Watch this.
Notice the brother (Antoine’s) unique way of speaking, there’s rhythm even as he speaks.
Then watch this (you can stop at 1:15).
Repeat if necessary.
This is one of the reasons I love the internet. There’s some really hilarious stuff out there made by random people about random stuff…
Teh internet iz were all teh gud LOLs r!
I need to make some changes (in life). But I’m going to post about how I’m going to make some changes to warrenshea.com and my blog instead.
I’ve decided a couple things.
The first day of every month, I will post
1. What I have accomplished in the month before and
2. What I plan to accomplish in the following month.
I will try to be realistic….
The 15th day of every month, I will post a status of where I am.
The second day of every month, I will post
1. What I plan to buy/receive for that month. It will give me something to look forward to during the month.
2. What I received in the previous month that wasn’t planned.
After my vacation….I might try to do the 9-5 for work. I haven’t done that for months now…
The thing with 10-6 is that when I come in late, I feel guilty if I leave before 6…but once I start to stay past 5, I stay for a lot longer because it gets quiet and I get in my groove.
I’m hoping that with that 9-5 schedule, I can get more a standard schedule. With that, I can judge my tasks and timelines accordingly and not overwhelm myself with tasks. I’m getting too comfortable working overtime….it has become something that occurs far too often lately.
I’ve also decided not to make posting goals (ie. this month – posting 1 post/day) ever again. It led to some of my least proud posts…some that I wanted to post (like how people find me from google) but I wanted them to be written better. I do feel I redeemed some of them with my Reliable to succeed. Passionate to excel. I really like that post and the thought that went around it.
I want to re-categorize and reorganize all my (241 -_-;) posts. I don’t like the categories right now….I don’t even know what’s in Awesomesauce, Epic Fail…
I’ve never read the manga until this last week…I’ve watched the entire series once or twice, and watched episodes 1-25 at least 6 times, and watched specific episodes (2, 6, 7, 15, 25) countless times. From the anime, I did not really care for Part II very much. I did not care for the characters Near and Mello, figuring them to be similar to L if L were broken into two pieces (each holding some of L’s characteristics). I also did not care for the number of characters…
Part I is mostly Kira, L, Misa, Ryuk, Rem, Japanese Task Force.
Part II is mostly Kira, Near, Mello, Misa, Ryuk, Mikami, Takada, Japanese Task Force and the SPK. By the end, it’s too much! There was a lot to follow and watching the anime, I can say I got lost a bit.
Reading the manga is different though, it discusses all the details more (a lot more), and lets you know what the characters think more often as well as constantly (maybe too often) writing a synopsis of the current situation…which is appreciated but also gets tiring to read.
Anyways, after reading the manga, my appreciation for Part II has become much higher. Near isn’t quite the clone of L that I originally thought he was. While L was interesting, I dare say that I believe Near was more intelligent.
I really did not like that a part of why Kira lost was because Mikami screwed up a bit. I always thought it would be much better if Near (and Mello) outsmarted Kira rather than Kira’s underling, Mikami, making a mistake. I found it interesting that in reading volume 13, Tsugumi Ohba discusses that he did not want Kira’s loss to be a total mistake on his part so he intentionally put in an error from someone like Mikami. I can kind of see why…the readers have all built up Kira in his head that he’s this ultimate mind, thinking and out thinking everyone. He defeated L, he’s the protagonist…I guess? But Kira had his weaknesses, they could have simply exploited them.
Kira’s weaknesses
Childish and hates to lose – for example, killing Lind L. Taylor and getting pwned by L because of that (ep 2).
Careless – L determining Misa as Second Kira. She got caught and various pieces of evidence confirmed it (hair on envelope that tapes were sent)…and Kira just assumed she was safe. Stupid. Don’t let the stupid girl be associated with you!
Overconfident in his abilities – This was taken from Death Note manga’s vol. 13 (Interview with Tsugumi Ohba). I would prefer that this would be his downfall. He’s defeated L, he’s reigned as semi-god for 5 years before meeting someone equal in intelligence, Near. I would figure he just got cocky and careless…
I guess I’ll go into the other character’s weaknesses, as I see it:
L’s weakness
He was too focused on specific evidence and proof, unable to work with assumptions as well as Near. He was very specific in doing things “the right way”…something which Mello didn’t do.
