Movie Review: The Dark Knight

OMG.

I freaking love this movie.

First, the acting is unbelievable. Heath Ledger’s Joker is sick. He is psychotic, disturbed, deranged, insane, wicked… everything that makes a villain great. His body language, his voice, his eyes… it’s such a pity that we will never see him be Joker again. But what a great legacy he has left behind. If he doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for his performance, then the Academy needs to be disbanded, seriously. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gylenhall… you have to credit Christopher Nollan for casting these actors. They really lived these characters, and they really show how they have grown since the first movie. Christian Bale is the perfect Batman. Yes, I am biased, considering I’ve had a crush on him since Empire of the Sun, but it is about time he is being recognized for being the brilliant actor that he is. I’m a bit disappointed that he reached this level of recognition through a blockbuster movie (has anyone seen The Machinist? Yeah, thought so), but I am glad that this blockbuster movie is not the conventional Michael Bay crap (though Transformers redeemed him of his past sins) of blowing stuff up and cliche love story. And can I say how happy I am to see Maggie Gylenhall as Rachel Dawes? As soft and gentle her features are, she has that inner strength that portrays Dawes’ toughness and vulnerability that is more believable than Katie Holmes.

Second, the storyline is so real. The battle between good and evil, the grey areas our heroes got pulled into, and the ethical and moral limits they are pushed against… it’s so real and it makes you think as an audience. This movie is such an intelligent action movie that does more than just car chases and fight sequences. You feel the pain and the moral questions the characters have to answer to. The dialogues are poignant, each scene folds to the next with such edginess that I even found myself holding my breath a few times. Both Batman Begins and Dark Knight stay true to the graphic comics that they are based on, and this is how Batman is supposed to be. The grey areas are portrayed such that you can either go towards the light or keep falling to the dark, and you can justify each action fairly. Even the way Joker rationalizes his evilness, you kind of have to agree with what he says about anarchy and chaos, as sick as it is. If you want the PG 13 superhero movie, go watch Fantastic Four. 

Thirdly, what can I say about the action sequence? If you think Batman Begins is cool, The Dark Knight is even better. There is a sense of evolution in this movie that connects the two movies together. The gadgets, the car, the motorcycle thingy… James Bond, eat your heart out. 

I will be accused of being biased for this fourth reason, and I will proudly admit that I am being biased… Chicago. I literally started jumping in my seat when I saw the Wrigley Building, the Daley Plaza, the Chicago River, the blue and white license plate, the underground roads which, by the way, if you are unfamiliar with Chicago, you should avoid at all costs because you will be stuck there forever.  I know Christopher Nollan chose Chicago for Batman Begins for the El and the underground roads, but I am so grateful that he shows more of Chicago in Dark Knight. It’s so exciting that the superhero world went away from typical (dare I say predictable too?) New York and LA. I am excited that Chicago now represents Gotham City, when previously the fictional city has been associated more with New York. Chicago represents, yo! Now I’m homesick.

I hope there will be a third installment, and the darker this movie gets, the more real it’s become, and that’s what sets The Dark Knight apart from the other superhero movies. Moreover, the storyline is universal and it will never get out of fashion as long as humanity still exists. Kudos to Christopher Nollan and his team. This is THE movie of our generation.

 

PS: A movie that may give Dark Knight a run for its money is Watchmen (released in 2009). I remember spending hours at Borders reading the comics when I was going through my Alan Moore phase, and I can assure you Watchmen will really make you rethink the definition of good and evil. And in the hand of Zack Snyder, the director of 300, you know this movie will blow your mind away. Watch the trailer (http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/) and embrace the anticipation.

Heaven Inc.

As I was driving to work this morning, I was thinking how close I was yesterday to cutting open my eyebrow or losing my two front teeth, thanks to the wide leg pants with cuffs and my pointy shoes. Having been raised as a Catholic in a devout Catholic environment, I tend to believe in the premise of guardian angels. Though I am now a self-proclaimed Agnostic, my Catholic background still creeps up every now and again. And this morning it crept up on me and (believe it or not) it made me rather grateful that someone up there was looking at me.

