Inspirational!

I was movingly inspired by the determination, humility and wit of this brilliant and wonderful man, the late Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008). I learnt a great deal from anecdotes he shared during his last lecture on September 18, 2007 called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" especially how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

It has been my dream to study at Carnegie Mellon simply because of its well-designed curriculum and the right spirit to learning the fun way... Some beautiful quotes include:

"The inspiration and the permission to dream as a child is huge and will have a huge impact later on in life."

"The brick walls are there for a reason: They let us prove how badly we wanted things and stop the people who don't want it bad enough. So don't bail, the best gold is at the bottom of the barrels of crap."

"When you're pissed off at somebody and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time... give them time and they would almost always impress you"

"You're gonna get the fundamentals down, otherwise the other fancy stuff ain't gonna work."

"When you're screwing up and nobody is saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up... because your critics are the ones who tell you that they still love you to death."

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

"It is easy to look smart when you are parroting smart people."

"There's both ways of saying 'I don't know' but there's a good way and a bad way to say the same thing."

"You obviously don't know where the bar should be and you would do your students a disservice by putting the bar anywhere."

"If you are doing pioneering project/initiatives, you will get those arrows in the back and you'll just have to put up with it."

"The best gift an eduator can give is to get someone to become self reflective."

"The way people perceive you will limit what you're gonna accomplish in life."

"Loyalty is a two-way street."

"When it comes to men who have a romantic interest in you, just ignore everything they say and pay attention to everything they do... its that simple."

"How to get people to help you: believe in karma, tell the truth, be earnest (its better to be earnest than hip because hip is short term and earnest is long term), apologise when you screw up, focus on others, not yourself."

"Get a feedback loop and listen to it."

"No one is all evil; everyone has a good side... just keep waiting and it'll come out."

"Be good at something, it makes you valuable. Work hard but discover what's your secret."

"Be prepared: luck is where preparation meets opportunity. If you live your life the right way, karma will take care of the rest, the dreams will come to you."

For more, visit www.cmu.edu/randyslecture.

Btw, there was a mention that Entertainment Technology Centre (ETC) Academy will be in Singapore soon. This is really cool news!