Near’s weakness
None? He acted on assumptions much more than L…but without Mello, it’s only a 50% chance he would have beaten Kira. At least, that’s what I gathered from Part II. But with Near and Mello working together, they definitely surpassed L.
L and Near were very similar but Mello was the key to assuring victory…
All in all, I found the Near, Mello, and Kira battle a lot more interesting this time around….
Differences between the Manga and the Anime
Kira is less sure of himself at the beginning but soon turns into the Kira I’m used to. The differences are most notably the end…
1. The way Kira dies is different. He’s a bit more pathetic in the manga. Like a child…
2. The aftermath featuring Matsuda, Near, Aizawa, etc….
3. The large number of people who support Kira. Men, women, children, the elderly….holding a candle Light vigil for Kira.
Conclusion
If you liked Death Note, I would definitely recommend getting the manga. While volumes 1-12 focus on the anime, but with more detail, Volume 13 was a real treat. An interview with Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata as well as all these other insights…such as Mikami and Misa’s deathdate. I’m learning so much about the behind the scenes, it’s actually very entertaining. There’s a “cut to open” card that has L’s real name on it. I thought that was interesting, you never know L’s name…but then in the character profiles in volume 13, they show it. I would never cut that thing open anyways. Actually, I didn’t remember Near’s name getting exposed in the anime either but it’s shown in the manga. Maybe it just happened too fast in the anime.
Also, Takeshi Obata is the man! Besides the awesome work from Hikaru no Go, the art of Death Note really focuses on mood and lighting and is far less child-like (than Hikaru no Go). Volume 13 tells how much influence Obata had with the designs of L, Light, Near, etc. And did you notice Near is always wearing all white? The panels with him look like a paint-by-numbers thing where he’s left out. It’s actually pretty interesting when I noticed. Also, the way L holds a cellphone and papers is his work too but L’s mannerisms is a combination of both I believe. I really enjoyed his interviews, I found them much more interesting than Tsugumi Ohba who either seemed a bit aloof during his interview, being a genius but hiding it….or really didn’t plan Death Note all that well and sort of just…worked itself out in the end O_O. That’s the impression I got from the mastermind behind Death Note. He didn’t really know what he was doing…like, he was intelligent but didn’t really plan things ahead. He just took it week by week and it all worked itself out. I was a bit shocked by that…
/off to read a non graphic novel…with lots of words and no pictures (except y’know, my imagination…)
I woke up at 3pm today…and I’m currently getting ready to go to work (yes, on a Saturday). I’ve worked 3 weekends in a row and I’m already scheduled to work next weekend. I’m exhausted.
My whole routine is off lately. I’m not caught up on my shows, Hell’s Kitchen, House, 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Office, Smallville.
I still have to finish Mad Men, True Blood S3…
I’ve been buying blu-rays but I don’t have time to watch the extras…
My free time consists of watching a show here and there…and…well, that’s it. Every other night I work on my side project for a few hours…it’s just like when I was working on warrenshea.com…..but now I’m doing it for someone else which is much less gratifying.
My blog posts have been lacking as well…I’ll be honest, for this month, I really wanted to do 1 post/day. Which I haven’t done in a long time, it’s pretty difficult to keep up (for me) unless you’re spiritually/emotionally troubled (that’s when I get my best thinking done) – and I haven’t been, I’ve been too busy for that sh!t. While I’ve been keeping up with the 1 post/day (I’m one day behind but I can make that up), some of my posts in the last week have been pretty terrible. Even for me.
I have a vacation coming up, I impulsively took the 25th to the 29th off cuz I am just f*cking done. Frozen on the inside, burnt on the outside (so it balances out) – Lisa Simpson.
I don’t really have anything planned for the vacation. My hope is to take some me time: catch up on all the shows listed above, watch some blu ray commentaries, study ASP.NET and HTML 5. I haven’t touched either in so long…how can I retain my knowledge if I don’t practice/have time to practice? It all seems counter productive/efficient.
Like I said, so far I’ve worked the night of the 1st and 2nd (Fri and Sat), I worked on the 11th on my side project (Thanksgiving Monday), I’m going to work today and maybe tomorrow (16 and 17), I have to do some work next weekend on the 24…we also have to do work on Sunday the 31st. I’m praying that my vacation will prevent me getting called into that though.
Where’s the me time? Reliable to a fault is certainly killing me…I’m starting to rethink my life and the paths I’m on…I may need to change them to make myself happy….