Then it got me thinking further (obviously the drive to work was rather boring). How many people are there on Earth? 6 billion people, thereabout? So God, if He does exist, is responsible for the well being of 6 billion people, regardless of religion because, if God judges people through what they believe in, then He is not the kind of God we should worship. Anyway, ok, 6 billion people. That’s a lot of people. So I’m sure He has assistants, to help Him look after these 6 billion people. Say, for easy classifications, He divides his assistans and assigned them based on people’s birthdays. So there’ll be some Angel or Saint assigned to each month of the year. Then, within each month, there’ll be more Angels or Saints assigned to date ranges in that month. I know my December guardian angel is Hazkael (or something like that), and I’m sure somewhere in Heaven, he is right now listening to his subordinates on their attempts to help the helpless mortals (i.e. us) from driving themselves further into temptation or disasters. I’m quite sure that there’s some nameless Angel or Saint who is describing to Hazkael now how he prevented me from falling TWICE yesterday. I hope Hazkael asked him why he let me fall the other day in the parking lot. But at least he made sure that no one was around when I fell, so I forgave him for that.

God would probably have monthly meetings with his Saints and Angels too, in his boardroom in Heaven. I wonder what they’d talk about. Does Hazkael update him on his department client servicing activities? Do they talk about the issues in Middle East? Do they talk about how to warn people of natural disasters that are about to happen? Do they strategise how to ‘punish’ people by letting natural disasters happen so that they will repent after losing their family and material things? Do they discuss which soul is to be given to the fetus in a woman’s belly? Do they observe us and laugh at the stupid things we do?

I wonder too if these Saints and Angels fight each other and play office politics to get promoted. Apart from Lucifer, has anyone else been fired from Heaven? Do these Saints and Angels have lunches together? But being the immortal beings that they are, they probably don’t eat anyway. Do they have an annual dinner and dance? Sexual harrassment clause? Do they have a party when it’s Jesus’ birthday?

What I would give to be a fly on Heaven Inc’s wall. But that probably means I’d have to die first. Unless I can build a ladder to Heaven and spy on them myself without the inconvenience of death.

I am my own worst enemy

Background story #1:
Sometime during my junior year in college, my buddies and I seriously got into tennis. So serious that we were actually playing 2-3 sets a day everyday (though it lasted for only a week, but that is a major achievement for us lazy bums). Considering I once represented my junior high in a national tennis tournament, I had a bit of air about me being the best tennis player in our group.
We were playing doubles, and I was serving to this guy, who is overweight and has never hold a tennis racket in his life. I gave him a considerably soft serve, knowing he would not be able to return it otherwise. However, through sheer beginner’s luck, he returned my serve so perfectly that I stopped on my track momentarily before running after the ball. For some reason, I was in shock a little longer than I realized, and before I knew it, the ball hit my crotch. At 120 miles an hour.
I could only imagine how painful it must have been for guys to be hit between the legs until that day. That day, I experienced such immense pain that I could do nothing but keeled over and lay on the ground in a fetal position. I tried not to cry, because there’s no crying in tennis. From that day onwards, I stop underestimating overweight dudes.

2. Background story #2:
Also sometime during junior year at college, we trashed IU in the most humiliating manner at Ross Aide. The student section was just living it up, throwing cups and abuse at the IU bench, and this guy decided to rush the field. Needless to say, the cops were on him immediately. Five minutes after this kid got arrested, the players went up to the student section and started pulling us down to the field. The cops could not be bothered to arrest all of us so they let us roam free on the field. I’m quite sure that kid who rushed and got arrested is still kicking himself for not waiting for another five minutes. It’s almost tragic.
Anyway, we were happily walking on the field, after all, this was our first and last time rushing Ross Aide, and I was happily chatting away as I normally do. The next section of this story is verbatim from my buddy KY: I was just walking and pretending to listen to you (KY is a guy, obviously) when suddenly I didn’t hear your voice anymore. I got worried because you probably noticed I was half-listening and had gotten mad at me, so I turned to look at you. Only I couldn’t find you. I looked around me, and you were nowhere to be seen. Then somehow I decided to look down, and there you were, flat on the ground. The funny thing is, there was nothing anywhere near us that would trip you and make you fall. So how the hell did you end up there?
My answer: there was a TV cable, and by the time KY saw me on the ground, the TV crew had gone elsewhere along with the cable. Of course no one ever buys my story of the phantom cable. But I swear, that was what tripped me.

