Journey by Sachie Tennakoon

Yes I know I know. My posts are scarce as a hen's teeth but don't worry I will try to write as much as I possibly can. I am still trying to find this work life balance thing that everyone is talking about. But not to worry, it will come with time. Its been more than a month since I have stepped in to the world of suit pants and long hours. I have learnt a few tit bits that I thought could be used by most of us with .. basically a life. 1. Everyone says it but, mate could not say it enough- Make MISTAKES! I made one crucial error first two weeks in to the job (yes worse than poop) but hey now I wont do it again. This is the only way to truly learn. 2. Work with friends not with co-workers- Its tough I know and sometimes you have to draw the line. But its much more easier to ask a favor from a friend than a duty from a co-worker. 3. Ask questions, questions and more questions! - Its ok to be a pain in the royal buttocks! 4. You will be dead weight till your team can le...

Recently my friends and I went to watch one of the most thought provoking movies of this year named Zindagi Na Milengi Dobra. It may or may not have been a good movie ( I am kind of on the fence about it) but it definitely made you walk out of the movie theater with a new out look on life (or at least a thought!) So here are some thoughts that came across my mind that made me think twice about, that night in bed. I turn back and look at my life, and sometimes wonder about all the little things that made me sad. All the fights, the arguments, the exams that failed, the times I made the wrong choices, the relationships that failed, the fights I gave up, the times I didn't speak up, the wrong times I did speak up.. all that just rushes in to my mind like my fathers maniac driving during the morning rush hour.  But all those nights that I cried in bed, all those depressing feelings, seemed justifiable at that moment. But now I seem to have started a collection of those bad thoug...

I recently went on a family reunion vacation trip to the hill country of Sri Lanka. As my father and I love to travel, we have been to these places millions of times. But this time I saw Sri Lanka like I have never seen before. Maybe or probably because I have been away for sometime. But I saw the most beautiful scenearies to fill my eyes, and the best Ceylon tea to satisfy my taste buds. The rich culture and religion of Nuwara Eliya was very soothing to see. I wish I had taken more pictures of the British influenced architecture but maybe its best I didn't. So that I have an excuse to make another trip to that beautiful paradise. Here are some  breathtaking pictures from my beautiful country. Location - Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka All unedited images.Copyrights reserved.

I know I know... I haven't written anything since MARCH! Guilty as charged! But I have good reasons as to why. I know that you dont really care about my personal life, but I am going to tell you anyway. I graduated, moved half way across the world back to my home country, and now just accepted a new offer at my dream company. Sounds like a fairy tale? Let me tell you it was the poopiest ride I have ever taken in my entire life. But during the ride it gave me an opportunity learn some valuable lessons that I thought I should share here. 1. Making a choice is hard. If it is hard enough to a point where you are up until 3 am in the morning trying to decide, there probably isn't a better choice. Just make decision and make it work. 2. Dreaming big is easy. Making those dreams come true means that you need to step outside of your comfort zone and take a risk. Not the easiest thing to do. 3. Always know that what ever you do there will always be an entourage of friends and fami...

I was in England for a couple of days, when I noticed something that I have never noticed before. The TV shows are full of sarcasm and rude comments! I mean not like joking around rude, like YOU ARE A WASTE OF SPACE IN THIS WORLD rude, in front of millions of people. The reality shows specially had participants who went completely bonkers! From drama to reality its all the same. Don't believe me? Here is an episode of Apprentice UK. As professional as it gets... no not really. http://www.youtube.com/user/sbtech01#p/c/5BFC95AA50462905/6/0CjF8Mf-65g So I wonder when British producers create TV shows here (Gordon Ramsey with Hells Kitchen and Simon Cowell with American Idol) are they aware of this? Yes they have the reputation of being "ruthless" on national TV in the US but I don't think its considered ruthless on British TV. Look at Pierce Morgan, Simon Cowell and Gordon Ramsey. What do they have in common: all British and sarcastic. In American standards quite ...

Clay Shirky in the article The Political Power of Social Media talks about how much power people can have through the wonders of social media. With the discovery of Web 2.0 people have now been given the opportunity to give impactfull feed back to various kinds of different decisions, be it political or business positions and promotions. This is not just power, this is the ultimately power. Power that could change a president or rules and regulations. This is exactly what happened in the Middle East, in the Philippines and right here next door in Madison. But is this really impactfull. Or is it more like the soda bottle that pops open after shaking and dies out in less than a minute. Yes its not easy to gather people who have the same passion for a problem, but can they really find a solution? So Malcolm Gladwell raises the same question in the article From Innovation to Revolution . He says " just because innovations in communications technology happen does not mean that ...

Random words that come in to my mind when I am working.. A promise isn't a promise Until you know you will give Give everything to keep that promise No matter what A word isn't a word Until you know That it comes from the heart And you will guard it with life A plan isn't a plan Until you stick to it No matter what goes wrong Around it Love isn't love Until you know You can give unconditionally No matter what the situation maybe So what made you think What made you think That you would be able to Make a promise Guard a word Build a plan To love If... You didn't know..