Ever since I stopped working on warrenshea.com, I’ve also stopped my technical posts, relating to the web, etc. Meaning I’m not learning anything new, worthy of blogging about.
/this last month has sucked. and it’s only 1/2 way done. something needs to change.
I’ve been thinking about the most important attribute for an employee to have. In every resume, everyone lists certain individual qualities to promote themselves (by individual qualities, I mean qualities specifically strong to them).
To paraphrase my own resume, I say that I:
have a high energy
have a positive attitude
have passion for this field
am a strong team player
focus on strategic collaboration
am an independent developer
enjoy problem solving, researching, troubleshooting
believe in maximizing experiences
My old resume said that I have/am:
Leadership, team-oriented, a great communicator, and demonstrates initiative as displayed through extra-curricular activities
Creative, responsible, efficient, dependable, enthusiastic, patient
I’ve given this post, myself, and my professional image a lot of thought the last few months. I’ve thought about what I do well, what I do exceptional, and what I need improvement on. I need improvement on the following:
Given all this in mind, they’re mostly all “cosmetic” changes, none of which really interfere with my job. Even with all these issues and possibly/probably more, I’m still a valued member of the team, I often get recognition others on my team don’t get…and while I know I do a good job, I don’t imagine I do my job that much better (or better at all) than some of my co-workers.
So this leads me to ask myself:
If I’m getting recognized by my co-workers, why/how am I being recognized more than others whom I feel deserve the recognition equally/more than me?
5 years ago I had no idea. I got “Outstanding” on 3 work terms but I didn’t really know specifically why. 2 years ago I had no idea.
But after recent months, I’ve really starting to ask myself “why?”. I always thought I was equal to everyone…but the more work experience I’ve gotten, the longer I’ve been around the same people, the more I realize that it’s not true and there’s something that makes me special.
And I swear, this is not an egotistical, arrogant speech. It’s fact. (Okay, maybe it’s a little egotistical and arrogant).
Just like my recent post, “Yes” Man, where I had been iterating the words in my head: “Very selfless professionally. Very selfish individually.”, I have been repeating these words as well, longer in fact.
“Reliable to succeed. Passionate to excel.”
Q: What does your boss want?
A: Someone who can get the job done well. Originally my statement was “Someone who can get the job done” but you can’t have a half-assed or barely passing job…
Here are some attributes, probably listed on tons of resumes, that just don’t matter if you can’t get the job done
High Energy
Leadership
Detail Minded
Takes Initiative
Following Instructions
Multi-tasking
Organizational Skills
Setting Priorities
Team Player
Enthusiastic
Resourcefulness
All of these attributes are a means to an end. An end of getting the job done. In my eyes, reliability encompasses all of these (as necessary pertaining to the job). There’s a lot of emphasis on personality in job interviews, wondering if people are a good fit with the team, etc. From my experience, no amount of “good personality” will save you if you can’t get the job done. In the work place, we’re not friends, we’re only co-workers. I don’t need you to be nice, I don’t need you to go drinking, I just need you to do the work.
So I think one of the keys of why I do well, why people go to me for questions, why I get the “important” projects is simple: I’m reliable. You go to me when you need something done well or need something fixed. There are countless instances that say “This guy hasn’t let me down before”…so people put their faith, trust, and peace of mind with me. Because I’ll get sh!t done. And look good doing it And it will be done well.
However, if you want to do very well, reliability won’t take you far enough. You’ll be good at your job but what happens when new things are thrown into the mix. What happens when you need to adapt to new changes? You can take them as they come…but that won’t make you reliable anymore. You’ll be playing catch up just like everyone else. You need to be prepared of new things ahead of time. That’s where the second part comes in: Passionate to excel.
This is speaking strictly from the web developer role and through my experiences with previous co-workers, co-op students, as well as current co-workers. All the developers, senior developers, and co-op students fit into these 3 different roles/categories: they can’t get the job done, they do the job, or they do the job well. The exceptional ones, the ones I think back with high regard all had an extra quality in common. Passion. Passion for this field we work in.
One of the senior developers was very passionate about the field. He had his own website, went home and did research in the area as well as developed in his own time. Went to web seminars, kept up with current technology. He loved this field.
Another senior developer built his own site within the last couple of years, learning technologies beyond what was presented in the workplace.
