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One Year Has GoneTime has taken one more year from my life~
Reactivate the blog module, read the articles I've written.
It's so interesting to recall the memory fragment that once lived in my mind.
Always be scared to grow up, but it happens all the time.
Anyway, this year is exciting and fruitful.
3ds Max, Model, Texture, Material, 3D Transform;
MaxScript, Plugin, Utility, Macroscript, Callback, Event;
AI, Network, Synchronization;
Renderware, Gamebryo, Pipeline, Binarizer, Resource;
Rendering, Backbuffer, Frontbuffer, Alpha Trick, Z Buffer;
Vertex, Normal, UV;
DS, PS2, EE, VU, GS, Tuner;
Scene Management, Culling, Sorting;
Decal, Texture Trick, Palette;
Lighting, Glow, Shadow, Environment Map, Lens Flare, Full Screen Effects;
The more I've learned, the more I hunger for.
I love technique because it isn't as capricious as human beings.
Live is simple but time goes faster. Fish TaleFinally, my little "Fish Tale" got running on device~~ Let me track back~^^
Up to now, I won't forget the embarrassment that GASP (a middleware for mobile multiplayer games) bring me. At the very beginning, I was in totally blank and I want to start with the GASP Demonstrator. That’s all right. I've always got Eclipse (an integrated development environment for JAVA) on my machine and it's not too dull to download Carbide.j (a software development tool for J2ME) and S40 SDK (if you got a Nokia, it mostly like runs in S40) form Forum Nokia. Soon, I got them worked and compiled GASP Demonstrator Client successfully. Then turn to the server. Tomcat and MySQL. I had never got in touch with these two stuffs. But I've done some project with IIS and DB2. Although they are different thoroughly, at least I know what they can provide. There's no surprising installing them. Now, everything was ready except the GASP platform. Double click the icon, get it installed, and depressed in its walkout. When you know nothing, it may be a good choice to reinstall. So I uninstalled everything even including the Eclipse and installed again. Get failure again. And reinstall again and get failure and reinstall and get failure and reinstall and ... didn't stop until my head get stuck like the fucking GASP platform... Suddenly, it worked. The only difference is that before I double clicked the fucking setup file, I moved it to disk C. What an idiot that with such a low compatibility! Even now, I have no idea about why it didn't work at that time.
Anyway, both the client and the server were in motion. The demonstrator was simple but it showed the features of GASP clearly. Based on the demo, I started coding. Every little step made me exciting. I learned how to write J2ME codes. I wrote some test codes to find out how the library behind the API performs when I couldn't get the accurate explanation from the documents. I learned how to make music played on the phone. I even learned how to reduce the size of image file. I edited the pictures pixel to pixel to achieve better effect. I tried to implement some new ideas of my head. Some worked well and some didn't perform as my imagination. I do my best to make the codes graceful, keeping it in mind that what teacher has taught me, a good habit of coding, and the style of you. Programmers' characters are reflected on their codes. (Yes, I call myself programmer not software engineer now. I think a qualified software engineer should be much better than me, and I'll be one of them one day, I'll surpass most of them one day and...)
Today, "Fish Tale" runs well on the simulator. But it's a mobile online game. I won't be satisfied until I see it work on the phone. What I got? A broadwidth connection, a desktop, a notebook, a wireless router, a bluetooth adapter, a smart phone. My ISP didn't provide static internet IP address. So I can't use GPRS to access the server I set up. But my little M608c is powerful. Though it has no Wi-Fi, it can access internet by bluetooth. I installed Bluesoleil and bridged the bluetooth connection with my broadwidth connection. It's fantastic to browse your favorite sited in the blanket~^^. But bridge is base on layer two, MAC layer. The data transferred between the two connections are based on MAC address not IP. So I don't know how to access the GASP servlet from the phone...>_< I should know the principle of network bridge and find a way... I've learned Computer Network... But my poor attendance rate... I have no chance to escape lessons more... I have no more lessons...
But such a little problem won't obstruct me long which could be described in just one sentence. Installed bluetooth network service on my destop and put the desktop and my notebook in one local network. Then they can ping each other by IP address. But what I encounter was not that easy. The firewall blocks the http request... The tomcat is capital sensitive... Bluesoleil isn't friendly at all... And it's complicated to setup bluetooth internet connection between phone and computer… And when the connection was setup, I spent a lot of time on finding out how to let JAVA application on the phone use the bluetooth connection not the GPRS...
There's one thing that can melt down everything. It's success. No matter what it takes to get to the point, once successes, all that left are happiness. "Fish Tale" isn’t over. It can be better and better and better. I just reach a milestone and there still can be a lot of improvements. I'll keep working on it. Dreams Come TrueA round of paper test and four rounds of interview.
Finally I succeeded.
Determined to be a software engineer four years ago.
Dream about entering game industry two yeas ago.
Today, dreams com ture. C++ PuzzleIt's a valid declaration: Char (*(*x())[]) ().
I've been in confused for a long time. >_<
Let's see the following code segement:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
char retChar() { return 'A'; }
char (*(*x())[1])() {
char (*q[])() = { &retChar };
char (*(*p)[1])() = &q;
return p;
} void main() { cout << (*(x()))[0](); }
The output is 'A'.
char (*(*x())[1])() is a function declaration,
whose return value is a pointer,
which points to an array of function pointers,
and the function returns char.
(^^ Thanks for Ji Cheng's help.)
It seems that we get the answer finally.
But char (*(*x())[])() and char (*(*x())[1])() are different.
If we remove the '1' in the above code segement, it will appear:
cannot convert from 'char (__cdecl *(*)[1])(void)' to 'char (__cdecl *(*)[])(void)'
Now we know what is char (*(*x())[num])(),
but what is Char (*(*x())[]) ()? The Sixty Anniversary延安的校园里现在郁郁葱葱的,没有那个时候空旷的感觉了。班主任Boss美国回来苗条了不少,不过稍稍有些谢顶啦,当年若不是他将全班唯一一个优秀毕业生的名额给了我,我可能要永远地告别心爱的计算机专业了。娃娃脸数学老师现在也成熟不少啦。她竟然还记得当年我的那份紧张:那次模拟考结束我担心死了,晚上给她发了好多短信问这问那,后来发现是第三名,空紧张一场。然后她找我谈心,接着的一次模拟考她特意把我的那份卷子批得特别松让我得了第一。直到现在她还记得那张卷子的分数。好感动啊~
兄弟们都还是那个样儿,女生们的幻化能力令人惊叹。Feeling法国回来越来越有风韵了,有个MM惊艳得让我都不敢相认了,还看到了当年楼下班级那个可爱的小女孩,呵呵。签名领了纪念CD和帽子,合影的时候都给落在办公室了>_<,好郁闷啊~
转眼大学都要毕业,高中的生活好像已经很远,但走进校园依然能找到那份亲切的感觉~ Happy National Day这些日子来浏览了好多好多的手机,最终还是选择了两个月前第一眼看上的M608c,靓丽的小黑。
前天在寝室的写字台上,将陪伴了我三年的Dell小灰,跟随我完成实习的IBM小T,加上新来的索爱小黑一字排开,感觉好爽。
寝室里的兄弟说你现在“双核”啦,我说是啊是啊可惜我没有两个脑袋。
丫头说:“打算买黑的还是白的啊?”我说没想好;丫头说:“个么你到时候一定要犹豫半天了。”
呵呵,还是被丫头说中了,那天黑黑的白白的考虑了好半天;最后还是小鸡说服了我:
屏幕暗着的时候是黑的,那么自然是黑色的外形更有整体感啦。不愧是小鸡,就是聪明啊。
跑步计划进展顺利,回想开学第一次去的时候跑了三圈,真是上起不接下气,头昏脑涨路都走不稳了;
现在一口气跑五圈还有力气留心路上的MM~_~,坚持下去一直到每天跑3000米,丫头就没法再说我体弱多病了^-^。
小黑的毛病还是挺多的,Bug被我抓出一大堆,没办法啦,没有什么是完美的;
对待这个世界你是接受呢还是接受呢还是接受呢,随你选吧。
不着急,到时候软件版本升级了,小黑一定可以再完善不少。
今天中秋,赶回家陪妈妈^-^
比较郁闷的是功课还有好多没做完。。。
太郁闷了,还得去接着做>_< Will You RememberWill you remember the dress I wore?