The words of a mother will always heal you, how ever much broken you are. The words that will make you see that silver lining during the storm, a storm that you never expected, even a storm that will change your life forever. This is not special because this is from my mother, but this is from a mother.. "....you'll sail through this episode proving the world again your unshakable  bravery, resilience and ability to overcome every little hurdle and glitter among other children as you always have done through out the years!!! You will always be the shining star of my life! We are all proud of you b'use we know that you are someone who would put 2 steps forward every-time when  you have  to take one step backward!!''

You know how since the first day of college all you think about is graduating. But trust me this is not the case when you are a senior two months away from graduation, and has NO JOB! All your thinking about is spending more time in school! Maybe it isn't even the fact that I don't have a job. I would be speaking behalf of many people when I say, I just don't want to leave the people. I don't want to go in to another life, with new friends and new environments. I like having to stay up all night studying for tests, I like socializing or sleeping at the library, I like having music up on full blast with Sara singing and cleaning to it. I even like having people come screaming "after party! after party!" at 2.30 am on Fridays waking up my roommates and I. I even would go to the extent of saying that I would actually miss people finishing all of our groceries on the same day we buy them. No I don't want to graduate. I will miss these idiots too much :( ...

Only an international student will understand what kind of things they have to go through while they go to school in a country different then theirs. No one can explain how hard it is to come to a different culture and to have to adapt much faster than what you want to. No one can explain how crappy life gets when you are sick and don't have you father around to give you attention. But of course there is a flip side to being an international student. I can now proudly say that I have friends from more than at least 50 countries. I can proudly say that I know how to say hello and a few other swear words in more than 10 different languages. A group of international students come together each year to celebrate their differences and similarity at the International Dinner at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater . The night stared with a fabulous dinner done by Chef Doll at Chartwells . The menu went like this. Everything was absolutely wonderful. Chinese chicken dumplings – Chin...

We had an interesting topic in my new communication tech. class. The use of Facebook to expose every single detail and activity of each one’s life has become quite disturbing to others. Facebook was created for social purposes (well maybe some would argue that it was mainly for dating purposes of geeky college kids who couldn’t find a date on Friday night). So why then this tech savvy generation would complain about Facebook being stupid. The younger generation’s argument is that now everything has to be Facebook official. They say that this is not acceptable in this human society. What kind of impact does Facebook have on personal relationships? Does this depend on what age range you are in? Jose Rose is a digital creative director of the ad agency Deutsch LA. He wrote an article about his own personal experience with relationships and Facebook.   Here is a touching except from his article: The amount of calming satisfaction it gives me to be able to communicate with him through ...

Since 2004 Facebook has become necessity in everyone's life. If you do not have a Facebook, it is considered to be creepy and odd. It has taken everyone by surprise and completely changed the world. But whats happening with Twitter. Until 2008-2009 people did not pay much attention to twitter. Everyone had an account but no one used it. Twitter was launched in 2006 but it did not take the world by storm like Facebook did. People were confused about using twitter. Dickerson says that in his article that people fear twitter. He talks about the fact that its OK to create a new piece with in 140 characters. He says that journalism and print media is becoming smaller, more compact. In the new world, everything is short and sweet. People like to read something with in seconds to understand the whole story and move on with their busy life. The argument is that this loses the value of journalism. But I look at it as adding value. A value that is important to the current world. ...

We had a very enlightening discussion in my New Comm Tech class. My professor said " could it be that people are now following each other and not a leader?" Look at whats happening in Egypt and the middle eastern countries. Look at how people have come together with out just one leader to change the structure. These people are standing up to some one who is officially appointed as the "leader" Look at Facebook with more than 500 million active members online and over 700 billion minutes spent a month on the site . People are addicted to following other people, being in a network, becoming a  part of a community. Look at Twitter. Twitter attracts 14 million people in the US alone . Why do people like following others. Why do they think that they can more reliable information from a stranger rather than a news station (well.. hah I guess we all know the answer to that). I think its a matter of choice and trust . People like that fact that they now have the ab...

Today is the V day.. much awaited by Hallmark and 1-800-flowers.com (check out this article about stock worth of some of these  companies )  -  as they have the best growth in net income during this weekend. Yesterday, my friends and I had the conversation of the V day. They all happen to be guys and concluded unanimously that valentines day is "overrated". So I had to research to see what really people think... Most say it depends on what you want to do. People like the fact that they have an excuse to say "hey sorry I'm not coming to the meeting tonight, its valentines day and I'm going out with my wife" or better yet "hey honey, its valentines day could you please get that toilet fixed!" (this is actually a true story- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/chat/r/t-10228458/index.html ) You know what I think? I think that if you want to stay home with your friends and watch a movie that's still cool. If you want to just give a flower that yo...

