Saturday, December 31, 2005

Speech of the Year

This is definitely the speech of the year. I like it so much that I am going to repost it here. I was touched by it. And I hope it does to all of you.

You've got to find what you love

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
***********************
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5? deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.

隨時候命



The final episode was shown last night. I never thought I would watch this but it turned out to be quite enjoyable. The story was quite positive (given TVB's track record).

I never like 鄭伊健, but he is OK this time. I particularly like 鍾嘉欣.Although she is not very experienced, her acting was pleasant and not too exaggerated (compared with Yuen Choi Wan).

The other series about lawyers is also quite enjoyable, with Liza Wong and others. I have to say these two TVB's series were really nice surprises to me.

Friday, December 30, 2005

A Reflection for 2005

As 2005 draws to a conclusion, it is time to look back. Let me share what happened to me during the year without touching on issues related to other people, including those who are close to me. This would perhaps make it more focused.

2005 is a brand new start for me in terms of career – I was transferred to another department within the organisation. Faced with new tasks, new boss and new colleagues, I handled the new role quite well. Although I don’t hate it, I would rather be back to my old department. It was only after my transfer that I realized I like to meet customers. I hope I could return to my previous role or go on to do something else in 2006 (preferably in the 1st half).

I have read less - I can no longer concentrate for more than 1 hour. And I became sleepy once I started to read. I hope this would improve in 2006. I still enjoy listening to classical music, but I enjoy “watching” more, concerts in particular. Therefore I have bought a lot more DVDs. That said, my hobby of buying books still continued.

I started to enjoy being a mentor of other people. By mentoring others, I experience growth. I have become more matured in terms of handling conflicts (although there is always room for improvement).

I have come to realize the importance of investment in accumulating wealth. At the same time, I have also come to realize wealth should not be the only thing we look for (although I always forget it, and it is so easy to forget it). You may say that realizing these simple facts at the age of 34 is a bit late. I’ll say I used to think I know them, but now I really know them. My mentor once said, “Happiness is a by-product – you’ll not get it the minute you start to look for it”.

I have been lucky that I have had different mentors in different stages of my life. They have been so unselfish and dedicated in spending time with me and giving me candid feedback. I really have to thank them for their kind hearts, which are becoming rarely seen nowadays.

I have started playing tennis. But since I hurt my knee ligament in Oct, I shall try to pick it up again in 1Q2006. I hope I could do more sports then.

I promised to do a number of things in 2005 but failed. I hope history won’t repeat itself in 2006!

Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Gathering with friends

I had a gathering with friends at home on Boxing Day. Usual chit-chats, some wine, some snacks. Pretty relaxing. But then I could feel that we are not as close as before. We talked about other people and our opinions towards them, shared some recent experiences, etc. But we did not share our feelings, our struggles, our dreams, etc. May be I am being too fuzzy. I don't know. I just like to go back to a few years ago, when we could still have some deep sharing and pray together. Is that too much to expect nowadays?

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Mandarin Coffee Shop


We went to Mandarin Coffee Shop to have breakfast this morning - it was their last day before closing down for renovation. The food was just so so. But the ambiance was good. I like to sit there and relax, sipping a cup of English Breakfast Tea, reading newspaper, etc. It gave me energy for the morning, esp after a long holiday.

Got to wait for eight months before it re-opens again in Autumn 2006.

如果.愛

I went to see this movie last night. Some of my colleagues told me that it is not good, so I bought the tickets with no expectation and just because my high school friend is one of the composers.

It turned out that the movie was so enjoyable that I couldn't stop thinking about it.

孫納 faced a decision: to go back to 林見東 or to continue her relationship with 聶文. She had such a lovely past with 林見東 (although she tried so hard to forget about the past). It is difficult to imagine how she made the decision to leave him, just to go after her dream to become an actress. What is more important in life? Love, or career? But it was not that straight forward. From her tears when 聶文 fell down from the swings, it appears that her relationship with him was not just career oriented.

The music was musical-like and, in a way, new to the HK audience. Kam and Ko did a good job in writing music that suits the story impeccably. The story was told interestingly and efficiently.

金城武 & 周迅 were excellent, esp 周迅. 張學友 was so so - too many close-ups of him, which in my opinion were not necessary.

The movie left me something to think about. It was a wonderful experience. I think it deserves praise and the efforts were adorable. Well done, 陳可辛.

P.S. The English name of the movie is much better than the Chinese one - Perhaps Love.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Which Incredibles Character Are You?

Friday, December 23, 2005

Winter Solstice

Had a wonderful dinner with my family. Watched a bit of TV. Had some sweet dumplings. Went home and watched some more TV. That's how I spent my Winter Solstice.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Getting Older

Tungpo said he found out something in 2005, which, among other things, include the followings:

- 與身邊人相依,頗感溫暖。
- 明白一些事情不知道比知道的好,一些人不認識比認識了會令人生活更愉快。
- 人到中年,身體狀況就一年差過一年。
- 漸漸不喜歡熱鬧人多場合。
- 愛留在家中。
- 對購物失去興趣。

I share his findings. But I also think these feelings come with aging - you tend to agree with these feelings when you get older.

Monday, December 19, 2005

我的父親母親


Watched this film last night. A simple story. Great plot. Great acting. Great music. Zhang yimou was very good at directing this kind of film. Zhang ziyi was just terrific. She was so young and innocent. I enjoyed this film.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005



This is a set of DVD that I bought in Shanghai. It features Leonard Bernstein when he was the musical director of the New York Philharmonic. He presented topics like "What does music mean?", "what is sonata form?", "What is Classical Music", "The sound of an orchestra", "What is a mode?", and many others. The NY Philharmonic would perform the pieces chosen by him and the concerts were both entertaining and educational. Although the DVDs cost around HKD1,000, I think it is a good investment, particularly if you want to introduce classical music to your children.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

What is important to me?

Love is most important in your life.



A high love concentration indicates that you want love in your life. It is very important to you and something that you strive to attain.


Life Piechart - QuizGalaxy.com

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Monday, December 05, 2005

The Power of People


I am proud that I took part in today's demonstration. But I am very disappointed with Donald Tsang's response in the evening. He was not being sincere. What he said was basically rubbish!