**Music & Travel**
I was busy with my cousin’s wedding, which began in Singapore (church + dinner) and a week later, ended in Penang (dinner).
I tried hard not to suffer from performance anxiety, and ended up Twittering a lot just hours before I was scheduled to play the wedding march. What was amusing was my cousin the groom was also Twittering back to me!
While in Penang, the Tan clan enjoyed their stay at the very chic G Hotel (which has been featured in Wallpaper and Monocle, no less) and a few of us enjoyed 2 straight nights of jazz at the hotel bar, albeit with too much cigarette and cigar smoke around us. Needless to say, the Penang hawker food was excellent, but I really had to hold back on the char kway teow. I hit the gym instead. Twice.
In between the two wedding dinners, I played the piano for a grand farewell party for a senior colleague. So all in all, it has been a very eventful week, with lots of piano practicing involved.
**New geek toy**
My [Dell 23″ HD monitor](http://www1.ap.dell.com/sg/en/home/monitors/monitor-dell-st2310/pd.aspx?refid=monitor-dell-st2310&s=dhs&cs=sgdhs1) arrived over the weekend, and I am quite pleased with it! It has VGA and DVI-D ports to connect straight to PCs and Macs respectively, and is in a beautiful combination of white and black. It was on sale for a while, but I held back from buying it. Which was just as well, because Dell then lowered the prices further! So I payed S$279 for it, not including the extended 5-year warranty.
However, it’s a little too big for the corner of the desk (where I originally intended to place it). Ideally I wanted it positioned such that I could use it as a 2nd monitor while working on my MacBook Pro, and then turn it slightly so I can watch shows from my bed, further away. It’s now in a more awkward position, but in a more spacious location, on another part of my desk. So I am thinking of swopping it with my G5’s 20″ monitor (in my music studio). The smaller 20″ monitor would fit more comfortably on my desk, exactly where I want it to be.
The lesson: Less is more, more is less.
But now it appears that I may need to bring my Dell monitor to work, because I have been squinting at my small laptop screen, trying to go through my project plans and spreadsheets. We won’t be getting monitors so soon, but we were also advised not to buy any new hardware because eventually something will be done about it. As a result I’m stuck in the middle. So I may bring this rather large monitor to work, until the official monitors arrive.
**People, old and new**
A longlost friend got in touch with me, out of the blue. Other friends I haven’t seen in a while, also want to meet up. Also, I seem to have become an agony aunt and counsellor to a good friend. So things are getting interesting.
On Friday evening I will play host to a foreign visitor. This is part of my new work, which I hope will be exciting and fulfilling. I am getting to know my new team mates better, which is always a good thing.
While I didn’t intend to keep score, I realised that this week I passed the 500 mark for number of connections on LinkedIn. However I also received a number of requests from would-be MBA students, would-be INSEAD students, and random people from foreign countries who I had no connections with. The MBA applicants want to ask me lots of questions and get in touch with them. The others don’t even write a personal message to explain why they’re connecting with me. I’ve decided to ignore them all because I do not have time to upkeep such relationships, and because they’re complete strangers who I shouldn’t be connecting with.
**Pride**
Finally, I learnt that 3 web projects I worked on have been nominated for national awards. One project was largely of my own blood, toil and sweat, and I really enjoyed conceptualising it and working with the creatives who implemented it. If we win something, you’ll definitely hear about it from me later. It was quite difficult for me to sleep that night, because I was simply so happy that we made it this far.
So, onwards and hopefully upwards!