Will you remember my face?
Will you remember the lipstick I wore?
This world is a wonderful place.
Will you remember the black limousine?
Will you remember champagne?
Will you remember the things that we've seen?
I will return here again.
Will you remember the flowers in my hand?
Will you remember my hair?
Will you remember the future we planned?
The world is not waiting out there.
I won't remember the dress I wore.
I won't remember champagne.
I won't remember the things that we swore.
I will just love you in vain.
Will you remember?
Will you recall?
Will you remember? .NET Notes用了一天时间,制作了一个 Web 浏览器,小家伙的名字叫做 Google Search Explorer。集成了 Google Search Service,具备标签浏览功能,整个程序应该有 1000 多行代码吧,当然啦,有 IDE 的帮忙,真正需要自己写的连 200 行都不到。呵呵,好了,现在就让我来好好夸一下 Microsoft 吧。
刚开始学程序设计的时候用的是 Visual C++ 6.0, Turbo C 也用过,觉得写程序是一件头痛的事,要注意的细节太多了,动不动就报给我几十个上百个 Error,写一个小小的程序都要 Debug 无数次。当然了,蹒跚学步自然总是磕磕绊绊的。后来接触了 Java,开始用 Eclipse,赞叹 IDE 竟然可以方便到这种程度,觉得 Sun 好厉害,设计了 Java 这样简洁易用的语言,IBM 好伟大,开源的 Eclipse 比 VS 好用那么多。
从 7.0 开始 Visual Studio 给自己贴上了 .NET 的标签,用 Visual Studio .NET 2003 做的稍微大一点的项目只有一个,主要是因为 VS2003 当道的时候我投入了 Java 的怀抱,哦,确切地说是学校的课程投入了 Java 的怀抱。接触 .NET 还是最近的事,新鲜的技术总是让人着迷,开学到现在我已经看了五本关于 .NET 的书了,呵呵,当然了,只是挑选着其中的章节来阅读的。C# 是汲取了 C++ 和 Java 的优点而诞生的语言,也是支持 .NET 最到位的程序设计语言。Java 类库已经相当容易使用了,.NET 的公共语言类库更加方便,这个还得归功于 MSDN,查阅 MSDN 比查阅 JDK Documentation 方便好多。呵呵,一月份的 MSDN 是支持 VS2003 的最后的一个版本了,现在我正等着四月份针对 VS2005 的 MSDN 发布呢。
大概一两年前在网上看到这样的评论:.NET 阵营的开发环境太棒了,让 Java 阵营的程序员不得不羡慕。语言的先天优越性,加上完备的资料查询系统,海量知识库。过去有问题习惯直接 Google,现在钟情 MSDN 了。哦,说了那么多好象还没 VS2005 什么事嘛,呵呵,到这里就体现出天价 IDE 的优势了。从名字上就可以看到 VS 系列具备极强的可视化编程能力,VS 的 Designer 比 NetBeans 或是 Eclipse 的 Visual Editer 插件都要健壮许多。加上 CLR 的控件比 MFC 的要好用太多了。全新设计的类库,配上优秀的 IDE,易用性完全上了一个档次。.NET Framework 把程序员从细节中解脱出来,可以让人更专注于软件的逻辑设计。在 Visual Studio 2005 下编写 C# 程序简直是一种享受。
下半学期应该会让我们开发一个比较健全的 Web Service 吧,这两天晚上躺在床上构思着,想到一个不错的主意,不过这篇文章够长了,留着下次再来慢慢叙述我的开发计划吧。^_^ Whimsicality1. 幻想有一天我可以同时操控两台电脑,左手一台,右手一台,分别进行着高强度的编程。然后么,所有的程序都能够一遍编译通过。呵呵,当然啦,我不会介意左手为 Google 工作,右手为 Microsoft 工作的。这个幻想出自《天地无用》里的那个电脑狂和《高达 Seed》里基拉重写 OS 的能力。脑袋要转那么快可能有点难度,不过可以玩玩 VOS 什么的先把双手锻炼得足够灵活 ~_~。
2. 《最终幻想 VIII》里 Squal 的那把剑帅极了,不过体积庞大,携带不便,重量应该也小不了;《星球大战》里杰迪武士的光剑就轻巧多了,不过还要挂一个像手电筒一样的东西随身带着;《圣斗士星矢》里山羊座修罗的圣剑是无形的,最 Portable 了,不过无形的剑不能用来炫耀,这个不太好。所以么,理想的状态是像修罗那样把剑的力量依附在手臂上,要用的时候可以像杰迪武士那样变出来,最好还能变成各种各样的形状,这样就能像 Squal 那样扛在肩上装酷了。
3. I wanna fly.从很高很高的地方俯视大地,自由自在。是不是要有翅膀可以随便,要与人的体型配套那么翅膀的大小可想而知,坐在教室里伸个懒腰还得打开两边的窗户,还不说背着那么大的翅膀怎么走进教室。我也设想过这对翅膀可以穿透一切,半透明的,但这样就不符合空气动力学了,凭什么你的翅膀能穿透墙壁,还要让人家空气把你托起来?那就不要翅膀算了,代价是又少了一样可以用来摆 Pose 的东西。或者那对翅膀也可以像光剑一样呼之即来,挥之即去?
4. I don't wanna die.上帝说你好好表现死了可以让你进天堂,魔鬼说给我你的灵魂我给你永生,明显魔鬼的条件更划算,更诱人,说不定还会附带送你一些个超能力什么的。
5. ...更不切实际更狂妄的幻想就不在这里写出来了...>_< Valentine's Day小卡片上丫头的署名里写着:第一个情人节。~_~ 我也是。
昨天下午看到窗外下着淅淅沥沥的小雨,觉得有些气恼,怎么那么好的天气突然就变得那么糟糕啦。然后今天早晨起来拉开窗帘,发现阳光明媚,一下子就觉得很高兴了。和丫头是在中山公园见面的,小家伙今天特别漂亮 ~_~。我都不记得上次踏进那个公园是何年何月了,所以也不知道有没有变化 >_<。不过听到旋转木马那里放着“泥娃娃,泥娃娃,泥呀泥娃娃~”,特别熟悉的音乐,小时候一直听到,那个时候还会有事没事地哼哼,不像现在的我一点声音都没有。
我们坐船,然后船在小小河的中间坏掉了 >_<。一对好心的小情侣开着他们的小船来撞了我们的小船一下,然后就漂到岸边啦,我们去换了一艘小船,刚从船上下来的一对年纪比较大的夫妻(也可能不是夫妻的)和我们说这艘船老好的,然后这艘船果然老好的没有再让我们困在小小河中间。开回来的时候看到一艘小船,小船上有一对小两口,一男一女,那个男的伸出手拖着一条空空的小船,也就是刚才我们坐着抛锚的那条小船,他们开到哪里就把那条抛了锚的小船拖到哪里,那个时候我就想那条小船上的小两口满无聊的,尤其是那个男的,当然啦,如果主意是那个女的想出来的话,那么就是那个女的更加无聊一点点。然后就是看到小码头的工作人员开着一条小船来停止了那条小船上两个人的无聊行径。
中山公园满大的,丫头说比徐家汇公园大多了,嗯,不然这个地铁站也不会起这个名字了。这一带没有像步行街上那样缠着你让你买玫瑰的小 P 孩,玫瑰不好,是花总是会凋谢的,但为什么要偏偏在我面前凋谢呢,搞得自己很有负罪感,所以我们的情人节只有不会凋谢的玫瑰 ~_~。遵义路和仙霞西路的交界处有一家百盛,上面有一家电影院,这是一家我很熟悉的电影院...哦,打住。很巧的,正好赶上我想看的电影开始,电影院里只有四个人,呵呵,自从在《新上海滩》里看到刘德华和宁静看私人专场后就特别喜欢这种感觉,我喜欢很宽敞的感觉。电影满好看的,这不重要,今天陪我看电影的人才重要。
我们散着步路过了我的小学,我的幼儿园,我的初中。这样,在以后,包括很久很久的以后,每次经过这些地方的时候我就会想起丫头。嗯,这个城市里会有越来越多的地方留下我和丫头的回忆。想带丫头去看一个很漂亮的小公园的,只是这个时候天还没暗,天还没有暗的时候这个公园不是我想给丫头看的样子。在等待太阳落山的时候,我们两个...