One co-op student came in with a lot of knowledge on PHP and jQuery, something he had learned before hand. Because he knew so much, I also learned a lot…more on him later.
Another co-op student also had her own site, reading programming books and developed in her own time to accomplish tasks outside of what was necessary.
Note that these exceptional ones all have the reliable trait as well. There have been passionate, unreliable ones…I’m not talking about them…
All of the people above (and I’m going to throw myself in this category), at some point learned in their own time. It wasn’t for the job (though the job benefited in the end) it was for some type of personal gain. They used their personal time to learn.
In my eyes, that’s what made the difference between doing the job and doing the job well. It was the added, extra experience you can’t pick up on the job, the experience that takes practice and time and carries with you throughout your life. It was being resourceful, using experience to offer new solutions and out of the box thinking. You don’t get that with people who just do the job. They just want the end result, they don’t care how you get there. They want things to work, but it doesn’t matter how it was done. Which is fine if that’s what you want…but it’s not good enough for me. If I were their manager, I wouldn’t keep them….because again, I want a job done well, not a job simply done. I wouldn’t pay people for satisfactory. But that’s just me. I’m a perfectionist/elitist/control freak :)
Personally, I can’t grow with people like that around me, people constantly making the same mistakes, people that just don’t really care. I mean, they care about their job, but just enough to get by. It’s the ones that I can learn from, the ones that counter/argue with me and say to me: “You’re doing this wrong Warren. (Dumbass).” that I want around me. If their point is valid, if I respect their skills and intelligence, I will listen. And I will learn and hopefully not make that mistake again. I will grow….and just the same, I can call them a dumbass (in a nice way) and they’re willing to see my point and grow as well.
There was one co-op I worked really well with. We had the relationship where I could easily say “no, that’s a terrible way to do it” and he could do the same. We would spend lots of time, 30 minutes to an hour simply arguing about the best way to do a simple, almost irrelevant thing. And I loved it. Because I respected his intelligence and input, we both really worked together to do something the right way. We didn’t care about the task or the project, it was a fundamental care for developing. But I learned a lot from him, he was really strong in jQuery, often saying “man, the 20 lines of code you wrote, I could do in one” or “that’s coded really poorly…why not do this”. And I would (at first take offense and counter with why I did stuff the way I did) but I would always take what he said into consideration. If he was right, and he often was, I would then modify my code to make it shorter, better, up to his standards. Which is awesome, he pushed me…despite being a co-op, he would say “you suck, i’m better than you” and it would make me do better.
Anyways, getting a little side tracked. If I had my choice, I would surround myself with these people. Reliable and passionate. In a perfect world….
But I have clearly seen (from experience) the difference between the 4 traits.
I’ve seen unreliable and indifference. That guy got laid off.
I’ve seen unreliable and passionate. That guy got laid off too.
I’ve seen reliable and indifference. Those people are still employed.
I’ve seen reliable and passionate. One guy got promoted to senior, one guy was senior, one guy was me…sorta getting promote (i hope >_<) and...well, I guess those 2 co-ops are doing alright? I don't really know. From what I have seen, and what I've written, I truly believe: Reliable to succeed. Passionate to excel. holds some merit, at least in the developer world.
When you’re working, take some time and think it over. Look at these traits, look at your co-workers, look at yourself. Think about it…
I’m a bit annoyed at myself for writing this given all I’ve written and how strongly I believe in what I’ve written but I should add that reliability can also be a negative trait to have. I would honestly say I’m extremely reliable…but because of that, there are often times when I get near impossible tasks – impossible to do in the set working hours, possible to do if I work (unpaid) overtime. And because I pride myself in reliability and it’s a key trait of mine, it’s often the case that I will work overtime or after hours to finish a seemingly impossible task in a timely manner. I believe I put more overtime than the other 39 or so people in the department…well, I would I would be in the top 3 for sure. And it all depends what you want, if you want to sacrifice personal time (and in my case, get no monetary gain) and if you think the sacrifice is all worth it. And I personally believe it is….that it will pay off in the end…but maybe it won’t and then I’ve wasted my life/time (tho I believe in karma, so I think I should be okay). It’s up to each person to decide a question like that…if being very reliable is worth it or not.
Given the type of person I am, the way I worked before even thinking about this stuff…it’s clear that I’ve already made my decision. Reliable to a fault.