Is Apple Turning Into Windows?

The iPad mini launch absolutely disappointed me. I must say, when I saw what Apple was doing with the new iPad and the iPhone 5, I thought "Uh-oh, Apple's in trouble" But when I saw the iPad mini launch... I got that sinking feeling that Apple without Jobs is no longer Apple.

For the first time, instead of talking about the experience of using Apple and the groundbreaking, game-changing breakthroughs - it seemed like all Apple can talk about now are technical specs. Doesn't that sound like something Windows would do?

Standard Marketing case studies always attribute Apple's success to its ingenious deviation from the "my device can store more songs than your device." Apple was always about the user experience and how the product made you feel.

I remember one marketing case study asking "What happened if Microsoft designed the iPod?" This is what it would look like.

I am quite sad to say, what Steve Jobs stood for seems to be slowly eroding in Apple. Instead of absolutely revolutionary stuff - Apple seems to have resorted to playing catch-up with the other manufacturers. I always remember the brilliance of the iPad. People were making netbooks and thinner computers, tablet notebooks and whatnot and Apple came out with - the iPad. It created its own segment. It confused market researchers. They didn't know what to classify it as. Now, sadly, that is no longer the case.

On top of that, Steve Jobs used to have this amazing way of launching revolutionary products at an "I-must-have-it" price point. Nowadays, the guys at Apple are using the same quips but they don't carry the same values. Sad.

My ultimate measuring stick? I got bored halfway through the video. I think I've said enough.

In any case, if you haven't watched the iPad Mini video, here you go.
You'll see what I mean.

MBTI - Personality Profile

So, everyone has gone back to the personality test craze lately. The first time I took the Myers-Briggs Test I was an ENTJ with strong leanings towards the Extroverted side. The second time I took the test the gap between Extrovert and Introvert narrowed but interestingly, my T (Thinking) and F (Feeling) also became borderline.

So, I decided to go back and take the test again.
Clause, I took some website version which I have no idea if it's the right one to take...

So, I'm still an ENTJ.

Interesting to note is that now I have marginal or no preference between Extraversion and Introversion. Haha - it must be the age. I think I am becoming more introverted as I get older. Does spending time with God count as spending time with other people? :P I mainly like time alone to read and spend time talking to God. And it is true, that I nowadays find myself more energized when I am not with people or being the life of the party - although I do have my moments.

Okay, then what struck me is my Judging versus Perceiving is a distinctive preference. I never paid attention to this part of the results before but it is soooo true. I really do like my life in an orderly manner. I like things planned (sometimes I plan too much) and I like things done early.

Then I went on to descriptions of ENTJs.

Apparently, ENTJ's are supposed to be the go-getters and the natural leaders. While the MBTI website states that all types are equal, according to one description ENTJs are supposedly the richest and most educated. ENTJs were also the rarest of the personality types and the most desired type. hmm... *shrugs shoulders*

Get a load of this description from one of the sites.

ENTJs are natural born leaders. They live in a world of possibilities where they see all sorts challenges to be surmounted, and they want to be the ones responsible for surmounting them. They have a drive for leadership, which is well-served by their quickness to grasp complexities, their ability to absorb a large amount of impersonal information, and their quick and decisive judgments. They are "take charge" people.

There is not much room for error in the world of the ENTJ. They dislike to see mistakes repeated, and have no patience with inefficiency. They may become quite harsh when their patience is tried in these respects, because they are not naturally tuned in to people's feelings, and more than likely don't believe that they should tailor their judgments in consideration for people's feelings. ENTJs, like many types, have difficulty seeing things from outside their own perspective. Unlike other types, ENTJs naturally have little patience with people who do not see things the same way as the ENTJ. The ENTJ needs to consciously work on recognizing the value of other people's opinions, as well as the value of being sensitive towards people's feelings. In the absence of this awareness, the ENTJ will be a forceful, intimidating and overbearing individual. This may be a real problem for the ENTJ, who may be deprived of important information and collaboration from others. In their personal world, it can make some ENTJs overbearing as spouses or parents.

