A perpetual optimist griping 'bout a pessimistic society...

Friday, April 20, 2007

The Cost is "Free"

I could never understood how some website claimed to provide free downloads and yet asked you to pay a fee. So which part of "free" do I not get?

I always thought the word "free" meant there will be no money transaction involved. I checked it up on dictionary.com and there are apparently about 50 definitions for it and non of it suggests any monetary payment. For example:

free : /fri/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[free] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation adjective, fre·er, fre·est, adverb, verb, freed, free·ing.
–adjective
.
.
36. without cost, payment, or charge.
.
.

So, I guess the internet has introduced it's own definition of "free" into our modern society huh. It's so frustrating and irritating...

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Phases of 2007




2007 promises a new and exciting phase of my life.

It marked my second year here in Australia. Yes! I survived! Also, it marked another turning point of my life. It's my next big step here. I am finally going to get my own place. Not just buy a property, I am going to build my own house.

It's something that I know I will not be able to do if I am still in Singapore. Much as I love my homeland, it has so many restrictions that made it impossible for me to grow and be who I want to be. But we'll not go into that yet.

Here, I can actually afford to buy my own land and build my own house. It might not be a big beautiful mansion, but it's a small start. No 99 years policy or 999 years policy (Singapore). It's mine.

To see a house being build from scratch and to know that it's mine, it just made me want to jump and skip and hop around. I am so excited!