小广场上错落着几座小金子塔,四周散落着点点星光,镶嵌在地面,闪烁着,变幻着颜色,一些白色的亮点组成了星座的图案,很密集的,星星围绕在四周的感觉很美妙的。第一次发现这个地方的时候就在想要是丫头能在我身边多好啊。
回家的时候觉得怪舍不得的,真想她一直在我身边,不过没有前些日子初中聚会分离后那么伤感啦,那么多昔日的朋友要再这样聚在一起很不容易的,而过不了几天开学后我就能天天看到丫头啦,这还是我进大学后第一次这么期待开学呢 ~_~。 Without Rhyme傍晚,很莫名地在飞鹰雕像和上院之间的小道入口被一个女生拦住:“可不可以问你几个问题啊?”打量了一下,没有带包,没有纸和笔,两手空空站在那里,很奇怪,还是同意了。
“没有。”看过一本书叫做《圣经故事》,然后下过电子版的《圣经》,看了一点点,觉得没什么意思就删了。猜想她们是不是在做什么项目需要这方面的调研啊。
“喜欢。”这个世界上能像计算机让我这样专注的事物并不多,面对两个看似毫不相干的问题,当时并没有很诧异,呵呵,想到自己的专业就不小心陶醉了一下。
“没有。”圣诞节这天倒是路过了徐家汇天主教堂,夜晚,远处望去只有哥特式的大窗户泛着神秘的亮光,悬在半空的样子,教堂主体完全融入了夜色,泛出的光芒并不足以惠及四周的墙面。孤单的窗户,但是很漂亮。几年前特意去拜访,周六,大门紧闭,很让我失望,更因为他比我想象中的渺小太多。
“呵呵,不知道。”这个问题...呵呵,亏她问得出来。宿舍楼一层悬挂着一句惠特曼的话:“没有信仰,就没有名副其实的品行和生命;没有信仰,就没有名副其实的国土。”每天上上下下都能看到这句话,会联想到《东西方文化概论》课上老师给我们讲授的犹太民族历史。并不是想将人生的意义和信仰同化,但感觉对于人生意义的看法很大程度上取决于各自的信仰。一度很无聊地思考过这个问题,就像在之前的一篇文章里提到过的:思考教会我不要思考。记得那时丫头问我什么叫做思考教会我不要思考啊?觉得有些问题单凭人的智慧是无法找到答案的,所谓的思考只是在浪费时间并自寻烦恼罢了。又让我想到假期里看过的《半梦半醒的人生》,言辞穷尽,导演终究找不到答案。将人生的意义暂且归约至信仰,问题就简单许多了。即便如此正常人也不会做出回答的,更何况面对一个对其一无所知的人,更何况我的信仰是一缕维持起来那么那么辛苦的焰心。
我很怕死,很怕很怕死,一切你所爱以及爱着你的人,一切的理想和努力,不美好但如此诱人的世界,都会随着那一刻灰飞烟灭。宗教一个很大的作用就这样体现出来了,为你构造另一个世界,让人的一生不用纠缠在生生死死的烦恼中。所要做的一切:相信即可。可惜的是,我是如此地固执和迷恋自己的信仰,不肯妥协给类似宗教这样为我们搭建起来的,一个很容易很安逸的境界。
走出校门在回来的路上,都在回想这四个问题,无法揣测她的意图,那就停止思考,然后在拥挤的公车上开始构思这篇文章。呵呵,好久没有为这里添丁了,要谢谢那个诡异的女生给了我的灵感。 Really A Man这是一次令人难忘的生日聚会,Jack 是我们班男生中年龄最小的一个,但却拥有最健壮魁梧的身材。两年多来提起 Jack 总是聚焦在他作为校健身教练夺人眼球的体魄上,而这一晚的经历让我对他有了更深层次的了解。
生日是在十二月二日,聚会时间是十二月三日的零点至清晨六点。第一个惊喜来自 Jack 的朋友,印象中 Jack 是个豁达开朗喜欢交际的人,拥有各式各样有趣的朋友,今天果然见识到了,到场的既有比我们小一个年级的学弟,还有比我们高好多界的研二姐姐,甚至还有来自埃塞俄比亚的朋友,太赞了。呵呵,香韵浓厚的巧克力蛋糕还是外教亲手为他制作的呢。这里还有一个有趣的细节,我高三的同桌 Spring 也到场了,原来是 Jack 的一位室友在截拳道协会和她相识并邀请来的。
开场之后 Jack 首先演唱了两首他拿手的英文歌曲,从深情的演绎直到飚至高音,瞬间把大家的情绪调高了好几个档次。印象最深刻的是那首 Bon Jovi 的 It's My Life。一年多前第一次听到这首歌就喜欢上了它,然后我也尝试过学唱这首歌,却总是达不到那种狂放的境界。而 Jack 却把 It's My Life 原汁的味道表达得淋漓尽致,一直认为一个人所唱的歌曲是他内在性格的真实体现。
Jack 是个喜欢喝酒的男人,为了当天的生日聚会他特意准备了足够量的好酒。我从来不怎么喝酒的,总有这样的一个想法,到了我们这一代成为父辈的时候可乐会替代啤酒,而会有更新式的饮料替代可乐。不过现在我意识到了酒精饮料和碳酸饮料有着本质上的区别,谁都无法替代谁的。Jack 在让我们品尝之前对每种酒的饮用方法都作了介绍:
在白光一杯一杯的连番请酒下,即便像 Jack 这样的男人都被放倒啦,然后出现了特别特别感人的一幕。在 Jack 醉得不省人事的时候他的两位室友和 taemsselbdog(试试看把他名字倒过来念)自始自终陪伴在他身边照顾他,来回为他取药、倒水,要知道 Jack 的惊人体魄在不能自己支撑的情况下旁人需要多大的劲才能扛得住,好在他的两位室友也都是健身教练,在他们三位着急地来回奔走照料 Jack 的时候我体会到了什么是真正的朋友!一直到最后都是他们扛着 Jack 回学校的,两个多小时一直用心用力地在照料他,现在想起我都会很感动~
生日之前 Jack 特意自制了一件衣服,用 T-shirt 剪制的,并在上面写下了每一个参加聚会的朋友的昵称。而且 Party 进行到高潮的时候他还换上了一件纯白的,同样是自己剪制的 T-shirt,穿在身上让我们写下自己的名字。
我很少去 KTV,即便是去了也不会放开喉咙唱,引用 Y.S. 曾经说过的一句话——“唱歌是件很私人的事情”,不习惯在不是一个人的时候唱歌。那天却在 Jack 的带动下唱了一首又一首,还被几个女孩子赞了一下我的声音~_~ 特别开心~ 比较惨的是在众人的施压下我和丫头被迫对唱了一首@#$%~>_<~
最欣赏 Jack 的自然洒脱,还有淳厚的男子汉气概。我大多数的好朋友都是比较典型的上海小男生,这个来自西安的大男孩拥有着完全不一样的味道。他说他不像我感情比较细腻,其实在他的粗犷下也有着很细致入微的情感,在给我们仔细讲解品酒方法的时候,在用心关照我们醉酒后要小心的地方,还有那两件特制的衣服,最赞的是醉酒后也没有失态,不忘很绅士地关照大家要尽兴,还把我拉到身边语重心长地说我好福气,有那么好的女孩子,告诉我现在年轻,nothing to lose,尽情玩~ 太感动了~
得知 Jack 下学期要去香港念书了,我想他的好朋友们一定很舍不得他的离开,最后提前祝他在香港的日子一帆风顺~ Google Party最近忙晕了,Project 一个接一个,考试一门接一门,满负荷二十四小时连轴转,沉浸在挑战自己的快感中。不过呢,再忙都不能错过今晚的 Google Party~~ 七点开始,早了十分钟到吧,湖畔已经是人流涌动,才吃了晚饭,还是抵制不住诱惑拿了一些点心~~ 草坪上立了很多小桌子,每张桌子上都摆放着四台笔记本,边上还有两位 Googler。这次来交大的是 Google 的二十五位全球产品经理,来自世界各地,说的都是英语,又被团团围住,搞得我一片迷茫。很快到点了,主持人作了一下简短的介绍,把二十五位 Googler 请上台,他们随着音乐奔啊跳啊好不热闹,一个个都活力四射的样子。Google 今年刚满七岁,这些 Manager 也相当年轻,大多都是女的,来自欧洲和北美,一个比一个漂亮~~
