the P.Pole

So the other day, when I got back from Waterloo, I arrived at the Toronto Greyhound terminal downtown. Getting off, I headed to the Eaton’s Centre (mostly for the subway station). On a whim, I decided to have dinner before getting on the subway so I delved deep into the food court.

So many options! I went with A&W (Papa Burger, Root Beer for your information). The server girl was taking extra long, so I stood around watching the teenage Asian couple trying to decide on their romantic, burger-based dinner together. Suddenly, I felt that sensation you only get when someone is watching you from behind, so I turned around casually to check. Off in the distance, I saw a familiar face—it was Yoo-Jin! From high school! Whom I have not seen in years (since prom I think). No way it could be her though—she waved! So, I slowly waved back, and held up a finger to gesture “wait a second”. That’s when I saw who was at the table with her—Henry! From high school! My badminton partner in my senior years! I grabbed my food and then headed over as quickly as possible.

At first I thought I was third-wheeling something and looked for an excuse to pardon myself after the initial greetings. Henry assured me it was dumb-luck and there was nothing going on between them (I am undecided on the matter, but that’s what he said anyway). Strange! Uncanny! Considering they only meet once a year—according to them—and how I come home now maybe once a month, this was quite the chance-encounter!

We sat and talked for a bit—Henry is thinking of going into pharmacy and Yoo-Jin’s headed to Québec for five weeks on a transfer program—before leaving to grab some ice cream/milk shakes from Dairy Queen and fiddling with some Apple-ware. Then, we wandered our way into the subway station. We got on the first northbound train, and the car smelled like puke. Gross.

More luckily, a few stops down, Ms. Williamson got on the train—yes, my favourite chemistry teacher, again from high school! Yoo-Jin spotted her first, and I decided to go over and say hi. It was slightly awkward when I said hi and Ms. W. clearly recognized my face but couldn’t produce a name—”It’s me, Carl!” Then Henry and Yoo-Jin came over too and we all talked for a bit. She looked quite well and happy. Always the caring one, she asked questions about how we were, how our chemistry careers were going (or in my case, not) and what was new. It was quite a pleasure seeing her again—so nostalgic.

I must say, it was terribly pleasant meeting all these folks that I would have otherwise categorized as part of a past life. People and friends are still the same people and friends after so long, and this is particularly important. I was surprised when Yoo-Jin could still remember all these details about me/my family that I shared with her—if ever I did—back in grade 9. Henry is still the lovable awkward commenter, and Ms. Williamson looked better than ever! Oh the memories! Anyway, I just want to make note of this opportune occasion/ersatz encounter so I will remember, years from now, that these kinds of things happen for some bizarre reason yet to be seen.

So, I waited until today since Monday is the proper day for info posts.

5 things I love about my mom:

• she always gives her children the best  (for example, I don’t remember a single instance ever where she saved good food for herself rather than giving oodles to myself and my sister)
• she’s works really hard (I don’t know anyone else whose mother works until 7 or 8 every week night and then goes in for Saturday too)
• she is prudent with her monies (be it discounts, rebates, or just handy ways to save money, she knows—probably because she’s an accountant… but that’s just a guess)
• she lets me do my thing (obviously not so much when I was younger, but as a whole my parents have been pretty cool with everything, I think they assume I know what I’m doing)
• she’s fun to talk to (my mom may not seem too talkative to other people, but sometimes she and I will talk about random life stuff and they are some of the best talks I have ever had)

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I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord.
And I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord.
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord? Oh Lord…

Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand.
I’ve seen your face before my friend, but I don’t know if you know who I am.
Well I was there and I saw what you did, I saw it with my own two eyes.
So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you’ve been.
It’s all been a pack of lies.

And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord.
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord.
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord.
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord. Oh Lord.

Well I remember, I remember, don’t worry, how could I ever forget?
It’s the first time, the last time we ever met.
But I know the reason why you keep your silence up, oh no you don’t fool me.
Well the hurt doesn’t show, but the pain still grows.
It’s no stranger to you and me.

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord.
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord…

I can feel it in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord, oh Lord.
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord. Oh Lord.
- Phil Collins, In the Air Tonight

[Updated!] 5 6 things gaming has taught me:

• Pay attention to details!

  In many adventure games, finding hidden or special items sometimes comes down to solving puzzles or noticing an alternate path that leads to (potentially) a room full of treasure. In first-person shooters (FPS), you get paid handsomely if you can notice a tiny movement in a distant window, or a shadow behind a crate. The lesson is basically that the details often matter. They may not be entirely crucial (you can often forgo those special treasures or take on a few extra deaths/less kills), but life’s more fun with details. They are significant. This brings me to my next point:

• Be discerning about what is actually significant.

  Do I really need the extra gold from completing every quest? Will catching all the Pokémon really be worth my while? How much do I really want that bunker on the map? There are objectives in games, and in life, and not all are necessarily meaningful. If the point of a deathmatch is to simply get more kills faster, why capture a particular point on the map? Especially if it’s hard to defend once you take it—you’ll be putting yourself in an exposed position, in harm’s way, for no real/actual advantage. Life is like this. Some things are worth the risk in chasing, seeking, and obtaining. Others may seem important, but panning out (perhaps during a killcam?) and a little critical thinking will expose these “goals” as mere distractions. Be careful where you invest yourself.