Haha... I see myself in this description - the good, the bad and the ugly.


Career Paths
Interestingly enough most sites state Law or CEO or Professor (Higher Education) as career options. These were things that previously were in my consideration pool for careers. One side even said Politics or Counseling, a few other choices that I felt inclined to previously too. However, the big MISS was when a lot of them stated IT and Engineering... O.o -- those are things I would avoid like the plague haha.


Famous ENTJs
- US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- US President Richard Nixon
- Margaret Thatcher
- General Norman Schwarzkopf
- Steve Jobs
- David Letterman
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Jim Carrey
- Former US Vice President Al Gore

Needless to say, I was quite thrilled to share the same personality type as US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as he was the President during WWII. I have always said that I was built for war, although maybe not the same kind as FDR.

FDR was instrumental in the victory of the Allied Forces - he was the one who declared war on Japan and Germany after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He also helped pull the US out of the Great Depression. He was the only American President re-elected more than 2 terms. He is apparently constantly rated as the Top 3 Presidents of the US.

However, I am not too sure what I feel about being the same type as President Nixon... haha... But he was the President during the Vietnam War... I guess, that's proof for you that your personality isn't everything and it's your character and how you manage your life that matters the most... :)

For the most part of it, I was quite happy to see Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the list too. She was quite accomplished. She was after all the longest serving British Prime Minister and the only woman to be elected to that post. I watched the movie the Iron Lady and I must say that the part that bothers me the most is exactly the pitfall of an ENTJ - too aggressive, domineering and overbearing (if not corrected).

Steve Jobs pretty much had the same problem although he was a creative genius. General Norman Schwarzkopf was a Gulf War general (there's that war reference again). I bought his biography because I heard Pastor Lia talk about him before.

I guess, this provides a little insight into life - the potential do really make a difference in the world as well as the pitfalls of not taking care of first things first - character.


My only disconnect with the ENTJ is my love for music, theater and the performing arts. My only tinge of hope is the presence of Steve Jobs in the list of famous ENTJs haha... I guess that explains why I have my preferred, systematic methods of doing creative things.

On an ending note, the funniest thing about this whole personality thing - the animal associations. I am apparently either a lion, a shark, a gorilla or a bull. Clearly nothing too feminine... hahaha.... :)

Dom is apparently my total opposite -- I am an ENTJ he is an ISFP. The joke was that in one test my animal was a lion and his was a kitten... =.= (we had a good laugh in office that day).


I am thankful for who God created me to be.
Thankful that I have my own set of gifts and talents and also that I do not exist in a silo because I would be hampered by my weaknesses. Being in a team with people of different strengths makes life beautiful and the work that we do more effective.

For more information on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, you can visit their website.

The Value of Life

Just as I was winding down my Sunday with 2 pieces of bread and lightly salted butter, I received an unexpected SMS from Christian....

"Yassy, Neill has been killed in an accident..."

He had gotten wind of the news from a tweet by Scott Wilson, head of MNML the design studio where Neill worked.

I couldn't really say that I knew Neill, I never met him. But some work stuff necessitated our exchange of emails. While most work emails stay purely about work, I had the opportunity to talk to Neill about stuff other than that. I deduced from his emails that he was a really hardworking guy - last December he had told me

"The only days I will not be available are December 25 and January 1. I can be reached at any other time, and of course always if there is an emergency."

Other than that,  we often joked about how the other would reply mails at what was supposed to be an ungodly hour in their part of the universe.

Our email exchanges led us to talk about our interests and I shared with him that I work in Heart of God Church and I told him about how we had a lot of young people. I found out he had grown up in a Methodist church and that his experience there was one of his happiest times. He was looking for a church in Chicago and was hoping to find the right fit. He was a lawyer by training and enjoyed practicing law. His work at MNML gave him opportunity to do just that without having to deal with the more precarious side of law.