Google 把 Party 的理念发挥得很到位,发言简短,游戏紧凑,大部分时间都留给了台下的面对面交流。可惜人好多啊,而且我从小到大一直都是很害羞的,都不知道怎么开始。然后寻寻觅觅了好久~~ 交谈是从 Google Earth 开始的,我说我用过 Google Earth 啊,发现很多大城市都有很清晰的图片,为什么上海没有高清图片呢?就连我们那么大的校园都找不到~~ 然后她说他们还在逐步完善数据库@#$%...一通英语说得我摸不着头脑,不过听到她讲她是出生在巴黎的~~ 呵呵,我告诉她有一次我想找艾菲尔铁塔的,结果找了半天没结果,她就说@#$%...我还是完全听不懂>_<,只好看着她的眼睛无奈地笑笑。Google Earth 为美国的很多城市都提供了3D建筑模型,以后上海会不会有呢?她告诉我@#$%...我已经一滴汗了,不过猜想着她大概就是讲 Google 会为越来越多的地方建立起详细的数据库吧。我对自己的听力一向很有信心的,专业课也都是选的英语授课,可能是有点紧张吧,也可能法国人说的英语味道不太一样吧,反正我就是一片迷茫~~
一会儿话题转向了 Picasa。没用过,不过也有所了解,电脑上图片不多,只是偶尔会需要做一些简单的编辑,我问她能不能在图片上添加文字什么的啊,她说能啊,然后演示给我看,在图片下面加了一个标题...汗~~ 我是问能不能在图片“上面”添加文字,然后我试图让她明白我的意思,再然后她很遗憾地告诉我 Picasa 没这个功能。不过 Picasa 很多滤镜效果都很漂亮的,还有一些很个性化的功能。不经意在 Picasa 上面发现了一个 Blog 图标,Google 也有 Blog 吗?为什么从来没听说过呢?她说有啊当然有,然后告诉我@#$%...哦,再这样下去我会郁闷死掉的,后来发现 Google 的 Blog 在中国是被屏蔽掉的,怪不得我从来没看到过。虽然 MSN Space 已经很好用了,依然很有兴趣尝试一下 Google 的 Blog。
其实我还想和她聊聊 Google Talk 的,想说 MSN 系那么灵,Google Talk 凭借什么和微软竞争呢?还想告诉她我用过一段时间 Google Talk,没什么特别吸引人的地方就抛弃了~~ 最后~~ 最后我还想问这位法国MM要 MSN 的,想想不对,就是要也得要 Gmail 是吧~~ 突然发现这还是第一次和外国人聊那么久呢,觉得很开心。记得第一次和外国人对话是高中的时候接待英国伊顿公学的访问团,学校安排一男一女搭配,每对接待一名英国学生,那次接待我都没讲几句话,还好和我一起的那个女生比较厉害~~
这次 Party 让我身临其境地体验到了 Google 的文化:Google 的美食文化(Google 有句流行语——Fifteen,意思是每个加入 Google 的成员都会长胖15磅,公司里遍地是美食~~),Google 的休闲办公(员工踩着滑板去开会,随处都能找到按摩椅~~),Google 的极简主义(简洁易用的界面,简约随意的处世风格~~),Google 的信息融合(Google 的目标是整合世界上所有的信息资源~~ 这个目标估计够他们奋斗几个世纪了~~)。同学问我以后给你选择的话去 Microsoft 还是去 Google,呵呵,这个问题不是那么容易回答,毕竟 Microsoft 对我来说也是很有吸引力的。做为一个第三方的使用者而言,Google 和 Microsoft 的竞争越激烈越好~~ 受益的还是我们。
后记:Google 也有失算的时候,由于现场的那么多台笔记本组局域网共享 IP 上网,而 Google 的智能引擎为了防止恶意攻击会屏蔽单 IP 频繁登陆,结果导致 Party 开始不久所有的 Google 网络都不可访问。然后一个 Googler 很洒脱地告诉我们她已经在和美国总部联系解决了,结果呢~~ 突然想到在家登陆 Google 系网络也很困难,小区宽带,很可能是每幢楼共享一个公网 IP~~ 想换 ISP 了~~ Sweet DreamCastle — A large fortified building or group of buildings with thick walls, usually dominating the surrounding country.
对于我,噩梦千奇百怪的样子,美梦却只有一个,而彩色的梦仅仅出现过一次。徐家汇有一座天主教堂,曾被誉为远东最壮观宏丽的天主教堂,承载着和交大一样的历史年轮,都始建于1896年(光绪22年),都坐落在上海的发源地,徐家汇。可当我满怀期待地站在他面前想要感受自己的渺小的时候却是多么的失望,和我想象中的样子差距太大了。《中文自修》的某一期刊登过剑桥大学城的校园景色,哇~~这才是大学应该有的样子,八百年的历史沉淀,古朴宏伟的教学楼,严谨有致的布局,多少世人憧憬能够在那样的环境下学习。
世界上最大的教堂在米兰,上学期《建筑艺术欣赏》课的一篇论文写的就是她,还贴在了Space上,不过由于自己没有机会亲历这座建筑,所谓的论文只能是拼拼凑凑的东西,在一次清理Space的时候给删掉了。其实我并不对教堂有特别的爱好,更不信仰任何宗教,只是喜欢他们那种为了高大而高大的气质。
梦境是这样的,坐在一辆行驶着的汽车上,我不知道它在往哪里开,因为这并不重要。然后窗外映入了一片建筑群,城堡和教堂的结合体,心开始沸腾的样子。整个群落很大,看不到尽头,最外面是一圈围栏,由无数间隔很宽的柱子构成。然后我出现在了群落中的一个广场上,正对着主楼,仰望。背景是在黄昏,一天中的这个时候太阳总是很大很圆,天空却是那么地暗淡,似乎我所有的梦都发生在黄昏。主楼正立面中央是一座高塔,很高很高,华丽的紫色砖面,随着太阳的余晖颜色不断地渐变着,介于靓紫与猩红。建筑群很大很大,可我似乎只看见了这么一座,在梦中我没有四处张望的习惯。再然后我站在了一座门前,巨大而厚重的门,像电影里歌剧院大门的样式。再然后我出现在了门后狭长的走廊上,很厚很厚的红色地毯,尽头是深褐色的厚实的绒布门帘,觉得门帘后面是一座教堂,但我没有走进去。再然后,无尽的过道,同一条过道,走了很多遍。。。
当我醒来的时候心中有无限的失落,多么希望我永远存在于自己的梦中,那个只有在幻想中能够存在的殿堂,抬头看不到顶,环顾望不到边,傻傻地认为这样的东西可以成为永恒。在那以后的很长一段日子,临睡前我都希望能够回到那个城堡中,可是,他很吝啬地只对我开放了一次。 ShatteredI'm trying to control myself
So please don't stand in my way
I've waited for the longest time
This is what I wanted in my way
Move over, move over
There's a climax coming in my way
I don't like you, don't compromise
Shattered by your weakness
Shattered by your smile
And I'm not very fond of you, and your lies
Shattered by your weakness
Shattered by your smile
All the kids are going back to school
The summer's over it's the golden rule
And now I'm coming out to play
So please don't stand in my way
And all the things that seemed once to be
So important to me
Seem so trivial now that I can see
Please don't stand in my way Nightmare噩梦会缠着你,一遍又一遍,美梦却不会。近来都不怎么能够记得起晚上做过的梦,不过能把记忆保留到清晨的总是这么几个。