Background story #3:
I was living in Beijing, and it was fall. I had the urge to eat instant noodles, so I boiled some water. As I was pouring the water into the bowl of instant noodles using my left hand, for reason that is beyond my own understanding, my right hand decided it needed washing. So, I burned my own hand. Despite having put my injured hand under running water for minutes till my fingers turned pruny, gigantic blisters still formed on the middle and ring fingers, and my pinky. What did I do next? I consulted Dr. Peng online and checked WebMd.com. So the next day I went to get some needles and sterile solution, I was going to do it the GI Jane way and treat my own burnt fingers. As long as I kept everything clean, I would be all right.
However, I had a vision of my own clumsiness doing more damage to my already damaged fingers. My overactive imagination started imagining things like what happened if I got myself infected? I was in Beijing after all! The air alone carries so much dirt and germs. So, I let myself be persuaded to see a local doctor at our school’s hospital by my Beijing crew. They were worried for me, but at the same time found the whole thing very entertaining. (Prior to burning my fingers, I tripped over a stool and fell at a club, then a week later, I sprained my ankle). They escorted me to the hospital, which could very well have come out from a Stephen King’s novel. I can’t even begin to describe how delipidated the building was, and how could I even trust that they would do a better job than me using a sewing needle to pop my blisters?
An old Chinese doctor saw me and was shocked at the size of my blisters. He then took a syringe and used it to pop my blisters (see, I could’ve done this at the comfort of my own apartment) . I was in so much fear of the hygiene in this hospital that I started crying. My friends thought I was being overly dramatic; I was at first, but the old Chinese doctor also poked my healthy flesh with the syringe while draining my blister. My limited Chinese was not adequate enough to tell this old guy that his eyesight was failing him and that he was now hurting me more. So I just cried. And he patted my shoulder, telling me “Bie ku le.” (= don’t cry). I would stop crying if you took that needle out of my healthy finger! But he was old and he was nice to me, so I forgave him in the end.
I can still see the faint marks on my fingers from this misadventure that started from a craving for an instant noodle. I use oven gloves now more often in the kitchen.

Why I am writing this post:
I fell down a few days ago at the parking lot. If you ask me how I fell, I’d tell you that there was a TV cable. Truth is, I tripped over my own foot. Luckily, no one was around, but like Sis B said, there probably was an old auntie sitting behind a wheel who saw me trip and fall and started laughing at me in the safety of her car.
Then today, I tripped myself twice and nearly fell. Thankfully I did not fall. Had I fallen the first time, I would probably be needing another 7 stitches on my eyebrows. Had I fallen the second time, I would have lost my two front teeth.
I tried to analze how I could possible tripped myself THREE times.
Conclusion: my obsession for wide leg pants. On both days, I am wearing wide leg pants with folded cuffs. Apparently, my pointy shoes tend to get themselves caught on these cuffs. Hence tripping me over. Note to self: pair wide leg pants with round toe shoes.

If you know anyone who is a bigger hazard to themselves, please let me know. I would love to compare stories.

If I were Ruler of the Universe, I would destroy and ban ALL PCs

I am not stating that because I am a Mac user now.

I am stating that because PCs SUCK.  And I am probably a little bias because I am a Mac user now.

Let me describe to you the battle I go through everyday with this piece of technology called the PC:

Belle arrives at office, turns on computer. She waits for the computer to start up, and she is enjoying her morning coffee while waiting. After about a minute and two sips of coffee, the screen to enter her password appears. She types in the password, and waits again. She continues to enjoy her coffee. After about another minute, the desktop screen loads up. But she has to wait for at least two minutes for the computer to be ready for use. That is fine, since she is still enjoying her coffee.

After two minutes, she tries to open her Outlook. She clicks on the icon and but nothing happens. She figures it will take a while to load, so she opens the internet explorer. Nothing happens also. By now, she has wasted about five minutes waiting for her computer to be ready. Now Belle, contrary to popular belief, is a very busy girl and hates wasting her time at work. If she is to waste her time at work, good food or some serious goofing off would better be involved.

So five minutes have passed since she plopped her tush at her desk, and she has done nothing so far but wait and drink coffee. The caffeine does not help because right now Belle is getting very agitated and about to make the computer work faster by banging the side of the PC. Thankfully internet explorer loads up and she is able to check her personal email. About the same time, Outlook finally loads too and now she can check her work email. Crisis averted. Or so she thinks.

