Notes

That Magical Tool For Facing Deadlines

June 28, 2018 General Notes

It’s time to acknowledge a permanent and a frequently visited attribute of my professional career otherwise known as ‘meeting deadlines’, and who could better express that emotion visually other than a Calvin & Hobbes. That sense of accomplishment is briefly trounced by an uncanny nervousness with sticking to timelines, on whether it’s a strategic design proposal or preparing slides for an upcoming discussion on a creative project. And although the groundwork had truthfully commenced the minute all information was rounded up it wasn’t until the eleventh hour that the conception magically began taking shape! Yes, magically. But how? Much like most things today that are easily derived using a mobile app or other similar contraptions at the click of a button, that one ethereal tool which I use in filtering the surge of my creativity and delivering within deadlines is called the ‘panic button’.

Meeting Deadlines - Calvin & Hobbes

Source: Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

November 10, 2017 Notes

This November 7th Twitter announced it’s doubling the character limit from 140 to 280. It wasn’t that long when 140 characters seemed like a barrier as I typed my first notes in 2007. And as time flew, I accepted the challenge of emitting my views with limited use of words albeit using more tweets. In the process, I also became deft at using English terms. It was fun but that wasn’t the only thing I liked about the restraint of Twitter’s ABCs. Comprehending the emotions of my counterparts was also painless, whether a friend’s happy event, an unfortunate tragedy, or an outrage on some political news. I cannot ignore the diverse forms of outraging on Twitter with humour or insulting language and mindless obscenity. At times for good reasons, sometimes frivolous but mostly done for a harmless banter presumably. Regardless of the personal motives let’s applaud Twitter for doubling the characters. It’s a welcome change even if it increases the length of our tweets at least our views & interests would be communicated instantaneously and not in multiple pieces. Here’s to more tweeting with 280 then!

October 24, 2017 Notes

I took to Facebook soon after its launch in 2006. Back then, the enthusiasm was palpable in experimenting with a new online medium which redefined the concept of connecting with friends and family online. Though as I ventured into my future this opinion about Facebook changed and I started viewing it as a ‘Snob’s Lair’ where each person despite the struggles seemed content, for reasons best known to them. This plausible fakeness was instrumental in my detachment from this platform, I turned myself into an infrequent visitor.

My perception regarding the social networking site notwithstanding, I decided to challenge my intellectual status quo and see for myself how Facebook would treat me after my longish absence. I’d gathered the courage to shun my apparent misgivings about Facebook and picked up my phone. I tapped the first few posts on my timeline with a ‘Like’, a happy smile, and even congratulated an old friend who’d been promoted at her work in a lengthy comment. Ecstatically a few minutes later I received all the goodwill through some likes, smileys, and comments! My experiment proved successful. I cannot assure if I’ll be embracing Facebook full-time like before, but it’s then that I realized something that Mark Zuckerberg had been saying all along about “connecting people”. It’s about participating in other people’s happiness and sorrow and acknowledging the upheaval in their personal lives. Even if the interaction seems virtual on social networking the emotions exchanged are genuine and worth its weight in gold!