• Good players generally aren’t team players. Great ones are.

  Everyone has had that one Pokémon they beef up way more than the rest, simply because they like that one the best, or it was their starter. Likewise, there are often stellar killers on some teams in FPS games that are one-man wrecking crews, racking up the bulk of their “team”‘s points. The Lone Wolf archetype generally conflicts with the Team Player. Simply put, weaker teammates will drag you down. They give away your position, or draw enemy fire, or fail to watch their corners, etc…. But, in real life and in video games, to do truly amazing and win every time, you must do amazing and win as a team. This goes for everything, from a project team at work to your Battle Tower team in Pokémon, to your squad in Call of Duty. You can have the best kill : death ratio of all your friends, but this doesn’t guarantee anything for your win : loss (see mine, at ~1.3 K:D and ~0.9 W:L).

• Plan ahead.

  With how gamers are portrayed on the media, you’d think games were a braindeadening hobby of dumb people doing dumber things. Anyone who thinks this has never spoken to Herman Chan about Pokémon teams. They’ve probably also never played Metal Gear Solid, or planned out how to clear out a room full of enemies with twelve bullets left. You can shave a few moments off your reaction time if you are already anticipating the pending action. Sure, you can go through matches without much forethought, sprinting around like an idiot in the open as cannon fodder. Or you can make the conscious decision to think ahead and end up ahead. Good planning is reacting in advance!

• Fight or flight? Back down or be put down?

  Many times, our instinct is to dig our heels in and fight out a grudge match with an opponent. Be it about pride, ego, or an overestimation of one’s ability to take on an entire squad alone, we all have our reasons for refusing to back down. This is usually what happens just before you get outdone, outgunned, or outmaneuvered. This kind of stubbornness/tunnel vision never makes any sense when you think for a bigger picture, about the current situation. Simply put, if the odds are stacked against you, you can either make an epic (but fatal) last stand, or you can slip off to get a second encounter, and hope that the tables have turned in your favour by then. Adapting this to real life, you often need to make snap decisions for the immediate situation, but remember the big picture. Consider the long run as you decide for the moment.

• [Update] Never get complacent.

  This is especially true in FPS. There are really only two kinds of high scoring players: campers and stalkers. Campers use one aspect of the environment/map to their advantage, staking out a good spot and preying on unwary passer-bys (pass-byers? pass-buyers? passer-bis?). These people can get some sick scores, since they mostly just abuse one bottle-neck or cheap trick. If the opponents aren’t completely senseless, they eventually decide to gang up/sneak up on this one camper and take him out. Then there are stalkers, who sneakily track down enemies and off them as opportunity allows. These players are forced to out-think, out-sneak, and only rarely out-gun their opponents. These are also the ones who inevitably end up constantly on the move, so that they are never in one place too long. They do better in the long run, trust me.

And as for anyone who tells you you can’t learn from video games, you can tell them a true student can learn from anything. Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of origin. *validates own gaming addiction*

5 random quips:

• “(500) Days of Summer” and “I Love You Man” were great movies
• Modern Warfare 2 is quite an addictive game
• Grooveshark is awesome
• I hate spelling and grammar errors, but feel that they are necessary when being mushy with Amy
• Picking others’ brains is as important as picking your own

Today Eugene Roman (an executive at OpenText) came to have lunch with us co-op students. He spoke at length during and after lunch about some principles that he has adopted in his work and personal life that have gotten him where he is today. Pretty rad exec, if you ask me. I really liked when he answered the question “How do we find jobs in this market?” with “With hard work and cleverness.” I have already asked to have a sit-down with him next Thursday to find out what exactly makes a guy like him tick. Should be quite a learning experience, I say.

There’s some saying that I will, in a matter of a few words, begin butchering via paraphrase: “A humble student has innumerable masters.” There’s also the “A true student is always ready to learn.” Something along those lines is what I’m applying here. There are two kinds of successful people in my opinion, those who are lucky, and those who know what they are doing. Given that someone successful knows what they are doing, surely there is something to be gained from first knowing their road to success, understanding it, and eventually integrating the lessons learned into your own adventure. I am pretty excited.

Did you know that this place, the P.Pole, has been around since 2005? Did you also know that this year I, Carl K. Awesome H. Wong will be turning twenty years young? Yes, my friends, I will be at my quarter-life crisis in about three to four months from now.

Speaking of quarters, I have exactly one left over from paying for a bottle of Coke at work today. I thought I’d treat myself and drink to the Five-Year Anniversary (a “Fiversary” if you will, but you, like me, probably won’t) of the P.Pole. Effectively, I’ve been writing and posting for a quarter of my life with my lovely P.Pole.

I still remember the olden days when I first started out with her on Blogger which was, back then, a completely different beast and not the polished (and rather good-looking) face you’ll see today. I remember spending an entire day figuring out a great name for my own little slice of the Internet, and finally settled on the P.Pole (for some obvious and some clandestine reasons).

Somewhere along the line, I decided to try out WordPress, as hosted on their servers (with limited functionality without payment). I tested an “Import from Blogger” feature and a month later, I had my own hosting and domain by Dreamhost, running a WordPress install. I’ve since moved once more, to HostGator, and made a few tweaks to the P.Pole’s face (less than this woman though).

And here we are today, five years later, still posting and updating happily. Here’s to many more! *sips addictive caffeine enriched Coke*

Thank you, Amy. *smooches