While trying to switch between windows, Outlook to Explorer, to Microsoft Excel, to MSN (used to discuss work issues with her coworkers), Belle also has to wait. There is no smooth transition between windows, which means she has to wait. Again. Belle resists the urge to scream. All this waiting equals to time wasted and nothing annoys Belle more at the work place than time wasted over nothing.

Sometime during the day, Belle is working on her monthly report which includes a lot of data entry and anaylsing it. Suddenly a small window pops up and she accidentally hits enter, because the next step in her data entry is to hit enter, and the stupid small window pops up unannounced and unexpectedly she cannot stop her finger from hitting the enter button until it is too late. She sits in horror as one by one, her running programs closes without any prompt to save. The computer is now restarting. Belle has to get some coffee to calm herself.

When she comes back five minutes later, the computer is still restarting. She sits back at her desk, sips her coffee and thinks of happy things while waiting for the vicious cycle to start all over again.

Now, let’s compare what Belle goes through everyday when working on her Apple iBook. Belle presses the power button, and in 10 seconds (or even less) the screen comes up for Belle to enter her username and password. After doing so, it takes another 10 seconds (or even less) for the desktop screen to load, and within mere seconds, she can open as many programs as she wants and starts working on whatever it is that needs working. Let’s count how long Belle has to wait. And compare that to the time it takes to operate a PC.

Belle easily opens and closes windows, changing between Safari, Office, Excel, Quicktime, iTunes, MSN, Skype, and the list goes on…. No time wasted on waiting. When a Mac needs updating for its software, it does so in the most polite way. There is still a small window popping out of nowhere, but it does not make itself so prominent that you are spared of the consequences of hitting the enter button too fast. Now, isn’t that very thoughtful of the Apple folks?

Now, let’s say you’re a manager of a company of 20 staff, and you all use PCs. They’ll be wasting at least 5 minutes everyday waiting for the stupid thing to load. Now, let’s calculate 5 minutes per person, in a company of 20 people. ONE HUNDRED MINUTES. AT LEAST. PER DAY. Sounds like a lot of time lost over nothing. Compare that to Mac. 10 seconds and 20 staff. See the difference?

I know I should appreciate PC because I would not be writing this right now in this media had it not been invented, but by God, can they PLEASE work on its efficiency? If Steve Jobs can do it with Mac, why can’t the others do the same? (One answer and I’m sticking to it: Steve Jobs is a super genius). So yes, if I were ruler of the Universe, I would get rid of all PCs and replace them with Mac. I’d take care of those war things going on in the Middle East first (I have my priorities), but after that, it’s the PCs I’d be waging war against.

PS: Those who are more computer literate than I am, you are free to comment but do not judge my decision to switch to Mac. And don’t tell me about the features I can use to make my PC go faster or whatever, because that’s not the point. The point is, the PC should work as fast as Mac does without any additional thing that I have to do to make it happen.

Movie Review: Red Cliff

So, supposedly this is the Chinese epic that everyone has been talking about. I am not much of a Chinese movie fan, so I did not even know about this movie until Channel News Asia talked about it a few days after the opening day. From the way people have talked about this movie, I became quite interested, and since I am the kind who falls easily into a movie’s hype, I decided to go and check it out.

Unfortunately, I am not too satisfied with the movie. I have seen other Chinese movies like Hero, Crouching Tiger, and another one whose title I cannot remember, and I quite like these movies. They were entertaining, the acting was really good, and the storyline is distinctively Chinese and in line with our culture. Red Cliff however, fell flat. Maybe I had too high an expectation, thanks to the hype. 

Let me share with you why I don’t like Red Cliff. Firstly, the acting was a bit forced. It’s like watching a group of actors who’s trying to portray wisdom through the expression on their faces, which ends up looking unnatural and fake. I’m sure the historical persons these characters are based on were really wise and really intelligent, but what’s with the long gazes and squinted brows? There were just too many of those throughout the movie. Secondly, there are so many scenes that can be omitted, but I think they were not edited out simply for the purpose of showing off the CG. Yes, it is important to show how large Chao Chao’s recruited navy was, but that can be done in one flowing shoot instead of putting two similar scenes about the boats back to back. All these extra scenes make the movie lose momentum, and I got so fed up and impatient. Yes I get it, huge army vs. much smaller army, get on with it already. Thirdly, some of the dialogues don’t really get anywhere; perhaps the meaning or the philosophy behind it was lost in translation. Or perhaps they should just improve the dialogues and cut the facial close ups. Fourthly, the battle scenes kind of sucked. It may just be me, but after Two Towers and Return of the King, I compare any battle scenes to the ones in these two movies. The tortoise strategy is an interesting Chinese war strategy that I can fully respect, but the execution of it is very rough. It just doesn’t flow well enough for the movie, and worse, it made the movie look amateurish and hard to believe that such a strategy can actually work in a real battle (sorry, John Woo).

