And honestly, it definitely is.
I’ve been a loyal user of Crumpler bags since mid-2005, and am still going strong. I own three of them now, and I use them iteratively. (As in, when I feel like Barney, I’d use the purple one. When I feel plain, I’d use the black one. As for the brown one, I use it the most since it’s my favourite out of the three bags.)
Then, my younger cousin David decided to get himself one. And of course, I’m in full support of it - Crumpler rocks, remember?
So, off we went to Crumpler’s main outlet at Paragon, Orchard.
I stood aside as he tried bag after bag, giving comments and tips here and there as to which bag is better. I personally do not recommend the Western Lawn style as they rely entirely on velcro - which means that you risk having your bag fall open every now and then once the velcro starts wearing out. Instead, go for those that have the black buckle in addition to the velcro … like the Barney Rustle Blanket or the Soupansalad styles.
Trying on bag after bag after bag after bag after … you get the idea.
David finally chose the third design in the photo above - called The Considerable Embarassment for reasons totally beyond me. Not a bad choice - with two snap buckles plus velcro, and more compartments within for storage than I can count on both my hands combined together.
He was pretty excited about getting his Crumpler, and immediately after his mum made payment for it, he was already diving back to the shelves and asking her for another one. Hahahahahaha.
I can name so many reasons why I love Crumpler so much (and may even brainwash everyone out there), and just to name a few;
1) They come in very versatile, plain yet classy designs which means that you can match a Crumpler with almost any other colour.
2) They are extremely hardy. (My first Crumpler had tolerated so much abuse and is still standing strong.)
3) They come with so many compartments which means you will have no problems organizing your stuff. (Especially if you’re a packrat like moi!)
4) They (even the smallest bags) can withstand the weight of my laptop!
5) They are very comfortable. (I’ve carried my Crumpler on several hiking/biking trips and it never gave me much problems - unless you’re carrying a brickload of stuff, of course.)
I can name a lot more but let me just stop here, lest someone thinks that I’m a spokesperson for Crumpler or something and starts to doubt the credibility of my words.
Let me end it all with a last photo - my cousin proudly carrying his new Crumpler (which is in that brown cloth bag he’s holding) and err … me standing beside him. (Wasn’t carrying my Crumpler bag that day, unfortunately.)
Don’t let the height fool you. I’m older. Much, much older. :(
Oh, one more reason to love Crumpler - they are environmentally friendly. They sell their bags in reusable cloth bags! (Nay to plastic bags!)
Before taking on a project in collaboration with a certain unnamed company, yours truly has to apparently, sign a declaration/agreement form stating that all the products of my hard work during the course of the project will not belong to me, but to the company.
I’m a little miffed about this.
Was told that this is common practice among all companies out there, which further fuels my displeasure of working for any company in the future.
Niceeee.
So this is how companies work. They hire (or hold collaborations with) people, squeeze their creative juices out of them until there’s almost none left, force them to sign over all their ideas to the company such that it no longer becomes their own intellectual property, and the people are left high and dry once everything is over.
Forced to keep mum, can’t reuse the same ideas for even their own projects, not even when they rightfully came up with those ideas themselves in the first place.
So this practically means that we slog like hell behind our laptop screens 24/7, plus the potential several all-nighters we “should be expected” to pull - only to have the company have all the recognition while we are left with zilch.
What do we have to show our hard work?
We cannot keep the programming code, graphics or any amazing cool shit we come up with during the project. (Everything belongs to the company, remember?) So when this whole thing blows over, all we have is a blank screen - oh, and perhaps a grade.
One may argue that the knowledge and experience gained during the project far supercedes the final product. But the final product is representative of the hard work, sweat, tears put we put into building it. It’s the hallmark of the project experience; having something solid that you can keep, and occasionally glance at so that you can rekindle that wow, I did that?!? kind of feeling.
Imagine a few years down the road;
“What did you do for your Final Year Project?”
“(Insert vague description here - can’t reveal too much top secret information, remember?)” says I.
“Oh wow, sounds fantastic! Do you have a little preview?”
“Oh yes, I do. Here you do, a blank screen.”
With this particular project my group and I are (most likely going to) delve into, I am very sure that a fair amount of creative juices will be pumped into it (and it’s already brain wrecking enough just to figure out how to prettify this concept further), and I am very much likely to come up with a whole assortment of enhancement ideas during the course of this one.
And everything goes to the company.
Ah well, have to sign the damn form anyway - whether I like it or not. At least we will have a teensy bit of recognition (that is, if you count being referred to as “a student team from SMU” as recognition).
One thing I know for sure - we are definitely allowed to put this in our resume, which will sparkle oh-so brightly especially if we complete this project well, which is the big fat blaring positive reward for this whole thing.
Okay, now to brainstorm for more ideas. (Which will go to the company. :()
Of blogs, mushrooms and musicLet’s all welcome Belle to the blogosphere.
Yay, this means that another one of my friends has finally gotten herself a blog. More people should blog anyway. - Looks at Mithi at this juncture, who got herself one but has written nothing in it. :(
Anyway, just had to relate a hilarious conversation between mum and me this evening -
Me; referring to the mushrooms in my Mac ‘N’ Cheese, as well as the side order of deep fried mushrooms I decided to have at Swensen’s.
“Oh, these are Shitake mushrooms too, just like the deep-fried mushrooms!”
“I think they came from the same tree,” says Mum.
There was a brief period of silence.
“Mum, mushrooms don’t grow on trees!”
For the record - Mummy dearest convinced me that the above was just a slip of the tongue, as she was trying to affirm that both mushrooms were of the same variety and somehow, the ‘came from the same tree’ bit just slipped out. I still have my doubts though. :P
Later on, on the way back to the carpark;
“I’m quite glad that you decided not to have any more children after me,” says I.
“Why?” Mum looked at me quizzically.
“Because you’d be teaching them all the wrong things, like how mushroom grows on trees!”
A tickle fight nearly ensued.
—————-
Anyhoo, decided to upload another voice recording up here. Have done quite a few recordings since the last one I posted up … quite a long time ago - but somehow, I wasn’t able to find one that is not err … very embarassing to upload.
This song is entitled 日不落 (English translation: The sun will never set) - originally by Jolin Tsai, and the best recording I have so far. Will proceed to work on more providing time permits.
So … here you go. (Remember, I will not be held accountable for any hearing damage that may result from listening to this audio!)
As usual, comments are most welcome.
Proceed to read more for the lyrics. (If you can read Mandarin, that is.)