电梯
家住在十二层,上上下下很少不用电梯。《Mission Impossible》是印象中最早让我对电梯心存余悸的电影,一个叛变的特工钉死在了电梯的顶部。梦境是这样的:等电梯,电梯来了(有时候某部电梯会已经坏掉),走进去,到了某一层,身边的人出去(大多数情况是所有的人都出去了,只留下我一个),然后电梯再次启动,突然开始摇晃,抬起头会看到数字在不断地跳动,环顾四周,四壁都在抖动,随时都能散架的样子。很慌张,还会很害怕。怎么逃脱呢?每次都会有所不同,有时候电梯会恢复正常,然后我赶忙在某一层出去,在楼梯间里死命地往家跑;有时候会跳到另一部电梯,往往是那部原先标明已坏的电梯(怎么跳的?);最坏的情况是整幢楼都开始摇晃,也是随时都能散架的样子,这种情况下我会很莫名其妙地跳到一楼,然后开始跑。。。
高考
我坐在教室里,可能是高中的教室,也可能是初中的教室,身边的同学可能是高中的同学,也可能是初中的同学,还可能都有,讲台上的老师可能是高中的班主任,也可能是初中的的班主任。一周或者两周后就要高考了~自己变得很担心很担心。然后心里就开始想我已经读了两年大学了(一年前做这样的梦我会想我已经读了一年大学了),不可能考不好不让我继续读下去了吧?明明已经在大学里学习生活那么久了,却又回到了中学的教室,又要面临高考,心里一百个不情愿再去复习高中的知识,很担心,又想着我已经开始读大学了啊,怎么又要高考了呢?再开始想不要啊,我不要再看那些题目了,很担心。。。看来高考给我留下的印记太深刻了,也可能是因为自己依然在承受着每学期终考的折磨吧。
回家
这个家不是现在的家,是八年前的家,小时候被迫和妈妈分开,每周只能回家一次。回家是周五的晚上,从最后一辆车下来一般都要八、九点钟,然后就甩开爸爸开始跑,从车站到家大概有两三百米,我一边跑然后一边在叫,乱叫。跑过了弯就看不到爸爸了,然后路上很黑,我很怕就只能不停地跑,在楼下我会看到妈妈在窗口等待我回家的剪影,然后我就会不自控地笑,跑到妈妈看不到我,我也看不到妈妈的地方后才会停止。然后开始爬楼梯,楼道也很黑,有灯但一般都是关着的,我想开灯却不敢停下来,就一直跑啊跑,一直跑啊跑,一直跑到五楼,一直跑进妈妈已经为我打开的门后突然感觉到无限的安全感。然后周日晚上离开的时候我总是会哭,一直哭到了中学时代。这样的状态持续了将近五年吧,在初二的时候又和妈妈住在一起了。奇怪的是关于回家的梦我似乎是进了大学后才开始做的。一个典型的梦是这样的:大学,周五回家,和每周都和我一起回家的好朋友一起回家,可是却回到了八年前的那个家。发现整个小区一片死寂,我很担心要发生什么,很担心要发现已经发生了什么,不过他还在我身边,感到一点点安慰,到了楼下他就不在了。我一个人进了楼里,开始跑楼梯,看到每一层所有房间的门都开着,门开着门里面除了白色的墙壁什么都没有,我很怕,往上跑,一层又一层,往下跑,一层又一层,全都空荡荡的,不知什么时候跑到了五楼,找到了唯一一个关着门的房间,然后怯生生地敲门,生怕门后面什么都没有。。。然后妈妈开门了,还有无限的安全感。。。
怪兽
小时候奥特曼看多了,过去经常会梦见怪兽。怪兽出现的时候我可能在家里,也可能在某个小区里。在家的时候我会最先看到怪兽的头凑到窗口,然后逃到其他房间,可是怪兽好像总是知道我在哪里的样子,无论跑到哪个房间他总是会把头凑到窗口,然后我再跑,可能跑到另一个房间,但不去看窗口就蒙着头躲在角落,也可能跑出房间开始下楼梯。。。这个梦进大学后好像没有再做过了。
换个角度看梦
有人说梦全是黑白的,但我做到过彩色的梦啊,至少我认为我做到过。做梦的时候我们就像一台没有安装显卡驱动的电脑,画面很苍白无力,即便利用CPU软件模拟渲染着色,得到的效果也是很差强人意的。另外,不像在现实世界中,每一个人都有一颗CPU在运行,在梦中除了自己以外的人都只是NPC,每个NPC都至少要占用一个进程,会消耗相当的CPU和内存资源,而睡梦中我们又相当于处在低功耗状态,SpeedStep会把CPU设置成较低的时钟频率,所以难以维系较多的进程,这就是为什么梦中的人物总是很少,然后同一时刻和你互动的人只会有一个,归根结底我们的大脑还只是一颗单线程的CPU。梦都是很荒诞的,因为睡梦中系统的纠错级别是相当低的,遇到DeadLock只能撤掉某个进程,然后重新开启那个进程,这个过程中会丢失原先的状态值,导致了无法关联上下文,这就是为什么我们的梦常常是前后矛盾的,很多时候是无法解释的。电脑游戏那么精彩就是由于虚拟,可以为你营造出现实世界所没有的氛围。睡梦中虽然是同一个硬件系统却像是在运行电脑游戏,所以可以得到和白天运行Word之类软件截然不同的效果,带来了很多有趣的梦。
噩梦和美梦最大的区别在于:噩梦把不安留在晚上,美梦会在白天到来后才让你感受到痛苦。 Milestone忙碌的三个星期~~
Part I 课程
《软件工程》已经接近了尾声,四个星期学这样一门课,当然只能学到皮毛,不然软件工程专业的家伙也用不着花四年来学了。不过所学到的这一点点东西已经相当受用了。在我们有趣的助教的点拨下,我很用心地做了设计工程,然后立刻体会到了它带给我的好处。过去写程序总是想到什么写什么,然后每次要修改一点东西都不得不从头开始整理思路,从程序的第一行开始检查,直接造成效率低下,程序可维护性极差。然而有了一个对象清晰,条理明确的程序流图后,一切都容易多了,这次的项目我自始自终没有做过通读程序这样的傻事。另外由于在做设计的时候比较好地做了面向对象的划分,几乎没有发生过牵一发而动全身的惨况。不过对于面向对象的理解和应用我还只是停留在比较初级的阶段,不然下个学期也不用专门开设面向对象的课程了。下周差不多就剩下测试和演示两件事了,我很怀疑测试组能不能从我的程序里找到Bug。已经发现并解决了十多个Bug了,对于仅1000多行的程序再要找新的Bug应该相当困难了。
Part II 贪吃蛇
呵呵,所谓的项目只不过是这样一个小游戏,千千万万的人做过的小游戏,每个人的手机上都有的小游戏。而且这次我们有五个小组都选择了这个项目。如何脱颖而出?如何做到最优秀?在查阅MFC资料的时候很无意地发现了一篇Direct3D的教程, 浏览了一下当即决定我的贪吃蛇将会是全3D的。记得那个时候突然冒出某个念头,就会半夜三点爬起来研究。呵呵,现在我已经完成了一个很有动感,拥有动态视角的贪吃蛇了。无论你玩过多少版本的贪吃蛇,我的能给你留下最深刻的印象。~_~
Part III 作息
我是个不懂得循序渐进的人,脑子里有了什么想法都会恨不得立即实现,害得自己连续两周睡眠困难,闭上眼睛就开始思考如何将某个设想转换为代码,想不出倒算了,要是想到了什么就惨了,怎么都睡不着,辗转反侧最后还是不得不爬下床打开电脑来调试程序。那么晚了,已经完全没有逻辑思维能力了,但若隐若现的念头又驱使我继续编码,真有点走火入魔的感觉。那段日子每天只睡3~5个小时,想到不久前学姐还和我讲了一个交大计算机系学生劳累过度一觉不醒的事,有点怕。
我一直在努力,努力尝试让自己的脑子减速运转,努力还是有效果的。后来的几天每天我只要解决了两三个问题就能安然入睡了。而且我也尽量每天花点时间来玩玩游戏(>_<除了贪吃蛇以外的游戏)、看看电影什么的,还逃过一下午的课去打篮球。嗯,要学会暂时割舍满屏满屏的代码放松一下身心。其实我满喜欢工作狂的,找到一块小天地,无怨无悔地投入,是一种很简单的生活方式。
Part IV 帝企鹅
写程序的时候我一直戴着耳机,耳机里一直播放着《帝企鹅日记》的原声。两周前的一个周末去看的这部电影,当时就很想写些什么,可惜那个时候我更想写的是程序。以前一直和小猫讲我将来不要小孩,觉得孩子是个可有可无的东西,对我毫无意义。但看完《帝企鹅日记》后突然很想当爸爸了,看到帝企鹅为了孕育下一代所经历的一切,忽然觉得孩子是自己生命延续,值得用生命来捍卫。不过呢,这个想法也只不过是一时头脑发热,现在我又对孩子无所谓了,除非谁能帮我生个小企鹅,而且要永远长不大的。~_~