This was something that I had written in 2008. It was one of those blue days when I was feeling poopy. Yesterday when I went home I wanted to go through my facebook to see what I had (yea its a mess). I found this and thought it relates to what I am feeling now (well to a certain extent, there is actually an old boyfriend in there somewhere too...) Thought I should share it with everyone. Click Everything just stops in the moment. Assignments, exams, speeches and homework. I wonder; have I been making the right choices? Maybe I should have just stayed undecided. Sometimes I wonder if I have scarified enough I wonder how much I can hold on; be tough. At times I feel my heart being torn apart Deep within where no one is supposed to harm. How much I sometimes miss those moments, Of being together; caring, sharing our desires. Those days when things were not so complicated, Maybe made me take things for granted. Why is making the right choice so difficult? Why is it...

A friend of mine and I were discussing one night about how nice it would be to be living in a perfect world. If we had the choice of choosing what we want to be surrounded with, if we can choose to only interact with the people who we want to interact with things would be simple. Wait, would it? Would it make life simpler and less stressful, if we all could choose the elements that we had to deals with. If we could just choose the things that make us happy in life, dream career with a beautiful house, the perfect family, perfect grades, perfect weather, roads with no traffic, no bills, no disasters, no pleasing people, no responsibilities..... a perfect life. Would one be happy with that perfect life. My friend said "people are frustrated not because of the cause of the situation, but because they don't know the ending of the situation. Why do you think people like movies? Because they know there is an ending: good or bad. All they want is an ending" Maybe that...

The question of the semester- "oh.. you're graduating in May? so whats the plan after that?" OH MY GOD! JUST STOP! I DON'T KNOW! I mean I would like to know obviously, but I don't. And I'm telling my self that its ok. Its ok to not know what you are going to do, you still have five more months... right? Four years ago, I had a plan. Well of course it had to be altered depending on my interests and the economy. But I had a plan of where I needed to be in four years. But the year 2011 brought uncertainty to my life. There are so many options that I would want to do, that would make me happy. But my decisions are not all just based on my self. People tell me "no do what you want to do, what makes you happy". That is what I am trying to do. I am happy when people around me are happy. I cannot be doing what I love in life and living in a place that I am in love with, if the people around me are disappointed in me. That would lose the purpose of ...

So  my friends have very different ideas and views on many different things of life. I think its mainly because we are all from different countries and by coming here to the US we have different ways of thinking that are influenced by both the Western culture and our own. This past weekend we were having a very interesting and loud discussion/argument at a very public place (for those of you who know us, this is normal :D) This was the topic Who decides if someone is ugly? Is there a standard for being ugly- Now because I was a part of this conversation and had very strong opinions about the side that I was supporting, this blog is going to be a little biased. But I will try my best to stay neutral when presenting both arguments- This is what the guys were saying- It is true that everyone has a perception of beauty- but if you show a picture of a pretty girl and a really ugly girl to 100 guys it is a guarantee that at least 98% of the guys will agree on the same dec...

In Clay Shiky's " It takes a village to find a phone" he talks about an epic tale of a woman losing her phone in the cab ( a pretty common thing to most people) and using online tools to locate the phone. The difference of this story and any other lost and found story is that how much the lives of all the parties changed during this process of locating the phone. Please I suggest everyone read this from the above link. There are several relatable and important aspects in this story that I think are critical to understanding the story. How one simple click can make such a great impact It started with a simple email from the owners friend asking the person who found the phone to return it. When she refused the friend took the story public. All he did was create a simple web page named "Stolen Sidekick". This website was emailed around with in seconds. With in hours this story had so many hits from all around the world. This was a story that happened to one...

All media is digitized and becomes one cumulated place of media channels. This is very interesting as we would have the option of choosing any media they want as it is all next to each other. This will change the way of living of people. Citizen Journalism will let people have a voice, a real voice that will make a difference. The fact that China had to learn from its people about the earth quake that was happening in its own land is simply fascinating. But people are skeptical about being connected 24/7. As an example what about what’s happening in Egypt . People started protesting about expensive cost of living and corruption in governmental organizations. The protests have become so violent and so out of control. The government has decided to block both Facebook and Twitter in Egypt. This a way of reducing what goes out in to the international community about what’s happening in Egypt. But the most fascinating fact is that the organizers of the protest used social media to organize...

Here I am writing the first blog entry ever. Just a couple of years ago, I promised my self that I would never get a blog. It was the thing that eveyrone did to be someone. I did not want to be that person who went along with the crowd. Well, after taking my foot out of my mouth, I was told by many many professionals in my field that I would not  be able to survive this industry with out a blog. I wanted to look in to this more. Why is it so important now to have a blog? Hanns Kullin thinks that blogging for him is a way of expressing him self, and being able to have a deep understanding of those sudden thoughts that you have late at night.  He says it also has a social impact. The fact that he now has the chance to connect with from across the world and share an opinion, is profound. I asked a college student, someone like me why he blogs. He says "just because I like to write". Then I asked him "Do you care about who reads it?". He said "Well now I d...