I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks. Since work started, life has been really hectic.
But today, something happened that deeply sadden me, along with much of the world.
Steve Jobs has passed away at 56. He is survived by his wife and kids, and a legacy that will continue to shape our world for time to come. I have never met the great man, but there are so many things I am thankful for.
Thank you, Steve, for your vision and for showing me how to embrace technology. Thank you for providing me with the technology and tools which literally changed my life in so many ways. Thank you for continuously striving for your vision for perfection even though you were in a great deal of pain.
As President Obama said, "there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."
I still remember the nights I stayed up watching your keynotes, picking up valuable presentation skills that still serve me well to this day.
I still remember the late nights I stayed up with Chuwen, Johnny and Leo during our last semester in NBS, rushing out our business case study report and presentation on Apple Inc. We selected Apple because of how Jobs' vision and innovation gave us tools and products that shaped our lives. We were so passionate about Apple that we put our heart and soul into the project, and we eventually scored an 'A' for it.
My very first Apple product - the 1st Gen iPod Mini
I still remember my very first Apple product. It was a 4GB silver iPod Mini, it was a GIANT leap from my previous mp3 player, (ironically) the Samsung Yepp MP3 player, which I remember could only hold up to like... 16 songs with its pathetic 32MB built-in memory. So it's easy to imagine the excitement in being able to carry up to 1,000 songs in my pocket.
I eventually upgraded to the iPod, twice, before getting the iPhone 3G. But Steve's innovations didn't stop at changing the way I listen to music. It changed the way I enjoy, love and eventually, write and record music.
I got my first, and current MacBook 3 years ago and I experienced the magic of GarageBand. 3 years on, with the iPad 2 and GarageBand for the iPad, it continues to change the way I play, enjoy and record music. It even changed the way I perform music. Just last week, we used GarageBand on the iPad to perform during our company's D&D.
Thank you for reminding me (again) that my "life is short. So don't waste it on living someone else's dream."
So, just one more thing... Thank you, Steve. God Bless.
"When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is, and your life is just to live your life inside the world, try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money.
That's a very limited life. Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact. And that is, everything around you that you call 'life' was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
The minute that you understand that you can poke life, and actually that something get pushed in and something will pop out the other side, that you can change and mould it, that's maybe the most important thing. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again."
- Steve Jobs, 1994
