Taken from ds's blog,
http://sharilynx.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/cambridgeboston-gambit-days/
Cambridge/Boston- Gambit days
October 4, 2008
I was looking at the Boston pics and it felt really strange. We’ve been back in Singapore for almost 2 months now. Somehow it feels very near, but at the same time very far behind. I guess it’ll be like my days in NTU. Very powerful memories which I would probably remember the feelings for my whole life every time I think about it.
I didn’t want to go at first. I really, terribly didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay in Singapore with Jer and with all the others to train up for the Wushu competition. It was important to me, considering that it was my first Wushu competition and I really felt I should do a good job. I so much didn’t want to go that the first few weeks in Boston were really difficult for me and I was missing ‘home’ like crazy. I swore I would still do well in the competition and went all around Boston and Cambridge to search for a Wushu school. In the end, didn’t really find one where I could train my competition routine. Well i did find one with a supposedly pretty good coach, but then it was quite far from our hostel, and since I was very closely watching my expenses there, I decided it wasn’t worth the money and time to travel there every week. And so I ended up only training twice per week with the Harvard Wushu club members, at least with those who came since it was holidays for the students there. And I can say it was one of the best parts of my Boston days. I really liked our trainings out there in Cambridge Common or in the MAC. I liked the people there and I felt I was doing progress.
But still things became much much easier for me when I resigned myself that I won’t be able to win both sides. I couldn’t enjoy Boston and yet still win the Wushu competition. And so I kind of let go of my competiton dreams. Well I still pushed my psychological self to go training alone sometimes on weekends. Man, that was hard. Training alone is not easy. At all. I was also always amazed by how the Harvard wushu peeps would sometimes arrange for extra trainings on Sundays :). Of course I was happy cuz I then had people to train with me instead of training alone. But what amazed me most was how those people train really just for the fun and love of it. They aren’t aiming for any competitions or any performances. They train consistently only for fun… That’s what I call the spirit of Wushu. On that note, I want to say Thanks to all the Harvard Wushu members with whom I trained. Jiandi, Heiko, Vincent, Frances, Nick and all the others who I have met only once or twice. You guys made my days back there in Cambridge.
Back in the Gambit lab, well I must say I also liked the work we were doing. Ya some days were crazily stressful for me and some days I was so tired I wanted to go back straight to the hostel to sleep after work, but I dragged my feet to the wushu trainings and somehow felt revived and more energetic after training haha. Yay Wushu! Well, my team was quite good as well. We had a few hiccups and difficult times but fortunately we managed to go through all of it well in the end. I’m kind of satisfied with our game. We, especially I, were especially lucky that our product owners were Gambit staff, seeing how Matt and Josh really helped to give me directions both on the game and how to handle the team sometimes. I guess I could have made more efforts to go out and socialize more with my team members….well I did try and we did go out and had a few good times together. But sometimes I was too tired, missing ‘home’ too much or simply too unsure of how to handle my double role in the team. Scrummasters are supposed to relate their stories to the other scrummasters, not to any specific members of the team so as not to bring down the spirit or whatever. But well…since most of the other scrummasters were guys and hanged out together, well let’s say I prefered my teammates haha. To any members of my Gambit team, thanks for being a good team in Cambridge. Thanks for your support, and well thanks especially to Yuku for going around with me during the first weeks to search for my Wushu schools and for jogging with me
In retrospect, I think now I didn’t go through those days too badly. I definitely don’t regret anything that happened there. I learned a lot, both personally and on the work side. I don’t know if I’ve grown up and matured more after that experience but yes, I don’t think it’s something I’ll forget soon. Many of the Gambit interns have recently been saying how much they miss Boston, Burton-Conner and the Gambit lab. Well…I won’t really say that I miss those days. Cuz I like having Jer back, the fun Wushu trainings in KEVII with all the others, and the more familiar Singapore surroundings. But then Cambridge-Boston days will always evoke some particular kinds of feelings.