Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Ph.D.
I study people, technology, and the worlds they make
Month: July 2008 (page 1 of 5)
Again via Light Skinned-ed Girl: Colbert and Cookie Monster.
“In the Sixties and Seventies me like the Robert Downey Jr. of cookies!”
From Light-skinned-ed Girl:
Are you Suffering From Hidden Talents?
Alas… No, I’m not.
Interestingly, this is the same year in which Popular Mechanics published it’s now-classic home of the future article- the one that later gave rise to the Nunberg Error.
Plus: another link from LSG, “Listening for the Click.”
There’s construction around the Big Building, so the kids can’t edge it. Edging is an age-old school activity in which the kids go all the way around the Big Building, holding on to the various pieces of molding, columns, etc.. Sort of like buildering for the under-13 set.
I wonder at how many schools kids climb on the main building? It’s more the sort of thing they do at Cambridge or West Point, than an elementary school. (Though no one has put a car on the roof… yet.)
I’m in the magnificent Terminal 3 at Changi, waiting for my flight to San Francisco. I’ve got two hours before we start boarding, and I plan to do some work before I get on the plane. I doubt I’ll have a power adapter at my seat, the way I did on the way over.
via flickr
The flight home leaves around dinnertime, lands in Hong Kong around 9:30 local time, then gets into San Francisco around 8:15. So while I was in perpetual early evening on the way to Asia, I’ll be in about 20 hours of darkness on the way back. Actually, I expect it’ll help me get more done.
I was supposed to go to Malaysia today for a meeting, but fortunately we were able to do it over the phone instead. I think I would have collapsed if I’d had to get on two more planes today.
After that, I went to Raffles City, grabbed some sushi at Jason’s Market (my favorite easy lunch), then grabbed the MRT out here.
cool fountain at raffles, via flickr
I’ve got a ton of writing and about 5000 e-mails I need to take care of. Workshops generate a lot of follow-up.
Last night I had dinner with a few people from NUS and Oxford at Japanese Dining Sun (or Sun Japanese Dining, or even possibly Japanese Sun Dining), in Chijmes, a former Catholic convent turned entertainment destination (I hope it’s all deconsecrated).
The restaurant itself is high minimalist, with some really nice touches. It’s a chain, with other branches in Hong Kong and Shanghai, but still I quite enjoyed it.
via flickr
I had the seafood kamameshi, a kind of hot pot with seasoned rice and vegetables cooked together, then topped with roasted eel, squid, and other things. It was outstanding.
via flickr
The raw salmon and roe appetizer was also really, really good.
It was also really good to get these different people from various parts of my professional life together: a couple Oxford students interested in technology transfer, and NUS people in the new media program.
One of my good friends has the admirable ability to put together terrific dinner parties, and it’s a skill be able to mix up people from different backgrounds or places who’ll get something from each other’s company. Another on my long list of things to learn to do!
I’m back in my hotel, after the workshop at NUS. The workshop went quite well: it was an excellent group, and we got some very good ideas and scenario work out of them.
For me, these things are exhausting. Not only does each one require several days of prep but they demand a full day of being ON, which is pretty draining. In the room you have to be hyperactively engaging, listen carefully to everyone, draw people out, convince the skeptics, synthesize the conversations, etc., etc.. Plus beforehand you’ve got to think like an events planner (should these tables be moved? do we have enough water? will the air conditioner make too much noise?) and roadie (how do I move these tables?).
And before that, you’ve got to plan out every step of the day- not so much with the expectation that you can operate the day with military precision, but to give you a clear enough sense of what you’re doing to make it possible for you to successfully improvise when something unexpected happens (like when you’re scheduled to restart at 1:30, but the waiters only bring out the main lunch course at 1:20).
Even for me, who was described by a college housemate as having two emotions, on and off (she later added a third, strobe), it requires a lot of energy.
But I really like doing these workshops- not because they’re easy, but precisely because they’re hard work, and several different kinds of work. The technology for supporting them is changing rapidly, and there are some huge opportunities to do interesting new things. And a good workshop has some of the best of teaching, which I think I’ll always regard as the noblest of activities.
I’m going to rest up for a bit, then go have dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Chjimes.
I woke up around 5, and couldn’t get back to sleep. I often wake up early the day I’m running a workshop.
via flickr
I know it looks the same as last night. I expected it to be raining, but it hasn’t rained since I bought an umbrella yesterday morning.
Add REST: WHY YOU GET MORE DONE WHEN YOU WORK LESS to your Goodreads shelf
My books on Goodreads
The Distraction Addiction: Getting the Information You Need and the Communication You Want, Without Enraging Your Family, Annoying Your Colleagues, and Destroying Your Soul
reviews: 78
ratings: 316 (avg rating 3.53)
ratings: 316 (avg rating 3.53)