幼年的帝企鹅实在是太可爱了,回来后我还特意下载了原版的《帝企鹅日记》每天晚上看看那些小企鹅,觉得很开心很有趣。上一次让我那么痴迷的是Alizee演唱La Isla Bonita的MTV,每天都要看个几遍,估计看了几百遍才看厌掉。这回我比较节制,每天就看小企鹅两三遍,争取迷恋的时间能长一点。
Emilie Simon演唱的《帝企鹅日记》原声不是用来体现小企鹅的可爱的,但却是属于我喜欢的那种风格。最近的日子我没日没夜在写程序也就意味着我没日没夜听着她的声音,依然不觉得厌倦。
Part V 计算机
计算机实在是一个更新超快的行业,刚学完DirectX 8的人会发现DirectX 9已经进入了视野,我DirectX 9才开始入门那边Vista已经推出了新的图形接口Avalon,永远有新鲜的东西,永远不会厌倦,真高兴很自豪自己在学习这样一门有活力的学科。我现在最想学的是C#和DirectX 9,另外还在酝酿一个更有趣的3D游戏,真正利用到3D环境的游戏。只可惜转眼就要开学,没有那么多空余时间让我摆弄课外的东西了。想到自己过去虚度的大把大把光阴,呵呵,实在是好奢侈啊。 Sleepy这个礼拜我好像就没有睡醒过、好像就没有睡醒过...傍晚回到寝室的时候是最迷迷糊糊的,然后只能做一些天天重复、重复、再重复已经变成本能的事,比如给卡巴升升病毒库,比如看看资讯网站有没有我用的的软件的更新,比如看看Space有没有动静。回来的时候大概六点不到,等我再次看时间就已经八点多了,八点多了?然后洗澡,也好顺便清醒一下,这样我就能意识到自己的左手和右手在做什么了。再做一些与学习相关的事,告一段落的时候就已经是第二天了。多晚都要玩一会儿赛车的,弄到一点多差不多就去睡觉了。不像前一阵子怎么都睡不着,现在躺下就失去意识了。
其实我觉得这样的学习生活还不错,当然前提是之前的日子不能每天只睡五个小时,搞得现在天天梦游。总算熬到了周末,回家一定要好好睡觉。不过现在是这么想的,估计到时候又会思路不清楚了。上一个再上一个礼拜看了一部叫做《Waking Life》的动画片,剧情大概是这样的,一个估计和我差不多大的家伙,不断地醒来、醒来、再醒来,每次醒来都发现自己还是在梦中(递归?)。那么他在梦中的醒来、醒来、然后再醒来的时候做什么呢?他就找人聊天,看人聊天,幻想另外两个人聊天。估计也只有我这种一个多月来都处于梦游状态的人才会陪着电影里的那个家伙聊天聊到整个片子结束了。
有一个场景是这样的,一对夫妻中午醒来(这个应该属于主角在幻想另外两个人聊天了)。醒来了也不知道起来洗脸刷牙就躺着开始无聊了,男的和女的说:“侬晓得伐?人在死后的15秒内大脑还在活动,在这15秒内那个人能梦见自己做了好多好多好多事,就像我们有时候会醒过来,看看表,6点半,然后倒下去又睡,马上开始做梦,梦见自己做了很多事,然后突然又醒过来,发现只过了五分钟。对于那个不幸再也醒不过来的家伙,那15秒会无限放大、放大、再放大一点,他会在这15秒内重新过一生。”听得我觉得越来越邪乎,我现在是不是就生活在15秒内呢?仔细想想我应该还活着,因为每次我觉得过了一刻钟的时候其实已经过了两个小时了,与梦中的情况正好相反。
电影里还说判断自己是不是真的醒来有一个办法,去关灯,如果能把灯关了就说明你醒了,反正里面的男主角怎么拨开关灯都是灭不了的。当然了,那个告诉他这个办法的人也只是出现在他醒来之前的那个醒来之前的那个醒来之前的醒来之前的梦里的一个对话里。我好像今天在不断打重复的字?好像很多重复的样子,受不了,看来该睡觉了。
睡觉前要关灯。 The Spirits Within再好看的电影我都不会刻意去看第二遍,不过刚才我重新温习了一下《Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within》。是因为第一遍我没看懂,没看懂Aki的梦,而且由于碟片质量粗糙,错过了很多精致的细节。是这样一部电影,放映前媒体把他吹上天,放映后再骂进地狱,真不知道到这帮文字工作者脑子到底挨过多少枪。
一直困惑Aki的梦究竟暗示了什么,和剧情有什么关系。今天终于看明白了,她告诉了我们Phantom,或者说Ghost的来历,不过她没有给出那颗星球爆炸的原因。我是这么理解的:第一场辩论中博士指出宙斯炮在可能毁灭Phantom的同时也会伤害The Spirit of Earth,也就是盖亚。Aki的梦境里反复出现的是战争,两派同种族生物之间的战争,无数的战争激怒了那颗星球的Spirit,才导致了爆炸,爆炸中,两派军队尽数毁灭,失去了实体,只留下了疯狂的Phantom。可能原始背景设定并不是这样,一部优秀的电影自然是会留出一定的想象空间。
那个有点娘娘腔的Neil(呵呵,怎么和Matrix里的救世主一个名字。)是我最喜欢的角色,他让我想到Edward Norton,我最喜欢的男演员。而整部影片最动情的部分就发生在他和他的那位男性化的拍档Jane之间。为了让飞机起飞,Neil和Jane去拆某个架子,Neil躺在平台上设置电路,而Jane则举着枪守护着他,然后,我看到了难以磨灭的表情,Neil用他嗲溜溜的声音滔滔不绝地说些废话的时候,身体像劳拉一样强悍的Jane用很温柔的眼神怜爱地看着他,不像过去她总是会报以简洁的回敬,此刻她却几次欲言又止,脸上还露出过一丝微笑,那个微笑蕴含得太多,虽能体会到那种感情却一下子说不上来。从下飞机,到看着Neil修理,再到她击退了第一波来犯的Phantom,一直到成功完成任务后却不得不眼睁睁地看着Neil死去,她没有和他说过一句话,一切情感的外溢都码在了她的表情上。这对拍档不是主角,因此他们共同死在了那里。
讽刺的是最后宙斯炮锁定轰击的位置恰好在地图上伊拉克的位置,虽然是Square的电影,但却完成在美国,制作人员选定这个位置也许并没有经过太多的思考,但这却有潜意识的功劳。然后更讽刺的是,锁定这个位置是因为这里是Phantom的聚集地,而Phantom聚集在这里是因为这里离盖亚最近,呵呵,这个可能是出自更深一层的潜意识吧。宙斯炮自然是没有效果的,谁让宙斯是封建王权以及专制国家机器的象征呢。(嗯,这是从叶沙那里学来的。)
不同于美国式的个人英雄主义,这部电影没有一个无敌的男主角,而且他最后也替代心爱的人付出了自己的生命。这段情节和世界大战中的一段很像,只是汤姆克鲁斯的手榴弹在这里换成了男主角的Spirit。最后Phantom毁灭,万物复苏阳光普照的时候唯一的活物是一只鹰,这又是一个美国化的标签,呵呵,的确很难找到更坚忍更高傲的动物比鹰更适合能在那样不堪的世界中生存下来。
你相信人体内有Spirit吗?你相信地球有Spirit吗?你相信人死后他的Spirit会回归盖亚吗?我很愿意相信存在这些用科学无法解释的东西,可惜,仅仅是我愿意罢了。我不是造物主,没有能力赋予这个规律化的物理世界(有空再解释我用这个词真正想表达的含义。)更多的Spirit。
P.S.不知道一个人在真正危急的情况下会做出什么样的反应?一些人一生都遇不到这样的机会来证明自己的高尚与伟大,更多人则可以庆幸遇不到这样的机会而暴露出他们的品行。我呢?当我在危急关头会做出怎么样的抉择呢?我没预言的权利。不知道现实是不是永远都那么残酷。 Steve Jobs's Speech on the 2005 Standford CommencementThank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.