The saving grace of this movie is the history behind the storyline. I had no clue whatsoever about the story or the characters prior to watching the movie, but at the end of it, it perked me enough to find out more about the series (Three Kingdoms), and to anticipate the sequel.

I certainly hope non-Chinese audience or those who are unfamiliar with Chinese history will be interested in this movie, despite its shortcomings and overhype. I am looking forward to the sequel, simply because I have no time to read the books, and I want to know how the story unfolds.

The Wonder of ERP Gantries

I witnessed something that I never thought I would see in a developed country.

Let me provide you with a background story, especially for those living outside Singapore. The Singapore roads and highways are equipped with these toll gantries called ERP. They are basically an automatic toll booth. You drive past it, and it will automatically deduct a certain amount from a cash card in your car. These ERP gantries were implemented to reduce congestions in the central business district and the downtown area, so that people will take public transport instead of driving their cars. The smart thing the government did was, they positioned the ERP gantries in such a way that there is no way of escaping it. For example, I drove to Orchard Road on Monday to attend my class there. I passed through THREE gantries and was charged $4. Feeling annoyed, I tried to devise other alternative routes to avoid that high a toll charge, but I realised that there are none. You have to give it to the government here, imagine how many cars pass one gantry during rush hours. All that money……

Anyway, back to what I saw last night. I had to pass 1 gantry on the highway on my way home. It was about 8pm, and as I was about 30-50m away from said gantry, when the traffic became unusually congested. I saw motorcycles parked on the road shoulder, even a couple of cars too, so I thought there must have been an accident. Being a busybody that I am, I slowed down too and tried to find out where and how bad the accident was. Then I saw the ERP gantry, and the time displayed was 7:59pm. My assistant manager, who was in my car, put two and two together. All these road users were waiting around until 8pm, when the ERP would be turned off. So they purposely slowed down, parked their vehicles on the shoulders, and watched for the clock to turn 8:00. Sure enough, the moment it hit 8pm, the ERP was switched off and traffic was back to normal.

I am quite amazed to find such a practice here. I would think that this is something Indonesian road users would do, since they are already such rebels on the road. Would I pass the gantry at 7:59? To tell you the truth, I probably wouldn’t even notice it was a minute away from the end of ERP.

I wonder now if this has been going on since ERP was first started in Singapore, or if this is a new practice of saving money now that everything is expensive.

Into the Unknown

What would you do if you find yourself on a boat, all alone and miserable, and the only way to escape the unhappiness is to jump into the dark water with an unfathomable depth?

Would you feel nervous, scared, excited, challenged?

I am feeling a mix of emotions for tomorrow, as I will be jumping head first into this water at 10 am. I am scared and nervous, because I know I cannot fail and I cannot screw up. I need to be able to swim well in this unknown water and keep my head above the water. I am scared of the waves that may hit me unexpected and choke me, keeping me underwater one second too long.

I am trying to turn this fear and nervousness into something positive. I try to imagine myself as Santiago of the Alchemist, when he was tricked and robbed of everything he had in Africa and had to rely on himself and his faith in the universe to help him get back on his feet. I believe that what I am pursuing right now is what I am meant to do. Nothing makes me happier and more satisfied than writing, and this is the one passion, apart from sports, that I have felt strongly throughout my life. I believe that this is where my heart lies and this is my calling.

But there is a nagging feeling of doubt that keeps creeping up in my mind. What if I’m wrong? What if this is a false alarm, triggered by my current situation? What if this is just a trick my mind is playing on me as an easy way out of my problems? 

I want to be sure that what I am doing is the right thing to do. I want to know and be reassured that this is the path that I have been looking for. I want to believe that the fear, the nervousness and the doubt is just a barrier my rational mind is putting up to quiet my heart’s desire. 

Taking a risk is not only putting yourself on the line, but also living with the consequences of going forward or moving backwards. I can let the negative feelings take over, and take a step back, only to wonder the what ifs had I taken a deep breath and let fate take over.

