A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Sorry for not having a fresh-baked entry for a couple of days. Actually, i was working with my conference paper. In the first place, i was reluctant to submit any conference papers, at least at this moment. Just need to focus on my grumpy old-man experimental works. But, my friends, Waqar & Mitchel had me convinced to give a try (merci guys!)- geee, i'm still in the initial work in my research, and the results are argumentatively weak. Yup, "give a try", has dominated most of my sanity thought (if i had one). Hmm, this conference - where i was trying to bug into - is one of the most well established international conferences in our field. I can say, most of the graduate researchers in my group (or i assume all over the world) were burning their midnight oil last week - to submit their work in this conference.

The shipwreck!

Yup, finally i decided to give a chance - at least i will have my initial work to be reviewed, to strengthen the very foundation of my work (a crude one) - (God, i'm ready to receive their deadly-pain staking-steaming a$$ comments later!). Means - i need to double up my effort - to get the simulation results ready. For the first time, i feel like the time passes sooooooooooooooo fast!. Finally, i have my results, and manage to submit to the conference before hand. (Alhamdulillah).

One of the results from my simulation. A beautiful one. On paper, at least
(i reckon the real one will be disastrous)

Well, i had a lesson - at least for myself. Let me share with you;

A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today (opsss, time and tide wait for no man (in its original form "he tide abides for, tarrieth for no man, stays no man, tide nor time tarrieth no man" or in our proverb "masa itu emas" ?). This is the man who discovered electricity (which is not me ;-) ). I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, or looking for a solid rock perfection?, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? He who hesitates is lost (ermm, am i?).

(Ini jam bersalutkan emas, bukan masa itu emas ye)

We can't pretend we hadn't been told (aren't we?). We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard the pantuns (ermm betul ke ni - plural for pantun... :-)) heard our parents warning us about wasted time (and as matter of fact, i'm always babbling that to my students as well). Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes and learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin or at least what my boring blog entry is really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying. Who knows? it might worth trying.

....... or maybe a stitch in time saves nine?

* peribahasa hari ini: stitch in time saves nine = it is better to spend a little time to deal with problems or act right now than wait. If you wait until late, things will get worse, and it will take much longer to deal with them.

* makanan yg telan terkorban sepanjang tempoh 24 jam kerja~ 2 pinggan (ye ke 2 je ni?) bihun s'pore (sempat lagi goreng tu), 1 biji pai epal (biji ye, bukan keping2 dah), 2 bungkus kentang goreng, 2 pek jus oren & epal, bergelen2 air kosong, separuh ayam panggang! ......... (menketedarah ke apa ni?)

sorry la ye, terpaksa makan pai epal ni sorang ;-)

p/s: Have a nice weekend! (and i will). Cheers! (mcm htr surat la pulak kan)