This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.
My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle.
My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along. It was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish." And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish.
Thank you all, very much. The Past Week放假也有两周了,第一周是在惶惶恐恐中度过的,每天早晨起来第一件事就是上网查分,然后再每隔半小时查一次,总是诚惶诚恐地按下提交按钮,就怕在绩点学分一栏看到一个或者两个0,这不仅意味着下学期的奖学金要泡汤,还会令我产生巨大的羞耻感。那一周我不知道自己都做了些什么,只记得无数次登陆查分。然后,就这样到了周一,依旧是忐忑地打开网站,然后......耶~~信号过了,哈哈,这样就剩下机电要担心了。不久CS群里的小朋友们又开始谈论分数了,从二班的一个女生那里问来了机电老师办公室的电话,然后~~~>_<我把电话告诉了另一个女生~~~>_<请她帮我问了分数(我怎么那么胆小啊~~),然后......耶~~机电也过了,哈哈,高考查分都没这么兴奋过,大学里最难熬的一个学期安然度过啦。卸下重负,突然开始考虑假期应该怎么过了,突然想到了寝室,然后,整理行囊,回学校咯。
先去天山警署拍了生份证照片,其实考试前就接到通知了,拖到现在才去拍了,在那里很失望地发现自己依然只有一米七八,唉~~看来一米八是没什么希望了。然后坐车去了徐家汇(我用微软拼音每次输入这三个字的时候总是先跳出“虚假会”,总是觉得其实很贴切。),再坐车到了闵行,一路颠簸终于回到了学校。那是周一,和小胖联手在浩方上痛斩人家N盘War3,大呼过瘾后晚上看了斯皮尔伯格和汤姆克鲁斯合作的《世界大战》,可能是我太专注了吧,看完之后对世界大战一点都没感觉,太专注于看里面那个十岁的小女孩了,可惜了2.5亿美金打造的特效场面对我的吸引力还比不过一个患有幽闭症的小女孩。看完已经两点多了,同寝还奋战在WoW的世界中,我爬上去早早地睡了。周二我花了一整天在下载NFSV,他#的搞到最后还是和XP不兼容,靠,还号称在XP SP1/SP2经测试可完美运行的版本,删了。十二点了,本想和小胖到浩方上出出气的,结果越出越气,也怪我自己不好,一二点钟还在鏖战的八成都是高手,我不是去自找没趣吗。二点半我们都开始神游了,关机,刷牙,洗脸,上床,睡觉,睡觉,睡觉,靠,这才发现原来在学校里也失眠,翻来覆去到了三点半索性爬起来了,开机,开MSN,发现RainyYiRu也在线上,想说点什么,又不知道说什么,拉开窗帘,10号楼女生寝室只有她的还亮着灯。拉好窗帘,打开了Visual Studio继续写那个小东西,写了几个简单的函数就精神恍惚了,但不知不觉已经天亮了,7:30,关机,刷牙,洗脸,上床,睡觉,睡觉,这回睡着了。不知道为什么11:30就醒了,刷牙,洗脸,开机,不对,关机,出去吃饭。下午应该还是战了几盘兽吧,白天自然是基本全胜的,傍晚的时候接到一个莫名其妙的电话,拿起来话筒:“喂?...喂?”对面偷笑了一声,我说谁啊?对面说:“等一下哦。”然后就听到砰砰的脚步声,再是N个女生在讨论谁来听电话,这时我的脑子在不停搜索有谁会做这么无聊的事,印象中只有初中生会以此为乐,一会儿她跑回来和我讲不好意思哦,过一会儿再打来。汗,过一会儿还要打来。结果过了一会儿她真的打来了,这才知道她以前住的就是我的这间寝室,而且还是和我同一张床,说好有缘哦,还问这问那的,还想介绍她妹妹给我认识,汗,她问我介不介意给她留个手机,我说:“嗯。”她说:“啊~这样啊”。再汗,我其实是想说:“嗯,好的。”不过为了保持矜持我没有纠正她的错误,再聊了一会儿她说那么就这样以后再聊就挂了。晚上看到MSN上Babe_V的ID亮着,而且没有乱七八糟的状态,于是就开始聊天了,主题是MSN Space,我教她增加自定义链接,添加背景音乐,贴图,很开心,快一年没这么开心过了。十二点她下线了,我躺到床上听着叶沙的上海心情期待在她的声音中睡去,可是,听着听着突然有一种冲动,想拨电话给她,犹豫了很久,之间走到阳台上张望了一下,这才发现一点就躺在床上的人实在是异类。给叶沙打电话的都是诉说自己的烦恼的,这会儿我实在找不到一个恰当的理由让自己烦恼,本来想和她讲我失眠了怎么办啊,后来才知道不是我失眠是我睡得太早了。然后我继续躺到床上听她的节目,先是一个升高三的学生抱怨妈妈管得太严,结果被妈妈发现了,呵呵,偷笑;再是一个怨妇,抱怨丈夫的花心,被叶沙“羞辱”了一番气愤地挂掉了电话;又是一个升高三的学生,听他的声音让我想到了Gay,实在是无聊,没听到结束我就拔下耳机睡觉了。应该是在二点前睡着的吧,本来可以是一个安稳的睡眠的,结果早上九点多电话又响了(为什么要说又?),跳下来接电话,“喂?高吉在不在啊?”>_<“高吉?他不是前天就回去了吗?”又偷笑,这个小家伙这两天不知道到哪里去鬼混了,呵呵。这是星期四了,打开Comic开始看《后备甜心》,浪漫轻喜剧,其实我一直都不怎么喜欢这类片子的,只是自从和Angel看了《情归阿拉巴马》和《炮制女朋友》后起了变化了。看着看着哭了,也只有像我这么无聊的人才会看喜剧看得哭了。晚上差不多九点的时候准备好东西要洗澡了,结果忽然手臂都抬不起来了,倒下就睡,到了十点挣扎着爬起来洗澡,洗完后,开始玩《Fate》,小游戏,200多M的3DARPG,简单而有趣的游戏,非常适合我这种玩游戏不喜欢动脑筋的人。玩到累了就睡了。这是两周来睡得最香的一次了,今天10点半才起来的(这回我吸取了教训在睡觉前把电话线拔了~_~),起来后意识到周五了,今天妈妈回家了,想家了,妈妈回到家看不到我也会想我的。于是,开电脑,上网,玩游戏。始终没有决定要不要回家。到了四点多,打了个电话回家,没人接,打妈妈的手机,“妈妈,妈妈~~”,叫了两声,然后电话里传来“你打错了。”>_<不过对方好像没有责怪的意思,口气很和蔼的,可能每个母亲听到那么亲切的叫声都会心软的吧。再拨,没人接。我真的想家了,想妈妈了。终于在五点多打通了妈妈的手机,妈妈第一句话:“啊?你还在学校啊?我都快到家了?不回来了啊?”本来我还在犹豫的,现在我迫不及待想回去了,“我先去剪一下头发,可能会回来晚一点。”随意找了几部电影下载就冲出去剪头发了,学校里至少有五家理发的,我就喜欢“蓝鸟”,是Tomato推荐的,去了第一次后就再也没去过其他地方。好了,回来整理了一下东西,打包,回家。 Initial D我周围所有看过《头文字D》的同学都说不怎么样,昨晚跳着看了几段,今天回家从头到尾再看了一遍,觉得还是不错的。不说别的,单是陈冠希这张脸就能让人看得赏心悦目,呵呵,我可是NFS系列的超级Fan,从三代开始,高赌金赛车,保时捷之旅,热力追踪II,地下狂飙,地下狂飙II,没有落下过任何一代,现在就期待NFS IX能够在我的机器上跑得起来。
接触NFS是从四代开始的,只知道不断撞啊撞啊就到终点了,虽然怎么都开不过电脑的AI,但开得很爽就是了,那个时候还支持分屏对抗,两个人撞起来更带劲。后来买TNT2的时候随卡附带了一张NFSIII,发现四代的进步还是挺大的,不过三代里赛车夸张的金属光泽还是很惹眼的。NFS是PC上的经典,PS上的王道则是RR系列了(个人之见,貌似大多数人都更饭GT系列。),是R4教会了我什么叫动力漂移,当然了,那个时候我们没有用这种诚心装酷的专有名词,而是很形象的叫它甩尾,那时起就迷上了高速转弯时轮胎与地面剧烈摩擦刺耳的尖啸。保时捷之旅是NFS迷公认的最具操作感的一代了,我也是从这一代开始在NFS上实现了动力漂移,也是从这一代开始能够超越电脑的AI了。接下来的三代悉数打通。本想描述一下每一代的特点,现在省了。还是最怀念五代和六代,保时捷之旅拥有最真实的物理特性以及水粉画风格的赛道风景,而六代则是NFS系列里唯一一个画面色调不会让人郁闷的。这也难怪了,从NFS每一代的重金属背景音乐就可以猜到那帮EA的程序员都是在幽暗的房间里塞着剧烈震动的耳机打造经典的,积极向上、画面明快的六代估计是换了一个小组。
竞速游戏是少数几项能让我注意力百分百集中的活动之一,我开NFS向来都是不开仪表不开排名甚至不开地图的,不开仪表是因为我不需要知道速度,尽量快就是了;不开排名是因为我不在乎名次,永远第一就是了;不开地图则是为了更专注,看准前面就是了。看了《头文字D》真想自己也拥有一辆跑车,呵呵,似乎不太现实,现在的我,最多也就是去南梦宫的街机混混了。好了,终于回到正题了,这部电影好看。不仅有花瓶撑门面,还有黄秋生出位的表演,当然重头戏自然是那几场飚车了,反复看了好多遍,还有就是那个结尾...我也很喜欢,嗯,这是一部即搞笑,又刺激,还感人的电影。
