, the buying of groceries at Whole Foods, the quirky teachers and students in school, the mucking around in the bookstore, are all very refreshing and exciting for me. My professors really make my day. I have a quirky Physics instructor who has an odd tic of saying "...here, ok" at the end of every sentence. And my English instructor who grew up in a circus used to be dressed up as a clown as a child.

I can't say that I don't miss being home and being close to my family and friends, but I've decided to embrace my new life here. I know that I still have people who care for me, who'll miss me and who'll welcome me back with open arms, but the time is now for me to embrace my present, and to secure my future. I miss you all, but I will be back very soon. Even before you know it.

The Day We Entered 2010; A Reflection on 2009

And so we've said farewell to the crazy, amazing, heartbreaking, exhilarating, unpredictable year that was 2009. We've all had our triumphs and failures, but through it all, we've definitely learned and grown wiser from all that has happened.

Personally, I've taken so much out of it without actually expecting to. In the beginning of the year, I managed to land myself a job at a recruitment firm, without which I would've never have experienced life in a back-stabbing, hypocritical yet educational corporate landscape. There's really more than what meets the eye.

After I left my job, the next highlight of my year was the Singapore Idol experience. Going into it with a "let's see how this works out" frame of mind, I somehow managed to beat the odds and made the Top 12. The friends that I've made, the love that I've been shown and the priceless experience that I've gained through the process has been nothing short of amazing. Yes, I may have had to defer my studies for awhile for the show, but in retrospect, I wouldn't have had it any other way. There are some things that money can't buy and this was definitely one of them.

I know that I usually don't stick to my resolutions (like 99% of the people I know), but here's mine for the 2010. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to it this time round.



"Time to reach out, time to be who I am."

I guess I can do that now.