((little fat notebook))

Today I met with a couple of like-minded people to talk about entrepreneurism and one message seemed clear: start early. All of those with experience are mostly in their 20’s and certainly not over 30-something. They started in their teens or 20’s and have been living the startup lifestyle for years. It seemed to be the consensus that the best time to start is when you’re young and still in college. That’s when you don’t have to worry about supporting yourself financially – there are parents, scholarships, or loans to help you. And once you gain traction, you can graduate and hop right into it with more confidence because you’ve been working at it for awhile and you can convince family, friends, and investors that your business will succeed.

Well, that’s not the plan I have. I’m taking a more “safe” route, I suppose, working first, gaining that experience, taking it to learn in business school, and finally branching off on my own. Of course, the most difficult part will be letting go of a steady job and living off of savings to get my company going. But I trust that I can and will do it. I don’t want to end up being the type who just talks about big plans and ideas and never goes and does them. I’m not going to be that type.

So though I will be older, more experienced, and have more to lose, as they say, I fully intend on staying my path. I guess that’s exactly why I’m confident in my plan – because I’ve had it since middle school. Sometime around 8th grade, I believe, is when I decided I wanted to go to business school. I can’t remember when I added starting my own company as the next step beyond that, but little has altered. I have changed my ideas enough to strengthen my plan, but the overall framework has never faltered (like how I now want a green MBA because I want to go into the environmental field). And after dedicating so much of my thoughts and time to my plan, how could I not follow through?

No matter how daunting it might be to do so, when the time comes, I’ll have to take the plunge. I even told Panda to be prepared. In the mean time, I’m not going to get too comfortable working a steady job so that when change comes, I can embrace it.

Sadistic or cute?

laelene Post in photo blog，Tags: cars, interesting, observation, pictures

03 May 2010

A little bit of both, maybe.

bernie strapped to the front of a big rig

Night Safari entertainment

laelene Post in video blog，Tags: entertainment, night safari, singapore, travel tales, videos

02 May 2010

Outside the Night Safari in Singapore, you can find these guys and gals performing as the night darkens and you get ready to peek into the night lives of animals.

balancing on poles from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

traditional dancing from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

fire dance from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Continued…

Unsubscribe

laelene Post in general blog，Tags: behavior

01 May 2010

For some reason, now that I’m working, I’m never in the mood to check my personal email. So, to make things easier on me, I’ve started to unsubscribe to all the things that used to clutter up my inbox, like invitations to take online surveys (which I just ignore anyway). There are also a bunch of newsletters and offers that I never look at, so I’ve gotten rid of those. I think because I’m making a real income now, spending time making a few cents at a time just doesn’t matter as much anymore. I’d rather focus my time on resting for work and being fully alert for it. Back when I was a student, time meant less to me than it does now. Sleep was also not a priority! Now, both of those are.

Within a week or two, I should only get a handful of messages a day, versus the dozens I’ve had to sift through. Maybe that will make me want to check my personal mail more often, since the quality emails that I actually want to read aren’t hidden amongst a pile of junk that I never had the heart to get rid of. Well, now I am more than happy to clear out that part of my life. Isn’t there some saying about a clean desk is a clean mind? I’m sure a clean inbox is too. And maybe, just maybe, that “Unread Messages” count will dip below 1000 and eventually find itself no more than two digits long. That would make me a happy camper. 🙂

Orange cuteness

laelene Post in video blog，Tags: animals, singapore, videos, zoo

30 April 2010

Today I share with you a brief video clip of an adorable baby orangutan. There’s just something about the young of various species that is inexplicably adorable.

orangutan from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Puzzle rental

laelene Post in general blog，Tags: idea, opinion

29 April 2010

I wonder if there’s a market for puzzle rentals. I think we should be able to rent them out and return them after we’ve solved them, much like borrowing books from the library or getting movies from Netflix. That way we get the satisfaction of solving more of them without the associated price tag of purchasing them. In trying to find such a thing, I came across RentAPuzzle, which does just that, but forces a time limit on solving the puzzle and costs a pretty penny. I’d like a more economical way of playing around with puzzles – one that lets me do so in my leisure the way Netflix lets you enjoy a movie for as long as you want before you swap it in for the next one.

Based off that site, it doesn’t seem to be a hugely popular thing (or perhaps it’s just because people are like me and prefer not to have a 2-month restriction). Might also be that people who spend a lot of time putting a puzzle together never want to take it apart again. Though it’s kind of cool to have around as a keepsake, if I wanted to put a puzzle together to seal it with glue and put up, I would have just gotten a painting instead. Certainly I would take plenty of pictures to remember it by, but I’d rather have another one to work on and challenge me (and without dropping hundreds of dollars on those crazy huge ones).

eco-friendly puzzle with seeds that you can plant after use

So cute!

Or maybe I could just get these eco-friendly ones, which are super cute. The paper is embedded with seeds (see more on seed paper here) so you can finish the puzzle, then plant the pieces! Now there’s a dual use. As the paper biodegrades, it becomes fertilizers for the little seedlings sprouting. Pretty nifty, but then nobody else gets to enjoy that puzzle. I still think the best solution is a huge warehouse of them where people can choose the ones they want to work on and exchange them for the next one when they’re ready. That way everybody gets to do more with fewer puzzles being created, which means less material and energy used. I’m all about saving the environment in every little area possible.

Crescent moon

laelene Post in photo blog，Tags: nature, pictures

28 April 2010

It’s really grainy and difficult to get a good shot at night, but I think these turned out decent. 🙂 (Click on images to enlarge.)

crescent moon at night, over office buildings

Patented genes

laelene Post in general blog，Tags: 60 minutes, opinion

27 April 2010

I watched a 60 Minutes video on companies that own patents to certain genes, in particular the “breast cancer genes” – the ones that are closely tied with whether or not a woman is more or less likely to develop breast cancer. Is it wrong for companies to be able to “own” genes? I definitely think so. My understanding is that patents are to protect ideas and inventions, of which neither can be laid claim to in this case. However, I do think they can patent the processes in which they discovered these genes (if, of course, they actually came up with these methods and didn’t use someone else’s). After all, what right do they have to own something within our very bodies?

This legal terminology wouldn’t really matter too much if it didn’t have the real-life implications it does. Women who want to get tested for the breast cancer gene can only do so through Myriad, the company with those patents. They can’t even get a second or third opinion! Oh, and let’s not forget that having the monopoly on testing means they set the price – which is estimated to be ten times what it could be if they had competition. Nobody else is allowed to test for or even look at this gene without approval. Now that’s just ridiculous. How are we supposed to be able to come up with solutions to battle breast cancer at the cellular level if you can’t even look at the genes involved?! A restriction like that halts research that would save so many lives. After all, the more people working towards a common goal, the better chances of breakthroughs.

Their argument is that the genes are something different when isolated – but can you create them yourself? NO. Hence, I think they have no right to claim ownership of it. As far as I know, every single patented thing up until now has been something conceived of from the human mind or created by humans artificially. And if that’s not the case, it should be. After all, everything in nature was nothing created by us, and should not be owned by any of us.