I will take this risk and jump head first into the water.  And I will swim with all my might towards my destination. Whether I reach it or drown along the way, it is secondary. I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t find out what’s outside this boat. 

Wish me luck.

My Guilty Pleasure: So You Think You Can Dance

As far as embarrassment goes, I have to say this admission of guilty pleasure tops my list.

I have been a fan of this show since last year, when I caught Season 2 on Channel 5. I cannot explain why or how I got hooked; it may just be the idleness I was living through while job searching in Singapore, but I got hooked all right. So much so that I would glue myself to Youtube every Friday night to catch bits and pieces of the latest episodes, and my Friday night habits still carry on to today. For those who are unfamiliar with the show, it’s basically the dancing version of American Idol.

I have hit the dance floor many times during my college years and even now. And with all modesty (really) I think I’m not that bad a dancer, but there are times when I watch this show that I wish I could move and pull off tricks and lines like the dancers do in the show. My most favorite part is watching the hip-hop dancers or the breakers doing other genres and hence being put right out of their comfort zones.

My favorite thus far is Ivan from Season 2. He started the season dancing Salsa and drew lots of criticism from the judges. From then onwards however, you really see him grow as a dancer as he attempted Argentine Tango and contemporary. His development wowed and impressed the judges, even his contempoerary piece made one of the judges (and yours truly) teared up a bit. But seriously, his dance routine with his partner to Annie Lennox’s Why is really, very beautiful. It’s indeed impressive to see someone who picked up dancing and had no training whatsoever can develop so much and so fast.

So now we are on Season 4, and I am still religiously following the show. If I lived in the US, I would probably be wasting my money calling in my votes for my favorite couples. I’m excited to see two hip hop dancers and a B-boy in the top 5 couples this season, but I foresee the B-boy getting eliminated this coming week. The girls mostly come from the contemporary genre, and it’s not as exciting as the boys because I guess contemporary gives you more flexibility in dancing. I’m just theorizing my own rationality, so those dancers out there, don’t come to me with your knives out.

There is something magical with dance, I suppose. How one can translate music and lyrics into movement is simply magical. That is the case with Ivan’s contemporary routine to Why. You know what the song is all about, and when you see him and his partner translating the emotions of the song into their movement, you’re just captivated.

It’s amazing to see the kinds of choreography that are being danced out each week, and I think this is the most interesting part about the arts. How does one find the inspiration to paint, to create a melody, to find movements that touch people emotionally? I asked this to a band member I knew in New York once, and he said that he simply heard the music in his mind. He is an atheist, but he believes that his gift to hear and write music is a divine inspiration.

I don’t want to get too deep into this post, since it is just supposed to be my admission to my liking this dance show. A friend of mine has called it the stupidest thing he’d ever seen, but to each his own, right?

Random Tired Thoughts

Finally some breathing space.

I had so much I wanted to write about during these past few days when I was tied up with work, but now that I finally have some free time, my mind is completely blank.

I have to admit, it has been a struggle going through work these days. My moods have been up and down; one day I am all motivated to stay put and fight through my troubles, only to find myself completely discourage the moment I step into my office. Another day, I arrive in my office with a frown and zero motivation to do anything. Everyday, I drag myself to get up and get to work, and finally I realize, regardless of my moods, I simply have no more passion for what I am doing.

I often question myself though, is it just me giving up, or is the fight really not worth fighting for? I know that surviving this environment would be a major character building and learning experience, but at what costs do I go through such life training? Is it worth it to lose my temper, coming home late and in a bad mood, losing sleep at night? Does my decision to leave the company mean I’m running away from my problems?

At the same time, I am finally at peace with my decision to take a major gamble in my life. I will leave food science and take my chances in writing through public relations. I wrote my first press release (albeit a fictional one), and I remember feeling intimidated when I was planning my drafts, but I felt exhilarated the moment I finished it. It helps a lot too that I got the highest mark in my class- pat on the back, please- and I feel justified that what I am doing now is right.

So I suppose I can tie this back to my first post about the importance of passion at work. At the end of the day, which is more important for me- the title, the money in my account, or following my heart and doing what I REALLY want to do instead of following the rules? I am happy to say that I finally found some sliver of peace in my mind and that glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Hang on little tomato.