Although we had never actually seen each other, I would consider him more than an acquaintance. Our exchanges were always work mixed with a little bit of fun. He joked that he hoped I would not lose respect for him because he was a lawyer and I think he did genuinely want to come to Asia to experience "Asia as the Asians do"

Then on 5 October just a little before 9, as he was cycling to work, he swerved his bike out of the way of a car door that suddenly opened in front of him. His bike swerved out of the bike lane onto oncoming traffic and under the wheels of a semi. He died on the spot.

It would be presumptuous for me to assume I knew him better than his family, friends and co-workers; after all, it was only through reading the news articles that I found out his favorite color was green because too many people liked blue. 

The whole incident though did plunge me into some reflection--I guess, because I had never really known anyone who passed away, so suddenly, at such a young age. He had just turned 32. 6 October was just an ordinary day. I think it is safe to assume that Neill was doing what he would have done any other day. 

I guess when we're young it is easy to believe that we will live forever or at least for the next 50 years. Our mortality is not something that we grapple with every day. And yet, the truth is life is short. We do not know what tomorrow holds. 

There's an old hymn that goes

I don't know about tomorrow;
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine 
For its skies may turn to grey. 
I don't worry o'er the future, 
For I know what Jesus said. 
And today I'll walk beside Him, 
For He knows what is ahead.
Many things about tomorrow 
I don't seem to understand 
But I know who holds tomorrow 
And I know who holds my hand. 
Every step is getting brighter 
As the golden stairs I climb; 
Every burden's getting lighter, 
Every cloud is silver-lined. 

I guess, it's true -- I do not know what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow; and that's enough. That's not to throw things to the wind and say "Que Sera Sera" but it does mean that whatever life may bring and whatever tomorrow holds, there's a stability in heart and a peace in my soul. 

I am thankful for life and love and liberty. 

I am thankful for the people in my life, especially pastors, who show me how to love others because life is short and eternity is all that matters. 

I am thankful for the chance to live again, for Your grace that never ends... Always, I will give You praise. (Thank You, C3 Oxford Falls)

Newsies the Musical!

Was at Jazz today, and it all started when choreo for Jazz 1 started.
Weicheng said it was going to be broadway-ish. I was ecstatic - I love musicals... But when he played the song, I wasn't familiar. The song apparently was from Newsies the Musical.

So, I got curious and so I started researching a bit more and I got hooked for a few hours.
Okay, on theater and musical lovers - Newsies was nominated for like 8 Tonys and won Best Original Score and Best Choreography (explains why Weicheng and Michelle absolutely love it)

Check out their Tony performance... absolutely spectacular!
The dancing on the newspaper and the jumps are quite amazing to watch! And the photograph at the end is real smart :) Good staging :)

So the music is by Alan Menken -- how can you possibly go wrong with an Alan Menken musical? He's done pretty much all the famous Disney productions - Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Pocahontas and even newer stuff like Tangled. I mean, I grew up with my favorite song being Beauty and the Beast (Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson version)

Needless to say, my favorite Disney Princesses were Belle and Princess Jasmine - it always made me feel a little bit like a princess and that gave me the liberty to dream. 

Well, something that Disney does well that they've done with Newsies is that they manage to tap on to themes of dreaming big and making a difference. What I particularly like about Newsies is that it talks about young people being able to make a difference and stand up against injustice. While I haven't actually watched it on Broadway (I would love to), the idea of little kids watching this and having the notion of standing up for something introduced at that age - well, I like it. 

Now, on a different note, Disney does their marketing real well too.... 

There's a whole channel introducing the cast of characters and some backstage pass videos. 

These are some of my favorites:

Backstage Rituals :)

The Original Cast Recording

Specs, the sensitive one, was a Ballet-Trained Dancer!

(check out those turns!)

So... I have now added to my list of musicals I want to see if I could go to New York any time in the near future... Newsies!