最后想起了一位同寝的名言:“什么?既不搞笑又不色情?这种电影有什么好看的?”~_~ Stars初中的时候周围的伙伴们开始对各式各样的歌手啊、演员啊特别感兴趣,时常能看见他们津津乐道地三两成群地谈论那些我没听过的名字。一向都对这些事不感兴趣,可能是我比较迟钝吧,也可能是因为比起那些娇柔做作的明星,身边的某些人更能引起我的兴趣。就这样,以至于刚进高中的时候一个同学用很诧异的表情看着我,当时我问了他什么是“BSB”...其实那些个明星啊什么的能够吸引那么多人的注意力自然都有自己的一套,其中有很多也很能吸引我,只是我比较懒,不高兴去了解。然后我就要说我现在喜欢的那些个家伙大多都是受到朋友的影响,在这里不得不谢谢他们,毕竟这给我带来了很大的乐趣。
按照时间顺序,高二大家高高兴兴去学农,y.s.带着一盘《只爱陌生人》,就这样《百年孤寂》成为了王菲第二首让我着迷的歌,第一首是《Eyes on Me》,借着FF8的魅力《Eyes on Me》让我消除了对王菲的偏见,但并没有让我喜欢上她,是从《百年孤寂》里我才获得了共鸣。后来是《开到荼靡》,再后来是《催眠》,同一张专辑的三首歌让我彻底迷恋王菲,开始无法自拔。还是y.s.,偶尔在他寝室翻到一盘《To The Faithful Departed》(后来Sailing知道我喜欢The Cranberries说她有一盘CD就录了传给了我,恰恰是《To The Faithful Departed》,嗯,这个巧合似乎预示着什么。),我问他这个好听吗?他说那个女主唱很会叫的,我就拗走了,Dolores饶舌摇滚的技巧立刻给我留下了很深的印象,随后就是此生第一张正版CD《Bury The Hatchet》,百听不厌的《Animal Instinct》和《Loud And Clear》让The Cranberries在我心里拥有了和王菲同等的地位。高三啦,换同桌了,Ama跟我讲过Avril和Dido,熊猫眼女孩和灵魂乐歌后,我各去买了一张CD,最后《No Angel》以绝对的优势胜出。比起王菲的几首适合我口味的歌以及The Cranberries的狂放,Dido要柔和得多,不过我始终觉得她们三个看待事物是用同样的眼神,所以唱出的歌也是同一个味道。这时我才发现王菲最销魂的几首歌恰恰是模仿Dolores的那几首,从这个角度看,似乎Dolores得到了五颗星,不过如果王菲只有模仿她的那些个本事的话是不会那么有魅力的,何况很多东西不是人人都能模仿的。
歌手就到此为止了,不久前Sailing推荐《Fight Club》给我看(不久?嗯,似乎就发生在昨天。)那个号称最最性感的Brad Pit倒没给我留下很深刻的印象,看似孱弱的Edward Norton似乎更讨人喜欢。《Primal Fear》里那个演着戏中戏的少年,《American History X》里那个极端种族主义者,《Rounders》里的那个混小子,《The Score》里那个狡猾的痴呆,《Red Dragon》里那个犯罪心理学专家,无不以出神入化的表演震撼人心。最喜欢的还是《American History X》里胸口纹着纳粹标记的他,他总是以弱者的姿态出现,让人心生怜悯,只有在这部电影里他做了一些大快人心的暴行,虽然其中一个镜头我现在想起来都后脑发麻。
一个中国人,一个爱尔兰人,一个英国人,一个美国人,似乎在地域上没有什么共同点。最后还想赞一下爱尔兰这片土地,这个在美国历史上一度被歧视的民族,成为了天使的摇篮,没有爱尔兰就没有The Cranberries,没有Colin Farrell,没有Secret Garden,没有WestLife...甚至没有我所喜欢的王菲,神奇的土地。 DaydreamDream is wonderful. Something that will never happen in real world can take place in dream. I find an interesting phenomenon. Sometimes in the dreams, the business would go as I had forecasted. But it isn’t always like this. There are still a lot of random factors. And I will never know when the dream begins and when it ends. How displeasing! But daydream is different. It’s totally directed by myself, and it can be more complex, more fantasy. When and how it begins and goes and ends is absolutely under control.
It was in my second elementary school that I got the habit of daydream. When a lesson went more and more boring, I would peer at the blackboard until the handwriting faded out. Then the blackboard became my screen. I often imaged two little men appear on the screen and made them fight just like what I had seen in cartoons. Hehe, they often had the power of shooting shock wave as the one in “Dragon Ball”. Time would go much faster when I was daydreaming.
I don’t remember when I began to make myself into the daydream. I take pleasure in imaging that there’s another S_A that never exists in the real world. In the very beginning I wrote this article, I used to plan to describe some significant parts of the changing process and the scenarios of my daydream in detail. But now, I lost the interest.
It may be in grade two, junior high school. A friend of mine lends me a disk. Then I was shock by the fancy CG of Final Fantasy VIII and the psychedelic (I’m not satisfied with this word, but I can’t find the word I exactly wanted.) world it created. And woefully, I was incurable obsessed with the unreal world and the real world around me became grey in my eyes. The seed planted in my childhood was likely to pullulate. I remember that when I was three or four, I sometimes want to be tiny enough to enter the world I built by my toy bricks just like “Alice in Wonderland”. And I always felt depression when I realized that it would never happen. Then daydream have the power to help me.
At last I want to say that daydream is also useful in many other situations. It can help me get over dull lessons. It accompanies me in the shaky carriage. It gives me a reason to get to bed earlier. Over. |
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